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9-30-2007-04

Dear Readers:

Entirely aside from and unrelated to the ongoing political campaigning in Iron Mountain and elsewhere, our group is a corporate practice that represents many gay individuals and organizations and monitors gay/anti-gay media activity.  We have an exhaustive index and are aware, or thought we were, of every Web site in and around Iron Mountain, Michigan.

In a post dated 9-28-2007-05 at www.ironmountainissues.org, the writer stated, "The challengers are being described as anti gay, because the website they are associated with is anti gay."

All of the sites of which we are aware are either neutral concerning homosexuality or are pro-gay/pro-lesbian to one extent or another.  Will you kindly post the Web site to which you are referring and direct us to the evidence that defines the site itself as anti-gay so that we might add it to our watchdog list and notify other watchdog companies and organizations?  We appreciate your cooperation.  Thank you.

Responsible Media Representation (RMR)

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9-30-2007-03

Like a business?

Doesn't a business exist to profit?

How has Iron Mountain even remotely done the municipal equivalent of profiting under the current administration?

Aren't a business's shareholders supposed to benefit?

How have this city's shareholders, its owners, its citizens, benefited?  When has their stock value risen?  What dividends have they received?

Like a business?

What an unfortunate simile.  What an inaccurate comparison.

If you want a metaphor, try "bleeding to death."  And the current management and council have only widened the wound and not done one single effective thing to stanch the flow.  There's not a single shred of empirical evidence to prove otherwise, and puddles of blood in every corner of the city indicate an imminent death unless something effective is done.  Pardon me for protesting, but the current Board of Directors and CEO have not done a good job, are not doing a good job.  In fact, they are doing a terrible job while publicly trying to put a good face on it and withhold from the shareholders the truth of the matter.

Like a business indeed.

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9-30-2007-02

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9-30-2007-01

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9-29-2007-09

Reply to post 9-28-07-05

If you were to go to www.ironmountaindemocracy.com you will find all the answers to your question and many more. I have never seen the Mayors address on this site. However I know it is on the City of Iron Mountain web site.  If you have any questions after reading the brochure, just email any of the challengers.

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9-29-2007-08

JUST A INVITATION TO ALL
 
  For one day, Sunday October 7th, from 1p to 9pm, I would ask that everyone put aside your positions on issues and your political differences and come on down to our Iron Mountain City park for a celebration  and a big welcome home for our Veterans .
 
  So many of our young men and women from our area and this country have served with Pride, Honor and Integrity in their various missions during this Iraq war since its beginning. With the recent arrival home of our 46th MP Company, it seems like a good time to give everyone a chance to spend a little time with them , as well as all our area Veterans who have so proudly served before them, and have some BBQ Chicken or maybe a Brat, a little conversation, Maybe listen to a little music and let the kids take part in some great games. ( Ray Mariucci and the guys are giving some Bocci lessons also)
 
 I want to thank so many of you that have already stepped up in the public and private sector with offers of manpower and dollars to help this event be a success. It is much appreciated. If others would like to send a couple bucks to the effort, it will be put to good use. You can make a free will offering at the event to help or drop a check to the Elks 46th MP project at ELKS Lodge 700 , 1001 Cedar Ave Iron Mountain, Mich 49801 or give me a call at 906-396-3659. If you want to be a listed sponsor of the event, let me know , but I need that by 3pm Tuesday  October 2nd.
 
The organizations  putting this event together include;
 
Elks Lodge 46th MP Project 
Dickinson area Law Enforcement and Fire Personnel
VFW Post 3674/ Patriot Guard Riders
West Randville Sportsmen assoc.
American Legion Post 50
Son's of the American Legion Squad 50
American legion Auxilary
 
Remember....Sunday October 7th starting at 1pm to 9pm. bring the whole family and enjoy the day...tents will be available in addition to the pavilion area should we get any drizzle.
 
Thanks again to all and hope to see ya there....
 
Bill Revord, Chairman
Elks 46th MP Project

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9-29-2007-07

Dear 9-28-2007-05,

You're right about one thing.  Even if residents are not for the challengers, even if they're against the challengers, if those citizens are against the current city council, they gravitate here, to the issues site.  All types with every opinion and every emotion under the sun.  Not too many other places for them to turn apparently.  But some of them bring other stuff too.  You'll notice that there are other sections in the issues web site, not just the Public Forum, and it's in those other sections where much, if not most, of this site's real value lies.

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9-29-2007-06

Don Christy

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9-29-2007-05

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9-29-2007-04

Regarding Item 9-28-2007-05 ... Addresses are online, the disservice of lumping everyone together, and burying the gay issue

"I will ask the webmaster why he put the Mayor's address on the site...that seems a little strange.  I know that people are listed in the phone book, but do all of the challengers want their specific home address on a public forum?  I doubt it."

It seems clear why that writer submitted that post with the mayor's address to the Issues site.  Whether it was right or wrong is a matter each reader must decide.  But for the record regarding the challengers' addresses: so that voters might communicate with them openly and individually and/or support them (or damn them) directly, each of the challengers posted his or her name, address, and email address online at each one's section of their collective Web site in July, before the primary.  They remain there.  www.ironmountaindemocracy.com

Also to set the record straight: that is the challengers' official Web site, not www.ironmountainissues.org .  It's an important distinction and too few people are making it.  The Issues site, an informative and valuable resource despite the pointless and volatile garbage many have submitted to it, existed nine or ten months before the challengers even declared their candidacies.  Those challengers -- and citizens who support them, but with whom the candidates do not necessarily agree -- and some with whom they distinctly disagree -- have occasionally written and sent signed statements to the Issues site as a means of quick public communication.  So have their opponents and some supporters of the incumbents.  And each challenger has pledged that they will submit only signed -- i.e., not anonymous -- statements to the Issues site and any other.

