Old News Boys
Dear Editor,
Again this year on behalf of the Old News Boys and the volunteers of Goodrich we would like to thank everyone who so generously donated this year. We do realize it is inconvenient to take the time to stop and contribute but because of your generous contributions we collected $3,500 this year which provided a Christmas to 175 children in Genesee County. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you. A special thank you to the Goodrich High School students for separating and folding our papers on Dec. 13. This saves us a lot of work and provides you with community service hours.
As in every year, none of this would be possible without our volunteers who give their time selflessly year after year. This group is truly amazing.
We would also like to thank the restaurants in Goodrich who provided food for us as we counted money. It is so generous of you to think of us. They are The Bull Ring Lounge, Cranberries, Goodwich Country Club and Johns. The food was great and we were hungry.
Hope to see all of you next year.
Lynn Huffman
Mark Trowbridge, chairman
Why yes on school bond?
Dear Editor,
My family recently moved to Brandon where our son finished his last few years at Brandon High School. We love the smaller school setting than where we were before and the education that our son received at BHS. We no longer have children in the school system but feel strongly that we need to continue to support our schools. The money that the school district will receive from the proposed bond will assist in much needed repairs and improvements. If you lived in your home for many years you would also need to make repairs and improvements, schools are no different. The way Michigan Schools are currently funded there is not extra money for these repairs or improvements. If repairs need to be completed the money needs to come from the general fund which will take away from the funding currently being used to educate our kids.
My family will all be voting YES on March 10th in support of the Brandon School District. Our reasons are the following: Stronger and safer schools for kids, creating a school district that can compete in Oakland County and with surrounding districts, and an increase in the value of our home. The cost of passing the proposed bond is approximately $83 a year for a $200,000 house; this is about $7 a month. Our kids are definitely worth $7 a month! Please educate yourself on the facts and vote YES!
Jennifer Goethals
Thank you Dave Coulter
Dear Editor,
I would like to thank Dave Coulter, Oakland County Executive for making the effort to learn more about the needs and wants of our community. It was exciting to see our residents engaged and involved at the Wednesday meeting. Ensuring that our children have safe drinking water in our schools, working with Main Street and the DDA to support our growing area businesses, and pledging to focus on our mental health are important platforms for me. I am glad to know that Mr. Coulter, the Board of Commissioners, and Oakland County are actively working to address these areas, which will directly impact our community. I encourage residents to continue to dialog with Village, Township, County, State and Federal government officials, to share their opinions, and ideas to improve our community. “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”- Gandhi.
Tonja Brice
Village President
Washington insider
Dear Editor
Globalist, Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin has a new TV ad which indicates that she is new in Washington. This is false. Slotkin is a Washington insider that was financed and sent here by the Nancy Peloci led Democrats. This Globalist, Slotkin, was sent here to destroy Trump because he is opposed to Global Government.
There was a time when our intelligence agency’s worked to destroy our enemies, not, our elected officials.
Slotkin was a CIA analyst specializing in the Middle East when Bush was incorrectly told that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. This led to the unnecessary deaths of thousands of our American military heroes and innocent civilians.

This misguided war, which Trump opposed, helped to upset the balance of power in the Middle East.
Slotkin was an advisor to Obama in his failed Middle East policy giving the terrorist leaders in Iran $1.8 biillion in cash, some of which is being used to kill Americans. As a member in the Obama administration she must be also tied to the policies that led to the deaths of Americans at Bengasi and the rise of ISIS in Iraq.
Slotkin was not a typical Holly farm girl but attended the elitist Cranbrook Institute in Bloomfield Hills and the elitist Cornell University and Columbia University in the east.
Sadly, although Slotkin is of the Jewish faith, she is fighting to remove Israel’s best friend, Donald Trump. But, let’s not forget her Freudian slip in 2018 when she said, “Party before country, always!”.
Remember when she portrays herself as a moderate and makes political promises, her first priority is the Democrat Party.
Walter Dilber
(In response to A little civility, a letter by J.E. Galer, The Citizen, Jan. 11, page 6)
Hope you change your mind
Dear Editor,
Mr. Galer…I would like to respond to several of your comments which are grossly untrue, inaccurate and profoundly, well…foolish. In the very first line of your comments dated 1-11-20 you stated “Congress has found that the President betrayed our nation” First of all “Congress” is comprised of the House of Representatives AND the Senate. As we all know Ms. Pelosi has not ever sent the Impeachment articles to the Senate ergo that statement is inaccurate, not to mention foolish. She knows it’s a non-starter but she allowed herself to get boxed into a corner by the left, and now she has no way out.
You next mention how the President corrupted the democratic process to another foreign power by trying to make them accede to his demands by withholding “military aid.” That also is grossly incorrect. President Trump TEMPORARILY held up foreign-aid funds to the Ukraine (not military aid) until he was assured by their new President that the funds were going to be used in the agreed to manner (domestic programs) and N O T to any form of military purchases or stolen/embezzled. His alleged demand…Investigate Joe Biden’s son Hunter, was totally false. It was most likely ginned up by the “Fake News” left. President Trump answered those accusations by immediately releasing the transcripts of the phone conversation he had with the Ukrainian President to the Senate which proved the accusations completely false and without basis. There was no mention of any sort of investigation regarding any member of the Biden family.
Point No. 2/3….You further accuse the President of blocking further investigations and covering up misconduct . What investigation(s), what misconduct? All he did was claim Presidential Privilege for the 4 members of his Cabinet/Staff. Something he did to stop the endless “Witch Hunt.” A privilege bestowed upon the office and enjoyed by many past Presidents. Nothing illegal there! You also make remarks which seem to support the old adage “Guilty til Proven Innocent” with regards to President Trump’s rights. You talk about the Senate, their Oath of Office and defending the constitution. That is completely absurd! You must know that to “defend” the constitution they must also insure a FAIR trial, or is your idea of a fair trial a speedy verdict of guilty just like what happened in the house vote, clearly along party lines.
