A Christmas tradition around the Ludington Torch is to engage in a little political satire by associating our bleak political plight with themes from the yuletide holiday. In the past, we ruined "Away in a Manger" by giving it a Ludington theme: John Shay as a Manager. we mangled the night before Christmas (Twas the Night Before Christmas in Ludington), twisted Charles Dickens classic (A Christmas COL), totally disrupted O Little Town of Bethlehem (O City Council Ludington), and realigned the twelve days of Christmas (The Twelve Days of Ludington Christmas). Last year, we turned "The Little Drummer Boy" upside down into The Ludville Plumber Boy to illustrate the lead problem of Ludington.  

This year, Councilor Kathy Winczewski inspired us to address the lead problem in Ludington once again by unconvincingly telling the local citizens that we have nothing to fear from the City of Ludington's lead goosenecks found throughout the City's water system, shortly before City Manager John Shay told us that they were ignorant of the extent of lead pipes throughout the very old water system supplying water to all. 

Winczewski's long career of denying the hazards of having all this lead in the city infrastructure and insisting the elevated blood levels of lead in our local kids is from a host of other unlikely sources, all this while ostensibly leading a local 'friends of the environment' group, has 'lead ' her to become an aristocrat in that field, our local 'lead queen'.  In the realm of Christmas carols, there is another well-meaning royal who had an almost equally tough-to-pronounce last name, the good King Wenceslas. 

The only thing left to do is adapt the lyrics of his song to the present so that they have the same meter, but a locally cogent message.  We hope that you enjoy "Lead Queen Winczewski" which can be sung to the tune of "Good King Winceslas"; please start the video and follow along with the amended lyrics.  

Lead Queen Winczewski looked out
On the council meeting
Where Tom Rotta talked about
Goosenecks and deceiting
Pre-pared as she was that night
Though the guy spoke truth
She brought forth unto the light
Lead pipes from her boo-th

"Listen, friends and follow me
If thou seek telling facts
Yonder peasant, who is he?
Why must here grind his axe?"
"Madame, he lives on Dowland Street
South of city hall
Comments he reads off a sheet
And makes fools of us all."

"No more shall we hear him whine
See these fine lead goose-necks
I'm touching it yet I'm fine
Protected by lead rust flecks."
Claims and numbers then she spoke
Without a single source
Truth was often badly broke
For the City-- of course.

"Madame, six minutes have passed 'way
You have made our point clear
As my name is John E. Shay,
Citizens need not fear."
"Lead is bad, but we are good
I taught school chem class-es
Just so it is understood
I'm smart and wear glass-es."

And the lead was passed around
While the facts were stretch-ed
Taken from the soiled ground
Handed to the wretch-ed
Ludington it ain't no Flint
They strongly deny it
But no matter how they spin't
Some folks just don't b-uy it.

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Always enjoy your Christmas present to the forum.

Funny stuff.

Hilarious X. Even without the music.

Thanks shinblind and Willy, always happy to bring Christmas cheer to what may sometimes be an otherwise Dickensian-dreary town with a lot of future challenges, mostly manufactured by the "Artful Dodgers" at city hall.

This was a front page article in the Manistee News Advocate this last week, as well as other newspapers across the state, indicating that lead piping in old city water systems is a major cause of concern.  In Ludington, where we have a steady history of testing among the highest in the state for elevated blood lead levels, we have city officials going the opposite way by determining that all those lead goosenecks unearthed during the summer do not present any problem at all.  

Councilor Winczewski's stated point made at a previous meeting is that she wanted to illustrate why these 'oxidized' pipes that came out of the city water system posed no threat to Ludington drinking water, but she misses the point on several counts.  The lead goosenecks I have seen, including the one I received at the meeting that day, do not have the 'white' coating she claims is totally safe, but more of an intermittent orange-red coating, showing the presence of one or more types of lead oxides.  These oxides, which are equally as dangerous as lead itself, aren't a cure for lead leaching off the pipes when chloride or other negative ions are in the water.  Like Flint, if the water's pH becomes too acidic, that coating will deteriorate and greatly jump the lead levels.  

Ludington has been using a lot of chlorine to treat and purify lake water at the WTP and to remove shell buildup at their intake.  An interesting note:  if Ludington used corrosion-control methods of regularly adding orthophosphates to their water to reduce the pH, you would have safe white coated pipes like the ones below, not the more dangerous ones I've seen and was passed around by the councilor.

That's another great example to put Moonbeam in her place at the next mtg. X, great reporting again.

One has to wonder what other misinformation she was teaching during her career as an educator. 

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