GRAND TRAVERSE
TCAPS board picks Appel for vacant seat
TRAVERSE CITY -- A nonprofit leader with more than 30 years in educational policy and curriculum development will join the Traverse City school board.
Board members Monday unanimously approved appointing Gary Appel, of Traverse City, to fill a position vacated by member-elect Amy Sutherland. A series of votes winnowed the field of candidates from seven.
He beat Julie Puckett, a Northwestern Michigan College math instructor, by a margin of 5-1 in the final round.
Appel serves as manager for the state of Michigan in a federally funded arm of the nonprofit Learning Point Associates. His team works with the Michigan Department of Education to create and review statewide policies.
Officials need more dams information
TRAVERSE CITY -- Traverse City and Grand Traverse County leaders heard from Boardman River dam consultants and area citizens about whether or not to keep or remove four of the structures, but some say they need additional information.
The Boardman River Dams Committee looked at various options to repair, modify or remove Union Street, Sabin, Boardman and Brown Bridge dams during the last three years and finalized a two-pronged recommendation to city and county officials, the ultimate decision-makers. They suggested either leaving all the dams in place after making improvements, or taking all but Union Street Dam out.
City Commissioner Barbara Budros said there's more work to be done.
"We may need more answers. We definitely need more information on hydro-power," Budros said.
County commissioners also want more answers.
Man charged with drunken driving
TRAVERSE CITY -- A Grawn man faces a felony drunken driving charge.
Jeffery Joseph Laskey, 37, is charged with third-offense drunken driving. He was scheduled to be arraigned on the charge Monday.
A Grand Traverse sheriff's deputy arrested Laskey Jan. 19. The deputy allegedly saw Laskey driving erratically on Lafranier Road in Garfield Township and stopped him. Laskey allegedly smelled of alcohol and slurred his speech as he spoke to the deputy, court records show.
Laskey previously was convicted of drunken driving in 1989 and 1999, records show.
TC woman faces drunken driving charges
TRAVERSE CITY -- Police arrested a Traverse City woman on charges of child endangerment and drunken driving.
The woman, 39, crashed her vehicle into another car at the intersection of Front and Division streets at about 6:30 p.m. last Sunday, police said.
She was intoxicated and caused the collision, Traverse City police said. Her 8-year-old daughter and pet dog were passengers, but were not hurt.
Police would not release the woman's name. She's scheduled to be arraigned Feb. 5.
The driver of the other vehicle, a 57-year-old Traverse City woman, had minor injuries.
Court ruling may impact local law
TRAVERSE CITY -- A local workplace smoking ban could be snuffed out if the Michigan Supreme Court sides with business owners challenging similar rules in some northern Michigan counties.
Traverse City is one of four Michigan cities that regulate workplace smoking, as do 21 counties. The Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department also is considering smoke-free worksite regulations.
But some residents and business owners in Antrim, Charlevoix, Emmet and Otsego counties contend smoking ordinances passed there in 2005 are preempted by state law. The Michigan Supreme Court is expected to rule on their lawsuit by the end of July.
Traverse City's workplace smoking ban took effect in 2007, and city officials now want to add to it and regulate smoking in city bars and restaurants.
Traverse City prohibits smoking in most worksites and public places except bars, restaurants, tobacco specialty stores, private residences and vehicles, and business vehicles with only one occupant.
BATA receives clean audit
TRAVERSE CITY -- An audit of Bay Area Transportation Authority's 2008 finances by the Traverse City accounting firm Dennis, Gartland & Niergarth found no major accounting or financial management problems.
Past audit problems were magnified by the fact BATA operated without a financial officer in 2007.
Absent in 2008 were recurring issues such as the need for a deficit elimination plan, problems with employee expense reports and cash handling, a lack of a conflict of interest policy and delayed bank deposits.
BATA's board in 2008 more actively scrutinized finances and operations while the organization went through changes, including the hiring of controller Eric Gray and the retirement of executive director Joe DeKoning.
Gray and BATA board members spent much of 2008 implementing internal controls and working to cut costs and increase revenues for the cash-strapped organization. The audit showed it still lost $368,000 for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2008, but is currently tracking to show a small surplus for 2009.
Teen charged with forging checks
TRAVERSE CITY -- A teen faces felony charges after he allegedly forged two checks.
