Mayor Barnett Floats a Sloan with Negative Credit

[XLFD]

Another of Mark Barnett's deer death cull-tists have come to the forefront, this time they are defending the man rather than the cull and playing rather loose with the facts of the matter, which is typical of cult followers.  This person claims that a recent MCP article inspired them to defend the mayor against what they thought were false and unfair charges.  Let's take a look at what is actually false and unfair when we look at his complete letter to the editor (underlined passages are erroneous, italicized passages are refuted by Mayor Barnett, as we will see in our analysis):

Ludington resident defends mayor: 

I recently read an article Mason County Press regarding our mayor, Mark Barnett and a deer cull. Ultimately asking for his resignation.

My name is John Bo Sloan. We have a family cottage here at Epworth Heights in Ludington. I’ve been coming here my entire life, 58 years. I decided to retire to Ludington about five years ago. My Dad had a lot of good friends from Epworth, but most of his really good friends were from Ludington. In fact, my father died in a motorcycle accident in Mexico while with three friends from Ludington 20 years ago almost to the day. Ludington locals Judge John Carney, Don Clingan, and Les Kaines were with him on the trip.

The reason I mentioned this, is because I think I have a pretty good ‘feel’ for Ludington and the people in it. A solid community. Hard working people with really nothing to prove for the most part. Backbone of America type people and town.

I met Mark Barnett approximately four years ago. He approached me at Wesco. I was in my golf cart with my dog on the back…  Mark asked me, “is that a silver lab”? He ended up getting a silver lab from my same breeder months later, and we have communicated ever since then. I have been to his house on a few separate occasions and we text a couple times a month. To my knowledge, Mark is not a hunter of any sort. So I do know the man, and I feel like I am definitely qualified to write this article.

It made me sick to my stomach, reading the article a few days ago where Mr. Tom Rotta accuses Mr. Barnett of “Holding a deer cull on his property…” Going on to call it a “corrupt act.”  And ultimately asking for his resignation.

The article was very confusing to me with all the different laws that were written. Another very confusing thing to me is that Mr. Barrett’s back yard has a fence surrounding his pool and a separate tall fence around the edge of his property. Does that sound like an ideal deer trap to anybody? Pretty much the opposite. In my opinion, and every other person I talk to about the article, feels the article was totally absurd

I’d like Mr. Rotta and all the readers to know what is not confusing to me. What is NOT confusing me is that Mark Barnett is a very good man. Nineteen years as a policeman, retired chief of police in Ludington and now our mayor. Mark is man of faith. Another thing that is not confusing to me is that it seems like Mr. Rotta might have nothing better to do than to complain about lots of different things going on in Mason County (or in this case, not going on).  That is why I felt compelled to write this letter. I hope Mr. Rotta will try and focus his negative energy into something positive and different than what he’s presently focusing on, because it’s really, really exhausting.

In closing, let me please remind everybody of a paragraph where Mr. Rotta calls for Mayor Barnett’s resignation.  And I quote the article: “Rotta, whose lawsuits have cost local taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars, attempted to recall now-former City Councilor Les Johnson. Johnson has since resigned after accepting a position as a county commissioner. Rotta was also behind a failed recall attempt against Scottville mayor Marcy Spencer.” I think Rotta has cost most of us way too much money and negative energy.

I think Ludington Michigan is very lucky to have Mark Barnett as its mayor. I truly believe he has our back.

Sincerely,

John Bo Sloan

ANALYSIS: 

John Sloan claims to have a 'feel' for the average Ludington resident, while talking about his family estate in Epworth Heights, his golf cart, his purebred dog, his association with other elite Ludington natives, etc.  Whatever.  Mr. Sloan's errors mostly arise from a poor understanding of basic civics.  In a recall, resignation is not any part of the process, a recall election is the ultimate step, where voters may decide to elect someone else to the position.  Sometimes (as in the case of Jerry Bleau and Les Johnson) resignations happen because the official being recalled either sees the writing on the wall or finds an escape route to save face. 

I never ask for a resignation, but it would save me and others a lot of effort.  If Mark Barnett thinks using his position to gain a valuable service for himself is not wrong and believe others that disagree are crazy for thinking so, then he won't have the self-awareness or honor to resign.

Mr. Sloan also complains about 'all the different laws that were written'; however, a look at the article, the petition language, and my press release shows that no laws are introduced other than reference to one that prohibits shooting in a school zone.  This is one common to all levels of government and should be fairly well understood by all as to why it exists.  

When Mr. Sloan equates the recall action to negative energy, he fails to see that I (Mr. Rotta) am the one taking the lawful course in a lawful process in order to protect innocent life, whether it be the deer, the unborn fawns in the wombs of most does at this time, the children playing nearby on school grounds, or the people in their homes in the dozen or so other properties within 450 feet of Mark Barnett's property that haven't gave their consent to this hunt. 

It's positive energy that cherishes the lives of innocents, respects the rights of others, and abides by legal and ethical conduct enough to be motivated when a city official takes actions that are against these positive energies, in seeking that innocent lives get killed, while endangering the lives of others needlessly, while acting against multiple laws, and while going directly against ethical conduct in order to do so.  The mayor is using negative energy, the only negative energy I'm using is in saying "not so fast", much in the way that loving parents tell their children to not do something.

Mr. Sloan uses the phrase "or in this case, not going on" to infer that his good friend is not having the deer cull in his backyard and/or doing anything wrong.  The Work Initiation Form signed by Mark Barnett on 11-15-2023, tells a different story, as does the mayor himself in a recent radio interview when he says:  "The deer are there right?  I own that property, I understand, I know that there is deer there and that's part of their traveling route."

