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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

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9-22-2007-02

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9-22-2007-01

Dear Iron Mountain Issues,
 
Some of us are concerned about the stark unfairness of how the present City Council is cynically and politically hiding behind the popularity of our terrific School Liaison Officer Program to impose and then illegally use a cable-TV franchise fee for funding in Iron Mountain.  This concerns us enough that some of us decided to get a local online billboard, Fair is fair!, to inform the I.M. citizens 24/7 of what is really happening here.  By publishing this letter, will you please make your readers aware of our link?  Thank you.
 
Friends of the Iron Mountain School Liaison Officer Program

Fair is Fair Web Page

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9-21-2007-06

Hey!  Any one else run across this site yet?

http://www.imeplace.org/phil_dougie_archive_item/

Interesting turn of events.

That got me thinking, so I checked http://www.ironmountaingay.com/ to discover yet another turn of events.  How long has that been there?

Actually kind of an upbeat note on both counts, huh?  No matter what side of the issues you're on.

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9-21-2007-05

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9-21-2007-04

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9-21-2007-03

How much has the city spent on the re-assessment of property?

Click here:  PDF Format  Assessment              MS Excel Format Assessment

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9-21-2007-02

 It is getting close to the November election, and I see by the lies on the Iron Mountain Truth website that the incumbents are starting to throw stones. I will not engage in any personal attacks, but I will talk about what is important.  I will stick to the issues that we face as residents of Iron Mountain. I will answer any questions that the citizens ask, and I will be truthful and courteous to you.  I invite any resident to e-mail me at www.ironmountaindemocracy.com with any questions, issues, or concerns that you may have.

There are a few items that I feel need to be addressed right now.

1 – The school liaison officer is a very good program for our children. When I sat on the council six years ago, I voted to have it put on the ballot because I wanted that program to be safe for at least five years, and it was, I was a little worried that if it was funded though the general fund and a new council came in, they may not fund it. The incumbents want you to believe that just because I want to do away with the T.V. fee that I won’t fund that program.  That is so far from the truth. We will still fund that program, but without levying a T.V. fee.

2 – I have stood up in many council meetings to address certain issues and have always had all the necessary documentation to support what I was saying, including tax reassessment issues, bidding processes, trips taken and money spent on these trips, and increased water bills to name a few. I have even told the city council that if they are interested in the information I have, I am willing to show all the data to them and to give me a call.  Not one of them has ever bothered to call and get the facts that I had.

3-The Main Street Program is a wonderful program.  It brings people downtown to enjoy our city. Britney, the Main Street coordinator, does a great job on the activities she brings in.  I had a chance to help her for a little while at the Italian Fest and found that her heart is in the right place.  Why would the truth website say that I want to fire her, especially to save $11,000.00?  The I.M. Truth web site stated that I just told ”somebody” (no name given) that the $13,000.00 raised by the Italian Fest went into the general budget. That is not true.  Before the Italian Fest even started, there were items on the Vendor’s Report that I questioned (wine glasses, wrist bands, etc.), so I called up City Hall.  The report was explained to me that the money spent on these items was deducted from the DDA account. Besides that, I didn’t even know how much money they had raised. But congratulations to Britney and all who worked on the Italian Fest to raise that kind of money.

4 – On one of the so-called truths, they said that I sat on the council and almost lost North Star Industries. That is another accusation that is not true. North Star sent out a letter asking communities what they have to offer them to locate in their area because they wanted to expand. Yes, I was on the council at that time; but before we could negotiate with them, the new council came in, and I was no longer there. I sit on the Economic Development Alliance Board. Why would I not want development in Iron Mountain? Absolutely I am for development in Iron Mountain.  The council needs to remember that if we are going to use city funds to supply water and sewer to develop property, we need to make sure that there is a contract with the developer to build on that site so the city can capture the taxes and, in turn, get our money back for the infrastructure costs.

Come back for more insight on the issues that we face as taxpayers of Iron Mountain.  I will be addressing the budget, tax reassessment, the bidding process, ISO rating, trips that this council and manager have taken,  water and sewer rates, state and federal grants, and more .

Thank You

Dale Alessandrini

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9-21-2007-01

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9-20-2007-06

Response to 9-20-2007-04

From the tone of your post I would say that you are the one that wont compromise.

I don't believe that our league is looking a $250,000 gift horse in the mouth.  Again, it is a wonderful project that will help the youth soccer league.  I was approached by the group involved in this project and asked if I wanted to help.  See there is a grant for youth athletic fields.  I could see raising around $200,000 for a field project.  But I live in Iron Mountain and the facility should be within the city limits of Iron Mountain, supported by the residents of Iron Mountain, used for the youth of Iron Mountain.

You want me to tell the kids from Iron Mountain that our new facility is out on Pine Mountain Road and is located in Breitung Township.  The kids response will be "I don't play for Kingsford."  Now let me tell the parents that we want you to live in Iron Mountain and pay taxes here but your tax dollar wont be spent on any facilities here.  You have to go to Breitung Township for recreational facilities.  Tell the Little League that all games will now be played in Norway at Marion Park.

You do not know how important the spirit of our youth sports programs are.  If there is no home town spirit the program will suffer a slow death.  Look and Gwinn and tell me that there spirit is high.  This school district can barely field teams this year.  Iron Mountains are very strong.

So if your asking me to base this communities future on deer or our youth, the deer can join the ones in my yard.

But as I said in my post.  A discussion among concerned citizens will bring about a common goal.  I have been talking to other people and looking at other areas in the city.  Anyway who am I but just 1 citizen in this town.  Please don't be so threatened by my suggestions.

Dean Lefebvre

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9-20-2007-05

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9-20-2007-04

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9-20-2007-03

This is in response to the 2 new soccer fields that the St. Mary’s Orthodox Church is building .  This is a wonderful project.

Unfortunately it is located in Breitung Township and the church will have direct control over the fields.  I say this because we have been turned away from using other privately owned fields in the area.  The church did not say we could or could not use these fields.  I am just planning on not utilizing these new fields for our youth football program.

The Central UP Youth Football League has 515 players from 8 areas playing this year.  Of the 515, 110 are from Iron Mountain and about 106 are from Kingsford.  All 110 kids from Iron Mountain use City Park, 4 to 5 days a week for practices and games.  We are crowded.

The location of City Park is great for the kids as most kids ride their bikes to practice or walk to the park after school.  To these kids City Park is their home field.

