Scouts Kick Off Fundraiser

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Scouting Alaska
Camp Superior Overnighter
Scouting the Great Blue Yonder

E-TC Quiz Bowl Team Ready
for the "Know Bowl"

Four of the above students will be competing in Marquette in the NMUTV show "H.S. Bowl"  . Two of the students will be standing by as alternates.

Ewen - Trout Creek take on Pickford November 1st (scheduled TV airing).
 

Bessemer Whiz Kids
Stun Sault Ste Marie
in Season Opener

The Blue Devil  students in the competition were Whitney Fitzgerald, Tim Hall, Payton Lincoln and Myna Ellis.

Last year the Blue Devils went to the "Final Four" where they fell to Houghton Gremlins, who went on to win the "Cerebral Championship"

Ontonagon, Ironwood, Hurley all drew first round byes this year.

Watersmeet vs. Wakefield 12/6/08

High School Bowl is Public TV 13’s most popular local production. Since 1977, teams from area high schools have been going head-to-head in a battle of knowledge. Four-person teams answer questions about history, science, literature, geography, art, music and math--to name only a few subjects.

50 teams from across the Upper Peninsula and Northeast Wisconsin participate in the single-elimination tournament. The 2007-2008 championship team was Houghton High School.

Every year, Northern Michigan University awards $2,500 and $1,500 in scholarships to the first and second place teams, respectively. Additionally, one student is awarded the Dave Goldsmith Scholarship.

Consolidation -A-Drift Without a Rudder

You have to expect a lot of trust to pass this half-a_ _ _d attempt at consolidation.

Read More
 

Bessemer, Wakefield - Marenisco Voters BEWARE!

Ironwood Not a Good Neighbor

Some background:

Ironwood, Ironwood Township and Hurley together built the Gogebic-Iron Waste Water facility. However, after the facility was built the three governments formed the "Wastewater Authority" to administer the facility. However, even though Hurley paid into the project they would have "No Voting privileges" . To give Hurley a voice in the operation the governments involved formed the "Waste Water Board"  . Hurley does get to vote on the "Board" but, the "Board"  cannot vote on money matters.

Recently, there came to light that a "front-end loader" needed to be fixed or replaced. Hurley and Ironwood Township wanted to replace the old aging unit.

The "Board" which includes all owners of the facility voted to buy a new unit.
However, the "Board" is not allowed to vote on approving the spending of funds to purchase the unit.

The "Authority" which excludes Hurley vetoed the purchase.

The point is from the beginning, the system was rigged to deny Hurley and the Township honest and fair representation in running the waste water system.

They (City of Ironwood) accomplished all of this the same way they are trying to promote School Consolidation. By lying through omission.

Ironwood has proven over and over again that they are poor if not lousy neighbors. It achieves whatever it achieves by hiding the facts from it's voters and now will do the same thing to unsuspecting voters and parents of the Bessemer and Wakefield - Marenisco School Districts.

If you haven't already guessed
THEY WANT YOUR MONEY NOT YOUR OPINION

Gogebic - Iron Waste Water Authority  

Short Changes Township and Hurley

Once again the combined Waste Water Authority and the Waste Water Board met in joint session. How the "Authority" - "Board" Secretary can keep simultaneous minutes of the two groups that are speaking with and/or over each other at the same time is amazing. However, we have figured out the easiest way to separate the two groups is to simply pay attention to which group is screwing over the other group,  as it relates to money. 

The "Board" includes Hurley which is a small, but none-the-less, part owner of the facility. Hurley can vote on many things that come before the board except that the "Board" can not vote to expend money! The "Authority" (which excludes Hurley) gets the final say as to paying for or not paying for anything. At the same time by eliminating Hurley from the voting process the Ironwood City Gang can and does out vote the representatives of Ironwood Township.

As we recently witnessed with the disposition of an old front end loader. The Ironwood delegation refuses to purchase a new unit (approximately $75,000) but instead wants to fix the old one (worth next to nothing) at the cost of approximately $23,000. In the meantime, the Authority/Board is sitting on One Million, Two Hundred Thousand Dollars in "The Replacement Fund" Last month the board (everyone) voted to buy a new loader. Quicker than someone can pick your pocket, the City gang said tough luck guys, then proceeded to use the "authority" (the exclusionary group ) voting down a motion to allocate funds for a new loader. Instead they voted to get more bids on repairing the old one.

