Mike Bosnic, member of the Clawson School Board (just re-elected this past Tuesday), and former Republican challenger for state representative in 2006 to Marty Knollenberg, has launched his first salvo against Tim Burns, a Democrat who took the seat by surprise last year when Republican Chuck Palmer retired and left the seat open.
Bosnic is now running against Burns. Below is his press release, attacking Burns' refusal to vote by hiding in a bathroom and some of alleged perks he claims Burns' has taken. Challenging Bosnic in the Republican primary is young upstart John Witt.
A reader of ours - Troy resident Douglas W. Hepner, asked me to post this letter to the editor of several local newspapers.
I'll answer some of the questions he poses afterward based on my view.
Letter to the Editor
Troy School District's Return Policy - Stealth Policy
If you have a student at Troy School High School, you can see their graded classroom test, right? Guess again!
It is the policy of some teachers and departments (including the Social Studies department) to not allow the tests to leave the classroom. These teachers review the test in class and then collect them before the end of class. If a parent wants to see one of these tests they must come to see it at the convenience of the teacher or make arrangements for the Principal. (Even school counselors are not trusted to take the test out of the classroom in these classes.)
This test return policy is not published and is not common across all classes; each teacher or department can set their own test return policy. There is no published material to tell you which policy a teacher follows, you must ask each teacher.
The stated reason for not returning the tests is to avoid cheating. Unfortunately, teachers will not even discuss other means to prevent cheating, like creating new tests or closer monitoring of class to catch cheating.
Tests should be returned to the students as a study aid and as a tool to communicate student progress. Parents and teachers are in a partnership in the education of students.
Some teachers that do not allow tests to leave the class also do not post grades on EDLINE. In this situation parents, learn of problems too late to correct them.
After failing to get answers from the High School teachers, Assistant Principal, Principal, the Deputy Superintendent, Superintendent and the past President of the School Board my questions are:
1) When was this policy adopted?
2) How and by whom was this policy reviewed?
3) Where is this policy posted and why are parents not told about this policy?
4) Why can't tests be returned
Sincerely,
Douglas W. Hepner
20 years ago I recall saving all my papers and tests from school. I know many students who used them to study, although I typically filed them away. I maintained this practice through college - a sound practice that has come in handy at various times for various reasons (mostly not related to academics directly). While I've culled most of those records and only retain a few important ones, the ability to document one's thought process is important. Particularly for parents, as Hepner rightly points out.
So cheating is a concern? Withholding all tests both strikes me as punishing the vast majority of innocent, and as fitting a trend of teachers getting lazy. Tests should be redesigned from year to year and class to class anyway. In the modern era of word-processors, changing a test should be far easier than, say, in the 80s, when I recall my teachers using carbon paper and mimeographs (modern students have no idea what those technologies even are!) to create master tests. Each year these masters would be modified by either selecting questions from larger pools of questions provided by the teaching guide accompanying a curriculum, or, imagine this - the teacher's own brain, expertise, and creativity.
I suspect that teachers do less of this today. That tests are more pre-fabricated, and (some - certainly not all) teachers simply less motivated to make such tests.
I suspect institutional laziness contributes to this problem. Why not monitor classes closely. I remember teachers with hawk eyes pacing the desks when an important test was being given (not even standardized tests - just routine weekly classroom benchmarks).
I'm really interested in hearing the Troy School administrators answers to these questions. Hmmm. If I don't hear them, maybe a FOIA request will land by "stealth" somewhere in their office a few weeks or months down the road (not like I have a ton of time right now - but if reminded, say, after an election, I might).
First, I've never been to a tanning booth, although I've fried my skin a few times naturally. I don't it particularly necessary or attractive to have that "perfect tan", although I don't begrudge those who seek their desire or means in doing so.
But this strikes me as plain hilarious - and a waste of legislative time in a state with too many regulations. And even the somewhat conservative Oakland Press editorial board has taken to praising these legislators. And I know each of them individually and find them to be mostly likable characters.