I invite all the citizens of Iron Mountain to visit the upper field this Saturday.  We will be hosting 3 home games.  I invite you to visit and see how nice it is to have this Iron Mountain sporting event held in Iron Mountain.

I would still like to see another field in the City Park area.  I also understand that the Deer are important too.  This past summer, while I was watering the field, I took notice as to how many people visit the Deer.  I was surprised by the number of cars that ride along the fence and the number of people that walked along the fence to see the Deer.  I hope that as a community we can discuss the future of City Park and come to a common goal.

Dean Lefebvre

President, Central UP Youth Football League

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9-20-2007-02

To Writer 9-19-2007-11: Follow up on IP Addresses

Hey, I'm glad you pointed out all that stuff about many domain names and their sites residing at specific IP addresses on specific domain servers.  Thanks.  That stuff needed to be said.  Typo though near the end of Point "2.)": should be oneclickidea.com (not oneclick.com; visitors will be checking the wrong site).  I also found another domain name on that server at that IP address by doing entirely unrelated business.  The domain name is one of many that belongs to the sizeable, private think tank and consultancy firm, Global Network Associates -- globalnetworkassociates.net.  No site that I can find; they just own and store the name.  Think they're out to oust the current Iron Mountain city council and eradicate homosexuality in the U.P. as your forum's conspiracy theorists suggest?  LOL!!!  Yeah, right.  You think they even have the remotest idea that these other sites -- or Iron Mountain itself -- exist?

Also, if I can add my two cents about the sites, servers, and IP addresses?  Anyone can also go to a WHOIS feature like the one at http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/index.jsp and search an IP address itself.  Just choose that option and then enter the IP address and search it.  In this instance, you'll find that the address belongs to a domain server that belongs to Hostway, one of the largest and most popular web hosts in the world -- and a huge presence in this part of the country.  Learn about how web hosts work -- and about how Hostway itself works, for that matter -- and you'll understand that this type of domain server hosts at least hundreds of Web sites, Internet packages, and domain names.  You might also remember to tell your readers that this stuff changes constantly as hosts move domains to different servers and as clients change hosts -- that kind of stuff.  A domain name's IP address and domain server can change overnight.

BTW: I notice cityofironmountain.com and ironmountaintruth.com are registered at the same registrar: GoDaddy.  By the conspiracy accusers' own logic (or semblance of it), does that mean that those controlling the City of Iron Mountain's site and those controlling Iron Mountain Truth's site are either the same person or different persons but in bed together, as they claim these other sites are?  Ha!  Too much!  After all, what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.  Right?  No?  Ain't it?  Come on, use your heads!

That ethical/moral/civil etiquette stuff you (Writer 9-19-2007-11) mentioned too -- good stuff.  Some really unscrupulous people out there, don't care what they say or who they attack as long as they think they're serving their purpose.  You know that old saw about the neighborhood just not being the same since that shiftless riffraff moved in?  Sadly, that's pretty much how it's become across the Internet.  Selfish, meanspirited boneheads and flamers who bring their offline personalities onto the 'Net.  No consideration for anyone else online with them.  Bummer.  Anonymity has some real value and good stuff to be said for it -- hotlines, voting, protection from real threats and danger -- but the flip side if it is really wild and ugly and potentially harmful.  There are people who will use it, as they use everything else, irresponsibly.  In other words, abuse it.  Too bad because there's some great garbage on this site, including in this forum, if anyone bothers to sift and winnow through everything.  It also shows the jerks and morons for what they are, even if they are nameless. 

Make time to read The Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet Is Killing Our Culture by Andrew Keen.  Great stuff.  Although, given the way some of these people write -- those who most need to read a book like this! -- and, by not being able to articulate, show their inability to think clearly -- I worry that they may not be able to take it up a notch and read an entire book, in English, and understand it.  But if you can't read, write, and think -- if you can't communicate but can only emote -- what the bloody deuces are you doing posting stuff on the Internet?  Hey?  (I bet most of you think that's a rhetorical question.  It ain't.  I'm asking.)

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9-20-2007-01

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9-19-2007-12

Posted to ironmountaintruth.com and ironmountainissues,org

This is a quote from your web site.

"Keep in mind that two rental properties have burned in the last two years costing four young lives. Could we have avoided them if they had been inspected?"

If your web site is about the truth, then state the truth.  Why are you asking a question.

Northside Fire #1:

Overloaded outlet on the west wall.  Several appliances plugged into this outlet led to the fire.

Northside Fire #2:

Tenant started to cook something on the stove.  Went upstairs and fell asleep.  Fire then started in the kitchen.

Would someone please tell me how a landlord is supposed to prevent such tragedies.  I work hard to keep my rentals safe, including working smoke detectors, yet I have walked into my rental and found smoke detectors on the table with the batteries out.  I ask why?  The answer is that the battery in the TV remote was dead.

It boils down to this;  if you don't like the place you're renting, move to a better one.  If a landlord cannot rent a place he or she will be forced to upgrade the property.  Or is the real reason you won't move is that your past is chasing you.  "Ding Dong Rent" is a crime and I have brought every renter to court for past rent.  Four in the last year.

But wait.  It that a bird, or is it a plane, no wait its:

Have no fear the Iron Mountain City Council is here.

We will punish the landlord and make him or her pay for the tenants mistakes.

The last time I checked we lived in the USA and if you don't like where you live then move.

Landlord are not making money hand over fist.  The recent increase in interest rates have made it very hard to pass the increase in rent to the tenant.  Add to this the increase in property tax, the increase in water rate, increase in insurance, and the fees the city wants to add to the property make it a losing battle.

Then you may understand why we have so many houses for sale in this City.
Please start to see the trees through the forest.

Dean Lefebvre
Landlord in the City of Iron Mountain

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9-19-2007-11

Basta!  Enough!  Stop the harsh finger-pointing before your accusations harm more innocent victims.

There are people at the ironmountaintruth.com site and at the forum of the ironmountainissues.org site who either don't know what they're talking about or are looking to find a conspiracy where there isn't one.  Political campaigning aside, you really should do your homework before jumping to your half-baked conclusions with ugly, unwarranted, and incorrect accusations.

1.)  In the industry there are no "sub sites."  There are subdomains AKA subdirectories, but they exist within a single domain.  For example, IronMountainTruth.com is a domain and its URL (Web address) is http://www.IronMountainTruth.com .  An example of a subdomain or subdirectory would be CampaignTactics.IronMountainTruth.com or IronMountainTruth.com/CampaignTactics and its URLs would be http://CampaignTactics.IronMountainTruth.com (nonexistent) and http://www.IronMountainTruth.com/CampaignTactics (nonexistent).  IronMountainDemocracy.com and IronMountainGay.com are separate, individual, discrete domains, entirely unrelated.  Neither is a subdomain-subdirectory of the other.

