Officials from both the city and county of Jackson are standing by their choice of a woman with a history of anti-gay statements as their shared human resources director.

Last week, officials announced the hiring of Ohio resident Crystal Dixon. She made headlines in 2008 when she was fired from the University of Toledo following the publication of an editorial she penned in which she opined that gays were not “civil rights victims.”

The Jackson Citizen Patriot reports the city and county officials have been “inundated” with e-mails.

The newspaper also notes that not only did Equality Michigan issue an action alert, as well as a petition on Change.org, but Gary Glenn of the Midland based American Family Association of Michigan sent out a notice to his supporters. In that notice, Glenn and the AFA praised Dixon for her “principled stand for family, faith and freedom.”

As Michigan Messenger reported last week, many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocates and their supporters condemned the hiring choice. Rick Davies, a former city council member, e-mailed leaders encouraging them to rescind their job offer to Dixon.

But officials say Dixon’s hiring will stand.

“We had six very capable people in the process of hiring for that position,” [Jackson Mayor Karen] Dunigan said. “They’re very qualified. I have to trust in them and their decisions.”

County board Chairman Steve Shotwell said if Dixon follows state law and county policies that prevent job discrimination, then her position on gay rights will be a non-issue.

“No one is to be treated any differently,” Shotwell said.

[Acting Jackson County Administrator Adam] Brown agreed and reiterated that she is the right person for the job.

“When she comes here she’s going to be evaluated on treating people fair and equitably,” Brown said. “We’re committed to that and she’s committed to that.”

The city of Jackson, the county and the state of Michigan have no law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. The city considered a local ordinance in August of 2009, but the city council rejected the proposal on a 5-2 vote.

A decision by the city and county of Jackson to hire a former University of Toledo administrator as the new director of human resources for both government bodies is coming under fire.

On Tuesday, the two government entities announced that Crystal Dixon of Maumee, OH had been hired to administer the combined human resources programming for the city and county. Dixon was fired from the University of Toledo in 2008 after she published an editorial letter in the Toledo Free Press that was seen as bigoted.

In the letter, Dixon opined that as a “black Christian woman,” she was offended by the comparison to gays to African American “civil rights victims.” She argued that homosexuals chose to be gay, and therefore are not eligible for civil rights protections.

As proof of her arguments, she cited controversial ex-gay groups like Exodus International and Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX). Both groups advocate controversial programs which purport to turn homosexuals into heterosexuals. The programs have been condemned by most official psychology and psychiatry professional organizations as harmful to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons.

In a December interview with the Toledo Free Press, Dixon said she would publish the editorial again if given the opportunity to do everything over again. Lawyers from the conservative Thomas Moore Law Center took her case and sued the University of Toledo.

In a video interview with Dixon on the Thomas Moore Law Center, she says she wrote the editorial because she “woke up with a divine mandate, if you will.” In that interview, Brian Rooney, a former Republican candidate for the 7th Congressional District, which includes Jackson, is identified as an attorney assisting her in her lawsuit against U of T. He has since been hired by the Michigan Department of Human Services.

The outcome of the federal lawsuit is unclear.

Reached by email, Dixon declined to be interviewed, instead referring inquiries to Adam Brown, the interim Jackson County Administrator.

In response to a series of questions sent by e-mail, Brown would say only, “I have read your questions and I have no comment other than that I have confidence in Ms. Dixon’s ability to accomplish the things we need her to do.”

But others in Jackson had much to say about Dixon’s hiring.

“The hiring of someone with such uneducated and bigoted views toward LGBT people is bad enough. To hire Ms. Dixon as joint Director of Human Resources boggles the mind. Sadly the steady decline in the City of Jackson population will continue as long as the city continues to nurture its image as a backward, discriminatory town (no longer a city!),” says Julie Nemecek who made national headlines in 2007 when she was fired by the conservative Christian college Spring Arbor for being a transgender woman.

“This hiring underscores the need for a civil rights ordinance for the City of Jackson that will protect city employees and Jackson citizens from the likes of Ms. Dixon,” Nemecek continued. “Like many gay, lesbian, and transgender people in Jackson, I know that I am genetically and biologically the way I am and, like Ms. Dixon, ‘very pleased to be so as my Creator intended.’”

Nemecek was not alone. Lorraine Hampton, president of the Jackson area Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), released the following statement on behalf of the group:

“We at PFLAG Jackson are dismayed by Ms. Dixon’s apparent woefully-misinformed attitude about what it is to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. However, if she truly believes that LGBT people suffer no discrimination, then we will hope that she will follow that in her hiring and retaining of city and county personnel, and will herself show no discrimination toward any qualified applicants. We also hope to serve as a resource to help her increase in her knowledge and awareness, as we try to bring all aspects of our diverse community together. After all, our LGBT friends and families want only what everyone else does: a chance for meaningful employment, a way to feed our families and provide a safe home for them and ourselves. We are in dire economic straits here in Jackson; it’s time to pull together and help everyone, and we hope Ms. Dixon will bring that spirit of working together instead of divisiveness.”

