I’m writing this letter to address the Alpena County Commissions meeting about the County Campgrounds. The behavior I witnessed from Gerald Fournier and Gerald MacArthur was something I as a young adult, or anyone in that room shouldn’t have occurred. Tonight they voted on who would get to renew their contracts for the 2026 camping season, after Earl and Marsha Martin were voted away Fournier and MacArthur were laughing and yeehawing about it, when Pam Kirchoff spoke up about the unprofessional behavior she was met with disrespect from Fournier. Pam camps at the county campgrounds, she knows how the managers run them. One thing I learned from attending that meeting is that the people that camp at the county campgrounds aren’t heard, anytime anything about the new policies was mentioned it just got pushed to the side. I will not be attending those meetings again until there is a board of professional members as I am disgusted by the way the Martins and Kirchoff were treated, and to watch Brenda Fournier okay this behavior only made it worse and she’s the head of the board. I would also like to address the fact that Brenda and Gerald are husband and wife so who knows what they are discussing at home about these meetings. I’m 17 and my parents wanted to show me what these meetings were about and how I can be a contributing member of my community. We were told we need to get more people that camp at the county campgrounds at these meetings and I can see why no one shows up. I wouldn’t want to go to a meeting about the places I like to camp if the board members don’t care to listen.

Allison Zinke

Alpena