[nfbmi-talk] Response from the Lt. Governor

Tue Mar 1 18:35:39 UTC 2016

Joe, just perhaps you are not on the state's genocide list?  Or is the
response simply the fox wearing lamb clothing?

Isn't this response just one more response and promised action that is far
too late, considering the poison has been ingested in the water drank and in
contact with the flesh month upon months ago
?   

From: joe harcz Comcast [mailto:joeharcz at comcast.net] 
Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2016 11:46 AM

What a bunch of bureaucratic nothings.

----- Original Message ----- 

From:  <mailto:Stokenl at michigan.gov> Stoken, Laura (GOV) 

To:  <mailto:'joeharcz at comcast.net'> 'joeharcz at comcast.net' 

Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2016 11:40 AM

Subject: RE: FOIA Request Extension, 2016-00316 Harcz

Dear Mr. Harcz,

Thank you for reaching out to Lt. Governor Brian Calley. I have been
assigned to your correspondence and am responding on behalf of the Lt.
Governor.

It appears from your below e-mail that you are a Flint resident that is
looking for information/ resources in braille.  Please let me know your
name, address and best method of contact so we can reach out.   If you'd
like to include a description of what your need is I would be happy to
gather some information or answers before contacting you back.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if there is anything further I can do
regarding this or any other state-related matter.  

Sincerely,

Laura Stoken
Manager, Constituent Relations
Executive Office of the Governor, Rick Snyder

517.335.7858

From: joe harcz Comcast [ <mailto:joeharcz at comcast.net>
mailto:joeharcz at comcast.net] 
Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2016 4:23 PM
To: Zimmer, Mike (LARA) < <mailto:zimmerm at michigan.gov>
zimmerm at michigan.gov>
Cc: Rodgers, Edward (LARA) < <mailto:rodgerse at michigan.gov>
rodgerse at michigan.gov>; Christian Simmons < <mailto:Chris at misilc.org>
Chris at misilc.org>; Sarah Gravetti MISILC DNM < <mailto:SARA at dnmichigan.org>
SARA at dnmichigan.org>; Calley, Brian (GOV) <
<mailto:Brian.Calley at michigan.gov> Brian.Calley at michigan.gov>; Elmer Cerano
MPAS < <mailto:ECERANO at mpas.org> ECERANO at mpas.org>; MARK CODY mpas pair <
<mailto:MCODY at mpas.org> MCODY at mpas.org>; BRIAN SABOURIN <
<mailto:BSABOUR at mpas.org> BSABOUR at mpas.org>; Marlene Malloy MCRS Dir. <
<mailto:marlene at mcrs13.org> marlene at mcrs13.org>; Mike Zelley TDN <
<mailto:mikezelley at aol.com> mikezelley at aol.com>
Subject: Fw: FOIA Request Extension, 2016-00316 Harcz

    I ask just what BSBP is doing as well as other organizations to notify
people ofresources including those for people who are blind in Genesee
County and this is the utter garbage I get. Another FOIA response.

Don't you people have any shame?

I haven't been contacted with resources and I'm a Braile and Talking Book
Library subscriber. No one has made any notice to me or others I know of who
deal in and with Flint. It is a county wide issue.

And we face daily the broken and non-compliant communications infrastructure
too.

Then I here after I made initial inquiries from Rodgers a whole bunch of
spin but nno answers.

And by the way nothing from the Flint Office on Union Streett where the
Office building had water collers in January of 2015. Say, Mr. Rodgers isn't
BSBP's Flint office located there?

This is the typical, ludicrous response by all state agencies perportedly
serving people with disabilities in this state!

----- Original Message ----- 

From:  <mailto:LARAFOIAInfo at michigan.gov> LARAFOIAInfo 

To:  <mailto:joeharcz at comcast.net> joe harcz Comcast 

Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2016 4:06 PM

Subject: RE: FOIA Request Extension, 2016-00316 Harcz

My name is Stephani Fleming.

Thanks.

From: joe harcz Comcast [ <mailto:joeharcz at comcast.net>
mailto:joeharcz at comcast.net] 
Sent: Friday, February 19, 2016 2:11 PM
To: LARAFOIAInfo < <mailto:LARAFOIAInfo at michigan.gov>
LARAFOIAInfo at michigan.gov>
Subject: Re: FOIA Request Extension, 2016-00316 Harcz

What is your name?

