BY ART BUKOWSKI
abukowski@record-eagle.com
June 21, 2009 07:25 am BEULAH -- Benzie County commissioners asked authorities to search county Administrator Chuck Clarke's e-mail files after a reference to a citizen's ethnicity popped up in a state Freedom of Information Act request. Benzie resident Thelma Rider-Novak recently used FOIA to obtain e-mails exchanged between Clarke and Frankfort City-County Airport Authority member Larry Morris as she probed county and airport authority dealings. Rider-Novak, who regularly attends and often is vocal at county and airport authority meetings, contends she was "shocked" to discover her name and a reference to her heritage in a Feb. 21 e-mail sent by Morris to Clarke. The e-mail begins: "Chuck -- Indeed, I may begin to consider that Thelma may actually be of some German descent myself...". But Rider-Novak contends she didn't receive any communications from Clarke to Morris that may have prompted Morris' reference, and she believes Morris' wording suggests Clarke first raised the issue. "My take on it is that whatever Chuck Clarke said is much more damning," she said. She believes the alleged discussion was meant to demean her as a Nazi. Clarke and Morris on Friday did not return multiple calls from a Record-Eagle reporter for comment. Rider-Novak took her concerns to county commissioners, who last week unanimously voted to request an examination of Clarke's hard drive and other computer sources "to determine if the e-mail exists," according to meeting minutes. "We don't know completely what happened ... that's why we're checking computers," Commissioner Frank Walterhouse said Friday. Benzie Prosecutor John B. Daugherty said his office will handle the investigation, though he wouldn't provide details. "We're just going to look to see what there is, or what there isn't," Daugherty said. Commissioner Kris Hollenbeck said the county board is upset about the allegations and is intent on getting to the bottom of the issue. Clarke, Benzie's administrator since 1998, recently came under scrutiny for his handling of a phone system bid process. "He just skates through so many things," Hollenbeck said. "It's constantly something with him." Board Chairman Don Tanner said Clarke told him he deleted an e-mail of a "personal nature" that may have been connected to the conversation. "I'd like to know, and Thelma deserves to know as a citizen, what transpired," Tanner said.
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