Potpourri Friday.....

Well, well, well! So much for good TV reporting! The local CBS TV people were in last night's meeting. I saw their report myself, even though I was unable to be at the meeting. It was a delight to see my favorite long-term Freeland resident, Howard Vasold, was there and put in another important point about the whole frivolous dioxin fiasco. Howard said he was more concerned about automobile exhaust fumes than the dioxin in his property. Bravo Howard! You won't find this report on the internet though. TV5, true to their goal for sensationalism, only published the pics of their cameraman being disinvited from the Midland meeting.

Howard told me Michelle passed out a pile of paper complaining 'Dow and DEQ Reinventing the Public Participation Wheel'..... whatever!!! Basically she's whining because she thought her little group of troublemakers had an 'in' with Steve Chester and his version of MDEQ.

Speaking of 'disinviting' - there is a rumor that Michelle Redneck/Rhetoric, the self-purported queen of 'transparent' meetings, has been known to disinvite individuals from meetings.

Curious to know what priority one residential property looks like?...
Just for kicks, here's a picture of our March 8 flood last year, compliments of Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. Thank you Cheryl. (Since the Tittabawassee River crest is measured in Midland, the river actually continued to rise for two days after the 8th in Tittabawassee Township.) As you can see, the river covered more than half of our one acre property. This is an annual event, except September 1986 when we had 5 feet of river plus assorted river dwelling critters in our house. That's my friend Howard's property in the lower right corner. Click the photo to see it better.

We received our packet from AKTPeerless (the company contracted by Dow for remediation of priority one properties) this week. The packet included a 3-page letter and enough paper to choke an elephant... mostly repeats of paper we already received in mailings from MDEQ and/or Dow. We need to respond to AKTPeerless regardless of our decision regarding use of their services. I'm not concerned about dioxin but I am sick and tired of the annual floods, especially since the 1986 disaster. Do you think I should request they berm up our backyard property?

More on the April 6, 2005 MDEQ/Dow meeting in Midland... My friend, Bill Egerer presented an excellent case for the real stakeholders in the 'dioxin sandwich' along the banks of the Tittabawassee River. It is my privilege to share the letter Bill wrote to Steve Chester pointing out the Midland Matters position on this fiasco. Click to read Bill's letter.

Until next time... just remember..... 'My facility is 99.9999999% dioxin and other contaminants free!'