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ANTRIM
Local Marine dies Sunday in Afghanistan
MANCELONA— Jason Dean Calo was a bona fide leader who quarterbacked his football team to victory against area rivals.
Calo hung up his helmet and cleats when he graduated from Mancelona High School in 2005, but never relinquished that leadership role. Calo, 23, instead traded his football equipment for a U.S. Marine Corps. uniform and quickly rose to the rank of sergeant.
Calo's life and military career came to an abrupt end Sunday when he died during an insurgent attack in Afghanistan. Survivors include several family members, his wife, Sarah, and a 4-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son, a family friend said.
"He was more than just a player," said Doug Derrer, Calo's football coach at Mancelona. "He played with a big heart. When he was in school, he wasn't very big, but he was a scrapper. He was definitely one of the leaders of the team." Cathy Griffore, of Mancelona, said her family and Calo's family moved to the area around the same time in the early 1990s, and her son and Calo became friends as they rode the bus to school.
"They were pretty good buddies," Griffore said. "(Calo) was a bit of a devil, but he was a good-hearted kid."
Vets to escort fallen Marine's remains
TRAVERSE CITY — About 80 local veterans welcomed back Friday morning an Antrim County Marine who died in Afghanistan.
U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Jason Dean Calo's body arrived at 1:10 p.m. Friday at Cherry Capital Airport in Traverse City. Members of the Patriot Guard Riders planned to escort his remains to Mortensen Funeral Homes in Mancelona in preparation for next week's memorial service.
The procession is expected to exit the airport on Parsons Road, turn left on 3 Mile Road, right on U.S. 31, right on M-72 in Acme, left on U.S. 131 in Kalkaska, then left on State Street in Mancelona, where it concludes at the funeral home.
"We intend to be downtown in uniform with flags to honor his sacrifice," said Herbert Tipton, of the American Legion Post in Mancelona. "You see it every day on the news, but it's a little different when it's your town."
Members of the Mancelona High School football team lined the streets to support Calo and his family, said assistant coach Dave Derrer. Calo, a 2005 graduate, was considered by coaches as a leader on the football field.
Josh Hoppe, assistant manager at Northland Food and Family Center in Kalkaska, said the public is welcome to watch the procession from the store parking lot, located at the corner of M-72 and U.S. 131.
Kalkaska police Sgt. Glenn Artress said authorities plan to manage traffic so the procession can safely turn toward Mancelona.
GRAND
TRAVERSE
Cuts may eliminate 41 GT County jobs
TRAVERSE CITY — Proposed preliminary budget cuts in Grand Traverse County would reduce public safety services but boost some county departments.
The 2011 budget, introduced to the county board on Aug. 18, would trim two prosecuting attorneys, one 911 dispatcher, three probation officers and 14 persons from the sheriff's department.
Proposed cuts total about $3.1 million and would slice 41 county positions, but the budget plan gives the county board a pot of $750,000 to restore some cuts when budget hearings begin Sept. 8.
A handful of departments, such as the Treasurer and Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, would receive a funding increase based on a formula that rewards revenue-generating departments.
County officials aren't particularly fond of the formula, including its chief architect, county Administrator Dennis Aloia, who developed it based on the board's direction to focus on revenues.
Deputies investigating local man's death
TRAVERSE CITY — Donald Eugene Claypool was known by office workers at his apartment complex as a longtime tenant who dropped off sweets to them during the holiday season.
Jeff Robinson often was a lucky recipient of holiday fudge, courtesy of Claypool.
"He stopped by the office all the time just to shoot the breeze," said Robinson, community manager at Boardman Lake Apartments. "He was an overwhelmingly well-liked person.
Robinson was shocked this week to hear Claypool died and is the focus of a Grand Traverse Sheriff's Department investigation.
"My jaw dropped this morning when I heard that," Robinson said. "We're kind of at a loss for words. I was kind of floored." Claypool, 56, of Traverse City, died Monday at Munson Medical Center, and authorities continue to investigate how he died.
Deputies responded to an illegal entry and assault complaint Saturday at the Garfield Township apartment complex. A tenant, 53, told deputies that Claypool tried to enter his apartment, so he punched him in the face.
Authorities then interviewed Claypool, who told them he tried to enter his neighbor's apartment to claim money he believed was owed to him. Claypool suffered facial injuries from the assault, but refused medical treatment from fire and medical crews, deputies said.
Deputies said Claypool bled severely after crews left his apartment. His wife then took him to Munson Medical Center, where he was placed in the intensive care unit. She didn't return a call for comment.
Claypool died Monday, but his cause of death remains uncertain. Authorities wouldn't say whether the assault played a role in his death.
Cow killers escape terms in prison
TRAVERSE CITY — Two Traverse City teens won't spend time in prison for killing a cow, but they will spend time in jail.
Jared Kaltenbach, 18, and Kody Richardson, 17, pleaded guilty this week to attempted killing or torturing an animal, a misdemeanor. Grand Traverse County prosecutors dismissed felony charges of killing or torturing an animal as part of the plea deal.
They are to be sentenced Sept. 14 in 86th District Court.
Killing or torturing an animal is punishable by up to four years in prison and/or $5,000, but the teens pleaded guilty to a lesser charge that's punishable by up to one year in jail.
"It's a little bit more than just a standard plea," said assistant county Prosecutor James Pappas.
Kaltenbach and Richardson will spend at least 90 days in jail, a stipulation of their pleas. They also have to pay a combined $1,500 restitution, Pappas said.
"We weren't going to do the deal unless we knew there was guaranteed jail time up front," he said.
