Some More Interesting Stories

I have to admit that there are lots of stories that I read and that I like. However, it is difficult for me to post an article about all of them.  Accordingly, as I hope you have noticed, I post about a number of stories that I have read in one of my articles that I publish. What I try to do is to let you know why the story is of great interest to me and why I am writing about it.  I will copy out and paste the relevant parts of the story and give my comments on them.

Naturally, if something important goes on, then my article will just be about that one matter. 

Here is an example of my Blogs that deal with a number of issues that I have read about over the past few weeks.  I hope it will be of interest to you when you read what I wrote about them.

WILL SUGAR STILL BE SWEET

I have to admit that I have cut back on the amount of "sweetness" from sugar that I take. Or at least I think I have. I do believe that I am eating many foods that do not contain a lot of sugar in them and I have cut back on the amount of sugar that I am taking in most of the foods and drinks that I now have. In fact, my wife and I do not even put sugar on our dining room table anymore so my tea contains none of it and I don't put any on my cereal that I eat in the morning.

I assume that this is a positive step to take because I am trying to keep my weight down. I just figured that reducing the amount of sweetness that I eat will be helpful and, so far, that seems to be correct.  Sure I have put on weight over the last year and a half. That is the time after I left hospital when I am trying to maintain a strict diet to keep my weight down. Yes, I have put on a number of pounds but I believe it is all due to the exercises that I have been doing which have increased my muscles. After all, I can still wear the clothes I have been wearing all this time. Hopefully, my increased weight is due to internal muscle growth and not "fat" growth.

Here is the beginning of an article that I saw in the New York Times which reflects what I have been doing except my time period has been continuous since I came out of hospital. My session has not been for only a 30 day time period:

"It is in chicken stock, sliced cheese, bacon and smoked salmon, in mustard and salad dressing, in crackers and nearly every single brand of sandwich bread. It is all around us — in obvious ways and hidden ones — and it is utterly delicious.

It’s sugar, in its many forms: powdered sugar, honey, corn syrup, you name it. The kind you eat matters less than people once thought, scientific research suggests, and the amount matters much more. Our national sugar habit is the driving force behind the diabetes and obesity epidemics and may be a contributing factor to cancer and Alzheimer’s.

Like me, you’ve probably just finished a couple of weeks in which you have eaten a whole lot of tasty sugar. Don’t feel too guilty about it. But if you feel a little guilty about it, I’d like to make a suggestion.

Choose a month this year — a full 30 days, starting now or later — and commit to eating no added sweeteners. Go cold turkey, for one month…

It reset my sugar-addled taste buds and opened my eyes to the many products that needlessly contain sugar." (David Leonhardt, New York Times, December 30, 2016)

Take a look at the complete article and it will give you, dear reader, some help in determining what you ought to be doing to keep your weight down.

SMALL TOWNS ARE NOT NECESSARILY SO SMALL

I moved to the Town of Tecumseh about a year and a half ago. I have to admit that it has become a terrific place to live for my wife and me.

Really though, it is quite "tiny."  The population here is only around 24,000. It may increase a bit with some of the new homes that are being built around me but it is not going to get much larger because the amount of land available for construction is relatively limited I believe.  Here is a comment that I read about the new house development here which may have resulted because of the lack of land:

"The only municipality in the region to see a decrease in new housing starts for 2016 was Tecumseh." (CBC News January 12, 2017) 

Notwithstanding its small size, the politicians in Tecumseh seem to be quite advanced in a lot of their activities. Here is one matter that you might find of interest in the big City in this area:

"In the wake of massive flooding and tornado touchdowns in Windsor last year, the city’s fire chief is again pushing for a mass emergency online notification system." (Colleen MacDonald, CTV Windsor, January 2, 2017) 

Tecumseh is far ahead because here is what the article also published:

"Last year, the town of Tecumseh introduced an alert system that was utilized during the intense storms in September."

I should also mention about this event that is going to take place this week in Tecumseh:

"FLOOD UPDATE AND PROPERTY PROTECTION OPEN HOUSE

The Town will be holding a Public Information Centre (PIC) to provide an opportunity for residents to learn more on how to protect their homes from future weather events. The PIC will be held:

Thursday, January 26, 2017

3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

L’Essor Secondary School

13605 St. Gregory’s Road, Tecumseh, ON

Two short presentations to be held at 3:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.

