Forum Discussions - The Ludington Torch2024-03-28T09:06:48Zhttps://ludingtoncitizen.ning.com/forum?feed=yes&xn_auth=noThe Next Biggest Lie About the Deer Culltag:ludingtoncitizen.ning.com,2024-03-26:4689834:Topic:14326872024-03-26T16:31:45.056ZXLFDhttps://ludingtoncitizen.ning.com/profile/TheLudingtonCitizen
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<p>In <a href="http://ludingtoncitizen.ning.com/forum/topics/the-biggest-lie-behind-the-ludington-deer-cull" rel="noopener" target="_blank">The Biggest Lie Behind the Ludington Deer Cull</a>, we revealed that the deer cull, which was primarily held in Cartier Park, actually had no reason to be held in that venue. There was never any complaint or damage documented at Cartier Park since the beginning of 2022, when the cull was first introduced as a way to manage deer in areas with high…</p>
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<p>In <a href="http://ludingtoncitizen.ning.com/forum/topics/the-biggest-lie-behind-the-ludington-deer-cull" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Biggest Lie Behind the Ludington Deer Cull</a>, we revealed that the deer cull, which was primarily held in Cartier Park, actually had no reason to be held in that venue. There was never any complaint or damage documented at Cartier Park since the beginning of 2022, when the cull was first introduced as a way to manage deer in areas with high numbers of complaints and damage. Why was it held in Cartier Park when park and campground users are almost unanimous in their opinion that seeing deer there is a good thing? City leaders have told us nothing since, keeping to their tired lie that there were high numbers of complaints and damage in the area. </p>
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<p>One criticism I received on our Facebook entity, The Ludington Pitchfork, was from a Forest Hills resident who wondered why I was only focusing on Cartier Park and not other places where the cull was held. The problem was that the one other place that had deer cull activities on it was private property, about 3 acres in the Fourth Ward, property owned by Erik Taylor (who lives elsewhere in Ludington). </p>
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<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12404461858?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12404461858?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="666" class="align-center"/></a></p>
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<p>We have talked about this property before in relation to the owner giving the approval for holding the cull on the property and then receiving one <a href="http://ludingtoncitizen.ning.com/forum/topics/cull-places-pt-3-quid-pro-depot" target="_blank" rel="noopener">heck of a tax break deal</a> from city hall the month after. This would be an incredible scandal in other cities, but not here. Taylor gave approval and now he stands a lot better chance of succeeding in getting the property developed. </p>
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<p>Nothing to see here, says the city, but let's remember what is on the top of the contract with the USDA and what is stated in the council ordinance for this three-year contract: the cull will take places only in areas of the city with high amounts of complaints and damage from deer. </p>
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<p>The Depot doesn't have a public campground on it or is the public normally allowed thereon, but you will notice that several inhabited buildings are within 100 feet of the property (see the white lines in the map above). State law says that people cannot hunt within 450 feet of a building that is inhabitable without the expressed permission of the owner. This is obviously to ensure safety, but there is no indication that those building owners were asked for their approval, nor was Dowland or Staffon Streets blocked off for this cull. </p>
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<p>What happened with the cull, according to eyewitnesses at the March 19 cull, is that a "cull expert" (as yet unidentified, the city breaking FOIA law to withhold that information from the public) parked on the south side of Dowland Street at about the NW corner of the property and shot his rifle through his truck window. We were told this was to be done safely: </p>
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<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12404470464?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12404470464?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="666" class="align-center"/></a></p>
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<p>To my knowledge, all neighbors within the danger zone of that property were not for this cull, and Erik Taylor, many city blocks away in the comfort of his own home, was definitely feeling safe and well-provided for by dint of selling out his neighbors to the city and their royal hunt.</p>
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<p>In order to prove my hypotheses, I sent a similar FOIA request to the city asking for four different types of records:</p>
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<p>"1) documented complaints from property owner Erik Taylor or any of his neighbors around the "Depot property" involving deer activity or presence on Erik Taylor's property filed since January 2022.</p>
<p>2) any documented environmental/ecological damage believed to have been caused by the deer and their activities on that Depot property,</p>
<p>3) incident reports of any car/deer accidents happening on the 700 block of East Dowland, and</p>
<p>4) any documented complaints or letters of support from that neighborhood in regard to deer cull activities happening in their vicinity."</p>
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<p>Except for the dates, this turned out to be the same response I got from the other request:</p>
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<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12404472490?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12404472490?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="666" class="align-center"/></a></p>
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<p>Here we go again, there has been no complaints about deer in that area, there have been no complaints about ecological/environmental damage in the area, there have been no car/deer accidents in the area. The only surprising things is that there were no complaints about the cull activities in the area, because I would be rattled if I saw a federal agent parking in my neighborhood and taking shots from his truck. </p>
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<p>To our Forest Hills friend: like Cartier Park, there were no complaints involving deer at the Depot property, no environmental damage at all in the record. In summation of the deer cull, the cull took place in two areas that did not have any documented complaints or damage caused by deer. The whole affair was a very dangerous and costly lie. </p> The Last Temptation of Evan Kroezetag:ludingtoncitizen.ning.com,2024-03-25:4689834:Topic:14326802024-03-25T00:32:34.113ZXLFDhttps://ludingtoncitizen.ning.com/profile/TheLudingtonCitizen
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<p>It is not without irony that the Ludington Area School District (LASD) would Kreuze-fy one of their own teachers rather than give him a modicum of mercy in the same month that we celebrate Easter. </p>
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<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12404029092?profile=original" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12404029092?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="555"></img></a></p>
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<p>Evan Kroeze began his teaching career at LASD in the fall of 2019 at the young age of 23. He had originally graduated from…</p>
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<p>It is not without irony that the Ludington Area School District (LASD) would Kreuze-fy one of their own teachers rather than give him a modicum of mercy in the same month that we celebrate Easter. </p>
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<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12404029092?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12404029092?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="555" class="align-center"/></a></p>
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<p>Evan Kroeze began his teaching career at LASD in the fall of 2019 at the young age of 23. He had originally graduated from LHS in 2014 with top honors, went to nearby GVSU taking courses in education, and came back to his hometown to seek employment. </p>
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<p>In his first year of teaching, a girl we will call Mary attended one of his classes as a sophomore. She would go on to graduate in the spring of 2022, but before that she would seek out Mr. Kroeze's help with issues common with students of that age. She would admit that she spent a lot of time in his classroom seeking help with college applications and looking for advice in dealing with personal and family issues. Some would say that Mr. Kroeze went above and beyond his duties as a teacher in assisting Mary, some may suggest he had other motives or tried to be a counselor without a license to do so, but it appears that nothing was expected from Mary in return for his advice and counsel while she was a student. </p>
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<p>Mary graduated and became Evan Kroeze's former student. One week after graduation, on June 5th, 2022, she decided to pay Evan Kroeze a visit at his apartment after she was done with work nearby. It's not clear how she knew where he lived, but her visit came unexpectedly to him. As before, Mary sought a friendly ear to talk about her family problems and other issues. Mary, who was 18 years old and no longer a student at the LASD, had consensual intimate contact with her former teacher that night. </p>
