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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>I have the following from a reliable
source:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>When a TV reporter and camera crew arrived at the
BSBP Lansing Central Office earlier today, Director Ed Rodgers ordered his Staff
to say that he was not present, while he hid in the conference room until the
reporter and crew left the office.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Finally, if there are no plans for a Tim
Horton's franchise, why is Bob Essenberg in Canada now, possibly for up to 7
weeks? Has anyone seen Essenberg around the greater Lansing area
lately? If I were that reporter, I'd be trying to speak with Bob
Essenberg, the newly hired 17-level Director of the Business Assistance and
Development Program (BADP) within the Bureau of Services for Blind Persons
(BSBP).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=suncat0@gmail.com href="mailto:suncat0@gmail.com">Joe Sontag</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=vendorsmi@nfbnet.org
href="mailto:vendorsmi@nfbnet.org">VENDORSMI List</A> ; <A
title=nfbmi-talk@nfbnet.org href="mailto:nfbmi-talk@nfbnet.org">NFBMI List</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, September 05, 2013
20:58</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Paper says "No plans for Tim
Horton's," but</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>State officials were reluctant to comment on
reports regarding Tim Horton products<BR>going into the state capitol.<BR>The
Director of Services to the Blind was unavailable for comment on<BR>this
story<BR>, as a cone of silence descended. An<BR>employee of the Michigan
House and a state licensing department official declined<BR>to talk, too, as
they walked into a 2:30 strategy meeting on this issue Thursday.<BR>There was
one state official who did talk, but not on camera. He points out,
Tim<BR>Horton products would go into a room on the ground floor of the
capitol, but the<BR>Tim Horton sign would not. Tim Horton employees would not
be running the operation,<BR>but they would provide training to the visually
impaired who would.<BR>However, the Tim Horton sign and products could end up
in the House office building,<BR>right across the street from coffee shop
competitor Biggby.<BR>Bob Fish runs the Biggby franchises in the area and was
not asked to bid on the project.<BR>He is worried that franchisees may have
their tax dollars subsidizing Tim Horton.<BR>"I don't think its a matter of
signage or not signage," said Fish. "All of our Biggby coffees are taxpayers.
It would feel a little awkward to us that<BR>we are paying our taxes and maybe
that project is being subsidized somehow with our<BR>dollars. That sounds
weird to me."<BR>As the licensing department director, Steve Arwood, came to
the meeting, he was not<BR>very forthcoming on what exactly was unfolding as
he walked past our camera.<BR>(Reporter) Mr. Director, would you help clarify
what you are trying to do.<BR>"Discussions are underway and no decision has
been made," said Arwood.<BR>(Reporter) Do you want to put a franchise in
there?<BR>"Discussions are underway," replied Arwood.<BR>(Reporter) Is the
state going to pay a franchise fee?<BR>"No decisions have been made, Tim,"
said Arwood.<BR>Fish contends that if the state does not pay a franchise fee,
he has "a problem with that...<BR>it's unfair." We don't know if its
unfair, because nobody was talking about
it.</FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>