2.)  IronMountainDemocracy.com and IronMountainGay.com do indeed share the same I.P. address and the same domain server.  What you probably don't know, or don't care about, or choose not to disclose, is that hundreds and often even thousands of websites share a single server.  Are you starting to feel just a little bit silly yet?  A little bit mortified?  A little bit guilty?  The specific I.P. address you speak of 66.113.129.243.  But it is also the domain server and I.P. address for www.oneclickidea.com , a Net-Web design site out of Key West, Florida; www.presbyterypoint.net , a summer church camp for Michigan's Presbyterian kids; www.troop26bsa.com , a Boy Scout troop out in New Jersey; and so on and so forth for countless other Web sites of all types.  None is related, none is a subdomain of another -- each is as separate and independent as are your thousands of Word, music, and photo files on your PC's single hard drive.  Are you claiming that because they all have the same domain-server address they’re all part of a conspiracy of homophobes out to rout the Iron Mountain City Council’s incumbents and rid Iron Mountain of all gays and lesbians?  I think not.  You people are unbelieveable.  Are you that ignorant or just that low?  You can keep going through any WHOIS service and the more domain names you check, the more you'll eventually accumulate on the same domain server with the same I.P. address.  Here you go:  http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/index.jsp .  Or make your own choice of WHOIS feature -- all registrars have them.  Knock yourself out.  See for yourself.  Check the ones I tumbled onto and pointed out -- oneclick.com, presbyterypoint.net, troop26bsa.com -- then waste endless hours hunting for more.  See how it works.  Apparently you haven't anything better to do.  While you're occupied doing that at least you won't be shredding some hapless and unsuspecting mope's life with an unwarranted accusation.

3.)  IronMountainIssues.org does subscribe to the same security masking service (WhoisProtector) as others -- but many millions do; it's very good and therefore very popular.  But IronMountainIssues.org is not on the same domain server as IronMountainDemocracy.com and IronMountainGay.com, and by checking you'll see that its I.P. address is not 66.113.129.243.  And guess what else you're going to find that will contradict an item you pointed out?  WhoisProtector isn't always going to display as Vancouver, BC, Canada.  Sometimes it'll be Chicago, sometimes Austin, sometimes elsewhere.  Surprise!  Depends whose and which domain server the domain name and Web site land on.

Damn.  Don't you just hate it when the facts don't fit your theory.  Or your politics.

There.  All checkable, learnable stuff.  Now, please.  Get civil, will ya?  Know what the heck you’re talking about before you start destroying people’s lives and reputations by pointing fingers and making accusations.
 
"A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring."
                          - Alexander Pope

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9-19-2007-10

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9-19-2007-09

What a pathetic, desperate, last ditch effort the misnamed ironmountaintruth.com website is.
 
Someone asked why there haven't been additional posts on there since Sept 14. 
 
Could it be because the Mayor is attending a Michigan Municipal League convetion in Traverse City and nothing gets on there without his approval?
 
That website is sick, sick, sick.

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9-19-2007-08

In one of his articles, John Marquart mentioned that the City of Iron Mountain now has a world- class website.  OK, it's a pretty good website, maybe not world class, but good.
 
My question then, is why the past audits aren't on there, why the Vendor's Reports aren't on there and why the Proposed Budgets and his lengthy letters aren't on there.
 
Why do  citizens and taxpayers have to FOIA all this information, pay for it, and then have to scan it in to this website so the rest of the population can see it.
 
I have gone into many city websites.  All of the good ones have all this information out there in the open for anyone to see - as it should be.
 
If you want to impress us with your world-class website, Mr. Marquart, add all this stuff on there.
 
You don't have by any chance have anything to hide, do you?

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9-19-2007-07

Here is the Dougie web site material in PDF Format.

Dougie Web Site 

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9-19-2007-06

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9-19-2007-05

Response to: 9-19-2007-04

Yes I do protect this web site: ironmountainissues.org

Our Info:

WhoisProtector Inc
550 Burrard Street, Suite 200
Vancouver, BC

This company protects millions of web sites.  Real coincidence.

Dougie did get the idea from me.  I told him to start his own web site.  To bad it was yanked after only a day.  The people of Iron Mountain needed to see that site to understand how this person wanted the future to look.

Here is your info: ironmountaintruth.com

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9-19-2007-04

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9-19-2007-03

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9-19-2007-02

The Truth Web site has had 5,700 hundred hits in 4 days.  Pretty good considering that the Issues web site has had 14,704 hits in the same time period and I think most visitors of this site are linking to the truth web site.

I was questioned on why I put a link to the Truth Web site?

Well, this site was created to get the all information out to the people of Iron Mountain.  All information that I get I pass along.  I have stopped posting certain subject material and have made it clear what those subjects are.

I would like to clear up one thing.  The Ironmountaingay web site was real, even though it only lasted a day.  That site was created by someone who was writing to this site to get his message out.  I refused to post his ideas and encouraged him to start his own site, which he did.  The Truth web site says that I started that site to disrupt the preliminary election results.  Very Un-True.

I normally do not post items and only facilitate the open and free communications between citizens, but I am interested in how many of you have sent a note to the Truth Website and have not had it posted.  If you do send a note to the Truth Web Site, please send this site a copy so I can post it on the forum.  This will ensure that they are being truthful.

In regards to Mr. Rigoni's sewage ad in the paper.  Please visit this page Sewage Issues and read why the city paid those claims.  It was not out of the kindness of their heart.  They had to because they (city workers) caused the backup.  Not a natural blockage.

I would like to thank all those folks that have taken the time to research the material posted here.  Keep up the good work and stay informed.  The next 6 weeks are important to us all.

Webmaster of the Issues Site

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9-19-2007-01

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9-18-2007-11

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9-18-2007-10

After living in this city for four years; I look back at why I decided to move here from a rural town 45 min south of here?  I visited Iron Mountain many times  and always thought it was a neat place to live. But now I look around  the city and see  nothing special anymore.  The sidewalks are  a disaster on the east side of town. Businesses are deteriorating,  and some are moving out of  the city and moving into the neighboring committees. Instead of  redoing parking lots  spend that
money for the few businesses that are still in Iron Mountain. Regardless everyone  has  weak points and strong points in there life some think they are strong at certain stuff well others aren't. It takes some people to fall flat on their faces to learn their lessons.