Equality Michigan, a statewide LGBT rights organization based in Detroit, also weighed in on the Dixon hiring.

“The residents of Jackson County and the City of Jackson deserve more than just somebody with the appropriate skills to serve as their human resources director,” said Emily Dievendorf, policy director for the group. “The job in question places Crystal Dixon as lead negotiator for contract agreements and will make her an influential voice in searches for department heads. She needs to be capable of providing equal opportunity and advocating for the interests of all Jackson residents. Her job history, a component on a resume easily as important as required skills, does not support her being qualified to serve the entire Jackson community.”

Former Jackson City Councilmember and retired President of Comerica Bank in Jackson Rick Davies called on county and city leaders to rescind the hiring decision in an e-mail sent Wednesday morning.

“I strongly urge you to rescind your offer of employment to Ms. Dixon and search further for an individual who, in this critical position, can better represent the rights of all of our citizens,” Davies wrote, after noting he was “flabbergasted” by the hiring decision.

“It seems like a terrible hire. The county is sending the wrong message to attract people to move to the area,”says Wayne Besen, executive director of Truth Wins Out, a national organization which challenges the ex-gay movement in the U.S. “No one wants to live in an area that is perceived as intolerant and she is the epitome of such intolerance.”

“I don’t think anybody– particularly LGBT people — can be comfortable walking into her office and trying to get a job,” Besen said. “She might as well have a big sign that says “I discriminate: Go home.” To put people in such a position is grossly irresponsible on behalf of the county.”

Jackson county is reporting that as it has seen a decrease in the number of children being vaccinated for whooping cough, it has seen an increase in cases of the contagious disease.

The Jackson Citizen Patriot reports that five percent of students in the county have been opted out of required vaccinations for school. Michigan is one of several states which allow parents to opt their children out of vaccinations for religious or medical reasons. Officials say the increase in opt outs for required vaccination — up from three percent in 2009 — is the result of a flawed study that connected vaccinations to autism.

Jackson is merely representative of a wave of whooping cough cases sweeping across Michigan, according to the Michigan Department of Community Health. Between 2004 and 2007 the entire state had 340 cases of the bacterial disease. In 2008, there were 315 cases statewide, and in 2009 there were 902 cases. In 2010 there were 1,519 cases statewide.

Whooping cough, technically known as pertussis, is caused by a bacteria. It has a high distribution rate — up to 90 percent — in populations without immunity. It tends to hit children, seniors and those with compromised immune systems the hardest. The infections causes chronic coughing, vomiting and headaches. If left untreated it can lead to pneumonia or the bacteria can infect the blood stream. It is treated with antibiotics.

Pertussis is called whooping cough for the sounds it causes those infected to make when coughing.

Parents around the world started backing off of giving their children vaccinations when the British medical journal Lancet published a controversial paper linking vaccines with autism, reports Time. That paper was published in 1998, but earlier this month, another medical journal in England — The British Medical Journal — published an opinion piece in which it called that 1998 study “an elaborate fraud.”

Nearly a year ago, after more information shed doubt on the paper — including the fact the author had received payments from a personal injury attorney and 10 of the 13 original study authors withdrew their names from the study — Lancet retracted the study in February of 2010.

In the event of a hostage situation or high risk warrant service in Lenawee County, residents will find they are waiting longer for response from law enforcement.

According to the Adrian Daily Telegram, the county’s three department Emergency Response Team (ERT) has been shut down because of budget cuts.

The team was comprised of officers from the Lenawee County Sheriff’s Department, Adrian City Police Department and Tecumseh Police Department. The team was originally composed of 18 officers, but is now down to 14. The officials said that the cut was necessary because of budget constraints.

A written statement issued by [Lenawee County Sheriff Jack] Welsh said the leaders of the three agencies agreed that “increasingly severe budget limitations placed on their departments resulted in a situation where a choice had to be made between having patrols on the road or team members attending the necessary monthly training.”

Lenawee is not the only municipality struggling with maintaining public safety services in this period of shrinking tax proceeds and state revenue sharing. The City of Port Huron is considering eliminating its entire police department and paying the St. Clair County Sheriff to provide law enforcement in the city, while Ingham County has eliminated rural patrols, and reduced its patrol staff by two thirds in the last three years.

