It's not about dioxin... again...

Giant zebra mussels? I had to share this photo of the lower walkway at the new Festival Park. I think it's SO cool the way the fence shadows show up on the rocks!

This morning, the newsfeed with my morning coffee announced: Dioxin survey tests public input - an article in today's Saginaw News.

Aha! At that point I recalled something litigant Gary Henry said during his comments at the Saginaw County Board of Commissioners meeting last week! He mentioned tests (plural) proving 'most people are afraid of dioxin in their yards.' He also mentioned EPA and MSU as though they were among several organizations doing such testing...obviously using the environmentalist extremists' favorite tactic of muddying the facts with fiction based on truth. Read the article and know a bit more of the truth.

A few points I gleaned from the article:

• The study, sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, was actually done by Michigan State University. (Based on environmental extremist 'logic' this means the MSU study must be biased in favor of the EPA's point of view (FYI - environmental extremists' just love EPA!)
• Purpose of the study was not to solve the dioxin problem but to discover the best way to talk about it.
• The most effective meeting format was an "issue forum" (round table).
• These forums took place July and August 2004.
• Nine neighborhoods were involved. (The article doesn't say where.)

• Researchers knocked on more than 1000 doors.

  378 people answered survey.

  145 residents said they would participate in a forum.

  Only 53 people out of those +1,000 people from nine neighborhoods actually attended the meetings.

As far as I can tell, the only thing that this study proved is that most people do not know or care about the dioxin issue. Participants already have copies of the report and the report will be submitted to EPA later this week. Well! The litigious few (the Henry's) get their information before the EPA? How skewed do you think this 'study' is, anyway? Folks, this is typical of the pseudo-science those people like to use to scare the general public into believing in their goals. They use environutty-logic to tell their environutty-truth!

If I hadn't delved deep into the center of all that pile of newspaper this afternoon I wouldn't have found the Agenda for the MDEQ/Dow meeting scheduled for November 6 November 9. It was hidden on the left-hand bottom of The Saginaw News Section E, page 5 - next to a couple of big ads and below a small article about fixing toilets. In case you missed it, or can't find it, I wrote about the meeting yesterday right here.

When in doubt, check us out! I remain, vibrantly healthy and vocal, your best source of facts vs. environutty-facts along the Tittabawassee River floodplain!

Dioxin Along the Tittabawassee River - Weekend Wrap-up

Actual residents along the Tittabawassee River floodplain won one this week when the Saginaw County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution to formally support House Bill 4617 and Senate Bill 390 - commonly referred to as the homeowners' rights bills. HB4617 was passed in Michigan's House of Representatives by a strong bi-partisan vote of 77-29 on June 29 this year.

We, the people, were represented by an array of long-term residents from all walks of life at the Board's meeting Tuesday, October 25. We have one thing in common. We step across political and socio-economic lines to support legislation that will keep government officials from labeling our homes and property without actually testing it.

Barrie Barber wrote a good account of the meeting, published in the Saginaw News, Thursday October 27. Commissioners give dioxin measure a boost

Remember that August 24 Townhall Meeting (MDEQ and Dow sponsored)? I had questions and with all that DEQ power attending, they couldn't answer my simple questions at that time. They had to take them back to the office to ponder. Here are the answers as I received them via email Tuesday October 25 - two months after I handed my list of questions over to them!!!

MDEQ announced the first quarterly Community Meeting addressing the challenges related to the mid-Michigan dioxin and furan situation. Open to the public, the meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 9, 2005, at the Horizons Conference Center, 6200 State Street, Saginaw from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m.

• Read the complete MDEQ press release here.
• Find the Agenda and related materials here.

I remain yours truly, comfortable, healthy, and enjoying my backyard along the Tittabawassee River floodplain. Don't forget to set your clocks back an hour tonight and Happy Halloween!

FYI - Something to think about. Assorted 'defenders of the people's rights' are getting rid of Christ and all things Christian in public places. Don't y'all think it's about time to make Halloween illegal? I believe it has something to do with witches and their kind. Seems to me Wikka is a 'religion' - ??? Hey! ACLU!!! Go for it!!!