----- Original Message ----- 

From:  <mailto:LARAFOIAInfo at michigan.gov> LARAFOIAInfo 

To:  <mailto:joeharcz at comcast.net> joeharcz at comcast.net 

Cc:  <mailto:LARAFOIAInfo at michigan.gov> LARAFOIAInfo 

Sent: Friday, February 19, 2016 12:54 PM

Subject: FOIA Request Extension, 2016-00316 Harcz

Notice of 10-business day extension to respond

This notice responds to your February 9, 2016 email (below), received by the
Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs on February 4, 2016,
requesting information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), MCL
15.231 et seq.

To determine the extent of responsive information, we require additional
time to make inquiry of the applicable bureau. Therefore, it is necessary to
extend the time for response, as permitted by section 5(2)(d) of the FOIA,
MCL 15.235(2)(d), through March 3, 2016.

The Department's FOIA Procedures and Guidelines can be accessed at
www.michigan.gov/lara <http://www.michigan.gov/lara> .

Thank you,

LARA FOIA Office

sf

  _____  

From: joe harcz Comcast
Sent: Tuesday, February 9, 2016 6:56:25 AM (UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US &
Canada)
To: Rodgers, Edward (LARA)
Cc: Zimmer, Mike (LARA); White, Elizabeth (LARA); Marlene Malloy MCRS Dir.;
BRIAN SABOURIN; Sarah Gravetti MISILC DNM; Rodney Craig MISILC; Elmer Cerano
MPAS;  <mailto:Christyne.Cavataio at ed.gov> Christyne.Cavataio at ed.gov; Larry
Posont NFBMI Pres.; David Robinson NFB MI; terry Eagle; Mark Eagle; Jeff
Crouch- k8tvv; Georgia Kitchen FANFB; Mary JacksonFANFB; Mary Ann Robinson
NFB MI
Subject: flint office bldg crisis and blind information resources

February 9 2016 Rodgers on Flint Office Building

Paul Joseph harcz, Jr.

1365 E. Mt. Morris Rd.

Mt. Morris, MI 48458

joeharcz at comcast.net <mailto:joeharcz at comcast.net> 

810-516-5262

Re: Flint Office Building What Did BSBP DO?

To: Edward Rodgers, Director

Michigan Bureau Services for Blind Persons

(Via E-mail)

Elizabeth White, District Supervisor, BSBP

(Via E-mail)

Michael Zimmer, Director, LARA

(Via E-mail)

All,

Please note the Detroit Free Press article after my signature line that
denotes state personnel at the Flint Office Building on Union Street knew or
should have known of problems with the Flint water in January of 2015. Now,
I'm requesting the following information:

Any correspondences to staff or customers related to the water coolers and
their locations.

-Any correspondences related to any measure to notify the public who are
blind in alternate formats about this option. In other words were large
print and Braille notices produced, let alone disseminated and posted?

-Copies of any notice from anyone in BSBP to customers in the Flint Michigan
area about the potential hazardous water during that time to the present.

-Any correspondences to any blind customer from then to the present in the
Flint area detailing resources for lead testing, availability of bottled
water, or any other resource. In other words just who, what, when, where,
why and how were blind customers notified not only of the crisis but, also
of resources?

-Also show me even one post to BSBP's own web site relative to notice to the
public and resources and note as of yesterday there was a big "nothing".

Of course, I'm still awaiting any such document, notice, etc. as it sure
hasn't been forthcoming to my person in any format.

Regardless, please send requested information in my most effective format, a
timely manner, and without surcharge in accordance with your Obligations
under Title II of the ADA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
Send them as plain text attachments to my e-mail address listed above.

Sincerely,

Paul Joseph Harcz, Jr.

Cc: RSA

Cc: NFB

Cc: MSILC

Cc: MCRS

Cc: MPAS

Cc: several

Attachment:

Amid denials, state workers in Flint got clean water

Paul Egan,

Detroit Free Press 1:33 p.m. EST January 29, 2016

635895943064268577-Flint-water-tower.jpgBuy Photo

The state started buying bottled water for its employees in Flint in January
2015.(Photo: Ryan Garza/Detroit Free Press)Buy Photo

LANSING In January of 2015, when state officials were telling worried Flint
residents their water was safe to drink, they also were arranging for
coolers

of purified water in Flint's State Office Building so employees wouldn't
have to drink from the taps, according to state government e-mails released
Thursday

by the liberal group Progress Michigan.

A Jan. 7, 2015, notice from the state Department of Technology, Management
and Budget, which oversees state office buildings, references a notice about

a violation of drinking water standards that had recently been sent out by
the City of Flint.