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9-18-2007-09

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9-18-2007-08

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9-18-2007-07

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9-18-2007-06

Oh!  Scot!  Ouch!

Wow.  Scot Nauertz should have done his homework.  Hogan was exactly the wrong guy to pick on.  Nauertz really botched it with his letter at the new ironmountaintruth.com site in the "Your Voice" section.  Just off the top of my head and just locally I can think of three examples showing that Nauertz hasn't been paying attention and doesn't know what he's talking about.  All three of these examples are/have been donated/underwritten without fanfare or remuneration by Hogan at his own expense as local public services.

Nauertz impugned Hogan regarding Bay College, abuse, and drug use.  Yet as early as March 2005 Hogan had put the following site online, a site which proves the exact opposite of what Nauertz suggests.

http://www.imeplace.com/bay_west_campus_bay_de_noc_community_college/

Although Nauertz unconscionably suggests Hogan is not anti-abuse, Hogan has had the following site online for years, and with links to it all over the place.

http://thecaringhouse.imeplace.com/

Nauertz also suggests Hogan is against anti-drug programs, but look at/click the banners on each page-top of the following public service site that Hogan provides.

http://www.kingsfordmusic.org/

And I know I've seen other, similar local sites for other just causes and good organizations.  And the local efforts pale beside much of what he quietly, charitably does nationally and internationally.

Frankly, Scot, you really stuck your foot in it this time.  Everything you claimed, suggested, or implied about this guy in that letter is flat-out wrong and immediately provable as such.  And, actually, what he points out about the inequitable usage of the cable-TV fee makes sense too.  His alternative example seems much more sensible, practical, and fair, and I'm surprised the city manager and council didn't see the arithmetic and ramifications of this issue months ago.  Effective city government would have.

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9-18-2007-05

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9-18-2007-04

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9-18-2007-03

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9-17-2007-02

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9-17-2007-01

TO:  IronMountainTruth.com, IronMountainIssues.org, The Daily News
FROM:  Jim Hogan, Iron Mountain
DATE:  September 17, 2007
ABOUT:  An Open Letter to Iron Mountain

Dear Iron Mountain:

Ain't we got fun?!  Dandy new site at ironmountaintruth.com.  Spread the word.  Some church people and other friends were teasing me yesterday about being scolded on the "Your Voice" section of the site, so I had to get over there and check it this morning.

ITEM ONE

First I should respond to Scot Nauertz, whom I do not know, know of, and have never met.  I must say, Mr. Nauretz, after reading your 9/14/2007 letter to me, that I don't appreciate your condescension and presumption.  Otherwise I bet you're a swell guy.  I don't see the simplistic black-and-white, City Hall's-way-or-no-way that you lay out with such authority and finesse.  That's not progress in a vital democracy.  To me, it's pick-and-choose among the issues, with lots of shadings and nuances within each. 

I'm in favor of -- and have actively campaigned for and financially supported -- things that you bet I'm against.  You lose!  But more importantly, how can you misrepresent me like that?  And does it matter to you?  I have no grudge against you, but it's as if you're trying to pick a fight with me, trying to stir up animosity with all that malarkey you write about me.  Why?  I don't want to fight with you.  And how can you make that bet in your letter without knowing me, without having spoken with me, or without having asked me what I'm for and against?  I keep my own counsel, share it with whom I choose, and take it to the booth with me on Election Day.  You have me wondering, though, if you're divine -- based on your letter, you clearly know better than I do whom and what I "must obviously" support and oppose.  How you've made those quantum leaps is beyond me.

Specifically, in this instance, I have no idea why you imply that I'm against the Police Liaison Officer in Iron Mountain Schools.  This is just plain wrong.  On the contrary, I support and have always supported this program.  Where you may have learned otherwise mystifies me.  How dare you suggest, Mr. Nauertz, that I don't want to protect the children of our community from drugs and abuse?  If you had bothered to introduce yourself to me and learn a little about me, you would know that I have spent my adult life actively fighting, personally and professionally, precisely those threats and others.  What I oppose is the unfair, inequitable way the city has chosen to fund the Police Liaison Program.  You know, change isn't necessarily progress, and changing from an equitable tax to a select fee is an example of that.

Before proceeding, let me show other readers exactly what I wrote so they have more than your distorted reference to it.  The first letter below I wrote on August 29, 2007.  On 08|29|07 IronMountainIssues.org (8-29-2007-05) published it and on 09|06|07 The Daily News published it.
_____

"I am a resident of Iron Mountain.  I also subscribe to Charter Cable for TV service.  But I also live in one of the Iron Mountain neighborhoods that's a part of Breitung Township School District.  Therefore, I and Iron Mountain citizens living under the same circumstances are paying a five percent (5%) cable fee to the city of Iron Mountain for an Iron Mountain Police Liaison Officer at Iron Mountain School District even though we are members, through no choice of our own, of Breitung Township School District -- which doesn't get the services of that Liaison Officer.

"How does Iron Mountain's City Council justify its collection of that 5% cable-TV fee from us and its application toward a program at Iron Mountain Schools from which we get no benefit at Breitung Township Schools?

"In other words, why is the City of Iron Mountain forcing us to pay several dollars per month for something we're not getting?

"Jim Hogan
Resident of the City of Iron Mountain and Resident of Breitung Township School District"
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On September 3, 2007, I sent the following letter to IronMountainIssues.org (9-3-2006-07) and a more explanatory one to The Daily News (still unpublished as of today).
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"I agree with 9-3-2007-05.  Attacking the school liaison officer personally and the program itself is misdirected.  The program's a valuable resource.  What all of us should do is just pony up fairly across the board throughout the city and pay our share of what it costs to keep the program running effectively, not rely on this half-ass half-measure of a cable fee that has some paying, some not, everyone confused, half of us ticked off, and tries to be too slick by half.  Instead of making a mountain out of a molehill, let's just figure out what the city's share of the program costs and then do what's necessary to tax everyone plainly and fairly to pay for it.  How hard is that?

"Jim Hogan "
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That the cable fee (instead of standard across-the-board taxation) is now funding the Police Liaison Program, Mr. Nauertz, is not an oversight on my part, as you say you hope.  I wrote exactly what I meant.  Exactly.  And I stand by it.  I favor funding the program, but I oppose funding it with the cable fee.  Is that clear?  I favor funding the program, but I oppose funding it with the cable fee.

