BENZIE
Benzie resumes alternative high school
BENZONIA -- Jenna Drake didn't plan on dropping out of high school. She had attended Benzie County schools since kindergarten.
Then she became pregnant with her son Travon, now 7 months, and a daily class schedule wasn't possible. She left Benzie Central High School last September, a few weeks into her junior year.
She'll resume 11th grade this fall at a countywide alternative education program, a joint effort of Benzie Central and Frankfort high schools that closed three years ago for lack of funding.
"I'm pretty excited to go," said Drake, 18, of Beulah. "It's going to give a lot of kids the opportunity to get the education they need (to) be able to go somewhere in life."
Nearly 35 students from both high schools have signed up for the alternative program, students who, for a variety of reasons, have been unsuccessful in a traditional school setting.
The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians awarded the districts a $25,000 grant and use of classroom space in its Benzonia office. Federal stimulus dollars will fund the rest.
"There was still a noticed need to bring this back into the area," tribal Chairman Derek Bailey said. "Our communities benefit from that."
GRAND TRAVERSE
Boats battered by high winds on GT Bay
TRAVERSE CITY -- It's not raising the Titanic, but Eric Sika has quite a task ahead of him.
Sika, of Traverse City, was downstate to attend the Detroit Lions preseason game Saturday when he received word that his boat, anchored off Grand Traverse Bay's West End beach, sunk amid strong winds and rolling waves.
"The waves were just so big they started coming over (the stern)," Sika, 22, said of his 30-foot Baha Cruiser. "Once that back deck got filled to a certain level, it just took it down."
Sika's boat was one of roughly a dozen that either sank or washed ashore during Saturday's afternoon gale, a blow that featured gusts up to 32 mph. Such events usually happen at least once in the late summer or early fall, authorities said.
"Every year ... you get a north wind that blows and comes straight down the pike on West Bay," Traverse City Police Capt. Steve Morgan said. "If people haven't moored their boats correctly or anchored their boats correctly, they end up on the beach," or swamped.
Sika's boat sat on the bottom in about four feet of water, and he and his friends spent most of the day Monday trying to devise a way to raise and pump it out. They didn't have much luck by Monday afternoon.
Traverse City police notify owners of boats that wash up on the beach during such storms. If owners don't come to move their craft in a timely manner, police haul the boats to impound lots.
NMC enrollment breaks another record
TRAVERSE CITY -- Students filled parking lots and classrooms to capacity at Northwestern Michigan College, and did so in record numbers.
Traverse City's community college again set an enrollment record on Monday, the first day of fall classes. The head count was 5,064 students, an 11-percent jump and exactly 500 students more than fall 2008's record enrollment.
A final student count will be done on Sept. 8, after expected additional enrollments and potential drop-outs.
"We expect this growth to continue for about a year," said Jim Bensley, admissions director.
NMC's greatest segment of student population growth is among those older than 26 years, Bensley said, though many traditional, straight-out-of-high-school students also signed up in droves.
Older students often head back to class for re-training during economic downturns, while younger students may be looking to save money by not attending more expensive four-year universities, Bensley said.
BATA adopts new mission statement
TRAVERSE CITY -- A local public transit agency charted a new course intended to deliver its customers a smoother ride.
Bay Area Transportation Authority board members recently adopted a mission, values and a vision statement, part of an effort to determine strategic plans for the public bus system. The move creates a foundation from which to build, officials said.
"It really gives direction for the organization on all levels," said Rob Bacigalupi, BATA board chairman.
BATA's new mission statement is: "BATA delivers safe, high-quality, efficient and reliable transportation services in its region that link people, jobs, and communities."
That replaces an old Greyhound Bus Line mission statement that until recently hung on BATA's office wall, said Tom Menzel, BATA's executive director.
"I think it was time for us to get this in line because it had never been done before," said Melinda Lautner, BATA board member from Leelanau County.
Menzel took the helm at BATA in April amid the agency's year-long struggle to analyze its operations and finances.
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Offshore wind plan shapes up
TRAVERSE CITY -- It truly could be an environmental and financial windfall.
So say members of the Great Lakes Wind Council, an ad hoc advisory committee under the state Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth.
Michigan officials and lawmakers must decide whether to adopt offshore wind turbine recommendations the council made this week. The group spent much of this year studying the most favorable spots for giant windmills to be set in Michigan's Great Lakes bottomlands, as well as permitting criteria, public input processes and both needed legislative and administrative changes.
