Archive for the ‘Shiawassee County’ Category
Saturday, October 13th, 2007
Gary is having a fundraiser tomorrow!
From the forums:
OCTOBER 14, 2007 FUNDRAISER
Gary Martenis for Owosso City Council
Dinner with Gary
October 14, 2007
2:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Mid-Michigan Road Workers Union Hall
549 Ryan St.
Owosso, Michigan
48867
only $5.00 per person (all you care to eat) (children free)
Sloppy Joe's (Linda's secret recipe), chips, punch, coffee, homemade desserts ...
Posted in Owosso, Politics, Shiawassee County | No Comments »
Sunday, September 30th, 2007
Dick Ball today voted no on the MESSA busting bill. However he did not support the sales tax expansion to discretionary services.
The tax on services is meant to fill the gap between the income tax and the additional revenue needed to balance the budget.
We're ...
Posted in Blogging For Michigan, Dick Ball, Politics, Shiawassee County | 10 Comments »
Tuesday, September 18th, 2007
Last night the Owosso City Council approved the purchase of a new fire truck.
From the Shiawassee forums:
We will be buying a 2007 HME Tower/Ladder. This ladder will be 104' in height with a platform/bucket.
This new truck will be replacing three old trucks. Gone will be the ...
Posted in Owosso, Politics, Shiawassee County | No Comments »
Monday, September 17th, 2007
A friend of mine works rail cars in Durand, and he just told me that his company has lost their contract on the yard. They're clearing out on Sept 28. 13 guys will be out of jobs.
The problem was not the weak economy or even Michigan's shaky tax ...
Posted in Politics, Shiawassee County | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 4th, 2007
I'm sorry to say that there is another fire in Owosso today.
There's a thread on this in the Shiawassee Forums here.
And Bob Wilcox has a slideshow here.
Our thoughts are with the victims and the responders as they deal with yet another fire.
Posted in Owosso, Shiawassee County | No Comments »
Thursday, June 14th, 2007
A few months ago I mentioned that Shiawassee was supposed to be targeted for Sunshine Week. Basically this is a matter of submitting a bunch of FOIA requests and seeing what pops up. We never went through with that, but I did finally do a little test of ...
Posted in Politics, Shiawassee County | 2 Comments »
Friday, June 8th, 2007
Note: This post was submitted by Tom Ford ~cb
Note from the submitter: Not many newspapers are covering this story but it has profound implications. The manner in which the State Board of Education and their related ISD administrators are treating parents, consumers and advocates is deplorable and ...
Posted in Announcements, Politics, Shiawassee County | No Comments »
Monday, June 4th, 2007
The Michigan Townships Association meets tomorrow night at 7:30, at the Caledonia Township Hall. House Bills 4780-4788, introduced by State House Rep Paul Condino (D-Southfield) are expected to be on the agenda. If you have been following this story, you know that these bills would transfer certain ...
Posted in Politics, Shiawassee County | No Comments »
Friday, June 1st, 2007
Homeless veterans.
There's something wrong with that, isn't there? Doesn't it just make you sick?
Although veterans make up 12.5% of the general population, they comprise 25% of the homeless. On the heels of my Memorial Day promise, I thought I'd take a minute to see ...
Posted in Politics, Shiawassee County | 5 Comments »
Thursday, May 31st, 2007
The Argus Press reported today that Margaret McAvoy has been on sick leave for several weeks and it is unknown when she will return. (She is rumored to be returning on June 4)
I heard about this some time ago, but I don't blog the personal business of county employees, ...
Posted in Shiawassee County | 1 Comment »
Thursday, May 31st, 2007
I was messing around on the Michigan Community Health Site -- because what else are you going to do at 7:00 in the morning? -- and I see that the infant death rate in Shiawassee has increased the last few years. The three year average in 2005 was 9.2, ...
Posted in Politics, Shiawassee County | 2 Comments »
Monday, May 28th, 2007
Dear Shiawassee Veterans,
I don't usually write about veterans, war, or military issues. I've smacked around commissioners, prosecutors, administrators, and all for good reasons, but never on your behalf.
It's not that you've been far from my mind. I've seen your funds get shifted to other departments. Departments that ...
Posted in Politics, Shiawassee County | 1 Comment »
Thursday, May 24th, 2007
So I've been meaning to write about this grievance that was filed by Seargent Harkness (Road Patrol), regarding a schedule change. The grievance went before the board last week. Apparently the Department changed some work schedules in violation of the union contract. Sgt Harkness was required to ...
Posted in Politics, Shiawassee County | 2 Comments »
Thursday, May 24th, 2007
I see that Owosso Public Schools cut about a dozen employees, to save about $1,212,965 for the 2007-2008 school year.
I'm guessing the savings to the school district isn't just a matter of salaries. Let's figure that 35% of that savings is in benefits. Where's that get ...
Posted in Politics, Shiawassee County | No Comments »
Thursday, May 24th, 2007
I wanted to take a few minutes this morning to throw out some thoughts on the difference between power and authority.
A few months ago Jack Johnson came to the local Democratic Party asking for support for his Oversight & Reform Committee. The committee would evaluate county activities ...
Posted in Politics, Shiawassee County | No Comments »
Monday, April 23rd, 2007
So I call the health department today and got their automated system:
Press 0 ... Immunization, STD testing, .... MI Child & Medicaid Insurance Program
Press 1 WIC Program
Press 2 Healthy Families Program or 0-3 Program
Press 3 Maternal Infant Health Program
Press 5 Children's Special Health Care Services
Ok I paraphrased a little, ...
Posted in Politics, Shiawassee County | No Comments »
Thursday, April 19th, 2007
Ok, so I've blown off some steam about the MIHP. There has also been this excellent letter to the editor in the local press:
The Maternal Infant Health Program served Shiawassee County families for almost 20 years.
The program's goal was to reduce infant mortality and promote healthy pregnancies and babies.
To ...
Posted in Politics, Shiawassee County | No Comments »
Monday, April 16th, 2007
Today at the Finance Committee meeting, the commissioners decided it would be appropriate to investigate the new Soil Erosion fee structure established by the Health Department.
The first commissioner to question the Health Dept. fees was Jack Johnson, in his April 10 statement:
Now, the program is under the Health ...
Posted in Politics, Shiawassee County | 8 Comments »
Tuesday, April 10th, 2007
In a move that will make Colbry cry for months, the Shiawassee County Commissioners voted unanimously against pursuing a lawsuit against Gary Holzhausen to compel him to return fees he collected for issuing soil erosion waivers.
Commissioner Jack Johnson read a statement encouraging everyone to take responsibility for their respective roles ...
Posted in Politics, Shiawassee County, Shiawassee Drain Office | 10 Comments »
Tuesday, April 10th, 2007
In the Shiawassee forums this morning, there is a report from the Owosso City Firefighters on a fire at 315 Cass. Note: The OCFD has been criticized in the past for bringing a fire truck on ambulance calls. They do this so that there are more than ...
Posted in Owosso, Shiawassee County | No Comments »