Destruction of the Earth in Berrien

Readers keep in mind that all of the organizations mentioned in this article are "arms" of Whirlpool Corporation.

To a certain extent, this includes the Benton Harbor city commission.

Rep. Fred Upton is heir to the Whirlpool fortune.

Please consider boycotting Whirlpool and all of it's subsidiaries. This invasive, permanent attack on some of the most gorgeous land in Michigan is beyond disturbing. Please see the two photos. Primary motivation for this action against the earth is golf-playing for Rep. Fred Upton, Whirlpool execs., county judges and attorneys, etc etc and their cronies.


BENTON HARBOR
Much to say about Harbor Shores
Public comment period ends with 300 written responses, a representative of the city manager says

By KEVIN ALLEN

Herald-Palladium Business Writer
Now that the public com­ment period for Harbor Shores is closed, the next step for the controversial development plan rests with Benton Har­bor. The six-week comment pe­riod ended Saturday. A repre­sentative of Benton Harbor City Manager Richard Marsh said some 300 written com­ments were received by the city. Marsh did not return calls asking for comment. The controversy surround­ing the Harbor Shores plan – and the need for the public comment period – centers on Jean Klock Park.

The proposal calls for leas­ing 22 acres of the 73-acre park for three holes of an 18 ­hole Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course, the centerpiece of the $430 million project. Developers have proposed adding more than 40 acres to the park system throughout Benton Harbor as mitigation and will pay for maintenance at the park. The city must respond
to any substantial new facts that surface in citizens’ comments, said Wendy Dant Chesser, president and CEO of
Corner­stone Alliance. Cornerstone is one of three nonprofit orga­nizations organizing the Har­bor Shores development.
If the city commission does not find anything that needs more investigation, it will send the matter to the Michi­gan
Department of Natural Resources, which will submit its findings to the National Park Service for consider­ation.
Those opposing the park conversion have said a golf course is not an appropriate use of public land and that the
economic benefits of the de­velopment will not benefit the city’s poor.
Harbor Shores supporters say the project will pay to re­vitalize the park and will drive an economic rebirth in the area,
with new jobs, homes and hotels to go along with the golf course. The NPS can reject the plan and did so last year, in part because there was no official public comment period.



The Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course, the linchpin of the Harbor Shores
development, is under construction. The road on the left is North Shore
Drive, and the Paw Paw River is at the top.

“From Harbor Shores’ per­spective, the ball is pretty much in the city of Benton Harbor’s court,” Chesser said. She
expects the City Com­mission to decide next week whether to send the matter on to the DNR. The commission is
sched­uled to meet Tuesday instead of Monday next week because of the Memorial Day holiday. Chesser said she
was not aware of any regulated time frame during which the NPS needs to respond. But she noted that the agency is
al­ready familiar with the proj­ect. “I feel pretty good that they’ll be able to turn this around expeditiously,” she said.
Harbor Shores is a coopera­tive effort of three nonprofit organizations – Cornerstone Alliance, the Alliance for
World-Class Communities and the Whirlpool Founda­tion – and the cities of St. Jo­seph and Benton Harbor, Benton
Township, Berrien County and the state. The project is designed to encom­pass 530 acres in Benton Har­bor,
St. Joseph and Benton Township. Contact Kevin Allen at kallen@TheH-P.com.

Read more!

Judge Butzbaugh in Implicated

Court Hearing, March 17, Berrien County

On St. Patrick's Day, '08, Judge Butzbaugh heard the motion to remove the entire Berrien County Judiciary from the Rev. Pinkney case. This hearing was important for not only what was said, but what was not said, but known.

What was not said, but known is quite damaging to both the honorable judge and possibly many within the Judiciary system in Berrien County. The Reverend Pinkney was sentenced for his actions in a recall election that he initiated to save Jean Klock Park from developers. One of the major developers of the area is Ship Street Realty, which was merged with the professional corporation of Butzbaugh and Ryan on March 9, 2006 after the Pinkney conviction. Back in 2004, took the name Law & Title Realty, LLC taking the assumed name of Counselors-Ship Street Realty. The word "counselors" assumes that the ownership is by members of the legal profession. Why is the defense attorney worried about getting a fair hearing in Berrien County? That certainly may be one of the answers.