Get this: Chuck Moss and David Law have joined with a Macomb Democrat to increase tanning salon regulations. Here's an Oakland Press clip:
That's the reason we support House Bill 4146, introduced by state Rep. Frank Accavitti, Jr., an Eastpointe Democrat. Co-sponsors include Oakland County representatives Chuck Moss, R-Birmingham, and David Law, R-Commerce Township.
The bill addresses the risks of indoor tanning facilities.
Accavitti researched provisions in other states after a woman from Eastpointe complained about her granddaughter suffering a severe sunburn when going to a tanning salon prior to her prom.
"Her sunburn was so bad she wasn't even able to attend her prom," the lawmaker said.
The proposal would require parental consent for anyone younger than 18, larger warning signs in tanning facilities listing potential health consequences, a signed informed consent from for all customers and licensing by the state.
Larger warning signs? What size is good enough? I guess size really does matter.
If there are federally mandated signs, what the heck does Michigan need larger ones for? And why require a non-standardized sign (raising the price to salons). And an "informed consent form" for all customers? That's an administrative nightmare waiting to happen, and a route to ridiculous litigation years down the road. How long do salons need to retain these informed consent forms? I'd say if they don't retain them literally forever they risk a lawsuit 10 -- 20 -- or 30 years down the road in the legal environment such a law creates for tanning salons.
The only part of this law that isn't totally outrageous is the idea of requiring minors - those under 18 - to have parental consent. I could buy into that if the law was limited to that.
But the real kicker is that last line - "licensing by the state." Sounds like a method of garnering hidden fees - essentially a tax.
Government is evolving into a nanny-state. Lot's of things are risky or "bad for us". We do them anyway. It's our choice - and our consequences. And sometimes even our choices aren't connected to the consequences (that's called good luck and bad luck) and that's simply the way life is.
If our economy were really rolling and legislators had nothing else to dream up, maybe I could see this legislation as explainable. But we're in an economic crisis -- and this is what they're talking about? I'm sure they're all motivated by thinking they're helping people, but come on. Even Democrats are honorably motivated in that sense - but the idea that everything should be regulated, even when federal regulations already seem to be moving in that direction, baffles me.
No surprise here, but Joe Knollenberg has filed his signatures. His press release:
For Immediate Release
April 25, 2008
More than 2,000 petition signatures put Knollenberg on the ballot
Pontiac, MI - Congressman Joe Knollenberg filed for re-election today with more than 2,000 petition signatures from supporters in every corner of the 9th congressional district.
Knollenberg, who represents 22 communities across Oakland County, says he is eager to return to Congress to continue fighting to build a stronger, brighter future for families throughout his district.
"Families in Oakland County are worried about this economy, the job market, and the price of health care," Knollenberg said. "I'm confronting these challenges head on and getting results. I'm confident that by working together, we can build a new Michigan economy with a promise of better lives for our families."
Prior to serving in Congress, Knollenberg built a career as a businessman and community leader in Oakland County. He and his wife of more than 40 years, Sandie, have raised two sons, Marty and Steve.
I'll let the press speak for itself, but I thought it was well-written and funny, at least. Something not commonly found in press releases.
By the way, we publish most press releases (we prefer you enter them yourself as a new diary) as long as they are reasonable and forthright and comply with our site policies.
Last week Ferndale's DDA board voted to ask city council to repeal its ordinances establishing then expanding the Principal Shopping District. If the council approves their request before citizens vote to repeal it August 5, then the DDA and city council can re-establish the PSD (and the taxes certain to accompany it) without needing to get citizen approval.
Rarely does this site do pitches for advertisers, but Ward Connerly's special to us. Yes, I worked for him in the past - but this site is an activist site in addition to providing original investigative news and opinion analysis. And Ward Connerly certainly has relevance to Michigan - even though the battle is currently joined in Missouri. And National Review Online considers Ward's "call to action" news as well, over at the Corner.
