Stephen W. Thomas, the highest profile suspect in a child sex networking sting, to be hosted by Harbor Shores, PGA tournament, May 23-27
The PGA is coming to Benton Harbor, Michigan in May - hosted by Whirlpool, largest appliance corporation in the world. PGA golfer Stephen Thomas is among 40 arrested in a Florida sex sting and is the highest profile suspect in the case. Thomas told authorities he thought he was corresponding with a woman about arranging sex with a 13 year old girl. He planned to have sex with her.
Charges include travel to seduce and commit sex acts, transmitting harmful images of a minor, and use of a computer to solicit a child sex.
Whirlpool's Harbor Shores golf course was chosen to host the Senior PGA because it can finance it. Easily. Without even noticing a blip in the balance sheets. WP is even going to host the 2014 Senior Championship. We must be ready to deal with one of the greediest corporations in existence. We must be ready to Occupy the PGA. May 23-27, 2012. Pick a day or days to come to BH and occupy the PGA.
Contact Rev. Edward Pinkney
269-925-0001
From the Huffington Post:
A pro golfer, a swim coach, and an eighth grade teacher are among 40 suspects arrested by Florida officials conducting an undercover child sex networking sting.
Officials with the Osceola County Sheriff took down the Internet-based string of sex crimes during a Jan. 8-16 investigation dubbed "Operation Red Cheeks," a press release from the Osceola County Sheriff states.
Stephen Wesley Thomas, a professional golfer with 44 appearances on the PGA tour, is the highest profile suspect in the case. Thomas told authorities that he thought he was corresponding with a woman about arranging sex with her 13-year-old daughter, the Orlando Sentinel reports...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/18/florida-sex-sting_n_1213265.html
OCCUPY THE PGA May 23-27, 2012
Showing posts with label Harbor Shores. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Harbor Shores. Show all posts
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Joseph Harris is Whirlpool Corporation's Perfect Stooge:
No Constitution Week allowed, and no complaints
allowed by well-established businesses
Harris, recipient of a taxpayer funded $131,000.00 yearly salary, has been more than willing to wield his EM power with the greatest of ease. Since the expansion of PA4, he can do absolutely anything he wants to do in Benton Harbor, and has been doing just that with an extreme show of arrogant authority. As if to say, I'm king of the playground and residents better look out.
Recently he cancelled Constitution Week with one brash statement in the city commission meeting minutes (caps are his):
"THE FOLLOWING ACTION TAKEN OR DECISION MADE BY THE CITY COMMISSION WAS NOT AUTHORIZED BY THE EMERGENCY MANAGER AND IS NULL AND VOID, AND OF NO FORCE OR EFFECT."
City officials can't hold a celebration of the constitution? We know all the other decisions they can no longer make, according to PA4, but no Constitution Week?
We suppose Harris doesn't want a celebration of something that no longer applies to the people living in this city. He's the man, after all. He's not only taken the Emergency Manager ball and run with it, he won't even stop to throw a pass now and then. Harris is the evil step-father in Benton Harbor.
Here's another action he took which will only attract negative attention his way:
Harris, also known as The Dictator, has been sparring with Benton Harbor's New Product's Corporation, one of the city's oldest businesses. CEO Cheryl Miller asserts that a Harbor Shores bike path under construction encroaches on New Product's property by about five feet for a length of 100 feet. Harris said Miller has no grounds to be complaining, that her complaining is the wrong thing to do, and that she will get an answer from him that she will not like.
Harris is not known for his diplomacy. And that's the way Whirlpool likes it.
Thanks to MSNBC for continuing to report on Benton Harbor, the bellwether for the rest of the country. Hopefully someday soon MSNBC will gather the courage to report on the elephant in this story's livingroom: Whirlpool Corporation, the true boss (in the worst sense of the word) of BH and Berrien County.
Recent MSNBC story:
http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/09/19/7839166-benton-harbor-emergency-manager-cancels-constitution-week
No Constitution Week allowed, and no complaints
allowed by well-established businesses
Harris, recipient of a taxpayer funded $131,000.00 yearly salary, has been more than willing to wield his EM power with the greatest of ease. Since the expansion of PA4, he can do absolutely anything he wants to do in Benton Harbor, and has been doing just that with an extreme show of arrogant authority. As if to say, I'm king of the playground and residents better look out.
Recently he cancelled Constitution Week with one brash statement in the city commission meeting minutes (caps are his):
"THE FOLLOWING ACTION TAKEN OR DECISION MADE BY THE CITY COMMISSION WAS NOT AUTHORIZED BY THE EMERGENCY MANAGER AND IS NULL AND VOID, AND OF NO FORCE OR EFFECT."
City officials can't hold a celebration of the constitution? We know all the other decisions they can no longer make, according to PA4, but no Constitution Week?
We suppose Harris doesn't want a celebration of something that no longer applies to the people living in this city. He's the man, after all. He's not only taken the Emergency Manager ball and run with it, he won't even stop to throw a pass now and then. Harris is the evil step-father in Benton Harbor.
Here's another action he took which will only attract negative attention his way:
Harris, also known as The Dictator, has been sparring with Benton Harbor's New Product's Corporation, one of the city's oldest businesses. CEO Cheryl Miller asserts that a Harbor Shores bike path under construction encroaches on New Product's property by about five feet for a length of 100 feet. Harris said Miller has no grounds to be complaining, that her complaining is the wrong thing to do, and that she will get an answer from him that she will not like.
Harris is not known for his diplomacy. And that's the way Whirlpool likes it.
Thanks to MSNBC for continuing to report on Benton Harbor, the bellwether for the rest of the country. Hopefully someday soon MSNBC will gather the courage to report on the elephant in this story's livingroom: Whirlpool Corporation, the true boss (in the worst sense of the word) of BH and Berrien County.
Recent MSNBC story:
http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/09/19/7839166-benton-harbor-emergency-manager-cancels-constitution-week
Monday, June 27, 2011
Whirlpool VP Jeff Noel speaks on behalf of recently arrested Harbor Shores developer.
Noel hails from Kentucky, one of the more corrupt states in the US - Noel worked previously in the tobacco industry. A perfect resume for a job at Whirlpool. See this good ol' boy's bio at the end.
Developer for Harbor Shores arrested
Mark Hesemann pleads no contest following incident at Lion's Den
By Julie Swidwa, Saturday, June 25, 2011
St. Joseph- Mark Hesemann, a contracted developer for the real estate arm of Harbor Shores, reached a plea deal with prosecutors Friday following his arrest Wednesday at an adult entertainment store in Sawyer.
His lawyer, Andrew Burch, said Hesemann pleaded no contest before Berrien County Trial Court Judge Gary Bruce to a charge of disturbing the peace. Hesemann was originally charged with retail fraud, commonly known as shoplifting, according to state police Sgt. Ken High at the Bridgman post.
Burch said alcohol contributed to his client's acntions.
High said Hesemann was arrested around 9:15 p.m. Wednesday by Trooper Gary Guild at the Lion's Den Adult Book Store after he allegedly tried to steal two pornographic DVDs.
Hesemann is the managing director of Evergreen Development Co. in St. Joseph, which is under contract to develop the real estate arm of the Harbor Shores golf course development. Jeff Noel, president of Harbor Shores Community Redevelopment Inc., said Friday he was unaware of Hesemann's arrest before being contacted by The Herald-Palladium.
Speaking on behalf of Harbor Shores, Noel said, "I'm absolutely surprised. I've known Mark for all these years we've been working on Harbor Shores together."
Noel went on to say, "I'm disappointed, and yet because I do know Mark it's most important to try to understand what transpired and get all sides of the story. Until we have all the information and know exactly what transpired, it would be wrong to predetermine what it will mean for Mark and his relationship with Harbor Shores."
..."(Hesemann) has a very caring heart. He is very committed to this community and he wants to see it succeed," Noel said. "He's given a lot of time and energy into this community. [We know that when Noel talks about wanting 'this' community to succeed, he is definitely not referring to citizens of Benton Harbor.]
Full article while still available: http://www.heraldpalladium.com/articles/2011/06/26/local_news/5357891.txt
BIO: Jeff Noel was appointed corporate vice president, Communications and Public Affairs 2004. Noel is responsible for the company's global external and internal communications, government relations, and corporate affairs departments, including Whirlpool Corporation's strategic community partnerships and also serves as the president of the Whirlpool Foundation.
Noel is also actively involved in area initiatives including serving as Chairman of the Harbor Shores Development and Bluffside projects and as a member of the Michigan Colleges Foundation. Additionally, he was appointed vice chairman of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation in 2011 and serves as general vice chairman for the 73rd Senior PGA Championship.
Prior to joining Whirlpool, Noel served for 11 years as president of Cornerstone Alliance, a Benton Harbor-based economic development group. He also served as commissioner of management and operations for the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development Department, director of government affairs for Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation and executive assistant to U.S. Senator Wendell Ford of Kentucky as well as an owner/developer of over 700,000 sq. ft of commercial real estate.
Noel holds a master's degree in business administration from Marymount University and a bachelor's degree in agricultural economics from the University of Kentucky.
Noel hails from Kentucky, one of the more corrupt states in the US - Noel worked previously in the tobacco industry. A perfect resume for a job at Whirlpool. See this good ol' boy's bio at the end.
Developer for Harbor Shores arrested
Mark Hesemann pleads no contest following incident at Lion's Den
By Julie Swidwa, Saturday, June 25, 2011
St. Joseph- Mark Hesemann, a contracted developer for the real estate arm of Harbor Shores, reached a plea deal with prosecutors Friday following his arrest Wednesday at an adult entertainment store in Sawyer.
His lawyer, Andrew Burch, said Hesemann pleaded no contest before Berrien County Trial Court Judge Gary Bruce to a charge of disturbing the peace. Hesemann was originally charged with retail fraud, commonly known as shoplifting, according to state police Sgt. Ken High at the Bridgman post.
Burch said alcohol contributed to his client's acntions.
High said Hesemann was arrested around 9:15 p.m. Wednesday by Trooper Gary Guild at the Lion's Den Adult Book Store after he allegedly tried to steal two pornographic DVDs.
Hesemann is the managing director of Evergreen Development Co. in St. Joseph, which is under contract to develop the real estate arm of the Harbor Shores golf course development. Jeff Noel, president of Harbor Shores Community Redevelopment Inc., said Friday he was unaware of Hesemann's arrest before being contacted by The Herald-Palladium.
Speaking on behalf of Harbor Shores, Noel said, "I'm absolutely surprised. I've known Mark for all these years we've been working on Harbor Shores together."
Noel went on to say, "I'm disappointed, and yet because I do know Mark it's most important to try to understand what transpired and get all sides of the story. Until we have all the information and know exactly what transpired, it would be wrong to predetermine what it will mean for Mark and his relationship with Harbor Shores."
..."(Hesemann) has a very caring heart. He is very committed to this community and he wants to see it succeed," Noel said. "He's given a lot of time and energy into this community. [We know that when Noel talks about wanting 'this' community to succeed, he is definitely not referring to citizens of Benton Harbor.]
Full article while still available: http://www.heraldpalladium.com/articles/2011/06/26/local_news/5357891.txt
BIO: Jeff Noel was appointed corporate vice president, Communications and Public Affairs 2004. Noel is responsible for the company's global external and internal communications, government relations, and corporate affairs departments, including Whirlpool Corporation's strategic community partnerships and also serves as the president of the Whirlpool Foundation.
Noel is also actively involved in area initiatives including serving as Chairman of the Harbor Shores Development and Bluffside projects and as a member of the Michigan Colleges Foundation. Additionally, he was appointed vice chairman of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation in 2011 and serves as general vice chairman for the 73rd Senior PGA Championship.
Prior to joining Whirlpool, Noel served for 11 years as president of Cornerstone Alliance, a Benton Harbor-based economic development group. He also served as commissioner of management and operations for the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development Department, director of government affairs for Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation and executive assistant to U.S. Senator Wendell Ford of Kentucky as well as an owner/developer of over 700,000 sq. ft of commercial real estate.
Noel holds a master's degree in business administration from Marymount University and a bachelor's degree in agricultural economics from the University of Kentucky.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
State Rep. Al Pscholka introduced EFM bill -
let's just come out with it: FOR WHIRLPOOL
The following is a very astute reader comment from the Michigan Messenger article.
http://michiganmessenger.com/48278/benton-harbor-emergency-manager-strips-power-from-all-elected-officials
No one seems to have noticed who introduced this bill. It was Rep Al Pscholka [517- 373-1403; represents St. Joseph and Benton Harbor, of course]
Please keep these dates in mind: April of 2010. Governor Granholm assigns an EFM to Benton Harbor. The EFM draws up a plan that if followed would have eliminated the City Manager and elected officials.
