Adrian passed over for GOP 'Victory Center'

Apparently the Michigan Republican Party doesn't think Adrian will be a place of victory this fall.
While GOP chairman Saul Anuzis says the party is "committed to working in communities across Michigan, helping to bring visibility and support to all Republican candidates," Adrian was skipped over yesterday for the opening of 26 Victory Centers.
The Victory Centers will be hosting grand opening celebrations during the coming weeks in Marquette, Sault Ste Marie, Gaylord, Mount Pleasant, Saginaw, Traverse City, Grand Rapids, Holland, Portage, Muskegon, St Joseph, Flint, Port Huron, Ann Arbor, Brighton, East Lansing, Jackson, Monroe, Farmington Hills, Rochester Hills, Clarkston, Dearborn, Livonia, Taylor, and Utica.
Many of these towns are smaller than and less conservative than Adrian.
Each center is designed to coordinate volunteers to defeat Gov. Jennifer Granholm and U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow in November.
For local Lenawee County Republicans, there's a couple of get-together events scheduled in the coming weeks.

New blogger defends Matthew Peterson

An Adrian Insider reader by the name of Christine Kennedy Kramer has started a blog in defense of convicted former Tecumseh High School track coach Matthew Peterson.
Tecumseh police say Peterson had at least four parties at his house in 2003 when he allegedly provided alcohol and let track stars drug and sexually assault teenage girls in his hot tub.
Her first blog posting was also posted in the comments section of an May 15 Adrian Insider blog.
"So he screwed up a little, not nearly as much as you wish he did in what you read. So give it up," Christine Kennedy Kramer wrote in a posting that was published at 10:28 a.m. today.
This apparent friend of Peterson's isn't the only one rushing to defend him and his former athletes, many of whom are serving jail time for various offenses related to Peterson's parties and scams.
Much of the dialogue stemmed from an in-depth report by the Detroit Free Press on how the school district turned a blind eye on Peterson.
Even the news editor of the Adrian's daily newspaper, The Daily Telegram, took a poke at the state's biggest newspaper.
In his column Saturday, Eric Gable said the Free Press' May 19 editorial comment - "Shame on all of Tecumseh" - "was, perhaps, just a wee bit of an overstatement."

Readers to Detroit Free Press: Stop picking on MSU

A college football blogger is weighing in on former Tecumseh star track and football player Cole Corey's recent sentencing for his role in the 2002 sexual assault of a 17-year-old female classmate.
"Athletes who run amok aren't being winked at any more," D.Laurant wrote today on http://www.realfootball365.com/ about Corey, who was kicked off the Michigan State University football team last week following his sentencing in Judge Harvey Koselka's Adrian courtroom.
The case involving Corey and others has put Tecumseh, Michigan on the map.
D.Laurant brushed off the blame Detroit Free Press readers have been placing lately regarding the conduct of Corey and his teammates, who were part of a sex club at track coach Matthew Peterson's house that resulted in porno and booze for the boys and the sexual assualt of female students in Peterson's hot tub in June of 2003.
Free Press readers have accused the paper of picking on MSU.
"With luck, Cole Corey will learn his lesson. It remains to be seen if college football will follow suit," D.Laurant wrote .

Lessenberry: Walberg's a 'fundamentalist preacher'

Metro Times Jack Lessenberry weighs in on the 7th District GOP congressional primary in his column this week.
"Congressman Joe Schwarz of Battle Creek is seen as a dangerous liberal by some because he is in favor of education and thinks abortion ought to be "safe, legal, and rare." Some sort of fundamentalist preacher named Timothy Walberg is attempting to rally the faithful against him," Lessenberry writes (scroll down).
In addition to writing a weekly column for the alternative Detroit weekly, Lessenberry has a show on Michigan Public Radio, is a journalism professor at Wayne State University and ombudsman for the Toledo Blade.

'Walberg gets exactly the race he wants'

The Detroit Free Press has an in-depth profile story today about the 7th District Republican congressional primary battle between former state Rep. Tim Walberg and incumbent U.S. Rep. Joe Schwarz.
The story profile rural voters from Union City, but political pundit Bill Ballenger sums up the race in one sentence following analysis of Schwarz's 2004 victory in a six-man field, which Walberg was part of.
"Now Walberg gets exactly the race he wants," Ballenger told the Free Press.
Ballenger on Schwarz's incumbency: "The question is whether this two years of service is simply too much for Walberg to overcome."
Retired U.S. Rep. Nick Smith, R-Addison, whose son Brad Smith came in second to Schwarz in 2004, said he hasn't made a decision whether to endorse one candidate or the other.
"I think the new mandate for Congress is to be more frugal on spending," the life-long farmer and budget hawk told the Free Press.
"No matter who wins, a lot of things are going to be different in Congress next go-round."

