Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

Written and edited by Mike Madias
Published by the BlueJean ThinkTank

hardball@madias.org

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Slice-o-life
Traitor or journalist?
By Mike Madias

From the Detroit Free Press December 1, 2006

"From nuclear plant to park? BY TINA LAM - FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER . . . "FOR SALE: 450 acres -- including 1 1/2 miles of picturesque Lake Michigan shoreline -- in a prime vacation area north of Charlevoix. Price: $19.3 million. . . .

"Just one hitch. The land is the former home of the Big Rock nuclear plant and surrounds an area containing 441 bundles of highly radioactive spent fuel rods. . . .

"That's the dilemma the five members of the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Trust Fund Board face Wednesday when they vote on whether to buy the Consumers Energy property, excluding a 107-acre buffer zone where the fuel rods are stored. . . . Environmental groups dubbed the land Plutonium State Park, saying it is contaminated with radioactivity from leaks, spills and gases emitted during the 35 years the plant operated. It closed in 1997. . . . Consumers Energy points to a study it commissioned that declared the land safe."

The DNR Trust Fund Board (in their wisdom?) decided against allocating $ 19.3 million to build a new state park atop and near a stash of spent nuclear reactor fuel.  But this essay is not about parks, it is about the risks and responsibilities of journalists.

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The print version of this story started on the front page of the Friday Freep and continued on page six.  On the continuation page there was a graphic, a map of the shore line that was being considered for conversion.  

It was not a detailed map and only gave the general location of where the 441 bundles of highly radioactive fuel rods might be.  It showed a square of about half a mile on each side, or about two square miles of thick forest and swamp.  But the story also specified that the stash was stored in a location about the size of a basketball court within the two square mile area.  Further that the stash was guarded by a watchman and his dog.

But if you take this un-detailed map of northern forest land and use that data on Google, you get a much better idea of where the red hot goodies(?) are.  

Here is how to find 441 bundles of highly radioactive remains of spent reactor fuel; starting in the center of Charlevoix.
     1) You take the main drag of Charlevoix (U.S. Highway 31) east out of the city.    
     2) Continue, past the property of the Charlevoix Country Club about two miles east of town.  
     3) On your left you will find a road turning off on the side of the highway. Take that road.
     4) Go about half a mile on that road.  And there is.  Crossing gamma rays mark the spot.
     5) It just might be easier to find at night, especially if it glows.

The geographic coordinates of the pay dirt are:
45 degrees, 21 minutes, 15.84 seconds North
85 degrees, 11 minutes, 37.28 seconds West.

And don't forget, the security is just a guy and his dog.  So bring clothesline, duct tape and two pounds of ground chuck.  
Thank you Detroit Free Press and Google.

Now that I have written this and posted it on the web, does the action make me a traitor; or does it make me a journalist?  

For extra credit, I ask you this.  What is Google?  Is it an international Anti-American conspiracy?  
Why or why not?

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Shalom,
Michael
And goodnight Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are.
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