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<p>They mutually agreed to meeting again later that June, where more intimate contact occurred. Neither Mary or Evan indicated there was any further contact between them, but they remained on good terms. Somehow, the relationship became known to two other female students in early 2024, and another teacher overheard them talking about it in class on February 16. Based on the rumor, investigations were conducted by both the LASD and LPD, who supplies an SRO to the school, and Kroeze was placed on non-disciplinary paid leave. </p>
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<p>The narrative about Evan Kroeze and Mary leading this off is a presentation of the results of that investigation, where few of the facts are disputed or unknown by the witnesses and the evidence, which includes a forensic look at Kroeze's phone reviewing text messages and emails. These would include an exchange made during Mary's junior year in 2021:</p>
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<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12403906697?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12403906697?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="711" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p>If this was the most incriminating email or text between them, one that shows two individuals trying to support each other through the noise of the world, rather than portraying some naive girl being groomed by a lecherous teacher, one may wonder what the problem was. A former adult student sought out her former unmarried teacher at his home, they talked, mutually recognized that there was an attraction between them unhindered by any rules and mores that formerly applied to them and consented to take it to another level. </p>
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<p>No evidence has been provided that Evan Kroeze has done anything improper with any other student or former student, so if the extent of his passion and temptation was this former student who admittedly showed up without warning at the doorstep of his apartment one night, then what is the crime? The LPD, notorious for creating crimes to foist on innocent people, could find none. </p>
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<p>As an educator for over twelve years, this reporter can understand this dilemma. College coeds in the class I taught as a graduate assistant were decidedly friendlier to me than they otherwise would be. Yet I would only be tested once when I was an associate professor at WSCC. One student's sister would come to pick her up after class, and one day she made it known she wanted to date me. I told her that I couldn't as long as I had her sister as a student, but that if she felt the same way after the term was over and grades were assigned, I wouldn't have that excuse. </p>
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<p>A month after the term ended that sister of a student ran into me again, asked me out, and a relationship began that lasted many years. I saw nothing wrong in the course I took, I see nothing wrong with the course Evan Kroeze took with the given fact set. At worst, he gave into temptation rather than do what may have been best for Mary by keeping the relationship professional and platonic, as it had been when Mary was a student at the school he taught at. </p>
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<p>However, the school set a lower bar than the LPD (and I) in order to remove Kroeze or force him to resign and they took great pains to reach it on the encouragement of their lawyer, Ray Correll of the Thrun Law firm. Correll would advise the school throughout to avoid some workable compromise that would allow Kroeze to continue teaching and coaching at his alma mater and recognize that his 'offense' against a former adult student off school grounds is not directly addressed in the school policies. </p>
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<p>The <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/583404515006385" target="_blank" rel="noopener">school's investigation</a> is better documented than usual with Principal Forsberg's chronological report (p. 1-4), EK character references (p. 5-6), two student interviews (p. 7,8), relevant emails between Mary and EK (p. 9-12), EK's statements/materials (p. 13-22), Superintendent Corlett's report (p. 23-26), Correspondence with LPD (p. 27-30), prevailing policies and laws (p. 31+). </p>
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<p>The main problem with the conclusions developed to sack Evan Kroeze is that they always refer to Mary as "student 1", when at the time the infractions at issue occurred, she wasn't a student at the LASD. This confusion permeated into the <a href="https://www.masoncountypress.com/2024/03/19/lhs-teacher-resigns-amid-allegations-of-inappropriate-conduct/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mason County Press' article</a> on the resignation, suggesting a teacher was "<span>having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a student." </span></p>
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<p><span>Superintendent Corlett would not confirm, deny, or correct the allegation that said a student in the district was the victim. Why would the superintendent want to perpetuate the myth that a teacher and student were engaging in sexual relations, when the evidence shows that such a scandal never happened? </span></p>
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<p><span>And what about the emails we've already seen, sent during a time when staff and students were still being forced to wear masks at school by the board, and multiple students went to board meetings worried about their mental health issues from the grand experiment. Was this seen as showing a caring teacher and a student appreciating his dedication? Nope:</span></p>
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<p><span><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12404004055?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12404004055?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="711" class="align-center"/></a></span></p>
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<p>In modern education, mentoring or counseling a student to help them cope with a sometimes-insane reality is apparently seen as a red flag by corporate school lawyers. Their advice was to ruin Evan Kroeze's career in education by making sure his personnel file retains a false charge against him. Superintendent Corlett would end his presentation against Kroeze's continued employment with the following recommendation after trying to pin policy violation on the given record.</p>
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<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12404005881?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12404005881?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="711" class="align-center"/></a></p>
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<p>Throughout the recommendation, Corlett calls the woman who graduated two years ago as 'student 1' and relies on board policies that primarily rely on there being a student-teacher relationship present, and that would be the case before June 2022, but not when the intimate liaisons took place between consenting adults. </p>
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<p>The policies (<a href="https://go.boarddocs.com/mi/lud/Board.nsf/vpublic?open" target="_blank" rel="noopener">found here</a>) are also reprinted in relevant part in the investigation packet. No LASD policy or the sections of the state's code of educational ethics mentioned reflects conduct outside of the workplace and outside the student-teacher relationship, which didn't exist after May 2022. Policy 3213(H) is almost applicable to their conduct in school, except that the teacher was not trying to play the part of a counselor in assessing diagnosing, or treating Mary's issues.</p>
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<p>Was the fix in for this Kroeze-fixion? Perhaps, this was a subject that the district would not want to be born again by the return of Evan Kroeze at the high school or the baseball diamond. Thus, he had to be called "out" even though many in the community would consider him "safe". It seems to be unduly cruel to burden Kroeze's reputation and personnel file by indicating that he did something sexually inappropriate with a student, when that doesn't appear to be the case when the facts are looked at in this investigation. This is a cross he will be forced to bear for the rest of his career.</p> Cartier Park: A Once-thriving Wildlife Sanctuary Now in Periltag:ludingtoncitizen.ning.com,2024-03-24:4689834:Topic:14328682024-03-24T02:12:06.801ZXLFDhttps://ludingtoncitizen.ning.com/profile/TheLudingtonCitizen
<p>Terry Grams, Godfather of the Stop-the-deer-cull movement in Ludington offered an opinion in the Friday, March 22nd edition of the City of Ludington Daily News. They liked it so much they ran it again earlier today. <strong>The Ludington Torch</strong> has maintained that our Ludington leaders have shot themselves in the foot by determinedly holding the cull on successive Tuesday nights (3-12 and 3-19), when they had no reason to be there. Grams takes it to the next level in his…</p>
<p>Terry Grams, Godfather of the Stop-the-deer-cull movement in Ludington offered an opinion in the Friday, March 22nd edition of the City of Ludington Daily News. They liked it so much they ran it again earlier today. <strong>The Ludington Torch</strong> has maintained that our Ludington leaders have shot themselves in the foot by determinedly holding the cull on successive Tuesday nights (3-12 and 3-19), when they had no reason to be there. Grams takes it to the next level in his brilliantly written essay:</p>
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<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12403789099?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12403789099?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="711" class="align-center"/></a></p> The Biggest Lie Behind the Ludington Deer Culltag:ludingtoncitizen.ning.com,2024-03-21:4689834:Topic:14327432024-03-21T16:59:17.638ZXLFDhttps://ludingtoncitizen.ning.com/profile/TheLudingtonCitizen