If my TV service remains the same, I will pay about $36 per year for the police liaison program through the cable fee.  Because only cable subscribers in Iron Mountain are paying this fee, and because only this fee funds the city's share of the program, Iron Mountain residents and businesses who do not have cable benefit from the program but do not have to pay for it.  The city's portion of this program's funding is carried on the back of cable subscribers only.  Hardly sounds fair and equitable, does it?

Look at this example instead.

Say, for the example's sake, that the city's portion of the Police Liaison Program comes to $43,000 per year.

Say that there are 4,300 tax-paying properties in Iron Mountain.

$43,000 divided by 4,300 property-taxpayers = $10 per year per taxpayer.

On one hand, $36 per year from only cable subscribers -- the route the city council has chosen.  On the other hand, only $10 per year -- and from every property owner throughout the city.  Which one looks fair and equitable to you?  Which sounds more progressive?

This doesn't address the issue that Iron Mountain residents who live in neighborhoods that are part of Breitung Schools would still be liable for $10 -- a horrible precedent, forcing citizens to pay for something they're not getting -- in another jurisdiction, no less!  But the city council could waive that fee for those BTS residents.  And although I can't speak for others, in a fair and equitable system I'd be happy to pay the $10 tax toward the Iron Mountain Schools' program for the long-range benefits I believe the Police Liaison Program provides for the greater community, even though I am not a resident of Iron Mountain's school district.  To me, this isn't an expense issue.  It's a fairness and rightness issue.

ITEM TWO

Mr. Nauertz, by what authority do you imply, create, and express my opinions, my beliefs, what I'm for, what I'm against?  Practically everything you ascribe to me in your letter is inaccurate.  I've never spoken to you -- and barely anyone else -- about any of the stuff you mention.  Who the heck do you think you are?  To cite one example: how and why do you jump to the conclusion that I'm against the cable fee?  I've never spoken to anyone about it, not a soul, certainly not to you, much less expressed an opinion about it to anybody.  I have never claimed that I am against the cable-TV franchise fee.  Never.  The only thing about the fee that I addressed was my opposition to its unfair and inequitable usage.  Do you have any evidence at all that I'm against that fee, and, if not, how did you come to that conclusion and how do you justify posting that conclusion publicly?

ITEM THREE

I support IronMountainIssues.org.  So far, I also support IronMountainTruth.com.  I'm inclined to support sites like these, public-opinion and watchdog sites, if overall they're genuinely open and constructive and informative.  The public can usually separate the wheat from the chaff  within the sites and among them.  But I do not own IronMountainIssues.org.  I do not manage it.  I am not its webmaster.  It belongs to the Iron Mountain Issues Association -- of which, alas, I'm not a member!  Therefore, to whom this concerns out there, please stop making anonymous hate calls and sending anonymous hate mail to me about the site.  (And that doesn't mean you should start directing it to the site, either!)  Thank you.

ITEM FOUR

Hope everyone shows up at the polls November 6!  Be terrific if we set a voter-turnout record.

Jim Hogan
Resident, City of Iron Mountain
Resident, School District of Breitung Township

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9-16-2007-08

This current Council wants to take credit for the handful of new businesses that have come to Iron Mountain (as if they personally had something to do with those). Perhaps we should also attribute to them the list of businesses that have ceased to exist in those same four years. In just a few minutes, I came up with a list of more that 35. I’d be happy to post what I have if anyone questions that number.

 

 

This council (along with Mr. Marquart) wants to take credit for so many things that were in the works and/or in the budget before they were seated. All major road projects were already in the works. Even the City Park pavilion was in the budget before Marquart ever came here. Bay College was also in the works before Marquart. The Out-to-Lunch program is another that was in existence prior to this bunch.

 

 

This council tries to make people think that they, along with Marquart, have brought these things about; when in reality they just got to see them through to their completion. What have they done that was not already started by those who preceded them? Not much… other than a few special interest projects.

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9-16-2007-07

I had to sit back and laugh at all the things that is being said about the challengers. I think that the web site should be shut down for all the slanderous things that is on there.

I know most of the challengers and they are very truthful and care about the citizen of Iron Mountain.

Mr., Corumbos is a good man and did a lot for this city. he save the police and fire pension fund a ton of money and made that fund money when he managed it ,not like NOW with Smith& Barney were spending 80,000.00 a year for them to manage it. I am appauld that that web site is slandering him. He is a man of very high standards. So your barking up the wrong tree.

I believe in Mr. Alessandrini and I know that when he has something to say he has the documentation to support it. He will treat the citizen with respect, has anyone ever seen the Mayor get his hands dirty on community projects I haven't.

Mr. Fararh has always been up front with me. Why would he start lying now (HE WOULDN'T'T)

Mr. Rosen He also does all his home work on city working and cares about us. He will do what's right.

These are the people that I know, but I have talked to the other 2 challengers and they seem very dedicated for the I.M. councel.

Mr Tousignant is a very sore loser and wants to slander all the challengers but the truth will prevail.
He must think that we want him back in for  another 4 years we aren't stupid (WE DON'T)
get it thru  your head . I see that Carey Contracting is supporting you and wants you for a write in.

So what your saying to the people of I.M. is that we just spent about 5000.00 for a election and you don't care what we said,  so we just blew 5000.00.

So Mr. Mayor keep fighting with bad taste and you will never win in politics.

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9-16-2007-06

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9-16-2007-05

An example of how the incumbents spin, bend, or embellish the truth is shown on ironmountaintruth.com, in this paragraph about fire protection:

"For one thing, the City just can't afford it." (Wrong. You're spending money on frivolous things now, when you should be focused on providing basic needs.)

"For another...we have more trained professionals responding to fires than we did four years ago." (No, you don't.  You have less. FOIA the fire department's incident reports if you don't believe it.)

  "ALSO,  we are saving REAL money." (No, you're not.  Check the figures, and be sure to take into account the "creative bookkeeping" that has occurred, such as moving the Police and Fire Pension out of the Public Safety budget).

  "The voters of Iron Mountain spoke loudly three years ago! "(The voters were blatantly lied to by Tousignant and Scot and crew.  They confused the voters about what the issues really were by saying that they would have to hire 4 firefighters (not true) and that it was all about "guaranteed jobs for life" (not true). Oh, and it was TWO years ago.)

"Keep in mind that cities the size of Iron Mountain simply don't have full time fire departments anymore and they are very well 
protected!" (No, they're not.  They may not know it, or admit it, but they're not.  Check their ISO ratings. Check the news stories about their fires, and you'll see the line "fully involved upon arrival" over and over.)