In other news...
The Schwarz campaign continues to fight back against Walberg's "Schwarz is a tax and spend liberal" labeling.
In his latest campaign journal post, Campaign Director Matt Marsden calls Walberg a "Quasi-Republican" who is financially beholden to a "Pseudo-Republican" political action committee, Club for Growth.
Marsden, who said both Club for Growth and Walberg continue "to lie," left this message for his bosses opponent:
"Tim, I’m a realist. I don’t expect Congressman Schwarz’s votes to deter you from continuing to propagate your misleading and hypocritical rhetoric."

Peer pressure led rape victim to drop charges, Tecumseh police say

Of all the recent revelations coming out of the Tecumseh High School sex scandal, authorities have begun implying that after Cole Corey and classmate Anthony Sandoval assaulted a 17-year-old girl in Sandoval's home, they and others may have peer-pressured the girl to not pursue rape charges.
Shortly after the April 2002 assault, the girl went to the hospital and authorities had evidence she had been drugged with Ecstasy and raped, police say.
"Basically, we did the collection of evidence and it was preserved," John Clark, deputy police chief at the Tecumseh Police Department, told The State News for a story Friday.
"Both suspects as well as the victim had been interviewed. Unfortunately, due to the victim's age, she came under a lot of peer pressure and thought it would be easier to walk away from everything."
Clark and other authorities have hinted that if the rape victim had gone forward with pressing charges against Cole Corey and Anthony Sandoval, the drunk debauchery and sexual abuse of other female classmates that took place a year later in track coach Matthew Peterson's home could have been prevented.

In other news.....
Michigan State University's decision to keep Cole Corey on the football team after he struck a plea bargain with Lenawee County prosecutors, pleading guilty to possession of a controlled substance in February, is drawing criticism from the Lansing State Journal.
Corey's high school run-ins with the law didn't stop in Tecumseh.
While at MSU, the junior cornerback was charged with misdemeanor aggravated assault in January 2004, then with filing a false police report, a felony, in April 2004.
Following his sentencing on Thursday, Corey was kicked off the team and is no longer listed on the roster.
In a Sunday editorial, the State Journal calls on MSU coach John L. Smith, administrators and elected trustees to explain just exactly why they stuck with Corey since February and who is really in charge.

Walker Tavern gets $212K grant

Walker Tavern, the historic 19th century stagecoach stop in Cambridge Township at the intersection of U.S. 12 and M-50, is the recipient of a $212,000 state grant.
The grant will upgrade the Hewitt House visitor center and help enhance the Irish Hills' welcome center, The Jackson Citizen Patriot reported Saturday.
Boys Scouts in the Great Sauk Trail Council held a camporee at the Walker Tavern Historical Park this weekend.
The scouts from Lenawee, Hillsdale and Jackson counties were planning to build a heritage, nature & fitness hiking trail.
A classic car show and Boy & Girl Scout pinewood derby is planned for June 3 at the park.

Residents rip Detroit Free Press' Tecumseh sex scandal reports

Some Lenawee County residents have decided to defend the sex and booze shenanigans at Tecumseh High School by blasting the Detroit Free Press for taking notice and reporting on the case.
In a letter to the editor in today's Free Press, Onsted resident Drew Cunningham rebutted a Free Press editorial blasting Tecumseh administrators and parents for turning a blind eye to student-athletes drinking and sleeping over at a coaches house, which turned into a sex club where female classmates were raped in Matthew Peterson's hot tub.
"Shame on you for vilifying the young adults who are being convicted of those horrible crimes, the worst of which would have been committed while they were still 17-year-old minors. Shame on you for celebrating the sentencing of Cole Corey to prison; a decision that will affect the rest of his life. And most important, shame on you for attacking the city that I proudly call home," Cunningham wrote.
Corey was sentenced Thursday to two to ten years in prison for his role in the 2002 drugging and sexual assault of a classmate.
While some Free Press readers said Peterson manipulated the vulnerable teens, Patricia Madden of Clinton said the state's largest daily newspaper never reported from Lenawee County until the sex scandal emerged.
"Where are the articles about all our wonderful young people and their achievements? Do you have to commit a felony to garner the attention of the Free Press? I say shame on the Free Press," Madden wrote.