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<p>It's a shame that our city leaders are so detached from reality that they don't realize how important it is for a city-ran park with a campground therein to preserve its natural character. One visitor to the Cartier Park Campground named "Paula" took some time to upload some pictures she took at the park and relate her overall experience just a year ago. There's a general theme to the pictures:…</p>
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<p>It's a shame that our city leaders are so detached from reality that they don't realize how important it is for a city-ran park with a campground therein to preserve its natural character. One visitor to the Cartier Park Campground named "Paula" took some time to upload some pictures she took at the park and relate her overall experience just a year ago. There's a general theme to the pictures:</p>
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<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12403143093?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12403143093?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="711" class="align-center"/></a></p>
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<p>Instead, our city leaders try to paint a false narrative in order to shoot themselves in the foot. Consider this year's deer cull. On <a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10929848465?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener">p, 1 of this FOIA packet</a> we see Ordinance 494-22, passed in late 2022, where the council originally approved a three-year deer cull, and later cancelled the first year when enough pressure was applied, and common sense eventually won. When the council voted 6-1 to restart this contract's continuance in year 2 (2024) of the contract, the agreement remained unchanged, and here is the relevant part for this article's analysis:</p>
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<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12403108066?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12403108066?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="711" class="align-center"/></a></p>
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<p>It says APHIS WS would kill "deer in areas with high numbers of complaint and damage" in Ludington. This same language is expressed in the Cooperative Service Agreement between the city and APHIS WS (seen in p. 2 of the packet):</p>
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<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12403111478?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12403111478?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="666" class="align-center"/></a></p>
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<p>Same exact language. And in both years of trying to get the deer cull implemented, Cartier Park has been the only city-owned location where the cull was supposed to take place. And this year, in opposition to the objections of most in the community, and in defiance of injunctive lawsuits, it took place there on March 12th and 19th. Reportedly it took the lives of 21 deer on March 12th in the 80 acres of Cartier Park. </p>
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<p>One can wonder how they managed to shoot 21 deer in an area that is 1/8 of a square mile in a couple hours of shooting from a noisy ATV after this reporter wandered the area stealthily for two hours prior and saw no deer, but let's take their numbers as gospel, even though the transparency of every part of the process has been opaque as dirt. Let's say they shot 21 deer at Cartier Park on March 12th, because we trust these contracted killers to be men of their word.</p>
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<p>The language in the ordinance and contract is explicit enough: deer are to be killed in "areas with high numbers of complaints and damage". This is suggestive in saying that Cartier Park, the only City-owned property considered for culling at council either of the first two years, had high numbers of complaints and damage. This can be easily affirmed or refuted by using a FOIA request, and so I sent one to the city manager after the first cull was in the books. </p>
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<p>I asked for three things: "<span>1) documented complaints by Cartier Park users or its campground users involving deer activities or presence at the park proper (not the cemetery or other city or private properties) filed since the beginning of 2022? And for that same time include 2) any documented environmental/ecological damage believed to have been caused by deer in the area of Cartier Park and 3) incident reports of any car/deer accidents that occurred directly adjacent to Cartier Park (not the cemetery) on Slagle, Rath, Bryant, or M-116 roadways.</span>"</p>
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<p>I awaited the deluge of complaints about deer in Cartier Park, braced myself for the many reports of environmental damage, and hoped they wouldn't charge me for a voluminous amount of car/deer accidents. But what I got was this: </p>
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<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12403137660?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12403137660?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="666" class="align-center"/></a></p>
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<p>Apparently, a high number of complaints is zero, a high amount of environmental damage is none, and a high number of property-damaging car/deer accidents is an empty set. We have been told many lies throughout these two years, many coming from the mouth of our current mayor, but the big lie all along is that the deer cull would take place in a city area where deer are just causing so much damage that they can't even document it-- and complaints are so incredible that they never were made in the first place. </p>
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<p>The deer at Cartier Park fill an ecological niche, they fill an emotional niche to those who walk through the park and wonder at seeing them in their natural habitat, and they make our visitors who choose Cartier Park as their vacation destination come back again. Why would the people running our city ever mischaracterize the deer at Cartier Park as anything but an asset, then foolishly spend $20K to eliminate this valuable resource?</p> Scottville City Hall, MCC School Board, Face Key Personnel Issuestag:ludingtoncitizen.ning.com,2024-03-19:4689834:Topic:14327292024-03-19T13:42:45.401ZXLFDhttps://ludingtoncitizen.ning.com/profile/TheLudingtonCitizen
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<p>On the evening of March 18th, 2024, a rare doubleheader was held in Scottville, with the city commission holding a special meeting at 6 PM and the Mason County Central School Board holding its regular March meeting at 7 PM. </p>
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<p>The meetings themselves were much different in overall character, with the commission meeting's <a href="https://cityofscottville.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Special-Meeting-Notice-3-18-24.pdf" rel="noopener" target="_blank">only item of…</a></p>
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<p>On the evening of March 18th, 2024, a rare doubleheader was held in Scottville, with the city commission holding a special meeting at 6 PM and the Mason County Central School Board holding its regular March meeting at 7 PM. </p>
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<p>The meetings themselves were much different in overall character, with the commission meeting's <a href="https://cityofscottville.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Special-Meeting-Notice-3-18-24.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">only item of business</a> to go into closed session to discuss their city attorney's written opinion on some undisclosed topic. As typical of this commission, they came out of the session to make one cryptic vote to accept the city attorney's recommendation as discussed in the closed session. </p>
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<p>The public was not intrigued, with only me and a reporter from the COLDNews present. This marks the fourth straight time I have went to the commissioner's meeting and not seen one regular citizen in attendance. Nevertheless, there was some background chatter in the community about what necessitated this special gathering that was more reasonable than most rumors. </p>
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<p>It seems that the city manager's contract renewal is quickly approaching, and it has become a hot topic for the commission, with other key staff members threatening to move on if Jimmy Newkirk is allowed to keep his job at the top. The absence of all city staff, including the regular attendees Newkirk and City Clerk Kelse Lester, added credence to such rumors. All commissioners were present and Nathan Wolfe, not the regular city attorney but from the city's retained law firm, were present, the latter serving as the clerk in the closed session. But before they were able to get behind the security of a closed door, this reporter gave some advice in his public comment:</p>
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<p><span><strong>XLFD</strong></span>: "Commissioners, I'm on the understanding that tonight's special meeting has been convened in order to ultimately consider one of two paths for the City of Scottville's future. One of those paths involve the extension of City manager Newkirk's employment contract, which may seem reasonable if you can ignore the voices of all those members of city staff and the public who have had negative experiences with the chief executive of the city and his temperament. That path could lead to disastrous results, with the resignations of key staff members and the continued distrust and dissociation of the general public from city government. </p>