Benton Harbor Jean Klock Park Public Comments Meeting 4/17

Testimony hinged largely around the fact that the donor of this park, Mr. Klock, had made this gift to the City of Benton Harbor in memory of his daughter who had died at a very young age. It was in her memory that the park be used by the children of Benton Harbor, not to be turned into a golf course for the wealthy. If this happens in Benton Harbor, it will set a precedent that could affect every public park in our state. Do the wealthy and powerful have a right to steal from the citizens of this state? The voice of people needs to be heard, or one day every one of us will wake up some day and find our lives completely shattered by the powerful few.

For 3 revealing videos, one of Butzbaugh on the bench, go to http://wmnc.biz/News.htm

Read more!

A Must Read if you care about democracy

Since we're on the topic of media, a seminal book on the topic is The New Media Monopoly
by Ben Bagdikian. The following description from benbagdikian.net applies to all areas in the US including Berrien County:

The New Media Monopoly describes the cartel of five giant media conglomerates who now control the media on which a majority of Americans say they most rely. These five are not just large — though they are all among the 325 largest corporations in the world — they are unique among all huge corporations: they are a major factor in changing the politics of the United States and they condition the social values of children and adults alike.

These five huge corporations — Time Warner, Disney, Murdoch's News Corporation, Bertelsmann of Germany, and Viacom (formerly CBS) — own most of the newspapers, magazines, books, radio and TV stations, and movie studios of the United States.

These Big Five (with General Electric's NBC a close sixth) do not manufacture automobiles, or clothing, or nuts and bolts. They manufacture politics and social values. The media conglomerates have been a major force in creating conservative and far right politics in the country. They have almost single-handedly as a group, in their radio and television dominance, produced a coarse and vulgar culture that celebrates the most demeaning characteristics in the human psyche — greed, deceit, and cheating as a legitimate way to win (as in the various "reality" shows).

It is not just national economics that is at stake — though their power has led to the government's somnolence of anti-trust action. Nor is it just the neglect of broadcast media giantism by the government agencies that by law are still required to operate "in the public interest." The public interest is to have the country's largest broadcasting system in the world provide diversity in news, opinion, and commentary that serves all Americans, right, left, and independent, as well as access to their local stations as well as true choices in national programs.

What is at stake is American democracy itself. A country without all the significant news, points of view, and information its citizens need to be informed voters is risking the loss of democratic rights. Voters without genuine choices and without the information they need to choose what meets their own needs and wishes has produced something alarming: on Election Day our voters are forced to vote for what is the narrowest political choices among all industrial democracies of the world.

Read more!

Another Benton Spirit Letter to Editor

Spreading Misinformation Makes Me Angry

bentonspiritnews.com
To read entire letter, click on "Harbor Shores", then the Letter to Editor section

There’s not much else that makes me angry than the spreading of misinformation. Specifically, the recent letter to the editor where the author claimed that the “original” Friends of Jean Klock Park were a group of Higman Park residents trying to prevent the housing development at the north end of the beach and that the current group of people fighting to save the park were not part of the “original” group. For the record, there were 6 plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

One lives on Higman Park.

Other plaintiffs incorporated (Friends of Jean Klock Park) and are still trying to save the park. The ensuing Settlement Agreement that was reached not only prevented further development of Jean Klock Park, but also the sale of any part of the park. The City of Benton Harbor has blatantly ignored and violated this agreement by approving a 105-year lease of most of the park to Harbor Shores. A lease of this duration does constitute a sale and the City is breaking their word and the law.

Another huge piece of misinformation is the claim that Harbor Shores will bring new jobs to the area. Already one hotel and the water park have backed out of the deal. What sort of jobs does that leave? Seasonal, minimum wage at best. Another golf course is not the answer...

...All the City has to do is clean off the roads like they promised in 2004 and open it up to the public. They could have easily done that instead of spending money to send the entire city council to Las Vegas for a week. Instead of selling out to big business, the City should get another grant and restore the beach the way the public obviously wants to see it and also keep their word to open up the boulevard. That means the entire boulevard, not just the middle portion. Recent public opinion is for the restoration of Jean Klock Park, not the golf course.