January 4, 2011. The City Commission of Benton Harbor votes to "take back the power given to them by the voters" and passes a resolution stripping the EFM of his authority.
January 5, 2011. Rep Al Pscholka sends a letter to now Governor Snyder requesting that the EFM be restored to Benton Harbor, saying the elected officials had no authority to do what they did. Apparently, it was realized that the regulations governing how and what an EFM can do were not sufficient, because on
February 8, 2011, Rep Al Pscholka introduced the new EFM legislation, which was passed and now signed by the governor, and which gives the EFM the authority to dissolve elected commissions.
Rich developers in St. Joseph have been itching to get their hands on the last bits of the Michigan lakefront belonging to the poor, majority black city of Benton Harbor. First they grabbed most of what used to be Jean Klock Park to build a Jack Nicklaus golf course. Now they want the rest of the park because a very valuable water system belonging to Benton Harbor is located there. Artesian wells, and all. I just wonder if the ink is already dry on that new EFM order for Benton Harbor?
2 more comments:
Wow- so this is all basically to facilitate a taking? Catering to the wealthy that want the lands for themselves? Will they squeeze the poorer land owners out? Pull one of the eminent domain kind of maneuvers?
What this means is that voters have ZERO representation in local government. The EFM answers to no-one but Snyder. A city government at least answers to it's voters. This power grab is turning voter's rights on their head and is most likely for the benefit of corporations who will reap lucrative contracts from the EFM at the expense of the mostly black Benton Harbor residents. Recall Snyder. He is toxic for the state of Michigan.
let's just come out with it: FOR WHIRLPOOL
The following is a very astute reader comment from the Michigan Messenger article.
http://michiganmessenger.com/48278/benton-harbor-emergency-manager-strips-power-from-all-elected-officials
No one seems to have noticed who introduced this bill. It was Rep Al Pscholka [517- 373-1403; represents St. Joseph and Benton Harbor, of course]
Please keep these dates in mind: April of 2010. Governor Granholm assigns an EFM to Benton Harbor. The EFM draws up a plan that if followed would have eliminated the City Manager and elected officials.
January 4, 2011. The City Commission of Benton Harbor votes to "take back the power given to them by the voters" and passes a resolution stripping the EFM of his authority.
January 5, 2011. Rep Al Pscholka sends a letter to now Governor Snyder requesting that the EFM be restored to Benton Harbor, saying the elected officials had no authority to do what they did. Apparently, it was realized that the regulations governing how and what an EFM can do were not sufficient, because on
February 8, 2011, Rep Al Pscholka introduced the new EFM legislation, which was passed and now signed by the governor, and which gives the EFM the authority to dissolve elected commissions.
Rich developers in St. Joseph have been itching to get their hands on the last bits of the Michigan lakefront belonging to the poor, majority black city of Benton Harbor. First they grabbed most of what used to be Jean Klock Park to build a Jack Nicklaus golf course. Now they want the rest of the park because a very valuable water system belonging to Benton Harbor is located there. Artesian wells, and all. I just wonder if the ink is already dry on that new EFM order for Benton Harbor?
2 more comments:
Wow- so this is all basically to facilitate a taking? Catering to the wealthy that want the lands for themselves? Will they squeeze the poorer land owners out? Pull one of the eminent domain kind of maneuvers?
What this means is that voters have ZERO representation in local government. The EFM answers to no-one but Snyder. A city government at least answers to it's voters. This power grab is turning voter's rights on their head and is most likely for the benefit of corporations who will reap lucrative contracts from the EFM at the expense of the mostly black Benton Harbor residents. Recall Snyder. He is toxic for the state of Michigan.
Friday, January 07, 2011
Whirlpool, Rep. Fred Upton, and former Gov. Granholm knew just what they were doing when they force-fed state "financial mngr." Joseph Harris to Benton Harbor, Michigan. No more self-determination for Benton Harbor. The city is run by this outsider who has no interest whatsoever in the lives of residents. Harris is paid $132K per year to make certain BH is turned into corporate la-la land...Harbor Shores, Harbor Town...and corporate playgrounds don't include the land in it's wondrous natural beauty, only manicured, chemicalized, and covered with cement. Harris's only supervisor is now Whirlpool, although they make sure his paycheck comes from BH taxpayers. BH City Commissioners know this.
Today's Detroit Free Press: Council feuds with emergency manager
The Benton Harbor City Commission can pass resolutions to hand over power to Mayor Wilce Cooke, but it will have no effect, emergency financial manager Joseph Harris said Wednesday.
The commission passed a resolution on Monday establishing an administrative emergency and giving Cooke authority over the city. It said Harris gives preferential treatment to white contractors and meets with local white officials while refusing to meet with black officials.
Said Harris: "I could not care less what color a local official is. It matters if I can communicate with them."
Today's Detroit Free Press: Council feuds with emergency manager
The Benton Harbor City Commission can pass resolutions to hand over power to Mayor Wilce Cooke, but it will have no effect, emergency financial manager Joseph Harris said Wednesday.
The commission passed a resolution on Monday establishing an administrative emergency and giving Cooke authority over the city. It said Harris gives preferential treatment to white contractors and meets with local white officials while refusing to meet with black officials.
Said Harris: "I could not care less what color a local official is. It matters if I can communicate with them."
Monday, September 20, 2010
Letter to the Editor and comments. Topics: Whirlpool stolen land development and Berrien county prosecutor Cotter.
Excerpt from a 9/16 Letter to the Editor (HPalladium)
Editor,
I have enjoyed Jean Klock Park all my life...
...the illustrious leaders of Benton Harbor and Whirlpool were keeping up the hype that "no one goes to Jean Klock Park."
...What next? Probably luxury condos on all public waterfront property, or casinos, strip joints, hotels and motels. Then it probably will mean some more bars. Oh, and we can all have corporate "campuses" that won't employ any of our residents.
What is important to [our "leaders"] is that they carry out the orders of the entities who want to develop every square inch of lake front property, make a profit, get filthy rich and move on.
That's it, take away all the residents' personal freedoms and let the developers and corporations have their way. Is that the way you want it? If you don't wake up, that's exactly what will happen.
Too many people still have their heads in the sand.
Lea'Anna Locey, Benton Harbor
****************************************
Letter to Editor comments
The Federal Farmer wrote on Sep 17, 2010:
"Let's hope that visitors to the area take their dogs to the Whirlpool Golf Course to poop."
Another windbag supporter wrote on Sep 16, 2010:
"I bet Mr. Cotter don't advocate should felons have work, some of them may not turn to street crimes in the community, and I bet Mr. Cotter when putting his foot in his mouth never takes this foot out to advocate for a better juvenile justice system in this state. Mr. Cotter knows full well how to gain followers and support by egging on those that whine about tax dollars spent on criminals. Mr. Cotter is a foot inserting in thy own mouth windbag, who needs to do a better job in application of the laws and stautes of this state. Maybe someone should do some research to find out how many of his cases are questionable?"
http://www.heraldpalladium.com/articles/2010/09/16/opinion/letters/1916267.txt
Excerpt from a 9/16 Letter to the Editor (HPalladium)
Editor,
I have enjoyed Jean Klock Park all my life...
...the illustrious leaders of Benton Harbor and Whirlpool were keeping up the hype that "no one goes to Jean Klock Park."
...What next? Probably luxury condos on all public waterfront property, or casinos, strip joints, hotels and motels. Then it probably will mean some more bars. Oh, and we can all have corporate "campuses" that won't employ any of our residents.
What is important to [our "leaders"] is that they carry out the orders of the entities who want to develop every square inch of lake front property, make a profit, get filthy rich and move on.
That's it, take away all the residents' personal freedoms and let the developers and corporations have their way. Is that the way you want it? If you don't wake up, that's exactly what will happen.
Too many people still have their heads in the sand.
Lea'Anna Locey, Benton Harbor
****************************************
Letter to Editor comments
The Federal Farmer wrote on Sep 17, 2010:
"Let's hope that visitors to the area take their dogs to the Whirlpool Golf Course to poop."
Another windbag supporter wrote on Sep 16, 2010:
"I bet Mr. Cotter don't advocate should felons have work, some of them may not turn to street crimes in the community, and I bet Mr. Cotter when putting his foot in his mouth never takes this foot out to advocate for a better juvenile justice system in this state. Mr. Cotter knows full well how to gain followers and support by egging on those that whine about tax dollars spent on criminals. Mr. Cotter is a foot inserting in thy own mouth windbag, who needs to do a better job in application of the laws and stautes of this state. Maybe someone should do some research to find out how many of his cases are questionable?"
http://www.heraldpalladium.com/articles/2010/09/16/opinion/letters/1916267.txt
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Below find interesting comments as posted in the Herald Palladium
Whirlpool picks developer
Whirlpool has selected a developer for the new office complex...Pizzuti Companies of Columbus, Ohio, is committed to using local contractors whenever possible [catch the irony?]
Those are headlines of a 9/10 Herald Palladium article; here are some comments which
follow:
THANK GAWD OUR DAILY DOSE OF whirlpool wrote on Sep 10, 2010 2:01 PM:
" Thank You Gawd and hp for our Daily Dose of all things whirlpool !!!! we were jonesing !!!!
it had been, what, 24 or maybe 48 hours since our last blast of all things whirlpool !?!?!?!
Goebbels would be so darn proud. so darn proud. "
Wont Quit wrote on Sep 10, 2010 2:23 PM:
" Let me get this straight....Whirlpool beleive so much in investing in this area that they decided to spend their construction dollars with an out of state firm?. Guess the area construction companies and those employed by those companies don't match up to Whirlpool's standards! So much for more local jobs! Read my lips....Whirlpool is going to do what is good for Whirlpool and could give a rip about anyone else here! WE LOVE WHIRLPOOL (lol) "
brett wrote on Sep 10, 2010 3:16 PM:
" Whoa, ugly buildings! Better go back to the drawing board. They cleaned up the bums nicely though "
Deb wrote on Sep 10, 2010 5:10 PM:
" Just another slap in the face from good old Whirlpool. "
Where ... wrote on Sep 10, 2010 6:03 PM:
" ...are the signature 'Whirlpool red' bricks? "
BH RESIDENT wrote on Sep 10, 2010 7:43 PM:
" Where will the people that hangout along the river go. people still fish there and hang around....Will the whirlpool folks make it so they cant come around.. "
Big Surprise Non Local wrote on Sep 10, 2010 9:32 PM:
" a place that i worked at tried for years to get just a small piece of the pie from the washtub company. never good enough though we did business with corporations larger than the wersher company. go figure.
that outright hostility to local really chafes the ol' chaps.
funny ( not in a ha ha ha way however ) how it took some comments about the lack of locals on the golf course construction before a local construction firm showed up and prominently parked its trailer / tool crib out by the highway. until then there weren't any locals working on it.
but we are urged to support local buy local think local.
not too many 2 way streets around, it seems. "
Resident wrote on Sep 11, 2010 8:23 AM:
" All those jobs for local people - just another of MANY lies from Whirlpool. I just can not believe how naive the locals are in this area who think Whirlpool is doing this out of the goodness of their heart. Where else in this country can they get waterfront property for basically nothing and get tax breaks for it with their own airport and golf course. They now have control of all the waterfront property in BH. They now own the town. It isn't for the community they are doing this - it is for Whirlpool. They should spend their money on making better products made to last like they used to, not the crap they sell now. "
http://www.heraldpalladium.com/articles/2010/09/10/local_news/1898476.txt
Whirlpool picks developer
Whirlpool has selected a developer for the new office complex...Pizzuti Companies of Columbus, Ohio, is committed to using local contractors whenever possible [catch the irony?]
Those are headlines of a 9/10 Herald Palladium article; here are some comments which
follow:
THANK GAWD OUR DAILY DOSE OF whirlpool wrote on Sep 10, 2010 2:01 PM:
" Thank You Gawd and hp for our Daily Dose of all things whirlpool !!!! we were jonesing !!!!
it had been, what, 24 or maybe 48 hours since our last blast of all things whirlpool !?!?!?!