Engineers in the Public Works Department will be available, along with representatives from local plumbing contractors and home improvement suppliers, to provide information On materials and installation of home protection devices. The Insurance Bureau of Canada, as well as the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs will be available to answer questions regarding insurance and recovery assistance."

I expect to attend that  event.

Why Was This Lawsuit Settled

I must admit that I don't understand how a settlement could be arrived at in this class-action lawsuit. Why would the defendants want to offer over $2 million as a settlement amount if the plaintiffs did not have a case. Take a look at what this case is about:

"the latest settlement offer in a class-action lawsuit, stemming from patients who received diluted chemotherapy drugs several years ago" (CBC News January 9, 2017)

Here is the key information as far as I am concerned:

"When the settlement was originally offered, a lawyer with McKenzie, Lake Lawyers LLP [one of the Plaintiffs' lawyers] recognized the amounts of the settlement was low, but called it fair considering an inquiry found there was no negligence on the part of the companies involved.

"This is an excellent settlement given that there really was no lawsuit that could have gone forward if we couldn't settle it essentially," associate lawyer Sabrina Lombardi said at the time."

Here is what was said in another article:

"Mike Peerless, one of the class-action lawyers along with the Sutts, Strosberg firm from Windsor, said while he was moved by the victims’ “heartfelt” and “heartbreaking” statements, he has to look at the case rationally. He said the class-action lawyers found no evidence of a single patient who suffered any significant damage from taking the diluted drugs. They also couldn’t find a single expert — no doctor, psychiatrist, oncologist or clinical pharmacologist — who would say the underdosing caused patients’ cancer to worsen. He warned if the settlement is rejected, the class-action lawsuit would be doomed." (Brian Cross, Windsor Star, January 10, 2017)

I must admit that I do not understand why the defendants want to pay out so much money if there was "no lawsuit" that could have gone anywhere. Oh well, maybe they still were afraid that there was a big risk and so the settlement was necessary.

There are around 1,200 plaintiffs, the news stories state, who would receive $1,500 each. I guess that means that the law firms will share the difference between that amount and the full amount of the settlement. They probably would never have won and so would not have made any legal fees.

January

I will wish it to you again, dear reader: Happy New Year 2017!

I have been thinking about the month of "January" in general recently and what has happened to me over the years. I have to admit that what has happened in this time-period in all of the years so far that I have lived has been quite interesting There have been many key events for me that have taken place. Let me outline several of them for you so that you, dear reader might understand better what I mean.

Naturally, the most important event that has happened in the month of January is my marriage to my wonderful wife, Marsha. We married only a few months after she moved to Toronto because our relationship had bloomed so much and I knew she was the “one” for me. I envisioned spending our life together and creating a family. She actually lived in one of the units in the building where I was. Our marriage ceremony took place just about 42 years ago (our anniversary is coming up soon!) and our relationship is even stronger now than it has ever been!

The other two thrilling events involve having our kids! Our first child (Michael) was also born in the month of January.  Our second child (Melissa) just missed the month by only a few weeks later on when she was born. So January was a key month for the arrival of two new faces in this world for us to love and protect.

Now onto some news stories that I found interesting in January so far: 

OUR NEW INDUSTRY 

Who would have known what our new industry in this country would be. It has been around for quite a long period of time but it seems only getting respectability recently it seems to me.  It does have a few problems but here is how it was described: 

"As Canada's fledgling pot industry seeks legitimacy, product recalls raise questions

(Reid Southwick, Calgary Herald, January 16, 2017)

After an unauthorized pesticide was discovered in medical marijuana products, triggering recalls, a licensed grower that runs a massive greenhouse north of Calgary says the fledgling industry “must ensure that it never happens again.”  

Still, a top executive at Aurora Cannabis Inc. said Monday the recalls are proof that industry oversight and company testing are effective at identifying risks in medical pot sold to customers. 

“It’s unfortunate that some people were affected by this recall,” said Cam Battley, executive vice-president at the Vancouver company. “But it’s the exception to the rule… This is a system that is working day in, day out, and it’s handling 10 per cent, per-month growth.”  

The recalls come as the legal marijuana production industry seeks to legitimize itself ahead of Ottawa authorizing recreational pot use." 

A recall? For this product?

I must admit that I would have thought that such an activity would not be very helpful for this industry. However, it happened. I must admit that I would have thought that the organization's function is not just in "identifying risks" but rather is in "preventing" risks in the first place.  The article in the newspaper also identified another incident that happened previously as well.  

How many more of such incidents might take place and what would the consequences be? 