The council's report was sent to Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Tuesday.
Council members set a criteria list to identify the best areas for offshore wind turbines, as well as off-limits areas and spots where turbines could be placed but would require additional study and strong public support.
Much of Grand Traverse Bay and nearby Lake Michigan along the state's west coast is mapped as possible locations for offshore turbines. Southern shores on both West and East bays are off-limits, as is Leelanau Peninsula's tip and areas around the Fox Islands.
"For the foreseeable future, it's pretty unlikely we'll have offshore wind turbines in northwest Michigan anywhere near the coastlines or islands in that area," said Stanley Pruss, council chairman and DELEG director.
Meijer applies to develop Acme store
ACME -- Meijer Inc. is taking another stab at building in Acme Township, five years after the Grand Rapids retailer and a development partner waged a zoning battle with local officials. Meijer this week submitted an updated development application to the township for a superstore along M-72 on property owned by The Village at Grand Traverse, its partner in a bitter fight with Acme officials.
Meijer's plan includes a general merchandise and grocery store with a garden center, but not a gas station and convenience store. Meijer would be the initial occupant on The Village's property, and consume about 21 acres on the 181-acre site.
Acme Supervisor Wayne Kladder believes The Village, with Meijer as an anchor, could help inject new life into the township.
"If it's done well, and done how the master plan calls for, we will have a great community center down here ... we think when we have this great place, people will come," Kladder said.
Meijer officials did not return calls for comment on Wednesday.
Acme Township Manager Sharon Vreeland said representatives from The Village approached Acme officials "about a month ago" and asked how to jump-start the project.
Officials: Tourism spending deal likely
TRAVERSE CITY -- Area legislators remain confident they'll strike a deal to fund the state's Pure Michigan tourism campaign, despite a looming $2.8 billion gap in next year's budget.
Less than a month remains before the state's new fiscal year on Oct. 1, and speculation swirls over another state government shutdown because of Michigan's budget woes.
Lawmakers said it's unlikely they'll carve out a tourism funding proposal outside of the overall budget debate, but they're optimistic the budget will include something close to the record $30 million spent this year to expand the Pure Michigan promotional campaign, including a first-time national advertising buy.
"I'm very confident of that," said state Rep. Dan Scripps, D-Leland, who sponsored legislation in the House to create a long-term funding mechanism for tourism and business promotion. "We've passed it out of (committee) and we're ready to move on it."
The state's tourism sector backs two proposals in Lansing to create an ongoing revenue source for travel and business promotion. A short-term measure would create a $2.50 per-day assessment on rental cars at specific locations like airports, a move designed to keep most of the tax burden on persons flying or otherwise traveling into Michigan from other states. The rental car tax would end in 2014.
Woman angry after neighbor's dog kills pet
FIFE LAKE -- Cora Wilson is fighting mad.
Wilson, who lives along M-186 on Fife Lake Township, is upset because her neighbor's mastiff charged onto her property last month and killed "Bo," her German shorthaired pointer.
It's not the first time her neighbor's dogs have killed animals on her property, she said, and she's afraid of what might happen next.
"My stepdaughter is expecting her first baby, and I don't want to have to worry about dogs coming over here," Wilson said.
The neighbor, Dana Round, has been ticketed several times over the years for loose animals, court records show. Round contends the two dogs fought near the property line, and she since had the mastiff euthanized.
But Wilson wants authorities to issue an order prohibiting Round from owning animals. The two have been neighbors for about eight years, and Wilson contends Round's dogs also killed kittens and a rabbit on her property.
"It's consistent with different dogs," Wilson said. "It's not the dogs, the problem is with her."
Grand Traverse Prosecutor Al Schneider said he isn't aware of any legal provision that would allow a judge to prohibit a person from owning animals.
"As far as I know, it's never been explored," he said. "I'm not sure how it would hold up if such an order was imposed."
Round's mastiff attacked another neighbor's dog in April, and a judge ordered her to keep the animal confined, Schneider said.
School districts in region make progress
TRAVERSE CITY -- Most local public schools met federal academic standards for the last school year, following a trend that extends statewide.
Nearly all of the 16 public districts in the Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District made adequate yearly progress, or AYP, for 2008-09, according to Michigan Department of Education data released Thursday.
Across the state, 86 percent of public schools and 99 percent of public districts met the standards, data show.
Locally, Buckley Community School did not, nor did the Kalkaska and Forest Area districts at the high school level.
