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Printer-Friendly ModeYanca reports threat
Dead skunks hung in chief rezoning opponent's front yard
October 31, 2005 —
It is often said that politics stink.
Kochville Township is witnessing this quite literally, where several months of acrimonious political bickering have led to anti-development advocates filing a petition for a referendum on rezoning land to expand the Cardinal Townhomes. It has also led to the hanging of five dead skunks in the chief opponent's yard.
On Monday, Oct. 24, three Kochville residents opposed to the rezoning - Gary Hornfeld, David Sanchez, and Stephen J. Yanca, professor of social work at SVSU - submitted 260 signatures to force the rezoning of 13.98 acres on the corner of Pierce and Davis Roads from single-family residential to mixed-use development on a 2006 ballot.
Previously, the Kochville Township Board of Trustees voted unanimously to approve the rezoning. 129 valid signatures - 15 percent of the number of Township voters in the 2002 gubernatorial election - are needed to qualify for the ballot.
Late Tuesday night, Yanca - staying up until 1 a.m. watching his hometown Chicago White Sox defeat the Houston Astros in Game 2 of the World Series - noticed a dead skunk a few feet from his porch. Not thinking much of it, he went to sleep, and left his house early the next morning not noticing anything unusual.
However, later that day a neighbor alerted Yanca that the skunk had some familial companions - four of them.
"This might be a coincidence with turning these petitions in," Yanca said, saying that people can make up their own minds about the situation.
Yanca also said he feels that it may be coincidental - perhaps too much so - that there were five dead skunks in his yard and that there are five members of his family.
"I would be irresponsible to not take this as a death threat," he said.
Yanca is having local police investigate the incident for possible criminal actions.
Kochville Township Supervisor Kenneth P. Bayne is disappointed that some people would use poor judgment and try to intimidate others into changing their beliefs.
"Rezonings are typically emotionally charged," Bayne said, adding that he and the Township Board do not condone these deplorable actions, and that all individuals should use restraint and go through the defined legal process available to all.
However, Bayne believes that the stances of Yanca and his wife, Saginaw Board of Education member Beverly J. Yanca, on many local issues, not just the rezoning debate, may have led to someone hanging skunks in his yard.
"Steve Yanca has offended many of the students on campus with his comments," Bayne said.
Yanca argues that if students did hang the skunks in his yard, "it gives us further reason to be concerned about turning loose a thousand students in our neighborhood."
Bayne also addressed another hot-button topic for Kochville residents, the desires of many - including Bayne - to secede from the city of Saginaw Public Schools. Mrs. Yanca was the Saginaw Board of Education president up until earlier this year, and opposes the Township seceding from city schools, even though only four percent of Township residents wanted to remain in city schools, according to a survey of Kochville residents.
"Bev Yanca ignored the wishes of her constituents in Kochville Township by ignoring the residents' request for detachment from city schools," Bayne said.
There are also concerns over the language of the referendum. Bayne said that the state has strict guidelines on how to draw up a referendum, with specific details for font size, required warnings, and other legal nuances.
"The laws governing these petitions are very stringent on petition language," Bayne said, adding that the Township is moving slowly and carefully since they have little experience in dealing with referendums. "Our job is to validate or invalidate the petition based on the law."
Yanca contends that the referendum petition was drawn up by an attorney, and that if the petition is rejected on a technicality, he will file a complaint with the Secretary of State.
"The only thing the Township Clerk is supposed to do is validate the signatures," Yanca said, adding that the signatures count most.