"While the City of Flint states that corrective actions are not necessary,
DTMB is in the process of providing a water cooler on each occupied floor,
positioned

near the water fountain, so you can choose which water to drink," said the
notice.

"The coolers will arrive today and will be provided as long as the public
water does not meet treatment requirements."

Caleb Buhs, a spokesman for DTMB, said the water coolers were provided in
response to the city health notice in late December or early January, which
he

acknowledged was about a contamination issue the city said had already
subsided. The state continued to provide the coolers of purified water,
right up

to today, because "there were more findings as we went along," Buhs said.

Buhs said his department never told state workers the tap water was unsafe
to drink, but only provided an alternative, as a landlord would do for
tenants.

Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan, said it appears the
state was not as slow as initially thought in responding to the Flint
drinking

water crisis.

"Sadly, the only response was to protect the Snyder administration from
future liability and not to protect the children of Flint," Scott said.
"While residents

were being told to relax and not worry about the water, the Snyder
administration was taking steps to limit exposure in its own building."

After months of downplaying concerns, including warnings from researchers
about high lead levels in both the drinking water and in the blood of Flint
children,

the administration of Gov. Rick Snyder acknowledged around Oct. 1 a problem
that is now a full-blown public health crisis garnering international
headlines.

Michigan DEQ Director Dan Wyant resigned in December after acknowledging
officials failed to require the city to use needed corrosion-control
chemicals

when they switched the source of their supply to Lake Huron water treated by
Detroit to Flint River water treated at the Flint water treatment plant.

The lack of corrosion controls caused lead to leach from pipes, joints and
fixtures into an unknown number of Flint households beginning in April of
2014,

when the city began using the Flint River as a temporary cost-cutting move
while under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager. Flint
customers

were switched back to Detroit in October, but the potential danger persists
because of damage to the water distribution infrastructure.

Snyder declared a state of emergency on Jan. 5 and a week later called out
the Michigan National Guard to help distribute bottled water and water
filters

in Flint. The state of emergency, which was set to expire next week, was
extended Thursday through April 14.

Included in the e-mail string obtained by Progress Michigan is an e-mail
from Mike Prysby, a district engineer in the DEQ's drinking water division,
whose

name had surfaced earlier in connection with the Flint drinking water public
health crisis.

Prysby, who had been forwarded an e-mail from other state officials asking
whether he would know more about the safety of Flint's drinking water by
March

1, forwarded the e-mail to Stephen Busch, the district supervisor, who on
Jan. 22 of this year was suspended without pay for his role in the drinking
water

catastrophe.

"

Appears certain state departments are concerned with Flint's WQ (water
quality)," Prysby said in the e-mail to Busch. "I will return the call ..."

On Jan. 23, 2015, the

Free Press ran a story,

accompanied by a photo of Flint residents holding up jugs of brown water,
that said concerns of city residents ranged from the taste, appearance and
odor

of the water to unexplained rashes and illnesses, even sick pets. Concerns
about lead had not been raised then, though experts now say the color of the

water - and the fact GM had announced it stopped using it because it was too
corrosive to metal parts - should have been a tip-off that metals, including

lead, were leaching into the water.

The January 2015 Free Press story noted that in August and September, the
city issued three advisories to boil Flint water after detecting coliform
bacteria.

Just before Christmas, residents received notices that state tests indicated
higher-than-acceptable levels of trihalomethane (TTHM), a by-product of the

chlorine disinfectants added to the water to kill the bacteria.

The article said that despite a recent alert about TTHM levels having
exceeded federal guidelines in 2014, city officials maintained the water was
safe.

The article said that Michigan DEQ officials gave the same assurances at a
meeting at Flint City Hall on Jan. 21.

Prysby represented the DEQ at that Flint City Hall meeting and told
residents the chlorine did its job and cleaned the water of microbial
pathogens that

can cause disease within days, the article said. That meant the water was
safe for healthy people to drink for a short time, Prysby was quoted as
saying.

The trade-off, Prysby said, was TTHM, possibly a danger for the very young,
the very old, or the very sick if they ingest it long-term, he added.

"But we're talking decades," he said, adding that those who are worried
should talk to their doctors.

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan at freepress.com
<mailto:pegan at freepress.com> . Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4.

31621 CON

Source:

http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/flint-water-crisis/2016/01/28
/amid-denials-state-workers-flint-got-clean-water/79470650/