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Shiawassee Weekly — June 30, 2006

TGIF!!!

I haven’t been this anxious for a weekend in a long time. All day long I was thinking ‘just a few more hours just a few more hours just a few more hours …”

aaaaahhhh … so here we are, kicking back, waiting for our ‘za.

It’s been a long couple of weeks … lots of time in Detroit, lots of time in Holly, lots of time in Flint. Not much time at home. And on top of that, there’s been a TON of stuff going on here in Shiawassee that I sooooo wanted to witness first-hand.

County Clerk’s office releases personal data …. When Ken Hornak FOIA’d the 1099s for Gary Holzhausen and Bernie Butcher, he had no idea he’d be getting their social security numbers. Ken is a pretty vocal supporter of Gary Holzhausen, our beleaguered Drain Commissioner. He took the information to Gary, who was understandably upset. County Clerk Lauri Braid responded by apologizing and explaining that this was a mistake. According to the Flint Journal article, the Social Security Administration intends to respond to this incident.

Some of the folks over at shianet have been postulating that this is more than just a mistake, but I’m inclined to disagree. There are many people who dislike Lauri’s politics and methods, but no one has ever suggested that she is either incompetent, or the kind of person who would intentionally commit such an outrageous violation of the rules. The Clerk’s office handles thousands of documents each year, and between our recalls and our Drain Commissioner, I’m sure that office has had more than its share of FOIAs lately. (I’ll rant on the county FOIA policy in another post) I’ve been critical of Lauri and downright nasty at times, but I hope the public will just accept her apology and let it go. Let the SSA go after the real frauds.

Engineered Platic Products calls it quits …. Today was the last day of business for EPP. I don’t have much to add to my earlier post, except to say that losing another GM supplier is just one more (excellent) example of why we have to reinvent Shiawassee. We cannot continue to rely on attracting businesses here for our “low cost” labor. I feel like we’re dressing ourselves up, hoping to catch a husband who will support us for the rest of our lives. Screw that. We can be the masters of our destiny.

“Wall Of Love” gets a lot of attention …. Earlier I blogged about a local group putting together a “wall of love” to protect the family of a fallen soldier from Westboro Baptist maniacs. The story was also covered by ABC, and it was blogged by Terry Foster in the Detroit News. Check out organizer Kevin Brown’s MySpace site for pictures & commentary.

Judy Ford website launched … Judy Ford, Democratic candidate for state house, 85th District, has launched her campaign website. The site is in its infancy; more information will be published soon. Visit Judy’s site at http://www.votejudyford.com.

Shiawassee Prosecutor = Coward of the County…. Prosecutor Randy Colbry passes the buck on the Holzhausen decision. From the Argus Press:

But, Colbry added, recent events lead him to believe his “personal well-being” would be in jeopardy if he continued to handle the case and, therefore, he could not handle it without bias.

Claiming that he had been threatened, Colbry has sent the Holzhausen matter on to the state AG. If the AG does nothing, Colbry will ask for a special prosecutor for the case. You know, I was just wondering how we should spend all of those extra tax dollars floating around Michigan these days … so I’m glad we’re spending them on protecting Colbry from the political ramifications of making this decision. Thanks, ass. By the way, if you are ever facing the possibility of being charged with a crime, just have someone tell the prosecutor that someone is threatening his “personal well-being” … the prosecutor will back down right away. Though I hear it only works in Shiawassee.

By the way again, if you’d like to tell the prosecutor what you think of his decision to shirk his responsibility to you, his office phone is (989) 743-2373 and his email is scpa@shiawassee.net.

Stupidity Stupidity, there’s nothing like Stupidity (sung to the tune of “Macavity”) … The recent Levin-Reed Amendment has GOPers coming out of the woodwork to call Dems a bunch of “cut and run” cowards again … it’s really getting irritating. I don’t blog about the war, because I don’t like it … someday I’ll tell you why … but this excerpt of the recent guest opinion by Morton Kondracke in the 6-28 Argus Press earns a spot in my Weekly:

“Democrats can’t come up with a formal unified stance on Iraq, but it’s all too clear what most of the party’s leaders want: out. And soon. It would be a disaster for America if they prevailed. Iraq has finally installed a full government that is fighting to establish order against multiple homicidal enemies. Millions of ordinary Iraqis have risked death to vote – a testament to their desire for democ¬racy. Yet Democrats want to pull the plug and abandon them.”

Senator Levin’s Amendment was similar to General Casey’s recommendations, but Morton doesn’t seem to know anything about that. This is just more political trash talk by people who think “stay the course” is a really clear and comprehensive plan.

See Senator Levin discuss his amendment on Fox & Friends, and watch Senators Biden & Hagel on Late Edition.

Tony Hornus calls it quits … The Argus Press’ “metro editor” penned his last column this week. Hornus was no friend to us Democrats, not because of any particular ideology, but because of his personal relationship with one Democrat in particular. His last column was titled “It’s been a good run – ‘Good night, good luck’” … yeah, and good riddance too.

Over in the Lansing area … the little jerk who killed the swans in Lake Lansing has plead guilty to littering. He’ll be paying $360 in fines and restitution. That’s disgusting, considering that multiple witnesses watched as his boat ran down the swans in the lake, and he later confessed to doing so. Nevertheless there is some closure to the case.

Littering …. Maybe Randy Colbry would have the courage to prosecute that one.

Coming up next week:

Governor Granholm’s webchat Wednesday night … more information here.

Hopefully I’ll understand this kennel license stuff well enough to blog it. But even if not, Kay Lauro has it covered.