I grew up in an era when Jean Klock Park was the absolute best beach in Southwest Michigan. If they (BH) give up control of this priceless piece of property, they will be making a huge mistake not to mention violating the Consent Judgment which states “The Court permanently enjoins the City from using any portion of the property depicted as Jean Klock Park in Exhibit C to this Consent Judgment for any purpose other than bathing beach, park purposes, or other public purposes related to bathing beach or park use…”

Read more!

Letter to Editor of the Benton Spirit

The following is a section of a letter from 4/23/08 entitled What Constitutes Progress in Berrien County

bentonspiritnews.com
To read entire letter, click "Harbor Shores", then the Letters to the Editor section.

...So, it is with great dismay that I have witnessed St. Joseph and Stevensville residents recently talking about why it is beneficial to all of them for the Harbor Shores development to take over 22.11 acres of Benton Harbor’s Jean Klock Park to be used for an unaffordable golf course in a county saturated with golf courses. And, I cannot understand why it is okay for the St. Joseph and Stevensville communities to have their beachfront parks in their entirety, but it is not the same right of the Benton Harbor residents to keep the gift of Jean Klock Park in its entirety as it was given. Why is it okay for them to sacrifice a portion of their park so those citizens in St. Joseph and Stevensville can continue to get rich off of the backs of the poor?

The excuse of the lack of the City of Benton Harbor’s financial ability to maintain Jean Klock Park was cited.

However, we cannot understand where the park revenues have been going. We know that the park rental fees, previous and future grants would definitely cover maintaining the park. So, was the declining appearance by design? Whose design? If they allowed the park to look rundown, would it be easier to sell the idea of relinquishing part of the park for more motives of greed? And, if they allowed the ridiculous under appraisal of the land, that would certainly justify the lease agreement for the promise of questionable benefit, right? As far as the current illegal driving on the beach and dunes at Jean Klock Park, if that cannot be successfully monitored and patrolled now, how will it be controlled once Harbor Shores is in charge? If those drivers suddenly stop their destruction, that raises other dubious motivations.

The Native American civilizations managed to live in North America for thousands of years valuing the land. Those cultures believed in using no more than they needed, cherishing all with which they resided and returning the environment as they encountered it so that it would continue to thrive as they had found it. For thousands of years, the land, water and air remained beautiful, clean and cherished.

Then the European explorers and settlers arrived. In a few hundred years their legacy, which continues today, has steadily worked to destroy the environment—all in the name of “progress”! Through greed, wasteful and exploitative hunting, excessive use and waste of natural resources while going for bigger and better machines, buildings, etc., we have managed to over-develop and pollute the land, water and air of our great continent and contributed to the over-development and pollution of the earth.....

Read more!

Township planning to build its own water system

Read between lines in this revealing article from the Whirlpool company paper.
This is the beginning of the article - good luck finding the rest on their site.

BENTON TWP. 5/7/08
Board’s resolution says reliability of Benton Harbor system is in doubt
By SCOTT AIKEN and JULIE SWIDWA Herald Palladium
BENTON TOWNSHIP — Concerns about the reliability and capacity of Benton Har­bor’s water system have prompted Benton Township officials to begin planning the construction of a new wa­ter plant and distribution sys­tem.
The township board took an initial step in the process Friday by approving a reso­lution asking Berrien County for an easement through Rocky Gap Park to build an intake pipe to draw water from Lake Michigan.
The county board is ex­pected to consider the request in the next week or two.
Benton Harbor supplies water to about 20,700 cus­tomers, according to a state report. They include 11,218 in the city, 6,700 in Benton Township, 2,700 in the Fair­plain section of St. Joseph Township, and 78 in Hagar Township.
In taking action to break from Benton Harbor and build a separate water sys­tem, the Benton Township Board said in its resolution that a recent state survey “raised serious concerns” about the city’s ability to reli­ably provide water. Greg Ali­menti, director of utility ser­vices, said the city has developed a plan to fix the problems and address needs far into the future.
The survey conducted by the Department of Environ­mental Quality listed numer­ous system deficiencies found by inspectors and said the water plant no longer has the capacity to meet peak summer use. The survey of the water system listed 30 ar­eas of deficiency, including nine violations of the Michi­gan Safe Drinking Water Act. It recommended 20 improve­ments.
The City Commission is seeking $14.5 million in loans to fix or replace equip­ment, including filters and water clarifiers, to install an emergency generator and correct other problems. Al­though the city’s water treat­ment plant is rated at 12 mil­lion gallons per day because four filters are out of service, the capacity is limited to 8 million gpd, the DEQ found.

