MADELINE ISLAND

NEWS AND INFORMATION

OPEN LETTER TO MIKE STARCK FROM JERRY SMITH

Mike,

Thank you for sharing another of Michael Allen's ugly and sophomoric character assassinations, the edited version of which appears on his vitriolic website, inappropriately titled "Madeline Island News Organization".  

Unlike "The Doctor", I am one of a LOT of people who wish you well.  Most of us have not forgotten your many contributions; raffles for the new fire truck immediately come to mind .  We know who the real losers are.  From my perspective, "Doc" Allen has contributed absolutely nothing positive to LaPointe.  Instead, he expends his energy penning hate-filled, disgraceful personal attacks on good people, only recently shedding his cloak of anonymity.  His lack of both civility and common decency tell us much more about the attacker than the attackee.  I encourage you to send a copy of Allen's slanderous letter to District Attorney Sean Duffy.  That should tell him all he needs to know about the destructive motives of Allen's mean-spirited website and frivolous complaints to the D.A.

Mr. Allen's prose has a recurring resentful theme dealing with money, or the lack of it.  Whatever turn of events have left him thinking he needs to blame you, Carl Broberg, Ric Gillman, Beth Fischlowitz, Carl and Margie Frederickson, ad infinitum, for his sorry state in life, he should take some time to reflect that the only one who put him in that position was himself.  Just him.  Nobody else.  (Well, maybe his insignificant other had a little bit to do with it.)

Don't let the bastards get you down.  I'm always reminded of the old Rifleman TV show, when Lucas McCain (Chuck Connors)  tried to call out the gunfighter Tom King (John Dehner) to save old Oat Jackford.  Lucas said the gunfighter was a yellow dog who'd shoot a man in the back.  King didn't take the bait, replying, "You forgot I'm ugly, and I smell bad."  His good sense of humor diffused the situation.  Of course Oat Jackford then proceeded to beat the crap out of Tom King, but that only added to the irony and made it my favorite Rifleman episode of all time.  Often, laughter is the best medicine.

I wish we could all handle adversity the way Jack Wroblewski did.  If he was unhappy with the way a public official handled, or mishandled, a situation, he would criticize the action and not make it personal.  For example, if the Zoning Administrator made a mistake, he would point to the error itself and not call her an ignorant slut.  A simple, but often unpracticed lesson in civility to be sure.  I say I wish I could be more like Jack, but I would probably react more like Oat Jackford.  One of many reasons I am not a public servant.

I can see that it's already starting to be a long winter.

Hang in there,

Jerry

BTW - You can count on two votes from this household on October 13.

ABOUT US     LATEST NEWS & INFORMATION   EDITORIALS   ARCHIVES     FAQ     CONTACT