That and other admissions show that Mr. Sloan's impression that the mayor's backyard would not be a good culling spot or deer trap is refuted by his Honor himself, who thinks it's an optimal spot.  How telling that the mayor is such a good friend of John Bo Sloan, but they never discussed this for over two months after the mayor signed his form with the intent of having the cull take place on his property.  The problem is that nobody else knew either, and only a FOIA request would discover this lack of disclosure.  

The only other inaccuracies in Mr. Sloan's letter are the opinions expressed by MCP Editor Rob Alway in his 'news article'.  Every lawsuit I have filed with the City of Ludington or their officials was due to them not following the law and/or ignoring my expressed intent to see that the law was followed.  The city's arrogance, elitism, and/or obstinance initiated every single one of these lawsuits, so former city commissioner Rob Alway's moral relativism is on display when he claims a citizen who spent vast quantities of his own time and money to prosecute these cases caused the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer's money when I, as a taxpayer, was forced (through taxation) to help pay the other side's defense costs even when I won.  My actions have saved the taxpayers more than this amount.  

Editor Alway also says that I was behind the failed recall attempt against Scottville Mayor Marcy Spencer, which is preposterous.  I am not a resident of Scottville, I did not circulate petitions.  I was approached by others when it was under consideration and I told them to hold off, because I had a quo warranto action against Spencer, who was and still is holding her position unlawfully.  When the local judge did not grant leave to file, I was approached again to act as a consultant and so I helped them on the legal front to start a recall.  A reasonable editor would not claim a defense lawyer doing his job defending a client accused of murder was an accomplice to that murder.

All of this negative energy heaped on my doorstep is quite a bother to deal with; fortunately, I've got barrels of positive energy to spare when dealing with cull-tists and their leaders heaping falsehoods, misinformation, and other negative energies against me.

[Willy]

It seems that Mr. Sloan is woefully ignorant about the law and what has been going on in Ludington's political scene, including all of the corruption perpetrated by occupants of City Hall. That's probably because he's friends with many of them. It's funny that Mr. Sloan is so concerned with Ludington's politics. He lives in a private, gated community with a guardhouse and a security detail that has orders to keep the riff raff from coming within 1/4 mile of their homes. Epworth is really not part of the average daily life of Ludington's citizens. They have set themselves apart from all the commoners. I remember how common folks used to fish off the railroad trestle at the west end of Lincoln Lake until the residents of Epworth closed off access to it. No riff raff allowed, thank you. In any other neighborhoods in Ludington the average person can tour the areas and see how folks are getting along or drive through and look at the Christmas lights on display. Try that at Epworth and see what happens. If Sloan is so taken back by his friend Barnett's treatment then why doesn't he get together with Epworth society and hold a deer cull on their golf course and dune hills where there are plenty of deer. Those deer would just move over to Ludington anyway when their cousins are killed.
Excellent rebuttal X, to a misinformed Epworth resident.

https://ludingtoncitizen.ning.com/photo/no-riff-raff-allowed?contex...

[XLFD]

This article was classic gaslighting likely orchestrated by the master of Ludington gaslighting, Mark Barnett, who probably feels he needs to hide behind others to get away with it now that he's mayor, rather than police chief.  Longtime readers, like you Willy, will remember what he did back when he was chief when I was wondering what rules applied to the LPD Reserve Officers, since they were not recognized in either the city charter or city code, and why there was some unaccounted-for money missing in the Shop with a Cop funds.  Rather than try to explain about the extra-legality of the reserves or the reason why the SWAC ledger didn't balance, he ignored that and instead went for some rather intense attack on my motives and character for bringing those subjects up.  

How can you trust someone when they so actively avoid accountability and use their position to shame you and cast aspersions instead?  I sure don't, and with this latest misuse of his office, it's for a good reason.  

Tomorrow at 3 PM is the clarity hearing for his recall petition, I expect to see a lot of gaslight coming from his surrogates who will likely show up in force to tell us what a good Christian man he is and what a little demon I am.  I know better, so I will just enjoy the show.

[David Gibbs]

Excellent analysis!  It's funny how those who benefit most from the system, 58-year-old retirees, don't believe in how the system was intended to function.  

[XLFD]

And don't forget, he was once a 53-year-old retiree.  Thanks for the positive feedback.

[Daniel Jensen]

Rereading this article again from months ago, left a ck in my spirit, gut if you will. On how this article reads at the begining and the motorcycle crash and who was involved. So I clicked the link and read that from LDN. Growing up as a young boy in the surrounding area, I knew Mr. Don Clingan, my step father worked for him. They frequented each others homes. On weekends, Dad doing odd jobs for him with the help of us boys. Dad found him quite centered and all about himself and his money. Dad, Stepfather to us boys, asked Don for a raise one time, due to taking on the responsibility of 2 boys that had lost their father to cancer years earlier. Don said sure! And gave Dad a dime raise. Dad said you can take that dime and shove it in your ass! That will just put me in a different tax bracket and the government will take more out of my paycheck. Don said take it or leave it. So in closing, everyone has their own story to tell about different people & situations and this story about a motorcycle accident in Mexico doesn't pass the smell test for me due to the people who were involved. 2 sides to every story, just saying.

[XLFD]

Dan, thanks for your own personal story.  I would say that people like your stepdad are a lot more indicative of Ludington character and ethos than Mr. Clingan was and better represented the citizenry.