HOSPITALIZATION 

I have to admit that I have not been following very closely the new hospital stories for what may take place in this Region.   

I must admit that I thought that there was some talk going on about closing down the 2 hospitals in Windsor after the new one was built but I really didn't take it very seriously because that seemed so ridiculous to me.  However, and I am still not 100% sure, it seems that what I had thought I heard is now going to be true. I will spend some time later on following up on it but let us assume that what I have said now is correct. Why such a decision should be made is beyond me! Of course, it seems to me that cutting down the number of hospitals has to be based on financial considerations, nothing else. 

Let me just refer to a bunch of comments I have seen over the past little while which might give you and me, dear reader, some information about whether such a hospital will be built here and when. In this article, I won't get into the subject about whether we should have only one real hospital in this Region. 

This story was quite interesting to me. It suggested who might provide additional hospital assistance for any patient who was there and at no cost to the Hospital. While it may be great for the patient, it also was extremely positive financially for the Hospital as far as I was concerned. It makes it easier just to have one hospital in the area doesn't it: 

"Around-the-clock visitation means better care for hospital patients 

Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare is allowing visitors 24/7 access to their facility… 

the payoff is: improved patient outcomes; fewer medication errors and falls; reduced lengths of stay; and a better transition to home resulting in fewer readmissions and emergency department visits. 

There are also fewer medication errors when you allow family members to be more involved… 

So having a family member there really improves the level of care of the patient and really assists staff who are often overworked and very busy and trying their best.” (Brian Cross, Windsor Star, January 17, 2017)

I have to admit that I never really understood why a number of hospitals in Windsor were closed down in the past.  However, they were which left us with only 2. Now, we might be closing down our hospitals so that we would only be having one.   

I don't have the numbers right here but I thought that the number of beds in the Hospital were not going to be all that high either. I did have some of trouble then understanding what the advantage would be. Here is a situation we are having now even with 2 Hospitals. What would it be like if we only have one and how many times would such a situation occur: 

"Windsor Regional Hospital cancelling surgeries due to capacity crisis, warns leadership 

The ongoing capacity crisis at Windsor Regional Hospital has forced the system to take drastic measures such as cancel surgeries, says hospital leadership. 

“When you’re running at the percentages we’re running at, something has to give,” said David Musyj, hospital president and CEO, at a press conference on Wednesday. 

Since the beginning of the year, WRH has experienced a dramatic spike in acute-care cases — predominantly elderly patients suffering from flu or stomach virus — that is pushing resources past their limits. 

As of Wednesday, Musyj said the hospital’s Met Campus is at 113 per cent capacity and the Ouellette Campus is at 104 per cent. There are now 54 overflow beds being used beyond the system’s normal maximum occupancy of 545. 

Four surgeries scheduled to take place at the Met Campus on Wednesday had to be cancelled and rescheduled… 

But what to be done about it? Musyj said it’s imperative that other medical facilities across Windsor-Essex improve “bedded capacity.” 

“We can’t take the burden ourselves. We need help from everybody,” Musyj said. “We need to make sure everybody is pulling their weight across the system.” (Dalson Chen, Windsor Star, January 18, 2017) 

I thought that the capacity at the new Hospital here was only going to be 500 people. That number is below what our capacity is now. Does that mean that it would be in emergencies situations quite often? 

By the way, after I read this story, I did not think that David Musyj was all that happy about what was going on here. I really wondered whether he suspected that nothing would ever be built here in the near term: 

"Mega-hospital project 'will be over' if provincial funding doesn't come through 

If promised provincial funding doesn't come through Windsor's mega-hospital project "is over," according to the hospital's CEO. 

David Musyj made the comments after a pre-budget consultation with Yvan Baker, parliamentary assistant to minister of finance Charles Sousa, at St. Clair College Thursday.  

"We can't delay it any further. We have to move this forward," said Musyj, who added the long delay for funding has him feeling apprehensive. "If we don't receive the funding to move to stage two this project is over…" 

[Yvan Baker, parliamentary assistant to the minister of finance] said he is aware of how important the need for hospital funding is, but declined to comment on the future of the project saying, "As far as what we can expect I will leave that to the minister of health." (CBC News January 12, 2017)

That sure does not seem too positive to me to expect that a new hospital will built here.

Some Interesting News Stories

I still do a lot of reading of stories from various media outlets from around North America and elsewhere. I just find it fascinating to see what other people write about matters that are important for this region.  Naturally, most of the stories that I would be reporting would come from the local media.  After all, I do live here and my focus is primarily on matters that would have an impact on me and my family.

