Delta County Board of Commissioners Meeting 6/6/2023: 2nd Amendment, Mental Health, "The Girl", Community Engagement and Farts!

As the representation

of the power of women

and the start of the woman's movement.

Society continues to advance generation 

after generation.

Every Girl Pulling For Victory

by Edward Penfield (1866-1925).

For a number of reasons this is an interesting meeting and one can say that a lot was accomplished even though it doesn't necessarily seem intuitive on the surface. First, consider the high level of community engagement and secondly consider how these meetings have become avenues of addressing issues and concerns. Thus, in this case it looks like democracy is functioning fairly well and has become an avenue of change. We may not agree with everyone's perception and perspective but the process requires us to share those perspectives in a community conversation. 

(Notice how as people start asking questions, requesting information, defining problems and begin to ponder solutions. An educated, in terms of awareness, citizenship leads not only to better decision making through wider stakeholder analysis but often better market driven outcomes. Communities like this are communities that will thrive because they are actively engaged  and that fosters good governance. No matter your political interests it is important to encourage people of all different backgrounds and political persuasions to be involved in government. I encourage it precisely for better decision making by making a more accurate market assessment through multiple perceptions. Hyper politics is antithetical to good decision making and we may see a little of that influence. People are the customers. Its not something you can really put into a jingle and get votes but it is what it is. )

Let me say that I believe some of why democracies have been innovative is because they take the creative process and in rough cut form or another put it into a system of feedback loops. The only time this has issues is when the feedback loops are closed down and there is no constant tweaking/adjustments to the needs of people. This occurs when other things take additional consideration beyond the best outcomes of the people. Freedom of speech was brought up many times and there is some benefit in ensuring these channels of community stay open. We must converse to decide things and gain new knowledge.

(Think about this from an alignment perspective such as a functioning organization with ever department working toward some shared goals. This is a general sort of comment about all systems and isn't necessarily related to here. The needs of the people come first and if anything else such as groups, hyper politics, corruption, over focus on the needs of a small group of stakeholders, etc. mitigate that relationship then it would be a net detractor from democracies full functioning. In other words, Freedom of Speech is a absolutely necessity for the system to function well with new ideas, solving problems, and building trust with the public. This is why undisturbed time allotments are given. 3 min.) 

-Public Act 214 Veterans Relief Fund of 1899

AN ACT to provide relief outside of the soldiers' home for honorably discharged indigent soldiers, sailors, marines, nurses and members of women's auxiliaries and the indigent wives, widows and minor children of such indigent or deceased soldiers, sailors, marines, nurses and members of women's auxiliaries, and to repeal certain acts and parts of acts.

-Discussion on bills and some run of the mill stuff.

-Concern over firing of County Admin for questioning integrity of board and the Airport manager for giving a tour of the facility to one of the board member's political opposition. Subject to harassment, looking for dirt and because of the toxic environment she had to resign. Andrea did a fine job and multiple people left the position. Concerned about image and felt as a veteran as a Navy officer for 30 years he sees mediocrity. 

-Person says its important for us to be able to bear arms if our rights being taken away.

-Another supports 2nd Amendment.

-Citing documents, Constitution and a number of other quotes. Discussion of militia. 2nd Amendment has nothing to do with hunting. 

-Someone said they appreciate the commissioners for protecting 2nd Amendment. 

-Resident brought up numerous ideas and concepts as it relates to militias. Its alot so watch min 38.

-Veteran came up and said he thinks the sanctuary isn't a good idea and we should not be worried about the Federal Government and National Guard coming to take our guns. He supports guns but thinks there are more important things for the committee to focus on .

-Veteran and Ex military and retired ex police chief of police deputy (somewhere else). He felt that the gun sanctuary issue is a waste of time and that people have concerns in the community. He is going to stay diligent. Recall effort. 

-Felt would like to see what the boards opinions are on guns. 

