The Del Zoppo Chronicles

[XLFD]

A Stable Person

In Pere Marquette Township, they appear to be getting onto the cutting edge of zoning and development. A domicile for human habitation in the form of a grain silo is going up on the Buttersville Peninsula, getting the OK from the township's planning commission without any internal controversy.  Yet well before that, another interesting building went up that combined the qualities of a barn and a home. This was related in a 2016 MCP article Life in Circles- Carpe Diem where it provides a look into the mind of one of our outspoken local public officials, Deb Del Zoppo which notes:

She and her three horses live peaceably together under one big steel roof.

We should not necessarily pass judgment for her choice of living companions, many of us have three or more orthodox pets ourselves living under our roof. But yesterday she was published on the opinion page of the City of Ludington Daily News (COLDNews) with an article passing some judgment on others expressing their own innate rights:

Control or Out of Control?

Her first point deals with London's crime rate surpassing New York's for the first quarter in 2018. She warned us to beware of people that cherry-picked these statistics-- perhaps like liberal news organizations The New York Times, MSNBC, and Bloomberg, to name a few. To Deb's credit, the murder rate comparison in the first quarter of 2018 was misleading, since New York finished the year at twice the rate of London's. She conveniently ignores Chicago, however, which has much more strict gun control than New York, aggressively goes after gun dealers and manufacturers, but has about a sixth amount of the population, and yet saw twice the number of murders of New York in 2018.

Deb then rambles on about how certain guns are only meant for warfare, but she already negated that argument in her first paragraph when she quoted the Second Amendment. Wikipedia says a militia is "'an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a nation, or subjects of a state, who can be called upon for military service during a time of need." If our citizen militia cannot hold its own by having the same weapons as an enemy-- foreign or domestic-- then it's not very well regulated in my estimation.

Instead of just crying over the latest school shooting in 2012 and expecting public officials to work some magic, wouldn't you think if she really cared about the welfare of her students that she would have worked to get guns in the hands of more good people at school rather than keep them strict gun-free zones?

She ends with an unfair shot at the character and motives of the NRA Board and NRA supporters, a position that may have got her disciplined if she was on a Ludington board or commission. But besides being on the Mason-Lake Conservation District Board of Directors, she serves on the PM Twp Planning Commission:

So unless they have a comprehensive code of conduct, she won't likely be disciplined for her disparagement. Yet, she was recently disciplined for operating a watercraft while under the influence of liquor as seen in the August 8, 2019 District Court Arraignments:

Possibly while using that same boat she was pictured on while she was 'seizing the day' back in 2016. So after her arraignment on OWI, which the Ludington Torch has discovered was followed by a confidential evaluation of Ms. Del Zoppo set up through Bruce Vanderhoof presumably to determine the extent of her abuse of alcohol, Deb sat down and penned this letter to the editor on keeping dangerous weapons away from the wrong people.

Would this include large possibly-motorized boats operated by intoxicated government officials who co-habitate with horses? The Ludington Torch believes in the presumption of innocence as a basic right of all individuals going to trial and we sincerely hope that Deb prevails in her defense if she is innocent of the crime. It is too bad she does not offer the rest of us sane individuals that same affirmation to own the firearms of our choice to protect ourselves and others as the Second Amendment provides.

Epilogue

Since Deb Del Zoppo's term of being a planning commissioner ends on December 2019 and their terms last three years, we will presume she got on the commission in January 2017 or sometime since. Besides owning her stable-house she owns a thin strip of undeveloped land down off South Lakeshore, you would see it on the way to see the silo-house currently under construction.

As noted, this land is undeveloped, has nobody living there, and is owned by Planning Commissioner Deb Del Zoppo. Let's take a look at the recent taxes:

Somehow, while other taxes in the area were going up, the year after Deb gets on the PMPC her taxes for this 5 acre vacant lot are cut by nearly two-thirds. How could that happen? It turns out the parcel has somehow became exempt from paying school taxes just as if it had a homestead exemption. How does that happen when she's living in a stable with three horses up on Iris Road? Maybe she's not crazy or drunk after all.

[NauticalMiles]

Wow! Her taxes are lower than my Mom's, which is a smaller property and in worse shape. Shouldn't there be a homestead tax? PM township is basically raping my Mom on property tax. Like over $1,000 for a piece of shit with shit neighbors. 

Nice write up btw...

[XLFD]

Thanks, maybe you will want to go to the next Planning Commission meeting at PM Township Hall and voice your concerns.  Once I get the LPD report on Deb's boating spree, I will let you know what type of liquor a certain commissioner favors.  Maybe it will help get your mom's taxes down, or at least get her a horse ride.

[Squirrely Dan]

The 5 acre parcel literally abuts the Iris Road parcel making it eligible for the primary residence exemption. Fake news.

[XLFD]

Late yesterday I learned that the two pieces of property were adjacent.  As you may know, Squirrely, if a person owns a homestead lot and has a residential lot that's vacant adjoining the homestead, that lot can qualify also for a homestead property exemption.   If you noticed, the long lot is owned by Deb outright, the stable lot is owned by the "Deborah Del Zoppo Trust", so depending on how that trust is set up, this may be legit, however several other problems come into focus.  These look really squirrely when you consider her position.

1) How did her MBOR assessed/SEV go from $30,900 before she brought this undeveloped parcel that resembles spaghetti farmland down to $14,500 the very next year?   That's a drop in value of over 50% once she became a PM Twp official.  Nearby properties were going up in value.

2)  Why isn't the multifaceted property information listed in the assessor's pages for her stable-house property on Iris, when everybody else seems to have this information listed on Iris Road?  It makes one believe that something odd took place, like maybe a property split that perhaps didn't go through proper channels.

[NauticalMiles]

Thorough investigation, XLFD! You are well-versed in this stuff. Thank you. 

[XLFD]

It will even be a little more thorough when I get the police report on the boating incident.  Don't be surprised if I come to Deb's defense if she was treated improperly in her arrest or if standard protocols were not followed by authorities.  Thank you for your very kind compliment.

[shinblind]

X

Curious if you know which government agency brought about Del Zappo's arrest?

Also if anything was handled improperly during her stop and arrest I would hope you would pursue it fully.  A person's rights should be foremost. Their political shortcomings and position in life should make no difference.  

[XLFD]

shin,

I just received the police report earlier today from the LPD, the agency noted as the arresting authority in the court records.  At first glance, it does appear that her rights were not violated, and that she was treated fairly, consenting to a PBT and even a blood draw.  Turns out the USCG noticed her first, brought her in at the Loomis Street ramps, and let LPD take care of the details.  I will expand on this at a later date.

[stump]

I would think that if you owned property that you wanted to homestead, First off you would have to live on that property. If you owned another parcel next to it it should be combined into one total property for tax purposes and then be able to be homestead as one. You can't live on 2 separate properties 

[shinblind]

Inebriated

Ancient Mariner pays debt

To society. 

[Freedom Seeker]

How's that? By working for the township?

[shinblind]

DelZappo's pretrial was today.

Haven't heard how she will plead. Usual first offense is a $500 slap on the wrist. Maybe some community service.

More disconcerting is her views on the 2nd Amendment.

For those views  I say her and the horse she rode in on.