Saginaw County Board of Commissioners Supports the Homeowners' Fairness Bill...

YES!!! After our first chance to tell the commissioners our side of the story (see October 14) I came back a bit dissatisfied with the legislative committee's uncertainty. Yesterday, however, the full Board of Commisioners came through for us - the majority of homeowners along the Tittabawassee River floodplain. The commissioners voted 10 in favor of Senate Bill 390 and 5 against. They will send a letter to Lansing stating their support of this very important homeowners' rights legislation!

More later - I promise!!! Tomorrow is a 'free day' for me.

...and the winners are...................

Good morning Kathie Marchlewski..... and thank you for the in-depth article about the dioxin class action suit.

Class action gets go-ahead - in today's Midland Daily News is a 'must read' piece for everybody who have been stuffed into the dioxin sandwich created by the Lone Tree Council.

Here we are - all ~2,000 residents along the Tittabawassee River floodplain - right in the middle of a squabble between environmental extremists and The Dow Chemical Company. As one of the residents ready to be devoured by this political fiasco turned into a lawsuit through the fear-mongering efforts of a few environutty activists, I can only admire Kathie's unbiased reporting.

I guess the majority of residents along the floodplain will just have to sit back and wait it out - thanks to seven individual tokens. Like it or not we are, at this point, among the litigants in a class action lawsuit. So much for our civil rights, eh?
Note: Tried to publish this at 9:54 a.m. but troublemakers abound in the blogosphere as well. It looks like the newest bothersome group bombards bloggers' comment sections.

No surprises here

in Saginaw County, MI. Where the crime rate has gone up while it is going down across the rest of the country, a judge decides that seven greedy people are speaking for 2,000 of us living along the Tittabawassee River floodplain! It's all over the internet. I read it at MLive - Judges allows suit against Dow Chemical to proceed as class action. (Judges spelled as it was published) Following is quoted from the article:

"Residents within the floodplain don't have to do anything to become part of the class-action lawsuit. They will be notified about it and about the procedure to exclude themselves, if desired."

God bless America! Shall we count ourselves among the chosen? I'm sure the judge was in a lose/lose situation but I sure don't think he had the interest of the majority of residents in mind when he made that decision.

A note to the coward who left an anonymous comment calling me an idiot. Whatsa' mattah? Ya scared of an ol' lady? If you had included your name I wouldn't have deleted your comment!

Dr. Crummett in the news...

...'Uncertainty' needs to be addressed in dioxin debate - says the headline in Midland Daily News... editorial written by Warren Crummett. If I'm reading this correctly, Dr. Crummett says that scientists still do not know what quantities of dioxin exist in the environment. As I mentioned last Friday, scientists are speaking of extremely tiny amounts in terms of 'all that dioxin'... a trillion is a pretty big number. Don't believe me? Start counting. Let me know when you're done!

Mr. Linhart left a rather lopsided comment about Dr. Crummett's article on the online version of MDN Sunday. I thought it was ridiculous so I left a comment about Linhart's comment. Midland Daily News apparently did not like what I had to say. They did not print it. For your information, here is what I had to say.

Mr. Linhart, it is much easier to criticize than it is to actually solve problems. Perhaps that is why Dr. Crummett is a world reknowned scientist and you are not.

If Dr. Crummett and his colleagues had not taken the initiative to quantify dioxin in such teeny tiny little quantities there would be no 'big dioxin problem' in my backyard and the backyards of all my neighbors along the Tittabawassee River floodplain today. There would be no litigious environutz claiming 'Dow's dioxin' has made their residential properties worthless. They would probably be trying to find some other reason to sue Dow, since their leaders in the Lone Tree Council would undoubtedly find some other reason to rouse the rabble!

Tittabawassee River... Wetlands... Mitigation Updates... and oh yes, Awards for Ignorance!