However, I also like reading stories from media personnel outside of this area that are not necessarily focusing on this region but which may have an implication here.

Here are some stories that I have read recently that I hope will be of interest to you.

$200 MILLION MUST BE PEANUTS IN TORONTO

Here  is something that I have been reading recently about tolls that might be charged in Toronto for both the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway to raise money for the City. Once that is done, if it is, what would be the implications here? After all, I would expect a number of cities across Canada to demand that their roads also be tolled to raise money for them.

I must admit that I found this comment by the Toronto Mayor about how he has acted on this file somewhat strange:

"Tory first put forward his tolling plan during a Toronto Board of Trade luncheon in November. He said a $2 road toll would raise $200 million annually, money he said he wants put into a separate fund to pay for transit and infrastructure. The announcement marked a shift in stance for the mayor, who previously campaigned against tolls.  

Carter asked Tory why he didn’t put forward a tolling proposal during his mayoral campaign in 2014.

“I said it wasn’t my preferred means of raising the money to pay for transit, but I got here and I had a choice to make – the choice was as between a massive increase in property taxes, like we’re talking 10 per cent, which goes on to everybody. We’re talking about the sale of assets, including Toronto Hydro and I just felt that wasn’t the right way to go,” Tory said.

“I came to the conclusion that road tolls were the best available means of raising this money and I just stepped forward and said so.” (Nick Westoll Global News December 28, 2016)

Oh and here was a rather funny remark from him about how important this matter really will be:

"Tory added he doesn’t think tolls will be the deciding factor for the upcoming election, saying that the economy is most often one of the issues people consider.

“I think it will be a referendum on leadership and I’m quite prepared to put my overall leadership record in front of people at that time and say, ‘Did I address traffic and transit, housing, keep taxes low and attract jobs to Toronto,’” he said."

Sure, who cares about spending hundreds of  millions of dollars!

MICHIGAN GOVERNOR'S CONTINUING BORDER ACTIONS

I just do not understand why the Michigan Governor is still trying to build a Governments bridge in our area. Does he think that someone has $4 billion or more to build a Governments bridge because that seems to be the price going around now as to its cost? Does he believe that the Ambassador Bridge Company does not have the exclusive right to build a bridge in this area and that the cost for it to accomplish what it wants is not about $500 million, a fraction of his cost?

I saw this comment in a Detroit media article on Sunday:

"Gov. Rick Snyder, who didn’t endorse anyone for president in either the primary or general election, will use the inauguration to try and build relationships with Trump’s administration.

“They’re still filling a lot of positions in their administration and it’s important to see who those people are and build relations,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons I’m going. I want us to have a positive relationship.”

He’ll be talking to transportation officials about continuing the support for the Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor and the possibility of the federal government picking up the cost of a customs plaza at the bridge. He also wants to talk about potential improvements to the Soo Locks at Sault Ste. Marie, noting: “It’s clearly a piece of national infrastructure that we need to invest in.” (Kathleen Gray, Detroit Free Press January 14, 2017)

Frankly, I thought that it was quite ridiculous for him to do this now. Does he really think that anyone federally is going to speak to him about it this week? Since he didn't endorse anyone to become President, especially the winner, why would anyone want to help him at all!

FEWER CITY EMPLOYEES IN FUTURE

It won't happen right away. Employees will not be terminated if their jobs are outsourced but will be placed in other positions in City employment:

"Windsor taxpayers could save $604,000 a year if janitorial work at city-owned Huron Lodge is outsourced, according to a council report.

Unionized custodians, who earn about $24 an hour, are first on the chopping block as city council looks to cut costs by outsourcing all municipal caretakers. An administration report going to council Jan. 16 says the city could save $604,000 a year by paying a private company to fulfil the duties of the 16 full-time and 19 part-time custodians at the long-term care facility…

Payne said he will only vote for the initiative if it ensures that permanent caretakers are moved to other jobs within the city, perhaps the parks department, which is up for a possible $500,000 budget increase this year." (Craig Pearson, Windsor Star, January 5, 2017) 

Of course, the idea is that these people will not be replaced once they leave the employment in the City. That is how the City officials think they will look so good in what they are doing even if it means reducing the number of people who actually work for the City.

NEW AUTO JOBS IN WINDSOR

I have to admit that I missed this story. I'm glad however that I saw it because it is certainly positive for our employment situation in this area… at least up until now.