Goebbels would be so darn proud. so darn proud. "
Wont Quit wrote on Sep 10, 2010 2:23 PM:
" Let me get this straight....Whirlpool beleive so much in investing in this area that they decided to spend their construction dollars with an out of state firm?. Guess the area construction companies and those employed by those companies don't match up to Whirlpool's standards! So much for more local jobs! Read my lips....Whirlpool is going to do what is good for Whirlpool and could give a rip about anyone else here! WE LOVE WHIRLPOOL (lol) "
brett wrote on Sep 10, 2010 3:16 PM:
" Whoa, ugly buildings! Better go back to the drawing board. They cleaned up the bums nicely though "
Deb wrote on Sep 10, 2010 5:10 PM:
" Just another slap in the face from good old Whirlpool. "
Where ... wrote on Sep 10, 2010 6:03 PM:
" ...are the signature 'Whirlpool red' bricks? "
BH RESIDENT wrote on Sep 10, 2010 7:43 PM:
" Where will the people that hangout along the river go. people still fish there and hang around....Will the whirlpool folks make it so they cant come around.. "
Big Surprise Non Local wrote on Sep 10, 2010 9:32 PM:
" a place that i worked at tried for years to get just a small piece of the pie from the washtub company. never good enough though we did business with corporations larger than the wersher company. go figure.
that outright hostility to local really chafes the ol' chaps.
funny ( not in a ha ha ha way however ) how it took some comments about the lack of locals on the golf course construction before a local construction firm showed up and prominently parked its trailer / tool crib out by the highway. until then there weren't any locals working on it.
but we are urged to support local buy local think local.
not too many 2 way streets around, it seems. "
Resident wrote on Sep 11, 2010 8:23 AM:
" All those jobs for local people - just another of MANY lies from Whirlpool. I just can not believe how naive the locals are in this area who think Whirlpool is doing this out of the goodness of their heart. Where else in this country can they get waterfront property for basically nothing and get tax breaks for it with their own airport and golf course. They now have control of all the waterfront property in BH. They now own the town. It isn't for the community they are doing this - it is for Whirlpool. They should spend their money on making better products made to last like they used to, not the crap they sell now. "
http://www.heraldpalladium.com/articles/2010/09/10/local_news/1898476.txt
Friday, September 10, 2010
Former Benton Harbor police officer Andrew Collins is back in the community as a civilian. Are you sitting down? This criminal cop served a mere 7 months of a 37 month conviction for incessant drug planting on Benton Harbor African-American residents.
http://bhbanco.blogspot.com/2009/01/andrew-collins-was-not-lone-actor.html
http://bhbanco.blogspot.com/2009/01/collins-article-commentary-in-caps.html
http://bhbanco.blogspot.com/2009/01/story-gets-bigger-in-berrien.html
http://bhbanco.blogspot.com/2009/01/andrew-collins-was-not-lone-actor.html
http://bhbanco.blogspot.com/2009/01/collins-article-commentary-in-caps.html
http://bhbanco.blogspot.com/2009/01/story-gets-bigger-in-berrien.html
Friday, August 13, 2010
August 10 Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course Demonstration
About 100 people marched through Benton Harbor on August 10, 2010, the day Whirlpool opened it's Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course, despite two court cases pending. We stopped at the golf course entry where we were met by at least 4 sheriff's deputies, 6 Benton Harbor Township police, and 4 Benton Harbor police. Our chanting was loud, especially when Julie Swidwa of the local Herald Palladium, attempted to interview Rev. Edward Pinkney, organizer of the demonstration and local NAACP president. "Julie is one-sided!!" was chanted over and over - the people had at least this one opportunity to let Swidwa hear what is thought of her "reporting," especially the hit jobs she's done on Pinkney over a decade. There was no interview. In a gratuitous show of power, police escorted her away. Whirlpool knows that media are the prime shapers of opinion; the company paper serves them well.
Other chants included, "Jack Nicklaus Go Home!," "Marcus Robinson Go Home!," and "Jean Klock Park was deeded to the people!" (Robinson works in "community development" for Whirlpool.) 130 media outlets sent reporters to cover the opening, so people in many states viewed the demonstration as part of the golf course coverage.
After the golf course protest, a rally was held on a nearby grassy area with speakers from Benton Harbor, Detroit, New York, Minneapolis, southern Illinois, Chicago, Kalamazoo, Ann Arbor, and elsewhere. Their insightful words made evident their understanding of the era of corporate control we now live under. Government and corporation as one (fascism). And, how corporations prey on the poor. In the case of Benton Harbor, Whirlpool is carrying out a hostile takeover of the city's Lake Michigan beaches, parks, and land. Endangered plant and animal species are of no concern to Whirlpool. African-American people were also in the way, hence, arguably the most aggressively prejudicial and harsh law enforcement/court system in the state (Berrien County). Benton Harbor citizens get time for walking down the "wrong" street. As attorney Buck Davis wrote:
“The thrust [of the county courthouse] is to physically remove and destroy families through the use of the criminal justice system. Every person they can put in jail; every person whose voting rights they can revoke with a felony conviction; every person they can cause to lose their job by putting them on probation; every person they can cause to lose the ability to pay for basic necessities through imposing ruinous court costs and probation is all part of the process. In the 1960s, it was called Negro removal. In Bosnia, it was called ethnic cleansing. It could be called genocide, the removal of the minority population for the purpose of redevelopment of the land. That’s what’s happening in Benton Harbor and the foremost leader of the resistance is Rev. Edward Pinkney.”
Whirlpool Vice President Jeff Noel told U. of Mich. business school students and faculty that if you want poor peoples' land, and have justice groups "on your back," simply bring in Habitat for Humanity to build a few houses and donate some appliances. Part of the land he and his corporate partners wanted was deeded in perpetuity to the citizens of Benton Harbor in 1917 by John Klock, a land owner who's infant daughter died. In a town ceremony, Klock spoke of people who owned no land but would always have this park, and named it after his infant daughter: Jean Klock Park. The largest appliance manufacturer in the world, which has outsourced most of it's jobs leaving Benton Harbor in dire poverty, has enough lawyers to get around the minor inconvenience of a deed.
In a video no longer accessible on the web, former Whirlpool CEO Dave Whitwam stated that this is the last and largest piece (530 acres) of prime real estate along the Lake Michigan shoreline. (Parkland is real estate?) Whirlpool is busy inventing terminology to justify their takeover. An example: they call this the first ever "Master Planned Community." It will have a town center with retail shops and restaurants. (Are they replacing Benton Harbor with a new town?) Deeded parkland for the people is becoming a posh enclave for the wealthy.
A stretch of the most pristine, natural beach front is to be no more. Ever. One protester said that people who grew up in this area and love the land and lake feel like an arm is being cut off.
Judges keep ruling in favor of Whirlpool in cases brought by preservationists.
About 100 people marched through Benton Harbor on August 10, 2010, the day Whirlpool opened it's Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course, despite two court cases pending. We stopped at the golf course entry where we were met by at least 4 sheriff's deputies, 6 Benton Harbor Township police, and 4 Benton Harbor police. Our chanting was loud, especially when Julie Swidwa of the local Herald Palladium, attempted to interview Rev. Edward Pinkney, organizer of the demonstration and local NAACP president. "Julie is one-sided!!" was chanted over and over - the people had at least this one opportunity to let Swidwa hear what is thought of her "reporting," especially the hit jobs she's done on Pinkney over a decade. There was no interview. In a gratuitous show of power, police escorted her away. Whirlpool knows that media are the prime shapers of opinion; the company paper serves them well.
Other chants included, "Jack Nicklaus Go Home!," "Marcus Robinson Go Home!," and "Jean Klock Park was deeded to the people!" (Robinson works in "community development" for Whirlpool.) 130 media outlets sent reporters to cover the opening, so people in many states viewed the demonstration as part of the golf course coverage.
After the golf course protest, a rally was held on a nearby grassy area with speakers from Benton Harbor, Detroit, New York, Minneapolis, southern Illinois, Chicago, Kalamazoo, Ann Arbor, and elsewhere. Their insightful words made evident their understanding of the era of corporate control we now live under. Government and corporation as one (fascism). And, how corporations prey on the poor. In the case of Benton Harbor, Whirlpool is carrying out a hostile takeover of the city's Lake Michigan beaches, parks, and land. Endangered plant and animal species are of no concern to Whirlpool. African-American people were also in the way, hence, arguably the most aggressively prejudicial and harsh law enforcement/court system in the state (Berrien County). Benton Harbor citizens get time for walking down the "wrong" street. As attorney Buck Davis wrote:
“The thrust [of the county courthouse] is to physically remove and destroy families through the use of the criminal justice system. Every person they can put in jail; every person whose voting rights they can revoke with a felony conviction; every person they can cause to lose their job by putting them on probation; every person they can cause to lose the ability to pay for basic necessities through imposing ruinous court costs and probation is all part of the process. In the 1960s, it was called Negro removal. In Bosnia, it was called ethnic cleansing. It could be called genocide, the removal of the minority population for the purpose of redevelopment of the land. That’s what’s happening in Benton Harbor and the foremost leader of the resistance is Rev. Edward Pinkney.”
Whirlpool Vice President Jeff Noel told U. of Mich. business school students and faculty that if you want poor peoples' land, and have justice groups "on your back," simply bring in Habitat for Humanity to build a few houses and donate some appliances. Part of the land he and his corporate partners wanted was deeded in perpetuity to the citizens of Benton Harbor in 1917 by John Klock, a land owner who's infant daughter died. In a town ceremony, Klock spoke of people who owned no land but would always have this park, and named it after his infant daughter: Jean Klock Park. The largest appliance manufacturer in the world, which has outsourced most of it's jobs leaving Benton Harbor in dire poverty, has enough lawyers to get around the minor inconvenience of a deed.
In a video no longer accessible on the web, former Whirlpool CEO Dave Whitwam stated that this is the last and largest piece (530 acres) of prime real estate along the Lake Michigan shoreline. (Parkland is real estate?) Whirlpool is busy inventing terminology to justify their takeover. An example: they call this the first ever "Master Planned Community." It will have a town center with retail shops and restaurants. (Are they replacing Benton Harbor with a new town?) Deeded parkland for the people is becoming a posh enclave for the wealthy.
A stretch of the most pristine, natural beach front is to be no more. Ever. One protester said that people who grew up in this area and love the land and lake feel like an arm is being cut off.
Judges keep ruling in favor of Whirlpool in cases brought by preservationists.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Harbor Shores Demonstration Reported by WSJM FM/AM and WNDU-TV
Andrew Green Reporting
Benton Harbor activist Reverend Edward Pinkney says that his plans for a mass demonstration to protest the Harbor Shores development on the day of its grand opening are coming together. Pinkney's hoping as many as five-thousand people show up on August tenth...although he'll be happy with a few hundred. Speakers from out of town have been invited in for the day, and protesters will march from city hall over to Jean Klock Park starting at ten AM. Pinkney says that he's disappointed that Harbor Shores isn't creating more jobs for Benton Harbor residents:
Pinkney's also planning to protest at Lake Michigan College on the night of the golf course's grand opening. An event is planned there with Jack Nicklaus and others coming to town for the day.
[Time and place of demo below]
Andrew Green Reporting
Benton Harbor activist Reverend Edward Pinkney says that his plans for a mass demonstration to protest the Harbor Shores development on the day of its grand opening are coming together. Pinkney's hoping as many as five-thousand people show up on August tenth...although he'll be happy with a few hundred. Speakers from out of town have been invited in for the day, and protesters will march from city hall over to Jean Klock Park starting at ten AM. Pinkney says that he's disappointed that Harbor Shores isn't creating more jobs for Benton Harbor residents:
Pinkney's also planning to protest at Lake Michigan College on the night of the golf course's grand opening. An event is planned there with Jack Nicklaus and others coming to town for the day.
[Time and place of demo below]
Thursday, June 03, 2010
The Berrien County controlling corporation continues it's plan of gentrification (removal by any means necessary) of an African-American population in the way of a resort for the wealthy
Whirlpool plant in Michigan to close, taking 216 jobs Wednesday, June 2, 2010
BENTON HARBOR, Mich.—Whirlpool Corp. said yesterday that it will close a machining plant in Benton Harbor, Mich., eliminating 216 jobs.
The appliance maker said it is discontinuing production of components at the Michigan plant and making its latest laundry products at a location in Clyde, Ohio. The Michigan plant is expected to close at the end of this year or early in 2011.