{47} American Rescue Plan Act monies. 6.9 million and $ 5 million left and $4 million set aside as well as other costs such as parks, maintenance, etc... Some of the commissioners are hiring the parks manager. Need an airport manager in 90 days. Took over roles in over the airport until someone is hiring.

-One commissioner wants some of the benefits at the top tier to be looked into because it looks like the same contract was used over and over. 

-Bills paid.

-Some rezoning. 

-Commissioner says that county is already of 2nd Amendment friendly officially. The county will not support the Red Flag Laws Public Act 38 2023 recently passed by the State of MI. Long discussion on different regulations, oaths, Constitution, etc. Discussion on mental health and intervention with issues. Further discussion of protections of class. 

(Here are my thoughts. I can see both sides of this argument. On one end there is compelling interest in allowing people to bear arms if they so desire but there are issues when certain types of people misuse guns. Especially true in the case of mass shootings. Creating an all encompassing law that covers all situations is difficult so it will come down in some sense to a judgement call. For one person having guns is not an issue at all and it is safe. Put that same tool in another person and the situation changes. How do you write that easily into a law in which everyone will be happy? Its hard so people will debate this for a while. In the area, there is hunting and other activities so guns are mixed into the lifestyle. There is going to be general support for the 2nd Amendment.)

-Commissioner went on to discuss certain rights and issues. 

-Commissioner discusses masks mandates. Mental health portions should be removed. Felt state isn't doing well with mental health.

-Someone said "fart in the wind!" (I giggled, come on it was sort of funny. 😂. I know I'm immature but I try and find life uplifting. Its the little things that crack me up.)

-2nd Amendment support passes.

-Septic system inspection likely won't be supported. The U.P. has lots of septics so that will not likely be supported.

-One was upset about people talking about things they didn't read. Would like the use of contract lawyers. Concerned about defunding mental health.

-Healthcare worker concern about the use of guns and all the people that have been hurt from them. 

-One person felt that the board deals with a lot flak. She discussed prayer. 

-Concerned citizen submitted information request. Wants Zoom. Indicated the Zoom is used at jail and could be used at county (Good point on perhaps using theirs if purchased by the county. Terms will make a difference. ). Freedom of speech concern.

-Citizen says guns are not the problem but the psychological drugs may be the issue. I think it is also has to do with treatment. 

-Citizen into talked deep on depression. 

-489 signatures, 214 want name removed and others valid. Only 8.9% are valid.  A day late and making some petitions as invalid. Missing publications. 650 people opposed.  (Notice how researching topics leads to more knowledge and possible new solutions. That doesn't mean she is or is not accurate because one should check for themselves, but that she appears on the surface to be knowledgeable and found a few key points that could be valid.)

-Concerned about board members wearing and intimidation, feels officers are over used when people talk, and feels there is some general dishonesty on the board. Concerned board is taking care of themselves and others. 

-Concerns a $470+k missing. On agenda to address financial concerns. Working with accountant. June 20th board meeting. 

-Resident likes new administrator and supports her. Doesn't like the bullying (Let's not be mean cats. Be nice to each other and address your concerns in a transparent way because it leads to longer term resolutions.

-2.40 Prior airport manager. A series of people coming up for the whole statement. An issue with a public comment a security breach at the airport that, according to the speaker, ended up being an issue of someone touring the airport from another political side (I think I understand this). All these people all the way over to TSA and FBI were involved. (Yikes! 😬 ). Concerned about some behaviors and you can watch them. Other officials were not called out. Felt is was a sex discrimination issue with "The girl" comment. Harassment claim without merit. 

-Arguments against decision making and new administration. Felt current hiring is based on not the most qualified person. Stress and anxiety have risen. 

-Doesn't respect leadership and can't work within it. 

-Likes the good work the board has done and felt he wants the Sheriff to sign off /support on boards proposal. 

-Concerned about deviations during COVID from state mandate. "Its not mean Michigan watching us!" (Just fyi Michigan's state animal is the deer and I kind of thought Wisconsin would be a cow for cheese but apparently its not. Deer vs. Cow). A rumor that zoom has nothing to do with cost but about someone wanting to attend a meeting with an ankle bracelet. 

