ANTRIM
Old kidnapping case reopened in Antrim
BELLAIRE — Antrim County prosecutors reopened a 6-year-old kidnapping case because they believe the victim was threatened to change his story and deny the incident.
Authorities dismissed their kidnapping case against Jason Paul Meadows, 33, of Mancelona, in 2004 after his alleged victim wrote letters that denied the situation ever occurred.
"It was absolutely contradictory," Antrim County Assistant Prosecutor James Rossiter said. "It struck us as odd at the time. It does lead to the question, what took place?" That suspicion recently prompted prosecutors to reopen their probe that included testimony from an investigative subpoena in February, which they said shows the victim was threatened to change his story.
Antrim County authorities charged Meadows last week as a habitual offender with kidnapping and intimidating or threatening a witness. The kidnapping charge is punishable by up to life in prison and/or $50,000.
"I would say this is relatively unusual for various reasons," Rossiter said in regard to reopening the case. "It's not the everyday procedure."
Body identified as missing swimmer
EASTPORT — Three family members identified Dolsey Lynn Squires as the woman who washed ashore on an Antrim County beach.
Squires, 41, of Northport, went missing on Monday. Family members said she went for an early-morning swim in Grand Traverse Bay but never returned.
A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter from the Detroit air station and a 25-foot response boat from the Charlevoix station searched Grand Traverse Bay this week.
An Eastport woman called authorities late Tuesday after she noticed the body on her beach. The positive identification prompted authorities to call off their search.
BENZIE
Local diver discovers shipwreck near island
LAKE ANN — A local diver is recounting his efforts to find a long-sunken ship off the shore of South Manitou Island.
Ross Richardson, a local real estate agent and diver from Lake Ann, held a press conference at the Almira Township Library to discuss his discovery on July 7 of the Westmoreland.
The 200-foot passenger steamer known as a "propeller" went down on Dec. 7, 1854, in Lake Michigan's Manitou Passage. Seventeen people died.
GRAND
TRAVERSE
City won't fight boat-anchoring rules in bay
TRAVERSE CITY — The city won't fight for the right to regulate anchoring on Grand Traverse Bay.
City commissioners on Monday decided not to challenge the Michigan Department of Natural Resources & Environment's recent rejection of a proposed long-term anchoring ordinance.
The city needed the state's approval to institute an ordinance that affected state waters. The city ordinance would have prohibited boaters from anchoring more than 48 hours at a time, with a few exceptions. The state saw no need for such a rule.
Instead, the city will step up enforcement on its current regulations, including one that orders boat owners to keep their boats lit if they anchor overnight.
"We're going to take this relatively small step ... and see to what extent that improves the situation," Mayor Chris Bzdok said.
The commission could choose to challenge the DNRE's decision in the future.
TC approves new marijuana regulations
TRAVERSE CITY — New regulations that dictate when and where city residents can grow and distribute medical marijuana could be changed if problems arise.
City commissioners on Monday gave final approval to a new ordinance that regulates land-use issues tied to the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act. It takes effect Aug. 26.
The ordinance allows for cultivation of up to 72 marijuana plants in single-family homes, and that concerns those who believe such activity could degrade the city's residential neighborhoods. But commissioners weren't ready to rule out residential growth.
"This law is not set in concrete," Mayor Pro-Tem Ralph Soffredine said. "We can bring it back to the table, and we can tweak it and do what we want to do with it. But we need to give it a chance." The Michigan Medical Marijuana act, approved in 2008, allows patients to possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana and 12 plants. It also allows designated caregivers to grow and distribute plants to up to five patients.
But the act doesn't specify where or when patients and caregivers can grow or exchange marijuana, so municipalities across the state were left to decide for themselves.
The new ordinance doesn't affect the amount of plants a patient can have under state law, or the number of plants a caregiver can grow or distribute.
It instead specifies where legal marijuana-related activity can occur within city limits.
Vets respond to combat troops leaving Iraq
Traverse City — Dale Feigel felt relieved as he watched television news footage of the last U.S. combat troops as they left Iraq, safely rolling into Kuwait on Wednesday night.
"It's a good thing. That's what we went over there for was to give Iraq back to the Iraqis," said Feigel, a retired U.S. Army sergeant injured in Iraq.
