Kalamazoo County Michigan…People and Offices to Write to Protest the Stealing of a Home
Via Alternet comes this disturbing story.
Deborah Calley told WITI that she paid cash for her dream home in 2010. She had thought that it would make raising two children easier while she was recovering from the traumatic car accident.
But that dream was shattered when she was notified that the county was foreclosing on her home over a missed property tax payment.
…
Court documents obtained by WITI showed that notices went out about the missed payment, but Calley said that did not see a single one of them. WITI discovered that all but one of those notices were addressed to banks, instead of the homeowner.
Someone at the banks had to know she did not have a mortgage and informed Richland Township Treasurer Marsha Drouinof. The only reason they notify banks is so the county does not do what it just did and leave the bank high and dry.
People and Offices to Write to Protest the Stealing of a Home:
http://www.kalcounty.com/Treasurer/index.htm
http://www.kalcounty.com/contact.php
David Buskirk – Vice Chairman Board of Commissioners
Kalamazoo County Administration Building
201 W. Kalamazoo Ave.
Kalamazoo, MI 49007
David Maturen – Chair (R) Board of Commissioners
Kalamazoo County Administration Building
201 W. Kalamazoo Ave.
Kalamazoo, MI 49007
Timothy A. Snow, CMC (R)
www.kalcounty.com/clerk
CLERK/REGISTER OF DEEDS
Clerk Division
201 W. Kalamazoo Ave.
Kalamazoo, MI 49007
Mary Balkema (R)
mibalk@kalcounty.com
Treasurer
201 W. Kalamazoo Ave., Rm. 104,
Kalamazoo, MI 49007
The County Treasurer would “probably” be the person who boasted of keeping the balance of the $80,000 after back taxes were paid.
Dan, you don’t understand. This is freedom, see. I mean, it’s not like it’s the FEDERAL government that’s doing this. It’s a local government that is doing it, so how could this be anything other than freedom! liberty!??
A huge part of the Conservative Movement has been to simply shift the funding of government from progressive taxation to exorbitant fines and fees for traffic violations, parking tickets, misdemeanors of other sorts, property forfeitures of large amounts of money or homes or cars, home foreclosures and forfeiture of the entire proceeds from the sale of the home for failure to pay a small property tax bill (including if you didn’t know that it was due or was not paid).
This is all part of freedom! Liberty! The private contractors for government services and operations, and the police and judges whose conflict of interest ensures the more-than-adequacy of this method of government funding, have to be paid, y’know.
In the last two weeks, the Washington Post has run a slew of articles on all this. Links to some of the articles are:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2014/09/03/how-st-louis-county-missouri-profits-from-poverty/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/09/10/all-i-wanted-was-to-visit-my-dying-father-now-i-owe-massachusetts-10000/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/withering-inspector-general-report-criticizes-dc-parking-and-traffic-ticketing/2014/09/08/da6ae324-3781-11e4-8601-97ba88884ffd_story.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2014/09/06/stop-and-seize/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2014/09/08/they-fought-the-law-who-won/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2014/09/08/they-fought-the-law-who-won/
Bev:
He is just making people aware of the people responsible.
Thanks for the links Bev. Sometimes more general posts do not have the same punch as specific stories. Both particular and general stories have a place, as the particular stories can be dismissed as aberrant, and trend stories can be too ‘wordy’.
As a counter point, the town of Somerset in this Republican stronghold is instructive. http://www.alternet.org/forces-conspire-keep-local-government-serving-people
In the macro here is Stephanie Kelton http://neweconomicperspectives.org/2014/09/economy-government-help-hurt.html
Bev, thanks some great URL’s, would encourage anyone who still travels by care to take the time to watch one below as it may shock you how easy it for property to be seized even when no crime was committed.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2014/09/06/stop-and-seize/#sthash.1Qjrb7Jt.dpuf
Thanks, Beene. Yes, I missed that link when I was looking for all the links to that series.