Those of us who read and write to this website have been accused of being homophobes, hating the Mayor and his special friends just because they're gay. With their accusations, they have made homophobia an Iron Mountain issue. Let me just say, once and for all, that I know MANY people who dislike the Mayor, including myself, but it has nothing to do with his being gay.  He could be straight and I would still find him objectionable.

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9-16-2007-04

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9-16-2007-03

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9-16-2007-02

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9-16-2007-01

There is a new web site that someone has created to counter this web site.

www.ironmountaintruth.com

Please visit the new site.

This site's content, other than the Forum, is only facts and links to factual information.

The web site proclaims that the good people of Iron Mountain are in favor of the current city council and this new web site and only the bad people of Iron Mountain are in favor of this web site.

You bad people that live in Iron Mountain better visit this new site and turn to the good side.

From the voter turnout in August and the number of people that visit this site daily, there are a lot of you that need to be converted to the good side.

Webmaster

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9-15-2007-01

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9-14-2007-02

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9-14-2007-01

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9-13-2007-03

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9-13-2007-02

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9-13-2007-01

Lately I've been seeing an Iron mountain DPW pickup truck in Norway in the evenings and on weekends. Some times with a passenger and sometimes without. I was just curious as to why the taxpayers are providing transportation for this individual if he chooses to live out of Iron Mountain and does the insurance company cover passengers if they are not employees?

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9-12-2007-06

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9-12-2007-05

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9-12-2007-04

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9-12-2007-03

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9-12-2007-02

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9-12-2007-01

Let Rigoni write his ads.  He just digs himself in deeper and deeper.
 
He talks about laying off four firemen, but neglects to say he agreed to add three dispatchers to the police department.
 
He also forgets to mention the additional hires:  DPW Director (nobody has figured out what he does all day), the ridiculous position of Economic Planner, (whose main purpose is to give everyone who wants to develop anything around here a bad time) a full-time Code Enforcer, and a full time Main Street Coordinator - with nothing to coordinate. 
 
All of these people get salaries, health insurance and pension benefits. 
 
How about the $300,000 that he agreed to blow on the Assessor fiasco?  Doesn't this count.
 
Yes, let Rigoni ramble on.  It will come back to hound him big-time.
 
Let's not forget the benefits the Kramer Road project gave to the development he has an interest in.
 
Let's not forget the $350,000, or is it $500,000, he is fishing to get the city to put water and sewer  lines that ONLY benefit land he has an interest in on the Hydraulic Road project. Other developers pay for their own development costs, but then, they aren't on the city council.
 
Keep writing ads, Dougie.  Nobody ever grasped for more "FREE" city money for his own benefit than you.
 
Keep thinking the public is stupid.  Apparently you didn't read the results of the recent election. The public has your number.

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9-11-2007-02

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9-11-2007-01

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9-9-2007-05

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9-9-2007-04

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9-9-2007-03

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9-8-2007-02

Just a few points:

The Iron Mountain School liaison officer is a shared expense by the City and the School District.  $26,000 per year from the School and $26,000 per year from the City.  Other duties performed by the liaison officer is budgeted in the Cities Operating budget.

Please keep in mind to keep Mr. Rigoni the politician and Bacco Construction separate.  I have heard a few people talking a little negative towards Bacco Construction because Mr. Rogoni is associated with Bacco.  I would hope that we can keep the politician and the business man separate. 

I was talking to a fellow citizen about this subject and he pointed how much Bacco Construction has done for our community.  They employ quite of few citizens and have given generously in the area of scholarships for our graduates.  We were trying to figure how many kids the Bacco Scholarship has put through college, but could only agree that it is a lot.

Politics can be a messing thing and I am sure things will get messier the closer to the election we get.  Please remember that everyone involved in the upcoming election are fellow citizens in our City.

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9-8-2007-01

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9-7-2007-04

The city does not absorb the complete cost of the liaison officer.  The school district and the city share the expense.

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9-7-2007-03

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9-7-2007-02

  I don't believe any of the posts on this site have been against the school liaison officer himself. I think what people are trying to point out is the deception City Manager John Marquart keeps putting out to the people of this city. As reported in the Tuesday, August 21, 2007 Daily News, Mr. Marquart states "the posistion of school liaison officer costs approximately $52,000 a year for salary and benefits". If City Manager John Marquart has nothing to hide, why does he keep misinforming us? If the position actually costs closer to $90,000 a year with salary and benefits, why not just tell the truth? If Mr. Marquart received a $6,000 dollar MIOSHA fine, and the city paid $6,000 dollars for the fine, why did he tell the citizens "he actually had the fine cut in half"? If raw sewage was dumped into chapin pit, why did Mr. Marquart say "it was not raw sewage, just dirt and sand"? The documented list goes on!! If Mr. Rigoni is going to clear up what he calls "lies", I sure hope he plans on getting the current city councils "house in order" first.

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9-7-2007-01

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9-5-2007-10

I will not post anymore material on the "Gay Issue".  I have received several posts from someone that has gone through the archives and found references to the Gay issue.  I am sorry but I don't see any reference to any anti-gay or gay bashing.  I am also getting several responses to this person's posts and so on and so on.  I hope you can see were this is going.

These are not the issues we are facing as citizens of Iron Mountain.

Webmaster

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9-5-2007-09

I am responding to the comment - 8-19-2007-02 - that asks why a name was listed as a negative item in the list from comment 8-4-2007-11. I wrote that. I should not have put the name in the list.

 

Marcus was a "line item"  Oh good for you, you removed it…too late

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9-5-2007-08

I agree with the person who posted 9-4-2007-03. Let them defeat themselves.  The citizens aren't blind or stupid.  They've seen their tax dollars spent on special interests/pet projects while basic services, maintenance, etc. have been lost.  A person needn't go far beyond their own driveways to see the deterioration in this city.  How many people have been
ignored or treated rudely by Mr. Marquart and/or council members (both privately and at council meetings)?  How many have had ridiculous citations for blight while some council members and their families still have some of the worst properties in the city?  It is very difficult to undo much of what has been done and said personally to many citizens.  This has been far more damaging to many than some of the bigger issues that we see posted here.

