2012 Flambeaux Winners: The Torchies

[XLFD]

Welcome to the Second Annual Flambeaux Awards, otherwise known as the Torchies.  Feel free to be dressed informal, and applaud as loud as you want for the winners.   We will start from the bottom up in listing the winners, noting that the ballots were displayed two weeks ago in this thread asking you to vote.  We had eight voters for each, most choosing to contact me via messages, all votes have been tallied and this judge had any tiebreaking vote when it was needed, the first three categories had a first second and third place due to the large amount of entries.  The winners in red:

 

7)  Best Contributors to Threads

A)  Lisa O'Brien

B)   Jane

C)   Eastwick

D)  easymoney

E)  Other-- Aquaman:  The big fish in our small pond pulls out a surprise victory in this category

6)  Least Favorite Troll of 2011

A)  Phil Masse- Cole nut.

B)  Dale- Dale Lee News

C)  R. Larry Fitzgibbons- Walhalla transplant

D)  Eye on Ludington- Creepy temporary website designer:  Whatever happened to that guy and his website anyhow?

E)  Other--

5)  Best New Member of 2011 (nearly 100 new members this year)

A)  Colleen Plummer-  Added thoughtful commentary to the ongoing Mason County wind debate.

B)  Phil Convissor-  This Wayland resident put even more waves in the Wayland discussions, even though it seemed he mostly paddled upstream.

C)  Brian Carlson-  Arizona transplant weighed in on several local issues, including the sheriff election and the McAdam lawsuit:

D)  Albino Storm-  Late year add-on supplies quite a lot of interesting material:  Took us all by storm.

E)  Other--

4)  Best Picture There was a tie!

A)  Ludington Harbor-  Willy

B)  Three Shrimpers- Aquaman

C)  Turbines Viewed...-  Willy: offered some great photos on the installation of the wind farm.

D)  Galt's Gulch-  Albino Storm

E)  Other--  The Shay-dy Bunch-   XLFD a surprising write-in on a couple of ballots catching the 'concept' vote.  Thanks.

3)  Local Story of Interest, Non-Political in Nature

A)  Re: April Reynolds-  April/XLFD story about a PPO issued to a GR woman from Baby Kate's mother.  Would set the tone for the Sean Phillips trial.

B) Wayward in Wayland-  The Chief Miller story got interesting here, and was a recurrent topic of interest to locals and our friends near Wayland, leading to a conclusion that Ludington is not alone.

C)  David Beats Goliath-  Little Walhalla beats Ludington twice in a national contest sponsored by Reader's Digest, even with Ludington's COLDNews backing.  Do you believe in miracles?

**D) Sean Phillips Trial-  #2 Baby Kate missing; fair trial also missing.  Continued here and here.  Followed by strange goings on about a marriage for the new convict and a confession? .

E) Ludington Police harass some, coddle others-  Local store also treated unfairly here.

***F)  Mason Growth Alliance-  #3  Three-part (two and three)  look at how useless of a group the MCGA has been, and how it has likely cost the taxpayers alot in achieving unrealized dreams.

G)  Marina Death-  Ling Yan Zou's death still remains a mystery to all, a review to come in 2013.

H)  Hospital Expansion Conflicts-  Unlawful committee members operating in secrecy deciding on the fate of $19 million.  Yep, that's Mason County decision making.

I)  Scottville Crises:  Before Mayor Ted Baxter drove his car into the gully, Scottville was facing an uphill struggle financially.

*J)  #1 Rotta Bites Back:  In September, Ludington citizen Tom Rotta files a federal lawsuit over violations of his rights, in October, he files in MI Appeals Court for an appeal of a local FOIA ruling, and in November, he files an Open Meetings lawsuit, all of which the City Manager and Council are accused of wrongdoing.  All look promising for the forces of open governments.

2)  State and Federal Story of Interest Explored in the Torch

***A)  Wonder no more-  #3 Back in January, Dave asked whether Unions would kill the Twinkie.  By the end of the year we knew the answer.

B)  Voting and ID-  A frequent issue of debate this year on the national, state and even local level.

