Correction to this article. Mr. Bisio will serve until the next regular election per City Charter Section 4.22 requirements and that election will occur this November, 2013 not 2014. Mr. Bisio was defeated for this position in 2012 when Roth, Sabol and Eberhardt were elected by garnering greater popular vote. I personally think he was the best qualified candidate in 2012 and the people will have another chance to decide this November where there will be two, two year positions and one position for only a year to fill out the term vacated by Carol Eberhardt and filled by Bisio until that election.
Cory Johnston
May 15, 2013
I would like to thank the Clarkston community for the generousity shown during this years annual letter carrier food drive. While we are still addiing up the totals, I can say for certain it was a huge success. We should have no problem filling the shelves at Lighthouse North. I am, however, greatly disappointed in the Clarkston News for their lack of participation relating to the announcement of the drive. With proper timing, the News was given two articles concerning the drive to pull a statement from and place a helpful and informative article. Instead, such an important event concerning the entire community was granted two sentences next to the obituaries located towards the end of the paper. Many letter carriers were both angry and upset at the lack of consideration given to such a worthy cause. I can only hope that next year the Clarkston News will find it in their heart to provide us with an article equal to the magnitude of the food drive.
If you happened to miss the food drive, you can still drop off non-perishables at both the Clarkston Post Office and/or Lighthouse North, located on Sashabaw Rd.
Thank you residents, Shellie Kent, City Carrier, Clarkston
shellie kent
May 12, 2013
Your "May 8th in History" includes the following item:
1958: President Eisenhower orders the National Guard out of Little Rock as Ernest Green becomes the first black to graduate from an Arkansas public school.
Actually, Ernest Green was the first black to graduate from an *integrated* Arkansas public high school (Little Rock Central High School). Before Green, lots of blacks had graduated from Arkansas public schools, that is, from segregated, all-black public schools. Before Green and other members of the "Little Rock Nine" became the first blacks at Central High School, the only choice for blacks was to attend segregated, black-only schools, which offered narrower and less complex curricula than the all-white schools of the time.
Paul Goebel
May 08, 2013
Teaching as a hobby
I remember my high school geometry teacher. He was a friendly little man who’d walk through problem after problem after problem on a blackboard. His instruction was so intense on most days that he’d have to pat the chalk out of his cloths at the end of class.
Teachers today no longer use chalk. The trouble is a number of them also no longer teach.
This issue is most problematic in math subjects where, ironically, repetition and hands on instruction are needed most.
Over the years, my son has related more stories than I can count of math teachers giving out self or group explorations with no related instruction. He once told me the story of his algebra teacher in 7th grade who only taught one lesson the entire school year…when she was being observed by teachers from the high school. The best (or worst) story occurred this year when on more than one occasion his pre-calculus teacher couldn’t actually solve a problem she was demonstrating to the class.
Is technology making this better? The newest tech savvy teaching trend is this little creature called flipping the lesson, which is a nice idea except everyone does it differently and, in practice, is code for forgetting the lesson.
My educational background is a post graduate degree in mass media, and I have a bachelor’s degree in English and in communications. I’m not a math guy. But the conversation I’ve wanted to have with nearly all of my son’s math teachers at CCS is to ask them to tell me why I couldn’t teach their classes.
Michael Palese
May 03, 2013
The letter in the April 24 edition under the title “City manager search” is an example of uninformed criticism of Clarkston’s city government, apparently motivated by hostility and dislike of anyone who holds political office and a cynical assumption that these folks do whatever they want regardless of the law.
Close review of the language of the city charter, quoted in the letter, shows that the city council did nothing wrong, let alone “illegal.” First, the charter prohibits elected officers from holding an appointed city office. That didn’t happen here. Carol Eberhardt resigned her council seat before becoming city manager. Second, it prohibits a former elected officer from holding a compensated city office for one year after that officer’s term. That did happen here. But there is an exception to this rule. The exception can be “authorized by … five members of the Council.” Before deciding on appointing a city manager, the council voted to authorize this exception. Thus Ms. Eberhardt’s appointment was authorized by the city charter.
The premise of the criticism is that you can’t change a law after the fact and authorize something that was a violation when it happened. But that’s not what happened here. The charter allows the council to invoke an exception to the general rule. The council invoked the exception before it decided who would be appointed city manager. The claim that “the council broke the law the moment they publicly announced they were considering [Eberhardt] for the job” is wrong. The charter doesn’t prohibit considering a council member for appointment. So considering someone for whom a future waiver might be needed is not “illegal.” And ultimately the council can waive the prohibitions by a supermajority vote, which it did.
