Get Out & ROCK & ROLL FOR SCAMP

The weather is warming up, time to get the family together and Walk & Roll for Scamp this Sunday. Walk & Roll offers three courses, one mile, two mile and five mile for the hardiest of folks. Get your pledge sheet from www.clarkstonscamp.org and help a great organization help fund camperships for special needs children and adults this summer. You may have to wear your rubber boots as precipitation is on the weather man's schedule. But the whole family will love the excersise and the tulips in and around Clarkston.

For a cool Sunday afternoon, mosey over to the Clarkston United Methodist Church to listen to the Classical Bells at 3 p.m. April 25. The bellringers are really world class.

Get all the junk cleaned out and find a spot on the May 1st Heritage Garage Sale from M-15 at Dixie Hwy to downtown Bay City. If you are a collector and not a seller, get the car gased up and head north on M-15 to find those bargains. Times are scheduled as 10-4.

Independence politics seems to be busier than usual this week. After four votes, the Clarkston School board was able to fill the empty board seat left by the resignation of Joseph Armstong. The board voted five to one to seat Elizabeth Egan. Egan, the Clarkston PTA Council President has served the district as a volunteer in many capacities as well as serving as a guest (substitute) teacher in the district. Congratulations to Mrs. Egan and my hope is that she will vote her conscious and be an independent thinker on the board

The Clarkston News, in this week's editorial by Don Rush, calls for the resignation of Dave Wagner as Independence Township supervisor. Rush talks about the failed leadershiop of Wagner over the last two years and calls for a new direction. I concur. Wagner does not keep order during township meetings, is often away from the township offices and the contract Wagner entered into to reduce phone charges in the township, finds the township paying approximately $100,000. over three years to a company to tell us to put all township phones under one provider and negotiate one rate. Hello, what are we paying a supervisor for? Past employee lawsuits appear to part of the reason, an Human Resources director was added to the budget. And there are disturbing questions about how the current township hall was purchased.

New Clarkston School Member

Seven citizens applied to be a member of the Clarkston School board and fill the vacated spot of Joseph Armstrong who resigned in March. The new board member if seated at the Monday, April 19 meeting will be voting on10 million reductions to the 2010-2011 school board budget and the superintendent's recommendations for the positions of Deputy Superintendent and Human Resources Director. Thank you to citizens who stepped up to fill the post. The new board member needs to be knowledgeable about the issues and have a strong sense of what is in the best interest of the students and the district. The Board of Education is the ultimate supervisor of all the employees of Clarkston Schools.

Hello neighbors

Welcome to Inside Independence Township.

I am Joette Kunse and I want to share with you the issues and ideas that the residents of Independence Township and the City of the Village of Clarkston — I won't always be so formal; you're my neighbors — that are being discussed in our community.

I will write about the great things that so many fantastic people are doing in and for the community and beyond. I will address the hot-button political issues, and I will find the small stories that will make you smile and be proud that you live here.

We will have a discussion about what's happening. Whether it's the debate of police in Clarkston or the potential recall of the township supervisor, I will examine what's being said and done. I also will tell you about the little things that make the community a great place to live, such as mom-to-mom sales, the important work of volunteers, or stories about the accomplishment of our students.

Please share with me topics and happenings that should be discussed as well as your opinions on what is going on.

This conversation will inform you about what decisions are being made that will impact your households, your wallets and purses and your lives.