The Issues site -- and sites like it all over the world, even as they begin to acquire, through use, a particular flavor and leaning -- isn't just one big happy family all on the same page of each issue.  It's a mistake to think that everyone knows everyone else and that they all agree with each other.  Nothing could be further from the truth, especially on such a heavily trafficked site -- the challengers, with some rue, will be the first to tell you that.  It would be wrong to demonize, vilify, and judge any of the candidates, challengers and incumbents, based on any undocumented, unsubstantiated rantings and ravings of others, including their so-called supporters.  Give the greatest weight to 1.) the candidates' statements themselves, then to 2.) substantiated presentations that can point to verifiable evidence, and then to 3.) informed opinions.

The rest -- to which we seem to inexplicably and absurdly give so much value -- is uncontrolled venting and dreck.  On both sides.  Ignore it.  Discriminate between the good stuff and the bad -- don't just lump it all together because it's at the same address at the same time.  You discern and discriminate among the individuals belonging to your church, don't you, even though you're all at the same service at the same time?  This is no different.

One more thing, readers: why don't you request that the challengers come right out on their blogs -- and/or at the Issues site -- and bluntly proclaim once and for all that they are not anti-gay homophobes and that they are disassociating themselves from anyone who is?  In fact, I'll join you and ask right here: Challengers, if you're reading this, will you please do that?  Will you please make it clear?  It may be the only way to disarm the militant gays and anti-gays on each side of this issue/non-issue who are trying to make political hay out of it.  I know the challengers have proclaimed their tolerance and inclusiveness here and there orally and in writing, but it would be nice if they cleared the air officially once and for all.

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9-29-2007-03

I am a professional and I have taken my profession very, very seriously for nearly 30 years. I have served on state boards in my professional field. I know what it is like get caught up in the ‘glory of power’ and to be in the ‘hot spot of criticism’. I have learned over the years that when I have wronged someone it is best to own up to it and try to mend the situation. We all make mistakes because we are human. It is nothing to be ashamed of that we make mistakes but it is wrong to never admit our faults. Each day I go home from my workplace and evaluate my work and try to improve for the next day.


Each time I read the Iron Mountain Issues site I go through a number of emotions. I am glad for those who have received credit for a good deed, I feel educated when someone states or clarifies facts and I am disappointed when I sense that something someone has said will only make the city situation more volatile. I am disturbed by those who choose to write who don’t know the facts on the issue they are addressing. Please do your homework!

This site should be a tool for addressing city issues on any front, not a place to make people more upset and paranoid. We don’t want more problems than we already have, do we? But if there is a problem, it is our responsibility as citizens to address the issue. Those responsible for the problems have a responsibility to make amends.

All of us should take credit where credit is due and not take credit where it isn’t due. I think there are citizens in Iron Mountain that know a lot more than they are given credit. Be careful what you say or take credit for or you could be called a liar based on facts. This makes you look bad.

I know there are people out there that value the Iron Mountain Issues site because it gives people a voice on issues, there are people that don’t like this site because they feel it can be a hotbed of gossip and there are those that like to read it for the drama. It is my understanding that one of the purposes for this site was for people to have a chance to take a stand and be heard (with or without their name being attached) by the community when the council wouldn’t listen.

THIS IS FIRST-HAND, TRUTHFUL INFORMATION.
TO THE CITY COUNCIL AND CITY MANAGER: I WOULD NOT HAVE A RIGHT TO PRINT THE FOLLOWING IF I HAD NOT COME TO YOU FIRST. PLEASE DO NOT TAKE OFFENCE BUT TAKE THE FOLLOWING AS THE TRUTH AND EVALUATE YOUR PROCEDURES FOR THE FUTURE. I AM NOT LOOKING TO CAUSE TROUBLE OR TO MAKE YOU LOOK BAD.  I JUST WANT THINGS IN THIS CITY TO BE RIGHT. THANK YOU.

I have personally been mistreated by the city manager and the city council. I went to a meeting and spoke my mind and was disappointed by the lack of personal response from the city manager and the council. My issue was a small and personal matter that could have been handled simply and civilly but instead was handled poorly, unprofessionally, and I believe illegally. My suggestion was ignored and the council's solution only made the situation worse. I have watched others speak to the council with real concerns about how they are treated by the council and/or spoke of how they were called names by the council. If there are concerns about the citizens and/or the way they live, help them, work with them or educate them but don’t call them names.

They say money speaks. Well, I don’t care how much money an individual makes in this community but I do care that they have good character, truly know what they are talking about and do not hold themselves as better than the next person because they make more money and have obtained power in the community. If we could eliminate greed and power from our society I wouldn’t need to be sitting here writing this letter to the citizens of Iron Mountain. You can’t take your money with you when you die but you will leave your reputation behind. Ask yourself: Do you want this world a better place because of something you did to help others or do you want people to remember you for greed and short-sighted, personal goals?


I understand there was a comment made by a council member at a council meeting (this is 2nd hand information so correct me if I’m wrong because I want to know the TRUTH) that because there were only x number of citizens at a council meeting, only x number of citizens were probably concerned about the issues at hand. Some of us don’t attend the city council meetings on a regular basis, not because we don’t have concerns but we have other responsibilities at home, work and in the community. It could be that we have other meetings to attend (school board meetings, coaching a team of children, church functions, parents attending their child’s concert or sporting event, etc.). Please, please do not take offence that I am directing this paragraph to a council member as that would defeat the purpose of why I am writing this letter. I just want to be sure that I clarify why a large percentage of the citizens are not at every meeting.

