ANTRIM
Man crashes car in police chase
ALDEN -- A Mancelona man was hospitalized after he crashed his car during an Antrim County police chase.
Delbert John Carter, 19, was in critical condition at Munson Medical Center after a Sept. 20 crash, a hospital spokesman said. Police said he ran his Pontiac Grand Am off a curve on South East Torch Lake Drive near Alden at about 5 p.m.
Antrim County Undersheriff Dave Kopkau said a deputy allegedly saw Carter speeding on Alden Highway near Lake of the Woods Road. Carter allegedly sped faster when the deputy turned on his lights and tried to make a stop, Kopkau said.
Antrim County Prosecutor Charles Koop on Aug. 1 charged Carter with home invasion, larceny and burglary counts stemming from a September 2007 incident, he said.
Carter also spent several months in prison after being convicted in early 2006 of possessing a loaded firearm in or upon a vehicle, Michigan Department of Corrections records show.
Ambulance involved in U.S. 31 crash
ELK RAPIDS -- An ambulance crashed into another vehicle while responding to a medical emergency in Elk Rapids.
A North Flight EMS ambulance was headed north on U.S. 31 with its lights and sirens on when it collided with a passenger vehicle just after 5 p.m. Monday. The other vehicle also was traveling north and attempted to make a left turn into a gas station between First and Fourth streets, said Elk Rapids Police Chief Michael Miles.
The ambulance attempted to go around the vehicle and other traffic, he said.
Thomas Hedin, 58, of Kewadin, drove the ambulance and the other vehicle, a 2000 Ford Taurus, was driven by Amanda Beal, 23, of Traverse City.
There were two other North Flight personnel in the ambulance and only minor injuries were reported, while Beal did not receive any injuries, police said.
WEXFORD
Man hurt in one-vehicle crash
HARRIETTA -- A Harrietta man is in serious condition after a traffic crash.
The crash happened around 9 p.m. Sept. 19 on Davis Street in Harrietta in Wexford County. William Hornback, 42, was driving north when his vehicle left the road and hit a railroad crossing signal. The vehicle overturned, and Hornback was ejected.
Hornback was treated at the scene and flown to a Grand Rapids hospital. Police believe Hornback was speeding and wasn't wearing a seat belt.
GRAND TRAVERSE
Judge Rodgers issues apology
TRAVERSE CITY -- Grand Traverse County Circuit Court Judge Philip E. Rodgers acknowledged he erred when he called Meijer Inc.'s former attorney a liar and issued an apology.
But Rodgers said he won't step aside in an ongoing lawsuit between Acme Township officials and Meijer, the Grand Rapids-based retailer.
Rodgers launched a day of court motions Monday by first acting upon a request that he disqualify himself from the Meijer suit.
Meijer's former law firm, Dickinson Wright PLLC, and attorney Timothy Stoepker asked Rodgers to recuse himself because of "substantial personal bias and prejudice" against Stoepker and the law firm in a lawsuit filed by Acme Township planning commissioner Robert Carstens.
Rodgers said that during a June 23 hearing he wrongly accused Stoepker of lying to him about his knowledge of Meijer's illegal involvement in Acme Township elections.
But Stoepker wasn't present at the hearing Rodgers referenced.
Woman struck by car near mall
TRAVERSE CITY -- A Traverse City woman remains hospitalized after she was struck by a car near an entrance to the Cherryland Center Mall in Garfield Township.
Amelia Campbell, 27, was listed in critical condition Monday at Munson Medical Center, hospital officials said. Grand Traverse County sheriff's deputies said Campbell was injured shortly before 1 p.m. Sept. 20 when she walked on to South Airport Road and was struck by a westbound vehicle driven by Sam Romano, 70, of Royal Oak.
Romano and the passengers in his vehicle were not injured. The collision remains under investigation.
Man accused of break-in attempt
TRAVERSE CITY -- City police arrested a man who allegedly tried to burglarize a home in the Boardman neighborhood.
Police were called to a home on Washington Street early Sept. 20 after the homeowner reported a man trying to break in to the rear entrance of the home. The suspect ran from the scene, and police used a tracking dog to locate him on the 300 block of Wellington Street, where he again attempted to flee from officers before he was taken into custody.
