Does the Menominee City Council Have Ethics and Guts?

After rather more hemming and hawing than is necessary, the Menominee County Board finally registered its opposition to the Back Forty Mine.

It was a nail-bitingly close 5-4 vote. Read more here.

Predictably, Chairman Charlie Meintz voted against the strongly-worded resolution, saying it wasn't the board's place to voice opposition to the mine.

Fortunately, Bernie Lang, always a leader, plus four others - Steve Gromala, Larry Phelps, Larry Schei and William Tech demonstrated courage, ethics and common sense while Creeping Charlie and his cronies (John Nelson, Gerald Piche and Jan Hafeman) did not.

Time to look for some better candidates, county residents.

Meanwhile, the Menominee City Council is doing its best to ignore the matter. Mayor Jean Stegeman is reportedly opposed to the mine, but her position is essentially honorary and carries no real clout, something most people either don't realize or just plain ignore.

Menominee's city council includes some good people, but so far they've been a disappointment.

Menominee taxpayers and voters should push for a decision.



Edited to add: The Mayor is considered a voting member of the city council and would presumably vote in favor of opposing the mine.

Taking a Stand

The cities of Marinette and Peshtigo, and the counties of Marinette, Brown and Door have taken a stand against the Back Forty Project, Aquila Resource's open-pit sulfide mine that many believe will end the quality of life here by polluting our water supply.

I'm not a mining expert. I avoided science courses as best I could in college, a decision I now regret. But like most people I know, I suspect the Back Forty Project will hardly leave our area pristine and untouched. More likely it will turn us into Flint, Michigan.

I hope I'm wrong, because the mine will probably come to fruition. Sadly, taxpayer opinions don't seem to matter with the state of Michigan, which controls the permitting process.

And increasingly, they are not mattering across the entire country. We live in sorry times.

Here is a good explanation of what the mine project could mean for our community.

Here is the opinion of a former mayor. Smart, savvy and unafraid to speak out, Doug Oitzinger is the only former elected official with the guts to take a stand on this issue.

(It appears Menominee Mayor Jean Stegeman, poised to leave her part-time job to direct the Tri City Area United Way, is also opposed to the mine.

Fortunately, we have other elected officials not in top leadership roles who have proven their integrity by standing against the mine.)

Here's the opinion of Al Gedicks, a UW System emeritus professor and executive secretary of the Wisconsin Resources Protection Council, or WRPC.

The Menominee County Board seems headed for some sort of resolution, regardless of Chairman Charlie Meintz's silly statement about the state withholding funds if Menominee takes a stand against the project. (Meintz always seems to operate as a shill for someone else. I sat across from him for 18 months on the airport commission: He's the King of Bizarre Excuses.)

Assuming Menominee County mans up and takes a stand in the next week, that leaves the city of Menominee. We cannot predict how the city council will vote, but we won't know until the council actually addresses the matter.

The council meets the third Monday of the month at 6 p.m. at the Municipal Complex on 10th Street; the next meeting is Aug. 21.

If an anti-mine resolution is not on the agenda, the second public comment period at the end of the meeting will give mine opponents a chance to speak out. They have been diligent and relentless in their efforts to date. I know they will continue. So will those who support the mine.

Let's see the Menominee City Council take a stand one way or the other. Area residents deserve to know what their elected representatives think.

If elected officials don't put the greater good of the community first, they must be replaced.