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/business/stories/2010/06/02/whirlpool-plant-in-michigan-to-close.html?sid=101
on another note:
[Whirlpool Owned] Maytag Recalls 1.7 Million Dishwashers After Fires, U.S. Says
June 3, 2010, Businessweek, By Jeff Plungis
June 3 (Bloomberg) -- Maytag Corp., the appliance maker owned by Whirlpool Corp., recalled 1.7 million dishwashers to fix a faulty heating element that can ignite a fire, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said.
Consumers should stop using the dishwashers immediately and disconnect the power source by pulling the fuse or flipping a circuit-breaker, the agency said today in a statement. Certain Maytag, Amana, Jenn-Air, Admiral, Magic Chef, Performa and Crosley models are covered by the recall.
The manufacturer, based in Newton, Iowa, received 12 reports of fires with the plastic-tub models, including a blaze that caused extensive kitchen damage, the agency said.
Whirlpool plant in Michigan to close, taking 216 jobs Wednesday, June 2, 2010
BENTON HARBOR, Mich.—Whirlpool Corp. said yesterday that it will close a machining plant in Benton Harbor, Mich., eliminating 216 jobs.
The appliance maker said it is discontinuing production of components at the Michigan plant and making its latest laundry products at a location in Clyde, Ohio. The Michigan plant is expected to close at the end of this year or early in 2011.
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/business/stories/2010/06/02/whirlpool-plant-in-michigan-to-close.html?sid=101
on another note:
[Whirlpool Owned] Maytag Recalls 1.7 Million Dishwashers After Fires, U.S. Says
June 3, 2010, Businessweek, By Jeff Plungis
June 3 (Bloomberg) -- Maytag Corp., the appliance maker owned by Whirlpool Corp., recalled 1.7 million dishwashers to fix a faulty heating element that can ignite a fire, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said.
Consumers should stop using the dishwashers immediately and disconnect the power source by pulling the fuse or flipping a circuit-breaker, the agency said today in a statement. Certain Maytag, Amana, Jenn-Air, Admiral, Magic Chef, Performa and Crosley models are covered by the recall.
The manufacturer, based in Newton, Iowa, received 12 reports of fires with the plastic-tub models, including a blaze that caused extensive kitchen damage, the agency said.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Despite two pending court cases, Harbor Shores,
the largest ever development on Lake Michigan, will open on August 10
Recent Propaganda in the Herald Palladium
Golf-glorification filled last week’s Herald Palladium pages - - Whirlpool’s company paper. National tournaments on the Jack Nicklaus course at Harbor Shores; details of the events reported as if the elite were expecting the second coming. See article below to experience trumped-up sensationalism: more brain-washing of readers to legitimize the biggest lakeshore development in Michigan. Maybe biggest in all the Great Lakes. Stolen land?* Readers will forget that fact when they see quotes from famous golfers anxious to get to Harbor Shores. The propaganda will make them forget the pending court cases. (Info - savejeanklockpark.org)
Under the guise of assisting people in poverty, the most outrageous lies are from Joe Steranka, CEO of “PGA of America.” Reminiscent of Steven Colbert’s “truthiness,” he claims that having tournaments at Harbor Shores will spread the PGA core messages of charity, job creation, and environmentalism. What planet is Steranka on? No Benton Harbor residents have meaningful jobs at Harbor Shores (Whirlpool promised 2,000), the development has destroyed countless plant and animal species, and much, much more. Golf course chemical runoff is the number one cause of Great Lakes pollution. Blatant lies from PGA of America and Steranka. (PGA contact info below in bold)
Charity? Whirlpool and the PGA will do absolutely nothing to improve Benton Harbor, a city with not one decent, maintained public park or playground for children. Not one museum. Almost no jobs. More people living in poverty than any city of it’s size in the US. More misery and suffering than one can contemplate.
Further points:
--For two years Whirlpool Corp. has stolen a half million dollars worth of water from Benton Harbor for the Harbor Shores development. Whirlpool has polluted precious public Lake Michigan shoreline.
--Harbor Shores may straddle three communities, but African-American Benton Harbor is the one being decimated.
--Golf courses nationwide are failing; the sport is on the decline.
--By the 2012 PGA Tournament, the elite will have driven all residents out of Benton Harbor, many into prisons. There has been a set-up going on for decades to destroy the lives of residents.
--Nicklaus’ involvement has assisted in Whirlpool’s land heist from poor people.
There couldn’t be a stranger juxtaposition. One of the wealthiest, antiquated old white boys’ clubs, imposing a golf course (of ALL things!) on one of the most impoverished, oppressed African-American communities in America. A community which has lived through the decay of their city. This gentrification is masqueraded as charitable, and reveals complete disregard, disdain, and disrespect for Benton Harbor.
Think of what the absurd amounts of money sited in the article below could do for Benton Harbor.
The old boys’ club brings its’ aging skeletons to roam Jean Klock Park, holding golf clubs for their dying sport, to haunt and oversee the land they stole from the public.
This is nothing short of the raids that occured in the Old South when similar men dresssed in white and took the land.
* “Perhaps some of you do not own a foot of ground, remember then that this is your park, it belongs to you. Perhaps some of you have no piano or phonograph, the roll of the water murmuring in calm, roaring in storm, is your music, your piano and music box... The beach is yours, the drive is yours, the dunes are yours, all yours. It is not so much a gift from my wife and myself, it’s a gift from a little child. See to it that the park is the children’s.” -John Nellis Klock (Mr. & Mrs. Klock deeded a half mile of lake Michigan frontage to the City of Benton Harbor in 1917, in memory of their deceased daughter.)
Please contact Ellison and Steranka and inform them about some of the story behind Harbor Shores, and any other information you’d like them to have.
--Earl Ellison, Pupblic Relations, PGA, eellison@pga.com
--Joe Steranka, CEO, PGA of America
100 Ave. of the Champs
Palm Beach, FL 33418, 516-624-8400
PGAfeedback@turner.com
Putting Harbor Shores on the map
With Senior PGA Championships, Nicklaus, others hope to build a reputation for great golf
By Darren Phillips - H-P Sports Writer, Thurs., May 27, 2010
BENTON TOWNSHIP - A golf course that isn't 100 percent open yet in two years is going to host one of the biggest events of senior golf - twice.
...Through a video feed from Parker, Colo., the organization Wednesday announced the 2012 and 2014 Senior PGA Championships will be played at The Golf Club at Harbor Shores, on the Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course that straddles Benton Harbor, St. Joseph and Benton Township.
Additionally, KitchenAid, a Whirlpool brand of kitchen appliances, will be the title sponsor of the Senior PGA Championship...
Local officials and community members listened to the announcement made from Colorado Golf Club, the site of this year's Senior PGA Championship, via teleconference at Lake Michigan College's Mendel Center...
"We are always going to have a mix of great traditional sites, but we have an opportunity to identify the next generation of major sites," said Joe Steranka, the CEO of the PGA of America...
Nicklaus feels the opportunity to host such events has helped build a tradition at Valhalla, and the same can be done at other new courses such as The Golf Club at Harbor Shores...
...It's got some great holes. The seventh, eighth and ninth holes play into the dunes of Lake Michigan, there are some beautiful trees, and we have two rivers that run through. We have some spectacular holes on it. I think people are really going to enjoy the golf course. It's going to be a testing golf course from the back tees."
The official grand opening ceremony for the course is planned for Aug. 10, with Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson and Johnny Miller joining Nicklaus for a charity event titled Champions for Change...
Dates for the 2012 and 2014 tournaments have not been announced... The past few championships have had a purse of $2 million, with $360,000 awarded to the winner.
Steranka feels Harbor Shores can effectively broadcast some of the PGA of America's core messages. The PGA of America is part of We Are Golf, a coalition of national golf organizations promoting the sport's economic impact of job creation, the human impact of charity and its environmental impact.
"Those three messages about just how good our sport is are capsulized at The Golf Club at Harbor Shores," Steranka said.
"It's going to be a great platform for a major championship, but also a great platform for our sport and our industry to share that message." dphillips@TheH-P.com Full article: http://www.heraldpalladium.com/articles/2010/05/27/local_news/1456348.txt
the largest ever development on Lake Michigan, will open on August 10
Recent Propaganda in the Herald Palladium
Golf-glorification filled last week’s Herald Palladium pages - - Whirlpool’s company paper. National tournaments on the Jack Nicklaus course at Harbor Shores; details of the events reported as if the elite were expecting the second coming. See article below to experience trumped-up sensationalism: more brain-washing of readers to legitimize the biggest lakeshore development in Michigan. Maybe biggest in all the Great Lakes. Stolen land?* Readers will forget that fact when they see quotes from famous golfers anxious to get to Harbor Shores. The propaganda will make them forget the pending court cases. (Info - savejeanklockpark.org)
Under the guise of assisting people in poverty, the most outrageous lies are from Joe Steranka, CEO of “PGA of America.” Reminiscent of Steven Colbert’s “truthiness,” he claims that having tournaments at Harbor Shores will spread the PGA core messages of charity, job creation, and environmentalism. What planet is Steranka on? No Benton Harbor residents have meaningful jobs at Harbor Shores (Whirlpool promised 2,000), the development has destroyed countless plant and animal species, and much, much more. Golf course chemical runoff is the number one cause of Great Lakes pollution. Blatant lies from PGA of America and Steranka. (PGA contact info below in bold)
Charity? Whirlpool and the PGA will do absolutely nothing to improve Benton Harbor, a city with not one decent, maintained public park or playground for children. Not one museum. Almost no jobs. More people living in poverty than any city of it’s size in the US. More misery and suffering than one can contemplate.
Further points:
--For two years Whirlpool Corp. has stolen a half million dollars worth of water from Benton Harbor for the Harbor Shores development. Whirlpool has polluted precious public Lake Michigan shoreline.
--Harbor Shores may straddle three communities, but African-American Benton Harbor is the one being decimated.
--Golf courses nationwide are failing; the sport is on the decline.
--By the 2012 PGA Tournament, the elite will have driven all residents out of Benton Harbor, many into prisons. There has been a set-up going on for decades to destroy the lives of residents.
--Nicklaus’ involvement has assisted in Whirlpool’s land heist from poor people.
There couldn’t be a stranger juxtaposition. One of the wealthiest, antiquated old white boys’ clubs, imposing a golf course (of ALL things!) on one of the most impoverished, oppressed African-American communities in America. A community which has lived through the decay of their city. This gentrification is masqueraded as charitable, and reveals complete disregard, disdain, and disrespect for Benton Harbor.
Think of what the absurd amounts of money sited in the article below could do for Benton Harbor.
The old boys’ club brings its’ aging skeletons to roam Jean Klock Park, holding golf clubs for their dying sport, to haunt and oversee the land they stole from the public.
This is nothing short of the raids that occured in the Old South when similar men dresssed in white and took the land.
* “Perhaps some of you do not own a foot of ground, remember then that this is your park, it belongs to you. Perhaps some of you have no piano or phonograph, the roll of the water murmuring in calm, roaring in storm, is your music, your piano and music box... The beach is yours, the drive is yours, the dunes are yours, all yours. It is not so much a gift from my wife and myself, it’s a gift from a little child. See to it that the park is the children’s.” -John Nellis Klock (Mr. & Mrs. Klock deeded a half mile of lake Michigan frontage to the City of Benton Harbor in 1917, in memory of their deceased daughter.)
Please contact Ellison and Steranka and inform them about some of the story behind Harbor Shores, and any other information you’d like them to have.
--Earl Ellison, Pupblic Relations, PGA, eellison@pga.com
--Joe Steranka, CEO, PGA of America
100 Ave. of the Champs
Palm Beach, FL 33418, 516-624-8400
PGAfeedback@turner.com
Putting Harbor Shores on the map
With Senior PGA Championships, Nicklaus, others hope to build a reputation for great golf
By Darren Phillips - H-P Sports Writer, Thurs., May 27, 2010
BENTON TOWNSHIP - A golf course that isn't 100 percent open yet in two years is going to host one of the biggest events of senior golf - twice.
...Through a video feed from Parker, Colo., the organization Wednesday announced the 2012 and 2014 Senior PGA Championships will be played at The Golf Club at Harbor Shores, on the Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course that straddles Benton Harbor, St. Joseph and Benton Township.
Additionally, KitchenAid, a Whirlpool brand of kitchen appliances, will be the title sponsor of the Senior PGA Championship...
Local officials and community members listened to the announcement made from Colorado Golf Club, the site of this year's Senior PGA Championship, via teleconference at Lake Michigan College's Mendel Center...