I would like to thank those who have taken the time to keep up on the city matters. Not all of us should have to be watchdogs. As I stated above, some of us serve and volunteer in the community in other ways. Also, the citizens of Iron Mountain have important jobs and families that need their main focus and we would be cheating those areas of our lives and community if we all had to do homework on how the city is being managed. In a perfect world none of us should have to be watchdogs but it is not a perfect world. But isn’t it the council’s responsibility to fully understand the city workings and to make sure that the city employees follow legal policies and are doing their jobs so others in the community don’t feel they should need to question or micromanage the city workers/council and their integrity? I know that on any board or governing council, (city, state, national, school, etc.) often times people get on the board for personal gain, personal agendas or special interest. This is no secret and is also unethical. But I know that there are also those who get on to serve the community. There is much reward in truly serving others.

I am pleading that whoever is chosen to serve on the council at the November election serve the needs of the entire community of Iron Mountain. Not just the rich, the poor or a special interest group. I want to know that my community is safe, clean, well maintained and honesty managed by the powers that be. I am very willing to pay as many taxes as are needed to run the city properly. But I want the taxes to be spelled out honestly and I want to know that all city workers are hired according to city policy, earning an honest wage by doing their jobs to the best of their ability without waste or apathy. I want to know that the workers/council members are not working/serving for personal gain or special interests only to jeopardize the needs of the community as a whole. I want the city employees to be paid decently for a job well done. I want to know that my community is run on an honest platform that serves the common needs of all.

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9-29-2007-02

In response to: 9-28-2007-05

Is it possible that the reason there are not more letters from or in support of the incumbents is because they have not submitted them to the issues sight? There is no reference to the site being only for the challengers for submissions. It is my understanding that everyone should be welcome to submit a letter. Don’t be so hasty to think that the incumbent’s letters won’t be posted. After all, your letter was posted and you appear to be in support of the incumbents.

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9-29-2007-01

What is post # 9-28-2007-05 talking about when he/she refers to the webmaster putting the Mayor's home address on this website?  I can't find it on this website.  Not saying it isn't buried somewhere, but I can't find it.
 
In any case, I can find the Mayor's and all council members addresses on the city website, www.cityofironmountain.com, so what's the big deal, even if it is on this website somewhere.
 
If it is, I'd like the writer of that post to show where it is.  As I said, I can't find it.  Talk about a "nothing" issue, this is about as nothing as it gets.

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9-28-2007-06

There's no doubt in my mind that Mike Carey (Carey Contracting, Inc.) got involved with the upcoming election through friendship with one or more of the candidates.  He trusted what he heard, as we all tend to do with many of our friends. 
 
As a result, he figured he knew enough to support his friend(s), and didn't need outside verification for whatever they told him. That was a big mistake.  As events and information will show between now and election time, he will wish he had not been so fast in jumping to a conclusion.
 
He not only put in his own ad, he also solicited many other businesses for contributions.  He wanted to get other businesses involved, most of whom do not follow city affairs all that closely.
 
That, I think, was a much more serious error on his part.  He took the word of his friend(s) at face value and promptly sent out solicitations to businesses hoping they would, in turn, take his word for it. Some may trust him and do so. They, in turn, would also be stigmatized and feel misled, but this time Mike will get the blame directly.
 
In a small town election, money is not as important as a national election.  The incumbents far outspent the challengers in the primary, yet they ended up 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th in a nine person primary.  Why?  The numerous missteps by this city council and city manager have been widely disseminated over the past four years by the local media, this and other websites and by other means.  Mike Carey either was not paying attention or didn't want to believe what he read.
 
The primary election results showed that the public was tuned in.  No, they were not fooled by the challengers.  Those who follow city affairs closely knew the real issues and voted
accordingly.
 
If Mike Carey had been duped before the primary, it would have been slightly more understandable. For him to get duped after the primary results were known is much harder to fathom. 
 
Businesses live or die on getting and keeping customers.  Most business owners understand that if they get too vocal and partisan in political matters, they inevitably will offend some of their customers.  Most of them will be non-committal with their customers, and wisely so.
 
I am reserving judgment on Mike Carey.  All of us can look back and wonder why we made what turned out to be wrong decisions and further wonder how we could have been so ignorant.  I think he will look back on this one as a true flaw in his judgment.  It's not just his decision to support incumbents, it's that some people will follow him and hold him responsible because they trusted him and he misled them.
 
Sorry, Mike, the city is not being operated like a well run business. Instead, it is a disaster waiting to happen.  I feel sorry for whoever sits on the council the next four years.  They have a lot problems to unwind that the current council initiated. John Marquart can pack his bags and move on, leaving the city taxpayers with far larger financial burdens that it had when he came here.  He won't pay for them, Mike, you and I will.

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9-28-2007-05

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9-28-2007-04

On Wednesday September 26, I attended Special Meeting of the TIFA Board and listened to Mr. Steve Mariucci as he made his presentation concerning the projects he is planning in Iron Mountain.

I was very impressed. I can see a great deal of benefit to our community. The Premier Center, currently being torn down, and was the largest facility available for large groups in Iron Mountain,  We will now have a convention center that will be able to hold  more than twice as many people, twelve hundred, in fact, with kitchen facilities to match.  If we can draw in some large conventions to the area, our other merchants will certainly benefit.  An adjacent full service restaurant and a hotel are also planned. In addition, there are two more possible projects, a retail area and a senior citizens community.

This is certainly what I would refer to as PROGRESS.  In so many derogatory statements from the incumbents we are always accused of not being in favor of progress.   That has never been true. Any city council would favor such a project. We want the benefits that are derived from such projects to be beneficial to the largest number of citizens possible, and this one certainly does that,

Thank you, Mr. Mariucci, for supporting your home town in such a valuable way.

Dave Farragh

Candidate for City Council

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9-28-2007-03

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9-28-2007-02

Like a business?

Wow.  If there were qualities I always gave Mike Carey credit for, they were direct investigation, balanced judgment, and clear-eyed objectivity.  He's always been a pretty pragmatic guy.  You know -- let's do what works.  Now I'm not so sure.  Particularly in the light of so much evidence that contradicts exactly what he says. 