There are some things happening here that really need to be put into perspective.

The front end-loader. Instead of a front-end loader let's assume you have an automobile that needs to be fixed or replaced. 

Your present car is worth maybe $2,000 - $4,000.

You get an estimate to buy a new one. It will cost $35,000 -$40,000 for a new one, which comes with a long term warranty

You get an estimate which costs $350 (the estimate alone) It will cost another $12,000 to fix the old existing car and will come with a very short term warranty, if any at all.

So, you're sitting there with $600,000 in the bank. What would you do? 

By the way, it's been one month since the authority ordered additional appraisals and none have been received.

Township Aids in Civic Center Preparation

Tony and Josh pictured above are members of the Ironwood Township Volunteer Fire Department. They along with many other volunteers have been working long and hard to prepare the Pat O'Donnell Civic Center for the 2008-2009 season. It is hoped that the  Polar Bears and Ice Crystals can take to the ice October 25th.

The Township has donated both men and equipment in effort to make this year's operation a success.

The civic board members along with other volunteers have been preparing the "ice" for this winter's skating season. Late last night Civic Center board member Dan Collins could be found installing  the new floor covering.  Speaking of floors the floor of the 17,000 square foot rink  was being flooded for the third night in a row.  Vapor could be seen  from the exterior vents as you approached the center. A sure sign that hockey pucks would soon be flying and the Zamboni Ice Surfacer will be on the move.

Photo BELOW - Polar Bears trying on their new jerseys

MSHDA Lies to Lahti

 three members of the city council. Toth centered tried to cover up the no-survey survey

Editor's Note: Several people who are known to us and known to have requested a copy of the survey have told us that they never have withdrawn their request for the survey. The F.O.I.A. requires government  to provide public information with very few exceptions.

This writer requested a copy of the survey from the city and was stonewalled for over a year by the city. This writer reviewed the Hovey file in the Ironwood City Offices. The result of that Audit confirmed that the city council gave the tax abatement to the down-state speculators without the benefit of reading the actual survey.

The audit also reveals that after requests for copies of the survey, Woods Consulting Firm went to work on producing the survey which failed to meet the requirements of the state law regulating  boondoggles such as the Towering  Pines low income  project.

Later in the year, we again asked the city council for copies of the survey. Bruce Noren told the audience that the city was not required to produce the survey under the law.

City councilman Toth told the audience that the survey might be proprietary.

The gang of five once again dodged the bullet on how  they voted on the project without reading the survey. Proof that the council failed to perform due diligence.

Don't Blame Kolesar!

Tim drew a lot of heat last Thursday at the not so informational public meeting alleged to provide information to voters on the I.A.S.D. takeover of the Bessemer and Wakefield-Marenisco school districts. The heated criticism would have been better directed towards the I.A.S.D.'s less than competent school board.

Unfortunately, the less than adequate school board turned a deaf ear to his efforts. Considering the labor and management strife surrounding the I.A.S.D. it makes one wonder if Ironwood would be better off with a new school board rather than consolidation. 

Sleight Pre-School Students 
Tour Fire House

"October is Fire Prevention month."

Finlandia Names Interim Dean
of Business School
 

BATMAN FILMMAKER
SPEAKS AT NMU

HANCOCK - Dr. Beth Virtanen will present a lecture on the topic, "Religion and Politics in Finnish-North American Literature" Thursday, October 23, 2008, at 6:00 p.m. at the Finlandia University Finnish American Heritage Center, Hancock.

Introducing her lecture topic, Virtanen explains, "Historically, Finnish-American communities have engaged in the religious and political discussions of their times. Early creative writing in English by Finnish Americans, and also work by contemporary Finnish North American authors and poets, often includes the ideologies of religion, socialism, communism, and mainstream democracy."

Virtanen's lecture will examine the historical influences of these ideologies, and, through this examination, she says a picture will emerge of the legacy of history and its impact on current writers.

Virtanen joined the Finlandia University community this fall as a two-year Paloheimo Scholar. This semester she is teaching a course in Nordic Film at Finlandia while she continues her research and writing.

