Editor's Notebook: Column to touch hearts of caring readers

Let's replenish our Metro Flint Community Pride Fund

CLICK HERE TO READ MIKE KILLBREATH' S COLUMN

Editor's Notebook: Column to touch hearts of caring readers

Let's replenish our Metro Flint Community Pride Fund

CLICK HERE TO READ MIKE KILLBREATH' S COLUMN

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Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson loses bid for Democrat nomination for Governor

BY MIKE KILLBREATH

CCN Executive Editor

(CCN) — Fenton's Chris Swanson had a long ride home from a Saginaw union hall Tuesday night.

The Genesee County Sheriff set up what he hoped would be a victory party there at the site of the first labor group to offer an endorsement last year for his campaign to become the Democrat nominee for Governor

BY MIKE KILLBREATH

CCN Executive Editor

(CCN) — Fenton's Chris Swanson had a long ride home from a Saginaw union hall Tuesday night.

Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson pulled only about 18 percent of the vote last night in a landslide loss to Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson in the primary election for the Democrat nomination for Governor of Michigan. Swanson went to more than sixteen hundred campaign events around the state while putting more than 100,000 miles on his vehicle during an 18-month campaign to win. The A Pee called it early when Benson was ahead 92 to 8 and Swanson appeared with his wife to concede at a Saginaw union hall where his first labor endorsement came from last year.

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Facing more accusations, Carrie Germain resigns as Swartz Creek school board member

BY MIKE KILLBREATH

CCN Executive Editor

SWARTZ CREEK (CCN) — Swartz Creek Board of Education Trustee Carrie Germain has resigned, according to confirmation via text from President Chuck Melki.

"(It was) over the more meetings I recently uncovered," Melki said about the resignation.

Germain and fellow Trustee Angela Fick were censured by the

BY MIKE KILLBREATH

CCN Executive Editor

SWARTZ CREEK (CCN) — Swartz Creek Board of Education Trustee Carrie Germain has resigned, according to confirmation via text from President Chuck Melki.

"(It was) over the more meetings I recently uncovered," Melki said about the resignation.

Germain and fellow Trustee Angela Fick were censured by the board in mid-June for their actions regarding meetings they hid from other board members. They were tied to an attempt by the Flint & Genesee Economic Alliance (FGEA) to buy the district's Morrish Elementary.

The elementary school is on the southern corner of the nearly 1,800-acre Mega Site bounded by Elms, Linden, Maple and Jennings roads. The FEGA has been given $261 million in state funding to build an advanced manufacturing plant

Prominent local civil attorney Tom Pabst filed a lawsuit on behalf of Melki against the district because of actions by Germain and both current and former administrators. The civil complaint alleges they targeted him and hurt his business with untrue accusations.

"They wanted rid of me because I was in their way of doing what they wanted," Melki said. "I was elected to answer to the taxpayers, not them. They didn't want me around."

Pabst said on The Morning Gazette Radio Show that he predicts "people are going to jail for what they did" and says untrue accusations "made up" against Melki have harmed his business.

He's a businessman who owns a gun range on Linden Road in Flint Township.

Melki has said during board meetings that he has filed a criminal complaint with the Genesee County Prosecutor's office and the Michigan Attorney General's office about illegal meetings and other actions he says break state laws.

Melki is a retired detective with the Genesee County Sheriff's Department and Clayton Township Police Department as that community's first police chief when helping form the force there.

Subsequent to his public announcement about filing on them, Melki uncovered what he alleges was an unauthorized $20,000 payment to former Deputy Superintendent Jim Kitchen who became the district's interim Superintendent when Rod Hetherington resigned to take a similar job in the Zeeland school district.

The Morning Gazette Radio Show met on June 3 to seek criminal charges for this additional allegation leveled by Melki who said $152,000 in bonus payments were passed out to administrators without board approval or knowledge.

Melki exposed lies by Kitchen to the school board after Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) findings revealed numerous false statements. Kitchen then subsequently resigned and joined old boss Hetherington in Zeeland.

Swartz Creek's school board rejected a $40 million offer last week for a second time from the FGEA but Trustees Germain and Fick voted to accept the offer after previously joining a 7-0 vote to reject $40 million earlier this year.. The only difference was altering the offer to be all of the cash up front and extending a two-year lease on Morrish until a new elementary building could be constructed.

The FGEA must find a buyer by May of 2028 or turn over the property to the state. The organization, which is an arm of the Flint-based non-profit known as the Flint & Genesee Group led by President & CEO Tim Herman, has yet to find a buyer but has cleared most of the site by buying up homes and chopping down trees.

Mundy Township Supervisor Jennifer Arrand Stainton praised last week's decision after urging a "no" vote on the offer.

Mundy Township Trustee Leah Davis also praised them for rejecting the offer.

They were the only Mundy Township board members who attended last week's special meeting of the school board to join public speakers opposing the idea except for two speakers out nearly a few dozen.

This was the second time school board members have rejected a $40 million offer but this one was revised to pay all the money up front and extend a two-year lease for the building while a new school was constructed.

Stainton has been once of the most vocal critics of the FGEA and she reacted to the news of Germain resigned by saying, "More people should resign. This corruption goes further than just the school board. Look for more people to be investigated and resign.

Realtor Winn Cooper delivered the revised offer and last week's special meeting was called to give him an answer for his client by a two-week deadline imposed to accept the deal.

Trustees Ken Angle, Kim Winter and Autumn Henry again voted against selling along with Vice President Jenny Wolgast and President Melki.

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is Carire Germain who has resigned from the Swartz Creek Board of Eduction

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Editor's Notebook: Column to touch hearts of caring readers

Editor's Notebook: Column to touch hearts of caring readers

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