With Richard Lindsey’s recall language approved by a 3-0 vote for his seat on the Marshall Public School Board, he along with Shawna Gamble and Matt Davis are appealing their recalls. This is their right to do but there appears to be no real path for them as the claims in all three recalls is simple and true. Fortunately, they all are represented by Lindsey’s law firm out of Jackson according to sources.
What we have are three members of the School Board who should know they have done wrong but are willing to piss away voters’ money in order to save their reputations. Lindsey who has aspirations of running for state office from what he has told this writer can’t afford an ugly recall that may unseat him. Any opponent would quickly use it as a point out why he should not serve in higher office. I know I would. Maybe it’s time all three took the high road and resigned to save our district from more conflict.
Soon according to organizers of a recall group they will work to get the signatures needed and let the voters decide. Democracy in action.
As Albion College slowly recovers from the short tenure of Mat Johnson there are still issues. For those inside the College it is the biggest secret that everyone knows about, Albion College is in financial turmoil. Years of deficit spending using the Colleges endowments to cover shortfalls has placed the school in danger if the ship isn’t righted soon. What I am talking about is around $100 million in deficit spending using the endowment as a savings bank. From college Presidents to the Board of Trustees (BOT), it appears no one wants to stand up and acknowledge they have screwed up.
Today Mike Harrington is no longer President of the BOT. He, along with J. Donald Sheets, Thomas Ludington, Jeffrey Ott and Jeffrey Weedman have had a unique hold on the BOT. They have forced members of the BOT to follow their leadership and been happy with losing money, of course to question their business acumen is sacrilegious. On the college website they laud Harrington’s accomplishments but fail to remind everyone he was directly responsible for bringing Mat Johnson to Albion. City Watch has learned that Harrington is facing some health issues, let us hope this is not true and if so, we wish him well, but whatever the reason for his leaving, the college is much better off.
Now a new start for the Board as Joanne (Joey) Miller takes over as President of the Board, having to fix the mess left from her predecessor and other current members of the BOT. Ms. Miller is a 1975 graduate of Albion College and has served on the board previously. She has a reputation of being fair, honest and willing to work with and listening to others. If she is able to wrestle power away from BOT members who have spent many years on the BOT, some of whom should have reached their term limits she may be able to lead the school and bring much needed stability.
The main issues facing Albion College beyond the BOT members who have been here way to long is that the interim President Joe Calvaruso has yet to relieve the Mat Johnson appointees who continue to cause fear in staff. One staffer stating, “not much has changed, Joe just kind of floats along waiting for direction from the Board, and Mat’s people keep watch over the school for him (Johnson)”. Oh, and yes, they have to find a new President.
Now City Watch would love the opportunity to speak to Calvaruso about this and other issues. Maybe a leadership change on the board will rattle his cage, certainly my several emails and phone calls have not.
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Getting a call in the early morning to tell you there is a problem is never a good thing. On December 6, 2021, Dan Lopez got the call no business owner wants, “your business is on fire”. The fire was isolated in the front of the restaurant and would be the start of a long road before reopening. The fire was quickly extinguished by firefighters but not before serious damage to the front end and heavy smoke damage to the entire business had occurred.
I met up with Dan Lopez the afternoon of the fire (pictured below) and he was devastated. Everything was running through his mind that day from can I reopen, fix the building to how do I take care of my employees.
A Go Fund Me account was started https://gofund.me/ea5ffdc9 (this is the link) that has raised over $22,000 for him and the business. Since that day things have slowly moved toward reopening. It was going to take a herculean effort by him, employees and others to clean up and rebuild, and that is what has happened.
Within days Albion College stepped forward to offer help in the rebuild, the community did as well by donating. Constant calls to Dan from those concerned helped him deal with everything. It would take a few days before he realized that despite what he wanted, he was not going to be able to open anytime soon.
Dan called me yesterday and asked me to stop by and of course I said yes. I just left to return and write this story and WOW is what I can say as to what I saw. A picture tells it all. Dan smiling as he showed me around was just awesome.
Everything is bright, cleaned up and no way you could know he had a fire. Pictured below in front of the new front window Dan tells me that he can’t thank people enough. I want to figure out a way to thank people. I have an idea of something to go on the wall acknowledging donors is in the works. But his one mantra was, thanking everyone.
I kept telling him how great it all looked when he finally got to why he called me. “We are opening to dine in eating John, tomorrow morning at 11”. Yeah, he was smiling big time. They will be open Friday and Saturday February 11th &12th from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. Then open special hours on Monday for Valentine’s Day from 2 P.M. until 8 P.M. then back to regular hours.
