Iwant a jobwithWayneCounty.
Not one of the jobswhere people
actually have to work, and work
hard, though. I want one of these
executive jobs that I keep reading
about in the daily newspapers and
hearing about on TV. You know, one
of the jobs where they pay me a
salary of $200,000 a year plus loads
and loads of benefits including
retirement contributions at five
times the amount I manage to put
in and health insurance, with den-
tal, and life insurance…all those
terrific perks that executives used
to get when the economywas boom-
ing.
Oh, and I want that county corpo-
ration or foundation or whatever it
is that all those other big businesses
fund with contributions to pay me a
$75,000 bonus, too, for showing up.
So maybe I'm not qualified, but
that really hasn't been a problem in
county government so far, has it?
OK, OK, if I have to work, how
about this? I could spend my time
meeting with other county man-
agers and planning things we were
going to do, maybe, if we got time,
because, you know, we are busy,
busy people.
Like we have to take advantage
of that dental plan and get our teeth
whitened so we look nice at the
meetings and on TV. I'm qualified
for that.
And if you nosy taxpayers are
going to expect me to do something
for your money, I guess I could go
around to other county offices and
ask my underlings what they were
doing and how it was going. If I
have to, heck, I'll even meet with
them personally like in a confer-
ence room or something. But some-
body better bring coffee and dough-
nuts, unless it's an afternoon meet-
ing, then coffee and desserts would
be more appropriate. But no blue-
berry, because it might stain my
nice newwhite teeth.
And if I get you know, like bored
or something, with the meetings
and scolding underlings and having
coffee, I could
take a new job
doing some-
thing else. Oh, I
don't know, maybe at the airport
because that job would have lots of
interesting benefits, like Hawaii,
Cancun, Rome….but I digress.
But I'm not resigning for free,
you guys, I mean evenwith the trav-
el and the new office and lots more
underlings to order about, you tax-
payers better make it worth my
while…oh, I don't know, times are
tough so just a $50,000 annual bump
or $1,000 aweek raisewould be OK.
Of course, you will also pay me a
year of severance at full pay, too,
right? And all my sick and personal
and vacation days, too, don't forget
those.
A
SSOCIATED
N
EWSPAPERS OF
M
ICHIGAN
P
AGE
6
November 3, 2011
Tuesday is an important day in your life.
Too bad somany don't realize, acknowledge or understand
the responsibility and honor Election Day entails for them.
They are, after all, busy. They have jobs, they have hobbies,
they have classes, they have children who need them, they
have lives to live, obligations, schedules to keep, things to do.
They simply don't grasp that Election Day is what makes
that life possible. Without Election Day and all it symbolizes
and entails, their busy lives would be far different and the
control of their schedulesmost likely in other hands.
Throughout the world people have put their lives on the
line for the very privilege somany avoid and take for granted
at every level of government in our country. What the pundits
are calling the Arab Spring, when people rose up against
their governments in Egypt and Libya, many sacrificing their
lives to bring democracy, and free elections, to their coun-
tries, is taken for granted by those here who enjoy all the
privileges of freedomwhile ignoring the debt they owe for it.
We cannot help but recall the image of the first elections
in Iraq after Saddam Hussein was overthrown. People who
had been oppressed, tortured and controlled by a dictatorial
regime walked miles to cast their vote and proudly raise
their purple ink-stained fingers for the rest of the world to
see.
Here, we are often too busy with themundane tasks of liv-
ing in a world of freedom to take a moment, or an hour, to
interrupt our own self-important schedules to go to the
polling place, stand in line and cast our vote. It has been said
before, so many times and so very eloquently, but it bears
repeating at every election, at every level: Voting is the price
of freedom.
Without your vote, the people elected to your city council,
your school board, your township board may have views and
opinions about issues far different from yours. Those who
take their seats at the dais when official decisions are being
made about your tax rate, how your tax money is spent, what
courses your children are taught, the requirements for teach-
ing them or even driving their bus to school, may be a far cry
fromwhat you consider appropriate or correct.
