Ludington City Council 9-12-2016: Following in My Father's Footsteps

[XLFD]

"... I recalled discussions I'd heard about being the lead man in a charge.  According to one theory, he was safer than those behind him because the enemy tended to let him pass so they could take the main body of troops by surprise when they opened fire on them.  I hoped the Germans had heard the same story and found it more convincing than I did."  ---  Over There, p.44 by Russell Rotta (pictured left)

I had always kidded my father about the title of his 64 page World War Two autobiography as being the same as a popular song and movie about the first world war, but I was very respectful of the contents nevertheless.  Earlier this year, even with his Alzheimer's Disease advancing so that he could not even read his own book with any comprehension, he was still proud of having penned it, and eager to get me to re-read it. 

I was usually too involved with my own battles with the local government to give it a full reading, until I was compelled to with his death over this last weekend.  I couldn't help but notice the hidden parallels in our two lives, in that he fought for the forces of good versus an army of smug fascists trying to spread their evil across the world, while I was doing the same on a much smaller scale here in the City of Ludington. 

"When I was about twenty yards short of my goal, some overpowering force tore my rifle from my hand and set it flying.  And for an instant, I didn't realize I had been hit, because I felt no pain."  --Over There, p.44

At the September 12, 2016 Ludington City Council meeting, I took a great risk in leading the charge, fortunately there was no grievous damage like my dad suffered with a bullet hitting him squarely in his right hand.  Prior to my dad's passing, I had accumulated a lot of material showing that City Manager John Shay had been a bad manager once again, to the point where it may even be criminal. 

The agenda of the first meeting in three weeks was very sparse, effectively the approval of city resources for the usual events, chatting among the council about an adopt-a-park idea, and the first readings of ordinances that had already been passed before.  It would likely attract a minimal amount of people and discourage any meaningful public comments, as the council limited comment to agenda items, except for two minutes at the end of the meeting after the business of the meeting was already done. 

Make no mistake about it, the council does not want to hear from the public nor does it want to act upon what they may hear, that's precisely why they changed the rules for public comment so as to keep their meetings on their own agenda, not those of the public they supposedly serve.  At this meeting, I spoke about something that wasn't explicitly on the agenda during the opening public comment period and got chided for it immediately after. 

At the 6:15 mark of the video, just after I finished speaking about something that should concern them, their city manager engaged in criminal negligent behavior, Mayor Pro-tem Kaye Holman, told me that in the future I need to stick to agenda items, and I explained its part of the "public safety" that they have a committee for.  My comment started at 3:20 in:

September 12, 2016 Ludington City Council meeting from Mason County District Library on Vimeo.

 

"A willful act of omission was perpetrated by John Shay back in 2012 that seriously compromised the public health and safety of everyone in Ludington, particularly those in the Fourth Ward.  The egregiousness of this offense should not only lead to his termination, but also to his prosecution.  Here is what the public record, from city, county and state sources says.

On November 26, 2016, Shay alerted this council that the previous day there was a shear break in the sewer force main near First and Adams Streets, resulting in a leak of raw sewage into the Creamery Corners drain, which dumps into the Pere Marquette Bayou.  While in the process of fixing this break, he reported that raw sewage was bypass-pumped directly into the PM Bayou.

From the records, it appears that over two million gallons, two million gallons, of raw sewage was leaked into the immediate environment, eventually draining into the bayou, and then throughout the waters of our harbor.  For such catastrophic leaks, the state requires that the person or entity responsible for the leak report it to the local health department and the Department of Environmental Quality.  The person responsible for that in this case was City Manager John Shay, but the records show he knowingly and willfully never contacted either agency for this mega-leak into recreational waters.

The wastewater treatment plant manager Rob Allard, who retired within a year, did prepare a DEQ Report of Discharge form and sent it to the city manager a week after the event was mitigated.  It indicated that both the DEQ and health department were notified, which would have been John Shay's duty.  There is no record that shows John Shay did anything with that form. 

To the contrary, the local District Health Department maintains they have no records at all regarding any leak in that area in 2012, furthermore the two department officials who researched this noted that the DEQ has only one leak in our area in 2012 at Tamarac Village of 1000 gallons.  But there is no listing of this event which dumped over 2 million gallons of raw sewage into a bayou where many businesses make their living off. 

A leak of two million gallons of raw sewage in the middle of our town was left unreported to county and state health officials, all because John Shay failed once again to look out after the public health and safety.  This is not an excusable sin, people in Flint and state agencies are being prosecuted by the Attorney General for much less.  Please verify my assertions, then fire this employee of yours, and seek justice for the citizens of Ludington forever tainted by his lack of morals."

Sadly, the council and other officials avoided commenting at all on it.  It might have been nice to hear at least one of them say that if my allegations were true, which I have several non-city officials confirm the basic facts, they would thoroughly look into it and take appropriate action.  But that wasn't part of the agenda either, their after-meeting agenda was to attack the citizen who told them something was wrong, the citizen who was still grieving over his father's death, with a charge led by Councilor Krauch and echoed by four other councilors cowardly supporting the myth of his victimhood.   