Lastly, and this is a good one. You accuse Mr. McConnell of bias when you quote him of saying, “I’m not an impartial juror.” FINISH the quote. He also said “And neither is so-and-so, and so-and so” (2 Dem. Senators) Now how Mr. Bond (and you, sir, by inference) came up with these remarks as proof of their willingness to ignore their oath of office is, well, mind-boggling! I guess when you want something badly enough you tend to fantasize a bit, and resort to these pipe-dreams.
In closing Mr. Galer, I hope I’ve changed your mind about some of these matters and I hope I have also changed your mind about my lack of “civility and research.” I’ve tried civil with Mr. Bond. It didn’t work. Not even close. Unfortunately sometimes rude, blunt and sarcastic is the only thing that does get thru.
Paul S. Lucas

(In response to ‘GTFD Judge for Yourself a letter by Bob DePalma, Jan. 18, page 7)
NOCF should be on ballot
Dear Editor,
I wish we could in fact judge for ourselves! However, unfortunately with the lack of disclosure and transparency from our Township, that proves to be a difficult task to achieve. Numerous requests for information are typically responded with “I can look into that’, ‘OK, any other comments or questions?’ and ‘you wouldn’t understand two reams and scribbled notes’. So, how are we to judge?
In DePalma’s letter, he states “For the record runs are counted whether they are fire, EMS, a fallen tree etc.”. Yet according to information discussed at the Dec. 19, 2019 meeting, FACT is, and I quote Chief Mason, “Counting things a little differently than our neighbors. To save money, we haven’t been getting run numbers for down trees. If you don’t think that’s a lot, we would be well over 1,000 for every tree that went down”. NOT obtaining a run number for lift assists and down trees has been standard Township practice for over a year. FACT. This is one of the facts and reasons we question the total run number of 948 for 2019. For a down tree and a lift assist, a vehicle/s and firefighter/s leave the building. Why then would a run number not be assigned? Is this purposely done to reflect a lower run number when it is a higher number?
In an effort to save funds, our amazing men and women of the GTFD continue to maintain all apparatus/vehicles, cut the grass and perform landscaping duties at both stations, seal coated the lot at Station 2, repaired the septic system at Station 2, gutted and remodeled the sleeping quarters, kitchen and day room at Station 1. This building did not fall into complete disrepair in the past 2 years.
FIRE/EMS is the ONLY service we receive in Groveland Township via our taxes. We do not have a DPW, garbage pickup or a police department. Thankfully, we do have an agreement with MSP for coverage. As residents choosing to reside in a rural community, we are aware that our taxes may be a bit higher than the more populated surrounding communities. Curious as to how our ISO rating of 3 would be impacted with the merger with NOCFA as well as the direct impact it would have on our homeowner’s insurance. An increase in the millage of 1.00 vs. the increase in homeowner’s insurance should the ISO be raised vs. a savings of $85 a year for a home valued at $250K. Not to mention the increase response time from NOCFA and the possibility of having to rebuild a home or the loss of a loved one. Chief Lintz stated that ‘we would keep two stations, for now’. There is no guarantee that two stations would remain. However, IF Holly puts in 3.5 mills as well as Groveland Township as per your PowerPoint presentation stated, how would Groveland Township retain 2 stations when paying equally?
Furthermore, requests for the Board Packages have been continuously requested since October’s Board Meeting to no avail. A resident contacted the Township office to request a Board Package to be sent via email. That resident was denied said information and was told “that information is for the Board only”. Yet, 8 out of 10 surrounding Townships in North Oakland County disclose that information and make it available to its residents via email, posted on the Township website or at the Board Meetings. Groveland Township is one of the two that does not. Why is that?
Telling the residents without disclosing ALL documentation and research as per FOIA regarding our Fire Department regardless if it consists of ‘reams of information and scribbles’ is not an acceptable response. Nor is the standard response of ‘this is an administrative decision’ acceptable. Not when it is such a hot button issue and it comes down to the safety of our families, homes and safeguarding the jobs of our outstanding Fire Fighters and EMT’s.
The residents feel as if our hands are tied and our collective voices are not being acknowledged or heard. Let alone the request of a vote to be placed on the November ballot continues to be dismissed from a Board that consists of 1 elected officer and 4 appointed/replacement officers. When asked why the urgency to have this done and not being able to give the residents a voice to vote, the response continues to be “I think it needs to be done”. Again, not an acceptable response.
We are not afraid of the facts as you claim. We have continued to ask for and request hard documented facts, not a PowerPoint presentation and pin board. I personally would like to see an independent review and assessment conducted by a non partial party and non-Township officer since obviously, you are not clear on the facts. Especially those regarding generated run numbers.
The reason you nor the Clerk never saw a recall petition is because there wasn’t one. The petition that the residents started in May 2018 was to prevent the merger with NOCFA and to have a 1 mil increase to be placed on the November ballot to enable the residents to have a say and a vote regarding our Fire Department. The reason the petition was stalled was due to the survey that was mailed out in June and tabulated in the Township office on June 20, 2018. Those tabulated, reflected the residents wish not to merge with NOCFA. The residents surmised that the merger issue had been put to bed at that time. Had we known that you would continue your ‘fact finding mission’, we would have continued with our petition effort.
So, again, DePalma, I ask, why can this issue not be placed on November’s ballot? The residents continue to make that request numerous times over and we will no longer accept the response of ‘OK, any other comments or questions’?
Sue Taylor
Groveland Township Resident