<p>The other path is not much easier to take as the city commission would have to replace a city manager once again, among the continued public perception that the commission may have acted rashly and capriciously in the firing of City Manager Courtney Magaluk during her maternity leave in early 2021. The commission would be effectively rolling the dice again if they decide to change city leadership, but the odds would be in their favor this time, as not rolling the dice could create multiple vacancies to fill and those positions might be hard to replace with quality individuals knowing that they may have difficulties with their boss along the way. </p>
<p>I was one who looked around and saw nothing blatantly wrong with City Manager Magaluk to retire her number. I can't say that with Jimmy Newkirk. He openly bragged to my city's city manager and a city councilor about preventing November 2022 meetings from having a quorum and in his admission implicated a couple of commissioners in his conspiracy against open government in Scottville. A city manager shouldn't be intimately involved in creating schisms between this commission and doing so unethically. </p>
<p>Two paths. Choose wisely for the future of Scottville."</p>
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<p>The commission took a little over 40 minutes to consider their options and accept the direction given by counsel. Whether this was a good decision or not, we likely won't know until the next meeting or until Newkirk or some other staff member bears the repercussions of that decision and airs their issues with it on social media. This is a bad way to run a public body, secrecy from start to finish; which is why nobody in the city wastes their time going. </p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12402168876?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12402168876?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="666" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>As noted, the school board meeting was much different, with the high school library's ample confines filled with parents, students, staff, and the board. This reporter heard more chatter regarding this meeting before its inception, being alerted that a group of several parents would be broadcasting their grievances with school policies not being followed and coaches that were just not living up to their potential. </p>
<p></p>
<p>Board President Jim Schulte could not make the meeting in person, so Trustee Gena Nelson initiated the meeting, which was rather convivial through the usual routines, that was until she gave the last call for public comment. And then the floodgates opened. </p>
<p></p>
<p>Getting a diverse group of parents together to reasonably petition their school board under a common cause in this day and age is like the proverbial herding of cats. But it happened this evening in that library as six parents aired their grievances with school policies being ignored or just plain broken regularly by certain members of the school's coaching staff. Those parents had also put their concerns in a <a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12402154087?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> signed by all of them, suggesting there were others that were too "fearful to speak up". The content of that letter was discussed in greater detail over the course of this meeting.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Coalitions of parents like this are important when it comes to either making sure school policies are followed or in changing policy. Under such pressure, the board wisely relaxed the usual structure of public comment and allowed for the dialog that generally needs to happen before such issues can be resolved in the public school setting. Like <a href="https://ludingtoncitizen.ning.com/forum/topics/playing-time-at-mce" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MCE with similar coaching issues</a>, the trustees adapted their meeting to better understand the issue. According to several, they were unaware of the matters brought forth. </p>
<p></p>
<p>The temperatures elevated with both Superintendent Jeff Mount and Principal Jeff Tuka called out as liars and do-nothings. The language was spicy at times, primarily from the parents relating language the coaches reportedly used. Charlie Ruiz called another coach out on an alleged assault on his son that had him paying for massive medical bills. </p>
<p></p>
<p>Sandwiched between the two sessions of public comment, the board reported that they would be moving future board meetings to the Community Room (known as the old shop room by many school alumni) and have decided that they will aim for having another bond election come May 6, 2025.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Former City Commissioner Ryan Graham, who was instrumental in the almost-successful November 2023 "Vote Yes" drive for the two school bond issues, indicated in public comment before that was declared that he was through with working for that cause and that it was doomed to failure since they can't seem to control their coaches, while others echoed his sentiment. </p>
<p></p>
<p>Whatever course the school board decides to take in what is at the heart of it, a personnel issue, their choice of paths will be no simpler than that of the Scottville City Commission and could be a lot costlier if done without respect for the wishes of those they serve. At the end of the night, both public bodies are each facing tough choices in regard to their personnel, and any path taken will be fraught with its own perils. </p> Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, but Scoundrels Prefer Brunettestag:ludingtoncitizen.ning.com,2024-03-17:4689834:Topic:14328242024-03-17T12:10:46.947ZXLFDhttps://ludingtoncitizen.ning.com/profile/TheLudingtonCitizen
<p></p>
<p>Worried about your always-growing local taxes not doing anything worthwhile? This then is a story for you as we will see Ludington's taxpayers spend $20,000 on reuniting a couple of old friends, with Wisconsin and local government as their common link.</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12400448489?profile=original" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12400448489?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="666"></img></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>Ludington City Manager Mitch Foster (above left) was plucked from…</p>
<p></p>
<p>Worried about your always-growing local taxes not doing anything worthwhile? This then is a story for you as we will see Ludington's taxpayers spend $20,000 on reuniting a couple of old friends, with Wisconsin and local government as their common link.</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12400448489?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12400448489?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="666" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>Ludington City Manager Mitch Foster (above left) was plucked from being the city manager of Winneconne, Wisconsin about 5 years ago after growing up in Mason County. His friend, Allyson Brunette (above right), runs a <a href="https://www.allysonbrunette.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Green Bay Consulting firm</a> for local governments, she's originally a Jersey girl.</p>
<p></p>
<p>While it is not uncommon for a consultant for local governments to work closely with city managers to draft a strategic plan, this one would never have happened without puzzle pieces falling into place. Unfortunately, those pieces in this instance came at a cost to Ludington citizens, where the city manager failed to disclose what appears to be a conflict of interest that clouded his judgment in advancing his friend's interest in getting a consultant job with the City of Ludington. </p>
<p></p>
<p>Our money was no object as we spent 28% more than we could have for a similar service, while our city council considered not the lowest, but the third lowest bid for services on Foster's recommendation of his friend. From the <a href="https://ludingtoncitymi.documents-on-demand.com/?l=789d498c52694de8a41c78a59d8eb8ab&r=CBCF5144F797EB23AFD09578BD9A48AB&d=0a8b678b8bc7ee11a3ed000c29a59557" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2-12-24 council packet</a>, which included the proposal from only one company therein, Ms. Brunette's:</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12400878285?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12400878285?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="666" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>The<span> </span><a href="https://ludingtoncitymi.documents-on-demand.com/?l=935afb222a724d11a47eb72ec45ccf80&r=9B760A25DB09598F7BA8AF74D9062DDE&d=ec926e4270ceee11a3f1000c29a59557" target="_blank" rel="noopener">meeting minutes</a><span> </span>(and video) reflect that the council accepted Foster's choice without any question about why the lowest bid (or second lowest) was being ignored. On looking through the minutes, none of the city's standing committees ever considered these 15 proposals, so what sort of committee including council members is he talking about? Foster's brazen favoritism towards his personal friend is displayed throughout the memo and his choice to show only Brunette's proposal rather than similarly priced and lower priced proposals, as reflected in the minutes.</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12400880662?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12400880662?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="711" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>An additional question to ask is why is our city council so dysfunctional that they cannot question why they are choosing the third lowest bid for a contract defined by a request for specific services by qualified contractors? In the interim between meetings, I made a FOIA request to get all the information on this I could, did some extra research, and I brought some of my findings up at the March 11, 2024 meeting. After leading off with a short statement on how the council's action was wrong at the prior meeting to have alcohol sold at the beach and finishing with a bombshell against the city attorney's conduct, I brought forth Mr. Foster's impropriety, what would have been a bombshell if our other city leaders weren't already so mired in the muck:</p>