I say yes. Let them have all the rope they need to hang themselves.  They will find out that we, the citizens, have our eyes wide open!  We've been abused by the misuse of our tax-dollars as well as personally.  We have been paying attention. We want to be represented by those we elect. One council-person stated that 75 people at the council meetings were a
tiny fraction of the community and did not represent how the whole city felt. Yet you are only seven and feel you are entitled to decide for everyone. Well, in fact, it seems that you are no longer wanted to represent the majority of the citizens of Iron
Mountain. Perhaps this council-person lost sight of the fact that each of those 75 people have a number of family members and even more friends that may have supported that one person in going to speak for them and who care about how you viewed and publicly spoke of them. 

If the incumbent council members cannot see from the primary that even many of those who originally elected them are no longer trusting them, then it is they who are blind.  Mr. Rigoni admits that they made mistakes.   Well, unless they take steps to correct those mistakes, what is left to believe?  The greatest mistake made was the hiring of Mr. Marquart; yet, instead of this council getting rid of him, they vote him a 9% raise.  How do you "campaign" your way out of that?

Finally, people of Iron Mountain, let's not stoop to their level.  We don't need name-calling and personal attacks. That is an incumbent/Marquart tactic that only demonstrates immaturity. If we use this site in such a manner, it could backfire and reflect badly on the challengers.  With the anonymity afforded here, it would be easy for readers to assume that some of the
'trash-talk is coming from them; and that will not work in their favor.

Keeping to the facts is what keeps the issues in the forefront.

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9-5-2007-07

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9-4-2007-06

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9-4-2007-05

 

 

 

 

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9-4-2007-04

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9-4-2007-03

About How Doug Rigoni and the Other Incumbents Are Choosing to Campaign

I am delighted!  Rigoni campaigning publicly, in the paper?  This is terrific!  Let's hope we can get him on the radio and television!  If you are anti-status-quo/anti-incumbent and are pro-challenger/pro-progress-and-positive-change in the upcoming election, and if the challengers and their supporters can simply and quietly keep a factual spotlight on the incumbent candidates without being baited and getting strident, volatile, defensive, and disagreeable, then you can only hope and pray beyond hope and prayer that the other incumbent candidates and John Marquart will campaign likewise, and that all of them, including Rigoni, will appear often across the traditional media.

Because, ladies and gentlemen, the incumbent candidates will have to win with smoke and mirrors.  They are their own worst enemies and have been for nearly four years.  With rare exceptions, these candidates don't have a leg to stand on, and by merely publicly and clearly holding up their words in comparison to their records of the last four years, by pointing to the stark contradictions of what they've done versus what they say, the opposition will allow the incumbents to defeat -- to continue to defeat -- themselves.  When your opponents are shooting themselves in the foot, have the sense to shut up and merely point at them, so others can be aware of what's going on and exercise the necessary judgment to remain away from those people, safe and better off.

As I talk to people around town, I'm running into an awful lot of crybabies whining over the incumbent candidates promising to defend themselves and campaign publicly -- even about Ken Tousignant running as a write-in candidate.  Are you crybabies crazy?  This has to be Marquart advice or Marquart-like advice, because the incumbents are figuratively offering to hang themselves.  You Nervous Nellies ought to be offering them rope!  Let them defeat themselves.  If you're smart, you'll start contributing to their ad campaigns.  Just make sure every voter in town is watching so fact-versus-fiction is visible to all, and keep your bloody traps shut.  Let the accumulating nonsense that has done in these people over the last few years continue to do in these people over the last few weeks.

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9-4-2007-02

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9-4-2007-01

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9-3-2007-09

To 08-30-2007-06 about the gay slurs.
 
Google has the best algorithms for running an internal search and I simply can't find any gay slurs on IronMountainIssues.org.  I'm curious what you consider a slur.  Or maybe I missed them and you can point them out.  Then again, maybe you can't.
 
There are homophobes in town.  Absolutely.  But on the whole there isn't a major homosexuality issue in Iron Mountain or in this year's campaign.  There is a general disagreeable-behavior issue regarding some city-council members, city-management employees, and the mayor, who just happens to be gay.  By association, the gay issue surfaces.  The problem is this: who likes a gay with a chip on his shoulder?  Any more than they like a feminist with a chip on her shoulder, or an African-American with a chip on his shoulder?  People don't like a bad-ass, in-your-face attitude from a homosexual shaped by an agenda in his man purse and a grudge in his heart any more than they like a similar attitude from anyone else.  A jerk is a jerk whether he's straight or he's gay. 
 
For one, I'd like the mayor to stop treating the city, and me by extension, as if I personally owed him something -- a certain degree of guilt, if nothing else, or maybe a special degree of privilege -- as if I'd personally been persecuting him his entire life because of his sexual preference.  Well, I haven't.  Most of us haven't.  You and your closest, paranoid, bleeding-heart pals want tolerance, equal rights, and some authentic friendliness, Mr. Mayor?  Then cut the rest of us some slack.  Gay or not gay, genuinely behave like a decent human being and that's how we'll treat you.

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9-3-2007-08

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9-3-2006-07

I agree with 9-3-2007-05.  Attacking the school liaison officer personally and the program itself is misdirected.  The program's a valuable resource.  What all of us should do is just pony up fairly across the board throughout the city and pay our share of what it costs to keep the program running effectively, not rely on this half-ass half-measure of a cable fee that has some paying, some not, everyone confused, half of us ticked off, and tries to be too slick by half.  Instead of making a mountain out of a molehill, let's just figure out what the city's share of the program costs and then do what's necessary to tax everyone plainly and fairly to pay for it.  How hard is that?

Jim Hogan

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9-3-2007-06
How to Campaign for Your Opponents

Progress?  LOL!!!  Doug Rigoni's gonna pursue the "progress" campaign?  That's too much, man.  I'm for progress.  I can't tell you how many Iron Mountain voters I know -- and knew on August 7 -- who are for progress.  It's a major reason we turned out for the primary.  And it's precisely because we're for progress that we're supporting the challengers and not voting for Doug Rigoni and the other incumbents on November 6!  Look around.  Just look at the descent this city has made over the past four years despite City Hall's P.R. machine.  It's sinking fast, babe.  "Continue the progress?"  Progress to perdition maybe.  Brother.  Talk about being out of touch.  If I want a shot at progress, the last person I'm gonna vote for is one of the incumbents.  They had their shot.  What they've done and continue to do to Iron Mountain ain't my idea of progress.  My idea of what they've been doing to Iron Mountain is something I'm positive the webmaster won't include on this website.

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9-3-2007-05

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9-3-2007-04

Here we go again,

 

Picture and article in the daily news from Doug Rogoni about "Re-introducing himself" to the people about what he has done, will do and what he will continue to do while on the city council, AND WHAT THE REAL TRUTH IS.