"Ford investment to bring 500 jobs to Windsor

Ford is investing more than $600 million in the Windsor Engine plant

Production of a new engine at the Ford Annex in Windsor will bring 500 jobs to Windsor, according to the president of Unifor Local 200. (CBC News November 07, 2016) 

It all depends on what the new US President decides has to be done with the automobile industry with respect to employment positions in Canada. He may want all of these new jobs to be set up in the US instead of elsewhere.

My Exercise Life

I have to admit that I am hardly an exercise person. For most of my life, I really did very little exercising. Oh sure, on some occasions I went to a gym and on others I did some swimming. However, I was not very active.  I rarely went outside for long walks or to do a lot of swimming. Although I did have a pool in my house that I used, it was more for wading around in the water rather than swimming.

I was pretty close to 200 pounds when I had my tragic situation just over 2 years ago. In looking at my photographs around that time over the past little while, I was surprised to see how much I weighed and how it was distributed. Believe it or not, by the time I got out of hospital and started recovering from my terrible illness, I had already lost 40 to 50 pounds since I was not eating very much due to the medication I was taking which caused me to feel nauseated and lose my desire to eat.  Now that was something unbelievable. It was a huge jump-start for me and for my future, although obviously I wish I didn't have to go through such drastic measures.

Accordingly, there are goals that I have to reach given what has happened to me physically. I have to admit, dear reader, that one of my requirements these days is to keep my weight down so that I get better from the illness from which I am still recovering. Like it or not for me, there are some physical issues for which I will never recover and I have to figure out ways to get around them.  It does take a lot of physical exercising for me to do that.

One of the things that I must tell you is that I have put on weight since I have returned home notwithstanding how much exercising I do now. That seemed so horrible to me. Right now, my weight increase is about 12 pounds higher than it was when I returned home from the hospital. I must say that I was quite shocked and upset about that until I was told that my weight increase really was due to all of the exercising I was doing and the muscles that I was creating.  It did not mean that I was getting "fatter" but that I was gaining more muscle mass.

I have to admit, dear reader, that once I understood that then I started feeling much better. My weight increase was now not negative to me but positive because I was fixing up my body in a way that it had never been.

Let me give you one small example. One of the exercises that I do is that, while being seated, I lift each of my legs in as straight a fashion as is possible about as high as I can about 20 times.  Sounds easy doesn't it? Initially it was extremely difficult to raise the legs 20 times. Moreover, at first, the height that a leg was raised was extremely low, just barely off the floor.  Not now though. Although it is still not at its highest and best point, I am to raise my legs easily off the floor and quite high as well. Moreover, I keep my legs fairly straight as they go up. It just makes me feel good knowing that I am accomplishing so much. In addition, I am still exercising to get into the best leg position possible. Pretty soon, I also expect that I am going to be increasing the number from 20 to a much higher number.

I do these exercises 3 times a day now, once before each of breakfast, lunch and dinner. Each system takes somewhere between 15 to 20 minutes to do. I will then eat after I have finished doing the physical work. It does feel great being able to do so every day now.

I go through a number of different exercises that I can tell you about. It is an approach that I have seen is rather standard that is being suggested to people, especially my age or perhaps in a poor physical condition, now to do every day. These steps include:

- forward and backward up and down leg movements

-a number of knee bends that are increased as pains disappear

-a number of leg stretches using 3 different leg locations

-a dozen or so leg movements moving the legs up and down at the back of the body

-about 5 dozen paces walking along the house floor with the feet up and down in a special fashion

-leg lifting described above

-20 various arms motions in 2 ways each to keep them moving well

-final head motion which helps my eye problems as well.

Of course, twice now during the day, I use my "high-powered" elliptical trainer to help my body remain firm and to lose some weight obviously as my motion time increases as much as I can. I do have to admit that the amount of time I spend moving around is hardly what I have heard that other people do these days. My time is rather low now and I want to do better.

I do get tired, but I make sure to drink plenty of water and even have a snack to keep my energy up.  I also have resistance bands, which are a great accessory to my exercise regime. I do have the incentive however to do as much as I possibly can. That is exactly what I did do with all the exercising. i.e. I increase the number of steps that I take whenever I can.

