My Letter to Governor Whitmer

 Below is a copy of the letter I sent Michigan Governor Whitmer regarding her abrupt about-face in light of a pandemic that has actually gotten worse since last year:

Governor Whitmer, With all due respect, I feel that you have abandoned your constituency. Last year, when the pandemic was new and you sided with logic and reason, your decisions were sound and your unwavering support of mitigation measures was an inspiration to those of us dealing with the science deniers and gun-totin' extremists. However, since your ability to effectively order lockdowns was taken away by an opportunistic Republican legislature, you have slowly begun acting as if the pandemic has become little more than a minor inconvenience. Gone are the briefings, the recommendations to MDHHS and, frankly, any real acknowledgement of what you so fervently supported in 2020. It is as if you were replaced by an imposter. All I see now is your smiling face in photo op after photo op, dancing amidst the flames of reality. Michigan is worse off now than it was last year. Your tone deaf refrain about vaccinations is meaningless when we already know the latest variant isn't halted by the vaccine. And for those of us who have several months to go before we qualify for a booster, your flippant attitude feels like a betrayal. There are only two things that have changed since last year, and anyone with the ability to observe can see them both. One, Donald Trump is no longer in office. While this is a positive change and President Biden is indeed taking the pandemic seriously, he is also facing a resistant Republican effort to curtail his intentions. Second, you are facing reelection. In fact, you have been in reelection mode since the end of 2020. I won't speculate on your motivations because that would be arrogant, but I doubt my suspicions are too far off the mark. Governor, we need you more this year than last. People are dying in greater numbers and hospitals are full. Please don't try to spin these deaths as only the unvaccinated because that is a patently false claim. My wife's vital surgery was rescheduled because of this latest variant. She was one of your most ardent supporters but now I fear you are close to losing both of us as well as many others who once stood behind "That Woman From Michigan."

Thank you for your time~

Come for the Petition, Stay for the Comments!

Many have read of my experiences at the library I dubbed "Library2" on Facebook because it was the second one I started working for, definitely not because it was second place. It was my favorite place to work for the three years I spent as a regular employee and the year+ I spent as a sub once I'd moved on to supervision at a different library.

One of the reasons I left was because of a coupe that took place concerning the Library Board, where an openly hostile opportunist bullied his way onto the organization and proceeded to make life a living hell for the director. That director, one of the best bosses I've ever had, quit in frustrated disgust, paving the way for the Board to choose a much more compliant person to take her place. While none of that happened before I left, I sensed it on the horizon, having witnessed simliar in the past.

I won't go into further detail here because I feel that an editorial does a perfect job. In fact, it does so well that I am posting the entire thing below rather than just a hyperlink:

TO THE EDITOR:

I am writing to you because of my concerns about the dysfunction of the Farmington Library Board of Trustees and its director, Riti Grover, and how they interact with the present staff and furloughed staff.

As a retired Farmington teacher of 30 years and current furloughed library staff member of 12 years, I have never witnessed so much confusion, mismanagement, disorganization, and lack of understanding of the workings of a library on the part of the library board and its director.

A brief history would show that over the previous three years, the past mayor of Farmington Hills, Ken Massey, unethically appointed an individual to the board who was openly critical of the library board. His approach to the job was intimidating, demeaning and disrespectful to all the board members. One by one, all but one of the library board resigned, citing that the board had become “toxic”, and there was a “significant impact” on staff morale. During this time, Ken Massey was hand selecting new board members, and the mayor of Farmington, along with the Farmington City Council, were interviewing and voting on new board members.

The director, Elyse Streit, was working extremely hard to bring in new programs and technology, which were all rejected because of the intimidating tactics of Massey’s choices for the board and their lack of knowledge about the library. I must say that some board members were good people, but could not stand up to the pressure.

Unfortunately, after a very frustrating year, Elyse Streit resigned due to the fact that the board had eroded her ability to do her job. During the past year, four of the “new” board members have also resigned. Two have been replaced, and two are in the process of being chosen.