Tuesday I had the opportunity to comment on why I think the Legislative Subcommittee of the Saginaw County Commission should support Senate Bill 390, also known as the Homeowners' Fairness Act. I didn't actually count every person but there appeared to be as many of 'us' as there were of 'them' attending.

• Speaking for 'them' - one resident couple from the floodplain suing for the big money from Dow Chemical (wearing their death-head t-shirts) and two 'representatives' from Lone Tree Council - who do NOT live on the floodplain... Rhittic and Miller both! Ms. Rheddick actually fumed with anger, even with her laryngitis, and even went so far as to play her 'pregnant women, children and fetus' card. If Mrs. Rhetoric has a problem with fetuses and children she should remember the meaning of this simple word - genetics!
• Speaking for 'us' - actual residents of the Tittabawassee River floodplain - every single one! Our stakeholder residents included three residents from Greenpoint, business people, and several of us from along the River Road floodplain. Speaking for us included representatives of the people, elected and not, from the Saginaw County Board of Commissioners and Chamber of Commerce.
• The committee walked away undecided!!! Who says it's not all about politics, eh?

Rapanos awaits Supreme Court arguments
This article by Daily News staff and The Associated Press, published in the Midland Daily News on October 12. This case, based on federal Clean Water Act laws about unpermitted discharges to "navigable waters" goes a bit far. It is a classic example of government entering privately owned property in the guise of protecting the environment. If they can do it to Mr. Rapanos they can do it to you and me. Oh! That's right! They already have entered our backyards to 'help' us!

In case you haven't already seen this article in the Midland Daily News from October 5 - Rapanos wetland case could be heard by Supreme Court this session - Ralph Wirtz explained, in his simply elegant style, the lack of common sense used by the government in defining 'wetlands.' FYI, that is exactly the way wetlands AND floodplains are defined in our fair state. We are ALL potential victims of the MDEQ and all of their misguided legal mumbo-jumbo!

Here's a little item I collected last month - Wednesday September 21, 2005 as published in The Ann Arbor News: Dreams derailed when they built on a wetland. Owner not informed until foundation poured. Can you imagine!??? This fellow bought the land... got a building permit... began building... and then was told he was doing something illegal!!! Now it's really costing him - for nothing - except an overzealous bureaucratic agency!!! Yes, we NEED homeowners rights legislation in Michigan.

Did you see the 'ad' in Sunday's October 9 Midland Daily News? DEQ and Dow Announce Community Involvement Process - Dow and DEQ have decided, based on input from previous meetings, to hold open community meetings on a quarterly basis with possible other meetings in between. The purpose of these meetings is to 'inform the community, improve decisions, increase the number of people participating, and build trust among participants.'

Harvard's Award to Erin Brockovich and the Public Health (Credibility) Impact by Elizabeth M. Whelan, Sc.D., M.P.H. Ah yes, Ms. Brockovich got a 'busybody' award from a university we all think of as prestigious! What is this world coming to? Read what Elizabeth Whelan has to say about this. I quote here here:

Over the past two weeks, I (Elizabeth Whalen, ACSH) have been overwhelmed with e-mails and calls from members and supporters of the group I head, the American Council on Science and Health, expressing variations on this general sentiment: "I have long argued that public health is not a science, not a serious discipline. It is an ideologically-fueled movement, one which has disdain for science and facts. The so-called 'public health movement' has little if anything to do with protecting health, and it has everything to do with attacking the profit-making system, free enterprise, and traditional values -- and using the courts to manipulate a re-distribution of wealth."

Did I mention another comment received recently here at TRVoice? Anonymous said...