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<p><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fcityofludington%2Fvideos%2F1826190717843630%2F&show_text=false&width=560&t=0" width="560" height="314" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe>
</p>
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<p><strong>XLFD</strong>: (13:00 in) "... <strong><em>City staff is leading the charge against our laws and ethical standards. One month ago, the city manager introduced one of 15 proposals received after an RFP was issued for a strategic planning consultant. This was never explored in committee and the only proposal offered to the council was from Allyson Brunette Consultants of Wisconsin at $1.54 under the $20,000 that the city manager budgeted for the service, as a strange coincidence. The proposal was over 28% higher than the low bid offered by a company named <a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12400881891?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GovHR</a> with impressive credentials in their 21-page proposal that I received through FOIA. </em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em>In reviewing social media posts, it turns out that our city manager and Allyson Brunette had a professional if not personal relationship before these proposals were sought. I shouldn't be the one having to divulge that information one month after Mr. Foster directed you to focus only on this one proposal that is more than 28% higher than the low bid in a competitive bidding process. Mr. Foster should have done so one month ago and then explain to us all about why we should waste over 28% of our tax dollars to get consulting services from his Wisconsin friend and why GovHR wouldn't have given us a more objective strategic plan than Ms. Brunette. Maybe Mr. Foster made the calculation that spending 28% more than what he needed to get a strategic plan where his friend paints him as a principled asset rather than what he has become is worth the extra cost to the taxpayers</em></strong>..." </p>
<p></p>
<p>To his credit, Mitchell Foster chose to address this later on, rather than to let it fester by ignoring the conflict of interest. At the 1:13:40 point of the video of the meeting he would state:</p>
<p></p>
<p><strong>Foster</strong>: "<em>And just for clarification purposes coming off from the public comment, the strategic plan we received 15 proposals for, two of those proposals were within $500 of the $20,000 budget, because they asked what we budgeted, no one else asked. The low bidder was not chosen by the committee, not myself, because they actually performed the last strategic plan that was not useful and was a negative process in the eyes of those that participated. </em></p>
<p><em>What the commenter didn't note was that the other communication between Allyson Brunette and myself was that "if you know of any strategic planning companies that could do this and she said "no, I won't do it either." And so I think the inference of corruption or favoritism when this was done by a committee that included the mayor, Councilor Winczewski, Councilor Terzano, the police chief and others before my suggestion is frustrating and silly to say the least. This was an open process, and so I just wanted to clarify that, that these sorts of accusations come regularly and I hope they change at some point</em>."</p>
<p></p>
<p>When a public official tries to deflect credible allegations supported by the record by calling them silly in order to clarify things, you know you're onto something. As he mentioned a committee of sundry city officials, I had to find out more about it, so I sent a FOIA request for clarification: "Please send me electronic copies of the electronic and posted public notices for this [strategic plan proposal evaluation] committee meeting or meetings, hopefully describing the name of the committee and its purpose, location, legality, and the meeting notes of those meetings."</p>
<p></p>
<p>I was sent back a response fairly quick saying that there was no records conforming to my request. That means Mitchell Foster tried to sell us a proposition that a committee of randomly selected city officials meeting who knows where and at what time, outside the purview of the general public and uninvited officials was an "open process". Now that's truly silly. </p>
<p></p>
<p>So, let's look at the facts I had when I made my statement. You had the $15,600 proposal already shared, you also have a <a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12400885900?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$19,800 proposal</a> from a firm called CP2 both coming in less than Brunette's. Foster's dismissal of HRGov's prior work for the city through Ryan Cotton fails to address why the prior plan was not useful and of negative value or why CP2 as the next lower bid was not considered at all by the council nor offered for review by the people. </p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12400885874?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12400885874?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="555" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>Foster forgets to acknowledge that the prior strategic plan which is meant to work for just a few years in advance, came out in March 2020. Remember what happened then, and what would influence any great strategic plan created before the pandemic hysteria hit and set the tone for years. I have asked through FOIA for this strategic plan to see whether it was reasonable for the pre-pandemic time when it was created but have not received it yet. </p>
<p></p>
<p>Nor why I have yet to see the communication between Ms. Brunette that Foster speaks of, one has to wonder why Ms. Brunette at one point refused to be considered and then became interested enough in the contract to submit a proposal and ask Foster how much was budgeted and other questions. One would have to guess that Foster talked her into it or mischaracterized this <a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12400888273?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener">contact thru LinkedIn</a>. </p>
<p></p>
<p>And while Foster refuses to affirm or deny that Allyson Brunette is a friend on a personal level, she has no problem claiming it on LinkedIn after receiving the contract where she was the third lowest bidder:</p>
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<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12400888700?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12400888700?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="666" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>And this isn't just a recent friendship made after this approval of her company for a $20,000 contract, as seen in other LinkedIn communications involving topics like Kringles and Wisconsin-ness late last year on her post:</p>
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<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12400889662?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12400889662?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="444" class="align-center"/></a></p>
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<p>And Ted Lasso inspired philosophy a year ago on his post:</p>
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<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12400890295?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12400890295?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="444" class="align-center"/></a></p>
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<p>So why is it silly to bring up the question of why he failed to disclose this close relationship and directed the council through his illegally-crafted committee, meeting without public knowledge, to pick the third lowest bid of a company owned by his close friend, Allyson Brunette? Why does he claim this is an open process, when it appears so secret and capricious by design? Why is the waste of 28% in public funds an unwarranted claim, when the records all point to an abuse of discretion and outright cronyism? And why isn't anyone on city council or any other officer at city hall or the police station recognizing that and stopping it?</p> Trapped in Cartier Park: A Victim's Tale of the Ludington Deer Culltag:ludingtoncitizen.ning.com,2024-03-14:4689834:Topic:14326102024-03-14T04:01:47.442ZXLFDhttps://ludingtoncitizen.ning.com/profile/TheLudingtonCitizen
<p></p>
<p>On Tuesday, March 12th, this reporter was alerted early on that the Ludington DPW was setting up barricades around Cartier Park in preparation for the deer cull by the USDA's APHIS Wildlife Management squad. Later that morning, I went to the park and scouted around the area and found that they had replenished a bait pile with fresh corn. As baiting in a city park was a violation of state and local law, I got my rake out and raked all the corn under last fall's leaf drop,…</p>
<p></p>
<p>On Tuesday, March 12th, this reporter was alerted early on that the Ludington DPW was setting up barricades around Cartier Park in preparation for the deer cull by the USDA's APHIS Wildlife Management squad. Later that morning, I went to the park and scouted around the area and found that they had replenished a bait pile with fresh corn. As baiting in a city park was a violation of state and local law, I got my rake out and raked all the corn under last fall's leaf drop, <a href="https://ludingtoncitizen.ning.com/forum/topics/striking-gold-at-cartier-park" target="_blank" rel="noopener">like I had previously done</a>. </p>
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<p>If you can't tell, or are not one of our regular readers, I am not a fan of the deer cull; I find it a colossal waste of money and a bigger threat to public safety than the deer that the public seems to enjoy seeing at Ludington's largest natural park inside the city limits. The city who voted to have this cull has yet to show us just one complaint from one person complaining about seeing deer in Cartier Park. </p>