Brown gets Monroe job

George Brown has been picked to be the next city manager of Monroe.
The Monroe City Council chose Brown, the former Adrian city administrator who resigned last November, over Homer Village Manager George Strand at a meeting Thursday, the Monroe Evening News reported today.
Brown, who still lives in town, got passed over for the top job in Marshall earlier this month.

Cole Corey gets 2-10 years for role in rape

Former Tecumseh star athlete Cole Corey was sentenced to two to 10 years in jail Thursday for his role in a sexual assault that took place at the home of his old track coach, Matthew Peterson.
Corey, a current Michigan State University football player, was a member of the track and football teams at Tecumseh High in April 2002, when authorities said he and a classmate, Anthony Sandoval, assaulted a 17-year-old girl, The Detroit News reported this morning.
Corey, with the help of his teammate, gave the girl tequila and the drug Ecstasy before assaulting her incapacitated body for hours, police said.
Lenawee County Judge Harvey Koselka exceeded the punishment guidelines when punishing Corey for his crimes.
While Peterson hosted the parties for years to lure in his athletes and help them get drunk and laid, Corey was reportedly the coach's favorite.
Peterson called Corey is "lieutenant" in the sex club known as the Face Men. Peterson was sent to jail last week for his lead role in scandal, which included supplying his home, porno, keg beer, full bar of liquor and a hot tub to help facilitate the sexual assaults Corey, Sandoval, Jack DaSilva and others allegedly participated in.
MSU kicked Corey off the team Thursday after Lenawee County deputies hauled him off to jail.
The sentencing came on the same day The Detroit Free Press published an eye-opening investigation into the sex scandal that has rocked Tecumseh High School for years.

Free Press report: Tecumseh officials failed to act on rape allegations

The Detroit Free Press published an in-depth investigation today about former Tecumseh High School track coach Matthew Peterson's sex club.
One of the disturbing new details to emerge is some district officials and employees may have turned a blind eye.
Those interested in this story may want to pick up a copy of today's Detroit Free Press. That's if you can find one in Lenawee County still.
No word from the local press about any impending lawsuits the school district may face.

Brown in the hunt for Monroe job

Former Adrian city manager George Brown is a finalist for the top post in Monroe.
Brown, who resigned in November amid some controversy, is one of two finalists for the job, The Toledo Blade reported May 17.
Monroe officials will have to chose between two Georges - George Brown and George Strand, the village manager of Homer in eastern Calhoun County.
Brown was recently a finalist for the city administrator job in Marshall, where the guy hired just backed out this week, leaving open the possibility that Brown may get another look.

Spade votes against other languages

State Rep. Dudley Spade, D-Tipton, was one of 17 Democrats to join House Republicans in voting Tuesday to make English the official state language.
The legislation would not require state agencies to print documents in any language but English.
It's unclear how Lenawee County's and Adrian's large Spanish speaking population will react to Spade's stance on this in light of the nationwide debate over immigration reform.
According to the U.S. Census, Hispanics make up 7 percent of the county's population with 5.7 percent of them speaking a language other than English at home.
Rep. Jack Hoogendyk, a Kalamazoo Republican who was once voted the most conservative lawmaker in Michigan , sponsored the legislation.
"As a child of immigrants from the Netherlands I can attest to the benefits of learning English," Hoogendyk said in a statement .

Candidates on the ballot

Candidates for congress in the 7th District, which includes Lenawee County, have filed their candidacy, setting up a much anticipated Aug. 8 primary battle in both parties.
Republicans U.S. Rep. Joe Schwarz and former state Rep. Tim Walberg filed 2,000 petitions each.
Democrats Daryl Campbell (1,200), Chuck Ream (1,469), Fred Strack (1,473), and Sharon Renier (1,164) are also officially on the ballot.
Renier won the Democratic nomination in 2004, before losing to Schwarz in the November general election that year.
Schwarz, R-Battle Creek, beat Walberg, R-Tipton, and four other Republicans in a six-man primary in 2004 by securing 28 percent of the vote.
Part of Schwarz's victory was triggered by his moderate views that attracted independents, liberal Republicans and, yes, even Democrats to come out and vote.
During that race, former Adrian Mayor Jim Berryman actively campaigned for Schwarz, further inflaming Lenawee County's hometown candidate, Tim Walberg.