"We are always going to have a mix of great traditional sites, but we have an opportunity to identify the next generation of major sites," said Joe Steranka, the CEO of the PGA of America...
Nicklaus feels the opportunity to host such events has helped build a tradition at Valhalla, and the same can be done at other new courses such as The Golf Club at Harbor Shores...
...It's got some great holes. The seventh, eighth and ninth holes play into the dunes of Lake Michigan, there are some beautiful trees, and we have two rivers that run through. We have some spectacular holes on it. I think people are really going to enjoy the golf course. It's going to be a testing golf course from the back tees."
The official grand opening ceremony for the course is planned for Aug. 10, with Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson and Johnny Miller joining Nicklaus for a charity event titled Champions for Change...
Dates for the 2012 and 2014 tournaments have not been announced... The past few championships have had a purse of $2 million, with $360,000 awarded to the winner.
Steranka feels Harbor Shores can effectively broadcast some of the PGA of America's core messages. The PGA of America is part of We Are Golf, a coalition of national golf organizations promoting the sport's economic impact of job creation, the human impact of charity and its environmental impact.
"Those three messages about just how good our sport is are capsulized at The Golf Club at Harbor Shores," Steranka said.
"It's going to be a great platform for a major championship, but also a great platform for our sport and our industry to share that message." dphillips@TheH-P.com Full article: http://www.heraldpalladium.com/articles/2010/05/27/local_news/1456348.txt
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Golf gods on hand for grand opening
[Golf Devils on hand for grand opening]
Commentary in brackets
Famous golfers Watson, Miller to join Nicklaus, Palmer for 18-hole skins event for opening of course
By Ben Sanders - H-P, Thurs., May 20, 2010
BENTON HARBOR - Jack Nicklaus will be on hand for the Aug. 10 grand opening of The Golf Club at Harbor Shores. And three famous friends will join him.
[They are bought and paid for by Whirlpool.]
Nicklaus, who designed the course, will play with golfing greats Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson and Johnny Miller in the Harbor Shores Champions for Change Golf Challenge.
It will mark the first time the foursome have played together competitively.
The day will begin with the foursome giving a golf clinic at 9:30 a.m. The golf challenge will begin at 10:30 a.m. in an 18-hole "scramble skins" format, a type of match play.
[Protesters will be there at 10am to begin the golf challenge.]
The golfers, who have won a combined 199 PGA Tour events and 35 major tournaments, at 7:30 p.m. will participate in An Evening for Champions, a roundtable discussion at Lake Michigan College's Mendel Center,
"I consider Arnold, Tom and Johnny among my closest friends in golf, so I not only look forward to getting together with them again but also having them with me as we celebrate the opening of The Golf Club at Harbor Shores," Nicklaus said in a news release. "The Harbor Shores Champions for Change event is a great opportunity to highlight how golf is being used as a vehicle for social and economic revitalization, particularly in the Benton Harbor community."
[We wonder if Arnold, Tom, and John are part of JNicklaus and Whirlpool stealing land from the people of BHarbor. The rich steal from the poor.]
A limited number of tickets for the event are available at www.HarborShoresChampions.com. The cost is $50 for the clinic and golf challenge...
[What kind of person would buy a ticket to consort with thieves?]
"We are truly honored to have four golf legends on board to celebrate the opening of this world-class resort golf venue and help us spark revitalization efforts throughout the community," Harbor Shores Managing Director Mark Hesemann said in a news release.
[They have no intention of revitalizing the community. None whatsoever. These are empty words to deceive people. They have been propagandized into thinking this is a good project - some still may believe it, likely most don't.]
Harbor Shores Marketing Director Ron Eng said discussions have taken place with CBS about filming the event, which could be aired before the 2011 Masters.
All 18 holes of the Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course are scheduled to open to the public by July 1.
[Please make sure to mark your calendar for the mass demonstration, August 10, 10am.]
[Golf Devils on hand for grand opening]
Commentary in brackets
Famous golfers Watson, Miller to join Nicklaus, Palmer for 18-hole skins event for opening of course
By Ben Sanders - H-P, Thurs., May 20, 2010
BENTON HARBOR - Jack Nicklaus will be on hand for the Aug. 10 grand opening of The Golf Club at Harbor Shores. And three famous friends will join him.
[They are bought and paid for by Whirlpool.]
Nicklaus, who designed the course, will play with golfing greats Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson and Johnny Miller in the Harbor Shores Champions for Change Golf Challenge.
It will mark the first time the foursome have played together competitively.
The day will begin with the foursome giving a golf clinic at 9:30 a.m. The golf challenge will begin at 10:30 a.m. in an 18-hole "scramble skins" format, a type of match play.
[Protesters will be there at 10am to begin the golf challenge.]
The golfers, who have won a combined 199 PGA Tour events and 35 major tournaments, at 7:30 p.m. will participate in An Evening for Champions, a roundtable discussion at Lake Michigan College's Mendel Center,
"I consider Arnold, Tom and Johnny among my closest friends in golf, so I not only look forward to getting together with them again but also having them with me as we celebrate the opening of The Golf Club at Harbor Shores," Nicklaus said in a news release. "The Harbor Shores Champions for Change event is a great opportunity to highlight how golf is being used as a vehicle for social and economic revitalization, particularly in the Benton Harbor community."
[We wonder if Arnold, Tom, and John are part of JNicklaus and Whirlpool stealing land from the people of BHarbor. The rich steal from the poor.]
A limited number of tickets for the event are available at www.HarborShoresChampions.com. The cost is $50 for the clinic and golf challenge...
[What kind of person would buy a ticket to consort with thieves?]
"We are truly honored to have four golf legends on board to celebrate the opening of this world-class resort golf venue and help us spark revitalization efforts throughout the community," Harbor Shores Managing Director Mark Hesemann said in a news release.
[They have no intention of revitalizing the community. None whatsoever. These are empty words to deceive people. They have been propagandized into thinking this is a good project - some still may believe it, likely most don't.]
Harbor Shores Marketing Director Ron Eng said discussions have taken place with CBS about filming the event, which could be aired before the 2011 Masters.
All 18 holes of the Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course are scheduled to open to the public by July 1.
[Please make sure to mark your calendar for the mass demonstration, August 10, 10am.]
Friday, May 21, 2010
Accusations fly over delays in golf course water payments delays
[How Whirlpool Continues to Steal Water]
[commentary in brackets]
By Evan Goodenow, Herald Palladium
Thurs., April 29, 2010
BENTON HARBOR - No smoking gun or leaky water pistol was revealed Wednesday over the water bill payment delays by Harbor Shores golf course developers to the city.
[No smoking gun. The commissioners dropped a bomb on Harbor Shores and Whirlpool.]
The City Commission's Planning and Economic Committee members were told by Deputy City Manager Darwin Watson that the one-year delay in the payment of $142,646 was due to the stroke and subsequent death of former Utility Services Foreman Ed Ward in 2008.
[Totally untrue. If someone died in our house, our water would be cut off.]
Watson said there was a communication breakdown during the transition period before the hiring of Michael O'Malley, water filtration plant superintendent.
[No breakdown - Whirlpool was stealing water.]
Watson said former City Managers Dwight "Pete" Mitchell and Richard Marsh filled in as utility services director for about nine months until he took over in December. Watson said neither Ward or O'Malley were to blame.
[Mitchell, Marsh, Watson, and Ward are/were in the pockets of Whirlpool and Harbor Shores.]
"Something catastrophic happened," Watson said. "You've got lag times. It's not that anybody didn't know what we're doing."
[There is no lag time when you're paying bills. Residents don't get any lag time. Why should Whirlpool?]
However, Commissioner Duane L. Seats II criticized O'Malley's oversight, noting an approximately $20,000 water payment from St. Joseph Township to the city has been delayed about a year because O'Malley hasn't sent paperwork to the township.
[Residents of Benton Harbor are requesting interest and a late fee on the payment we have not rec'd from St. Joseph township.]
"I'm behind on that," said O'Malley, who said he had to leave the meeting early to attend a baseball practice.
Seats said the payment delays were unacceptable, given Benton Harbor's dismal finances and the state financial takeover.
"It's looking like nobody knows nothing about anything," Seats said. "This is the job that pays your bills and you tell me you've got to go to baseball practice."
[Thank you, Commissioner Seats.]
Watson said Harbor Shores - a $500 million, 530-acre residential and retail project that includes an 18-hole Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course set to open in August - had commission approval to use the water and is no longer using it.
[They did not have commissioner approval to use the water for free. Stealing is
against the law.]
The bill was paid in April 2009, O'Malley said last week.
Watson said water for the course is now coming from the Paw Paw River, but Commissioner Dennis Knowles expressed skepticism about the project, which is backed by Whirlpool Corp.
"I strongly believe there was some skullduggery involved with this project," Knowles said. "You're talking about a multibillion-dollar-a-year corporation with a golf course in our city that we're really not getting any benefit from, yet you give them free water."
However, Wendy Dant Chesser, president of Cornerstone Alliance, one of the nonprofit organizations leading Harbor Shores, said the golf course no longer gets city water.
[Wendy is a main spokesperson for Whirlpool; anyone in that position has the Whirlpool version of "truth." What she's not saying is that Harbor Shores is now pumping water from Lake Mich. - for free.]
"If Commissioner Knowles has information otherwise, we need to sit down and discuss it," said Dant Chesser, reached by phone after the meeting. "We've been forthright and absolutely transparent in our usage."
[How Whirlpool Continues to Steal Water]
[commentary in brackets]
By Evan Goodenow, Herald Palladium
Thurs., April 29, 2010
BENTON HARBOR - No smoking gun or leaky water pistol was revealed Wednesday over the water bill payment delays by Harbor Shores golf course developers to the city.
[No smoking gun. The commissioners dropped a bomb on Harbor Shores and Whirlpool.]
The City Commission's Planning and Economic Committee members were told by Deputy City Manager Darwin Watson that the one-year delay in the payment of $142,646 was due to the stroke and subsequent death of former Utility Services Foreman Ed Ward in 2008.
[Totally untrue. If someone died in our house, our water would be cut off.]
Watson said there was a communication breakdown during the transition period before the hiring of Michael O'Malley, water filtration plant superintendent.
[No breakdown - Whirlpool was stealing water.]
Watson said former City Managers Dwight "Pete" Mitchell and Richard Marsh filled in as utility services director for about nine months until he took over in December. Watson said neither Ward or O'Malley were to blame.
[Mitchell, Marsh, Watson, and Ward are/were in the pockets of Whirlpool and Harbor Shores.]
"Something catastrophic happened," Watson said. "You've got lag times. It's not that anybody didn't know what we're doing."
[There is no lag time when you're paying bills. Residents don't get any lag time. Why should Whirlpool?]
However, Commissioner Duane L. Seats II criticized O'Malley's oversight, noting an approximately $20,000 water payment from St. Joseph Township to the city has been delayed about a year because O'Malley hasn't sent paperwork to the township.
[Residents of Benton Harbor are requesting interest and a late fee on the payment we have not rec'd from St. Joseph township.]
"I'm behind on that," said O'Malley, who said he had to leave the meeting early to attend a baseball practice.
Seats said the payment delays were unacceptable, given Benton Harbor's dismal finances and the state financial takeover.
"It's looking like nobody knows nothing about anything," Seats said. "This is the job that pays your bills and you tell me you've got to go to baseball practice."
[Thank you, Commissioner Seats.]
Watson said Harbor Shores - a $500 million, 530-acre residential and retail project that includes an 18-hole Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course set to open in August - had commission approval to use the water and is no longer using it.
[They did not have commissioner approval to use the water for free. Stealing is
against the law.]
The bill was paid in April 2009, O'Malley said last week.
Watson said water for the course is now coming from the Paw Paw River, but Commissioner Dennis Knowles expressed skepticism about the project, which is backed by Whirlpool Corp.
"I strongly believe there was some skullduggery involved with this project," Knowles said. "You're talking about a multibillion-dollar-a-year corporation with a golf course in our city that we're really not getting any benefit from, yet you give them free water."
However, Wendy Dant Chesser, president of Cornerstone Alliance, one of the nonprofit organizations leading Harbor Shores, said the golf course no longer gets city water.
[Wendy is a main spokesperson for Whirlpool; anyone in that position has the Whirlpool version of "truth." What she's not saying is that Harbor Shores is now pumping water from Lake Mich. - for free.]