A company was called in to help with the hiring of a new director. Riti Grover was chosen by the board but did not seem to be the first choice of the library staff. Ms. Grover began her position in January of this year. Many staff members are questioning whether the Farmington/Farmington Hills community is being well served under Ms Grover and the Board to whom she reports.

When COVID-19 hit, the library was shut down on March 14, 2020. The decision was made to have very few staff members in the library to carry out online services and to have the rest of the staff work from home and be paid. This was a good move and reflected Governor Whitmer’s guidelines. Then on Thursday, April 23 at 9 p.m., in an email, all staff members except for about 17 “necessary” staff were told that they would be furloughed with no guarantee of rehire or reinstatement. This was effective the next day, Friday, April 24 at 6 p.m. The Board said it was due to concerns about how Covid-19 may affect library finances. But this is not a valid point, since the library’s budget comes from a millage which is set for the fiscal year.

Only a small handful of libraries in Oakland County furloughed their staffs. Farmington Community Library is one of the last libraries in the metro-Detroit area to begin curbside service, and we will be open fewer hours than almost any other library. Many members of the community have expressed their unhappiness with the lack of library services.

The library has called back a small number of staff to begin some of these programs. Many librarians, while working at home, went through the process of researching and choosing the best books for our next ordering period, but so far, no new books have been ordered, and our fiscal year has ended. New books will be ordered, but the books that did not get ordered in May and June will never be ordered or will have to come out of this year’s new budget. It will take time to order, receive and process new books, delaying the time that they will be ready for the public. This is so disappointing for our community considering, at the present time, there are no new books for the summer reading program.

On June 16, 2020, we received a letter from Library Board President Jim White, saying he appreciated our patience and included a six- part phased reopening plan. In his letter, Mr. White said we are initiating a comprehensive service module assessment. He gave a very brief explanation, which was vague and confusing.

At the June 25, 2020 virtual Board Meeting, many people were asking for more information to help us understand what this assessment is and why we need it. There was also concern about the price of hiring a consulting firm at this time. Ms Grover started to look for the cost of this when she was interrupted by the intimidating board member, who yelled, “No, this is not the time to answer these questions! It is not on our agenda! We need to talk about this first and address it at another time.” I am paraphrasing, but he was quite angry and obviously did not want to be transparent with staff members or the public. I am concerned about all the money they have saved from furloughing so many staff members and what it will be used for.

At the present time, our library is in a state of chaos, because the board and Ms. Grover have chosen to call back only 40 out of 133 employees. The following is just a small amount of tasks which must be accomplished: approximately 30,000 materials need to be quarantined, processed and shelved; all virtual programming has to be planned or maintained; librarians are necessary to run the Summer Reading Programs; providing curbside book pick-up; and so much more is needed to service the community.

A library cannot be run by one-third of its staff who are currently overworked and scrambling to meet the demands of their jobs. In a recent letter sent by Mr.White, he stated that no more staff members will be called back until the completion of the comprehensive service module assessment, which is set for August 24, 2020. So many furloughed staff members want to work to meet the needs of our community, but this board is in no hurry to reach this goal.

I am very concerned about the future of the Farmington Community Library and whether it will be able to get up and running again with such contention between the board, the director and the staff. We need the community to come together and make its voice heard!

Suzanne Dengiz
Farmington Hills

There's also an online petition that, as of this writing, already has over 400 signatures after having just been posted yesterday. Feel free to add yours to it. Below is the text from that petition and you can click here to view the actual page:

We request that Bill Largent be removed from his position as Library Board Trustee due to his combative and hostile actions that have created a toxic setting and not only hinder, but actively destroy the ability of the staff and library, as a whole, to offer adequate services to their patrons.