-The person with the ankle bracelet indicated that the judge let him go to the meeting. He said he has ancle bracelet for 1st Amendment Rights. 

-Resident things the board came a long way in addressing freedom of speech issues since the beginning. 

-Commissioner addressed one of the concerns indicating separate entities. Further stated its unfair people are being mean to the new administrator. 

-Commissioner is for zoom. Has contacts with Congressman Jack Bergman's (R) office and Senator Debbie Stabenow (D) and working on good things with community. Helps with answers. New company Saunders Point Brewery coming to Gladstone.

-Commissioner stated two promotions in Sheriffs officer (Congrats!! Good job!).

-Admin discusses zoom. FOIA on zoom costs.

-Comm states he went to airport and didn't want to undermine anyone.  Concerned about getting bigger plans. Felt he might have made wrong comment because he knew the person for a long time but didn't mean anything negative by it. He said he is sorry to see her leave.

(One might consider a content analysis of all of the meetings to find similar strains, themes, and data points. This is sort of how you review ongoing community development in the big data world. It not only sometimes discovers issues, as a broad comment, but also finds similar themes. Technically one could break all these down and code all of the important comments and themes to sort of create a benchmark of what issues are important to people, where they are in terms of solving those issues, and where there are gaps of information that lead to incorrect choices. It is used in social media analysis for marketing all the time. You can learn about Marketing Content Analysis in an example A Content Analysis: Examining Facebook Comments on News Media Posts For Echo Chambers Media Posts For Echo Chambers .)

"Civilization is not a burden. It is an opportunity." Alexander Meiklejohn

Senate Republicans Bring Forward Student Loan Plan

According to this article there is a new GOP plan to cover student loan debt. I make no judgements but only bring it up for your understanding. One would have to look at any proposal fairly closely to understand how each will work in theory and as applied. 

This appears to be the GOP's and the other in debate/play is the student loan forgiveness by the Democrats (In court). 

Anyway, the first article discusses the details of the plan and the second is what is currently in place on the website. 

Senate Republicans introduce plan to tackle student loan debt

I'm not the expert on this stuff so you just need to read about things on your own. 

Federal Student Repayment Plan Info

Not Much Matters Outside of the Clan: Community Begins to Understand

I'm not going to spend a lot of time this morning as I have a few things I need to accomplish today. First, let me say that challenging embedded corruption is not easy. In such systems they close themselves off from outside oversight and from outside perspectives which allows them to continue down their path. When this happens they become unchanged systems and if they feel  pressure they rally their wagons but they don't come to grasp their greater purpose. 

We should sort of expect some of that behavior when homogenous clan based behaviors are a social driver to free passes for behaviors that would normally be considered federal and international violations. They just are not in this case yet because of lack of knowledge, lack of values, and common lip service to their oaths. Not everyone is going to do the right thing and most are going to play with its subjectivity.

I heard a little more information recently that supports the belief that intentional maliciousness, mental health, and self enrichment were at center of primer issue (The others associated with the group joined in to help them punish the minorities in their community. It looks like a learned pattern over years of circumventing rights.). Likewise, It also supports the idea that elderly and sick were taken advantage in more than one case to help the perpetrators advantage themselves (If true, its immoral but we really shouldn't worry about that much in a closed system. These things don't matter here like they might in other places. i.e. simple questions like how sick, what information was given to, what wealth was taken, are not asked, etc...they are just sort of swept under the carpet. ). 

All of this could be true or it could lead to an additional explanation. It see it based on actual repeated occurrences more likely to be true then untrue (74% true in a criminal form). I don't like to think in definitive terms. When we sort of drill down into the nitty gritty details we often find that there is not only much more but some variability on the initial issues (That is why impartiality is important and one shouldn't just ask the people who caused the problem to be the one's to investigate the problem.)