To characterize the city manager selection process as “shenanigans” belittles those who worked in good faith on this important appointment. The council considered 12 applicants, interviewed five, and heard presentations from the final two. Most of the process (unfortunately not all of it) was done publicly. Anyone could have looked at the applications and had their voice heard at various public meetings. I did that. For example, I suggested (and the council agreed) adding a candidate to the interview schedule. I’m no apologist for all that our council does and I’ve been critical of many things, both while on the council and off. But criticisms should be based in fact. The facts don’t support the criticism here.
Richard Bisio
April 27, 2013
"Atwood"? Is his memory terrible and your reporter is merely quoting him? Does your reporter do any fact-checking? What's the issue here? The street name is "Atwater". It's been there, in the middle of Lake Orion, for many many years. Either response is embarrassing to the attributee.
Steve Watts
April 23, 2013
Does anyone check what neighboring counties are doing? Van Dyke is closed from Ebeling to 34 Mile until November, and those traveling from areas north of Lakeville are having a major thoroughfare cut off. Macomb county paved the detour BEFORE the road was closed, why does Oakland county think it is okay to send high volumes of heavy traffic down dirt roads and destroy them?
Does the price seem a little high? $5.6M to REPAVE 3.5 miles? Does the timeline seem a little slow? 6 months for a REPAVE? A year to finish the landscaping? Is this the norm for other projects in Michigan?
Max Wedge
April 16, 2013
Our home is located within the territory of a wolf pack in the UP. In the April 3rd article about a possible wolf hunt, Mr Bradley described an encounter with a wolf while bear hunting stating, “he was watching me—I'd say he was looking for a free meal”, implying that he felt threatened by the wolf. Although there are many factual accounts of individuals being injured or killed by bears, no one has been harmed by a wolf in Michigan.
Wolves are curious and have an instinctive fear of humans. If he felt the wolf was approaching too closely, a loud shout would have sent the wolf away.
Mr. Bradley was bear baiting. Wolves will eat corn, donuts and other products used as bear bait because this is an easy source of food. Bradley did not say how long it took for him to recover the bear he killed, but a dead bear would be an attractant for a wolf or other carnivores.
Bradley was concerned “There could be 20 more wolves nearby”. He surely allowed his imagination to run wild! The average Michigan wolf pack has 4-5 animals.
There is no scientific evidence to support Bradley’s claim that calves, fawns and bear cub populations are way down “due to the wolf” or that the wolf population has “devastated the elk and deer populations”. I don’t know where he is getting his information but there are no wolf packs within the range of the only wild elk population located in Michigan’s Northern Lower Peninsula and severe weather, not wolves, is the primary killer of U.P. deer.
Bradley stated, "Every mud hole near water or lakeshore or river bank has wolf tracks,” Seeing a lot of tracks does not equate to a high population of wolves. Wolves continually roam within their territory leaving behind numerous tracks. There 658 wolves across the U.P. equating to .05 wolf per sq mile compared to 1 bear per sq mi. There will always be some who want another target to shoot but most hunters understand the role of predators. Perhaps, Bradley should take the time to learn about wolves.
Nancy Warren
April 16, 2013
Re: Charter School
I think it is time to take a step back from the politics that are happening here in the district and actually focus on what matters…our kids and their futures!! I am deeply saddened by the closing of Belle Ann. After years and years of seeing the way the district spends our money I am not completely surprised. I graduated from Brandon and wanted my kids to have the same education I did but now I am not so sure. When I walk the halls of the school, I see teachers who feel defeated due to the situation at hand.
The opening of the charter school would be a great thing and give us as parents another choice I am hoping they get it going soon. I’ve heard nothing but amazing things about charter schools. I think it would be an excellent move for the district to draw in new families who will then continue on to Brandon School for 6th-12th grade. The district should not be worried about losing families to this school as I have spoken to a lot of people who are changing districts without the charter school even being an option.
Why not just give the charter school a chance. Isn’t that what you ask of us to do with your new grade configurations!
Michelle M.
Michelle
April 16, 2013
Crime in Ortonville:
Lately I have started to notice a pattern in the crime section of The Citizen. Looking back at my last five papers, there was 27 reported "crime" cases. Of those 27, 3 included a driving arrest, 2 were reported issues from locally businesses, and 15 were cases reported from within a certain mobile home community. While this is still a very small fraction of the population it does not take long to see where a real issue is. If more than half of our police calls are being sent to a certain population of the community I may feel more encouraged to vote for some "pay as you use" system. It was brought up before of charging for the police call in certain habitual or extreme cases such as DUI arrests. In my reading only 2 cases were DUI related. Where should we actually be focusing on? Remember that there are the respected home owners in that community. Please speak up if you are tired of the few that chose to abuse the system. In many communities a police liaison is a suggested idea for the school district, can we have a police liaison for a certain area of the community? Please suggest your ideas. After all WE the citizens will have to be the ones to correct this systemic problem.
Mr. Silence Dogood
April 14, 2013
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re: Bisio back on council
