GRAND TRAVERSE
Blue Angels thrill thousands at festival
TRAVERSE CITY — David Taylor and family unloaded chairs and other supplies from their vehicle in preparation for the National Cherry Festival's popular air show.
Taylor and his wife, Carolyn, had their two children and Carolyn's mother in tow. The Taylors, of Grand Haven, always make it up for the air show when the U.S. Navy Blue Angels are in town.
"We feel it's a tradition for us," Carolyn said. "It's a great thing." Young Casey Taylor, 7, was visibly antsy as his parents prepped for the short walk down to the bay.
"They're so loud and noisy," he said of the famous blue and yellow jets. "I hope my baby sister doesn't cry." Thousands upon thousands of people lined Grand Traverse Bay on Sunday to watch the Blue Angels perform on the second consecutive day of gorgeous — but hot — weather. Many families near and far make a tradition out of traveling to Traverse City for the famed Angels, who appear every other Cherry Festival.
"Every time the Blue Angels are here, I'm here, whether he's here or not," Big Rapids-area resident Sue Murtland said, smiling as she gestured to her husband, Warren. "They're just amazing." The Murtlands camped under the shade of a large tree along the bay to await the show.
"It's just a perfect setting," Sue said.
Hundreds of classic cars on display
TRAVERSE CITY — Ken Kenewell and Shirley Johnson grinned as onlookers studied their classic ride.
The Arizona couple brought a pristine 1911 Pope Hartford to the National Cherry Festival's Sunday car show, an event sponsored and organized by Hagerty Insurance Agency. "Big Red," as they affectionately call the antique vehicle, is one of several classics they own.
Kenewell and Johnson enjoy touring the country in their vehicles and visiting car shows here and there. Bragging rights come hand-in-hand with a fleet of antique cars, but the couple most is rewarded by the comments and sentiments of those reminded of days gone by.
"I think one of the big things is the pleasure it brings to people; it brings back those memories," Johnson said. "We have a lot of conversations with a lot of elderly people ... the people are just so appreciative we are preserving this history." Sunshine glinted off hundreds of vehicles that packed the Old Town neighborhood for the show, and a steady stream of spectators wandered through to appreciate the cars. Various military and agricultural vehicles supplemented cars of all makes, models and conditions.
Plenty of vehicles were owned by local residents.
"I'm proud," said Bob Guenther, a Hagerty staffer who organized the event. "I'm proud of our community."
Svec recognized for feeding needy
TRAVERSE CITY — Sandra Svec was moved to tears when her name was called as the winner of the 10th annual National Cherry Festival Distinguished Senior of the Year award.
"We are all winners. We all have a very important part to keep playing in our community," said Svec to the other nominees: Mary Buttleman, Bob Core, Mel Gee and Cal Jamieson, all of Traverse City.
Svec was recognized as an outstanding member of the community during a breakfast served by past presidents of the National Cherry Festival on Monday at the Elks Lodge in Traverse City.
"This award is for the seniors that go unnoticed, but who do so much for their family, church and community," said Patti DeAgostino, director of intergenerational events for the National Cherry Festival.
Svec, who grew up in Traverse City and now lives on a farm in Buckley, was the only child of a single mother and absent father. She says the challenges she faced and her strong faith made her open her heart to people who were hungry and alone.
Court to hear appeal in Meijer case
TRAVERSE CITY — Michigan's Supreme Court will decide whether authority rests with a local prosecutor or the Secretary of State to probe state campaign finance law violations committed by Meijer Inc.
The high court this month granted Meijer's appeal of a lower court's November decision that said county prosecutors have the ability to investigate criminal violations of state campaign laws.
Justice Michael Cavanagh dissented; he said he agreed with the appeals court's finding that Grand Traverse County Prosecutor Alan Schneider could investigate Meijer and its agents for campaign law violations in Acme Township between 2005-07.
The Supreme Court could take months to decide the case and will at the very least extend a two-year-plus delay of Schneider's criminal probe. A high court reversal would dash any chance of determining who among company officials authorized Meijer's secret tampering in township elections.
"I'm surprised," Schneider said. "If somebody intentionally breaks the law, then you have to prosecute. It seems pretty simple to me. Are they going to say they are reading something into the statute?" Meijer and its supporters welcomed the decision. Some of the most politically influential, top-spending organizations in Lansing — from the Michigan Education Association and Michigan Teamsters to the Michigan Chamber of Commerce — backed Meijer's efforts to fend off Schneider's probe.
L&P may drop energy goal of '30 by 20'
TRAVERSE CITY — Traverse City Light & Power may be forced to abandon its oft-mentioned goal of sourcing 30 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2020, but local generation of some sort is still a top priority.
Light & Power Director Ed Rice and Board Chairman Mike Coco briefed the Traverse City Commission on Tuesday night. They told commissioners that public opposition to a wood-burning biomass plant likely dealt a death blow to their lauded "30 by 20" goal.
"We're going to have to really rethink whether or not we can shoot for 30 percent renewable if we're not going to do biomass," Coco said.
Light & Power recently said they'd put biomass "on the back burner" after many citizens voiced concerns about the project. The utility hoped to build a plant that would consume 10 truckloads of wood a day.
But Light & Power still remains committed to securing some form of local generation, even if it is fired by fossil fuels. Nearly all of the power it provides to customers is shipped up from downstate, and utility officials want the independence, security and stability local generation could provide.
Commissioners seemed on board with that idea, especially considering the amount of money — about $18 million a year — that's shipped out of the community to buy power.
"I don't have answers for you guys, but I do feel very strongly that Traverse City Light & Power should own some of their own power," Commissioner Mary Ann Moore said. "You'd have more control, and it will bring more money into the community rather than sending it downstate."