I live along the Tittabawassee River, though my property doesn't run back far enough to reach the rivers edge. We get about 4 to 6" of water in back yard every spring, and last year had about 18". I am a gardener, and have not had gardening problems, and the deer love my hosta. Other animals are also a bit of a problem. So, the dioxin doesn't seem to have affected the wild live in my area. Other residences have though with their skull and cross bone signs they post in their yards. I will be putting our home up for sale with in the next 6 mths because of relocation to northern Michigan. If my property values are affected, or if I can't sell my home, it will be because of the bad media publicity and dumb yard signs, not the dioxin. Let's start a class action against the Lone Tree Council for loss of property values. http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6530233&postID=112731006281842335

I remain healthy and busy along the Tittabawassee River floodplain! Did I mention that my friends and I were the healthy pregnant women carrying those healthy fetuses that turned into healthy children many of whom then carried their own healthy fetuses that turned into healthy children that turned into healthy adults... all from back when we didn't even know there was dioxin in our backyards because Dow hadn't yet figured out how to measure it in such minute quantities. Definition (for the econutz) minute = tiny!

Lots of Dioxin News Today...

..but I don't really have lots of time to talk about it. Family has been helping me get ready for winter... a new experience for me to do alone so they choose to help. Closing up a cottage, bringing home a boat, checking up on the furnace and more. I'm doing just fine - just haven't had much time yet to get back in the swing of the blog. Here's what's happening in no particular order:

Wirtz: In Midland, it's hard to see past the groundhog - Ralph E. Wirtz, October 7, 2005. Always entertaining & often enlightening, the managing editor of Midland Daily News expressed his viewpoint about a couple of issues that just seem to drag on and on and on..... and on - where to put a jail and the dioxin issue. Reader opinions consisted of three people that always see the glass half empty and one of my favorite guys in a white hat, Bill Egerer.

Bill facing scrutiny - Saturday, October 08, 2005 by ERIN ALBERTY, THE SAGINAW NEWS. This is important to all of us in Saginaw County living along the Tittabawassee River floodplain... and I'm talking all of us who believe that the whole 'problem' with dioxin is overblown!

The Legislative Subcommittee of the Saginaw County Commission will hear comments on the Homeowner Fairness Act at 3 p.m. - Tuesday October 11 in the Saginaw County Governmental Center, 111 S. Michigan. It is important the commissioners hear all sides of this issue because it would appear that until now Saginaw County has mostly been hearing what the environutz want them to hear.

We sure would like to have Saginaw County support the majority of people affected by the designation 'facility' that was imposed on our properties along the Tittabawassee River floodplain by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. So far they pretty much only know what is being fed to them by Lone Tree Council and their ragtag gang.

Participation slim in dredging study - Sunday, October 09, 2005, JEREMIAH STETTLER, THE SAGINAW NEWS. Saginaw County Public Works Commission's Koski wants to get a little 'before and after' data from residences of people who think they will be affected by the location of materials dredged from the Saginaw River. It seems nobody involved in that little neighborhood spat wants it to happen! Pretty foolish, don't you think?

Plaintiffs involved in dioxin suit react to delay - by Josh Grosteffon, Midland Daily News, October 9, 2005. It looks like Judge Borrello has delayed his decision for another week and the litigants really don't mind. The new decision date on whether or not to allow the litigious environutz to include over 2,000 residents in their lawsuit about dioxin lowering their property values has been changed to Friday, October 21 at 11:00 a.m.

The editorial page of The Saginaw News is dominated by the Lone Tree gang. Some people just seem to have lots more time than they have common sense!

I remain yours truly, happy, healthy & very much active in the Tittabawassee River floodplain... loving my home that was designated a 'facility' of The Dow Chemical Company by the all-powerful MDEQ. Watch out folks; your home may be next on their list!

U of M Dioxin Study Update...

Today we have a guest writer - Eldon Graham. Thank you, Dr. Graham!

I attended the meeting at Freeland Elementary School Thursday, October 6, 2005. The meeting had a very small audience, but Dr.Garabrant did his usual excellent presentation.

All of the field work is completed, both in this area and in Jackson/Callhoun counties. The interviews, house dust samples, soil samples, and blood samples, are completed. There were 1323 interviews. 589 of persons in theTittabawassee River floodplain area, 375 persons elsewhere in the Saginaw Midland area, 352 in the Jackson/ Calhoun County area. These persons were chosen by random. There were 731 persons who have all four data elements – 352 in the floodplain area, 196 elsewhere in the Saginaw Midland area, and 185 in the Jackson/ Calhoun area.

