I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]
An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.
Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.
Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.
Phillip Hallmark, owner of Hallmark Industrial (Picture courtesy of Fox 4 in Beaumont, TX
“The [charter bus] drivers were told to drive them to this small house in our little community,” LaRive said in a phone interview. “They were to meet Mr. Hallmark once they got there. Of course, he was nowhere around when we showed up.”
On the buses were legal and undocumented workers returning from work on the oil spill in Battle Creek. Authorities detained 59 men at a local park and determined that 42 of those men were undocumented. Those men were transferred to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and sent to a detention facility in Houston. Legal residents were released and allowed to collect their belonging from the buses, LaRive said.
Authorities continue to search for 40 men who escaped during the detention process.
While Hallmark did not show up, LaRive says he is certain authorities would like to talk to him.
“I’m sure the federal authorities will be very interested in talking to him,” LaRive said.
LaRive said that the workers, as well as the bus drivers and their manifests documented that the workers had been working on the Enbridge oil spill in Marshall and Battle Creek. On Monday an investigation by Michigan Messenger revealed that Hallmark Industrial was employing undocumented workers to clean up the Kalamazoo River. The workers were being paid $800 a week to work 12 to 14 hour days in conditions that have been identified as unsafe. On Tuesday morning, Hallmark Industrial’s contract was severed with Garner Environmental, and Hallmark’s workers were put on charter buses back to Texas.
LaRive said his department was called because the buses were blocking Fifth Street in Winnie. When officers arrived, the men began to run.
Wednesday night, Enbridge officials said there was no official proof that the undocumented workers arrested in Chambers County were in any way connected to the spill clean up in Michigan.
“This is an issue between law enforcement, Hallmark and Garner,” Terri Larson, Enbridge spokesperson, said Thursday morning after the Sheriff confirmed the oil spill clean up link. “There is no direct connection between Enbridge and Hallmark.”
Larson stressed that contractor agreements with Enbridge contained “very strict” provisions about following all applicable state and federal laws. Asked if the Hallmark situation would impact the Garner contract, Larson said, “That’s something I cannot discuss.”
Larson referred many questions to Garner Environmental, which has consistently failed to return media inquiries.
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