"If Commissioner Knowles has information otherwise, we need to sit down and discuss it," said Dant Chesser, reached by phone after the meeting. "We've been forthright and absolutely transparent in our usage."
Thursday, April 22, 2010
"I work for Lansing," Harris said in a voicemail. "I don't dictate what happens."
State financial CPA and Granholm's man in Benton Harbor apparently cannot act without her say-so. Joseph Harris, in BH for about 3 weeks, has little control over the job he's being paid (by BH) $11K per month to do - maybe it takes $11K to have complete control over an employee. The following Herald Palladium article on Harris, journalistic integrity intact, is a breath of fresh air. Comments at end.
Stood up?
Financial manager's absence at Tuesday meeting viewed as snub; Harris says Lansing wouldn't allow him to attend
By Evan Goodenow, Herald Palladium, April 21, 2010
Benton Harbor - When appointed by the state in the financial takeover of Benton Harbor, Emergency Financial Manager Joseph L. Harris promised transparency, not invisibility.
So some of the Benton Harbor residents paying Harris' $11,000-per-month salary wondered why he didn't show up for a Tuesday public meeting at City Hall.
"No one was looking for him to be a messiah, but at least someone to say, 'I'm coming here to help you,'" said meeting moderator Dr. Donald C. Tynes, a member of the NAACP Benton Harbor/Twin Cities chapter. "When you had your chance to say hello, you let it go."
NAACP member and meeting organizer George Moon said he never spoke to Harris directly, but was told by Ivy Gill, City Manager Ronald Carter Jr.'s secretary, that Harris would meet with residents. Gill refused to comment, but Harris on Monday denied agreeing to meet and said organizers needed to get approval from his bosses in the state Department of Treasury.
Harris said it was irresponsible for organizers to announce a meeting was being held when it hadn't been approved by the state, but said he would attend. But on Tuesday Harris said his bosses vetoed the meeting.
"I work for Lansing," Harris said in a voicemail. "I don't dictate what happens."
Those who do made a bad call, said some of the 40 people who attended the approximately two-hour meeting. Treasury officials said on April 1 when they appointed Harris he would have a public meeting several weeks into his tenure. That would allow him time to develop drafts of budget balancing and financial recovery plans, which he has until July 1 to complete for Treasury officials.
However, Harris met with about 100 bigwigs at an April 8 invitation-only gathering in which he announced that city employee layoffs would be necessary to deal with a $300,000 projected shortfall in this fiscal year and a $1.4 million shortfall in the upcoming fiscal year.
Residents on Tuesday expressed frustration that Harris could make time for the private gathering but not for them.
"He's just a free agent collecting $11,000 a month," said resident Catherine Barnaby. "He's for us, supposedly, and he won't meet us."
Barnaby questioned who Harris was accountable to as residents read copies handed out at the meeting of a Sunday Detroit Free Press article story about Arthur Blackwell II, the Highland Park emergency financial manager accused of embezzlement.
The article detailed how Treasury officials allowed Blackwell to keep his job despite learning he had written himself checks from the financially hurting city's coffers without state approval. Blackwell wasn't fired until the Free Press began investigating.
Treasury officials and Harris weren't the only ones criticized at the meeting.
Berrien County Commissioner Marletta Seats said Gregory G. Roberts, Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm's special adviser and Faith-Based & Neighborhood Partnerships director, has been acting as a gatekeeper for Harris in violation of the separation of church and state.
Roberts was assigned by Granholm to help oversee state efforts to improve conditions in Benton Harbor after the 2003 riots.
Seats, the mother of takeover critic and Benton Harbor Commissioner Duane L. Seats, said she has been steered to Roberts when calling the state about Benton Harbor issues.
"I'm elected by the people and I've got to go through the church? Not me," she said. "I'm an evangelist too, but there is a separation."
Roberts said while he regularly confers with Harris, Deputy Commissioner for Local Government Services Valdemar Washington and State Treasurer Robert J. Kleine are Harris' bosses.
"My role is a dual role. Not just working with faith-based leaders, but with community leaders like in Benton Harbor," said Roberts, when reached by phone after the meeting.
"She clearly does not have all of the facts. She's looking at Greg Roberts through a portion of the lens."
Roberts said most residents will eventually appreciate Harris - Detroit's auditor general from 1995 to 2005 - due to Harris' financial acumen.
For now, residents like Willie Lark, owner of Lark & Sons Barbecue, remain skeptical. Lark said he resents that while the state appointed Harris, residents of the nearly broke city have to pay him.
"If I send somebody to work at Lark's, I'm paying them," he said. "If you send somebody to Lark's, you need to pay them."
COMMENTS: Harris says he works for Lansing -- why isn't Lansing paying him? He's losing the peoples' trust and will have to work to attain it (if he cares). He met with Whirlpool bigwigs, but not residents - that says it all. Harris is a pawn in "corporate fascism" (total merging of government and business interests). Detroit tried to get rid of Harris - Mayor Dave Bing finally did. Goodenow reports the Free Press investigated another financial manager; how about the HP investigating? Start with Whirlpool. Granholm adviser Greg Roberts was assigned to look out for Whirlpool's best interests and their takeover of BH. (The faith-based part of his job has absolutely no place in government.) Ms. Seats has the facts on Roberts - she went to high school with him.
State financial CPA and Granholm's man in Benton Harbor apparently cannot act without her say-so. Joseph Harris, in BH for about 3 weeks, has little control over the job he's being paid (by BH) $11K per month to do - maybe it takes $11K to have complete control over an employee. The following Herald Palladium article on Harris, journalistic integrity intact, is a breath of fresh air. Comments at end.
Stood up?
Financial manager's absence at Tuesday meeting viewed as snub; Harris says Lansing wouldn't allow him to attend
By Evan Goodenow, Herald Palladium, April 21, 2010
Benton Harbor - When appointed by the state in the financial takeover of Benton Harbor, Emergency Financial Manager Joseph L. Harris promised transparency, not invisibility.
So some of the Benton Harbor residents paying Harris' $11,000-per-month salary wondered why he didn't show up for a Tuesday public meeting at City Hall.
"No one was looking for him to be a messiah, but at least someone to say, 'I'm coming here to help you,'" said meeting moderator Dr. Donald C. Tynes, a member of the NAACP Benton Harbor/Twin Cities chapter. "When you had your chance to say hello, you let it go."
NAACP member and meeting organizer George Moon said he never spoke to Harris directly, but was told by Ivy Gill, City Manager Ronald Carter Jr.'s secretary, that Harris would meet with residents. Gill refused to comment, but Harris on Monday denied agreeing to meet and said organizers needed to get approval from his bosses in the state Department of Treasury.
Harris said it was irresponsible for organizers to announce a meeting was being held when it hadn't been approved by the state, but said he would attend. But on Tuesday Harris said his bosses vetoed the meeting.
"I work for Lansing," Harris said in a voicemail. "I don't dictate what happens."
Those who do made a bad call, said some of the 40 people who attended the approximately two-hour meeting. Treasury officials said on April 1 when they appointed Harris he would have a public meeting several weeks into his tenure. That would allow him time to develop drafts of budget balancing and financial recovery plans, which he has until July 1 to complete for Treasury officials.
However, Harris met with about 100 bigwigs at an April 8 invitation-only gathering in which he announced that city employee layoffs would be necessary to deal with a $300,000 projected shortfall in this fiscal year and a $1.4 million shortfall in the upcoming fiscal year.
Residents on Tuesday expressed frustration that Harris could make time for the private gathering but not for them.
"He's just a free agent collecting $11,000 a month," said resident Catherine Barnaby. "He's for us, supposedly, and he won't meet us."
Barnaby questioned who Harris was accountable to as residents read copies handed out at the meeting of a Sunday Detroit Free Press article story about Arthur Blackwell II, the Highland Park emergency financial manager accused of embezzlement.
The article detailed how Treasury officials allowed Blackwell to keep his job despite learning he had written himself checks from the financially hurting city's coffers without state approval. Blackwell wasn't fired until the Free Press began investigating.
Treasury officials and Harris weren't the only ones criticized at the meeting.
Berrien County Commissioner Marletta Seats said Gregory G. Roberts, Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm's special adviser and Faith-Based & Neighborhood Partnerships director, has been acting as a gatekeeper for Harris in violation of the separation of church and state.
Roberts was assigned by Granholm to help oversee state efforts to improve conditions in Benton Harbor after the 2003 riots.
Seats, the mother of takeover critic and Benton Harbor Commissioner Duane L. Seats, said she has been steered to Roberts when calling the state about Benton Harbor issues.
"I'm elected by the people and I've got to go through the church? Not me," she said. "I'm an evangelist too, but there is a separation."
Roberts said while he regularly confers with Harris, Deputy Commissioner for Local Government Services Valdemar Washington and State Treasurer Robert J. Kleine are Harris' bosses.
"My role is a dual role. Not just working with faith-based leaders, but with community leaders like in Benton Harbor," said Roberts, when reached by phone after the meeting.
"She clearly does not have all of the facts. She's looking at Greg Roberts through a portion of the lens."
Roberts said most residents will eventually appreciate Harris - Detroit's auditor general from 1995 to 2005 - due to Harris' financial acumen.
For now, residents like Willie Lark, owner of Lark & Sons Barbecue, remain skeptical. Lark said he resents that while the state appointed Harris, residents of the nearly broke city have to pay him.
"If I send somebody to work at Lark's, I'm paying them," he said. "If you send somebody to Lark's, you need to pay them."
COMMENTS: Harris says he works for Lansing -- why isn't Lansing paying him? He's losing the peoples' trust and will have to work to attain it (if he cares). He met with Whirlpool bigwigs, but not residents - that says it all. Harris is a pawn in "corporate fascism" (total merging of government and business interests). Detroit tried to get rid of Harris - Mayor Dave Bing finally did. Goodenow reports the Free Press investigated another financial manager; how about the HP investigating? Start with Whirlpool. Granholm adviser Greg Roberts was assigned to look out for Whirlpool's best interests and their takeover of BH. (The faith-based part of his job has absolutely no place in government.) Ms. Seats has the facts on Roberts - she went to high school with him.
Sunday, April 04, 2010
Prosecutor authorizes charges in BH brawls
[The Herald Palladium has all the "right" language to describe BH activities; in this headline it's
"brawls." The more inflammatory, the better, to foster racist bigotry towards BH.]
By Julie Swidwa - H-P (excerpts & commentary)
April 2, 2010
ST. JOSEPH - Berrien County Prosecutor Art Cotter has authorized charges against several people in connection with a disturbance Tuesday in Benton Harbor.
Cotter said seven people were charged in connection with a large fight that happened between 6:30 and 7 p.m., and two more people were arrested in connection with a second, smaller disturbance...
COMMENT: BH history tells us that police instigate fights, and it could be true in this case.
State police and the Berrien County Sheriff's Department were called to help Benton Harbor police break up a large crowd in the neighborhood bounded by Lavette and May streets and Broadway and Empire Avenue. The later incident happened in the McAllister Street area, Cotter said.
COMMENT: Cotter has waited for months for something to happen since there has been a recent drop in BH residents being arrested. Crime in BH is down.
Initial reports from Benton Harbor Police Chief Roger Lange said all the people arrested were ages 14-19. But the arrest list provided by Cotter Thursday indicated some of the people were much older.
_______, 36, and ________, 38, are among those charged with resisting and obstructing police, Cotter said. __________, 19, and _________, 18, face that same charge, a two-year-felony.
COMMENT: Does the punishment fit the crime? Is a courthouse goal to give all BH residents a record (a life-ruining stigma)?
Also arrested in connection with the early incident were: ____________, 17, charged with assault and battery; and ______________, 18, charged with disturbing the peace. Those are misdemeanors carrying a maximum penalty of 93 and 30 days in jail, respectively.
COMMENT: This is a waste of taxpayers' money. The hidden hand of Whirlpool is evident to those who have paid attention. How can Harbor Shores development be completed with all these BH residents in the way?
Cotter said police were called again later Tuesday night to a disturbance on McAllister Street in Benton Harbor. Arrested there were ______________, 22, and ___________, 44. They both are charged with disturbing the peace, Cotter said.
COMMENT: Police were called by who? other police?
Lange said that, to his knowledge, there were no serious injuries related to Tuesday night's events.
The chief said state police and the Berrien County Sheriff's Department will continue to assist Benton Harbor police in patrolling the neighborhoods. He said the first warm days typically bring large crowds into the streets.
