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.
Barrett Moore, founder of a private disaster response firm seeking tax breaks to establish operations in northern Michigan, has acknowledged for the first time that he lied about his military service and was once convicted of criminal fraud in Australia.
In a commentary published in the Petoskey News-Review Thursday, Moore repeated claims that his firm, Sovereign Deed, “would generate tax revenue and create desperately needed non-seasonal jobs” if given $10 million worth of tax abatements and government funding for airport improvements in Pellston.
Moore’s false claims of active duty military service as an Army Intelligence officer and his prior criminal record were first reported in Michigan Messenger in January. In February a Petoskey News editorial followed up those revelations with an editorial saying, “Sovereign Deed Questions Must Be Answered.”
Continued -“Although I honorably served as a cadet in an Officer’s billet in the Army Reserves (via the Simultaneous Membership Program), my opponents maliciously accused me of lying about having ever served in the military,” Moore wrote in response. “They then berated me for both ‘claiming’ to be an officer and ‘claiming’ to be enlisted, when, in fact, I rarely discuss my military service.”
Until last month, Moore’s biography on the Sovereign Deed Web site stated that he had served as an “Army Intelligence officer with a specialty in weapons of mass destruction.” After the Messenger story quoted Army record keepers as saying Moore’s only military service came as an undergraduate cadet in the Reserve Officer Training Corps, the claim of active duty service as an officer was removed from the Web site.
The Sovereign Deed Web site now offers a response to the Messenger’s reporting on Moore’s checkered business history which includes involvement in a fraudulent used car business, personal bankruptcy and three fraud lawsuits.
Moore downplayed his conviction in Australia for his role in a scheme to import used cars from the United States, under-report their value to customs officials and resell them for profit.
“I voluntarily risked my life and reputation to play a key role in the Australian government’s conviction of a former customer who turned out to be a felon with apparent links to organized crime,” he wrote.
According to Australian court records available online, Moore acknowledge participating in an illegal enterprise and testified against his business partner. His conviction was later reversed. The documents do not confirm Moore’s claims of risking life or that the case was related to organized crime. The judge in the case described Moore as “a man who had so enshrouded himself in a tissue of lies and deception as to be a witness whose credit is of little value.”
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