With all due respect, the last thing Iron Mountain is being run like is a successful business.  My goodness!  Simply compare and contrast it to a successful business!  Mike!  What's going on?  Your business ranks among those that will most suffer and perhaps even perish if Iron Mountain continues to be run as it is.

On the contrary, this city actually needs to be run like a business, professionally, not like a bunch of self-serving children huffing and puffing and playing at business, and it needs to attract and infuse private capital and those that provide it, not repel them, so that Carey Contracting and every other business already in this town can grow and prosper, not hunker in on itself, shrinking and depending on small jobs, fewer jobs, and/or dwindling government grants here and there.  Indeed!  This is precisely one of the major issues facing Iron Mountain and a principal point that the city-council challengers are trying to make.  We're not professional and businesslike and we must make ourselves so.

I respectfully request that you complete your homework regarding this, Mike.  We must become professional and businesslike if we're to survive and thrive.  Sorry, Mike.  Normally I'm inclined to value your opinion and tilt toward your conclusion, but I couldn't disagree with you more on this issue.  The evidence is public and available.  Because you haven't seen or heard it on TV, radio, or in the paper yet doesn't mean that this city's current management and government hasn't been seriously inept, irresponsible, and troublingly unlawful and unethical, having gotten us all into serious and worsening trouble.

Let's not pretend we're businesslike.  Let's become businesslike.

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9-28-2007-01

RESIDENTS OF IRON MOUNTAIN - You are becoming a big nuisance.  How many times do you have to be told?  YOUR CIVIC DUTY is to pay your taxes and user fees and keep your mouth shut.
 
The City Council hits you with a $4,800,000 Water Bond - big deal. 
 
Your water and sewer rates go through the roof.  So what?
 
Miles of streets need to be milled and paved, sure, but what's a few thousand potholes.
A little cold patch takes care of 20% of them.
 
OK, the alleys are a disaster, but what the hell, alleys are alleys.  What are you getting excited about? How much time do you spend in your alley?
 
Sure, a little sewage back up into houses from time to time.  It wasn't your house was it?
Are you going to spend your life worrying about other peoples problems?
 
So some sewage is taken out of the sewer lines and dumped into the pit and at the bat cave.
What are you people, a bunch of environmental freaks?  Are you worried that the bats will get sick because of a little sewage?
 
All right, so the City Manager missed the deadline he was told about well in advance and we had a couple years of train horns all hours of the night.  Did it kill you?  Apparently not, if you're reading this.  You lost a little sleep. You were probably sleeping too much anyway.
 
I just read on this site that TIFA turned down a mere $750,000 expenditure for some work on one block behind city hall.  Doesn't the TIFA board understand what Marquart and the Mayor tried to explain what a "vibrant downtown" means?  Will Iron Mountain go on forever without a desperately needed pavilion for the Farmer's Market that meets for three-four hours twelve Saturday's a year?
 
And then there's the bandshell.  Don't you people understand that the bandshell could lead to Iron Mountain becoming the cultural center of the upper midwest?  Sure, November, December, January, February, March, April and May  are a little nippy for outdoor concerts, but for one hour a week in the summer, you could have listened to "Out to Lunch" Thursday musicians in a brand new bandshell, instead of the portable, but adequate one they have now.  The whole project was only going to cost $500,000 and lose a measly 30 parking spaces.
 
You people just don't understand "continued progress" when it's staring you in the face.

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9-27-2007-10

 

Percivale

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9-27-2007-09

The political ad that Mike Carey  (from Carey Contracting ) states that this city is finally being ran like a buisiness.
He's right JUST LIKE ENRON

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9-27-2007-08

I finally checked out the Iron Mountain Truth site.  My my.  I was expecting something much more, um, civilized, even a touch sophisticated -- or at least affected and perhaps pseudo-sophisticated.  It's very disappointing.  So unintelligent and gauche.  I couldn't find a single informed opinion or any reference to proof, substantiation, or documentation of any claims made there.  Some wit mentioned on the Issues site recently that the word progress should check in at the Caring House because of the abuse it's been taking.  Perhaps the word truth should join it.

Somebody educate me please.  One thing at the Truth site that for some unknown reason particularly concerns me: Why are the writers there so vociferously and militantly trashing city council candidates Toedter, Peterson, Alessandrini, Farragh, and Rosen as anti-gay when those five are publicly and personally tolerant, inclusive, and clearly not homophobic?  What evidence do their ranting accusers have about these individuals to indicate that they're anti-gay?  And what does it have to do with anything?  If the Truth folks want to go after anti-gays, why don't they go after the churches in town?  Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant -- all of the Christian denominations.  All of the churches are openly, unapologetically anti-gay.  When the Truth writers make that accusation of the churches, it'll certainly be substantiated.  If they want to crusade against anti-gays in town, why not spend all the hateful bile spewing from their site on the local churches that are anti-gay instead of on five individuals that are not?

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9-27-2007-07

 
I want to add my Congratulations to the TIFA Board along with post 9-26-2007-07, for rejecting the reckless and needless spending of around $750,000 for parking lot amenities we don't need.
 
Going one step further, I read in The Daily News that TIFA has agreed to buy the Khoury property to help move along the Mariucci LLC project. I also noticed that the TIFA will close the purchase subject to a definitive agreement with the developers - who will then buy back the property from TIFA.
 
TIFA is acting in a prudent and business-like manner.  In the end, without knowing all the details, it looks like TIFA will get all its money back and the project will go forward.
 
If the incumbents and Marquart try to make political hay for themselves out of this, it won't work.  The TIFA Board is so much better than the city council in its deliberations, in seeking legal advice every step of the way, in having long range plans and yet flexible enough to change course as the situation arises, that any comparison of the two bodies only makes the city council look more inadequate than ever.
 