C)  Sex in College-  Although half the Torchers never got any during their college years, birth control, etc. was discussed in front of Congress by someone named Fluke.

*D) Keeping the Badger Afloat-  #1 Numerous threads commented on updates and the future of our local carferry, most of the analysis at the federal level.  Sink the Badger,

**E)  SOPA, ACTA, etc.-  #2 various federal laws set to take away all computer-users rights.  We want government to do this?

F) Martin and Zimmerman-  Stand your ground case becomes topic of interest this summer at the Torch.

G)  Government Bridge-  The proposed bridge between the US and Canada is contentious.

H)  Motorcycle Helmet Repeal Saves Lives!- A story denied by most news organizations, but all over this year's stats.

I)  FEMA Camps:  Brian originally brought this to our attention, then Albino Storm did.  Scary.

J) The Peninsula of Pigs-  The MI DNR initiates a Boar War for pigs with undesired traits, even if they are on farms being bred for food.

1)  Local Story of Interest that You Couldn't Find in Other Local Media:

A)  Engineering Corruption in Ludington-  XLFD points out in a two parter what is a recurrent theme:  no bid contracts with favored contractors engineers  (Prein & Neuhoff) over many years.

*B)  Voting Denied After Investigation-   #2  Ludington citizen denied the right to vote, again, even after a state investigation into the initial denial comes back in the cit's favor.

C) Impropriety in Courts and Counsels-  City denies information from FOIA, postures for over four months in front of their counsel's father, Judge Cooper.  Continued here and here.

D) Ludington City Councilor Attacks the Oppressed-  Councilor Marrison makes a law, and tells a citizen not to follow it, at risk of his liberty.  A half year later, she will demand even more from him, after her fellow Councilor attacks him and his indigent status.

E) Continued Nepotism by Family Henderson and Tykoski -  Brandy Henderson now has a better paying job with the local CVB, which gets a few hundred thou a year from a new 'room tax' of 5% thanks to her "skills" at what she does.  Tykoski sign business and new house gets special honors from the City they serve.

F)  Prosecutor takes on the Persecuted- No, not Baby Kate, someone who asked him for help on cleaning up the local mess, who becomes the focus of his interest.

*G)  Term Limit Upping Goes Down-  #1 Mayor Henderson invests a lot into getting more terms, loses by a 2-1 margin, will end mayor career in 2013.

H)  Citizen Stands Up after being held down-  After being banned from the City Hall for fourteenth months, a citizen makes a point about coming regularly to council meetings and setting a people-centered agenda.

***I)  Sheriff Election has Skeletons in Closet-  #3  The Martin Schilling affair eventually was addressed (poorly) but the  McAdam lawsuit  and Tarra Staggs was overlooked.  Other MCSO irregularities were noted.

J) Creative Budgetting by Ludington-  Whether it be $34,000 for toilets, over $300,000 for painting one water tank, or $25,000 for 5 rugged computers for the LPD, among others

Thanks to all who voted, there will be some minor e-gifts to those that won a category such as Aquaman, Albino Storm, Dave, Willy and Eye on Ludington.

[XLFD]

That would have been a very uncreepylike gesture on EyE's part, but EyE did get a plurality of votes for what was a rather mean-spirited website, and thus won his/her first Torchy by the electorate.

[masonco]

Good list thank you

[XLFD]

Your welcome, Masonco, we've been very active throughout the year and we appreciate all the input we get from the community.  These little year end lists can be annoying, but it's always a great year end review for us publishers, and a chance to see what is the most intriguing stories.

[AQUAMAN]

Very interesting, (takes bow), and many thanks for the unsolicited votes. Other than my own frank surprise of write-in candidate, I fully agree with the other winners of the awards. Congrats to the group, and let's have another great year for new and old members alike in the mix.

[XLFD]

Those astonished by your victory will also be surprised that you actually weren't one of the voters, not that you would vote for yourself anyway.  I agree with you, however, that the choices were excellent, and I only had to use my tiebreaker vote once in tabulating the results.