The Lenawee police officials said they would rely on the Michigan State Police emergency response unit, and that they are negotiating with both Washtenaw and Jackson county to provide those responses as well.

The bonds were authorized as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) — commonly referred to as the stimulus bill — in a program called The Recovery Zone Bond Program. The money was to be used by public agencies for economic development or public works programs.

The county originally appropriated $7.4 million in bonds for the Jackson Public Schools. The system ended only requiring $1.6 million. Blackman Township was authorized for $3.4 million in bonds to purchase a 28 acre parcel of land for economic development.

In addition, the county $17.2 million in tax exempt facility bonds available for local businesses to use in creating jobs. No companies applied for or received those funds.

Simpson, who was suffering from a rare blood disorder, died of a heart attack, leaving his seat which represents parts of Eaton, Jackson and Lenawee counties, open. Gov. Jennifer Granholm could have called an early special election to fill the seat, making the winner run again in November, or she could do as she did, and schedule the race to coincide with the 2010 general election.

That move, WLNS reports, has some in the district upset.

Kevin Brownlow from the Jackson County Republican Party called the election time frame a “travesty,” noting:

“Especially with the budget negotiations coming up in the summer and fall. The people of the 65th district won’t have a voice in those negotiations and there’s almost a 2 billion dollar projected deficit.”

But Granholm spokeswoman Liz Boyd shot back:

“It would be cheaper for cities counties and townships to hold the election in November. To hold a special election in these very difficult times could be a hardship for the local communities and we were sensitive to that.”

Meanwhile, John Cavanaugh, of Lansing-based polling firm EPIC-MRA, noted that the November election is expected to draw more Democrats to the polls than would a special election. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle of saving cash strapped local governments the additional costs of a special election and relying on a high Democratic turn out in November.

The Jackson Citizen Patriot reports many local officials are disappointed that infrastructure programs such as sidewalk creation did not receive any money. But Jackson County Administrator Randy Treacher goes a step further:

Jackson County Administrator Randy Treacher said he could sense early on that formulating a wish list wouldn’t be worth the effort, and instructed his team not to bother.

“What a horrendous waste of time,” Treacher said.

And Treacher was not alone in expressing frustration. Steve Duke, the principal planner for the Region 2 Planning Commission had this to day to the Patriot:

“It got these people all pumped up,” Duke said. “To have nothing come out of it is quite disappointing.”

As it turns out, the governor’s office collected $59 billion worth of “shovel-ready” projects.

The Jackson Citizen Patriot reported Wednesday that Jackson Public Schools Board of Education President David Halsey and fellow board member Kathryn Keersmaekers have sent a letter to a non-profit confab of county schools asking for a discussion about consolidation.

“With the recent economic downturn, the loss of jobs and the number of families leaving the state, we feel it is time to revisit the option of school district consolidation,” the letter read.

Officials from the Jackson County Association of School Boards determined in their Oct. 3 meeting that the districts should explore the option before Lansing mandates the consolidation.

Language in the school aide bill passed last week encourages districts to review costs and explore options for consolidating services in order to save money.

The Jackson Citizen Patriot reports that Aggregate Industries of the United Kingdom sought permission to expand its mining operation to an additional 19 acres of land, arguing their current site has been depleted of gravel and sand. But Waterloo Township officials denied the special use permit necessary.

The company sued, and Wednesday a circuit court in Jackson sided with the company.

Nearby residents are worried the mining will impact their health.

“They’ve assured us there will not be noise or vibration issues, when we already have those issues when they’re a half-mile away,” [Larry] Woodward said.

Dust drifting from the site also has been a concern, and Woodward worried it may aggravate his wife’s asthma.

“That’s a major health concern,” he said. “I guarantee if they start mining there and we have health issues, they’re not going to stop.”

Woodward also expressed concern the mining operation, which is expected to remove between 500,000 and 1.3 million tons of material from the area, would release radon. Radon is a radioactive gas connected with lung cancer. Woodward said local residents are already battling higher levels of radon.

Circuit Judge Chad Schmucker ruled there were no substantial risks connected with the expanded mining, and as a result of his order, Waterloo has issued the special use permit it had originally denied.

Mac Steel spokesman Santiago Fittipaldi said the layoffs are not permanent, but the company has given no indication when workers will return. Jim Scriven, vice president of human resources, said the decision was “prompted by market forces beyond our control.”

And United Steel Workers Local 8339 President Charles Crowley told the Cit Pat workers were panicking over the announcement:

“The union guys don’t know anything. I’m getting calls,” Crowley said. “It’s turning into widespread panic. It’s the only way one can describe it.”

Employees will returned from their holiday layoff on Jan. 5, only to hit the unemployment lines on Jan. 16.