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Waste Water
Authority
Works Towards Compromise |
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| Gogebic-Iron Waste Water Facility - November 6,
2008 |
Waste Water Board Works on Compromise
At this week's special meeting all members on the
Waste Water Board worked towards a solution for the
front-end loader dilemma. After months of
discussion, the Waste Water Board was at loggerhead
with the Waste Water Authority over an old front end
loader used by plant employees to move snow in the
winter and sludge throughout the year.
The Waste Water Board previously voted to purchase a
new loader. However, the Waste Water Authority voted
down a motion to spend the money for purchasing the
new loader. The Waste Water Authority is the
governmental mechanism employed by Ironwood to
"control" the other members of the Authority.
Although Hurley owns part of the Authority it is not
permitted to vote. By eliminating Hurley from a vote
the City of Ironwood has and does vote down
proposals by the Ironwood Township representatives.
The opposing sides have now come together in what
may turn into a workable solution for the near term.
The idea is to have the City of Ironwood to plow out
the waste water facility this winter. The plow on US
2 will make one pass through the facility, hopefully
leaving little remaining work for the aging front
end loader.
The city was chosen to do the plowing as Hurley and
the Township cannot take on the project because of
other commitments. Both Hurley and the Township will
serve as backups to the city.
Ironwood will charge the Authority for actual costs
incurred for the plowing.
In another issue the Board and/or Authority
discussed the employee SEP plan. The plan was
provided to Authority employees in lieu of a
hospitalization plan. The plan provides retired
employees a monthly retirement benefit that they can
then use for purchasing post retirement medical
insurance or whatever else they wish.
The problem currently facing the Authority is that
the fund providing the money for the Plan is running
low. The board members want to cap how much goes
from the fund into the plan. The glitch is the board
wants start right now and that will cause
complications regarding the money already
distributed this year. The current budget calls for
expending $20,000 now the Ironwood members want to
cut that back to approximately $12,000. The problem
is that the original distribution (50%) has already
been made, with each member's account receiving the
same flat amount. The second and final annual
distribution is prorated according to the employees
salary. So, in order to reduce the annual amount
distributed some employee accounts will have to be
debited and others be credited. If you have your own
mutual fund you will instantly see the falsity of
this maneuver.
The Fund was and is funded by the sale of treated
sludge. The employees created this income on their
own initiative, not through any effort by the
politicians running the Authority. The employees
would like this year's expenditures to continue as
in the current month.
The decision on the SEP plan was postponed until
next meeting. In the meantime the administrator for
the plan will be contacted regarding the
consequences of any mid-term tampering with the
fund.
Listen to Meeting |
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Citgo
Diverting Area Ski Business |
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| photo above - one of several Citgos in
Wakefield, Bessemer and Ironwood which have signs
enticing skiers away from our area and to Crystal
Falls the home of Krist Oil. |
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| picture above - Ski Brule sign at one of the
many area Citgo stations. Don't they know that
western Gogebic County depends on revenues derived
from local ski slopes. We at IronwoodInfo have cut
up our Citgo credit cards and will now join the
national boycott of Citgo. |
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Time to
Rethink Consolidation |
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Ironwood - November 5, 2008
Yesterday the red hot consolidation issue was
defeated everywhere except in Ironwood, where it was
overwhelmingly approved. This the most recent
attempt at consolidating the three local districts
failed not because consolidation is a bad idea but,
because the proponents of consolidation failed to
properly promote the virtues of consolidation.
The results of yesterday's election were highly
predictable and unfortunately that in itself was the
cause of the proposal defeat. The 149 Taskforce was
correct when they say most people believe that
consolidation will come to be some day but they
failed to provide sound reasons for consolidation to
come about today,
In Ironwood the proposal won by what appears to be a
very large majority, however, approximately 1000
votes in Ironwood are controlled by the teacher's
union. The union wanted to pass the consolidation
proposal as means of deposing Jim Rayner as School
Superintendent. This like sports is not a good
reason to consolidate. Consolidation first and
foremost must inure to the benefit of the students.
The strong pro vote in Ironwood if anything shows
why an "at large" election of consolidated
school board members will always be the biggest
obstacle to consolidation. Negative thinking people
will tell us "that's the law".
This measure failed because it was poorly presented
to the electorate. The defeat also proves that no
amount of money spent on advertising will sell
consolidation without a sound plan that demonstrates
why and how consolidation will improve education for
the students.