Read more!

Harbor Shores: The Rich Get Richer

Sam Thomas of Ann Arbor is another wealthy corporate developer looking to cash in on the Harbor Shores humanitarian and environmental disaster of monumental proportion. On Feb. 28, 08 he applied for permission to build residential property on Lake Michigan just north of the planned Harbor Shores development. He owns Star Development & Financial Corporation. Also, Sam Thomas owns many low income rental buildings in Benton Harbor.

http://www.deq.state.mi.us/lwmpnh/ciwpissubscriberslist.asp?enddate=2%2F29%2F2008

(Sam Thomas, Star Develolpment & Financial Corp., 1900 West Liberty, Ann Arbor, MI 48103)

* * *

Dorothy Pinkney reports that Berrien County jail visitors are not permitted to give anything to the front desk. Upon arrival visitors face a dark glass which they are viewed through. During a recent visit Mrs. P. rang the service bell 3 times and was finally dismissed by an intimidating voice saying, "We're busy." She traveled to the jail and was unable to have $2.90 deposited into Rev. Pinkney's account.

* * *

New Style of Policing in America

http://www.peoplestribune.org/PT.2008.04/PT.2008.04.12.html#NewStyle

A new “military-corporate” paramilitary style of policing has been introduced in American society. As automation eliminates jobs permanently, workers find themselves homeless, denied access to health care, and education and other necessities. The state is responding by reorganizing itself as an unrestrained apparatus of force to control the poor who are considered potentially explosive and must be held in check.
While most sharply and unjustly targeting minority communities, police state tactics are becoming common wherever the poor are found, particularly against homeless populations of all colors. As the jails and prisons become harsher hellholes of terror, and as indigent prisoners are routinely denied due process, conditions are in place for the sacrifice of democracy itself.
These conditions are being instituted by and for the corporations. Corporate interests are taking precedence over the interests of society as a whole. Any social program that interferes with the making of maximum profit is being eliminated....

Read more!

Destruction of the Earth in Berrien

Readers keep in mind that all of the organizations mentioned in this article are "arms" of Whirlpool Corporation.

To a certain extent, this includes the Benton Harbor city commission.

Rep. Fred Upton is heir to the Whirlpool fortune.

Please consider boycotting Whirlpool and all of it's subsidiaries. This invasive, permanent attack on some of the most gorgeous land in Michigan is beyond disturbing. Please see the two photos. Primary motivation for this action against the earth is golf-playing for Rep. Fred Upton, Whirlpool execs., county judges and attorneys, etc etc and their cronies.


BENTON HARBOR
Much to say about Harbor Shores
Public comment period ends with 300 written responses, a representative of the city manager says

By KEVIN ALLEN

Herald-Palladium Business Writer
Now that the public com­ment period for Harbor Shores is closed, the next step for the controversial development plan rests with Benton Har­bor. The six-week comment pe­riod ended Saturday. A repre­sentative of Benton Harbor City Manager Richard Marsh said some 300 written com­ments were received by the city. Marsh did not return calls asking for comment. The controversy surround­ing the Harbor Shores plan – and the need for the public comment period – centers on Jean Klock Park.

The proposal calls for leas­ing 22 acres of the 73-acre park for three holes of an 18 ­hole Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course, the centerpiece of the $430 million project. Developers have proposed adding more than 40 acres to the park system throughout Benton Harbor as mitigation and will pay for maintenance at the park. The city must respond
to any substantial new facts that surface in citizens’ comments, said Wendy Dant Chesser, president and CEO of
Corner­stone Alliance. Cornerstone is one of three nonprofit orga­nizations organizing the Har­bor Shores development.
If the city commission does not find anything that needs more investigation, it will send the matter to the Michi­gan
Department of Natural Resources, which will submit its findings to the National Park Service for consider­ation.
Those opposing the park conversion have said a golf course is not an appropriate use of public land and that the
economic benefits of the de­velopment will not benefit the city’s poor.
Harbor Shores supporters say the project will pay to re­vitalize the park and will drive an economic rebirth in the area,
with new jobs, homes and hotels to go along with the golf course. The NPS can reject the plan and did so last year, in part because there was no official public comment period.



The Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course, the linchpin of the Harbor Shores
development, is under construction. The road on the left is North Shore
Drive, and the Paw Paw River is at the top.

“From Harbor Shores’ per­spective, the ball is pretty much in the city of Benton Harbor’s court,” Chesser said. She
expects the City Com­mission to decide next week whether to send the matter on to the DNR. The commission is
sched­uled to meet Tuesday instead of Monday next week because of the Memorial Day holiday. Chesser said she
was not aware of any regulated time frame during which the NPS needs to respond. But she noted that the agency is
al­ready familiar with the proj­ect. “I feel pretty good that they’ll be able to turn this around expeditiously,” she said.
Harbor Shores is a coopera­tive effort of three nonprofit organizations – Cornerstone Alliance, the Alliance for
World-Class Communities and the Whirlpool Founda­tion – and the cities of St. Jo­seph and Benton Harbor, Benton
Township, Berrien County and the state. The project is designed to encom­pass 530 acres in Benton Har­bor,
St. Joseph and Benton Township. Contact Kevin Allen at kallen@TheH-P.com.

Judge Butzbaugh in Implicated

Court Hearing, March 17, Berrien County

On St. Patrick's Day, '08, Judge Butzbaugh heard the motion to remove the entire Berrien County Judiciary from the Rev. Pinkney case. This hearing was important for not only what was said, but what was not said, but known.

What was not said, but known is quite damaging to both the honorable judge and possibly many within the Judiciary system in Berrien County. The Reverend Pinkney was sentenced for his actions in a recall election that he initiated to save Jean Klock Park from developers. One of the major developers of the area is Ship Street Realty, which was merged with the professional corporation of Butzbaugh and Ryan on March 9, 2006 after the Pinkney conviction. Back in 2004, took the name Law & Title Realty, LLC taking the assumed name of Counselors-Ship Street Realty. The word "counselors" assumes that the ownership is by members of the legal profession. Why is the defense attorney worried about getting a fair hearing in Berrien County? That certainly may be one of the answers.

Benton Harbor Jean Klock Park Public Comments Meeting 4/17

Testimony hinged largely around the fact that the donor of this park, Mr. Klock, had made this gift to the City of Benton Harbor in memory of his daughter who had died at a very young age. It was in her memory that the park be used by the children of Benton Harbor, not to be turned into a golf course for the wealthy. If this happens in Benton Harbor, it will set a precedent that could affect every public park in our state. Do the wealthy and powerful have a right to steal from the citizens of this state? The voice of people needs to be heard, or one day every one of us will wake up some day and find our lives completely shattered by the powerful few.

For 3 revealing videos, one of Butzbaugh on the bench, go to http://wmnc.biz/News.htm

A Must Read if you care about democracy

Since we're on the topic of media, a seminal book on the topic is The New Media Monopoly
by Ben Bagdikian. The following description from benbagdikian.net applies to all areas in the US including Berrien County:

The New Media Monopoly describes the cartel of five giant media conglomerates who now control the media on which a majority of Americans say they most rely. These five are not just large — though they are all among the 325 largest corporations in the world — they are unique among all huge corporations: they are a major factor in changing the politics of the United States and they condition the social values of children and adults alike.

These five huge corporations — Time Warner, Disney, Murdoch's News Corporation, Bertelsmann of Germany, and Viacom (formerly CBS) — own most of the newspapers, magazines, books, radio and TV stations, and movie studios of the United States.

These Big Five (with General Electric's NBC a close sixth) do not manufacture automobiles, or clothing, or nuts and bolts. They manufacture politics and social values. The media conglomerates have been a major force in creating conservative and far right politics in the country. They have almost single-handedly as a group, in their radio and television dominance, produced a coarse and vulgar culture that celebrates the most demeaning characteristics in the human psyche — greed, deceit, and cheating as a legitimate way to win (as in the various "reality" shows).

It is not just national economics that is at stake — though their power has led to the government's somnolence of anti-trust action. Nor is it just the neglect of broadcast media giantism by the government agencies that by law are still required to operate "in the public interest." The public interest is to have the country's largest broadcasting system in the world provide diversity in news, opinion, and commentary that serves all Americans, right, left, and independent, as well as access to their local stations as well as true choices in national programs.

