The Place Where Ludington Talks
Today I Witnessed a Rape...
I was out riding my bicycle on this nice October day by the residence of a lady I know. She is beautiful, yet simple; she is the ward of a guardian, whose decisions are made for her. She was adopted long ago with strict rules given by the parents as to how she was to be taken care of. Recently, her guardianship has changed and the rules were mostly forgotten.
I noticed a truck that belonged to a friend of the new guardian. Concealed by some nearby foliage, I seen him taking advantage of her. Before I could do anything, I saw two more of the guardian's friends drive their vehicles up to her place, and they got out and joined in the assault. I wanted to call 911, but knew the guardian was a co-worker and a very good friend of the local police chief, who would allow this to continue. I sneaked off, disgusted, and went home to get my camera, so as to chronicle the nasty development to help her in the future.
When I got back, the vehicles had left and this poor lady was hurting. She had multiple cuts all over her body, and they had even spray painted her all over. It looked painful and I took pictures of the hurt they had inflicted on her. Before I could even think of doing more, they came back and brought some more friends with them. The anguish I felt with not being to help this lady was great, but I went away while they came back at her. Once again they assaulted her, cutting her up, damaging her beyond immediate repair. I took more pictures of the carnage, but they paid little attention to me-- they knew I couldn't help her out, and they had weapons.
They continued this for the rest of the afternoon, cleaned up a little bit afterwards, and left. I consoled her afterwards, but knew there was little I could do to help her before they would come back again and do worse to her. Tomorrow the raping will continue.
Pre: 100_1081.JPG 100_1084.JPG 100_1087.JPG
During: 100_1091.JPG 100_1097.JPG 100_1100.JPG
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by XLFD on
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And what about this secretive Committee, Board, Non-Profit Organization, etc. known as the Dog Park Committee? I've searched through the website, all the news articles, and I've yet to find any confirmed DPC member that wasn't someone from out of town, or a City Official.
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Joe is also on the Planning Commission of Ludington and the Zoning Board of Appeals, a City Official. As such, he is seriously arrears in ethics by representing a non-government agency, like yours, in front of the City Council.
Please, humor me, and read the other thread regarding this park, which is now on the first page of the forums to find out why this is a no-no. -
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Permalink Reply by Mary A. on
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Just wondering what's going to happen to this project once the current committee members/subscribers die, leave the area or otherwise lose interest in the dog park? Who's going to pay to keep it viable? How will this be financed in the long run?
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All good questions. Here is a video featuring Jen and her two dogs in front of the Ludington City Hall making the case for the Dog Park before a meeting back on 3-24-09.
Not a bad interview, considering she had to corral her two dogs, but I was troubled by her quote: “We are hoping that the city is going to work with us and provide an area that’s close to town.”
Even at this early date, an arrangement involving gifting city property to this cause appears to have been pre-determined. Why wasn’t the acquisition or rehabilitation of private property being considered by the DPC? My guess is that the quid pro quo mentality of ‘donating’ public land to receive in turn ‘donated’ funds back to the City raised by the DPC for construction, maintenance, cleaning, etc. of the park, had the City intelligentsia seeing potential dollar signs involved in such an operation.
After all, this corner of Cartier Park makes no money for the City now, according to the Treasurer’s report. Nor does any other part of Cartier Park, other than the camping area; so with this precedent, do not be surprised about more additions of special ‘parks’ within an actual park. This had a precedent already with the skate ‘park’ within Stearn’s Park. As for here, the Cartier family and their heirs would not approve, I’ll bet.
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Permalink Reply by Jen on
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We actually had an offer of private land... we chose the city because of the location. Prior to this meeting (and after we received the private land donation), we were approached by the city because they were interested. Turns out, they had been planning to put a dog park somewhere within the park already. The city offered the land. We didn't ask for it.
We used the word "dontate" for lack of a better term. We collected all the money. We are paying Fisher Fence. We are paying the city for the cleaning of the land. We are paying Tye Signs for the signage. We would have paid for the same things, whether it was city or private land.
The committee is having a lawyer review the Charter to see if we were incorrect in moving forward without a vote. I'll keep you posted!
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and the interview would have went a lot smoother if max would stopped whining. he totally stole my thunder! ;) ha! ha!
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There is an old adage that one should never share the stage with animals or children, both being scene-stealers. Next time you are on camera consider using midgets in dog costumes ; )
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Thank you, Jen. You seem like a fair person, and I am sure your motives are a lot more clear than I think some of the other people involved in this project was.
You sincerely want a dog park so that people can let their dogs run free and socialize... and I want the City Government to recognize their obligations to the citizens of this city who own this park, and employ them to do what's right for them, while following the rules in the process.
BTW, just down the street from Joe on Vogel are two empty lots, fairly wooded that are owned privately. It would make an excellent dog park, and I believe he could legally use his power in the Planning Commission to help make it available as a dog park if it was brought before his commission.
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I read the thread. I see your argument...
Perhaps we should have organized the committee differently... but again, it was organized before we knew where the property was going to be. It would not have been a conflict of interest if we had put the park on private land, correct? It just kind of happened this way. I assure you it's not a conspiracy! :) Everything just fell into place.
We actually looked at MANY, MANY lots in town. They didn't end up working, for one reason or another. Joe is a great guy. I've known him for several years, out side of the committee. If anything was over-looked on this issue, I assure you it wasn't on purpose. I think in a small town, where every one is friends and neighbors, things tend to get too relaxed. Not an excuse by any means... but that's just my theory as to why these things happen. It takes a good, knowledgeable citizen to bring it to everyone's attention so that things can get back on track.
It appears you are well-educated in the happenings and laws of our community and I want to thank you for bringing this to our attention!
I can't rewind time and change how this was handled. I can learn from it and make sure to be more careful in the future projects. I can (and will!) forward the Charter info to our lawyer and get a legal opinion. That is all I can do. The fence isn't up yet... if it needs a vote - we'll make sure it gets one.
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