A brief history would show that over the previous three years, the past Mayor of Farmington Hills, Ken Massey, unethically appointed Bill Largent to the Library Board whom he was openly critical of. His approach to the job was intimidating, demeaning and disrespectful to all the board members. One by one, all but one of the Library Board resigned, citing that the board had become “toxic” and there was a “significant impact” on staff morale.

Since his appointment:

Staff grievances have been disregarded.

Staff have been name called.

The former Library Director resigned after her attempts to work with the Library Board were met with unprofessionalism and hostility.

Mr. Largent has repeatedly made hostile comments to and about members of the public who have attended board meetings.

Mr. Largent has been unable or unwilling to account for the usage or reallocation of public funds and has demonstrated multiple times that he is unaware of the difference between the financial operations and responsibilities of a library versus a for-profit business.

The new incompetent director was selected, we suspect, to be a complicit puppet for the library board, despite staff wishes for another candidate.

The majority of library staff were furloughed on April 24 at Mr. Largent's direction, in an effort to "save money" that was already guaranteed to the library through a dedicated millage.

Mr. Largent has routinely rallied to strip staff of their benefits while on furlough.

Mr. Largent has micromanaged the new director, and prevented her from being transparent to the public actively silencing her during meetings.

As such, we request the removal of Mr. Largent, a member of the FCL Library Board of Trustees in favor of somebody competent and capable of keeping the library and the public it serves best interests as a priority.

Quote of the Week

This one gets awarded to a member of the "Michiganders for Staying Home to Defeat Covid-19 facebook page in reference to the ridiculous "demonstration" against Governor Whitmer's stay-the-hell-home order:

If you have to protest at an empty Capital 🏛from your Car 🚗wearing a Mask 😷it might not be the best time to #OpenMichigan

Dispatches From the Coronavirus Days #12- Idiot Edition

There's a reason my home state of Michigan was home to the Militia movement of the Nineties and that reason has been hammered home repeatedly by the insanity and abject stupidity coming from the group of people who find a stay-at-home quarantine extention to be an attack on their liberties. And what are those liberties, exactly? I think I'll let the words of those opposed to the health and well-being of their fellow humans explain it to you:

On the Facebook page "Michiganders Against Excessive Quartine" someone posted an article from some bullshit site with a headline declaring that only Trump can reopen the country. Below that, some scholar commented," Please do so Sir. Our grezy Country was not met to be on lockdown like this. Time to Make America Great again. We can't do our part under house arrest."

House arrest. That's how these acolytes of Ayn Rand, half of whom probably never heard of her, consider quarantine in the midst of the worst global epidemic since 1918!

Another comment seemed to find the need to equate gay marriage with Covid 19. She wrote, "I remember when we voted as a state, "One Man, One Woman" marriage for our state, federal government under Obama changed it."

Clearly gays wanting equal rights is where this virus came from. The China thing is little more than a cover story for the Gay Mafia's Deepstate Illuminati 5G agenda.

Another person, agreeing that "libruls" need fear to govern (an ironic statement if ever there was one) commented, "Fear is really, really rambid right now and I believe that's all part of the plan!"

I don't know who "Rambid" is, but apparently he has a lot to answer for! Kinda sounds like a French villain in a James Bond movie.

But fear not. This "movement" has a ringleader and he is no disappointment. Looking for all the world like a sleazy used car salesman who moonlights as a Prosperity Gospel preacher, Garrett Soldano is single-handedly fanning the flames of idiocy. Soldano is a practicing chiropractor for whatever that's worth in this situation. I guess because he has "doctor" before his name, that makes him the go-to expert on pandemics for the anti-quarantine crowd. I know that next time one hits, my first stop will be a guy who works on the body's "meridians." However, if you remain unconvinced by his choice of medical practice, he also lists himself on Twitter as, ""AN ENTREPRENEUR, AUTHOR, PHILANTHROPIST, AND A MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER."

