Joking e-mails about Flint water among latest released Matthew Dolan and Paul
Egan , Detroit Free Press The latest e-mails released from Gov. Rick Snyder's
office on Thursday include playfully written messages about the quality of
Flint's drinking water and the challenge of confronting the issue. One was sent
from a DEQ district engineer who repeatedly told residents that drinking water
from the Flint River is safe and downplayed suggestions otherwise from reporters
and other officials. "Thanks Richard...now off to physical therapy...perhaps
mental therapy with all of these Flint calls....lol," engineer Mike Prysby
wrote to fellow DEQ official Richard Benzie on Sept. 18, 2014, five months
after Flint switched to the Flint River as its drinking source. Prysby did not
immediately respond Thursday to an e-mail requesting comment. "I cannot provide
the context for a message I did not compose, and for which I cannot recall
the circumstances from more than 18 months ago," Benzie wrote in an email
responding to a request for comment. Another was sent from the head of a
regional
planning group to a DEQ official, five months after the switch to the Flint
River. "Jim James! East Michigan Council of Governments Executive Director
Sue Fortune said in the Sept. 18, 2014 e-mail to DEQ drinking water official
Jim Sygo. "Tell me WHO thought Flint's river water was ok to drink and then
ALLOWED IT? :-))))) "Next time you're in town, stop by! Fortune, whose council
is based in Saginaw, did not immediately respond to a phone call and e-mail
seeking comment. Sygo told the Free Press on Thursday that Fortune is an old
friend who he worked with at a previous planning job and was pulling his chain
about the Flint water troubles. He said he didn't reply to the e-mail but "I
probably talked to her at some point later and said, 'Yes, we're going to
have a lot of trouble with this.' Contact Matthew Dolan: 313-223-4743 or
msdolan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. Follow him on Twitter @matthewsdolan.
This article is provided to you as a courtesy of NFB
