If you are a Michigan resident please contact Governor Granholm today

... and tell her to sign HB-4617S-4. Referred to as Homeowners' Rights legislation, it passed in the Senate last week - thoroughly upsetting our opponents who want big bucks from Dow and don't want logical or legal resolution. Last week the local environmental extremists flooded local airwaves with their reasons why the legislation should be vetoed by the governor.

By Friday we raised enough money to get our two cents worth in. We recorded our plea to residents asking them to phone, email or write to Governor Granholm and tell her to pass House Bill 4617 as revised and passed by the Senate. We will be on the air several times a day all of this coming week on WSGW in Saginaw and in Lansing as well... an affiliate of WSGW.

Some background: A couple of years ago our whole area was impacted by the goals of a special interest environmental extremist group, which is funded by big national money. I am co-founder, along with Len Heinzman, another resident, of an honest to goodness grassroots group known as the Tittabawassee River Voice. We were able to get enough local support via signatures to jump-start the homeowners' rights legislation and get it all the way through Michigan's House and Senate. Now the special interest extremists are worried and pressuring Governor Granholm to veto the bill.

If you live in Michigan please contact the governor today and tell her you want your residential property protected from being called a 'facility' without actual proof that it is contaminated. Tell her to sign HB-4617S-4. Please ask your friends to do so. The bill is currently on the governor's desk & it is expected she will make her decision, maybe before week's end. It's not about Dow or dioxin. It's about being 'guilty' of owning a contaminated property without having that property inspected.

You, too, could be guilty of owning a toxic waste facility if the Michigan Dept. of Environmental Quality decides, for instance they don't want weedkillers used on lawns... or find lead paint in houses in your neighborhood... and I could go on. MDEQ is already controlling your property if you own property in wetlands, lakefront or river front, sand dunes, any place containing ground water... well that just about covers the whole state, doesn't it?

In our case, the company involved, Dow Chemical, is already in the cleanup process and will continue according to their work plan with MDEQ and Michigan Lieutenant Governor Cherry. All you have to do is go to http://www.michigan.gov/gov/0,1607,7-168-21995-65331--,00.html - fill in the form and submit it. Granholm's office will be tallying the responses. Just fill in your real name, city & state, the issue is Homeowners' Rights legislation, HB-4617S-4, you are FOR it... and in the opinion section, something to the effect 'Please sign HB-4617 as amended & approved by the Senate. I believe the state should not be allowed to say my property is contaminated unless it has been tested and proven so.

Please do this today. For more info go to my Tittabawassee River Voice website.