Sex, Booze & Tecumseh High

Channel 7 WXYZ has been all over the Tecumseh High School sex scandal in the past week after a former track coach was sent to jail for drugging female students and letting his athletes sexually assault them in his hot tub.
The Detroit television station interviewed the parents of a former THS female student who alleges that when she was 16, former star athlete Cole Corey took her keys, fed her alcohol and ecstasy and allowed her to be raped in then-high school track coach Matthew Peterson.
Last Thursday, WXYZ's Anu Prakash broke a story detailing that Tecumseh Police Deputy Chief John Clark believes Peterson didn’t have just one, but four parties at his house on Shady Lane in 2003.
Corey is still slated to start as a junior on the Michigan State University football team. He pleaded guilty in February to possession of a controlled substance in exchange for testimony against Peterson.
"In our mind, we said, 'Let the legal process work itself out,' and that's until the sentencing stage," John Lewandowski, MSU sports information director, told The State News for a Feb. 20 story.
At one of the parties, former track athletes Anthony T. Sandoval and Jack G. DaSilva allegedly took turns assaulting a girl while Peterson and other students watched and laughed, the victim testified.
Sandoval pleaded guilty to felonious assault and aggravated assault, but first-and-second-degree sexual assault charges were dropped.
DaSilva, the son Urbano and Virginia DaSilva of Tecumseh, runs track at Birmingham-Southern College.
Five days after Lenawee Circuit Court Judge Timothy P. Pickard sentenced in his former THS coach to jail, DaSilva broke a school record in the 3000-meter event.

War of Disinformation

As U.S. Rep. Joe Schwarz seems to be moving himself to the right, his campaign manager is continues to take on opponent Tim Walberg’s attacks on the congressman’s record.
Campaign Director Matt Marsden says Walberg has abandoned his pledge to run a clean campaign, which Schwarz balked at signing.
Walberg, R-Tipton, “continues to wage a war of disinformation regarding the Congressman’s position and record on the issues. The fact that he publishes these falsehoods when the truth is a matter of public record is reckless at best,” Marsden wrote in a campaign journal entry filed at 1:44 a.m. Friday, May 12.
This time, Marsden is taking on Walberg’s campaign website claim that “Schwarz has supported higher income taxes, business taxes, property taxes, gas taxes, and even suggested rescinding President Bush’s tax cuts.”

New details in Tecumseh sex scandal

Tecumseh Police Deputy Chief John Clark told WXYZ Channel 7 Thursday that former Tecumseh High School track coach Matthew Peterson didn’t have just one, but four parties at his house in 2003 when he allegedly drugged 17-year-old girls and let male athletes sexually assault them in his hot tub.
Peterson was sentenced May 4 for booze and sex offenses involving his former teenage students.
Channel 7, which called Peterson's scheme a 'sex club,' interviewed resident Patrick Dunn, whose son, Matt, who also was part of a fake Rolex-selling scheme that landed him behind bars.
"He was selling them for $3,000 and then paying each kid like 2-$500 a piece to sell them to people out of state, everywhere. The list goes on with this guy. It’s unbelievable," Patrick Dunn told a TV reporter.
With all the offenses Peterson has allegedly made, it's hard to determine just how much jail time he'll get.
The Tecumseh Herald's story came out today.
"In all the years I have been a judge, I can't remember somebody coming before me that was both a sexual deviant, an assaultive person and also a thief at the same time," Lenawee County Judge Timothy Pickard told Peterson.

Strack gaining Democratic support

Democratic congressional candidate Fred Strack's campaign is gaining momentum.
Strack has received the praise and endorsements of Democratic bloggers.
He will face Daryl Campbell and Chuck Ream of Scio Township and Sharon Renier of Munith in the Aug. 8 primary election.

Brown out of the running

Former Adrian city manager George Brown didn't make the cut to be the next city manager of Marshall.
Brown was one of four finalists.
He interviewed in Marshall on April 21, The Battle Creek Enquirer reported.
In November, Brown resigned from his post here in Adrian after a battle with police and some city council members became too much to bear.
Brown is believed to be still living in Adrian.

McCain coming to U.P. in June, eh!

