Napoleon once said, 'What is
history, but a fable agreed upon?” Mr JW Earhart's letter in The Straitsland Resorter “Some history of
improvements made to Topinabee” was more fable than fact. JW reminisced after
reviewing the Topinabee Centennial tabloid from 1981, a collection of local
recollections and vintage photos. As a northern Michigan native I always enjoy
our locally produced histories but we shouldn’t accept these remembrances of
our forefathers as scholarly works.
JW repeated one of the local stories
immortalized with a plaque on the side of the Topinabee Library stating the
Mullett Board “borrowed” $8,500 to buy the MCRR Depot and beach in 1958. The
Cheboygan County Clerk Register of Deeds has a different story recorded within
the legal property records. In 1958, James Wozniak, a Mullett Board member, and
his wife Catherine were the sole grantees named on a deed from the MCRR and
NYCRR. Six years later, in 1964, the mortgage was discharged identifying the deed
holders as the Wozniaks and Louis Nims. JW might remember Nims as the owner of
the MCRR passenger car that sat on the Topinabee siding for years? Only then,
in October 1964, was the depot and beach property finally deeded from the
Wozniak’s to all the Mullett Board members named individually and Mullett
Township. The entire Mullett Board may have had the “foresight’, but James and
Catherine Wozniak put their signatures on that mortgage in 1958 and JW’s fable
never even mentioned their names.
Mr Earhart may still believe the
fable perpetuated with a plaque on the Township Hall stating that Chief
Topinabee’s name means “Big Bear Heart”. After verifiable sources including
Pottawatomi tribal histories proved that Topinabee translates to “He who sits quietly”
there was discussion of correcting the error. The Mullett Board decided Topinabee’s
own “Paul Bunyan” fable would remain on that public building. That is no
surprise in a community where the sign above the entrance to the township hall
says “established 1900’s”. Any time last century is accurate enough.
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| Supervisor Gale presents Streetscape "news" at an annual TDA meeting |
JW Earhart’s comments on past volunteerism was a
lead into creating a fable that the TDA has selflessly contributed “pro bono”
work to refurbish the Topinabee Beach Park at a cost he “uncertainly” refers to
as $350,000. Gratis is free and pro bono means “for the public good”. The $400,000
park project, funded by taxpayers and a MNRTF Grant was far over budget before
ground was broken. Numerous scope items were cut, later requiring donations pay
for benches, tables, grilles, and the wasteful fake artesian well where another
misleading plaque resides. TDA founder Thomas O'Hare stated at a MNRTF Board
hearing in June 2015 that the first stage of an MDOT Storm Sewer never
disclosed as a scope item and sized to handle the TDA sponsored Streetscape was
in that over-budget recreational project. We do know the park is still substantially
closed to sportsmen in winter, has serious legal and safety issues, and has cost
more than $500,000 to date.
Was this really all for the public good? Apparently not. The MNRTF Board agreed with the majority of people in Mullett Township and did not award any grant to install more Streetscape storm sewer and pave over more grass in Topinabee allegedly for needed parking.
The MNRTF Grant application scored in the bottom 25% of the 117 development applications submitted in 2015. Thousands of dollars of design work and $2,500 wasted on a Grant Writer for what is a simple on-line application based on need and facts that must meet a criteria.
The MNRTF Grant application scored in the bottom 25% of the 117 development applications submitted in 2015. Thousands of dollars of design work and $2,500 wasted on a Grant Writer for what is a simple on-line application based on need and facts that must meet a criteria.