The benchmarks are based on standardized test results, as well as attendance and graduation rates. Schools have to meet the criteria for all students and for specific populations, including special education and economically disadvantaged.
Those that fail to meet benchmarks can be penalized.
Traverse City Area Public Schools made AYP at all grade levels and in all schools, except for the alternative Traverse City High School, according to data. The district improved from last year, when none of its high schools met standards.
LEELANAU
Bay study looks at algae, plant growth
NORTHPORT -- A tugboat pushed through the chop just outside Northport's marina, then slowed and dropped its anchor.
The Bay Monitor research vessel wasn't stopping, though. Its anchor is a tool to help researchers study algae and aquatic plant growth in Grand Traverse Bay.
"It's right along the drop-off. Wow, it's like a jungle," said John Nelson, baykeeper with the Watershed Center Grand Traverse Bay.
Nelson and the nonprofit's program director, Sarah U'Ren, busied themselves in recent weeks mapping beds of algae and aquatic plants throughout the bay's western arm. It's an effort to monitor plant and algae bed sites, information that's to be compared to similar studies done in 1991 and 1998.
"We want to see if it's increasing, decreasing or staying the same," Nelson said.
"What you can learn is where there might be increasing sources of nutrients in the bay," U'Ren said. "We've found there are a lot of beds on the bottom of West Bay." The study will continue for a few more weeks, finish in northern stretches of West Grand Traverse Bay, then move to East Bay.
Cline accepts Leelanau County job offer
SUTTONS BAY -- Leelanau County appears to have finally landed a new administrator.
Richard Eric Cline, 41, accepted a job offer to be the county's top administrator. He's the fourth man to be offered the job.
"I think it's going to be an exciting position. I think it's a good fit for my background," Cline said.
The job comes with a $68,000 annual salary with benefits, plus a one-time $5,000 moving allowance. That sounds OK to Cline, he said.
"It's going to be a move back home for my family," Cline said.
Cline most recently worked as assistant city manager in Alpena until his position was eliminated during budget cuts. Before that, he was village manager and clerk in Bellaire, after he worked as an associate planner for Antrim County.
Cline's wife Denise, originally is from Central Lake, and he is from Indiana. The couple has two sons and they formerly lived in Leelanau County, just south of Suttons Bay.
"We're long overdue to get someone in there, even though our staff has been doing a fine job," said Melinda Lautner, Leelanau County commissioner. "I hope he works out."
Cline hasn't yet signed a contract, but will upon passing a background check, Lautner said.
MANISTEE
State mulls snowmobile trail purchase
COPEMISH -- It may still be summer, but state natural resources officials have snow trails on their agenda.
The Michigan Natural Resources Commission next week will consider whether to buy more than 14 acres of former railroad right-of-way between M-115 and Springdale Road in Manistee County's Springdale Township to lengthen a designated snowmobile trail. The state could pay $26,500 for the nearly 1.2-mile stretch, currently owned by the Benzie-Manistee Snowbirds snowmobile club.
"It will almost make whole the trail that runs between Thompsonville and Kaleva," said Roger Storm, trailway acquisition specialist with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
The Interlochen-to-Kaleva Trail has a number of gaps in state ownership and when the property became available in 2002, the DNR didn't have money to buy it. Instead, the snowmobile club purchased the land with plans to eventually sell it to the state.
The idea is to reduce the number of places where snowmobile users must leave the trail and ride along the side of local roads, said James Schettek, club vice president.
"It's pretty crucial to establish permanent trails," he said.
OTSEGO
2 face felony charges in home invasion
GAYLORD -- Christopher and Sarah Tierney, of Otsego County's Otsego Lake Township, face a host of criminal charges after allegedly breaking into an elderly couple's home, tying them up and robbing them.
The Tierneys were arraigned Tuesday in 87th District Court in Gaylord. Both are charged with five felonies: two counts of armed robbery, home invasion, unlawful imprisonment and receiving and concealing stolen property. They face life in prison, if convicted.
Christopher Tierney, 42, also is charged as a habitual offender.
Christopher and Sarah Tierney, 28, are accused of breaking into a home in the Michawye subdivision south of Gaylord on Aug. 26. The elderly couple who live there was bound with tape, blindfolded, threatened and robbed, police said.
The suspects wore masks and carried knives.
Christopher and Sarah Tierney were denied bond and remain held at Otsego County Jail. They will appear in court on Sept. 3 for a pre-trial hearing and again on Sept. 10 for a preliminary examination.