What is at stake is American democracy itself. A country without all the significant news, points of view, and information its citizens need to be informed voters is risking the loss of democratic rights. Voters without genuine choices and without the information they need to choose what meets their own needs and wishes has produced something alarming: on Election Day our voters are forced to vote for what is the narrowest political choices among all industrial democracies of the world.

Another Benton Spirit Letter to Editor

Spreading Misinformation Makes Me Angry

bentonspiritnews.com
To read entire letter, click on "Harbor Shores", then the Letter to Editor section

There’s not much else that makes me angry than the spreading of misinformation. Specifically, the recent letter to the editor where the author claimed that the “original” Friends of Jean Klock Park were a group of Higman Park residents trying to prevent the housing development at the north end of the beach and that the current group of people fighting to save the park were not part of the “original” group. For the record, there were 6 plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

One lives on Higman Park.

Other plaintiffs incorporated (Friends of Jean Klock Park) and are still trying to save the park. The ensuing Settlement Agreement that was reached not only prevented further development of Jean Klock Park, but also the sale of any part of the park. The City of Benton Harbor has blatantly ignored and violated this agreement by approving a 105-year lease of most of the park to Harbor Shores. A lease of this duration does constitute a sale and the City is breaking their word and the law.

Another huge piece of misinformation is the claim that Harbor Shores will bring new jobs to the area. Already one hotel and the water park have backed out of the deal. What sort of jobs does that leave? Seasonal, minimum wage at best. Another golf course is not the answer...

...All the City has to do is clean off the roads like they promised in 2004 and open it up to the public. They could have easily done that instead of spending money to send the entire city council to Las Vegas for a week. Instead of selling out to big business, the City should get another grant and restore the beach the way the public obviously wants to see it and also keep their word to open up the boulevard. That means the entire boulevard, not just the middle portion. Recent public opinion is for the restoration of Jean Klock Park, not the golf course.

I grew up in an era when Jean Klock Park was the absolute best beach in Southwest Michigan. If they (BH) give up control of this priceless piece of property, they will be making a huge mistake not to mention violating the Consent Judgment which states “The Court permanently enjoins the City from using any portion of the property depicted as Jean Klock Park in Exhibit C to this Consent Judgment for any purpose other than bathing beach, park purposes, or other public purposes related to bathing beach or park use…”

Letter to Editor of the Benton Spirit

The following is a section of a letter from 4/23/08 entitled What Constitutes Progress in Berrien County

bentonspiritnews.com
To read entire letter, click "Harbor Shores", then the Letters to the Editor section.

...So, it is with great dismay that I have witnessed St. Joseph and Stevensville residents recently talking about why it is beneficial to all of them for the Harbor Shores development to take over 22.11 acres of Benton Harbor’s Jean Klock Park to be used for an unaffordable golf course in a county saturated with golf courses. And, I cannot understand why it is okay for the St. Joseph and Stevensville communities to have their beachfront parks in their entirety, but it is not the same right of the Benton Harbor residents to keep the gift of Jean Klock Park in its entirety as it was given. Why is it okay for them to sacrifice a portion of their park so those citizens in St. Joseph and Stevensville can continue to get rich off of the backs of the poor?

The excuse of the lack of the City of Benton Harbor’s financial ability to maintain Jean Klock Park was cited.

However, we cannot understand where the park revenues have been going. We know that the park rental fees, previous and future grants would definitely cover maintaining the park. So, was the declining appearance by design? Whose design? If they allowed the park to look rundown, would it be easier to sell the idea of relinquishing part of the park for more motives of greed? And, if they allowed the ridiculous under appraisal of the land, that would certainly justify the lease agreement for the promise of questionable benefit, right? As far as the current illegal driving on the beach and dunes at Jean Klock Park, if that cannot be successfully monitored and patrolled now, how will it be controlled once Harbor Shores is in charge? If those drivers suddenly stop their destruction, that raises other dubious motivations.

The Native American civilizations managed to live in North America for thousands of years valuing the land. Those cultures believed in using no more than they needed, cherishing all with which they resided and returning the environment as they encountered it so that it would continue to thrive as they had found it. For thousands of years, the land, water and air remained beautiful, clean and cherished.

