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| Lyrically Protesting the Muck |
 Runoff from lawns and farms, invasive species, concentrated animal feeding operations, low lake levels and the failing septic tanks of shoreline property owners have combined to make a concentrated muck that washes up on the shoreline of Michigan's Thumb.
Scientists from Michigan State University, analyzing the muck, found traces of human and animal waste in it. Yet the state Department of Environmental Quality says, as of 2006, that they couldn't find any muck themselves to analyze.
Clifford Stuehmer, owner of a summer cabin in Huron City, has an idea. He says that the officials should visit his cabin, which had a clean waterfront when he bought it in 2001, but no longer. "It's not pretty and it's stinky," Stuehmer told The Bay City Times. "We got the warnings last year that we shouldn't be walking in it. When you're done swimming, you should go take a bath. It's getting stupid."
Stuehmer has penned a protest song, "Terry Brown, We've Got This Mucky Water," to the tune of Herman's Hermits' hit, "Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter," directed at State Rep. Terry Brown, D-Pigeon. Stuehmer calls for Brown to find the cause of the muck and fund a clean-up plan. "Sometimes," Stuehmer says, "The muck is four, five, six, seven, eight, nine inches deep. You step in it and it goes right over your shoes."
Click here to download and listen to Stuehmer's protest song.
Brown agrees with Stuehmers concerns and thinks it's time to take action on the problems. Methane digesters should be used to keep farm waste out of the water ways, overflows from wastewater treatment plants need to be curbed and old septic systems should be fixed.
"I'm going to be screaming that we've got to do something and we've got to work together," Brown says.
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