Dorr Township Library
B
oard President Peg Otto blasted Township Trustee John Tuinstra Thursday night for circulating a flyer recommending voters turn away incumbents Josh Otto and Dan Weber.
Otto, mother of Josh, who has served on the board for eight years, first asked Tuinstra if he’d ever served in the military, After he replied he hadn’t, she said she wasn’t surprised and she charged him with a lack of camaraderie with fellow board members.
“When I looked over your qualifications (in the brochure he circulated), I see you are educated and have lots of degrees, but is it being used correctly?” she asked. “In the military the guy next to you has your back.”
Mrs. Otto charged Tuinstra and some of his friends with stonewalling the Dorr Township sewer project with a recall election in 2011 and then as a member of the board since then.
“This township was held hostage over the sewer issue and there’s no one else to blame but you and your carnival bunch,” she told Tuinstra.
She was referring to his ties to recall proponents Patty Senneker, Bernie Schumaker and Christine Schwartz.
She took exception with Tuinstra’s characterization of her son as a big spender, noting he wrote a successful grant for $145,000 for the Dorr Township Fire Department and has served as a firefighter for eight years as well.
“Anybody who leaves this fire barn (after working) is a hero,” she said.
Mrs. Otto concluded, “If this was one of my fellow board members, there would be a reprimand and I’d ask for that person’s resignation.”
Tuinstra essentially stood mute to the charges, but tried unsuccessfully to interrupt her remarks during the public comment portion of the Township Board meeting.
PHOTOS: John Tuinstra Peg Otto
Mrs Otto and Politicians like her, in my opinion are whats wrong with America today. We need politician’s to work for their constituents and not for themselves or the boards they serve on. When you don’t serve the people and serve yourself or a small special interest you will have problems. This is exactly what happened in Dorr several years ago regarding the sewer expansion. The overwhelming majority were against it and the board essential said, we don’t really care what our constituents want we know what is best and went they went forward on [their] own. In addition military and Fire Department are run in a totally different manner than the boards we serve on. In the two group’s she cited; Fire Department’s and Military have a chain of command and this is the only way to run theses organizations. On our boards we should be the voice of the people. Furthermore with your perceived Christian faith in the community, the personal attacks are embarrassing. Hopefully we can have different voices at the library level as well. Just my opinion!
Mrs. Otto is a prim & proper librarian type lady, she is also a mother a who will defend her children, even if they are very capable of defending themselves as Trustee Josh Otto is. Agree or disagree, we must love a Mom who defends her cubs.
Knowing John Tuinstra, Josh Otto and Dan Weber, I find all three gentlemen to be capable and friendly. John Tuinstra did however cross a line of civility in his campaign flyer. All three good folks are a slam-dunk for reelection; what good it does to sow the seeds of hate and assault the very folks he must work with, all Republicans by the way, is beyond me.