To the Editor:

What a wonderful event the ICAA held on Sunday, April 17, highlighted by the program with Brook and Brian Griese. “Wow” is how Brook described the atmosphere when she first walked in. The smile on her face told me she was happy to have come back home to Ithaca for this fundraising event. She was taken back by the number of people she knew who were there to support the ICAA and Project Pride. She said it was like a homecoming and class reunion all in one. As the day progressed she and her husband Brian would deliver a message that not only left me proud but impressed me beyond my expectations.

First I want to thank all the individuals who made this possible. Thank you to all the high school students who attended and helped including the Ithaca Jazz Band. Thank you to Litwiller Catering for another job well done. Thanks to all the parties who donated the silent and live auction items and also the raffle prizes. All who came forward with donations large or small I commend you for stepping up. Thanks to the efforts of the ICAA Dinner Committee in charge of the fundraiser it was truly as classy an event as I have ever taken part of. Thank you Dave and Marge Roslund for allowing us to hold the event at Town and Country. We raised over $18,000 this day and what a day it was.

The biggest thank you I leave for Brook and Brian. They found time to come to her community to share with us the work they do through their foundation Judi’s House. The foundation is a non-profit organization that the two co-founded in memory of Brian’s mother Judi whom he lost to breast cancer when he was 12 years of age. Brook and Brian both were impressed by the ICAA and our intentions to be a longstanding entity in the community. They support our efforts 100 percent.

Brook delivered a message that it was her hometown of Ithaca that fostered her into counseling young people through trials and tribulations of losing a loved one. She is proud of her childhood roots and often conveyed that message throughout her address to the crowd of 350. Her sincerity and words from the heart really impressed me. One could really tell she was very proud to be a part of the day.

Brian spoke of what a great job our community and her family did in making Brook the person she is. He said with authenticity “One would think Ann Arbor is my favorite town in Michigan but, Ithaca is, because you gave me Brook.” He too expressed that we should all be proud of our efforts and our community. After hearing Brian speak I’m sure everyone  would agree with me that we should adopt him as our own. “What a gentleman.”

As the day progressed I found myself compelled to talk about something I have been pondering for months now. As a member of the ICAA Advisory Board I would like to bring to the table the implementation of a pair of scholarships for each gender at IHS. I would like to have the Board of the ICAA set the criteria for the scholarships. We should not wait for this to be a reality after Project Pride, instead have its development start now as there is no better time than the present. If we as the ICAA can move on this we can have it in place and ready to present by 2012. Some criteria for the award of the scholarship can be community service and supportive efforts to the ICAA and most importantly their school.

I cannot be more proud of our entire community. Yet I find myself overwhelmed by the actions and words I heard Sunday from two IHS alumni. Brook, even though she has relocated to Colorado, humbly thanked her community, her family, and her school system for nurturing and cultivating her into the person she is. She is proud that her roots are here in this community. Her work with children is so important to what type of citizens they will become.

The other alumnus is Dan Macha, whose commitment to the town he loved and was raised in brings passion and dedication in giving back to his community. When I first proposed this project I had been working on since last summer, it was Dan who stepped up and presented to me a vision he had to form an alumni association. He shared with me, as he did with all of you Sunday, his reason he is so persistent in giving back to the community that saved his life. His story is so genuine and special I continue to thank him for stepping up.

The world would be a much better place if we had more devoted and caring people like IHS alumni Brook and Dan. So in closing, as Mr. Duane Vernon, IHS Class of 1949 pointed out on Sunday. “It’s people, the people of this great community of Ithaca, that make positive and prosperous things like today a reality.” So thank you Ithaca for coming together for this venue and the venue yet to come.

It is about us pulling together to do good as a community. We are a community driven by positive motives and that is why we are, as Mr. Vernon coined the phrase, “TEAM ITHACA” and proud of it.

Steve Smith
IHS Alumni
Ithaca

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To the Editor:

Drain 181:

Gratiot County Drain Commissioner, Brian Denman says one drain leads to another. He says all have to be fixed. “But” wait. He said nothing about that they all end up at the Maple River and that is a problem which needs fixing first and what is this why are people, appointed outside our district, voting on what they think we need in ours.

The Drain Commissioner is supposed to be working for the land owners not Spicer’s, any other people or his own self interest. Now here comes the judge. They know each other. They work out of the same building.

Last time Drain 181 came up in Court and the farmer’s wanted to clean the east and south drain, the judge went through his law books of many years past and found a ruling which stated we had the right to “maintain” only to the original “width and depth.” Why doesn’t this same law apply to the drain commissioner. I say we recall him!

Denman said this “costly project” will help us land owners. We get flooded from the Maple River across our farm first, then backed up flooding from this drain, the water will set in the ditches until the Maple River recedes.

And he talks about Health issue. I have seen this problem all my life and they have to start with the Maple River first you cannot pull a train without an engine.

Also why did Spicer come around last year wanting us to sign “easement rights before the full project was known.”

That old saying “something stinks in Denmark.”

Sincerely,

Carl E. Boog
Land Owner

P.S. They sent us a letter stating if we didn’t sign easement rights and if the project went through they wouldn’t maintain drains at this time nor in the future, on our property. “Drain turns on the edge of our property.”