At right, I've created a clickable banner ad at the right while the offer lasts. Ward realizes that when he asks people to work they need at least some compensation - even while they are ideologically motivated. Even left-wing petitioners and blockers pay their people - and in Missouri, the blockers are getting heavily paid, or are permanently payrolled union and BAMN thugs. The anti-equality forces are throwing all they can at Ward, and he needs committed individuals to go to Missouri to help him collect signatures. Missouri is a "non-residency" state, so anyone can petition. And Ward's PAYING TRAVEL and you can easily make a thousand or more a week.
Regulations. And other regulations. And regulations that conflict with those regulations.
Clawson is experiencing a faustian choice among which regulations, and which political forces (the mighty senior voter) to accomodate.
The issue - whether to put an extra traffic light on the busy 14 Mile road near a senior senior and strip mall. Politics - and actual practical wisdom since police and others say any crossing of 14 Mile is unsafe unless you walk quite a distance to another intersection - says put the light there so seniors and others can cross more safely and efficiently.
But wait - environmental regulations say that Clawson would have to PAY BACK a $100,000 air quality grant if it "slows" traffic on the 14 Mile corridor because the grant is designed to facilitate traffic flow, and a light would slow it. Clawson took advantage of that grant by reducing the number of signals, so this proposal would both schizophrenically reverse that decision (you do have wonder what planning or thought process was behind that originally) and force a loss of federal money (perhaps we should question why the federal money is being given out with such a stupid string attached, when air quality is better promoted not by sacrificing safety).
The Mayor, Penny Luebs, is committed to making the right political decision (support the seniors), which I think is also the practical decision as well, as a resident who drives the road daily. The whole area has been under reconstruction anyway, and if a light is to be built, and safety a genuine issue, that's the right thing to do and now, during reconstruction of City roads, is the right time.
But that's not all - the Americans with Disabilities Act might yet conflict with all this analysis, and given the grade and geographics of the area, it might not be possible to build an economical crossing that complies with ADA. That would mean no crossing.
What an irony. The ADA could kill the very senior it seeks to protect, by making it harder for government to build any crossing and causing an individual to walk across the street in an unsafe way. Or, our desire to stop global warming could have the same effect.
Numerous senior citizens who live at the Manor, students walking to and from Clawson middle and high schools, and families have complained about not being able to cross the five-lane road since it was reopened following reconstruction in October when the number of signals between Main and Crooks was reduced to one, according to Mayor Penny Luebs. The city received a federal air-quality grant for $100,000 when it reduced the number of signals.
Haberman said the city may have to forfeit the grant if it adds a signal, jeopardizing its ability to compete for grants in the future.
But Luebs said she remains committed to providing a pedestrian crossing, even if it means giving back the $100,000.
Kathy Leenhouts, coordinator of the Clawson Senior Center, said the Clawson Manor is the perfect place for a crossing so seniors can shop at the strip mall on the other side of 14 Mile. But she expressed concern over whether the TIA study would be accurate since the Clawson Police Department warned Manor residents in a letter in October that the only safe and legal place to cross 14 Mile is at an intersection with signalization. Currently, that would be Main, Crooks and Bywood. School officials were sent a similar letter.
Leon Drolet's Michigan Taxpayer's Alliance protest will be held outside Lansing this year. On the steps of the Redford post office from 5-7pm on April 15. That's the frontlines of the Dillon recall battle, where WDIV TV recently caught Dillon staffers "blocking" recall gatherers on government time.
Granholm signed into law a statute allowing a regional authority to ask for a Detroit Zoo tax, according to this C & G story.
While I grant a special love for the zoo, and appreciate the value it offers, I'm not fully convinced the Zoo or local governments have done enough to self-finance or privately finance the zoo. It's not a particularly customer friendly place - its under-utilized in the evening hours (where it might attract more customers and could offer unique types of attractions based on darkness and the amount of parking space surrounding it), and it was horridly managed for many years until current management started doing a reasonable job at it.
Why? Because governments - particularly a corrupt City of Detroit one - ran it.
Tom Gagne, of Ferndale, and I have had a great discussion here on these pages about how to make the Zoo profitable.