COMMENT: Warm weather brings people outside all over the world. The state police and the sheriff have lazer beams pointed at Benton Harbor. As residents know too well, there are cops in other nearby jurisdictions who have also used BH as a racist's "playground." People in BH have been arrested after being told they couldn't walk down a certain street at a certain time. And, of course there's the infamous drug planting...Hopefully the new BH police chief can put a stop to gratuitous and juvenile arrests.
jswidwa@TheH-P.com
[The Herald Palladium has all the "right" language to describe BH activities; in this headline it's
"brawls." The more inflammatory, the better, to foster racist bigotry towards BH.]
By Julie Swidwa - H-P (excerpts & commentary)
April 2, 2010
ST. JOSEPH - Berrien County Prosecutor Art Cotter has authorized charges against several people in connection with a disturbance Tuesday in Benton Harbor.
Cotter said seven people were charged in connection with a large fight that happened between 6:30 and 7 p.m., and two more people were arrested in connection with a second, smaller disturbance...
COMMENT: BH history tells us that police instigate fights, and it could be true in this case.
State police and the Berrien County Sheriff's Department were called to help Benton Harbor police break up a large crowd in the neighborhood bounded by Lavette and May streets and Broadway and Empire Avenue. The later incident happened in the McAllister Street area, Cotter said.
COMMENT: Cotter has waited for months for something to happen since there has been a recent drop in BH residents being arrested. Crime in BH is down.
Initial reports from Benton Harbor Police Chief Roger Lange said all the people arrested were ages 14-19. But the arrest list provided by Cotter Thursday indicated some of the people were much older.
_______, 36, and ________, 38, are among those charged with resisting and obstructing police, Cotter said. __________, 19, and _________, 18, face that same charge, a two-year-felony.
COMMENT: Does the punishment fit the crime? Is a courthouse goal to give all BH residents a record (a life-ruining stigma)?
Also arrested in connection with the early incident were: ____________, 17, charged with assault and battery; and ______________, 18, charged with disturbing the peace. Those are misdemeanors carrying a maximum penalty of 93 and 30 days in jail, respectively.
COMMENT: This is a waste of taxpayers' money. The hidden hand of Whirlpool is evident to those who have paid attention. How can Harbor Shores development be completed with all these BH residents in the way?
Cotter said police were called again later Tuesday night to a disturbance on McAllister Street in Benton Harbor. Arrested there were ______________, 22, and ___________, 44. They both are charged with disturbing the peace, Cotter said.
COMMENT: Police were called by who? other police?
Lange said that, to his knowledge, there were no serious injuries related to Tuesday night's events.
The chief said state police and the Berrien County Sheriff's Department will continue to assist Benton Harbor police in patrolling the neighborhoods. He said the first warm days typically bring large crowds into the streets.
COMMENT: Warm weather brings people outside all over the world. The state police and the sheriff have lazer beams pointed at Benton Harbor. As residents know too well, there are cops in other nearby jurisdictions who have also used BH as a racist's "playground." People in BH have been arrested after being told they couldn't walk down a certain street at a certain time. And, of course there's the infamous drug planting...Hopefully the new BH police chief can put a stop to gratuitous and juvenile arrests.
jswidwa@TheH-P.com
Thursday, April 01, 2010
Michigan's recent history of state financial takeovers is more than discouraging. Under Gov. Granholm, Hamtramck, Highland Park, and Pontiac all experienced takeovers where the financial managers harbored hidden agendas involving embezzlement. In Highland Park, for example, the city eventually got the gov. to remove two of these people; the replacement, Mr. Blackwell is currently on trial for stealing $300,000.00; Blackwell's replacement, Mr. Cooper was recently caught having written a $13,000.00 check to himself. A cynic might wonder why the gov. continues to appoint people with criminal intentions to conduct her takeovers.
The following article includes commentary clarifying some important points reported by the Herald Palladium in "Whirlpool fashion." It's not an exaggeration to say there exists a "Berrien County state of mind," instilled through many decades by the corporation. Exceptions, of course, can be found, but the Herald Palladium is not one of them. In fact, the HP might be Whirlpool's most important propaganda tool.
TAKEOVER (with commentary)
Governor approves state manager to take control of Benton Harbor's finances
By Evan Goodenow, H-P
March 26
BENTON HARBOR - Years of money mismanagement and last week's inability to make payroll led Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm on Thursday to reject Benton Harbor's appeal of a takeover by a state emergency financial manager.
COMMENT: More than enough money was available for payroll. This is just one excuse the gov. is using to justify a takeover.
"A local government financial emergency exists in the city of Benton Harbor because no satisfactory plan exists to resolve a serious financial problem," Granholm wrote in a letter to Mayor Wilce L. Cooke. "The fact that Benton Harbor city officials were confronted by the imminent risk of payless paydays a mere two days after the city's (appeal) hearing is the latest indication of a financial emergency in the city which city officials do not appear to have the ability to address without outside assistance."
COMMENT: City mngr. Ron Carter and a majority of city commissioners have made it clear they have the ability to address all financial issues, and that the state need only provide a 5 million dollar loan. (A drop in the bucket to aid a municipality.)
The rejection comes after Granholm's Feb. 26 declaration of a financial emergency in Benton Harbor. The declaration was in response to a Jan. 27 report to Granholm by a state financial review team.
Granholm outlined the team's findings in her letter:
-- A 13.1 percent increase in the city's general fund deficit for the 2008-2009 fiscal year.
-- Eight years of tardy audit reports to the state Department of Treasury.
-- A steep decline in the city's money on hand from $1.7 million in 2006 to $315,000 last year.
-- An inability to make minimum contributions to city worker pension funds.
-- Annual bank overdraft charges of $80,000 to $100,000.
City Manager Ronald Carter Jr., appointed Dec. 28 after about two months as a consultant, contends a takeover is unnecessary due to his financial recovery plan and reforms made in response to the team's findings. However, Carter never challenged the majority of the findings at the March 17 appeal hearing. Granholm noted Carter's comments in her letter.
COMMENT: At the appeal hearing Carter may not have challenged findings, but he explained that he works daily on a 62 point plan to make the city solvent. What's important is that the takeover is unnecessary, that Carter's plan is being implemented, and that the governor's not-so-hidden agenda is to help Whirlpool take even more BH lakefront land for the massive Harbor Shores development.
"I find them to be an honest assessment of what has transpired," Carter said at the hearing. "I do believe that a financial manager is a prudent next step for the city of Benton Harbor."
The emergency manager will be appointed by the Local Emergency Financial Assistance Loan Board, which consists of State Treasurer Robert J. Kleine, State Budget Director Bob Emerson and Department of Energy Labor & Economic Growth Director Stanley "Skip" Pruss. The board is expected to meet next week, and an emergency manager is likely to be on board in mid-April, according to Terry Stanton, a treasury department spokesman.
COMMENT: We can all say goodbye to Benton Harbor High School, the Water Dept., lakefront property, the beach, downtown, and goodbye Benton Harbor.
The emergency manager will have sweeping powers, including the right to hire and fire, renegotiate labor contracts and sell properties. But until the manager takes over, Carter, Mayor Cooke and city commissioners have full autonomy, Stanton said.
"I'm not saying (Carter has) tacit approval to do whatever he wants, but there's no requirements beyond what an individual in his position normally does," Stanton said.
Carter, Cooke and Commissioners Juanita Henry, Dennis Knowles and Marcus Muhammad didn't return calls for comment Thursday, and Commissioner Eddie Marshall refused to comment. Commissioner Duane L. Seats II, who took office in January along with Knowles and Muhammad, expressed frustration that the new commissioners and Carter weren't given more time to reform Benton Harbor.
The city has a $4.1 million overall deficit and has had decades of high poverty, unemployment and political turmoil.
COMMENT: Small deficit for a municipality which the gov. could easily grant a loan for. Whirlpool and the state owe at least that much to Benton Harbor for many years of
many injustices.
Seats said he hopes the emergency manager takes the ideas of Carter and commissioners seriously "with the goal of a clean, safe, stable city."
COMMENT: Good point. However, if the state took Carter/commissioners seriously, there would be no takeover.
Noting Michigan's projected $1.5 billion shortfall for the next fiscal year, Seats accused state officials of hypocrisy.
"It's like a cocaine addict telling someone smoking cigarettes they're in bad shape," he said. "How can they tell us we're in bad shape when they're in financial chaos?"
However, unlike the federal government and Benton Harbor, states are legally forbidden from running deficits, meaning Michigan has been forced in recent years to cut services and workers. If those difficult decisions need to be made in Benton Harbor, city commissioners need to support them, said Commissioner Bryan Joseph, a takeover supporter.
COMMENT: Joseph is aligned with Whirlpool.
"It's obvious we need help, and we can't afford to fight this," said Joseph, who blames the city's financial woes on Cooke and some current and previous commissioners. "The sooner we embrace the emergency manager the sooner we can get on the road to recovery."
COMMENT: Joseph knows BH residents will never support a takeover.
Joseph and Commissioner James Hightower both urged Carter and the commissioners not to make any major moves until the emergency manager takes over. Both said the city can't afford to pay both an emergency manager and Carter, who earns $95,000 annually.
COMMENT: Outrageous. A competent city manager may get fired? For a financial mngr. who, if Michigan's takeover history tells us anything, may move in to write huge checks to her(him)self and/or take lakefront land for Whirlpool.
"I don't feel we'll need a city manager," Hightower said.
Commissioner David Shaw said he supports the takeover but wonders what the emergency manager's deficit elimination plan will be.
"Is he (or she) going to bring in new ways to bring in revenue or is the plan to sell off the assets of the city?" Shaw asked. "How long will it take, and will they include the commission in decision-making?"
http://www.heraldpalladium.com/articles/2010/03/26/local_news/1304353.txt
The following article includes commentary clarifying some important points reported by the Herald Palladium in "Whirlpool fashion." It's not an exaggeration to say there exists a "Berrien County state of mind," instilled through many decades by the corporation. Exceptions, of course, can be found, but the Herald Palladium is not one of them. In fact, the HP might be Whirlpool's most important propaganda tool.
TAKEOVER (with commentary)
Governor approves state manager to take control of Benton Harbor's finances
By Evan Goodenow, H-P
March 26
BENTON HARBOR - Years of money mismanagement and last week's inability to make payroll led Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm on Thursday to reject Benton Harbor's appeal of a takeover by a state emergency financial manager.
COMMENT: More than enough money was available for payroll. This is just one excuse the gov. is using to justify a takeover.
"A local government financial emergency exists in the city of Benton Harbor because no satisfactory plan exists to resolve a serious financial problem," Granholm wrote in a letter to Mayor Wilce L. Cooke. "The fact that Benton Harbor city officials were confronted by the imminent risk of payless paydays a mere two days after the city's (appeal) hearing is the latest indication of a financial emergency in the city which city officials do not appear to have the ability to address without outside assistance."
COMMENT: City mngr. Ron Carter and a majority of city commissioners have made it clear they have the ability to address all financial issues, and that the state need only provide a 5 million dollar loan. (A drop in the bucket to aid a municipality.)
The rejection comes after Granholm's Feb. 26 declaration of a financial emergency in Benton Harbor. The declaration was in response to a Jan. 27 report to Granholm by a state financial review team.
Granholm outlined the team's findings in her letter:
-- A 13.1 percent increase in the city's general fund deficit for the 2008-2009 fiscal year.
-- Eight years of tardy audit reports to the state Department of Treasury.
-- A steep decline in the city's money on hand from $1.7 million in 2006 to $315,000 last year.
-- An inability to make minimum contributions to city worker pension funds.
-- Annual bank overdraft charges of $80,000 to $100,000.
City Manager Ronald Carter Jr., appointed Dec. 28 after about two months as a consultant, contends a takeover is unnecessary due to his financial recovery plan and reforms made in response to the team's findings. However, Carter never challenged the majority of the findings at the March 17 appeal hearing. Granholm noted Carter's comments in her letter.
COMMENT: At the appeal hearing Carter may not have challenged findings, but he explained that he works daily on a 62 point plan to make the city solvent. What's important is that the takeover is unnecessary, that Carter's plan is being implemented, and that the governor's not-so-hidden agenda is to help Whirlpool take even more BH lakefront land for the massive Harbor Shores development.
"I find them to be an honest assessment of what has transpired," Carter said at the hearing. "I do believe that a financial manager is a prudent next step for the city of Benton Harbor."