The suspect, a 23-year-old Suttons Bay man, was lodged in the Grand Traverse County jail on charges of larceny under $200 and resisting and obstructing police.
BATA cuts budget amid deficit threat
TRAVERSE CITY -- Bay Area Transportation Authority officials will curtail employee road trips amid higher public scrutiny and the threat of a budget deficit.
The public bus system has had to make significant changes to avoid financial shortfall in its $6.3 million budget, including a rate hike for riders and cuts to some services.
BATA officials trimmed $15,000 in travel from their budget, but left $5,000 for that purpose, said Don Scharmen, interim executive director. Otherwise, BATA officials will travel only if the cost is covered by grants or other governmental funding, he said.
BATA now has an official policy for travel and employee reimbursement.
BATA board member Janet Wolf hopes BATA can resume sending representatives to meet with legislators when possible.
"They're just things you have to do, part of the political process of getting this funding," she said. "We have to get back at it with as much vigor as we were before."
Maritime Academy tuition to increase
TRAVERSE CITY -- Trustees at Northwestern Michigan College voted 4 to 1 to approve a major tuition increase for cadets at the Great Lakes Maritime Academy in Traverse City.
Tuition hikes approved Monday amount to more than 48 percent for in-state deck cadets and nearly 57 percent for in-state engine cadets. Out-of-state deck cadets will see a jump in tuition of about 27 percent, while out-of-state engine cadets will see an increase of more than 32 percent.
NMC trustees also approved $272,000 from the NMC Foundation to help offset the increased rates for current GLMA cadets over the coming years.
The new tuition rates will go into effect next academic year.
School districts see fewer students
TRAVERSE CITY -- Some area public school districts lost students again this year, early enrollment figures show, and administrators regionwide are pointing to the economy as a possible culprit.
"Wherever jobs are available, people are going to move," said Lee Sandy, superintendent of Kalkaska Public Schools, which lost about 40 students this year, from 1,590 in 2007 to 1,550 now.
The district lost 240 students since he started in Kalkaska three years ago, Sandy said. This year alone, the drop in state aid from fewer students will total slightly more than $290,000.
Traverse City Area Public Schools, the area's largest district, had 10,001 K-12 students in classes Wednesday, the official fall count day. That is down 309 from last year.
Wednesday's preliminary count helps determine the amount of state funding public school districts receive.
Officials continue debate on recycling
TRAVERSE CITY -- Township officials dumped plenty of opinion -- heated at times -- on Grand Traverse County commissioners who are trying to solve long-standing problems on how to fund recycling.
But nothing at a Wednesday meeting attended by officials from the county, township, city and waste industry resembled consensus.
The county board wants to decide by the end of October if it will continue to fund eight drop-off recycling bins through the highest tax on trash in the state, a $9 per ton surcharge that generates about $750,000 each year.
The county pays about $385,000 a year to operate drop-off sites. The contract for drop-off sites and the surcharge both expire at year's end.
Man charged with illegal entry
TRAVERSE CITY -- Traverse City Police arrested a man for illegal entry.
A woman found the man, 29, in a bedroom closet at her apartment on Centre Place at about 3 p.m. Monday, according to a police statement.
The woman had stepped out to meet with a friend and returned to the apartment to make a phone call when she saw the man standing in the corner of the closet. She confronted him and he ran away, police said, but officers found and arrested him a short distance from the apartment.
Investigators aren't sure why the man was in the residence, Capt. Brian Heffner said. Capt. Steve Morgan said the woman didn't know the man, but recognized him as another resident of the apartment complex.
Man faces felony weapons charge
TRAVERSE CITY -- A man who allegedly stole a firearm and hid it behind a local business faces a criminal charge.
Justin Lewis Nahrwold, 27, is charged with receiving or concealing a weapon, a felony.
A man told the Grand Traverse Sheriff's Department his .40 caliber handgun was stolen from his residence July 3, court records show.
A woman later told police she was with Nahrwold July 9 when he showed her a weapon matching the description of the stolen gun. He then hid it behind the Williamsburg Dinner Theater, the woman said.
A deputy later allegedly found the weapon behind the theater, according to court records.
Nahrwold hadn't been arrested Wednesday morning.