"As a Paloheimo Scholar at Finlandia, I will work to share my knowledge of Finnish North American literature with the Finlandia community," Virtanen says. "The two primary projects I will complete during my tenure are an anthology and a critical edition of Finnish North American literature."

Virtanen will also continue her work with FinNALA, including the compilation of an online annotated bibliography of Finnish North American Literature and publication of the online FinNALA Newsletter and the new FinNALA journal, Kippis! In January 2009 she'll begin work as the executive editor of the Journal of Finnish Studies.

Virtanen holds a Ph.D. in rhetoric and technical communication from Michigan Technological University. She is the founding president of FinNALA. The FinNALA website (www.finnala.com) includes an online bibliography of the literature she will discuss.

Virtanen is a member of the Association for the Advancement of Scandinavian Studies in Canada, the European Society for the Study of English, the Modern Language Association, and the National Council of Teachers of English. She has many publications to her credit, and she will continue to publish while at Finlandia.

Virtanen has published and presented widely. Her work in Finnish North American literature includes both creative and critical work. She has presented papers at conferences and meetings around the world. In Writing Studies, she has presented across the U.S. and Canada, and in Africa and Asia. Her work has been published in the journals, Open Words, Michigan Academician, Thinking Classroom, Palma Journal of Research, and others.

Virtanen has published an Aspasia Monograph titled Landscapes and Soulscapes: On the Literature of Finnish North America, several articles in the Journal of Finnish Studies, several poems and short stories in New Orphic Review, New World Finn, and the Finnish American Reporter, and a book of poems titled Guarding Passage.

Since earning her Ph.D., Virtanen has held professorships at universities in Alaska, Minnesota, and Puerto Rico, and spent a year at the University of Alberta creating a plan for a campus-wide center for writers. Prior, she held instructorships at Ball State University and Lima Technical College.

From 1996 through 1999, Virtanen was an instructor at Suomi College, serving for a year as director of the Pro-College Program.

Virtanen grew up in Misery Bay, Michigan. "I enjoyed my summers on Lake Superior," she says. "Even today, in the summer when I am not writing, you can find me swimming at Misery Bay or Agate Beach."

Virtanen now lives in Atlantic Mine, Mich., with her husband. She has two sons.

"I make sure I take time out each summer with my grown sons, Shane and Brandon, who come home to visit and, like me, can swim for hours in the waters of Lake Superior," she said. "They often take me fishing in secret locations in Upper Michigan where speckled trout hide beneath mossy banks of gravel-bottomed streams."

Virtanen will present a second lecture, "Generational Experiences Expressed in Finnish North American Literature," November 20, 2008, at 6:00 p.m. at the Finlandia University Finnish American Heritage Center.

For additional information, contact Virtanen at 906-487-7267 or beth.virtanen@finlandia.edu.
 

Pigeons ? Squab?
A Rose by Any Name

So, we decided to help out with a plan of our own.

• first design a pigeon poop map. Just like the city's "Pee Map". Downtown visitors can choose to either avoid the problem or attack it!
• For those who wish to "Attack" the problem, give ladies an umbrella and their male companion a BB gun to hunt down the wretched birds.
• Give each successful hunter one or all of the following Squab Recipes

above - Planning board (file photo)

Last night's City Commission meeting would have been a complete yawner had it not  been for a Zoning Appeal filed by Leroy Johnson.

Mr. Johnson filed a complaint against the Planning and Zoning Board for their failure to follow state law and the Muni-Code. It was alleged that  Ironwood ordinances were also violated.

Johnson's complaint stems from the Conditional Permit issued to Bob D'Antonio, owner of Red's Auto in Ironwood, who earlier in the year purchased and refurbished the dilapidated "Colonial Building" on Greenbush.

At the August 20th P&Z meeting Johnson advised the board that issuing the permit would in fact violate the law.  While trying to educate the board Johnson was interrupted by board chairman John Wyssling who stated that "HE DIDN'T CHANGE THE BUILDING." Johnson went on to further educate the board that a site plan is required by state and local ordinances.

John Wyssling stated, "Leroy, I think you're carrying this a little bit too far. You know, he's cleaned up something that was an eyesore..."

The planning commission continued to talk about how pretty the building was and Johnson kept coming back to the law.  In the end the pretty won out over the law.