During the public comment period, one person said that the whole study is flawed; that the wrong people were interviewed. They should have interviewed the persons living along the river who are now dead. Also, he lives along the river, has cancer, and was not interviewed.

Dr Garabrant explained the random selection process (so as to not bias the group, one way or the other), and that the study is not a health study, but rather to determine if persons living in the floodplain have a higher amount of dioxin in their blood than persons living elsewhere. He said that the Michigan Department of Public Health has data on the rate of various types of cancer by geographic area, but that data is not a part of the U of M study.

Lab analysis is now being done. A progress report will be given to the national Scientific Advisory Board on October 20. He expects that the results of the study will be sent to the SAB in the spring and summer of 2006. Following its review, it is expected that the results will be presented at public meetings in the fall of 2006, and posted on the U of M website.

dioxin study update & more....

No, I didn't know about this meeting that will take place in Freeland Thursday... or I would have planned my week a bit differently. I'm beginning to think the people who hold these meetings really don't want us to attend them. If they did, wouldn't there be a bit more advance notice?

Dioxin study update coming Thursday in yesterday's Saginaw News

...and then I read this in my newsfeed: Researchers say new center will remain independent by Tomislav Ladika, Daily Staff Reporter, October 04, 2005. For the pessimists who try to claim U/M and Dow are in cahoots, here's my read on things. Dr. Garabrant and his department are taking advantage of their expertise in the dioxin study by creating a whole new opportunity for the University of Michigan and for generations to come! I say, go for it, doc! Here I quote from the article:

'Director of the center, David Garabrant, a professor of occupational medicine and epidemiology, said the center — a division of the School of Public Health — will focus on researching the risks that industrial chemicals and pollutants present to people and the environment.'

Occasionally we receive a comment here at TRVoice. Some of them are self-promoting and I delete them but I never delete a relevant comment, even when I do not agree. We received such a comment recently. You can read it here. This person gives us her perception of a case where soil appears to have been moved from one location to another. I guess I've noticed that location along the floodplain but never thought much of it. I really don't believe it was moved to build up foundations of homes in Midland. I guess she left me with a question too - Where did that soil go?

All Quiet on the Homefront...

..but I wanted you to know - I drove past Festival Park yesterday and noticed the lower ramp is once again visible. I didn't have my camera along, so no photo for now. Is it possible that our dam neighbors to the north of us were unaware of being bad neighbors? I hope so because I have a friend who lives on Wixom Lake and he's a great neighbor and a good guy!

In case you didn't read the comment left by one of our Tittabawassee River Voices, click here to see what he/she had to say about property values along our river plain. This is more of the majority speaking, folks!

I remain yours truly, healthy, active, as content as possible and even a bit ...living along the Tittabawassee River floodplain.

About Floods... Dioxin... and People...

Along the Tittabawassee River at Festival Park...
you certainly wouldn't want to walk down to the bottom step today. See the steps up toward top of the photo? The only thing worse would be if you were in a wheelchair on the ramp closest to us. Ya' just might get a tad wet, don'tcha think?

Here's how it looked two weeks ago... click for picture. Oh yes! Did you see how dry it was? Part of the ramp is under water - parallel with the ramp we can see. I don't wanna go there with MY wheelchair!


Who is 'the bad guy' here... Dow? Mother Nature? the contractor? I'll tell you... none of the above! Dam operators at Sanford and Edenville regulate the dams - not for benefit of anybody below the dams - only for their own benefit! They regulate those dams to maintain a 'perfect' level for residents on the lakes.

They like to keep their lakes high even during periods of drought. That's when you can walk across the Tittabawassee River. Then when the rains come and water gets so high that Sanford and Edenville residents might be flooded, or even made uncomfortable with water up around their docks, the dams let loose! That's when we get it - all that water with all that goes with it. In my humble opinion, the dam operators are not good neighbors. Sic 'em, DEQ!!! Sic 'em, all you econutz!

