Tuesday, 8:00 AM. 28.5 degrees, wind W, calm. The sky is clear except for a few puffy white clouds, which were previously pink in the early light of dawn. The barometer is trending down but still predicts partly cloudy skies. It will be another pleasant day.
The unseasonable weather continues, easy on the fuel bill but very hard on the ice fishermen. Yesterday I saw two very determined guys way out in the west channel in a small boat.
Commentary: the iron mining debate continues, both sides, pro and con, digging in. The public meeting that was to be held in Ashland last Saturday was canceled, replaced by a meeting to be held Wednesday in Hurley. Both were intended to be public commentary sessions, and my foregone conclusion is that the majority of opinion in Ashland would be anti-mining, and in Hurley, pro-mining (Ashland is a hotbed of environmentalism and Hurley an old-time mining town). These meetings only reinforce opinions and stereotypes, when what is needed to make sound decisions are facts. The problem is that the mining bill is 183 pages of facts. I have downloaded the bill and have begun reading it but it is a tough slog and few are willing or able to do it,and I doubt many of the politicians have done so either.
There is, however, a 22 page, hopefully non-partisan summary of the bill, compiled by the Government Accountability Board that is circulating among the politicians, which I have not been able to find to download and hard copies are evidently non-existent. The citizens should be able to easily obtain this document and educate themselves. It is unclear to me why this is not happening. My cynical side would say that an uninformed electorate is considered more manageable by the politicians on both sides of the issue. I hope they prove me wrong.
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