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<p>I finished out a couple of hours of scouting and raking by looking at the layout of the barricades which seemed to be all in place (or ready to be put in place) by about mid-afternoon. I couldn't help but notice that Lakeview Cemetery was totally open, probably because they decided not to cull deer there, and neither were the various inroads into the park from the cemetery. </p>
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<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12400057653?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12400057653?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="666" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>After attending the Pere Marquette Township's Board meeting at 4 PM and setting up an appointment with Sheriff Kim Cole (also attending) to discuss further my <a href="https://ludingtoncitizen.ning.com/forum/topics/to-ross-the-ethical-line-city-attorney-attempts-public-extortion" target="_blank" rel="noopener">public extortion charges against</a> City Attorney Ross Hammersley, I set out towards Cartier Park to do some more scouting with the aim of getting more deer out of the area and locate/neutralize any other illegal bait piles before darkness fell. </p>
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<p>Whenever this cull was discussed at council, it was premised that the killing would happen after darkness fell. In the most recent discussion of timing in the Public Safety Committee meeting of <a href="https://ludingtoncitymi.documents-on-demand.com/?l=8bfb514b230ce81180bf001fbc00ed85&r=1AC98106BE42698020A3141E469C94B5&d=df9ee4848d6eee11a3da000c29a59557" target="_blank" rel="noopener">October 10, 2023</a> it was entered into the minutes thusly:</p>
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<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12400048895?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12400048895?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="666" class="align-center"/></a></p>
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<p>"All shooting is done in the middle of the night" is fairly explicit when you notice that dusk begins on March 12, 2024 at 8:17 PM and dawn begins at 7:32 AM on March 13th. Midnight to 3 AM would be the middle of the night for a three-hour cull. It's quite dark then. </p>
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<p>I parked my car at a safe place a few blocks from the park and entered through the cemetery entrance off Bryant Road at around 5:45 PM. My intention was to sweep through the park numerous times to scare off any deer that was still around and save some innocent lives of those who bring such joy to park visitors. I had no intention of being out in the park's forest after 8 PM, or 17 minutes before dusk so as to not run afoul of the law, which our city leaders were unfortunately doing quite successfully on their own with multiple laws. </p>
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<p>Shortly after 7:30 I heard the humming of a motor coming up Plank Road (the decommissioned road that extends from the parking lot near the gazebo circling back to a gate on Rath Avenue), and took some cover behind trees, with my camera saying I took the following two pictures at 7:36 PM, 41 minutes before dusk. The first didn't catch much of the ATV which is behind the large tree, but it does show that it was broad daylight out and sunny. </p>
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<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12400058463?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12400058463?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="666" class="align-center"/></a></p>
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<p>The second one (zoomed in closer) shows the ATV better and had I known that the USDA sharpshooting biologist driving the vehicle was ready and willing to shoot at this point, I would have probably looked for full cover and not have taken the two pictures. But I would soon find out that I was in an active fire zone:</p>
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<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12400058689?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12400058689?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="666" class="align-center"/></a></p>
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<p>Less than two minutes after I took this shot, I heard a shot nearby consistent with a suppressed rifle. Thankfully, it wasn't aimed my way, but it made me rather nervous. I would cautiously move north, away from the gunfire heard with the ultimate intention of getting to the pier before nightfall, where the thermal and infrared vision of the deer cullers would have my own limited vision at a major disadvantage. And since our city officials had lied about these guys working during the middle of the night, I figured their claims about how these biologists belching bullets could distinguish between deer and humans might not be the truth either.</p>
<p></p>
<p>I had the very real possibility that I may have been between two different prongs of the cull as I heard several more shots ring out to the south of me, one while I was dashing between cover and had me hit the dirt and check for holes before realizing there was no pain. With a lot of trepidation and some luck, I was to the point where I was overlooking the aforementioned gazebo looking down from the top of the hill to its south. I had heard 8-10 gunshots at this point.</p>
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<p>I waited a few more minutes to see if there was anyone downhill waiting for a shot on retreating deer, and moments before dusk, I made it to the gazebo and then to my ultimate objective, the end of the pier just beyond it. I figured they would be less likely to mistake me for a deer when I was at a place where deer normally don't go, and would be easy prey if they did. </p>
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<p>I waited there and agonized about calling 911 in order to be able to get out of the area safely with a police escort, but I wound up calling instead Terry Grams, who lived nearby and was a confederate against the deer cull, running the <a href="https://www.stopthedeercull.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stop the Deer Cull website</a> and many ads in the local paper. In a short while, he was able to go to the end of Rath Avenue and alert the LPD officer there, Noah Noble, as to my plight and my desire to be able to vacate the area safely. </p>
<p></p>
<p>Four more shots were fired while I was at the pier, I could hear them fairly clearly, but they all stopped around 8:30 PM. I was 'rescued' around 8:50 or so and had heard nothing for at least 20 minutes before Noble was apprised of the situation. I had also heard an ATV coming back from the forest but could not see it. </p>
<p></p>
<p>As Officer Noble approached the pier with his spotlight on, I flashed my lit phone his way as I came off the pier. Rather than ask whether I was alright from my traumatic, near-death experience, he asked immediately for my ID, even after I had thanked him and told him my name. I started to tell him about <a href="https://www.michiganlegalcenter.com/2019/08/16/do-i-have-to-give-a-police-officer-my-i-d/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Michigan law and of how he needs reasonable cause</a> to suspect I have committed a crime, he has no power to request my ID. </p>
<p></p>
<p>But then I remembered he was one of these poorly trained LPD officers, so rather than stay in a dangerous area any longer than I should, I gave him my driver's license, and he took it and put it on his clipboard, then, as if I was a common criminal, he patted me down for weapons and found only dried tart cherries in one of my pockets, and dried apples in the other, a wallet, keys and cell phone. He had me sit in the back, as he looked up my LIEN information using my license. This was just the first violations of my rights by the LPD after being first victimized by the city's hired biological killers. </p>
<p></p>
<p>I was taken back to the end of Rath Avenue where I was met by LPD Captain Mike Haveman who started asking me questions about my night, and I told him a shorter version of what I have described here. At the same time, Officer Noble was writing out a <a href="https://ludingtoncitizen.ning.com/forum/topics/the-deer-cull-starts-and-all-i-get-is-a-piece-of-paper" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter of trespass</a> for me. Being such a nice and understanding guy, the captain reduced my punishment by only trespassing me from Cartier Park for one month. So even though the cull will not be taking place after March no matter what, I still can't set foot in Cartier Park until April 11th. </p>
<p></p>
<p>The letter of trespass says that I disturbed the peace, but the only peace that was disturbed that night was my own, by the city's contracted killers acting well before darkness, threatening my life by acting against what the city told us all. I was enjoying a city park in broad daylight, entering the park through a location where there was no barriers or signs alerting me to any danger. I then had my ID taken from me and was considered guilty of a crime and given punishment without any due process. That punishment was to keep me out of a public park that my taxes are used to pay for maintenance, upkeep, and this year, bloody murder of cute animals and near murder of a lesser-cute me. </p>
<p></p>
<p>A copy of the notice of intent to file a federal lawsuit against the City of Ludington was delivered via email before midnight struck the end of that stressful day. </p> The Deer Cull Starts and All I Get is a Piece of Papertag:ludingtoncitizen.ning.com,2024-03-13:4689834:Topic:14328062024-03-13T04:13:19.398ZXLFDhttps://ludingtoncitizen.ning.com/profile/TheLudingtonCitizen
<p></p>
<p>I'll just leave this here and let our members create a story in the comment section that goes with it:</p>
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<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12399807279?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12399807279?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="666" class="align-center"/></a></p>