They shot down a BAD deal and entered into a GOOD one - all in single afternoon session.
 
Excellent work, gentlemen. 

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9-27-2007-06

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9-27-2007-05

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9-27-2007-04

August 2007 Vendors Report is available:  August 2007 Report

Webmaster

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9-27-2007-03

 

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9-27-2007-02

I couldn't agree more with 9-26-2007-03 and 9-25-2007-04.  Finally, someone is hitting the nail on the head with the broader, all-encompassing issue.  Enough of this high falutin' Mickey Mouse approach to government that's all show, tail-covering, pettiness, expensive and unnecessary lawsuits, perpetual ineptness, constant contradictions, open and shameless law- and agreement-breaking in the face of documentation, disregard for taxpayers footing extravagant expense accounts, undeserved credit-taking, gratuitous finger-pointing, unresponsiveness, engineered city council meetings, outright lying in the face of evidence, and unrelenting self-advancement while Iron Mountain deteriorates worse than ever around us.
 
How did we ever let things get like this?
 
It's time to elect and then hire responsible, accountable city officials who are going to govern and manage this city in a professional, business-like, and effective manner that will openly and consistently strive to introduce new businesses and private capital to the city as well as increase grants and improve business for those businesses and organizations already here.  And all this with the goal of improving the entire city and benefiting everyone who lives or works in it with more choice, more openness, a concerted effort to provide more high-paying jobs, and better city safety and services.  Bravo!  Out with the old and in with the new.  If Iron Mountain is going to survive and prosper, it has to realistically and pragmatically enlist the enriching ways of those who are successful throughout the rest of the world.  Progress is more than a word.  Let's get some sober, serious, and real progress going in this town again.

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9-27-2007-01

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9-26-2007-08

Webmaster, I've been chuckling with a few callers and online visitors off and on all evening over your latest post, 9-26-2007-06.  But we suspect your reasonably polite and tactful tongue-in-cheek sarcasm with the statistics went right over the I.M. Truth webby's head.  Nice try though.

I.M. Truth people, of course Issues isn't getting 14,000 unique hits or visits per week.  Server requests are not the same as unique visits.  The point is this: if you want your claims about how many hits or visits you're getting to have credence, you might want to use an independent and objective counter or meter that your Web host provides.  Just telling people usually doesn't cut it, particularly on a site such as yours.  And frankly 37,000 hits in your first week and a half, as you state, is misleading.  For a site the size, age, and nature of yours, the numbers really strain one's ability to believe -- they're not credible, and therefore you're not helping your cause, boys and girls.  That's what the Issues webmaster was getting at.  You can't count all of your server requests as visits.  Server requests include each photo and each little graphic, such as the 20 tiny arrows and Go Daddy material you have on each page.  You can count only visits.  Use a counter.  It's more believable.  And then only if you're not clicking the Refresh feature in your browser over and over continually to inflate the figure.  You get a generally accurate reading usually only over time -- the more time, the more accurate, the more believable.  Dig?  I don't know if you were paying attention or not, but the Issues site didn't even put its counters onsite till after it had been online for a few months.  With all due respect, come on.  If you're gonna play this game, you don't have to be a pro, but at least be a player.  Or at least make the effort to be.  No one has any love and respect for a Grand Pretender or outright liar.

An Uninvolved but Interested Geek Bystander

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9-26-2007-07

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9-26-2007-06

I was just updating the forum and posting the note below when I decided to go to the truth.com website and see what was going on.  I noticed this statement on the site:

"The site had personally attacked the incumbents, their family and friends for four years. It has continuously spread misinformation and lies."

Funny thing is this site is only 13 months old.  We started it last August.

I then went to our statistics area of this web site and noticed that in 13 months we have had 611,714 server requests.  We are averaging about 14,000 a week.  The hit counters that I have on the home page and forum page are not accurate to the number of visitors.

Thanks for visiting.

Webmaster of Iron Mountain Issues

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9-26-2007-05

I really must remind everyone reading this website that just because something is written on here does not mean it was put on by a challenger or a supporter of the challengers.

I am referring to 9-24-2007-7. 

I was at the 424 amendment meeting referred to, and immediately afterwards talked at length with Mr. Rigoni in the parking lot.  We both saw Mr. Tousignant leave. He did not even come close to talking with Mr. Rigoni.  I obviously can’t say what happened prior to the meeting

I can say this conversation did not happen after the meeting..  Post 9-24-07-07 is showing on the Truth website, making it sound like challengers will do anything to win.

If you are going to make a statement you want people to believe on this site, then I say sign your name so it can be verified.  On the other hand, perhaps this is a supporter of the incumbents trying to cause trouble again.

Always remember that anyone can post on this site unlike the truth.com site.

Dave Farragh

Candidate for City Council

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9-26-2007-04

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9-26-2007-03

Concerning Item 9-25-2007-04

Well said.  And how!  And about time.  Thank you. 

Neither the people at city hall nor the regular writers to this site have a clue how many of us in town feel what this writer has expressed.  I encourage every voter in Iron Mountain to read the "progress/pro-business" posting completely and carefully.  And have everyone you know read it.  It's Item 9-25-2007-04.  It's mainstream stuff that affects everyone, and it cuts to the bone.  I defy all readers to argue that those are not six paragraphs of solid truth, clear vision, and great advice.

"Big Picture" is right, as the writer says.  What he writes reflects on and influences every issue this city faces.  It's time to grow up, broaden our vision to incorporate what's important and effective, then finally tackle Iron Mountain's issues with a realistic and universal businesslike professionalism instead of continuing year after year of bluff, half-measure, false bravado, and tawdry small-town politicking.

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9-26-2007-01

It looks like the more Doug Rigoni spends on re-election advertising, the worse it gets for him.
 
