Recall Against Mayor Barnett Withdrawn Following Disclosure that His Property Wouldn't be Used for Deer Cull

[XLFD]

This afternoon, the recall petition against Mayor Barnett, up for a clarity hearing tomorrow afternoon, was withdrawn by the sponsor, this reporter, following the news that city administrators would not hold the deer cull inside any school zones.  The rationale for withdrawing the recall was drafted in a letter to the county clerk, where the body of that letter was as follows:

Recent communications intercepted between the city and the school indicate that city administrators have reconsidered the notion of holding deer culling operations in school zones, that is within 1000 feet of school grounds.  Like four other people, Mayor Mark Barnett filled out a form in order to have culling operations valued at $19,500 occur on his private property within a school zone establishing a clear and present danger to our children.   With the latest decision, the deer cull will no longer happen on those private lands.  

While Mayor Barnett attempted to personally benefit from the wildlife management services he advocated strongly for, and accepted the value thereof, he will not receive those services accordingly.  And while his lack of disclosure about gaining personal benefit from the cull is troubling, the change of city policy reflects that the mayor only attempted to do so and will not receive such benefit and endanger our schoolchildren or his neighbors.  

Accordingly, this action has made the language of my recall petition problematical as to fact in its current state, and rather than amend the petition to reflect that there was an attempt to do something unethical, I am withdrawing the recall petition in good faith and hope that the mayor has learned enough not to take such courses of action in the future that will call his character into question. 

Our recall petition language will still be up for approval tomorrow afternoon for Councilor John Bulger, and if the language survives, two other sponsors for the 2nd and 4th wards will advance their own petitions on Councilors Winczewski and Stibitz respectively and will submit their recall petitions immediately with the exact same language other than for names.  GOLD 151 has scored their first minor victory in getting the policy changed that allowed Mayor Barnett to gain a special benefit due to his position.  

[Freedom Seeker]

Good News! Excellent work, X in getting COL to reconsider that mayor Barnett may have pressured(?) the Councilors to vote for a controversial deer cull within a school zone and probably benefitting him and his circle of entitled citified transplants. I hope those citified transplants from Detroit and Grand Rapids, Pontiac and elsewhere who feel more comfortable in concrete and high-density living with potted plants learn to appreciate nature, God's creation of plants and wildlife and learn to live with rather than kill nature.  

[XLFD]

More good news!  Even better than good, like real, real good.  The Election Commission approved my language this afternoon for the Bulger petition, which means that if he doesn't appeal, I'll be hitting the streets of middle-eastern Ludington looking for signatures, but before that, have my sponsors in the wings submitting two other petitions for Councilors Stibitz and Winczewski with the same language.  GOLD 151 is ready to roll, but still in park for now.

[Willy]

Fantastic news X. I am glad to hear that some sense of decency still exists at City Hall. Even if one is or is not a hunter, is or is not for the cull, it should only take a small amount of common sense by those in charge to realize that, turning Ludington's beloved Cartier Park and the hallowed grounds of the beautiful Lakeview cemetery into killing fields, is not an idea to be admired. I'm betting it does not sit well with many citizens. Really Councilors, this cull makes no sense. A stray bullet can do a lot of damage to expensive headstones and who's going to clean up the blood splattered on the final resting place of loved ones. Maybe the City could round up the deer and turn Oriole Field, with it's new turf, into a Roman Coliseum where the City could make money selling admission to the blood thirsty who want to bear witness to a deer cull. Who needs Gladiators when there are so many deer waiting to be culled. Sorry, I forgot about that pesky 1000 ft. limit, just as City officials did.

[XLFD]

I imagine what happened was one of the state APHIS people actually took a trip to Ludington and saw the utter craziness in culling in these half-dozen sites which are embedded in neighborhoods in school zones, and not in great deer habitat areas.  What's left for Ludington deer cull, Less than two acres in Copeyon Park and at the 'Depot property' and the only wooded area left of any size and under any control of the city is Cartier Park, which includes the cemetery and the leaf corral/compost area.

If I take the city manager at his word, which is getting harder, the cemetery will be off limits, but then there's that state law that says you can't shoot adjacent to cemeteries, various city laws that prohibit shooting and carrying in city parks and baiting in city parks.  Then there's that Cartier Park deed, and the inability of the city to show why deer culling is a park purpose.

Why are our leaders okay with breaking the law just to have some token effort at solving a problem which we don't even know exists?  I saw less deer last year in my travels in and out of the city in 2023 than in 2022, the harvesting stats went down considerably in the county, yet they were able to convince four councilors to change their vote just by the mayor shooting a lot of bull about a growing deer problem.

Thanks for the support, great to hear from you again, Freedom Seeker.  Tomorrow is the Bulger recall, if successful two more will follow, and then... more surprises.