The emergency manager will be appointed by the Local Emergency Financial Assistance Loan Board, which consists of State Treasurer Robert J. Kleine, State Budget Director Bob Emerson and Department of Energy Labor & Economic Growth Director Stanley "Skip" Pruss. The board is expected to meet next week, and an emergency manager is likely to be on board in mid-April, according to Terry Stanton, a treasury department spokesman.
COMMENT: We can all say goodbye to Benton Harbor High School, the Water Dept., lakefront property, the beach, downtown, and goodbye Benton Harbor.
The emergency manager will have sweeping powers, including the right to hire and fire, renegotiate labor contracts and sell properties. But until the manager takes over, Carter, Mayor Cooke and city commissioners have full autonomy, Stanton said.
"I'm not saying (Carter has) tacit approval to do whatever he wants, but there's no requirements beyond what an individual in his position normally does," Stanton said.
Carter, Cooke and Commissioners Juanita Henry, Dennis Knowles and Marcus Muhammad didn't return calls for comment Thursday, and Commissioner Eddie Marshall refused to comment. Commissioner Duane L. Seats II, who took office in January along with Knowles and Muhammad, expressed frustration that the new commissioners and Carter weren't given more time to reform Benton Harbor.
The city has a $4.1 million overall deficit and has had decades of high poverty, unemployment and political turmoil.
COMMENT: Small deficit for a municipality which the gov. could easily grant a loan for. Whirlpool and the state owe at least that much to Benton Harbor for many years of
many injustices.
Seats said he hopes the emergency manager takes the ideas of Carter and commissioners seriously "with the goal of a clean, safe, stable city."
COMMENT: Good point. However, if the state took Carter/commissioners seriously, there would be no takeover.
Noting Michigan's projected $1.5 billion shortfall for the next fiscal year, Seats accused state officials of hypocrisy.
"It's like a cocaine addict telling someone smoking cigarettes they're in bad shape," he said. "How can they tell us we're in bad shape when they're in financial chaos?"
However, unlike the federal government and Benton Harbor, states are legally forbidden from running deficits, meaning Michigan has been forced in recent years to cut services and workers. If those difficult decisions need to be made in Benton Harbor, city commissioners need to support them, said Commissioner Bryan Joseph, a takeover supporter.
COMMENT: Joseph is aligned with Whirlpool.
"It's obvious we need help, and we can't afford to fight this," said Joseph, who blames the city's financial woes on Cooke and some current and previous commissioners. "The sooner we embrace the emergency manager the sooner we can get on the road to recovery."
COMMENT: Joseph knows BH residents will never support a takeover.
Joseph and Commissioner James Hightower both urged Carter and the commissioners not to make any major moves until the emergency manager takes over. Both said the city can't afford to pay both an emergency manager and Carter, who earns $95,000 annually.
COMMENT: Outrageous. A competent city manager may get fired? For a financial mngr. who, if Michigan's takeover history tells us anything, may move in to write huge checks to her(him)self and/or take lakefront land for Whirlpool.
"I don't feel we'll need a city manager," Hightower said.
Commissioner David Shaw said he supports the takeover but wonders what the emergency manager's deficit elimination plan will be.
"Is he (or she) going to bring in new ways to bring in revenue or is the plan to sell off the assets of the city?" Shaw asked. "How long will it take, and will they include the commission in decision-making?"
http://www.heraldpalladium.com/articles/2010/03/26/local_news/1304353.txt
Friday, March 26, 2010
Opponents of park privatization appeal to state Supreme Court
By Eartha Jane Melzer 3/25/10
Benton Harbor residents that oppose the transformation of the city’s lakefront park into a private golf course are appealing a recent Court of Appeals ruling that OK’d the golf development.
The Friends of Jean Klock Park warn that if the ruling is allowed to stand it will clear the way for further corporate takeovers of public land. The group said:
“We feel more strongly than ever that the Trial Court and Court of Appeals erred in their decisions and we are deeply concerned about the dangerous precedent that has been set. The decision of the Appeals Court will most certainly clear a path for corporations and government to take dedicated public park land and use it for private commercial purposes. People who make a gift, who leave a legacy like the Klocks, should know that their legacy will be protected in the future. Unless the Michigan Supreme Court reverses the lower court’s decision, “those who do not own a foot of ground…have no piano or phonograph”, as John Klock promised at the dedication ceremony, are the biggest losers, because the park is no longer theirs.”
Jean Klock Park was donated to Benton Harbor in 1917. In 2006 the city agreed to lease 22 acres at the center of Jean Klock park to developers for 105 years. The city was given contaminated former industrial parcels in trade for the park’s lakeside dunes.
http://michiganmessenger.com/36141/opponents-of-park-privatization-appeal-to-state-supreme-court
By Eartha Jane Melzer 3/25/10
Benton Harbor residents that oppose the transformation of the city’s lakefront park into a private golf course are appealing a recent Court of Appeals ruling that OK’d the golf development.
The Friends of Jean Klock Park warn that if the ruling is allowed to stand it will clear the way for further corporate takeovers of public land. The group said:
“We feel more strongly than ever that the Trial Court and Court of Appeals erred in their decisions and we are deeply concerned about the dangerous precedent that has been set. The decision of the Appeals Court will most certainly clear a path for corporations and government to take dedicated public park land and use it for private commercial purposes. People who make a gift, who leave a legacy like the Klocks, should know that their legacy will be protected in the future. Unless the Michigan Supreme Court reverses the lower court’s decision, “those who do not own a foot of ground…have no piano or phonograph”, as John Klock promised at the dedication ceremony, are the biggest losers, because the park is no longer theirs.”
Jean Klock Park was donated to Benton Harbor in 1917. In 2006 the city agreed to lease 22 acres at the center of Jean Klock park to developers for 105 years. The city was given contaminated former industrial parcels in trade for the park’s lakeside dunes.
http://michiganmessenger.com/36141/opponents-of-park-privatization-appeal-to-state-supreme-court
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
What State Takeovers Mean For Our Communities
By Marian Kramer
“In Highland Park, Michigan, the state takeover of our city meant taking away the vote for folks to elect their city officials. It meant the selling off of all of our different assets without the people’s consent, without the vote of the people. It meant the City Council no longer had a decision making role. All decisions were in the hands of the dictatorship of the ‘appointed’ Financial Manager. The Financial Manager only adhered to the Governor and whatever board the Governor set up. It meant there were a bunch of layoffs. We operated with a bare minimal. They contracted out a lot of the work. We only had one or two inspectors for the whole city. They said we were broke, but millions of dollars went out to private contractors. They shut down the only public library in the city. They tried to privatize the water but we won that back. They were going to privatize the management of the water with 80% of profits going to the management company and 20% to the city of Highland Park. It meant that the citizens of Highland Park would be responsible for any financial needs for fixing equipment, etc., not the management, although they were making 80% of the profits. The whole process shows that government and the corporations work hand in hand today and the form of rule in America is not democracy for the people.”
Marian Kramer is co-chair of the National Welfare Rights Organization
http://www.peoplestribune.org/PT.2010.03/PT.2010.03.12.html#twohttp://www.peoplestribune.org/PT.2010.03/PT.2010.03.12.html#two
By Marian Kramer
“In Highland Park, Michigan, the state takeover of our city meant taking away the vote for folks to elect their city officials. It meant the selling off of all of our different assets without the people’s consent, without the vote of the people. It meant the City Council no longer had a decision making role. All decisions were in the hands of the dictatorship of the ‘appointed’ Financial Manager. The Financial Manager only adhered to the Governor and whatever board the Governor set up. It meant there were a bunch of layoffs. We operated with a bare minimal. They contracted out a lot of the work. We only had one or two inspectors for the whole city. They said we were broke, but millions of dollars went out to private contractors. They shut down the only public library in the city. They tried to privatize the water but we won that back. They were going to privatize the management of the water with 80% of profits going to the management company and 20% to the city of Highland Park. It meant that the citizens of Highland Park would be responsible for any financial needs for fixing equipment, etc., not the management, although they were making 80% of the profits. The whole process shows that government and the corporations work hand in hand today and the form of rule in America is not democracy for the people.”
Marian Kramer is co-chair of the National Welfare Rights Organization
http://www.peoplestribune.org/PT.2010.03/PT.2010.03.12.html#twohttp://www.peoplestribune.org/PT.2010.03/PT.2010.03.12.html#two
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Letter to Editor with Rev. Pinkney's commentary in brackets.
Emergency manager a critical, needed step for BH
Editor, (3/12 Herald Palladium)
I am a longtime resident of our city and a member of the Benton Harbor City Commission. I am writing to express my full support for the governor's appointment of an emergency financial manager for the city of Benton Harbor.
[Joseph expresses this opinion because he fully supports Whirlpool and Harbor Shores development. Without the state takeover, Whirlpool could not complete HShores.]
Recently Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced her decision to appoint an emergency financial manager for Benton Harbor. This decision was based on significant work done by a Benton Harbor Finance Review Team and the state Treasury Department. While it may, in the short term, reflect poorly on the city of Benton Harbor, it is an excellent opportunity to address issues that have plagued the city.
[Granholm has been working hand in had with Whirlpool and HShores developers for a long time. They want the remaining lakefront land.]
Public Act 72 of 1990, the Local Government Fiscal Responsibility Act, requires that the governor make a decision within 30 days of receiving a financial review team report that identifies significant issues within the city. A report was submitted to Gov. Granholm by the Benton Harbor Financial Review Team on Jan. 27. Gov. Granholm agreed with the conclusions of the report and has determined that a financial emergency exists within the city of Benton Harbor. The governor has recommended the appointment of an emergency financial manager.
[Why does Granholm respond to a BH financial emergency now, when one has existed for many years? Benton Harbor's city government has never been on her radar screen. And, a city manager has recently come along, in concert with a more than competent city commission. Solutions to financial problems are finally possible, and she wants to do a takeover? Sounds very much like she has a (not so hidden) agenda.
And, it's common knowledge that the poor job Granholm has done calls for a takeover of the state finances.]
As you may be aware, there is significant transformation occurring in the community now. A strong, effective municipal structure is needed to catalyze these activities. The appointment of the emergency financial manager is a critical step in stabilizing Benton Harbor and making it a great place to live, work and play.
[It is critical that we stop Gov. Granholm, her cronies, and Whirlpool from taking over the city. They want the remaining lakefront land. Desperately. Whirlpool would also like to continue having Benton Harbor pay their water bills. And more.]
Bryan Joseph, BH City Commissioner
Emergency manager a critical, needed step for BH
Editor, (3/12 Herald Palladium)
I am a longtime resident of our city and a member of the Benton Harbor City Commission. I am writing to express my full support for the governor's appointment of an emergency financial manager for the city of Benton Harbor.
[Joseph expresses this opinion because he fully supports Whirlpool and Harbor Shores development. Without the state takeover, Whirlpool could not complete HShores.]
Recently Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced her decision to appoint an emergency financial manager for Benton Harbor. This decision was based on significant work done by a Benton Harbor Finance Review Team and the state Treasury Department. While it may, in the short term, reflect poorly on the city of Benton Harbor, it is an excellent opportunity to address issues that have plagued the city.
[Granholm has been working hand in had with Whirlpool and HShores developers for a long time. They want the remaining lakefront land.]
Public Act 72 of 1990, the Local Government Fiscal Responsibility Act, requires that the governor make a decision within 30 days of receiving a financial review team report that identifies significant issues within the city. A report was submitted to Gov. Granholm by the Benton Harbor Financial Review Team on Jan. 27. Gov. Granholm agreed with the conclusions of the report and has determined that a financial emergency exists within the city of Benton Harbor. The governor has recommended the appointment of an emergency financial manager.
[Why does Granholm respond to a BH financial emergency now, when one has existed for many years? Benton Harbor's city government has never been on her radar screen. And, a city manager has recently come along, in concert with a more than competent city commission. Solutions to financial problems are finally possible, and she wants to do a takeover? Sounds very much like she has a (not so hidden) agenda.
And, it's common knowledge that the poor job Granholm has done calls for a takeover of the state finances.]
As you may be aware, there is significant transformation occurring in the community now. A strong, effective municipal structure is needed to catalyze these activities. The appointment of the emergency financial manager is a critical step in stabilizing Benton Harbor and making it a great place to live, work and play.
[It is critical that we stop Gov. Granholm, her cronies, and Whirlpool from taking over the city. They want the remaining lakefront land. Desperately. Whirlpool would also like to continue having Benton Harbor pay their water bills. And more.]
Bryan Joseph, BH City Commissioner
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