About L.A.W.


  • MOTTO: Qui male agit odit lucem. ("He who does evil despises the light.")

  • PUBLISHER: Local Area Watch, Inc. ~ a Michigan non-profit corporation ~ Copyright 2002-2007

  • STAFF: William Tingley, Executive Director ~ Bridget Tingley, Editor ~ Mary Hines, Office Manager ~ Robert Harrison, Photographer

  • CONTACT INFO: Local Area Watch Inc. ~ 1009 Ottawa Avenue, N.W. ~ Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503 ~ ph 616-458-3125 ~ fx 616-454-9958

Highlights

  • Bio-Tech Blather
    Watch your wallets, boys and girls. The politicians and the corporate panhandlers are about to put a big bet on the bio-tech boom with your tax dollars and charitable donations.
  • Dumping Scandal FAQ's
    Answers to the main questions about the dumping of hazardous waste at the Monroe Avenue Water Filtration Plant and other dumpsites.
  • Gutless U-M Caves on Bronzes
    Art endures, if obscured, in that grotty little fiefdom of intellectual poseurs and petty inquisitions that has become the University of Michigan.
  • Kent County Medical Examiner Compromised
    In a glaring conflict of interest, Kent County Medical Examiner Stephen Cohle whitewashes autopsies that could have revealed misconduct by Spectrum Health and Laboratory Pathologists, a staffing firm Cohle owns and operates.
  • Living Wage Kills Jobs
    City pols support a Marxist policy that, like all Marxist policies, hurt the very people they say it will help.
  • Local Prof Sez We're Bible-Beating Bigots
    Outspoken GVSU professor Ben Rudolph gets it wrong when he concludes that River City's "conservative" values are wrecking the local economy.
  • Lost Cause
    A story of how River City lost its way to a secure economic future.
  • Mayor Heartwell: The Best Investment in Town
    The mayor takes a campaign contribution from a lobbying firm and then awards it a $70,000 city contract.
  • Poison
    The nasty nature of the 26,000 tons of poison that The Boardwalk's developers dug up and then dumped upon the rest of us.
  • The Fixer
    A four-part series about the local attorney behind the demise of Autodie, Butterworth Hospital, Amway, and Old Kent. Warning: Strong accusations of corruption, greed, and skullduggery. Not for the feint of heart.
  • The Flying Monkey Brigade
    Lysenkoists now rule and dictate what citizens will and will not discuss as science in the public square -- especially, the public school classroom.
  • The Pig in the Python
    The dirty little secret behind the success and failure of every school reform that the education establishment, the public school bureaucrats, and the teachers unions will never reveal.
  • The Problem With Teachers
    Why teachers are the professionals least suited to run a school district -- or even a school.
  • Thirty-Six Bucks
    Balancing the City budget: Maybe it's time for those making a living on the taxpayer's dime to give up a little instead of sticking it to the taxpayer one more time.
  • Urban League Takes a Wrong Turn
    The Grand Rapids chapter of this venerable civil rights organization took a step backward with its dubious report finding institutionalized racism in area police forces.
  • When Will It Stop?
    Enough of the repulsive tactic of accusing everyone of bigotry who doesn't kowtow to the racemongers.
  • Who Tickets the Cops?
    State highway patrolmen flout the law on our freeways.
  • Yeah, and Summer is Hotter Than Winter
    The Grand Rapids Press ignores science to promote feel-good politics on the environment and becomes the watchdog that doesn't bark.

Government Links

Media Links

Public Interest Links

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Mar 03, 2005

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Comments

Luna

I'm doing a paper in Government on Human Rights. So far I've found nothing to say the government is voilating a home owners Human Rights by not telling them they live on a toxic waste dumb. I would image there is but I've yet to turn anything up.

The Executive Director

Hi, Luna.

Actually there are state and federal statutes mandating both public and private disclosures relating to disposition of hazardous waste on a property. Unfortunately, most people (including government officials) are unaware of where to find this information or how to compel the government to disclose it.

You might try Parts 111 and 201 of Michigan's Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act, which spells out the law about disclosures including the information ordinary citizens have the right to get from the Department of Environmental Quality.

Regards, Bill

afford

We are better off today than we were eight years ago

Bridget Dupont-Tingley, Editor, L.A.W.

Hello Afford,

You think we are better off today than we were eight years ago? If you mean that thousands of loads of severly contaminated soil are no longer located between Ottawa and Division, you would be right. Many loads for sure went to the water filtration plant that has now been renovated into offices and available residential condo/apt. housing. The other thousands of truck loads of waste went to parts of this city still unknown. Where you place thousands of tons of contaminated waste is no simple task.

If all these companies did illegal removal of highly toxic waste without proper precautions once, you can bet they did it elsehwere as well. Bad behavior does not stop unless it's forced to stop. So, feel free to place the positive spin on this issue if you choose. Just rememember that one persons gain (waste being removed illegally from one site) could be someone elses loss (that waste has to go somewhere, could it be near you now)?

Until the courts allow full discovery, no one but those involved in the cover up will know for sure.

Regards,

john

The government should be persuaded to pay for all healthcare

Bridget Dupont-Tingley, Editor, L.A.W.

Hello John,

We certainly appreciate your feedback, but frankly, it adds nothing to the discussion at hand on the issue we were talking about in regards to the B & G toxic waste problem. That's too bad as that issue is real, local and has implications to everyone in this city.

In regards to your offhand statement, "the government should be persuaded to pay for all healthcare..." Sorry fella, the U.S. isn't The United People's Socialist States". You want socialized medicine, off you go, plane ticket in hand to Canada, France, UK and others countries. You might want to study up on all the difficulties they have had with socialized medicince and they are much smaller in terms of population and costs then we are. Just look at the Treasury Secretary of Canada who is a close friend of the Clintons. This woman got breast cancer this year and her doctor told her to go to The U.S. for treatment. Off she went with all her big bucks to California to get treated as she didn't want to take a chance in the Canadian system. If that doesn't speak volumes that those who implimented their health care system don't want it or use it, who else should?

Talk about "medicine for disaster"... U.S. government intervention and oversight into everyone's medical care would be crippling at best.

No John, we need to stick to what Americans do best, a free economy and a capitalistic society. Historically, we have used that base to be the biggest, best and most advanced country in history. There might be some fine tuning needed to our medical system to improve the problem areas, but socializing will not be the answer.

So, say no to Hillary Care and Hillary's Gift to America. It's disaster in a designer pantsuit waiting to happen.

Regards,

TrinityLover

It is 2010, what is going on now, I haven't heard anything about this.

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