Not many prudent people would build a new house
without a plan, nor would a prudent sailor set off
to sail across an ocean without a plan.
Consolidation also needs a plan and none was
provided to the voters on which they could make a
prudent decision. We also learned that intelligent
well meaning individuals can make mistakes.
Hopefully, the 149 taskforce will come to recognize
that they should not have insulted the voters before
they went to the polls. The taskforce spent all
their effort on diagnosing symptoms without a
prescription for healing. Our school districts are
losing students and as a consequence school
districts are also losing revenue and under current
revenue funding procedure a consolidated school
district will also face diminishing revenue. What
the taskforce should have explained to the voters
was how more classes and programs could be installed
with less and less income in the future. The
taskforce never explained how consolidation would
actually improve test scores. What they failed to
do was to provide details explaining how education
will improve under consolidation. It
was never explained to the voters how using the same
students and the same teachers in the same building
would improve test scores. Changing the name on
the sign outside the school will do nothing to
enhance the education going on inside the building.
Hopefully, Ironwood will change to a seven period
day which will help initiate more shared programs.
That and a plan will go along way towards bringing
about consolidation.
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Heavy Voter
Turnout |
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| Ironwood - November 4, 2008 As expected there
was a very heavy turnout in Ironwood today. Lines
formed early in the morning and continued throughout
the day. |
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| At the Ironwood Township early morning turnout
was heavy. In addition to national and state races.
Open seats on the Township Board and the
consolidation ballot issue were at stake. West
end Republicans were hoping for a large Republican
turnout to push through the consolidation issue. |
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| above - John Suutala
and his wife stand at the back of the line where he
waits to vote for his replacement. John is retiring
from the Township Board of Trustees after many years
of serving his community. He will certainly be
missed. Great job, John! |
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Skateboard Park Gets Go A Head |
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| Ironwood - Tuesday, November 4, 2008 |
| Story and photos by Arvo Toolanen |
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| The long, long awaited skateboard park has come
one step closer to be a reality. Maybe. The
only missing ingredient in the mix is the twenty
thousand dollars the city approved for the project
and never heard of again. Last summer, the city
council approved the civic improvement plan which
included $20,000. for the skate board park. In fact,
the item was stated to be a top five priority in the
CIP. In the photo above, four versions of the
equipment were presented to the kids, who over
whelming chose, with minor changes the layout shown
at bottom left.
Read
more |
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OCAP
Requests
Millage Approval |
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| Ontonagon - November 2, 2008 The members of
the Ontonagon County Animal Protection (OCAP) held
an open house today at their new facility on M-38.
In the works for quite some. The members of OCAP
were on hand to provide visitors with a tour of the
new building that will be the home for Ontonagon
County's Homeless and Abused animals. So far, the
volunteers have been caring for the county's animals
through money raised by Fundraisers and other
donations. But, the need for funds has grown and the
organization is now asking for the community's
support through a small .25 mills which will
help complete and operate the shelter. The small tax
will raise approximately $59,900. in the first year
of the 3 year period.
The voters of Ontonagon County will be asked to
vote in favor of the millage this Tuesday. |
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| above OCAP volunteer Bob Graham along with other
members of the group were on hand to show visitors
the new shelter, nearing completion, but id dire
need of funds. Behind Bob, are poster boards with
photos of the many pets available for adoption. You
can help both a pet and yourself by visiting an OCAP
care provider or searching for a new friend and
family member on line
www.oc-petfinder.com |
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| OCAP members dressed for the today's walk-about
around the new facility which will be completed soon
with the aid of the OCAP millage request on
Tuesday's ballot. |
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The High School Bowl Match between the
Panthers of Ewen-Trout Creek and the Panthers of
Pickford was aired on WNMU-TV channel 13. The
match actually tool place two weeks ago when it
was "recorded live" an the WNMU studio. We've
been fans of High School Bowl for a long, long
time and we've yet to figure out how a program
can be pre-recorded any way other than "live".
If you figure this one out, please let us know.
The match for Panther bragging rights started
out looking like what would be a rout for E-T.C.
At half-time the score was Ewen 100 Pickford 50.
A slam dunk for sure. Hold on there. The
Pickford Panthers were to come from behind,
scoring 70 points to Ewen's 50 points, tying the
match 120-120 with just two minutes to go.