If you understood the personalities involved you would also understand how this is possible and how they can easily use their social networks to attack and target others (i.e. flying monkeys who have no clue why they are hating on other people.). I think if you asked most people to step back and ponder the possibilities based on the casual awareness of the parties involved you could see that toxic mix. 

Instead of spending more time this morning on this issue let me say that that personality led to an increase in targeting of children, lack of oversite, and multi department coordination to clean the "problem" out of the community. Problem being  see as anyone who disagrees with bad behaviors and anyone who is 1.) not part of the clan, 2.) not of a race or religion this clan can accept, and 3.) drawing boundaries that reflect negatively on the clan.

These behaviors got dangerous and they will likely will get dangerous again (The dangers of repeated free passes.). Minorities, constituting a growing 60% of society, sort of know how this works and how quickly in history the professed moral beliefs of good old boy networks typically fall to the wayside under historical scrutiny (In other words, most of us know its hate based except the people involved in it or have some vested interest in support it.).  

The only thing I'm going to say that really is noteworthy is that I'm very impressed by how people have responded in a positive way even after the hate narrative made its way throughout the community. I think the community is becoming increasingly aware of what happened and how immoral it was and how immoral the free pass system is on a root level. They have provided a level of moral support through their kindness which continues to show me that its a smaller then initially thought group (I can be wrong and people can swing back toward moral conscious. If we could get some of the officials to do that we could put the entire system on a healthier path. I mean, assuming it has any value to anyone.). I think people are increasingly aware of the community complaints that go unchecked, unvetted, and often ignored (If there is a clan that protects its own then it makes sense. No one outside that group is going to matter much when push comes to shove.)

Today is a day that comes with many mixed blessings. If you are a target of hate, take some small token of consideration that there are people out there, millions of people, who may have experienced the same thing. We just haven't found the solution yet. Let us keep our prayers lifted to the heavens and our eyes open to what is in front of us.

Federal Reserve Holds Key Rate at 5%

The Federal Reserve decided to not raise interest rates and that is based in many ways on a mixed market. You can watch the whole video below. A couple of interesting articles. One is a news piece so you can see what is happening and the other an explanation of what the Federal Reserve does.

A solid explanation 'Federal Reserve holds key rate at 5% as it evaluates state of the economy following lower inflation reading' 

The monetary policy and credit is managed by the Federal Reserve. You can read about that in 'The Fed Explained: What the Central Bank Does'

How Challenging Can Improve Clan Based Justice Systems

 Protecting oneself is not going to be easy in places that embrace clan applied laws. Normally, you might have a few officers that may go rogue and when discovered they are held to account. In clan systems, the entire system focuses on helping their members even when major federal violations occur. Its one of those situations where the interconnected nature, dominated by a few influencers, suspicion of those who are different, leads to poor choices, decisions and in turn outcomes.

While I can't say every member of local law enforcement is this way, I believe you could probably ask any one of them if they are aware of some rumors related to ethnic cleansing of crazy Muslims out of their area and they would probably nod something affirmative (I'm a light right Republican but there appears to be an indication that far right extremists are influencing the local system in direct challenge to state, federal, and international law.)

When political, religious, ethnic, social and ultra-nationalist underpinnings influence decisions through the entire system all the way to the top of that system then we have bigger issues to contend with. Such clan based systems often rely on the same people within their vicinity/influence to investigate issues they were directly involved in and who are a central cause of the problem (i.e. vested interest and bias).

Two layers of leadership in one department and unfortunately another got snagged. More or less I believe the latter was unsure of how to handle these issues based on uniqueness and not maliciousness ( At least I don't see it that way yet. In this hypothetical and impossible situation, it would appear only one department didn't contribute a member to the cleansing cause. As we flip the pages of this obvious fantasy we may come to find out I may be wrong about that as well. By my nature, I give people the benefit of the doubt but only so long as I can reasonably believe an innocent/ignorant action occurred without intentional maliciousness.)