The Letter to the Editor article by Mr. Giguerre's Attorney Herb McRoberts clearly points out the multi-month stonewalling Mr. Giguerre endured before he hired an attorney.  It lays low the comments made by Rigoni that the city "has to go through a process."  What process? The facts of the matter were there in black and white. The city blew sewage into his house.  Governmental immunity does not apply. End of story.
 
Doug Rigoni again misstated facts regarding his Rental Ordinance re-election ad.  He states:
 
"The landlord association sued the City to try to stop enforcement of the ordinance, costing you the taxpayers thousands of dollars.  They lost."
 
FACT: The landlords HAVE NOT lost anything.  No decision has yet been rendered by the court, as Mr. Rigoni certainly knows.  Why would he lie and say they lost?  Apparently because he has no qualms about LYING, a trait he has in common with City Manager John Marquart and Mayor Ken Tousignant. The Rental Ordinance HAS NOT been enforced and is not a legal ordinance of the city.
 
The Rental Ordinance, as written, is very complex.  His suggestion that it only will cost the landlords $3.88 per month is pure fiction.  The penalties spelled out in the ordinance are horrendous for minor infractions.  All of this will come to the attention of the taxpayers well before November in great detail.
 
Much more BIG NEWS of gross mismanagement in other areas is also about to break I am told from very keyed-in people.  STAND BY.

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9-25-2007-06

Tonight's Daily News, Tuesday Sept. 25,  has a very interesting letter to the editor.  It is titled, "What is wrong for the city."   
Please read this article!!  It's author states, "As the attorney for the homeowner, I decided a response to Mr. Rigoni's article was necessary."  The homeowner that he refers to had a sewer backup problem in Iron Mountain.  I found the placement of the article to be very interesting due to the fact that it is at the bottom of the page and easy to miss. I have called a number of my friends who read the paper from page to page every evening.  They all missed seeing the article!

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9-25-2007-05

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9-25-2007-04

When you say progress, mean progress.  When you say pro-business, mean pro-business.
 
You like passing out flyers?  Then run copies of this opinion and hand it out all over town.  Pardon me if I'm feeling a little indignant, but the word progress ought to check in to the Caring House the way it's being abused by the incumbent city-council candidates in recent weeks.  Nice political catchphrase, nice slogan, but absolutely no substance.
 
Look, folks.  Let's talk Big Picture here.  Progress means advancement.  To progress means to advance.  In the broader political sense for a city, it means to advance the standard of living, to advance the quality of life.  To get better.  But I bet we'd be hard-pressed to find 100 unbribed citizens in Iron Mountain who would say that they're better off today than they were before this City Council and its management took over four years ago.  Led by Mayor Tousignant, City Manager Marquart, and lately Councilman Rigoni, there's an awful lot of chest-puffing and self-importance, a lot of big talk and self-congratulations, and there's a lot of posing and pretending and braggadocio galore from City Hall, and a lot of meaningless moving stuff around on the table -- and knocking stuff off the table! -- and plenty of smoke and mirrors, but, plain and simple, there's precious little accomplishment and advancement, despite all the empty boasting about it.
 
This town and its leaders have to abandon their preconceptions, get out of their box, and expand their vision if we're going to see some genuine progress.  We need some businesslike professionalism at City Hall, not just the constant claim and pretense of it.  We have to recognize that progress is not John Marquart writing grants to award to the same businesses in town over and over again, while ignoring overtures from out-of-town companies showing some interest in Iron Mountain.  Progress is not corporate welfare -- progress is not Michigan taking money from all of us taxpayers and awarding it as a grant to Iron Mountain, who in turn puts it, in contract form, in the pocket of a private business like Bacco -- which is run by a city councilman, for goodness' sake!  And progress is not getting the grant money and awarding it to downtown's pet programs of urban renewal that have a 50-year history of creating expensive bureaucracies and failing miserably in backwater towns like Iron Mountain.
 
Enough.  These guys have had their shot and botched it.  They can plead and rationalize all they want.  I'm more interested in effective government and success than I am in political catchphrases and excuses.  I say it's time to pursue real progress.  It's time to pursue new business, 21st-century technological, service, and manufacturing businesses, and the high-paying jobs these businesses provide.  It's time to pursue private capitalization and lots of it, not only puny state grant after puny state grant, each of which ends up in the same old private businesses' coffers around town and is of no benefit to the general population -- i.e., you and me.  We have to pursue wealth, private wealth, those new companies that will not only settle and invest in Iron Mountain, but will provide the type of cash flow within the community from which the businesses already here will themselves grow and prosper.  We have to provide a professional business environment in which new, private money flows into and through town, to Bacco and Champion and smaller employers like Carey Contracting and the plumbing-and-heating and electrical contractors, not to mention the realtors and banks and all the other businesses in town -- as well as the new businesses -- and jobs -- such an infusion will generate.
 
Enough of this "progress" nonsense from the incumbents.  Enough of the status quo.  These guys currently running Iron Mountain, elected and hired, are small time, lack vision, are generally inept, and don't know what they're doing other than attempting to serve themselves and their limited interests.  Even as they say otherwise.  It's time to pursue authentic progress and advance our standard of living and quality of life with a businesslike, professional approach to attracting the new businesses of the future with high-paying jobs and wealth, then conscientiously fixing, managing, and benefiting Iron Mountain and everyone in it.  It's a global economy, folks, a new day, and we have to assert ourselves competitively within it if we're to survive and prosper.  Paving the entire city and spending on largely unimportant pet projects in the old downtown are not enough.  Those shortsighted and limited priorities just don't cut it.
 