Then the European explorers and settlers arrived. In a few hundred years their legacy, which continues today, has steadily worked to destroy the environment—all in the name of “progress”! Through greed, wasteful and exploitative hunting, excessive use and waste of natural resources while going for bigger and better machines, buildings, etc., we have managed to over-develop and pollute the land, water and air of our great continent and contributed to the over-development and pollution of the earth.....

Township planning to build its own water system

Read between lines in this revealing article from the Whirlpool company paper.
This is the beginning of the article - good luck finding the rest on their site.

BENTON TWP. 5/7/08
Board’s resolution says reliability of Benton Harbor system is in doubt
By SCOTT AIKEN and JULIE SWIDWA Herald Palladium
BENTON TOWNSHIP — Concerns about the reliability and capacity of Benton Har­bor’s water system have prompted Benton Township officials to begin planning the construction of a new wa­ter plant and distribution sys­tem.
The township board took an initial step in the process Friday by approving a reso­lution asking Berrien County for an easement through Rocky Gap Park to build an intake pipe to draw water from Lake Michigan.
The county board is ex­pected to consider the request in the next week or two.
Benton Harbor supplies water to about 20,700 cus­tomers, according to a state report. They include 11,218 in the city, 6,700 in Benton Township, 2,700 in the Fair­plain section of St. Joseph Township, and 78 in Hagar Township.
In taking action to break from Benton Harbor and build a separate water sys­tem, the Benton Township Board said in its resolution that a recent state survey “raised serious concerns” about the city’s ability to reli­ably provide water. Greg Ali­menti, director of utility ser­vices, said the city has developed a plan to fix the problems and address needs far into the future.
The survey conducted by the Department of Environ­mental Quality listed numer­ous system deficiencies found by inspectors and said the water plant no longer has the capacity to meet peak summer use. The survey of the water system listed 30 ar­eas of deficiency, including nine violations of the Michi­gan Safe Drinking Water Act. It recommended 20 improve­ments.
The City Commission is seeking $14.5 million in loans to fix or replace equip­ment, including filters and water clarifiers, to install an emergency generator and correct other problems. Al­though the city’s water treat­ment plant is rated at 12 mil­lion gallons per day because four filters are out of service, the capacity is limited to 8 million gpd, the DEQ found.

Harbor Shores: The Rich Get Richer

Sam Thomas of Ann Arbor is another wealthy corporate developer looking to cash in on the Harbor Shores humanitarian and environmental disaster of monumental proportion. On Feb. 28, 08 he applied for permission to build residential property on Lake Michigan just north of the planned Harbor Shores development. He owns Star Development & Financial Corporation. Also, Sam Thomas owns many low income rental buildings in Benton Harbor.

http://www.deq.state.mi.us/lwmpnh/ciwpissubscriberslist.asp?enddate=2%2F29%2F2008

(Sam Thomas, Star Develolpment & Financial Corp., 1900 West Liberty, Ann Arbor, MI 48103)

* * *

Dorothy Pinkney reports that Berrien County jail visitors are not permitted to give anything to the front desk. Upon arrival visitors face a dark glass which they are viewed through. During a recent visit Mrs. P. rang the service bell 3 times and was finally dismissed by an intimidating voice saying, "We're busy." She traveled to the jail and was unable to have $2.90 deposited into Rev. Pinkney's account.

* * *

New Style of Policing in America

http://www.peoplestribune.org/PT.2008.04/PT.2008.04.12.html#NewStyle

A new “military-corporate” paramilitary style of policing has been introduced in American society. As automation eliminates jobs permanently, workers find themselves homeless, denied access to health care, and education and other necessities. The state is responding by reorganizing itself as an unrestrained apparatus of force to control the poor who are considered potentially explosive and must be held in check.
While most sharply and unjustly targeting minority communities, police state tactics are becoming common wherever the poor are found, particularly against homeless populations of all colors. As the jails and prisons become harsher hellholes of terror, and as indigent prisoners are routinely denied due process, conditions are in place for the sacrifice of democracy itself.
These conditions are being instituted by and for the corporations. Corporate interests are taking precedence over the interests of society as a whole. Any social program that interferes with the making of maximum profit is being eliminated....