Please vote
Brandon School District Voters: As a 26 plus year district and community member I am encouraging you to vote for Kim Smith-Kulaga, Vinny Bills and Herb Robinson for Brandon School Board. I know and understand what is needed to be on this school board. Smith-Kulaga, Bills, and Robinson are all Brandon Blackhawk Amuni! They know our school district and its education. Each in their own, unique way.
Please keep Kim Smith-Kulaga! She follows the complexity of school funding and has a knowledge that is not easily understood by many of you. Kim keeps money in the classroom. Smith-Kulaga supports school safety, opportunities for all our students.
Please elect Vinny Bills. He knows firsthand the strengths of our classroom learning because he graduated in the top 10 of the 2019 class. Bills is a young energetic leader that after 45 minutes of talking with him I realized Bills will do a great job! Bills is about bettering Brandon’s education.
Please elect Herb Robinson! He came back to Brandon so that his kids would get a better education. Herb wants quality, safety and career ready choices. Robinson has a passion for this district and what it can offer. #Vote4Herb.
I love this school district and know that Smith-Kulaga, Bills and Robinson will never quit and keep striving, so all our kids soar with the highest quality education.
Diane Salter
Groveland Township

Marijuana Proposal
Brandon Township residents have been wondering why the Brandon Township Board put a proposal on the Nov. 8 ballot to allow a marijuana retail establishment in the township.
Please understand this proposal was not initiated by the Township. In fact, the Township Board has previously taken steps to prohibit these establishments from being in our Township. Nevertheless, a non-resident businessman circulated a petition with enough signatures (378) to include a ballot proposal that would amend our ordinances to allow a marijuana establishment in Brandon Township. As a Board, we would have been subjected to a lawsuit had we not allowed it to be included on the ballot. I would like to urge residents to vote no on this proposal.
In addition to the marijuana establishment question, there are 3 state proposals on the November ballot containing amendments to the state constitution with many provisions.  A yes vote would allow all of the provisions to go into effect.  Also, the county is proposing a .95 millage increase to fund public transportation that would not reach our township and would not allow us to opt out. To gain a better understanding of the November ballot questions, Michigan sample ballots can be viewed on line at the secretary of state website. https://mvic.sos.state.mi.us/PublicBallot/Index
Kathy Thurman
Brandon Township Trustee and former Supervisor

A Dangerous Road
An extremely dangerous situation was created on Hadley Road in Brandon Township when work was done to recontour the road siding for drainage purposes.
There is now less than one foot from the edge of the southbound lane south of Ids Way to a precipitous dropoff of about ten feet. A vehicle proceeding south at that point could easily have its right side wheels drop suddenly and cause the vehicle to roll over and down the slope. As evenings become darker early, and especially in the winter when there is snow cover, the situation there will become even more dangerous.
Please let me know if you are aware of this situation and what is being done to restore safe driving conditions at this location to avoid what could well be a serious bodily injury accident.
Bill Haney
Brandon Township

Vote no
Last Saturday I received a flyer from the “Building a Better Brandon Initiative” (BBBI). That is how the group pushing for a YES vote on a cannabis retail outlet in Brandon Township labels themselves. The fact is that this group could not care, one furry rat’s butt for the improvement of Brandon Township. They are a group of outside investors looking to line their own pockets and cash in on what they consider to be a “gold mine” in retail marijuana sales. I do not mind someone making money, more power to them. But do not urinate on my back and tell me it is raining. If they want to make money off our community that is fine. BUT…do not lie and deceive the community about your intentions.
The flyer frames their group as an altruistic organization looking to keep marijuana away from residential zoned areas (there is already ordinances addressing that issue), Keeping marijuana away from schools (already laws addressing that), Control where cannabis facilities can be located in the community (again…already addressed with ordinances), and will increase revenue for schools, roads, infrastructure and local governments (I will dismiss that theory in a moment).
I have never, and will never, support marijuana in my community.
I never gave in to the theory that marijuana acts as a “gateway” drug to harder and more dangerous drugs. I do not have to. I have seen the negative impact that marijuana has had on individuals. People do stupid things without the additional motivation of drugs (including alcohol).
I ask citizens, the same as I ask the people pushing for marijuana retail outlets. At least be honest. If you want to smoke marijuana, be honest and say that you want to get high. If you need it for medical reasons, you do not need facilities selling it for recreational purposes. Medical marijuana is legal in Michigan.
I would like to address the politics of the proposition on the November 8th ballot. Politicians in Lansing, aligned with the pro-marijuana groups, passed legislation that pro-marijuana groups could, with a signed petition of a small percentage of signatories, have a proposal placed on the ballot for the community to vote either yes or no for a marijuana retailer in the community. Those passing the petition do not need to consult with or confer with the local government to see if a mutually agreeable proposal/position can be found. Nope…the BBBI was free to write their own proposal and the Brandon Township Board had no choice but to included it on the ballot or face civil litigation if the proposal was voted down by the Township Board. Just another way of ramming this agenda down our throats. I’m not sure about you…but I resent having outsiders coming to our home and dictating how we run our business and communities.
The Village of Ortonville recently voted to allow two marijuana sale sites within the village. A Township vote of “Yes” on November 8th would bring the approved number of marijuana facilities within the Township up to three . Exactly how much marijuana do the smokers out there intend to smoke?
Finally, I stated that I would address the “revenue” portion of the BBBI promise.
On the same day that I received the flyer from BBBI, I also received The Citizen which carried a well written and researched article titled “Marijuana sales, retail stores soar, prices fall”. Information provided to The Citizen by Douglas Mains who works with the state regulatory group who has been instrumental in the implementation of the Michigan laws stated that, “As more retail establishments are licensed, the amount of tax revenue municipalities receive for each will be reduced, and it likely won’t be as much of a windfall as it has been for communities.” So much for all that money promised by the BBBI, pouring into the Township coffers.
In closing, it is important to note that currently the Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency states that there are 17 recreational cannabis retail outlets, within 20 miles of Brandon Township.
Do your homework. Do not let the BBBI lie to you for a self-serving agenda to line their own pockets.
Bob Marshall
Brandon Township Trustee

Proposal 3
After reading a letter in The Citizen about abortion, then something I heard on T.V. recently about abortion, and remembering a method of abortion that was allowed several years ago, I know how I would vote on Proposal 3. Those methods are horrible.
A woman has choices to prevent a pregnancy. Also, she can carry a baby to full term and then give it up for adoption.
A fetus or unborn baby has no choice. It is incapable of deciding whether it wants to be born or not. It cannot speak up for itself.
A part of the Deceleration of Independence says: “We hold these trusts to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
All men means every living human being including fetuses and unborn babies. They are all living and all are created. But now we no longer uphold the Deceleration of Independence.
Marion Hyatt