Insurgents ambushed Feigel's truck convoy in April 2004 as he and his fellow soldiers transported fuel to Fallujah. A nearby soldier received a gunshot wound, and when Feigel tried to help him out of the truck, the man fell on top of him and hurt Feigel's back, an injury with which he continues to struggle.
Feigel, of Kalkaska — like many northern Michigan residents — expressed happiness and relief on Thursday that American combat troops are coming home, as well as hopes that the oil-rich Middle East country remains stable without a large U.S. military presence.
"This part of the war is coming down, and hopefully Iraq can handle things and prosper," Feigel said.
It's a sentiment echoed by Iraq war veteran Brian Soloman, of Traverse City.
"I hope everything we did there wasn't in vain. I hope it doesn't fall apart. I just don't know if they can handle it on their own. I hope they can," he said.
GT pursuing limited property-tax audit
TRAVERSE CITY — Grand Traverse County commissioners agreed by a one-vote margin to pursue a limited audit of personal property-tax records in hopes of corralling some tax scofflaws in the county.
The board rejected auditing all businesses in the county to determine the accuracy of their personal property records, and turned down inspecting buildings and equipment at oil and gas company wells. Instead, commissioners voted 5-4 to seek a private company to mine business databases for a list of companies operating in the county that have no personal property-tax statements on file.
"It's a nasty, regressive tax that doesn't serve anybody any purpose other than it does raise revenue," county Commissioner Ross Richardson said. "But it's not our decision, it's the hand we've been dealt."
"I think it's only fair that everyone that is supposed to be paying it does pay it," he said.
Richardson and commissioners Christine Maxbauer, Beth Friend, Mike Stepka and Larry Inman voted in favor of the audit. Commissioners Addison Wheelock Jr., Larry Fleis, Dick Thomas and Bruce Hooper voted no.
Fleis, who told the Record-Eagle for a Tuesday story he was interested in an audit of non-reporting businesses, said he received several calls about his comments, including some from township officials. He decided by Wednesday morning's committee meeting that conducting the audits are the townships' responsibility, not the county's.
County Equalization Director Laurie Spencer said that doesn't mean the county can't work with the townships to make sure the system is fair and equitable.
LEELANAU
Leelanau Montessori becomes public charter
SUTTONS BAY — Hadley Vukasovich wanted her two youngest children to continue receiving a Montessori education in Leelanau County.
But Suttons Bay Public Schools, which had offered the program for about a dozen years, was short on cash.
Funding it would be a challenge.
Parents worried that if the district needed to lay off staff, Montessori teachers could go if they had the least seniority. They also wanted to keep their children in the school system.
The result, if successful, could cure both: Leelanau Montessori will open next month as a public charter school inside Suttons Bay Elementary, operating with its own budget and board of directors.
"We're still able to maintain our partnership," said Vukasovich, of the Suttons Bay district, which authorized the Montessori school's charter. "It was kind of a win-win." Their relationship had been symbiotic.
The program brought students into the school system, boosting district enrollment and revenue, while the district covered its costs.
But in recent years, enrollment began to slide, school competition increased, and funding sources became strained — all of which created a volatile environment for Michigan public school districts.
Many were forced to lay off employees and slash programs to save money. Suttons Bay was no exception.
WEXFORD
Buckley Old Engine Show rolls around
BUCKLEY — Antique contraptions are lined up and belching black smoke in a dusty field west of Buckley, surrounded by a sea of camper-trailers and motor homes.
That means it's time for the Buckley Old Engine Show, now in its 43rd year. More than 1,000 antique tractors, threshers and other agricultural equipment are expected at the four-day event that kicks off Thursday, along with about 50,000 spectators.
"That is a donkey engine. It was made in Erie, Pennsylvania," said Kevin Gunnett, show volunteer in the stationary steam building.
Gunnett pointed to an old skid-mounted engine used to power a mobile sawmill on North Manitou Island, heavy equipment that horses pulled from place to place.
He also pointed out equipment used at the old Acme truck plant in Cadillac.
"It's a steam-powered engine that supplied air to run all their pneumatic air-powered equipment," Gunnett said.