I still require assistance to make sure that physically my body is improving and that I am able to do the exercises that are designed to help me without having an injury. For that, I have been under the care of a number of health care workers called PSW's (Personal Support Workers). They are wonderful and really help me in my daily routines! I did not realize it, but they were quite involved in looking after me initially when I returned home from the hospital. I honestly did not know who they were exactly because I was quite unable to know anything that was going on around me for the first month or so when I returned home. Apparently, I was not the easiest person to deal with at first because of the strange way that I was acting because of the medication that I was under but they were familiar with what was happening to a person like me and made sure that they were able to help me out so well.  

As time went on, the process changed and the PSW's came many days a week to make sure that I was doing better. When I transferred from Windsor to Tecumseh, my process changed to 3 days per week to do the physical work I needed. Believe it or not, I know that my objective is to reduce the number of days as quickly as possible, as I get better physically. That is my goal that I want to accomplish.

So that is what my physical life was like and now is like these days, dear reader. There is no doubt that as time goes on, I will learn different techniques to help me improve my situation and I will do so as often as I can. It has been such a blessing for me to have met so many people who have been so good in helping me out.

Exercising is important in all our lives. Even if you can do very little, it is good to get the body moving! Along with exercise, it is also crucial to have a well-balanced diet too. I like a nice treat once in a while (ex. a slice of pie or a cookie), but I believe moderation is the way to go.  Overall, making these small changes has really made a positive improvement in my life.

Follow This Latest Border Crossing Lawsuit

I just cannot believe what is going on now on the border file!  I certainly do not intend to spend a lot of time examining the new lawsuit documents for no real reason at all.

Unfortunately, I have not seen the latest battle document, the Statement Of Claim or whatever that document is called in an American lawsuit, effectively between the Ambassador Bridge Company and the State of Michigan.  That should nicely escalate the dispute between the Governments on both sides of the River and the Ambassador Bridge Company over what is going to happen.  This fight has already been going on for over a decade and I fear that this lawsuit alone by the time it finally gets appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States should take a decade as well.

I guess it means that the likelihood of completing a new Government bridge is not going to happen as quickly as suggested recently. Mind you, the word "quick" is hardly the appropriate one to use when talking about the completion of a Government project for a new crossing between Windsor and Detroit.

Of course, I can hardly wait for a similar type of lawsuit to be started in Canada. It may well be that it is not the right time to start one here. I am sure though that we will see one started that will be the Canadian equivalent and it will also take a decade or so to be completed after being appealed to all of the Canadian Courts at every level as required.

What I found interesting in the various stories that I have seen so far is that there is no claim for damages as well. I would have thought that a damages claim would be in the billions of dollars. I wonder then if this is not a lawsuit for money but rather just an "issues" lawsuit in which non-damages reliefs are being sought. What that means to me then is that this is not a "final" lawsuit at all but rather just one of the number of lawsuits that could well be planned but not started yet. I just wonder how many more of these types of lawsuits can be started and when. My guess is that the numbers are quite high.

I was quite intrigued about who was acting for the Ambassador Bridge Company. The Bridge Company's lawyer was identified as "former Attorney General Mike Cox, of the Livonia-based Mike Cox Law Firm…" (Chad Livengood, Crain's Detroit Business, January 5, 2017)    He was Michigan Attorney General from 2003 until 2010 so he was rather experienced I would suggest. I thought that this was an interesting choice of who should be the lawyer for the Plaintiffs. Talk about this matter not just being about legal issues but "political" ones as well.

Apparently, here is the essence of what this lawsuit is all about:

"No state department can spend money unless it's appropriated," Cox told Crain's on Thursday. "Even if you get free money — i.e. money from Canada — you still have to get an appropriation to spend it. That's Government 101."

Lawmakers have prohibited MDOT from spending any state tax dollars on the project. To get around that requirement, the state road agency has been billing Canada for planning and real estate work.

Moroun's companies contend every version of Michigan's state Constitution dating to 1850 has stipulated that only the Legislature can authorize the construction of international bridge crossings to Canada."

Now I haven't got the faintest idea whether this is a good claim or not, nor, quite frankly, do I care. I assume that the Ambassador Bridge Company will not start a silly lawsuit like this but rather will have a very significant case to make and have a very well known former politician, now lawyer, act on their behalf. Moreover, I hardly think that someone who is an experienced lawyer at a very high level would take on a foolish lawsuit that could damage his reputation.

Nevertheless, it is just another event in this fiasco matter that has been going on without, it seems, any hope of reaching a final conclusion unless there are highest level Supreme Court decisions on both sides of the river that are the same that support one side. Gee, I wonder what would happen if the Courts' decisions are not the same but exactly opposite. Now that should be fun to see as well.