Sensing his time to shine, Soldano is over all the interwebs telling Michigan residents to "stand tall" against the Governor's attempts to halt the spread of the virus because the economy is more important than people not dying. He also does daily video updates on the aforementioned Facebook page lest anyone start thinking he's a smug, self-promoting opportunist who is seizing a moment for his own personal gain. And naturally, all the ill-informed, selfish residents of Michigan are flocking to this individual for guidance in uncertain times. I guess nothing screams "Constitutional Expert" like a guy who cracks backs and peddles holistic remedies. He won't mind my saying this because, in his own words, "...our fight for our Constitutional rights gets fanned HOTTER by every hate comment against us."

These people aren't limiting their protests to Facebook, however. They're planning a "march" of sorts on April 15th. But instead of standing outside, they plan to gridlock the state capitol in Lansing. So, they're protesting a quarantine by quarantining themselves. Feel free to reread that previous sentence as many times as you need.

So much of this insane rambling can be traced back to the Michigan Militia, a group of alarmist anti-gubmint types who basically shot off guns in the forest, wore fatigues and poisoned the minds of their fellow Michiganders. Now we're dealing with their inheritors.

We can only hope the people with sense still outnumber them.

Dispatches from the Corona Virus Days #2

This Just In!: One of two things learned today while standing on line at Aldi came when a woman expressing shock and dismay at all the perceived last-minute stockpiling of food, etc. mentioned that she had just heard about this whole global pandemic thing yesterday. She was all decked out in a surgical mask and shower cap and was surprisingly young-looking.

Storage Options May Vary: Lesson number two came from the same woman and was learned by another woman in line to whom she was speaking. When the other woman said she always had lots of food stored away in her freezer and pantry, the woman who'd just heard about the quaranting a day ago said, "Yeah, but don't everybody got no pantry." Never assume was the lesson, but also that double negatives are sometimes the least of the grammatical offenses.

To the Bars, the Idiots: Just like the rest of the state's schools, Michigan State University was closed by official governor's order. However, that didn't prevent many among its student population from immediately running to the bars in town to congregate in close quarters and cough and sneeze all over each other in the name of "fun." This trend infected other portions of the state to the point where Governor Whitmer has now ordered all restaurants and bars to close and only provide "to go" food orders.

Long Lines Will Save us: According to this article in The Texas Tribune, long lines of people being delayed due to the virus are just a'sittin' around, cramped together, coughin' and sneezin' within inches of one another because the best way to halt the spread of a virus that is transmitted those ways is to better ensure that hundreds of people are unable to spread apart!

Church Bells Ring, Can't Help Listenin': Since yesterday, a nearby church has been ringing its bells every hour on the hour. It is both comforting and maddening. They just started back up while that previous sentence was being typed. End of Days much?

Welcome To 'Murica: In the other countries dealing with Covid-19, the citizens know they will not have to worry about getting paid while they are practicing social distancing. Italy has even suspended mortgages until the crisis is over. But here in the country that apparently hadn't been great for a long time until a red hat told us it could be great again, many of us don't know if we will continue to get paid. As usual, everyone discounts those of us who interface with the public for a living and assume working from home is an option for most of us. A bill was introduced to provide continuing pay but the Republcan senate shot it down because it didn't remove federal funding for abortions. Yep. Even now, they're playing politics with our lives. And while another bill has been sent over, it is a watered down version.

Morons with Fingers: No dispatch would be complete without at least one tale of a wretched twit making assinine comments online, so of course here are two such tales:

• One guy making Michigan proud he lives here cried "fake news" at the undeniable fact that Governor Whitmer has ordered the closures of restaurants.
• The other prize winner took humbrage at a post detailing Trump's many failures regarding dealing with the virus by trying to make it appear as if the "liberal presidents" in other countries did nothing to help their citizens. Forget that this shouldn't be about liberal vs. conservative as seen through narrow American prisms. Instead of accepting that his glorious leader made mistakes, this guy was more interested in "whataboutism" and interpreting facts as "taking shots." 

