There’s a letter to the editor in yesterday’s Argus, that’s a bit of a slam to blogs. Don’t give us half of a year-old story that you picked up from reading blogs. That does not seem very professional as we all know blogs are anonymous and self-serving. First of all I’m just going to apologize for all the self-serving stuff I’ve done on my blog. It’s been re...

I received a newsletter from Commissioner Dan Stewart yesterday. It looks like he’s going to try to publish these monthly. It’s a summary of what he’s been working on and what’s coming up. I’ve converted it to pdf, and you can download a copy here - http://christinebarry.com/downloads/stewart_feb.pdf ...

There are a couple of threads over on the Shiawassee forums that should be of interest to anyone with kids in the OPS system. They revolve around the lawsuit brought against OPS by Jim McAvoy, former Technology Director for Owosso Schools. If I’m reading the info correctly, the lawsuits allege that McAvoy was dismissed due to his insistence that OPS file a police report over an incident in...

If you recall, there was a ballot issue regarding the consolidation of the Perry and Morrice school districts, back in January. The consolidation was defeated with 73% voting against it. I didn’t follow the issue that closely, and I didn’t realize that the MEA was such an important player in defeating the measure: MEA stood by their side throughout the campaign, providing legal and ...

I see that Owosso Public Schools Superintendent Greg Gray is going to stay in Owosso. Not by his choice, of course … he had been hoping to become the next Superintendent for Grand Ledge Public Schools. “Me and my wife (Chris) are both from Grand Ledge,” Gray said. “Her family and mine still live there. I love Owosso, but Grand Ledge is my hometown.” Unfortunately he was not a fina...

A couple of weeks ago, I posted an article on my hometown Sheriff, Jon Wilson. The Argus also ran an article on the Sheriff, based partially on my investigative work. At the time, Sheriff Wilson told our local paper that they would not get any more information from the department, if they ran a story about him. Today the Sheriff made good on that threat … Before the story ran, Wilson thr...

Cross-posted at bfm. The Sheriff leaned in close to the door and strained to hear the conversation on the other side. If he was quiet enough, he could just make out what they were saying. He knew them all well enough to identify them by their voices. If he was lucky, he’d make a bust. If only he had remembered to check for the Office Manager, who was approaching him from behind. “Sh...

Note: This was submitted by Tom Ford This 2 hr video presentation will be on Charter Cable channel 3, Wed. Jan. 16 at 5 PM What I’ve Learned About U.S. Foreign Policy Produced by Frank Dorrel This video compilation is an excellent and invaluable educational tool that reveals the true nature of U.S. foreign policy. It’s been seen in many classrooms, churches, home screenings, on cable ...

Shiawassee Dems received a report that Bennington Twp is questioning people who do not have a photo ID. The person who reported states that he was harassed until he produced one. The worker even said, “If you don’t have a photo ID, how did you get here?” I believe the law states that if a person does not have an ID, the election worker is supposed to ask if the voter lives in t...

Update: - 3:15pm - The sign at Caledonia Twp Hall has been taken down. Thank you MDP for your assistance with this! I always take election day off. There’s something about that pesky democracy thing that just demands that I be out here on the street, watching out for the voters. So I started my day like any other election day, by heading down to the good ol’ Caledonia Twp Hall, to ca...

Putting this on my reading list … The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism In THE SHOCK DOCTRINE, Naomi Klein explodes the myth that the global free market triumphed democratically. Exposing the thinking, the money trail and the puppet strings behind the world-changing crises and wars of the last four decades, The Shock Doctrine is the gripping story of how America’s “free ma...

Ugh. Site was down for a few hours. I upgraded & had some problems. Seems to be ok now. Now I’m off to catch up on all the other things I neglected this afternoon. ...

Hey everyone, meet my boss. Between work, golf, & golf, he doesn’t have a lot of spare time. That’s why I think it’s so awesome that he spends it on supporting his favorite causes. MDA serves people in our community with neuromuscular disease by providing clinics, support groups, assistance with the purchase and repair of wheelchairs, braces and communication devices, and...

If you recall, I wrote a little about the Sheriff earlier this year; here and here. I never got anywhere with my inquiries into what’s going on in that department, because I couldn’t get any info from anyone. But the Sheriff’s recent complaints about his $3,000 raise seems to have been the last straw. It all started when the County Commissioners started handing out raises li...

I wandered over to Chet Zarko’s blog today and found his article on the latest round of Zarko v Lessenberry. I check Zarko every day, but I didn’t follow the Lessenberry stuff, so I wasn’t familiar with the history of the issue. So I followed the links in his diary, and eventually, I came to this: I hate self-hating Ukrainians most of all.  Obviously you were a follower of...

I was talking to a County Commissioner last night, who told me that he recently had some questions about the invoices being submitted to the county by a particular attorney. These were reasonable questions; for example, one document included a note “see attached”, but there was no attachment. So he submits requests to Judge Clatterbaugh (D) and Judge Clarkson (R), asking for more info...

It’s just $2.99 for the hottest 10″ of vinyl this side of the Shiawassee River. (Doesn’t matter which side you’re on) No markup; I’m not making anything on them. That’s the Cafepress base price. Want yard signs? T-shirts? I’ll do those next. Since you’re here, you might also be interested in: Sheriff Fails FOIA Sunshine Test What’s Up With ...

Chetly Zarko, of Zarko Research & Consulting, has filed a campaign finance complaint against Jon Stryker. The complaint alleges that, …there is reasonable cause to believe that contribution data is not accurate or should be substantiated with an actual paper trail (the Amended reports are extremely inconsistent and suggest that the accounts are highly fluid). Chet reported his research...

I just had to post this … ...

Not much here, but mostly I’m looking to see how this new template looks & loads with the pictures. This is the coolest flag, always brings a smile to my face. Coming home, North I-75 Pumpkin festival, on Middlebelt in Inkster. I was stopped at a light when I took this picture. The cell phone doesn’t really capture how cool it looks. There’s a wicked Halloween display...