I'm for the most part a nobody, but when I see people given immunity for grotesque behaviors I become increasingly concerned these local systems can't hold "their own" to account and that puts everyone at risk. I grew up knowing if you want to do the right thing you will, if you want to accomplish something you will, if you see wrong doing and don't challenge it you are part of the problem. Well, we got a problem and I hope that this is a learning situation (These people are right they have taught me "lessons" and I would like to share what I learned with others. I mean at least until I get pulled over on a dark country road or someone else gets upset because someone tells them "no" and engages in a backroom conversation of how to teach more "lessons")

Default creates a major moral dilemma that can't be easily sidestepped or whisked away.  Targeting kids, spreading dangerous rumors, free passing hate, allowing financial crimes to occur, taking advantage of the sick, ignoring community complaints, and using local justice as a clan enforcement extremist leaning tool are wrong things on so many levels (Assuming in this situation all of that is true which we know could never, ever happen. Another hypothetical argument might be to give them wiggle room to deal with their issues with the full knowledge the hammer is coming. People wield this hammer all over the places in struggling democracies but it would be nice to have it hit the nail on the head every once in a while to remind people of their greater duties. It would be one way to encourage more motivation to have a 'moral conscious'. Just saying it might work. i.e. asking them to turn in corruption even though they have weak internal controls didn't seem to work. So in this accountability model one would have to then get increasingly more focused. Remember, corruption typically wins because they have used intimidation tactics and dishonesty to silence various concerns.). That is not how they see it of course. To them, I suspect they think me and people like me to be the problem. To me, when you misuse the law and mock our liberties because of racial, religious, and clan based affiliation I smack the liberty bell to warn others of local democracy struggling to maintain a healthy course.

If these officers ask why they are involved my answer is ,"You got yourself involved when you torched our Bill of Rights to help your friends". Other then those who are not part of this clan, I have the greatest respect for good cops and help them when I can and it seems prudent to do so (Remember that unless we have an alternative systems that functions policing is necessary and it is an honorable profession where we want young, bright, diverse, moral minds engaging in to help their people and their country. Good cops are welcome and bad cops must be muzzled.)  Right now, I'm helping those who went down a dark hole in a way it would be immoral for me not to challenge (I swore an oath to these things and I have sworn other oaths to the powers above. See I'm a conservative who believes in our country. My history also shows I'm a loyalist through thick and thin. That doesn't extend to being silent when we need correction.)

What is an American? They call me the bitch and yell that in front of my kids and then involved them in a harmful way. They say that when they misuse their friends in local law enforcement to engage in multi coordinated incidents over a 4 year period of time that would have cleansed anyone. Looks like they been doing this to people for sometime and they were good at it (Bravo you getting yourself busted!). 

I understand they were passing out immunities to their friends like candy. Justice shouldn't be a candy store for those obese on their own entitlement. Let us put some healthy fruit and vegetables into this one nugget diet that starves the greater body of nutritional need. Perhaps a little exercise would also help (Oh, I also have a fitness training license I would like to use more so if you need help please let me know. I like to run too something and not away from something if that helps put my fitness plan into perspective. 💁)

How does one protect themselves when clan based systems go crazy...."Do what is right! You don't need to be a perfect person to do that, you don't need a badge, you don't need to be an authority. You can make a dent in the darkness; whatever that darkness is. Just have good intention and do what is in the best interest of our society. Be positive, polite, say the truth and challenge shortsightedness and corruption for the benefit of everyone. Its difficult to put into a sound bite and sell politically but we can always hope more enlightened minds to come forward." (Kind of an interesting article on judges in society )

Do I expect to win or have essential and universal justice? I don't care if I do or I don't. What I care about is making sure it never happens again to anyone and the simple challenge alone makes the statement that our nation and its people will be free no matter how many capitols are sacked or how many local justice systems default. There will always be someone out there who will politely, positively, and with best interest of everyone in mind hold their stated boundaries no matter how many people line up to enforce their unwritten clan rules. Win or lose isn't really the ultimate outcome or factored much into the equation (Check your assumptions. Friends help you see what you can't see.). 