How's the UM study going? Latest thing I read was from the Jackson Citizen Patriot... Dioxin study results expected in summer - written by Paul Fletcher, published Friday, September 23. I met another person who was involved with that test here along the river. She said she had received data from U of M about the dust in her home but wasn't sure what it means. There's a lot of that going around. When this started, it seemed far away... but it now seems like 2006 will soon be here. It's just a couple of seasons away. When all results are in next summer we should get a full explanation of the University of Michigan study of the relationship between amounts of dioxin in our environment and the amounts in our bodies.

It's not about dioxin...

..it's about progress and dedication, and perhaps an innate faith in our fellow mankind. This is the Shaheen family. Doc Shaheen, the elder, probably doesn't even know who I am. I only met him earlier this year but it seems just about everybody I know knows him... or knew of him - like forever! Not one person thinks of him as a bad man or a greedy opportunist. They all speak of him only with admiration!

The Saginaw News yesterday had an editorial about this dedicated family, father and son: Investing in city in 'healing era'. I never had any doubt about Doc Shaheen's integrity. My friend, Howard Vasold, has known him for a long time and he confirmed my belief. It would appear the only people who do not believe his offer to purchase properties on the Tittabawassee River was purely to show his faith in the future of Saginaw County are... the people who are trying to say their property along the Tittabawassee River is worthless!

Yup it's me - healthy as an ox, honest as ol' Abe, and a member of the majority along the Tittabawassee River floodplain who want you to know the Lonetree Council and their litigious little friends do not represent us!

We Wait for Judge Borrello's Decision...

.. to be announced at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, October 11 according to Jeremiah at The Saginaw News - Lawyers argue over dioxin lawsuit boundaries Please read also Kathie's version - Suit against Dow could include 2,000 floodplain homeowners in the Midland Daily News.

Looks to me like legal arguments on both sides of the issue are missing the REAL point...

• The original nine litigants do not represent the rest of us (the 2000+ more residents) along the Tittabawassee River floodplain!
• The 101 or 147 (or whatever) litigants do not represent the rest of us along the Tittabawassee River floodplain.
• The Lonetree Council, represented by Michelle Hurd-Riddick and Terry Miller does not represent the rest of us along the Tittabawassee River floodplain.
• The rest of us along the Tittabawassee River floodplain are citizens who vote regularly and believe that is the way to choose those who represent us!
• Our House of Representatives represents us and showed us their support when they approved House Bill 4617 (proposed Senate Bill 390) by a large majority vote of 77-29.
• The class action may not be about 'facility' but it is about those of us who do not want our homes labeled 'facility.'
• The same people who want to retain the 'facility' designation are the litigants who claim their property value is diminished by Dow Chemical.
• The same people who want to retain the 'facility' designation are the litigants who spread their word that their property is worthless.

The rest of us 2000+ residents do not consider our property worthless and we continue to work and play in our yards with no regard for the fear-mongering efforts of the few (be they 9, 101 or 147).

Newspaper Articles on Dioxin Class Action Court Proceedings...

..Read both articles in today's newspapers and you'll pretty much have that part of the hearing yesterday that I left to the professionals! I think between the two of them it's pretty much all there. I still think Teresa Woody, however, needs to get a grip on reality.

Dioxin class decision nears as Kathie M says in her article published today. Thanks, MDN, for making the changes necessary so our friends can now read the online articles without having to sign in, whether we refer to such articles on websites or email them to our friends. It's a great improvement. Good job as usual, Kathie.

The Saginaw News version - Judge listens during 5-hour hearing - is worth reading as well. Good job, Jeremiah! I'm pleased to see all that BS Michelle kept whispering in your ear didn't get in the way of your reporting.

Class Action Insight...