U.S. Sen. John McCain is reportedly planning a June 10 visit to the Upper Peninsula's Iron Mountain, The Daily News reported May 5.
McCain has endorsed Congressman Joe Schwarz's re-election effort.
Two years ago the senior senator from Arizona made two campaign swings across the 7th District, including an appearance on the steps of the Old County Courthouse in downtown Adrian.
The Daily News reported that McCain will be in the U.P. helping 1st District Republicans raise money for various state House and Senate races.
Schwarz went to Iraq with McCain and others in Congress to assess the war and reconstruction in March.
McCain is already raising money for a potential 2008 bid for president through his leadership political action committee, Straight Talk America.
Could Senator McCain be headed to the 7th District before or after his June 10 stop to the U.P???

Here's an old article by the Michigan Daily, U-M's student newspaper, about McCain's July 18 bus tour across the 7th District.

Turn on the TV

Former state Rep. Tim Walberg is expected to roll out a television campaign ad in the next couple of days that sticks to his pledge to run a clean campaign.
A script of the ad obtained by the Battle Creek Enquirer makes no mention of Walberg's primary opponent, incumbent U.S. Rep. Joe Schwarz.
"As a legislator (in the Michigan House of Representatives) Tim Walberg voted thirty times for lower taxes," the ad says. "In Congress Walberg will fight to defend traditional marriage. And Walberg is 100% pro-life. He’ll protect the unborn by opposing abortion."

Schwarz supports Gen. Hayden

U.S. Rep. Joe Schwarz said yesterday he supports President Bush's decision to nominate Gen. Michael Hayden as the next director of the CIA.
Hayden's nomination to replace Porter Goss has drawn fire from many Republicans - including Reps. Pete Hoekstra and Mike Rogers of Michigan - who say a military general shouldn't be running the foreign intelligence gathering agency.
Schwarz pointed out that a number of military men have presided over the CIA, including its first director, Rear Adm. Roscoe Hillenkoetter, the Lansing State Journal reported.
Likewise, President Jimmy Carter's CIA chief, Admiral Stansfield Turner, was an admiral in the Navy.
Schwarz was a CIA operative in southeast Asia sometime during the Vietnam conflict.

Walberg wants to debate, Schwarz has to work

Will U.S. Rep. Joe Schwarz and former state Rep. Tim Walberg be able to get together and debate actual issues affecting the pocket books of Lenawee County and 7th District taxpayers?
Andy Rathbun of the Battle Creek Enquirer has some insight on his paper's blog.
The last time these two politicians debated face-to-face, Walberg accused Schwarz of supporting gay marriage because Pride PAC of Michigan, a gay and lesbian political action committee, endorsed Schwarz.
"It's a sin to be gay," Walberg, a minister, said a July 19, 2004 debate at the Marshall Civic Center. "The Bible says it's a sin. I'm not going to differ with my creator, God."
Schwarz, R-Battle Creek, responded: "I don't believe it's wrong or a sin to be gay. But I don't believe in the lifestyle."

Schwarz not irked by attacks

So far, U.S. Rep. Joe Schwarz isn't bothered by the streaming attacks he's getting from his Republican primary challenger and Democrats.
"It's a perpetual-motion machine of looking for an issue, and they really haven't found one yet," Schwarz told the Battle Creek Enquirer's Andy Rathbun for a recent story.
Schwarz's challenger, Tim Walberg of Tipton, continues to talk about how 72 percent of voters did not vote for Schwarz in 2004 when he won a six-man primary, gaining 28 percent of the vote. Walberg had 17 percent of the vote that year.
"That 72 percent is my fishing hole," Walberg told the Battle Creek Enquirer.
Democratic congressional candidate Chuck Ream kicked off his campaign in Hillsdale on Monday by taking more shots at Schwarz than his opponents, Fred Strack, Darly Campbell and Sharon Renier.
"My opponent in the seventh district thinks we should stay in Iraq for up to 50 years if necessary," Ream said of Schwarz.
It remains unclear where Ream, who advocates impeaching President Bush, is getting his information.
Pundits say if Walberg won the primary, he would be lucky to win the general election.

Environmentalists give Schwarz a failing grade

The League of Conservation Voters recently gave U.S. Rep. Joe Schwarz a score of 28% on his pro-environment voting record.
Liberal bloggers, stuck on the idea that a Democrat could win Michigan's 7th District congressional seat, use these grades for political fodder.
Rep. Vern Ehlers, of Grand Rapids, was the only Michigan Republican to score higher than Schwarz. Ehlers still failed though, receiving a 50%.
Rep. Thaddeus McCotter's score was 17% environmentally friendly.
Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who is up for re-election this year after serving one term, got an 85% score.