The E-T.C. Panthers then scored 40 unanswered
points to emerge victorious 160-120.
Ewen-Trout Creek along with the other GOISD
schools and Hurley sent their their Wiz
Kid teams to the Quiz Bowl Tournament held last
Thursday at Gogebic Community College. |
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Local Wiz Kids
Show Their Stuff |
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| Ironwood -October 31st 2008 Pictured above
Gogebic Community College President James Lorenson
presents trophy to the Ironwood Quiz Bowl Team.
Ironwood's Wiz Kids won the Varsity Division
in yesterday's shootout at GCC.
Standing to the left of Lorenson is Ironwood's
favorite teacher and Quiz Team coach Steve
Boyd. Last year Steve
brought the Red Devils to the Final Four in the NMU-TV
High School Bowl.
All the GOISD teams plus the Hurley team competed
for the honor of being the best of the brainiest in
Thursday's competition. Hurley was the
2006 Champions of the NMU-TV High School Bowl.
All the teams competing in the tournament will
also be competing in the 2008-2009 NMU-TV High
School Bowl which airs on Public TV each Saturday
evening. Two of our district's teams Bessemer
and Ewen-Trout Creek have already won their first
round events in the cerebral tournament.
These Wiz Kids are terrific competitors and
provide as much excitement in their matches as you
will find in any sporting event. They are a
fine example of what's right with our area and why
we should be pleased with our area's school
districts. Each and every one of them!
Read More |
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Community Service |
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Another Scouting Adventure |
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above - Kids
Collect a mountain of needed food |
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Bessemer MI, October 25, 2008
Cub Scout Pack 337 of Bessemer and Cub Scout
Pack 300 of Wakefield, with the help of Bessemer
Boy Scout Troop 337, sponsored a Food Drive for
St. Vincent DePaul Food Pantry on Saturday,
October 25, 2008.
Pictured behind many bags of food at St. Vincent
DePaul store are Travis Johnson, Blayne Pellinen,
Blaise Pellinen, David Jackson, Branden Nielsen,
Michael Yuchasz, Antonio Tinoco, Nathan Keller,
Paul Kossman, Maddie Jackson, Nick McIntire,
Allisa LeMaide, Danny Trekas, Clay Kossman & Ben
Jacobson. Missing from the photo are Cameron
France, Jamie Jett, JD Faulkner, Jason Turula
and Joseph Jendrusina.
The Packs & Troop collected over 3,300 pounds of
food for the food pantry. Thank you to all who
donated food items and money. Also, a big Thanks
to Super One Foods for donating all of the
grocery bags needed for our food drive. With all
of this food, many families will have plenty to
eat during the holidays. You may still donate to
our food drive by dropping off your donation at
St. Vincent DePauls in Bessemer or by calling
Mary Jendrusina at 667-0104.
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| cubs, boy scouts and their friends pictured
above and below collected more than 1 and a half
times their combined body weight in food for the
community. St. Vinny's will be making up food
baskets to distribute to families this holiday
season. Usually, there is enough food to get our
community fed through February. At that time St.
Vincents will conduct their own food drive. |
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| photo below friends and parents provide
support for the great kids who make up Cub Scout
Packs 337 and Pack 300 and Boy Scout Troop 337 |
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Vanishing
Horizons Opens at Finlandia |
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HANCOCK - October 23, 2008
An exhibit by artist Christine Flavin titled, "Vanishing Horizons: An Interpretation of the
Abandoned Mining Sites of the Upper Peninsula"
is featured at the Finlandia University Gallery,
located in the Finnish American Heritage Center
in Hancock. The exhibit opened October 20th
and will remain open to the public until
November 13th, 2008.
Last night a well attended reception for the
artist took place at the
gallery Christine gave a power-point
presentation to the attendees and described the
stories pertaining to the many mines which she
has photographed. |
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photo above Christine Flavin providing
a power-point presentation to the audience
Read More
and View Flavin's Photography of U.P. Mines |
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IronwoodInfo.com is a Michigan,
Non-Profit Media Corporation |
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Contact IronwoodInfo.com |
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email:
mail@ironwoodinfo.com
snail mail: P.O. Box 305 Ironwood, MI 49938
Telephone
Ironwood: 906-932-1402
Ontonagon: 906-885-5683
Fax
906-884-2544 |
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