 

Fact is Mr Rogoni, --- you had the time to "do it" for the past several years and you never did!

 

Fact is, you had the opportunity to "do it" and you failed to grasp the chance.

 

Fact is, you had the means of making a difference in this city and all you did is look out for yourself, your company and the whims of the Mayor and City Manager!

 

Fact is Mr Rogoni, you did not listen to the people and their wishes and opinions. All you did is promote your own and the council's personal agendas!

 

Fact is, ------- you can re-introduce yourself again to the people of this community and the response will be the same at election time in November, you will be the lowest vote getter in the race because you have lost all credibility with the people and they will not fall for your deceptions, lies and propaganda again.

 

Fact is Mr Rogoni, --- if you care about this city, drop out of the race and support the new people who will have the chance, take the opportunity and support the means, of being honest, trustworthy and ethical in city government.

 

You are  probably a good person who meant well, but you blew it because you saw fit to be a puppet for Marquart, you would not listen to the people and you supported your own personal interests!

 

Tousignant is gone, you will be next, along with Sally, VanLannen and finally Marquart!

 

Keep your articles coming in the paper. -- the new running candidates need the lies to reveal the truth to the people.

 

Fact is --- IT IS ALL OVER FOR YOU AT CITY HALL

 

I'll be looking forward to your next article!

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9-3-2007-03

Is this administration so desperate to try to make themselves look good (and the Daily News so interested in helping) that a few residential road repairs are news?  I cannot remember past administrations putting articles in the paper every time they did basic road maintenance. The article isn't clear as to whether these streets (Fairbanks, Grant and Main) are being paved in their entirety or if it will be just the portions that are currently being worked on.  We came down Fairbanks last night and turned at the detour.
The condition of Kent street was atrocious. Oh, and of course lets count  Brown street which is being done to assist (or as they put it: coordinated with) the Blomquist project, a development on the corner of U.S. 2 and Brown Street. We, the tax-payer will pay to make Blomquist's construction project easier, including changing the parking during the project (and, I
imagine, changing it back again afterwards). Since when are tax-payers supposed to kick in to assist new
businesses.  That money should come out of Blomquist's pocket, not ours.

I'm rather anxious to see what articles Mr. Rigoni has planned to promote himself and the other incumbents with their Continue Progress campaign.  Their idea of progress is to help special interests, ignore the average citizens, let the City crumble in any area that is not 'downtown', to brag up every little project that should be considered basic maintenance,
take credit for businesses that aren't even within the City limits, and make it sound like every change that happens is as a direct result of something they did.  They brag up grants that don't even amount to those acquired by other administrations (and never tell us how they plan to match funds on those requiring such)..

Sure, I see changes in Iron Mountain, some are even good ones; but I do not see progress that I can attribute to this administration.  Many of the major projects that have been completed since Marquart was hired were in the works before he was ever hired.  He, and this present council, just get to take the credit.

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9-3-2007-02

Let’s not forget about Rich Brook and his botched attempt at reassessment. If he was under contract to provide a service or product, where is it? Mr. Brook and his cohorts where paid $210,467.67 (by my recent calculations) to provide a product that the City could use to raise assessments. But where is it? I have heard that many errors were made in the process that go against state tax law.

 

Mr. Marquart can’t just get out of this fiasco by firing Mr. Brook and refusing to give the public any details. Our tax dollars were spent for a service, and we are entitled to see the fruit of it or have that money back. There was a contract for this reassessment; and if it wasn’t fulfilled, there is a breach and we are entitled to that money back. This one better not get swept under the rug. Mr. Marquart, in his new budget, is counting on a projected State Equalized Value for the City of nearly 10 million dollars more than last year. With this botched reassessment, where is that going to come from?

 

I was sure I had read earlier where someone had asked the City for information about Rich Brook’s product and got nothing. Can we really afford to sit on this until new council members are seated and we are half way through this fiscal year? If there is no product, and the City must have it completely redone, what’s that going to cost? If there is no product from Rich Brook, the money paid to him (and his cronies) must be returned. And, I find it hard to believe it will be easy to find someone else to do the job that isn’t going to expect the same lucrative deal that Brook had. Assessors in the State are well aware of what went on here. [And Mr. Marquart can’t hire from out-of-state because of State required certification.]

 

I cannot begin to imagine how many things have been mishandled and miscalculated because of this Rich Brook mess. Even the Rental Housing fees must be grossly overestimated. I know of several (so there must be many more) people who own property other than where they reside, who received notices from the city to register their rental property. Many of these properties are vacant lots that Mr. Brook decided to refer to as rental property simply because the owners did not reside there.

 

This City is going to be in such a disaster that it’s going to be difficult for anyone to try to straighten it out.  And they call this PROGRESS.  I'm all for progress, but this ain't it!

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9-2-2007-01

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9-1-2007-04

I see that post 8-22-2007-06 appears to be very accurate about the school liaison officer costing more than the fifty-two thousand dollars as stated by City Manager John Marquart and reported in the Daily News. Looking at the minutes posted on the city web-site for the 8-20-07 council meeting, I see that mayor pro-tem Rigoni states that the liaison officer actually costs the city about eighty-six thousand dollars a year. I wonder why the Daily News forgot to report this information. Was this information left out of the article on purpose? Did Mr. Rigoni actually say this at the meeting? If so, I commend him for clarifying the truth to Mr. Marquart. Or, was this information added to the minutes after the city saw the truth on this web-site? I could not attend this meeting for work reasons. Anyone know the truth on this meeting? I think a follow-up article in the Daily News with the truth would be nice. I'll have to contact the paper.

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9-1-2007-03

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9-1-2007-02

I'm hearing that some individuals might be spending company time and money trying to stop this truth machine. The truth only hurts those that lie!

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9-1-2007-01

REFERENCE POST 8-39-07  06


      I don't believe that having a gay mayor is the issue. Who cares if the Mayor is black, gay . pollack, italian. The real issue is how he treats the taxpayers and votes on certain issues. For example, he voted on selling the property to Mr. Blomqiust, and now his mothers firm is listed on the board to rent out the spots. How about the Koury property when two member of the
counsel went to TIFA to have them buy the property and the Mayors mom what of made at that time about 80,000.00 and the Mayor gets 1% of that for being the office manager. Conflict, hidden agendas. ruddiness, thats what we have for a Mayor, and there is a lot of other things he did to us, these are 2 among many. So don't think its because he's gay, WHO CARES