The incumbents and their city-management bureaucrats have had their chance and not even remotely measured up.  On the contrary -- by virtually every objective measurement we're a poorer, less safe city with worsening prospects than when they took over.  That's why I call on everyone in town -- everyone -- to take a look at the new guys who subscribe to the broader, more realistic, more professional, more businesslike, and genuinely progressive outlook and its application, the challengers running for City Council -- Toedter, Rosen, Peterson, Farragh, and Alessandrini.  Read and listen to what they have to say.  Offer them your vote this time around, and give them an opportunity to start correcting Iron Mountain's state of affairs and lead the city's advance.  With them, I daresay progress might actually mean progress again.

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9-25-2007-03

LIES - INCOMPLETE INFO - HALF TRUTHS - That's how this council operates!!!!!

This is the only thing Doug Rigoni and the others has to offer us. High taxes, bad water, no fire protection, excessive fees,
throwing businesses out, stopping business from locating here, expanding local government with no benefit, making us the
laughing stock of Michigan. And the list goes on and on.

If anyone checks the facts that he writes his lies are right in front of us.
 

1. Sewage backup two times and claiming the city is held harmless due to State law.  Then why would the city settle for any amount of money with Giguere when they didnt have to. Because they applied external pressure to the lines which creates liability.  Doing the right thing and taking responsiblity just doesnt come into play with these idiots.

2. Continue Progress slogan. Ask ANYONE who has recently built or relocated within the city limits with a business. The   current council and manager make them jump through hoops that are set to the clouds. Walgreen, Simone Insurance, Peter Begress, to mention a few, all had real hurdles with the "city" to expand business here.
 

3. Fire the fire fighters to save money. Now we pay the each policeman an extra $4000.00 each per year and overtime for       certification when they still cant go into buildings as they lack qualifications. They are late in going to a fire or don't show up at all. This saves us money and affords better fire protection - NOT.

4. Rental housing. The council wants to create a bigger government and make money doing it. Can you say Ghost Town USA!
Rigoni puts in the paper that the landlords killed people because the ordinance was contested - what a bunch of dung. The fires were caused by an overloaded extension cord and food cooking on a stove while the tenant fell asleep. Spin that truth.com!
 

5. 425 agreement. Cant we hear all the facts just once from the council. Will I.M. get any tax revenue in 50 years with this
agreement unless the properties are sold? NO!!!!!!  Who will buy any of the property located in either area if they have to pay for running the water and sewer lines? NO ONE!!!!!! The day of the public meeting the council issues the agreement to the public that isn't the actual agreement - how can they do that? BECAUSE THEY CAN!!!!!!

There is just so much wrong with our council and manager. Each time they meet you wonder how can this happen to our city and what are thinking. THAT'S THE PROBLEM - THEY DON'T THINK!!!!!!!!!!!

If monkeys were running against them I would vote for the monkeys and feel justified in my vote.

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9-25-2007-02

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9-25-2007-01

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9-24-2007-08

To the I.M. Truth webperson ... Sure.  A challenger could have created or underwritten or supported the dougie site.  Would have had to have been the dumbest person alive, but he or she could have done it.
 
But do you know what is real easy to imagine?  Especially if a person knows the slightest bit about the Web and the nature of politics?
 
It is real easy to imagine that if an incumbent wanted to discredit the challengers, he or she would shrewdly create the dougie site exactly as it is.  That incumbent would choose similarities for it that match other Web sites associated with the challengers.  That incumbent would buy identical features like the Web hosting company and the I.D. security protection.  Then that incumbent and his/her sympathizers would jump up and down sputtering in a manufactured fury of indignation and political correctness and point at the site and say, "Look, look at this horrible thing that the challengers have done!  It must be them!  The site has two of the exact same features as the public forum site that publishes their opinions!"
 
Get real.  Do you think there is a voter in this city, or a challenger, who believes any one of the incumbents is stupid enough to try and discredit the challengers that way?  Any more than the group of challengers, who are publicly tolerant and not anti-gay and not homophobic, would try to paint the incumbents so stupidly?
 
The really stupid people here are the handful of militant extremists on either side of the gay issue in Iron Mountain who are trying to use it as leverage to further their political goals ... and think it might work!
 
Every single one of the current candidates, incumbent and challenger, is savvy enough to understand that if they had been responsible for creating that site to discredit the other side, it would have been the kiss of political death.
 
It's a wash, pal.  This issue is a dead one.  I suggest we all move on.  And I do mean all.  This campaign is unimaginably larger, more inclusive, and more important than the gay issue and that pathetic dougie site.  Sadly, every candidate was unnecessarily violated and victimized by all of this nonsense, and no good purpose was served.  I know that these ethical considerations mean diddly to you, but it seems to me and probably the rest of Iron Mountain that in picking and choosing among our candidates, we should be looking for what good purposes can be served.  Not what cheap shots can be taken.

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9-24-2007-07

I was just outside City hall after the 425 act meeting and over heard Mr. Rigoni and Ken Tousnaut  talking about the agreement and Mr. Rigoni said that he was happy that no one brought up the water and sewer district that
they are going to negotiate with BT for outside the city limits because he wanted to get all the work on that project and Mr. Tousignant said don't worry if we get in you will. And they even laugh about it.

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9-24-2007-06

I hope all of you out there realize the the www.ironmountaintruth.com website is, in fact, the Ken Tousignant website.
 
It is so obvious it's pathetic.  It is the same ploy he used when Marcus Blomquist was signing letters to this site.  Tousignant was writing those letters.  Once again hiding behind somebody.
 
So when you go to the truth.com website, remind yourself that you are reading the vicious commentary of Ken Tousignant. 
 
After coming in ninth in the nine person Primary Election, his vengefulness and bitterness are coming through loud and clear.  More accurately, his true character is coming through loud and clear.
 
The voters had him pegged right.

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9-24-2007-05

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9-24-2007-04

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9-24-2007-03

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9-24-2007-02

I was wandering through the so-called truth site.  I did not notice Ken Tousignant's name in there anywhere. 
 