Dan hopes people will stop in even if all they want to do is look at the rebuild.
Dan Is ready and plans on being busy the next few weeks, which is fine by him. As I took one last look around you felt that something special happened here. A community stepped forward and did what was right, and maybe, just maybe there were some special angels looking out for him as well.
Starting this weekend, I have asked local baseball enthusiasts to share what baseball means to them. I then asked baseball expert Mitch Lutzke to take a look at the upcoming season in Detroit. This will be fun, and you can read what baseball means to different people. We start this weekend so be watching.
Scott Brown who was appointed to the Marshall Public Board of Education Monday January 24 has resigned. This in the aftermath of a picture that was released to the public where he stood beside an individual who was holding a “Fuck the police” sign. Brown was smiling and giving the peace sign. Browns’ wife Joedy has been accused of accosting a Harrington Elementary school student Thursday where she grabbed a child by the arm, lifted them and carried the child aggressively according to witnesses.
City Watch reached out to Interim Superintendent Becky Jones seeking answers to five questions:
Was the child’s parents contacted? Was the police contacted? Was the teacher threatened at all? Why was Brown allowed in the school? Was it because she was demanding because her husband is on the school board?
Ms. Jones replied to City Watch Saturday stating that at this time she could not comment as there is “an open investigation”. She went on to say, “I will let you know when I have information for you”.
City Watch will be following up with more to this story when appropriate.
Dave Atchison has reworked recall language for Marshall School Board President Richard Lindsey. The original recall language was not allowed. Here is the new recall language that was submitted January 26, 2022.
Richard Lyndsey’s activities as an attorney raised questions of conflict with his school system duties & responsibilities. Some voters believe he violated MPS policy #1130 CONFLICT-OF-INTEREST. He simultaneously served as School Board President & as attorney representing Albion College. He presided over board meetings & activities associated with a $45.5-million-dollar school bond proposal which included provisions for construction of a new elementary school in Albion, while concurrently participating in activities associated with his client’s unsolicited proposal to MPS for establishing a new elementary school adjacent to their campus. Questions were raised by the public, social media bloggers, and in local newspapers about the appearance of impropriety & apparent conflict between his legal representation of Albion College & his duties & responsibilities as president of the school board. The legal firm of Hewson & Van Hellmont sent a legal opinion to the school board concluding a conflict-of-interest under MCL 380.1203(1) exists. Fifty community members in the Marshall School District signed a petition requesting he recuse himself from voting on board decisions which affect the location of a new school in Albion. Mr. Lyndsey continued to represent Albion College.
As Scott Brown was being appointed to fill one of two vacancies on the Marshall Public School board an old picture resurfaced. Brown, on the left in the picture below taken two years ago during a protest making the peace sign has always maintained that he was the unfortunate victim in this photo. He claimed then he had no idea the sign said Fuck the Police though witnesses had placed him beside the sign holder for a long period of time. He would say that this picture was used to try and discredit his wife who was involved in the local Mayoral race, he said then that his opponents used the photo for their benefit. Browns appointment to the school board has become a hot topic for some in the community questioning the School Boards thinking.
His wife Joedy Brown would go on to finish 2nd in a three-way mayor race by less than 20 votes to current Mayor Victoria Garcia-Snyder and then Mayor Dave Atchison who would finish third in the race.
Yesterday Joedy Brown went on social media making many claims regarding Harrington elementary located in Albion. She stated she had volunteered at Harrington and made wild claims about staff and students and at one point that she was asked to leave the school. What her claims failed to state was why she was asked to leave.
City Watch News has been told that she had stopped to volunteer at the school for reading making sure that staff knew her husband was a school board member. She would be sent to a class but after a short time she was told she was not needed and instructed to go to office for another class assignment. According to witnesses instead of going to the office she chose to go to another class without permission.
Once in the room she told staff why she was there. City Watch can’t confirm much of exactly what happened other than at some point Joedy Brown got into a situation where she grabbed a child by the arm, lifted them and carried the child aggressively. Again, she was in the room without permission and apparently was asked to leave. The teacher would eventually go get administrative staff who would remove her from the school.
It is forbidden for staff or volunteers to touch students in any way. According to sources the student was not a threat to Brown when she accosted the child. City Watch is being very careful not to reveal information that could identify the student or staff members. There will be follow-up interviews in the coming days.
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