Ludington City Council Meeting, January 8, 2024: A Foot in the Grave

[XLFD]

As Ebenezer Scrooge spied an empty chair where Tiny Tim Cratchit normally sat when the Ghost of Christmas' Yet to Come took him on his rounds, you will notice the same when you look for XLFD in his normal spot at the Ludington City Council meeting on January 8, 2024.  Just as the empty chair in the Christmas staple said a lot, so did the empty chair in the council chamber.

But it wasn't signifying that the usual chair occupant had met his end.  To the contrary, XLFD was lively criticizing Scottville's city leaders for improper process and onerous ordinances at the same time this meeting was taking place.  And like one of Dickens' ghosts, he was able to convey his thoughts about the deer cull's past, present, and future to the leaders of Ludington in a stern warning to all to make things right before it is too late.  

A look at the agenda packet for the meeting shows that they had a few routines usually done at the beginning of the year such as:  selecting a mayor pro tem, approving annual events, appointing standing committees, approving the designation of depositories and numerous contract renewals.  

The other business was not too controversial which accounts for the light turnout by citizens and the first public comment period featured a ghost from city council's past, Les Johnson, giving the council an update about what's happening in the county commission, his new team.  This was followed by my first comment, read into the record by City Manager Mitch Foster, expressing my concerns about the lack of public safety in the poorly planned deer cull:

XLFD: (7:30 in) "This council passed an ordinance for a three-year contract with the USDA in 2022 called a 'cooperative service agreement' to cull deer in 3-4 sites in the city.  When you were prodded into reconsidering the cull last January, the records show the only work-initiation document was filed for the school forest in PM Township, misrepresented as privately held property which was not within a school zone, when it was actually an event scheduled to be exclusively held on public school grounds.  Our administrators, who signed the CSA well after the terms and conditions went into effect, did not follow the wishes of this council or the people of this city, who, whichever way they felt about the deer, expected their taxes to go towards culling operations within the city limits and away from our elementary schools.

This year the public and this council has been misled once again by proponents of the cull.  The ordinance creating the CSA has not been amended or rescinded, so this council's simple motion to conduct a deer cull in October is under terms of that existing multiyear contract.  No individuals were named in the CSA, so imagine my surprise when the most outspoken proponent of this deer cull, Mark Barnett, and three other individuals have filled out work initiation forms claiming they are valid cooperators for this contracted deer cull when they were never listed on the CSA as co-cooperators.  Our mayor has engaged in subterfuge to cover up his conflict of interest by remaining silent about this during his advocacy of the deer cull. 

Mayor Barnett, and two other individuals seeking to have their own personal deer cull at the taxpayer's expense, live adjacent to school grounds, namely Oriole Field.  It is a violation of federal and state law to discharge firearms in a school zone without approval of the cull program activities by the relevant school board.  Among these activities according to the CSA is to "utilize suppressed firearms from vehicles and ground blinds".  Mayor Barnett has secretly planned a school shooting, as has the widow of the late Councilor Richard Rathsack and are having it funded by the rest of us.  All of you councilors who have approved of the cull with few particulars, effectively shooting in the dark, are accomplices to this planned schoolground massacre.

The madness goes much deeper than an unethical mayor and our blind council.  The two acres of Copeyon Park are also scheduled for culling activities, at the same time ice fishing on PM Lake is normally in full swing.  Cars and shanties will be well-within range of misfires and deflections and they will be there, with people in them, all-around the clock.  Not only will few or no deer show up in this small open park due to this presence, even with bait piles, but it is also rife with liability for those present if any shot is taken.  The last place has me the most frosted, however, and I will talk of that at the end of this meeting."  [END comment]

In the articles posted weeks ago, Cull Places, part 1 and part 3, we further describe the Mayor's conflict of interest issue, the school zone issue, and Copeyon Park's issue.  This gave the mayor, city manager, the city attorney and others the time to formulate a credible defense to the charges of impropriety and lawlessness.  Their loud and resounding silence in addressing the issues throughout the rest of the meeting (and in the past weeks), indicates they have no credible defense.

But one of the big announcements regarding the deer cull came from Foster later into the meeting when he recommended that the city moves forward on doing environmental testing before the cull.  The surface water, soil, and plant life near the First Ward plumes would be tested before the cull took place and because of this, in his pre-cull meeting with federal officials of the USDA, he recommended their time frame for the cull to be pushed back to late February, early March, pending test results allowing the cull to go forward. 

Terry Grams, who has been gently and dili-gently prodding local and state officials since Ludington leaders have reenacted their ill-conceived deer cull, got results after explaining his concerns for the health of the poor who would consume the venison from the deer in this contaminated area of Ludington.  The scandalous actions of Mayor Barnett in restarting the cull when it should have been left in its grave has given Grams and others the initiative to go after the state and federal agencies that promote these remarkably unsafe programs.  If the DNR actually believe that deer culls are efficient and safe to regulate the deer herd in Michigan, then they definitely need reforming because the mechanism of hunting is much safer, more efficient, and brings millions in for both the state and Michigan businesses, not to mention local governments.  

