Becky Ewing, program officer for Rotary Charities of Traverse City, said, "Great things grow from small seeds" in noting an initial grant her organization provided to help launch the effort in 2006.

    "They asked for $5,000 and we gave them $10,000," noted Ewing. "We saw the incredible potential for this project...and we wanted it to succeed. Marsha Smith (Rotary Charities' executive director) and leaders of the Great Lakes Fishery Trust co-hosted a meeting in 2006 that brought a wide range of funders together and the rest is history."

Their leveraged $10,000 grant to pull together community collaboration planted the seed for not only the $2.3 million dollars already spent by interested parties to date for the removal of our local dams, but also for hundreds of other dams in the state of Michigan that are holding back true "trout fishing potential!"  True, the Great Lakes Fishery Trust donated $1,000,000 based on this process, AND of course the additional $70,000 over the next few years given by Rotary to the county to start the implementation process for final removal.

The end result BTW, is a continuing (and to my objection) disbursement to the IT (implementation team) for operating expenses, which are of course paid for with tax dollars.  So those dams are open and impoundments are drying.

Of course, one could argue that the repair of such things as Dams is an expensive proposition!   This is true.  a $750,000 repair bill to carry the Dams another 30 years would indeed be a price to pay.  Especially since it is so much cheaper to apply for Rotary money, which leverages other charitable money (agenda connected) that leverages state money that leverages, BIA Money, and other federal money.

Cheaper.

All of that likely adding to tens of millions over time for the removal.  Adding to it, the cost on private property owners of what they thought was water front for multiple decades.  By golly, those silly property owners now have the pleasure of mud flats in their back yards.  And the kicker?  The mud that lies between them and what used to be their waterfront belongs to the county, and is publicly accessible.

Thank you Rotary charities, for that.

Yessiree, the ol charity business is pretty good.  But as you know, children are all healthy, everyone has a good home, families are strong, and every dog has a leash.  And while the sun is shining, the fruit is growing, and the regions indigent have been restored to full productivity, the Rotary charity has moved its primary focus to planning.

Which is what started this last round of infamy which I seem to find myself involved in.

Last month, a rent seeking planner looking for a job visited my local township hall with his hand out.  Now never you mind that the townships don't just give away anything all too easy in these here parts.  One has to be a creative shuck-a-muck, if you know what I mean.  This traveling salesman of the visionary type had the keys to the Rotary coffer apparently, and merely asked for permission to ask on behalf of the township for money from the Rotary.  That money would then allow the beginning of a new collaborative venture, a "Corridor Improvement Authority" (CIA) which is essentially a nifty new name for a DDA.

He was asking to request $5,000.

Now I understand one cannot buy a whole lot of whitewash for only $5,000, but this seed money sure grows the trees of green quick enough with the right measure in place.  Never mind the fences that exist between property owners who may not wish to participate in this man's ride down a wild river of politicking.  Certainly some folks round here just want to be left to their own devices, but sure as shootin they'll come around after having to defend themselves repeatedly against unasked-for painting.

I gotta tell you I wasn't at all impressed with the plan. So I wrote to the Rotary Charities folks.  Its a little long for cut and paste, but  is available here.  I challenged their previous and current missions, but I ain't much for talk and all.

Did I tell you that running me outta town is on some minds lately?

Sure enough, it seems they weren't too happy with the manner in which my letter addressed their philanthropy of late, and pretty much disagreed.  They gave that rent seeker his pig, and decided my letter was offensive enough to put to the press. Don't get me wrong, I don't care much what a charity does with its financial paint gun, but when it has impact that begs a cost to me or others who want no part of a collaborative process, it is not strictly charity.

In fact, the day after the Township decided to accept the grant for the CIA, the Rotary made yet another ($45,000 I reckon) to another local township for planning a highway/road  move that would make it closer to the bay.  By golly, that is how the rivers wind I suppose.  More money to leverage more, and so on.

Some folks might think ol Gillman is up nights trying to figure out ways to mess with the powers that be in this little backwater paradise.  Not so much.  I just don't cotton too well to the (sometimes well intentioned) plans made that require me to be on my toes in perpetuity, or risk losing yet another liberty in my daily life.

I guess I would rather be fishin up on the ol Boardman pond.