You may not want the status quo in your schools or com-
munity government to continue. Perhaps you think it is time
to change the direction and philosophy those at city hall
seem to espouse. Perhaps you are weary of the old-boys club
or nepotism or continued disregard for the safety and wel-
fare of residents in your community.
You can change it with your vote.
Perhaps you feel that those in these elected offices are
operating with the views you share and doing a remarkable
Too bad so many don't realize,
acknowledge or understand the
responsibility and honor Election Day
entails for them. They are, after all, busy
”
I want one of these executive jobs
that I keep reading about in the
daily newspapers and hearing about on TV
”
Tuesday is due date for debt we all owe
Put this dream job on my Christmas list
See
Job
, page 7
See
Vote
, page 7
Letters
Volunteers
really make
a difference
Just a word about the volun-
teers from throughout the area
who showed up two weeks ago at
Make A Difference Day in their
communities.
Thanks.
Make A Difference Day is a
national effort to encourage volun-
teerism and every year, usually on
the fourth Saturday in October,
communities organize projects
that require volunteer participa-
tion to protect, clean or repair an
asset that otherwise would contin-
ue to be neglected.
Volunteers have cleaned his-
toric cemeteries, cleared out
waterways, helped neighbors who
could no longer maintain their
property, worked to upgrade parks
and even installed newplayground
equipment. Their work has provid-
ed a better community for their
neighbors and helped their munic-
ipality suffering from an economy
that no longer allows for maintain-
ing many assets that provide a
boost to the quality of life in their
area.
Make A Difference Day also
serves to involve these volunteers
in their community in a new and
tangible way. They often become
both emotionally and physically
invested in the park they are clean-
ing, the pond they are reclaiming
or the playground where they cut
back overgrown brush and reclaim
the area for children to play. These
volunteers, obviously people with
good hearts to begin with, more
often than not, adopt these proj-
ects and continue to help with
landscaping, cleaning and mainte-
nance in an effort to continue the
reclamation or renovation begun
during their volunteer Saturday.
Make ADifference Daymakes a
strong difference in every commu-
nity where volunteers take on a
project, but it also makes a differ-
ence in most of those who volun-
teer.
They become even more aware
'Leftist" leanings criticized
To the editor;
Being from the area, I have fre-
quently read
The Eagle
newspaper
and today found the opinion article
"Politics is no place for a gentle-
man" under the column heading
"But what do I know" by a writer
namedSusanWillett.
I found the article to be com-
pletely left leaning and sympathetic
only to the Democratic way of
thinking. So much so, that I looked
for the address to send a letter to
the editor. Low and behold, I see
that Susan Willet is also the pub-
lisher and David Willett (any rela-
tion?) is the president.
Enough said.
Furthermore, on page 8 there
are two announcements for
Democratic functions: a meeting
and a coffee hour. Clearly you need
to rename the paper. Maybe "the
Lefty Eagle or "The Democrat
Eagle" would be more descriptive
of this paper?
I could take time to point out
your one-sided accusations with a
logical response, but I am quite
sure it would fall of deaf ears.
Instead of slanting the paper with
only your opinions, how about giv-
ing equal time to people with other
opinions who do not lean left like
you?
NancyPolderdyke,
Canton
(Editor's note: You go girl.)
Teen court to begin
To the editor;
The 18th District Court,
Westland, in cooperation with the
city of Westland Youth Assistance
Program and the Wayne-Westland
School District is creating a Teen
court Program. This program will
be held at the John Glenn High
School and begin in the fall of 2011
under the direction of Chief Judge
Sandra Ference Cicirelli and dis-
trict JudgeMarkMcConnell.
Teen court is a program
designed for juveniles between the
ages of 11-16 who have no prior
juvenile court contact and have
committed a minor misdemeanor
See
Letters
, page 7
See
Volunteers
, page 7