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Lodge is like Wall St. banks

To the editor:

Nov. 2 was such a nice day here in the Copper Country. I got most of my outdoor winterizing done by 5 p.m. and was feeling good about how my day went. At 6 p.m. I turned on the news, only to have my beautiful day ruined by the story about the Keweewnaw Mountain Lodge fiasco. This letter is probably a waste of time, but it’s good therapy to get this thorn out of my side.

First of all the KML is not the jewel of the Keweewnaw. Because of past County Board big dreamers, the KML is this county’s worst nightmare. Copper Harbor is the jewel of the Keweenaw and is well-known all over the United States. The lodge is just another business that happens to be in Copper Harbor.

The difference is all of the other businesses in the Copper Country are subjected to success or failure and are in competition with the KML. The KML can’t fail because like the Wall Street banks that get bailed out by the federal government our local government has bailed out the failing KML. That’s not fair at all in a capitalist system; it’s socialism.

By my understanding the new manager at the KML made it clear that the lodge needs new roofs on the cabins and thousands of dollars of upgrades to succeed in the marketplace. I understand that. But if the debt were erased today, we the taxpayers would have to borrow more money just to keep the KML open five month out of the year for as long as county boards are willing to kick that rusty old obsolete can down the road.

This board has to stop this madding fiasco and have the courage to do what’s good for all the people of Keweenaw County. If our tax dollars have to bail out the KML to keep a few seasonal jobs, that’s not providing jobs — it’s welfare.

Close it down and sell the assets, sell it to Donald Trump or let the feds have it, but get our county out of a lodge business. Sell the air base, too, and save the Sheriff’s Department gas from responding to all the false alarms at the KML and chasing people off the air base.

We need taxable property, not debt.

Jack Sprietzer

Mohawk

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