Wineries push for by-the-glass sales
OLD MISSION -- Winery operators on Old Mission Peninsula want local officials to allow by-the-glass wine sales, currently prohibited under the township's zoning ordinance.
Peninsula Township's ordinance -- in more than one reference -- specifically prohibits sale of wine by the glass and bans any fee for wine tasting. Township residents also overturned ordinance amendments in recent years that expand commercial operations at local wineries.
But winery owners contend the township is overstepping its legal authority in banning such sales. The wineries maintain that facilities licensed by the state Department of Agriculture as "wholesale food processors" can sell both food and wine for on-site and off-site consumption.
The wineries said the township's ban encourages "freeloader" wine tasting, and prevents them from offering samples of their high-end and limited wines. A group known as the Wineries of Old Mission Peninsula, or WOMP, sent a letter to Peninsula Township this month that asks for steps to authorize wine sales by the glass.
Judge: Stair can't represent himself
TRAVERSE CITY -- A judge won't let a convicted murderer act as his own attorney for the appeals process.
Thirteenth Circuit Judge Thomas G. Power this month denied a request from Justin Stair's court-appointed appellate attorney to withdraw from the case. A Grand Traverse County jury in January convicted Stair, 22, of first-degree murder in the death of his pregnant girlfriend, Dawnette Harrell.
State appellate attorney Valerie R. Newman, assigned to the case after Stair was sentenced to life in prison in February, believes Stair is "clearly dissatisfied with counsel and believes he can better represent himself," according to court filings.
But Power doesn't believe Stair is equipped to handle the process on his own.
A jury convicted Stair after a five-day trial. He is serving his sentence at Oaks Correctional Facility in Manistee.
New safety measure at intersection
TRAVERSE CITY -- Cars, bicyclists and pedestrians have additional safety measures when crossing the busy intersection of Grandview Parkway and Division Street.
The Michigan Department of Transportation on Friday installed buttons that pedestrians must push to get a "walk" signal. The buttons also turn on an electric sign reminding that "turning traffic must yield to pedestrians."
MDOT also added more crosswalk markings and moved the stop line for traffic on Division Street for better visibility.
KALKASKA
Concerns arise over proposed plants
KALKASKA -- Two renewable energy production concepts are in the works in Kalkaska County and some residents worry about their potential impacts, as well as a lack of public awareness.
"You would not believe the number of people who don't know anything about this," said Kenneth Lowe, of rural Kalkaska.
Lowe and others are concerned about a proposed biomass power plant along U.S. 131 north of Kalkaska, plus a possible solid waste gasification plant that would generate electricity along the same stretch of highway. They want to heighten public awareness and prompt their neighbors to ask tough questions.
The Kalkaska County Planning Commission met Wednesday to discuss whether to adopt an amendment to the county's zoning laws that would allow construction of a biomass power plant.
Traverse City-based Rapid River Renewable Energy wants to build a $140 million biomass power plant along U.S. 131, southeast of the intersection with Plum Valley Road. The company also will consider an Antrim County site near Mancelona, said Ben Brower, project manager.
LEELANAU
Bailey wins tribal special election
PESHAWBESTOWN -- Tribal members elected Derek Bailey chairman of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians in a special election about-face.
Tribal voters in May backed two-term incumbent Robert Kewaygoshkum, but Bailey capitalized on a second chance prompted by a tribal court's order for a new election.
Bailey, 35, is slated to become the band's youngest chairperson after defeating Kewaygoshkum, 57, in a special election held Wednesday.
A tribal court last month ordered the redo after ruling the band's election board improperly censured Bailey just before the original vote. The board held an emergency meeting two days before the May election and, although no election violations were found, issued an e-mail censuring him for allegedly using his tribal computer to visit his campaign Web site.
In May, Kewaygoshkum defeated Bailey 233 to 210. This time Bailey won the four-year position 256 to 186.
WEXFORD
Body found in Lake Gitchegumee
BUCKLEY -- A man was found dead in Lake Gitchegumee.
The Wexford County Sheriff's Department said the man, found Wednesday, was identified as Robert Joseph Schmuckal, 64, of Buckley. The cause of death has not yet been determined, according to a police statement, but foul play is not suspected.
Sheriff Gary Finstrom did not return a call Thursday afternoon. His secretary said no one else at the department was available to comment.