As promised, this reporter spoke again at the meeting's final comment period, once again using the city manager as my medium, and speaking gravely this time from the grave about the grave and the council's posterity:

XLFD:  "There are two reasons why I am not in Ludington tonight.  One is because Scottville is planning on increasing rental inspection fees by a factor of eight, ostensibly to fund a new administrator on the burdened backs of poor tenants.  I cannot sit quietly by and watch my co-hometown implode by doing crazy things like that.  

But the second reason I'm not at the podium is that I doubt whether I could control my anger or my grief when talking about the other place where you have planned to hold this deer cull.  Lakeview Cemetery.  My grandparents, my parents, and my daughter are interred there, and I have admired the way the city has taken care of these burial grounds, until they decided to make them killing grounds.  The blood of innocent life should not desecrate and defile this place where thousands of residents have friends and relatives buried.  If you treat our ancestors and our dearly departed with disrespect, you will be treated in kind with the disrespect you deserve.  With the median age of this council being at 71 years, where you already have one foot in the grave, you should at least be more empathetic towards those you dishonor among the living and the dead.

Not only does our own city code prohibit discharge of firearms in cemeteries, state law makes it clear:  "No person shall use firearms upon the grounds of any cemetery... nor hunt game therein".  The USDA has made it clear that they will not knowingly violate any state or federal laws, so why are you trying to get them to do so?  Why are you part of this planned desecration?"  [END comment]

City leaders have failed to understand that they have already lost this battle and that they will only lose a lot more if they actually hold this deer cull, with all of its controversial actions front and center.  This could be an alternate version of Dicken's classic, where Scrooge dismisses the four ghostly visits as the hallucinatory effects of an "undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato."   Sorry, there's a lot more grave here without any of the gravy involved.  Heed the words of moderation, council, and mend your ways before it's too late.

Other than a mild reaction to the 'foot in the grave' reference to their ages and their future homes, they once again left the controversy and illegality of shooting high-powered rifles and riding ORVs in cemeteries alone.  If they thought the reminder of this eventuality was disrespectful to them, then THAT is the point of what they have voted to do to those of us who believe in the sanctity of our cemeteries.  The gloves are off, their blood-red hands are clear for all to see.  You reckless councilors and unethical mayor can remain silent about your iniquity, the Ludington Torch will speak for you, and it will sound an awful lot like a eulogy for your political careers.  

As their time on this orbiting sphere was running out, they did a few other actions.  They had a contested race for the mayor pro tem position, where Councilor Cheri Stibitz was first nominated and then Councilor John Terzano, the incumbent having had the position since Les Johnson's move to the county.  When they had Stibitz' nomination come up, she would get all four of the women councilor votes (Stibitz, Winczewski, Oakes and May) to Terzano's three men.  

Kristi Zimmerman of the Chamber of Commerce gave a lengthy presentation on the Economic Development of the area, that effectively said a lot but conveyed nothing.  A presentation was made to outgoing DPW Director Joe Stickney of a plaque and a key to the city, while his replacement, Andy Larr was also acknowledged as one of the meeting's few attendees.  

A couple of ordinances were introduced, one allowing for alternates in committees, another for a three year contract with Lexis-Nexis for their services.  The council approved the designation of depositories, the annual service renewals of contractors (including the always-controversial fertilizing contract) and updates on the poverty exemption policy, which allow poor property owners some tax relief.  

Additionally, they approved a change order for the city marina E dock replacement, showing a minor bit of saving on the high price quoted before, and approved a new mutual aid contract for the fire department to replace the one expiring.

[Willy]

Great job of admonishing the Mayor and Council regarding the sacrilegious deer cull in Lakeview Cemetery. The headstone picture is priceless. At an average age of 71 the council, in my opinion, also matches that number with an IQ of the same denomination. It's just another indicator of what some dumb old people, who have nothing else to do, can purposely screw up. These people could make a mess out of a retirement home  bingo game.

[XLFD]

I hope you noticed the Dickensian references along with the tombstone.  Charles Dickens was adept at using foreshadowing in his works to engage the reader and hint at what's to come, most notably in "The Tale of Two Cities", which ironically is how I've referred to when comparing and contrasting Ludington and Scottville, our county's two municipalities. 

At the time I wrote this article, I made the decision to start a recall of the mayor for his improprieties and time it for this week, so if a candidate comes forward and beats him, his last day would be December 31st, 2024, ending his term beginning on January 1sr 2023 and making the headstone fully accurate.  Just like your estimation of their collective IQ.