The Interesting Nature of Clan Based Toxic Dysfunction (The Know No Better Process)

 We are a social people and we develop and learn from each other. For the most part that is a good thing and that has led to the development of society. As the world develops and grows we no longer live within isolated communities and those communities that are isolated often start falling behind. With exposure comes new ideas, thoughts, people, and ways of looking at the world. Not everyone is going to agree with those environmental changes, not everyone is going to want to change, and when we mix that with bigotries and mental health we might find Clan Based Toxic Dysfunction rising (I'm going to use the acronym CBTD. CBTD looks official but its just letters because I don't want to write it out.)

CBTD is caused by lots of factors but from my experience it looks like it has a mixture of toxic personalities, bigotries, isolated homogenous groups, and poor values among some officials who view taxpayer positions as extension of these networks (Kind of a problem in this situation.). In other words, the flavor, nature, beliefs, cultural outlook, ethnicity/background, lifestyle, etc. become all encompassing to the point where there is a distortion of world perception and the value of others outside of the group (i.e. the "other" as developed through social anxiety of others).

Such groups seem to grow in environments where certain personalities dominate long socialized groups to poor behaviors and perceptions. Some of their behaviors are fear driven and its relatively easy for a toxic souls to rally them to some perceived social cause (It's funny because its a little like when a person has low self esteem and puts oneself above others even though they have little/no justification when you compare actual apples to apples. It looked likes this happened on a group level.)

It is that domination of others through manipulation that leads to all types of problems that are hard to manage when they morph (Something the initiators desired and they knew they were immune from it.). It appears the same distorted viewpoint of the world may have come from a line of thinking about themselves within their tight networks fostered since childhood (i.e. it could be any long socialized group. In this hypothetical case more or less related to sports playing) and in turn throwing in a dominant toxic personality, mental health, financial gain, and the right kind of target one begins to find the moral social order going out the window. 

This is where appropriate backstops come into play. If there are no backstops, it potentially leaves the victims/targets of CBTD isolated where they must fend for themselves (Why we have oaths to help keep officials on the right path.). Remember this backstop issue not only lacking but also moving down a dark path of clan support. Keep it in mind that as we learn from this situation we become more aware of how to avoid such group aggressions and inappropriate use of official positions to support those poor behaviors in the future. We can talk about that more later.

The last sort of two ideas I want to leave you with is the moral code that is supported for emulation when aggression and crimes are rewarded financially and socially. Likewise, one could think about the encouragement of future coordinated behaviors and how that stemmed from not addressing some of the mental health signs early of dark triad manipulative behaviors that became apparent in an environment where racial and religious anchored rumor spreading may have followed years of prior rumor spreading pathways (In other words, I think this group was very good at and accustomed to spreading dark rumors about others in the community to damage people. Some might even be unaware that some cultures believe that if you spread negative information knowing that it is unlikely to be true it is a type of defamation, moral crime, and shows the mindset of those who do it as simple.  Inner group surrounded by easily manipulated wider group. )

The whole this is a sad affair but it can't be left to its own devices because there was general failure across the board leading to a need of some level of addressing and oversite. 

Hate-Motivated Behavior: Impacts, Risk Factors, And Interventions

Fire and Ice Firefighter Tribute: Why they do it?

This is a great firefighting video that takes a very unique and historical approach that discusses why firefighters engage in the world around them and put themselves at risk. In our area we rely on the firefighters a lot. One department trains all the time, every week, and is attracting interest as a local model. This volunteer firefighting station is one of be best units in the area and everyone contributes. Men and women are both involved (In the old days, it was primarily a male occupation) 

If you feel like joining the cause, donating, or contributing in some way reach out to your local firefighting station. 

I encourage our young people to make their mark on this world. While volunteering as a community seems something that our grandparents did when communities had little resources, it is increasingly important today where resources are stretched. We have global warming, purpose dilution, and other issues that need new ideas and young physical abilities. We want the youth to get involved in the building of our nation and of our communities. 

We do that best when we are all focused on the same goal.