"The blowhards among us, who all through basic training and afterwards had talked bravely about how they looked forward to combat, were strangely silent.  They no longer bragged of the wonders they would accomplish when they got the chance.  This wasn't like the movies where in safety they could enjoy a couple of hours of exciting and heroic activity with lots of simulated bloodshed..." -- Over There, p. 35

The discussions they did have about event minutia, ORVs, golf carts and the adopt-a-park served only to remind us that while the city government has a host of issues in their purview that should be addressed and aren't, they are content in making it appear otherwise with their mundane business of making our roadways less safe and approving activities.  The events my campaign committee submits being the exception. 

In my last two minutes, I chided the officials myself for their blatantly political actions in the recent investigation into my website and the comments made by Councilor Les Johnson at the end of the last meeting, along with a re-assertion of my original comment.   The councilors did react to this comment later on, with Krauch unconvincingly playing the victim of some unnamed threat all the while claiming to support free speech rights and attacking me politically for actually doing just that.  My speech at the end:, which I wasn't able to finish:

"Sixteen days after Councilor Les Johnson used this city council meeting to launch a political attack, I was invited back to this very building for a meeting of undisclosed purpose which devolved into what could only be termed a witch hunt tribunal.  Two city officials claimed themselves as victims, those two then claimed the city's police department as investigators, those investigators in turn claimed the city's contracted criminal offense attorneys into the prosecutors. 

The chief of police had no clue as to what statute had purportedly been broken, precisely because none had, which is why the city-employed prosecutor wisely backed down from making things worse in the matter of future federal civil lawsuits that the two actual victims of this inquisition will likely pursue. 

If Councilor Johnson is seriously disturbed about the waste of public resources and their costs, look no further than investigating how much this political stunt cost the taxpayers, with nothing gained other than actively slandering marina owners and a local investigative journalist. 

Be advised, there was no additional cost to the city for it to defend this last FOIA lawsuit, which Johnson told you cost $4000.  It was done by our municipal insurance attorneys as part of their job.  When someone like Les at the tail end of a meeting , impugns his opponent as crooked and corrupt without any evidence of the same and even when they hold no public office, speaks volumes of what this city hall has devolved into.  

 

Instead of politics, let's hear what any of you plan on doing if John Shay has failed to report a leak of two million gallons of raw sewage to two necessary agencies in 2012, creating over 8000 victims and why nothing was ever done to mitigate the city's dumping of 15 million gallons of raw sewage into the bayou in 2008 when their Madison Street sewer main ruptured.  Let’s hear why the city ignores sediment under that bayou that has many metals and poisonous organic compounds hundreds of times over the minimal reporting levels.  Thank you."

My delivery of these two comments were difficult because of the bereavement I still suffer bouts of, however, I felt someone at my back helping me pass on the vital message.  I have to take the lead to follow in my father's footsteps and take at least a figurative bullet or two for the freedom fighters of our community.

"Sergeant Green had been luckier than most of us when he was wounded.  He only received a relatively insignificant wound to the upper arm from a bullet or shrapnel that missed all bones.

"There were only four of us left in the platoon when I got hit," he explained" -- Over There, p. 49

[Brad]

So can't the public contact the DEQ and possibly the AG to investigate the Leak?  Do we need an official to contact them?  A lawyer?  Would an official petition help?  How about Hoekstra, Hansen, etc?  How can we show proof to anyone that will listen?

[Brad]

Or how about the Little River Band Ottawa Indians..?

[XLFD]

I'll be showing some of the proof by the end of the weekend, I was hoping the City would make some sort of statement to the COLDNews, but they haven't bothered.  The County Health Department must be in denial that this event ever happened since they don't have the records for it, probably the same as the DEQ. 

Either that or they just don't really care what the effect of such a release was to the public health.  I haven't really made any noise other than through FOIA requests, so since no official want to do anything that they are paid to do, I and other concerned citizens will have to do what we can to hold Shay accountable for a clean Ludington environment.  And if I get on council, this whole affair will be investigated thoroughly.

[Willy]

X, your dad would be extremely proud of you. I'm proud of you. This is a heartfelt and excellent article weaving your fathers words of wisdom with a soundly argued position regarding the corruption that is tainting Ludingtons reputation in the form of an intolerable City Manager and a weak and gelded City Council that will not do the job they were hired to do. How can these oafs sit there and refuse to give answers to the important issues you have brought before them? The cowardice demonstrated by the Council is unbelievable. A worthless group of politicians who consider themselves superior to the people they are supposed to serve.

Why don't you look into the possibility of getting your dads book printed. I would be very interested in reading it. 

[AQUAMAN]

Well said Willy, thanks. And I'd also like a copy of that book someday, sounds like the real McCoy on WW2.

[XLFD]

He has two copies (at least) that he self-published of Over There, it will be available at his showing at the legion hall.  His obituary was in yesterday's (9-16-16) paper, they mistakenly prefaced it by saying he died on September 19 in the paper, in typical COLDNews fashion.  Glad you like the excerpts, glad you like the man and his youngest son.  Here is the E-obituary:

http://www.shorelinemedia.net/ludington_daily_news/news/obituaries/...

[Willy]

Receiving The Bronze Star is quite an achievment. It's almost surreal what America has turned into since your dad's generation sacrificed all to save the World.