To be direct, dear reader, my own view about all of this is that the lawsuit was started now to put intense pressure on the Governments to resolve their issues with the Ambassador Bridge Company. I just don't understand what is going on anyway. I thought that it was the Ambassador Bridge Company position that they were waiting to get approval from the Governments to build their bridge now and as quickly as possible. After all, weren't we told that it is the Governments' position that they need 2 new crossings built.  One of the crossings was supposed to be for this new bridge that they were going to build and the other one, of course, was for the building of a new Ambassador Bridge because it is quite old now.

Of course, I know what this really means. If the Bridge Company gets the approval to build a new bridge now and does so immediately, then the Government Bridge will never get built. I can hardly think that there is a need for so many bridges in this area when the traffic seems to have declined significantly. A new Ambassador Bridge along with fixing up the old one would be all that is needed for this area. It would mean then that the Governments are in a tough position with the Bridge Company effectively telling everyone that the Governments cannot hurt their business at all.

Really, in my opinion, all that is happening is that the Governments are waiting for Matty Moroun to finally decide that he will not be involved in business anymore and will retire. That means that his son will be the one looking after the file. They expected to do a deal with him. As you may also know, dear reader, the reputation of his son in the past was not a good one. He was going to have to run this Company's business on his own when his father left the scene and it was felt that he would probably sell out and at a very cheap price. Of course, the Governments now understand that they were completely wrong in how they looked at the business reputation of Matthew Moroun. He is a real problem for them and will carry on his father's business quite well! Even better now after his father was put in jail for one night some time ago over a dispute in one of the lawsuits. Matthew literally changed overnight and publicly after this happened.

Oh well, nothing has really changed. It is just another lawsuit but with a very significant lawyer acting for the Ambassador Bridge Company. It makes their position appear much stronger to the public than the Governments would prefer! All it says to me is that until the Governments decide that it is time to talk with the Bridge Company all that we will see is more of this misery going on.

Let me repeat what I have said already so many times just one more time. It is time for the Governments and the Ambassador Bridge Company to sit down and arrive at a solution now on the border file. There are all kinds of solutions that are possible that the parties can discuss and resolve. Canada has at least decided on this in my opinion with the appointment now of Dwight Duncan as the five-year Chairman of Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority.  After all, here is what he said some time ago:

"Canada should consider buying the privately owned, 87-year-old Ambassador Bridge, which connects Windsor, Ont., and Detroit, Mich., says the man already tasked with building a brand new crossing just down river.

Dwight Duncan, chairman of the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority, which oversees construction of the $4-billion Gordie Howe International Bridge, says Ottawa should also own what is one of the busiest land border crossings in North America." (CBC News, July 28, 2016) 

I guess there should be an American politician involved too but it really will be the decision between Duncan and the Ambassador Bridge Company that will decide what will happen. Who knows, maybe the price for the Morouns' interest will be close to the $4 billion amount that has been thrown  around and that will get them out of the Company finally.

2017 Articles

I trust that you understand, dear reader, the number "2017" is this year's date, not the number of new articles that I expect to write this year and post on TecumsehCityBlog!

I have had a lot of fun writing articles in my new website. I have created a whole bunch of them dealing with different subjects including a number of very personal ones about what is happening in my life over the past 2 years. I hope that you have found them interesting and enjoyable to look at and will continue coming here to read what I write.  Again, it is my plan not only to write about issues that have an impact on me and my family but also articles that allow me to comment on matters that are going on in this area. 

If you have anything special that you want me to write about, feel free to email me to make the suggestion that I do so. If it is something that I think that I can handle, then I would be happy to produce such an article. I do have to say though, dear reader, that I might not agree with your position that you set it out for me and I may actually write something that is not the same as yours but that should be okay too.  I certainly would let people know what you proposed even though I may disagree with your point of view.

There are lots of articles that I see on various websites that I like referring to you, dear reader. It gives me the opportunity to let you know about them and to give me the opportunity to express my position on them.  They are interesting to me at least and explains why I post about them.

Here are some that I have seen over the past little while which I wish to discuss and let you know what my position on them is.

SHMUEL FARHI ARTICLE

I thought I would let you know about this article, dear reader, so you could get some information about this gentleman who is investing in our area. Please note his comment about the suggestion that he might be a "relative" of our former Mayor in the article. It is not true based on what he said.

The article is: "Developer Shmuel Farhi Answers Burning Questions About Windsor Investments." It is one written by former Councillor Alan Halberstadt in Biz X Magazine in the January, 2017 edition of the magazine on pages 6 and 7.

