Where I Stand...

I stand in the middle of my backyard where we experience at least one flood per year, compliments of the dams further upstream that empty into the Tittabawassee River whenever the waters get too high... usually after the spring thaw. My property exists on one of the lowest areas along the Tittabawassee River floodplain.

I mow the lawn here - a whole acre. I still have asparagus we planted when we moved here 50 years ago. We had vegetable gardens for several years when my children were young..... and yes, this is also where our girls had their playground equipment.

Then... in the new millenium, a few environutz from a neighboring community started denigrating our property, saying it was contaminated by the big bad chemical company. They found a greedy few willing to sue Dow claiming their property is worthless because of the contamination.

In late 2003 or early 2004 I read in the newspapers that these Lonetree Council recruits were trying to sue Dow Chemical in a class action suit. This is the same bunch of weirdos that later told me to 'shut up' at a public meeting in June 2005! I guess they believe in freedom of speech for anybody who agrees with them.

These environutz DO NOT represent me nor my neighbors, many of whom have lived here even longer than I. We are the Tittabawassee River Voice and we are tired of special interest groups and bureaucrats defiling the environment along our river.

We DO NOT want to sue Dow. We want MDEQ and EPA to get out of our backyards! We want the environutz and bureaucrats to allow Dow Chemical to clean up their own mess!

Answer to Environutz... Where I Was in 2003

Some environutz have asked where I was in 2003 when the first dioxin/MDEQ meetings began.

It all started with a paper spitball blown across the room in a high school. That spitball resulted in an accusation by a Pakistani that one of my grandsons committed ethnic intimidation. The entire story is surreal, including police brutality and a misinformed district attorney.

My husband & I spent most of 2003 driving across the state to show our support. Some court appearances were cancelled without notice. We were convinced the delays were calculated for my grandson to plead guilty to something of which he was innocent.

Bottom line: In desperation my daughter sent a letter to her State Representative and I sent a letter to mine, explaining the problem. An assistant noted on my letter the incident was not within his district so he could do nothing. Wrong!

Rep. Moolenaar read my letter and responded that he would try to help. Finally our trial was not delayed again. The grandson was found not guilty.

Representative John Moolenaar may not even remember who I am but I will always remember him! He is my hero. His thoughtfulness taught me that there is such a thing as an honest politician.

Now the Lonetree Council and their little group of litigants in the dioxin case started catching my attention. They did not represent me and I knew most of my Freeland neighbors felt the same. I made noise at some of the Dow informational meetings... I started this blog... and I met Leonard & Cheryl Heinzman... kindred souls. They kicked things into high gear and the Tittabawassee River had a Voice.