..came to me this morning when I woke up. I recalled something Judge Borrello said yesterday. He informed us that if we live in Michigan, residents have to opt-in to be included in a class action suit, but federal class action requires the class individuals to opt out. Then he mentioned the CSX derailment as a case in Michigan where we had to opt out. Duh! ...something about interstate commerce no doubt? My motivation for being so much against a big ol' class action suit involving all of us living along the Tittabawassee River floodplain had to do with that opting out thing.

Other comments about yesterday:

• Mrs. Damore extended her sympathy to me for the recent loss of my husband and I'm sure she meant it. Later a few others also did so. To the young man who I verbally 'struck back' at for an incident in Midland, I'm sorry. The incident took place at the Dow Library after a meeting sponsored by MDEQ. I think the fellow who caused it was of your 'body type' but older and fatter.
• I hope the attorneys representing Dow know that there actually IS a Tittabawassee River floodplain and it is more 'real' than that big expanse defined by FEMA. Some of the FEMA designated properties have never been flooded; my backyard floods at least once a year.
• The Dow attorney referred to the original 8 plaintiffs and an additional 101 plaintiffs - all recruited by at least three individuals over a period of time. Just an FYI - we obtained 147 signatures in a contiguous area along the Tittabawassee River in a matter of a couple of days going door-to-door! If we had extended the efforts done by the litigants we probably would have signatures of most of the other 2000 residents!

I remain yours truly, healthy and vocal after raising a family, living, gardening, and mowing the lawn along the Tittabawassee River floodplain since 1960.

Judge Borrello Hears Arguments Concerning Dioxin Class Action Suit.

...but it's not over yet. The hearing will continue tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. Here's what I saw today...

• The new tort lawyer replacing the convicted child predator our local econutz originally hired is a real go-getter, only I'm not sure she knows what she's trying to go and get.
• There was an overload of out-of-town lawyers on both sides of the issue. Who do YOU suppose is going to come out on top in this fiasco? The lawyers??? Ya think?
• Our local media people were there - television, radio and newspapers. Michelle Heard-Rhetoric sat in back in a chair, no less (not the benches), occasionally chattering to the newsfolks.
• Oh yeah! Michelle Heard-Rhetoric - what the heck was she doing there? She is NEITHER litigant NOR resident of any floodplain defined during the process today.
• At various times somewhere between 8 and a dozen litigants were present. They kept walking in and out of the courtroom during the session.
• A few assorted other people stopped in briefly to see what was happening, including a couple of people from Dow's legal department.
• A rather large older fellow, with balding grey hair held back in a teeny tiny pony tail (???) with a green rubberband was there. He told me he and his family members live with a variety of illnesses - all of which he blames on the dioxin in his yard. He sat behind me in the morning session but grabbed an up-closer seat in the afternoon. (That's how I noticed the ridiculous hair-do!) He had a lawyer with him - I'm guessing a local rooky. Turns out this was the other litigant that will potentially be included in the big class action suit.
• Me. I was there because I am one of the approximately 2000 people the litigants want to drag along in their lawsuit. Besides, if I didn't attend, how would you know what's really happening there?

This thing should be concluded tomorrow... hopefully by noon. The attorneys decided not to call any witnesses. Shucks, that was part of the reason I was there. Anyway, I'll update you tomorrow. I just feel deep down in my heart that Judge Borrello is a man that can sort through all the BS (Big Stories) in a fair manner. That's why he's the judge, right?

A couple of days ago I read about the bully bureaucrats in MDEQ in this article titled: Soccer Club wetlands bill: $723,000. Just another example of the way MDEQ beats down ordinary residents with their appointed power. Read the reader opinions! One of them is from a relatively new resident who says Michigan's DEQ is like no other in their misuse of power!

and then I found this delightful little piece written by a college kid - JunkScience.com: "All the junk that's fit to debunk". God love her. With kids like this our future may be in good hands after all.

Mid-Week Updates along the Tittabawassee River floodplain...

I promised photos of the Festival Park progress... here is one of my favorites. I will upload more to the Yahoo photo album soon, I promise! By the way, how do you suppose one might fish from this beautiful edifice when the water is so low? Perhaps it's time to move forward to the problem of proper dam maintenance above the Tittabawassee River!