Also, John Marquart is mentioned very sparingly.  Once where Dale Alessandrini is alleged to have said Marquart should be fired.  He certainly is not alone in this thought.  The other occasion is where he pay raise is explained.
 
So the truth site has only one purpose:  to demean and attack any and all challengers.  They do it by attributing statements to the challengers that were never made, and then attacking the fictitious statements they created. 
 
Unlike the issues website, this one, where FOIA documentation can be found in many places, there is none.
 
Unlike the democracy website, where each candidate states his or her positions without personally attacking people, only the positions of the incumbents where they disagree, the truth website is very personal.  Hardly a class act.
 
Where are the positions of the individual incumbents posted on the truth site?  I can't find them.
 
Tousignant has a long history of hiding behind others instead of writing and signing his own material.  The truth website is nothing more than a continuation of that practice.
 
No one is fooled by the truth website who has any interest in city affairs.  The four year record of the incumbents and city manager is far too well known by the voters and taxpayers.

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9-24-2007-01

To 9-21-2007-05 about your maps:

Sorry.  Too cryptic for me.  No matter how carefully I look.  Besides, not only are the maps hard for me to read, but I'm one of the general public and not privy to the inside info, assumptions, and ongoing exchanges.  (I have trouble understanding quite a few of the remarks that exist out of context on this site and ones like it -- you may be making a great point, but how would I know?)  What's missing on the map?  And what's significant about it missing?

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9-23-2007-02

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9-23-2007-01

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9-22-2007-07

When I presented the plan to Parks & Recreation Committee about building a new field at City Park, I did not ask the City to pay for the project.  There are several privately funded grants (a big one is with the NFL) that would help with the project.  The big portion of the funding would come from our league and the kids that would use the field.

I never asked the tax payers of Iron Mountain to fund this project.  All I asked was for a piece of land.

I have had several people talk to me about another location.  I am not against another location, but I do like the City Park Area.  This past Saturday we had hundreds of people at the upper Field.  The teams from West Iron County brought picnic lunches and kinda tailgated down by the playground.  I like the facilities located at the park.  We already have restrooms, parking, and pavilion if we needed to have a large function and the big one is the play ground.  3 to 7 year old kids have no interest in watching a football game, so the parents send them to the playground.

Thanks for listening.

Dean Lefebvre

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9-22-2007-06

It's been said before, and I'll say it again, now that the issue is hot again.  How is it practical or cost-effective to turn the deer pen into any type of athletic field?  The cost to fill in and level that area would be enormous when there are plenty of more level properties in the area to use.

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9-22-2007-05

Several times over the past few weeks, I have made it a point to drive through the Million dollar parking lot that the City of Iron Mountain has provided to Boss Snowplow for 1 dollar per year. I drove through at several different times of the day. To my surprise, the parking lot was never more than ¼ full. Then I started asking questions. Will the City provide parking for other business and industries that request it? Come on, have the doors been opened, or do only a select few like Boss Snowplow and the Downtown Merchants get a free ride. We have seen the cost of maintaining these lots downtown by the amounts put forward by the City engineers to repair and repave them. I wonder what is the costs to plow these lots in the winter, and will the Boss lot be plowed by the City. It seems a little strange, that if the City does in fact plow the lot, will they do it with a Western Plow, a Blizzard Plow, or some other manufacturer mounted on a City truck.

 

Also, with such an investment made in this lot, you would think that the City would get a great return on taxes as this industry expands. Wrong. As part of a sweet deal, this City Council has exempted Systems Control/boss Snowplows from paying all taxes on all new personal property. This is the only exemption of its type ever granted by the City of Iron Mountain and it was granted by the current City Council. The first year tax savings to Systems/boss is in the neighborhood of $490,000. This exemption was granted for 25 years. So the City looses tax money, by building the parking lot for a million dollars, loses by relocating streets and utilities to accommodate Boss/Systems and loses by not recouping their investment by exempting the facility from paying property taxes through the year 2031. Does this sound like progress to you? Especially when the City claims un-funded liabilities are looming out there. Will these un-funded liabilities eventually fall on the residents while business and industry are being exempted from taxes.

 

The following is an article entitled “Tax abatements under scrutiny” printed in the Lansing State Journal of November 25, 1999. In it is the statement, “if it’s an efficient company, it doesn’t need a subsidy, and if it’s inefficient, why are we subsidizing it”, said Kenneth Thomas, a political-science professor at the University of Missouri who has studied tax-break policy in Michigan and nationwide. What it winds up being is “you often have average people subsidizing the rich folks” Thomas said. A tax break on an individual basis is unfair because others do not benefit from it, in fact, it could be an additional burden on those not receiving the subsidy, while an across the board tax break benefits everybody on an equal basis.

 

It's been done before and didn't work. In the 1980’s, the City got involved with granting tax breaks under the Commercial Facilities Act. These breaks saw the businesses that obtained relief flourish. To this day, they are still viable properties in the community. This was at the expense of many other businesses that could not compete economically with those that obtained tax relief and thus went out of business. This program created an unfair tax advantage to those who received the tax cuts.

 

So City Council, by getting involved with “Corporate Welfare” what a fine mess you are leaving for the future of Iron Mountain. Is this your idea of ‘continued progress‘?

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9-22-2007-04

Response to 9-22-2007-02

The soccer league does not create teams that are aligned with their respective high schools.  Lat year my son's team had kids form Kingsford and I believe Florence on it.  If you look at their shirts they do not say Iron Mountain Soccer Team.  It says SAY.

The soccer league does a great serve to our community.

The football league teams are youth versions of the high school football teams.  If you attended any of the games at City Park this past Saturday you would have found youth Mountaineers, Bobcats, and Wykon players and fans cheering for their teams.  We had a great Saturday at City Park.  Over 500 people came to the field through the course of the day.

That field was utilized to the fullest.

Dean Lefebvre

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9-22-2007-03