STANDISH — Dave Munson, the owner of the Summer Trial Inn in Standish and Vice-President of the Michigan Licensed Beverage Association (MLBA), heads to Washington D.C. for a lobbying day every year, but this year he has other business – promoting the Standish Maximum Correctional Facility (SMF) as a detention center for Guantanamo Bay detainees.

Munson, who will be in the nation’s capital June 16-18, has MLBA meetings set up with Congressmen Bart Stupak, Gary Peters, Mike Rogers, Dave Camp and John Conyers and Candice Miller, as well as Sen. Carl Levin, says he will make sure to get the word out on the importance of SMF to the elected officials.

“I’m going to meet with them as a tag-on of the MLBA,” he said, adding he will be bringing copies of the June 10 issue of the Arenac County Independent and letters from County Commissioner Raymond Daniels and Standish City Manager Mike Moran to the officials. “We just want to let them know that it is politically correct to say ‘Gitmo detainees at Standish Max.’

“I’ll drop off a newspaper and a packet of information with all of them.”

According to Munson, the MLBA draws the attention of elected officials when it stops in Washington annually.

“It’s pretty impressive when we walk in,” he said, adding the group includes 15-20 lobbyists.

But when it comes to the Standish Max/Guantanamo Bay issue, he will be going at it alone.

“There’s nobody else from this area that’s an officer,” Munson said.

Check online for a follow-up on Munson’s trip to Washington D.C. later this week.