Dianda, Summers lend support to fight OCF closure

By P.J. GLISSON

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Wakefield - Organizers of a Sunday spaghetti feed at the Wakefield VFW hope the event will add to legal coffers aimed at disputing a recent state decision to close Ojibway Correctional Facility in Marenisco.

Food was served steadily as the room quickly filled with local people willing to contribute the $10 fee for what they believe is still a fighting chance of reversing the state directive.

"We've got just under $4,000 right now sitting in a bank account," said Crystal Suzik of Ramsay, who added all funds raised for litigation will be offered to Marenisco Township, where OCF is based.

Suzik - who is leading the charge to keep the prison open - is married to Greg Suzik, who works as a prison lieutenant.

She said attorney Sean Gallagher of Clark Hill PLC of Lansing already filed paperwork on the case on Friday, and she hopes it will result in them learning this week whether an injunction will be applied to halt the state's current and gradual transfer of OCF prisoners to other state facilities. If that occurs, she said, further litigation efforts then will continue.

According to Suzik, two housing units at the prison already have been closed, but three and one-half still remain open with 560 prisoners as of Sunday.

In a spirited address to Sunday's crowd, Suzik said, "I want to thank you guys so much for standing strong with us."

She said the issue is not so much about a single entity as it is about community. "What we're saying is we matter." She added that political parties are not the issue so much as the question, "Who's standing with us? Who's fighting for us?"

Rep. Scott Dianda, D-Calumet, also addressed the crowd, saying, "This affects lives across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We must make sure that we're not the ones to say 'I didn't get involved.'"

Dianda, who is serving his third and final state term due to term limits, is now running for state senate. He added he will make sure state officials know how people from this region feel about the prison decision.

Ken Summers of L'Anse, who is now campaigning to fill Dianda's seat representing the 110th District in the State House of Representatives, also told the crowd that "tons of facilities downstate" could have been closed instead of OCF.

"It's time we put people in place who put people first and not profits," he said.

Summers also told the Globe, "I don't like to speculate. I'm a facts guy, but it seems they (state officials) made the wrong decision, based on the efficiency of the facility and the quality of the staff."

Summers said the region did not get "a fair shake" and added he's been in constant contact with Lansing ever since the prison closing was announced.

As for state officials' claims that it's difficult for OCF prisoners to visit with family members based downstate, Summers said that argument holds no weight in 2018, when various technological options allow for ease in communication. Moreover, he reminded, "Twenty-five years ago, when nobody else wanted these prisons, we took them here in the U.P."

The Michigan Department of Corrections announced the decision to close OFC in July, directly after legislators learned in June that $19 million had been cut from their next DOC budget.

Sunday's event also included a silent pie auction and several 50/50 raffles.