More to come~

(Read Dispatch#1 here)

Dispatches From the Corona virus Days #1

Arrival: It finally reached Michigan this week, the dreaded corona virus recently dubbed "Covid-19." Predictably because we're Americans, people have either reacted with extreme panic or as if it "t'aint no big deal." Meanwhile, the reported cases continue to mount and the eventual deaths loom buzzard-like just out of our collective periphery.

Wiping for the Apocalypse: Much like the rest of the Western world, hectic runs on toilet paper have resulted in empty shelves in grocery stories and big box retailers all over the state. There haven't been any reports of fights breaking out over it yet, but there are a few profiteers already selling it online for inflated prices. Whether or not this will become a prosecutable crime is impossible to know at this point. But apparently whenever the End Times come, people really think they're going to need to wipe themselves. It does cause one to wonder what these people were doing before...

Hollywood Lied to Us: Perhaps that's a bit harsh; maybe Hollywood is just ignorant of the everyday realities of everyday people. Whatever the case, all those epidemic and disaster movies that told us everybody would start stealing and physically assaulting each other might have been correct in the worst case scenario sense, but...

Storm the Libraries!: The truth is, when people freak out about an impending terrible situation, they run to their library. I work for two (three, if you want to be technical) so I know whereof I speak. Apparently people feel the need to stock up on things to read, watch and listen to when they're quarantined. But since most people incorrectly believe nobody goes to libraries anymore, movies don't reflect that particular reality. Ironically, library borrowing accounts for a lot of the movie watching.

Speaking of Movies: Walk into any grocery or retail store right now and it feels as if one is entering a slow-motion sequence filled with stunned people with hollowed eyes and screaming children wearing surgical masks being pushed in grocery carts. Empty shelves where toilet paper and water once filled them. Items that would normally still be on the shelves are gone. Thermometers. Over-the-counter allergy medications. Rubber gloves. Isopropryl alcohol. Yet somehow there's plenty of beer and wine to be found.

Misplaced Libertarian Activism: Every workplace has at least one person admonishing the rest of us for being scared, as if that isn't an appropriate reaction to sickness, resource scarcity, lack of appropriate medications, and death. Various straw-man commentaries using the flu's higher death rate are used, completely ignoring or ignorant of the fact that Covid-19 is the new kid on the block. There is no herd immunity, no vaccine as of yet and humanity has literally never encountered it before. The potential for disaster is greater because it moves faster than the flu and has less easily recognized symptoms.  None of this kept some idiot at the laundromat from intentionally coughing with his mouth uncovered until he was threatened with having the police called. It also didn't stop someone on Facebook from boasting that he went and saw a movie and didn't catch a virus. How he knows that considering its incubation period is anybody's guess.

Closures: Governor Gretchen Whitmer has ordered the closure of all Michigan schools by Monday, March 16th. Many libraries have already closed or are planning to do so on the day the schools do. AMC the movie company sent out an email saying they are only allowing 50% seating capacity in their theaters. One of my employers has closed. The other has not yet but will remain in operation but closed to the public.

Losing Friends: People on Facebook are reporting the loss of friends over disagreements about how the virus has been (mis)handled by the Trump administration. I am not immune, as a lost two Thursday, both sisters and both vehement Trump supporters. Despite this, I was always rather fond of them and felt we had a pretty good former co-worker connection. Clearly I was wrong as  were many others.

End of Dispatch. More to Come.

I've Been Quoted on Groupon

Back when I was writing articles about local museums for the now sadly defunct Examiner, I was asked by the local CBS affiliate to submit a list of the best cultural museums in southeastern Michigan. That piece can still be read by clicking here.

It isn't much, considering the amount of information that had to be removed to fit their blurb formatting, but somehow I wound up being quoted by the unlikeliest source: Groupon!

And even  better, they listed me as a CBS Detroit writer. I suppose that's what I was for that moment.

One never knows where and when one's work will be seen and/or show up, does one? In this case, it's for Groupon's discount offer to the Holocaust Memorial Center.