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<p>I'll just leave this here and let our members create a story in the comment section that goes with it:</p>
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<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12399807279?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12399807279?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="666" class="align-center"/></a></p> Striking Gold at Cartier Parktag:ludingtoncitizen.ning.com,2024-03-10:4689834:Topic:14323932024-03-10T15:31:29.438ZXLFDhttps://ludingtoncitizen.ning.com/profile/TheLudingtonCitizen
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<p>Since the Ludington City Council approved a deer cull for this winter back in October, this reporter has been visiting Cartier Park on a regular basis to check out the deer situation and the construction of two bathhouses (worth $1.4 million) in the campground. Once the cull was approved to happen in the city limits, Cartier Park was the obvious choice for the grounds where culling was to take place, as it was the only forested natural area in the city of any size (greater than 3…</p>
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<p>Since the Ludington City Council approved a deer cull for this winter back in October, this reporter has been visiting Cartier Park on a regular basis to check out the deer situation and the construction of two bathhouses (worth $1.4 million) in the campground. Once the cull was approved to happen in the city limits, Cartier Park was the obvious choice for the grounds where culling was to take place, as it was the only forested natural area in the city of any size (greater than 3 acres). </p>
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<p>Back in January, while the untreated OSB making up the roofs of the bathhouses were exposed for a month to the elements, I saw a small group of deer crossing through the cemetery. I saw a couple more in February moving through the forest. But the two dozen other times of trekking through the few hundred acres that make up the park, cemetery, leaf corral, and campground, I've only seen squirrels and other critters that aren't being targeted. </p>
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<p>Yesterday, March 9th, a nice Saturday for a walk, I finally hit golden paydirt. I didn't see any deer, mind you, but I found the gold signs of a cull-yet-to-come. Part of the deer cull has always been the concept of pre-baiting, spreading food that deer find tasty on the ground in an area, so as to get deer to go there on a regular basis, and tell their family and friends about the bountiful buffet. Cresting a hill near a rarely used path, I came upon the following sight spread out on a couple dozen square yards of the forest floor:</p>
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<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12398922296?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12398922296?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="711" class="align-center"/></a></p>
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<p>Someone had gone to this area with a couple of bags of feed corn and spread it out on the ground. It was a good area to do this, as it overlooked the park's thickest hemlock and pine forest that deer like to seek shelter in during Michigan's cold winters and offered an alternative to the bland winter fare that is usually in short supply around this time of the year. </p>
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<p>Nobody was around to take the credit for dropping this corn, but I know that the Michigan DNR <a href="https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/managing-resources/laws/baiting" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has banned baiting and feeding deer</a> in the lower peninsula, worries are that<span> </span><a href="https://www.eregulations.com/michigan/hunting/deer-hunting-regulations#:~:text=No.,areas%20where%20baiting%20is%20banned." target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chronic Wasting Disease may get spread</a><span> </span>a lot easier among the deer herd when that happens. I didn't want that to happen, and I also knew that the city code section <a href="https://library.municode.com/mi/ludington/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=PTIICICO_CH34OFMIPR_ARTIVOFINPUPEORSA_S34-99ANCRDINU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">34.99 states:</a></p>
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<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12398926060?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12398926060?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="666" class="align-center"/></a></p>
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<p>It doesn't get much clearer in figuring out that the state and city are against such feeding at Cartier Park, against it enough to give someone a healthy fine for doing such acts, so I knew I had to do something to set things right, but I didn't want anyone to get in trouble for making a bad choice of baiting/feeding deer in a city park. </p>
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<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12398922889?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12398922889?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="711" class="align-center"/></a></p>
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<p>And one has to wonder as to why somebody would leave a baiting area in Cartier Park and come to the conclusion that it was for the eventual killing of the animal being baited. <a href="https://library.municode.com/mi/ludington/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=PTIICICO_CH34OFMIPR_ARTIVOFINPUPEORSA_S34-100FIWE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Section 34-100 of the city code</a> says: "No person shall shoot, discharge or otherwise use a firearm, crossbow, slingshot or other dangerous weapon in any street, avenue, alley, parking lot, public place or on private property within the city." And then there's this other section about firearms in a park and their restrictions on everyone other than law enforcement officers:</p>
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<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12398926480?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12398926480?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="666" class="align-center"/></a></p>
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<p>Obviously, with all of the other state and local laws being broke by this baiting inside of a city park, a police officer didn't do this act. So mindful that I didn't want to get anybody else in trouble for making a bad choice by despoiling the park with their corn and potentially making a worse choice by possessing and/or discharging a firearm in Cartier Park, I cleaned the area up, saved the deer from spreading CWD, and removed the corn from two dozen square yard area.</p>
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<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12398938893?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12398938893?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="711" class="align-center"/></a></p>
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<p>I did what any civic-minded citizen would do, so if the council wants to offer me a special proclamation on a plaque or Mayor Barnett wants to grant me a key to the city for my efforts, I will have to decline the offers for now. All I ask is for some leniency for the offender who violated the state and local laws by their attempts to feed the deer; if city officials catch the offender doing this again, just give them a stern warning and have them clean up after themselves.</p>
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<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12399078701?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12399078701?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="666" class="align-center"/></a></p> Reason #1 for Recalling Your Ludington City Councilor: Unapologetic Tax Hikes of 2023tag:ludingtoncitizen.ning.com,2024-03-08:4689834:Topic:14322972024-03-08T20:20:58.317ZXLFDhttps://ludingtoncitizen.ning.com/profile/TheLudingtonCitizen
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<p>This is the first in a series of six articles on why you should sign the recall petitions circulating later this month in the 2nd, 4th, and 6th Wards of Ludington. Do not be disappointed if you live in the 1st, 3rd, or 5th Ward, you will still have the opportunity to effectively recall your bad-acting councilor by voting against them this fall, and perhaps in August, if more than two people file in your ward. </p>
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<p><strong>The Ludington Torch</strong> recommends you…</p>
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<p>This is the first in a series of six articles on why you should sign the recall petitions circulating later this month in the 2nd, 4th, and 6th Wards of Ludington. Do not be disappointed if you live in the 1st, 3rd, or 5th Ward, you will still have the opportunity to effectively recall your bad-acting councilor by voting against them this fall, and perhaps in August, if more than two people file in your ward. </p>
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<p><strong>The Ludington Torch</strong> recommends you exercise your right to vote and your prerogative to consider running for local office if you feel that you can be someone who can fairly represent the voices of your constituents better than those currently holding the office as your ward councilor. This series will permit you to assess their choices over this last year and compare them with what you would have expected them to choose.</p>
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<p>The <strong><span>Recall Petition says</span></strong>: "In 2023, Councilor (Winczewski, Stibitz, and Bulger) voted to raise tax rates, taking nearly $300,000 extra from city property owners". </p>