I'm going to one up that conversation. Privatize the zoo. Allow investors to come and use their creativity to insure a profit, perhaps under regulated terms or through contract provisions requiring that they not sell it or disband it and use it for other purposes (this would be similar to proposals to "lease" rest area space to private vendors, like Tim Hortons or Starbucks or highest bidder, where you use lessee-contract provisions to ensure 24 hour staffing [wow - imagine how safe the places would become] and certain minimum upkeep provisions).
These are unique combinations of market privatization with reasonable regulation, but, alas, such ideas would put a dent in governmental power bases, so damn the efficiency.
While we're at it, privatizing (but regulating) rest areas would generate at least $5 million in immediate janitorial savings, more in building maintainence, and perhaps $30 million profit-sharing revenue from the leases (on top of any tax gains and the gains from making the tourist experience more desirable). By not leasing to gas stations (like the toll systems, which are the only roads allowed to under federal law because they are private to start with), you would not significantly change the dynamic of the fuel market or irritate that lobby.
On a side note, it appears that the law is written to allow ANY COUNTY to set up a "zoo authority", presumably to avoid Michigan's Constitutional prohibition against bills that only impact one locality. While I think it unlikely that other counties would attempt to use the authorities for a zoo (although I could see something that is called a zoo being created to slide something through), its worth noting.
State lawmakers have approved legislation that will allow counties to set up zoo authorities, which paves the way for the Detroit Zoological Society to begin the process of asking residents of metro Detroit to fund the zoo through a small tax levy.
Since I haven't read the legislation itself, I'm not entirely sure if that's the case, but again, its worth watching.
Former Councilman Dave Lambert, one of the few public officials to regularly blog, has updated his blog. I'm about a month back on it, but I noticed in my hit logs and decided to make the update now. His address is now lambert-blog.com.
He regularly updates people on City of Troy related events and is a useful resource for hyper-local internet information.
The only thing we currently known for certain about the opponent is that he graduated Birmingham Seaholm High School in 2003. Anyone with information is encourage to post it or e-mail us.
In other news affecting the 41st, John Witt has sent a letter to conservative activist local constituents assailing the lack of fiscal conservatism in his Democratic opponent and incumbent Tim Burns. The 3 page letter spends most of its time assailing freshman Commissioner Burns' voting record, but takes a short swipe at the end at Republican primary opponent Mike Bosnic but only with language reference to "my primary opponent".
The theme of Prosecutor Kym Worthy's speech was about as simple as it gets. We learn all the basics about justice in grade school, and the Mayor violated those basic rules and "mocked" the justice system.
One interesting note that I thought struck close to some of my own work - one of the questioners asked Worthy if there was merit to the Mayor's attorneys arguments that the text messages should never have become public in the first placed because of a "Stored Communications Privacy Act".
That sounds an awful lot like the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, a law the University of Michigan cited in my first several FOIA lawsuits in the early and mid-1990s against it when seeking administrator "computer conferences", Regent e-mail, etc.
The law does not prohibit authorized senders or recipients from disclosing such records, or law enforcement under subpoena (meaning tha Worthy's point that SHE obtained them lawfully overrides regardless). Perhaps the Free Press was the beneficiary of an illegal act stemming from a public official leaking them without permission, but even then, the records should never have been concealed in the first place because the public was the original owner of the records and therefore the public, through open records law and the legal process, was an authorized recipient. Indeed, the Mayor has been charged with misuse of public property for personal uses, among the 8 charges against him and 7 against Christine Beatty.
There are a number of other nuances to this story that are interesting.
Worthy is reeling off 12 counts against Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, in what is an excellent speech that honors her office. I dare say she sounds angry, and that is largely because of obstruction of justice claims she asserts her office encountered during the investigation.
For the full scoop, follow our sister-site since its outside Oakland - nonetheless, its a study in government and leadership. Although I enjoy commentary, that's what influences my writing style the most - original news where the MSM can't, won't, or doesn't have time to go.
- Troy Council 2007
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