The ceremony where falcon chicks that hatch near the
top of the old County Building are given their official names has become a
springtime tradition in Macomb County, and it offers a rare moment of pure
brevity and cajoling between the media and the top Macomb official.
This year was no different as County Executive Mark Hackel
seemed eager to yuck it up with the press corps. As
Hackel and a DNR official held one of the two birds while photographers snapped
countless photos the executive announced that the bird would be named Oakland,
in reference to Macomb’s neighboring county.
When the chick launched into loud squawking for an extended
period of time, Hackel quipped: “He sounds like Brooks.”
That was an obvious reference to Oakland County Executive L.
Brooks Patterson, who engages in endless banter and playful criticism with his
Macomb counterpart.