Grand Traverse sheriff's deputies responded last month to an animal cruelty complaint at Bob Boeve's Garfield Township farm off Hoch Road. Boeve noticed an unusual wound near the cow's neck, so his friend examined it and dug out an 8-inch piece of an arrow.
Richardson shined a flashlight on the cow so Kaltenbach could shoot it with a bow and arrow, deputies said.
"I think that this was a pretty unfortunate and foolish act by two kids who hopefully will grow up as a result of being held accountable for their actions," said Paul Jarboe, Kaltenbach's attorney.
Justice ends 16 years on Supreme Court
TRAVERSE CITY — Justice Elizabeth Weaver, of Glen Arbor, whose frequent battles with fellow Republican justices over the past decade exposed deep political and personal rifts on the Michigan Supreme Court, plans to resign today.
Weaver, 69, decided to step down after she secured Gov. Jennifer Granholm's promise to appoint a northern Michigan jurist to replace her on the state's highest court.
"I have done all that I can do as a justice and now believe that I can be of most use as a citizen in helping further the critically needed reforms of the judicial system," Weaver said in an exclusive interview with the Record-Eagle. "Now I will be able to work and speak freely."
Weaver said she would not have resigned without Granholm's agreement to select a northern Michigan replacement. A justice from northern Michigan brings independence and a different perspective to a court currently dominated by justices from the Detroit to Lansing beltway, she said.
Local judge to replace Weaver on court
TRAVERSE CITY — Area residents gasped at news of Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Weaver's sudden retirement, but northern Michigan judges expressed confidence in her replacement.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm promoted appeals court Judge Alton "Tom" Davis of Grayling to the Michigan Supreme Court to succeed Weaver, of Glen Arbor, on Thursday.
"I'm elated at the decision," said 13th Circuit Court Judge Philip Rodgers. "I have known Judge Davis since 1981. He was an outstanding trial court judge and has been a wonderful appeals court judge, as well.
"He really has been a leader among the judiciary, and he is an excellent choice, regardless of geography." Granholm named Davis about an hour after Weaver's official resignation, and fulfilled her pledge that a northern Michigan judge would succeed Weaver.
"I'm pleased to replace one great northern Michigan Justice with another great northern Michigan Justice," Granholm said during a noon press conference. "Justice Davis is the most experienced jurist I have ever appointed to the bench." Granholm named Davis, 63, former chief judge of the 46th Judicial Circuit, to the appeals court in 2005. He was elected to fill the unexpired term in 2006 and to a full term representing the 4th District, which includes Lansing and most of northern Michigan, in 2008.
Davis' appointment expires Jan. 1, 2011. A former chairman of the Crawford County Democratic Party and northern Michigan coordinator of Gov. Jim Blanchard's 1982 campaign, he hasn't been active in partisan politics since his election to the bench in 1984.
Ex-aide: Michelle McManus broke the law
TRAVERSE CITY — Christi Carpenter once idolized Michelle McManus, and as a teenager lived in a pop-up camper in McManus' backyard as she worked on the Lake Leelanau Republican's failed 1998 bid for Congress.
Carpenter's hero worship soured during that ill-fated campaign, and the then-18-year-old eventually resigned, a scapegoat, she contends, for a controversy over falsified petition signatures.
Today, Carpenter, 31, is a schoolteacher in California, far from Michigan's political scene. But she's speaking out about her old mentor's run for Secretary of State.
McManus, a term-limited state senator, directed Carpenter to break state election law during her 1998 run for the U.S. Congress 1st District seat, then told her to sign a false affidavit to conceal the act, Carpenter said.
Carpenter said she decided to talk about the 1998 campaign when she learned McManus wanted to become Secretary of State, gatekeeper of Michigan elections.
"The Secretary of State is responsible, in some ways, for these laws that she just flagrantly broke," Carpenter said.
McManus is among a handful of candidates vying for the Republican nomination for Secretary of State at the party convention this weekend. The winner will appear on the November general election ballot.
LEELANAU
Smith pulls bid for Sugar Loaf resort
TRAVERSE CITY — Another would-be developer has bolted from Sugar Loaf Resort, leaving the property on the market with no revival plans in sight.
Las Vegas businessman Eneliko "Sean" Smith said he's "officially bowing out" of his pursuit of the shuttered Leelanau County ski resort and hotel, a little more than three months after he unveiled a $10 million plan to buy and upgrade the property and open some hotel rooms by mid-summer.
Those bold plans never came close to materializing, and Smith put the blame on resort owner Kate Wickstrom with accusations of "stalling tactics, misrepresentations and greed ... ." "(Wickstrom) wants a large sum of money to walk away from Sugar Loaf," said Smith, who said the property won't be redeveloped as long as owners expect a large, up-front payment to sell.
"Everybody wants out because they've been damaged so much over the last 10 years," Smith said. "So we're stuck here, and it's going to keep repeating itself." Wickstrom responded by calling Smith "a joke" who never proved to have resources needed to purchase and revive a resort that's been closed for a decade.
"(Smith) certainly didn't give people any reason to believe he could pull this off," Wickstrom said Tuesday. "I lost faith in him a long time ago."
WEXFORD
Police: Man drowns in Wexford County
CADILLAC — A Holland man drowned in Wexford County, deputies believe.
James Eugene Odell, 33, died Saturday after he apparently drowned in Seaton Creek near the Hodenpyl Dam Pond in Wexford County.
Odell's daughter, 12, called for help after her father became distressed and couldn't reach shore on his own, according to a Wexford County Sheriff's Department statement.
Odell was pulled from the water and taken to Munson Medical Center, where he eventually died. Authorities continue to investigate Odell's death.