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<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>BACKGROUND</strong></span>: The cruelest tax of all is inflation, and back in the middle of 2022 the USA saw inflation rates of nearly 10% before it started tapering off, still leaving behind high prices that hit local families hard. At the same time, property values were also inflating, allowing the City of Ludington (COL) to collect quite a bit more in property taxes. Without going into too much detail this triggered a "<a href="https://mml.org/resources/publications/one_pagers/2019-11-3-FS-Headlee-Plus.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Headlee rollback</a>". </p>
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<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12398504665?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12398504665?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="666" class="align-center"/></a></p>
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<p>In a nutshell, Michigan's Headlee Amendment requires a local unit of government to reduce its millage when annual growth on existing property is greater than the rate of inflation. As a consequence, the local unit’s millage rate gets “rolled back” so that the resulting growth in property tax revenue, community-wide, is no more than the rate of inflation. When this happens, the COL has gotten into a summer routine of raising tax rates back up using a Truth in Taxation hearing. The following images are from <a href="https://ludingtoncitymi.documents-on-demand.com/?l=789d498c52694de8a41c78a59d8eb8ab&r=284F80A7E86FDF530C5E7DA9D11E2C1C&d=c19ac6abfa1cee11a3c5000c29a59557" target="_blank" rel="noopener">p.43-54 of the council packet of 7-10-2023</a>:</p>
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<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12398692884?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12398692884?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="711" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12398695080?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12398695080?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="711" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12398695661?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12398695661?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="711" class="align-center"/></a></p>
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<p>The city council isn't obligated to do a Truth in Taxation hearing, it is optional, but it would have a major effect on their tax collections in 2023 if they did and raised the tax rates back to the previous year's rate. </p>
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<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>CITIZEN OPINIONS AND EFFORTS</strong></span>: A sequence of six ordinances were provided and considered without any discussion by council at the July 10, 2023 meeting. At the <a href="https://ludingtoncitymi.documents-on-demand.com/?l=935afb222a724d11a47eb72ec45ccf80&r=9712982FAEC32498EB278296150D48D9&d=cf12d779fe1bee11a3c5000c29a59557" target="_blank" rel="noopener">prior meeting</a> where the ordinances were first read, this reporter made a comment about the COL planning on getting a lot more money without providing any more services:</p>
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<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12398698494?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12398698494?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="711" class="align-center"/></a></p>
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<p>Was this foreshadowing recall elections or what? The next meeting this reporter was a bit more direct on the council's apathy of the general citizenry by hiking the taxes on their homes when they are having a hard time buying groceries, and I was a little more explicit on my threats of recalling those who heartlessly twist the dagger into the people they supposedly represent:</p>
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<p><strong>XLFD</strong>: "I posed this poll question on my Facebook website called the Ludington Pitchfork on Friday: </p>
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<p><span>"State law prohibits revenue from a city's property taxes, excluding new construction, to increase by more than the rate of inflation. Fixed tax rates will reduce to assure that. In Ludington, the city council on Monday July 10th will hold a hearing to avoid coming rate rollbacks, ensuring they get nearly $260,000 more in taxes from property owners in Ludington they wouldn't otherwise be entitled to. Should your councilor vote to raise the taxes of you and your fellow taxpayers?"</span></p>
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<p><span>It may come as no big surprise that a $260,000 tax hike is even less popular than Stearns beach parking fees, with 94% [34 of 36] of the respondents saying their elected representative at the city should not vote to increase their tax burden. </span></p>
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<p><span>The Headlee Amendment was enacted to keep local governments from expanding their tax revenues by more than inflation without either new development or a vote of the residents to allow for greater growth in tax bases and revenues. Where is all of that money coming into city coffers from recent new developments like the bowling alley block, Lofts on Rowe, and the up and coming 106 Laura Street? It's not, but our city leaders expect us taxpayers to foot our share of the costs of our growing infrastructure needs plus theirs for the future. </span></p>
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<p><span>Because you're so deeply involved in a growth Ponzi Scheme, you fail to live within your means and ignore the reality that your addiction must be funded regularly by extracting more of the lifeblood of your tax base and invest it in speculative development projects where you can tout your glory while exploiting your constituents. Your city's income goes up by a lot more than the inflation rate, while the people you supposedly represent lose ground because you believe that hiking their taxes is the best way to help them even when 94% tell you otherwise.</span></p>
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<p><span>When 94% of your constituents tell you that they are against this tax hike, you may want to heed them. I know that if my ward councilor votes to affirm these unpopular tax hikes, I will assuredly take out a recall petition on him and I will easily get signatures based strictly on this vote taken firmly against his constituent's interests and wishes. I encourage others to do the same with their ward councilor should they get greedy with your money." [END Comment]</span></p>
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<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>COUNCILOR ACTION</strong></span>: At the <a href="https://ludingtoncitymi.documents-on-demand.com/?l=935afb222a724d11a47eb72ec45ccf80&r=9712982FAEC32498EB278296150D48D9&d=cf12d779fe1bee11a3c5000c29a59557" target="_blank" rel="noopener">June 26, 2023</a> council meeting, the six ordinances were given first reading without any discussion of their effects on the taxpayers or the city's significant gain in income. At the <a href="https://ludingtoncitizen.ning.com/forum/topics/ludington-city-council-meeting-july-10-2023-lawbreakers-thieves-a" target="_blank" rel="noopener">July 10, 2023 meeting</a>, the council would pass all six without further discussion after my comment at the public hearing. After all of the ordinances were passed. The Finance Chair, Les Johnson, would say on the record:</p>
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<p>"I<span>f we did not approve these ordinances, we would not have garbage pickup, we would not have a lot of other services that we have. The police department, I don't know of any of you would like to live here without the police department that we have, so I guess I just want to make that clear that if these did not pass, we wouldn't have a lot of these services." </span></p>
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<p><span>According to the councilor with the most seniority on the council, who lead discussions at the Finance Committee, the loss of a $300,000 raise in revenue above the inflation rate would mean that the COL could no longer provide basic services. No official corrected his bogus claim.</span></p>
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<p><span><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>EFFECT ON CITIZENS</strong></span>: Citizens will pay an estimated $286,000 more in taxes in the year 2024, and continue paying that extra amount every year after that, compounded by whatever amount the councilors raise it in this summer and coming years through the Truth in Taxation process. We do not know what that extra amount will be used for by the city.</span></p>
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<p><span>Last year, this citizen took out a recall petition on Councilor Les Johnson, spurred by his reckless comment and lack of compassion for the people he supposedly represents. Before enough signatures could be collected for his recall, Johnson jumped over to the Mason County Board of Commissioners to avoid being held accountable for his actions.</span></p>
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<p>Three other councilors this year will face the music for their apathetic act of hiking taxes on the overburdened populace should our recall efforts bear fruit. Four others will undoubtedly have to defend their action if they decide to run for reelection. </p>
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<p>Reasonable citizens recognize that local governments need to bring in revenue through taxation; problems arise when those local governments believe they are entitled to take as much as they can just because they have the ability to do so. Reasonable councilors at the least need to acknowledge why the COL needs that money more than you do when they make votes to take more from reasonable citizens. If they don't, all citizens need to take notice, sign petitions, and vote accordingly so that they can have reasonable councilors.</p>