Pay for play alleged in emails

BY STAN MADDUX

There appears to be no end to the political fireworks dominating La Porte County Commission meetings.

La Porte area resident Patrick Meany during Wednesday’s meeting presented emails he alleged reveals La Porte County Auditor Tim Stabosz has weaponized his office.

The emails are over an $11,000 payment the commissioners approved for services provided by former county government attorney Shaw Friedman.

Stabosz, though, still has possession of the check.

Meany said the emails from Stabosz show he is not mailing the check until county government pays his legal bills from a lawsuit filed against him by Friedman over withholding payment from him on previous checks approved by the commissioners.

“Basically, what we have here is an auditor who is using his office as a tool to withhold payment to bills that have been approved by the commissioners. Vindictive,” he said.

Stabosz said past payments he withheld from Friedman were over services he questioned as valid while auditing his invoices.

He said Friedman never provided the information he sought for him to try and justify those services.

Stabosz would not say if he has any questions about the billings from Friedman he’s presently withholding payment on.

However, Stabosz said he’s being sued personally by Friedman over the previous billings when he should actually be sued in his capacity as auditor.

He said the county council should be paying his legal tab since he was acting as auditor in the scrutiny he applied to Friedman’s billings to make sure tax dollars are spent properly.

His legal tab currently stands at $9,600.

“It’s inappropriate for the auditor not to have the support of the finance authority, the council, and the commission when he’s trying to protect La Porte County from a rogue vendor.

Stabosz was often accused of targeting Friedman for political reasons.

In an out of court settlement reached with the county commissioners late in 2021, Stabosz agreed to pay Friedman more than $26,000 from other payments he withheld but not the $2,500 he questioned on that billing statement.

Friedman is suing Stabosz personally over some of his billings from last year, claiming his actions as auditor are driven by his personal feelings against him.

However, Stabosz said some of the work listed on previous invoices fell outside the scope of his duties as county attorney in areas like politics.

Bike and Brunch celebrates its 10th anniversary

It’s been 10 years and, so far, nothing has rained on the parade of the cyclists who gather every June for Radio Harbor Country’s annual fundraiser, Bike and Brunch.

“June is supposed to be one of our more wet months, but we’ve been fortunate - someone’s on our side,” Dave Knoebber, who owns the farmhouse on Wilson Road in New Buffalo Township that serves as the starting point for the annual ride, said.

The first year, the ride started out in front of the radio station’s former headquarters in Three Oaks. Back then, there were only 25 cyclists. For this year’s ride, which took place Sunday, June 4, Knoebber said there were 160 people who had signed up for it.

This year’s ride was made possible with the help of those who work at the radio station as well as several local businesses, which supplied

BY FRANCESCA SAGALA

the brunch at Knoebber’s property after cyclists had finished their ride through the surrounding countryside: Luisa’s Cafe and Harbert Swedish Bakery, Flagship Specialty Foods and Fish Market, The Peasant’s Pantry, Infusco Coffee Rosters, Artesian Farm, Red Arrow Roadhouse, Red Barn Bakery, Heston Supper Club and Sawyer Home and Garden Center.

The annual ride attracts people from all walks of life. Knoebber said a chief executive officer once told him he makes more contacts at the event than any other one.

“So, there’s a lot of reasons outside of bike riding (that people come): friendship, new contacts, the buffet,” Knoebber said, adding that cyclists who ride in the Apple Cider Century in September in Three Oaks also sign up.

Radio Harbor Country WRHZ 93.5 FM and WRHC 106.7 FM is a lowpower FM radio station in Sawyer, Michigan, with a 100-watt transmitter that reaches a six-to-10-mile radius that serves the area known as Harbor Country. The station provides original arts and education, with a diverse mix of music.

Knoebber, who’s been with the station for 17 years, hosts “Harbor Country Arts Scene.” The show airs on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays on the station’s Sawyer and New Buffalo networks.

“I usually interview artists of the area, or we play certain kinds of music as musical interludes, but the important thing is I give all information of what’s happening in the art galleries, the theaters on that program,” he said.

This could mean updating listeners on what’s happening at The Lubeznik Center for the Arts in Michigan City or Music in the Park, which is kicking off its 25th anniversary at Dewey Cannon Park in

Three Oaks Saturday, June 10. Later this month, Knoebber will be holding “Summertime is Watercolor Time” at his gallery at his farmhouse, during which he’ll be doing watercolor demonstrations and people will be invited to paint in the gardens.

“What we’re doing is introducing people, both the artist and the non-artist, to the visuals – the environment of Harbor Country,” he said.

For a schedule of shows on Radio Harbor Country, visit www. radioharborcountry.org.

The station recently celebrated its first year at its new headquarter at 12291 North Red Arrow Highway in Sawyer.

“It’s such a happy place, it’s very clean, everything you need is right there in the studio – it’s like walking into the radio station WGN,” Knoebber said.