Dispute leads to alleged stabbing after fireworks
TRAVERSE CITY — A Northport woman repeatedly stabbed a relative with a broken beer bottle because he refused to drive her home from the Traverse City Fourth of July fireworks display, police said.
A Mount Pleasant man, 19, told Traverse City police that his cousin broke a beer bottle early Monday and stabbed him three times because he would not give her a ride to her Leelanau County home. They watched the fireworks display together at Sunset Park off Front Street along the Grand Traverse Bay.
The attack occurred around 2 a.m. Monday, hours after the fireworks display concluded.
"After the fireworks were over, they argued over who was going to give the suspect a ride home," said city police Capt. Brian Heffner. "They went as a family. The victim wanted to go back to Mount Pleasant. When he told her that he wouldn't (drive her home), she broke the beer bottle and stabbed him." The victim's girlfriend initially stopped at a McDonald's restaurant along Front Street to ask for directions to the nearest hospital. She then drove him to Munson Medical Center, where Heffner said the victim was treated for two lacerations on his right forearm and a laceration on his right knee. Police interviewed the victim on Tuesday, and also planned to speak with the suspect, whom they would not identify.
Homeless teen faces break-in charges
TRAVERSE CITY — A homeless teen accused of breaking into a vacant residence to steal a TV and a computer faces a fresh round of felony charges after police said he burglarized several Traverse City homes.
Grand Traverse County authorities charged Andrew Douglas Butler, 18, with three counts of second-degree home invasion, punishable by up to 15 years in prison and/or $3,000.
The charges came less than a week after prosecutors initially accused him of second-degree home invasion and marijuana possession.
Butler recently told Traverse City police he broke into six homes in recent months and stole cash because he was starving and needed money to buy food, police reports show.
Rose Street resident Marley Navin knew Butler for several years and became one of his victims, police believe.
"Thank God I wasn't home with him," she said. "We want a safe neighborhood. We don't want to be on edge." Butler often helped Navin with chores when he was younger, so he knew his way around the house, she said.
"I feel for Andrew," Navin said. "I'm not angry with him. I see him as a troubled teen. I just think that he needs help."
State aid for school districts lagging
TRAVERSE CITY — School districts in Michigan will have $11 added to their per-student state aid for 2009-10 and 2010-11, but some local administrators said it isn't enough to overcome a hefty cut last year.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed next year's school aid budget, approved by the Legislature last week and adopted well before the Oct. 1 start of Michigan's fiscal year.
Schools' fiscal year began July 1, and their 2010-11 budgets already are adopted.
Granholm vetoed several line items, including some allocations for new programs and "proposed appropriations, which are contingent upon passage of legislation to increase state revenues," she wrote in a letter dated Wednesday.
Districts across the state were reduced $165 per student this past year, meaning they still will operate with a structural cut this fall — even after the $11 bump.
The minimum per-student allocation becomes $7,162. The figure is down $154 from $7,316 in 2008-09. Traverse City Area Public Schools and many other regional school systems are among the state's lowest-funded.
TCAPS budgeted no increase in per-student funding this year. The district is planning for $85 million in expenses and a roughly $4.2 million shortfall, which could be reduced further if employees agree to accept about $3 million in compensation cuts.
"We're still being funded at a level that's less than 2008," said Paul Soma, chief financial officer. "That's kind of the challenge of making something (sound) like good news. It's more like less bad news."
Film Festival announces music-themed lineup
TRAVERSE CITY — The quality of American independent cinema is crashing.
So said Michael Moore, founder of the Traverse City Film Festival. He said he had to screen more than 500 movies for this year's festival, scheduled for July 27-Aug. 1, and still had trouble finding enough that met his criteria of "just great movies." "I won't lower the bar just to fill venues," he said.
There was talk of adding a sixth venue to the festival this year — the auditorium at Traverse City Central High School — but there weren't enough "great movies" to justify that, he said.
Thus, he said, this year's schedule, inserted in Friday's Record-Eagle, has twice as many foreign films as American films.
Those include Cuban movies and the filmmakers who made them, Moore said in an interview from his New York City apartment this week.
"We're going to airlift these Cuban filmmakers from Havana to Traverse City," he said, laughing, though he acknowledged lingering problems getting the Cubans into the U.S.
"So I have to go through a little trouble in the name of art? That's a small price to pay," he said. "I don't like any society that prohibits its citizens from exploring another country's art." He said this year's festival — the sixth — also will celebrate music, including the 40th anniversary of the Beatles' breakup. "A Hard Day's Night" will be shown, "Help" will play at the Open Space, and a new drama about John Lennon's teenage years, "Nowhere Boy," will screen.
Horse Shows event continues to grow
WILLIAMSBURG — Two days ago, the grounds at Flintfields Horse Park were quiet.
A few riders practiced with their horses at the park, a short distance from M-72 in Acme Township. Crews finished preparing the 80-acre site for the start of the annual Horse Shows by the Bay festival.
Beginning today, the public is invited to spend weekends here through Aug. 1. The four-week festival features more than 1,000 horses and their riders in a variety of equestrian competitions.
Additionally this year, the horse park will host the Great American Insurance Group/U.S. Dressage Federation Region 2 Dressage Championships from Sept. 10-12 for riders from seven states, including Michigan.
"It took us two years to do that," said Alex Rheinheimer, co-founder and co-owner of Horse Shows by the Bay, of landing the championship bid.
Horse Shows, in its seventh year, keeps growing. This year's contests feature more participants and a larger pot of prize money — up to $400,000 distributed among all events.
Riders easily can pay thousands of dollars for such things as entrance fees, training, transportation and lodging when competing, Rheinheimer said. She believes her organization weathered the national economic recession well enough to attract new riders from farther distances.
"It's the same quality and the same level of competition," she said. "We just continue to gain in stature and prominence."