I have decided not to comment on it but rather just to let you know that you ought to read it yourself to gain some information about this gentleman and what he is proposing to do in this area. It will also give you an idea about the property that he has purchased so far and why there has not been construction on some of his properties.

TECUMSEH IS A LEADING TOWN

I must admit that until I moved to Tecumseh I really did not know very much about this town. Since living here, obviously I know a lot more about it by reading more news articles about it and seeing additional Council information. Moreover, there are a fair number of important articles about things that happen in this Town that we as residents here should know about and are now being reported in the press.

Here is one that you may appreciate which gives another reason why Tecumseh is so important to people who live in this region. It seems to be far advanced in what it does and Windsor and other Towns ought to be learning about it for their use:

"Fire chief pushing for an emergency online notification system

Windsor's fire chief says an emergency online notification system would keep residents in the know during periods of severe weather." (Colleen MacDonald, CTV Windsor, January 2, 2017)

Clearly, this is important because of the near disasters that we had in the summertime with the horrific storms that we had around here. It is quite important for residents to know what is going on and what should be done.

Here is an important side of that article Tecumseh residents ought to be happy about:

"The cost of the online system would be about $65,000. The report will be discussed during the city's 2017 budget deliberations.

Last year, the town of Tecumseh introduced an alert system that was utilized during the intense storms in September."

Thank goodness that our situation in important matters can be looked after so well.

MNSI'S NEW SERVICES

There is no doubt that MNSI must believe that it has a very competitive position in the "telephone" marketplace for the millions of dollars that it is spending building up its own independent fibre network to be used throughout the area.

Here is what it is doing now that was written quite some time ago. My wife and I adopted this program when we moved out to Tecumseh. Its cost is quite amazing compared with what some big competitors charge:

"In the last four years, MNSi has spent more than $6 million expanding its network of fibre optic cable in Windsor, Tecumseh and LaSalle, he said. That allows it to offer unlimited Internet to the customers it can reach on those lines without the restrictions and additional charges imposed by Bell.

MNSi’s latest salvo has been to enter turf that was once Bell’s alone. A year ago, the local company began offering home phone service bundled with its Internet offering...

MNSi charges $59.95 a month plus tax for high speed Internet and local phone service that includes call waiting, caller ID, voice mail, 911, touch tone and 250 minutes of North American long distance a month." (Ellen van Wageningen, Windsor Star, September 13, 2012)

We are not yet in the area where I live now where we can take advantage of their new fibre product line but there is no doubt that it will come to us relatively soon.

Here is what the article also said about their future in this business:

"It is a long-term strategy that is expected to take years to pay off, Zekelman said."

I am telling you all this, dear reader, because of what was just announced regarding MNSI.  There is no doubt that a lot of money has been spent over the past several years for MNSI to get a strong position in the marketplace. I expect that the MNSI executives now believe that they have a big advantage here based on what they have done to date and want to get new customers now for their fibre system as quickly as possible:

"In pockets of homes throughout Windsor, LaSalle, Tecumseh and Lakeshore, a Windsor telecom company is laying the groundwork for the fastest Internet service available.

MNSi Telecom is spending about $5 million a year installing fibre optic lines locally. It’s in anticipation of Bell and other so-called “incumbents” taking advantage of new CRTC rules allowing them to charge higher fees for the use of their aging network.

“We’re going to own our infrastructure right to the customer,” said Clayton Zekelman, MNSi’s president and owner." (Sarah Sacheli, Windsor Star, January 2, 2017) 

Just as an aside, I saw this line in the newspaper article that I believe is quite important it is one of the huge advantages to me when I have a technical services problem:

"Zekelman prides himself on being a locally-owned and operated company. When customers need technical support, they can call a local number that connects to employees in MNSI’s Tecumseh Road East office, not some call centre overseas."

Over the past few months, especially because of the messes involved with Windows 10, I have called MNSI reps to get their assistance when I have a problem. And I have had some really bad ones!  To be honest, some of the issues that I have had are not necessarily "ISP matters" with which they deal with all the time but involve problems that I have had with the Windows software working properly. In every one of these occasions, an MNSI rep has remained on the phone with me, sometimes for quite long periods of time, to solve each of these problems that I am under because of Microsoft's software. I am most appreciative of that effort of these employees!

There are a number of other stories that I want to report on but I will leave it for another article to be published soon.