Yesterday I read the following letter to the editor, Saginaw News. The reader is right on the money. Thank you, sir, for defending the viewpoints of Neill Varner, one of my personal favorite heroes in this mostly political battle between an overly powerful Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and local residents in the Saginaw Valley!

Speaking of heroes, today the Saginaw News has an article with the headline: DEQ director demands apology; Goschka refuses. Good job Senator Goschka!!! Stick to your guns. WE believe YOU!!!

After all, the director of DEQ, Steve Chester, had the gall to look me square in the eye and tell me and my fellow residential stakeholders that he could not change the term 'facility' as it applies to our property. He told us the only way we could get it changed was through legislation and he said this at a meeting with Lt. Governor Cherry. Once we got our legislation going, thanks to Congressman John Moolenaar and his cohorts in the House of Representatives, Chester arbitrarily 'changed' the rule!!! Of course he called it an 'interpretation,' but it was a change nonetheless.

Now... who would you believe, a man elected by the people because of his down-to-earth honesty... or an appointed bureaucrat who can look you in the eye and tell you one thing while he does another and seems determined to trod upon the property rights of residents throughout the State of Michigan?

Class Action Econutz Will Have Their Day in Court...

Thursday, September 15 at 9:00 a.m. The Midland Daily News does a rehash of this case today. Read it on line here: Dow dioxin suit headed to court.

This is a very important matter for every resident stakeholder along the Tittabawassee River floodplain. The Henrys and their vast array of out-of-state lawyers are claiming they represent all of us! They are trying to put us in the same box they choose to be in... even if we do NOT choose to be in it with them. They are, in effect, saying we are just like them (God forbid) and we should ALL be suing Dow because our homes are 'worthless.' Funny thing, they seem to be the only people who think their homes are worthless.

They want Judge Borrello to call their personal lawsuit a 'class-action' so they can include all of us. This way the lawyers can make a whole lot more money - if they win the case. If they lose the case however, if I'm right on this, we can all join in on paying the big legal fees they've been accruing since whenever they started this thing way back in 2003!

Jeepers! That sounds a lot like what the DEQ did when THEY put us all in a box and said our residential properties are 'facilities.' What is the common thread running through all this? Yup, you got it! We ain't free, folks! This country is NOT our United States of America where we are innocent until proven guilty. Beside that, we all get to be put together as a group with a bunch of ne'er-do-wells with whom we do not even care to associate... the group wearing the black & white skull & crossbones! If Judge Borrello decides to make this a class-action, we will have to let him know, each individually, that we do not want to be a part of that ragtag group!

I remain yours truly, sitting fat, sassy & as healthy as an ox, right smack dab in the middle of the Tittabawassee River floodplain... dubbed 'priority one' by the all-powerful MDEQ... and of course therefore a 'facility' - of The Dow Chemical Company, no less!

Resident Stakeholders Meet MDCH Comment Deadline on flawed dioxin 'study' in Saginaw Valley

You read it here first.

• MDCH Exposure Investigation Report for Public Comment - A Pilot Exposure Investigation: Dioxin Exposure in Adults Living in the Tittabawassee River Flood PlainSaginaw County, Michigan
• Press Release, Midland Tomorrow - Jenee Velasquez
• Letter, Tittabawassee River Voice - Len Heinzman
• Email Letter, Midland Matters - Bill Egerer
• Approximately 34% of the residential properties designated as 'facilities' by the MDEQ are most likely not 'facilities' based on the MDEQ 'reasonable assumption' practice?

Enough said, eh? Now on a totally unrelated matter, I was pleased to read Michigan House GOP wants to ban Canadian trash with new power from feds published in the South Bend Tribune. What's that all about? - Local newspapers don't like the logical approach to such matters? Along with being healthy and vocal in the Tittabawassee River floodplain, I am an adamant recycler and strongly oppose the use of Michigan land for imported garbage!!!