Alexander Alan Whiteford, 17, is charged with two counts each of forgery and uttering and publishing. A preliminary examination is scheduled for Feb. 10.
A man told police two checks were stolen from him and his signature forged, court records show. Whiteford and another person told a Grand Traverse sheriff's deputy that Whiteford stole the checks, both filled the checks out and both went to the bank to cash them.
The checks totaled $1,600, according to court records.
Man allegedly kicked out cruiser window
TRAVERSE CITY -- A man who allegedly kicked out the window of a police cruiser faces criminal charges.
Benjamin Joseph Brown, 20, is charged with malicious destruction of fire or police property and resisting or obstructing a police officer.
A Grand Traverse sheriff's deputy responded to a fight in progress Jan. 24, according to court records.
The deputy allegedly saw Brown fighting and tried to subdue him. Brown allegedly ran from and physically resisted the deputy, who used pepper spray to bring Brown under control.
Brown, when placed into a police car, allegedly kicked out a window, court records show.
Man allegedly sold cocaine
TRAVERSE CITY -- A man faces multiple felony drug charges.
William Patrick McAdory, 18, is charged with three counts of delivering or manufacturing a controlled substance and one count of conspiracy to deliver or manufacture a controlled substance.
McAdory, who according to court records has addresses in Inkster and Traverse City, allegedly sold cocaine and heroin to an undercover Traverse Narcotics Team detective in December.
He was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday.
Extension eyed for Franke Road
TRAVERSE CITY -- Momentum could be building for a proposed extension of Franke Road as an entrance into the Grand Traverse Commons.
Plans are in the works to construct a southern entry into the property, beginning where Franke Road ends at Silver Lake Road.
The public can weigh in on the project at a meeting next month. So far, the chief concern appears to be cut-through traffic.
The property, site of the former state hospital, straddles Traverse City and Garfield Township. It's home to several shops, condominiums, the Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District building, a state government office and Munson Medical Center.
LEELANAU
Child pornography allegedly found
SUTTONS BAY -- A Leland man accused of sexually assaulting two children faces a host of new charges after police allegedly found child pornography on his computer.
Investigators allegedly discovered nearly 500 child porn images on a home computer owned by Matthew Brooke Davis, Leelanau County Prosecutor Joe Hubbell said. Davis is now charged with a felony count of using a computer to commit a crime and five felony counts of possession of child sexually abusive materials.
Davis, 43, was charged about two weeks ago with three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct. Those charges stem from allegations he assaulted a girl, 6, and a boy, 12, at his Leland home.
Police obtained a warrant to search Davis' home while investigating the initial complaint, Hubbell said. The images allegedly were found on a desktop computer used by Davis. None of them were of the children involved in the initial complaint, Hubbell said.
Mawby to expand, takes on partner
SUTTONS BAY -- One of northern Michigan's oldest wineries took on a new ownership partner and will expand operations.
Wine maker Larry Mawby of L. Mawby Vineyards in Leelanau County will open a new, 6,400-square-foot production facility at 121 Fourth St. in Suttons Bay. Mawby said the building will be used for production and storage of bottle-fermented wine, and he hopes to have it operating by July 1.
Mawby's bottle-fermenting operations will shift from the winery on Elm Valley Road in Bingham Township to the village, Mawby said. Retail operations and the winery's tasting room will remain at the Elm Valley location.
The winery also has a new ownership partner. Stuart Laing, of Suttons Bay, purchased a 50 percent ownership share in the operation.
Attendance drops at Sleeping Bear
EMPIRE -- Attendance dipped 11 percent at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in 2008, the lowest number logged since the park began its visitor tally system in 1987.
The park counted 1,008,135 visitors in 2008, down from 1.134 million in 2007.
"Fuel prices and weather are the most likely reasons for that, but we can never say definitively why people were not tallied here," said Tom Ulrich, deputy park superintendent. "Even though this is the lowest, I'd say visitation at this park is very steady."
More than 1.2 million people went to the park in 1987, and it's fluctuated between 1.1 million and 1.3 million since.
The park saw a nearly 30 percent decline in July, typically the busiest month. About 257,400 visitors stopped by, the lowest July attendance in more than 10 years.
Ohio man hurt in snowmobile crash
EMPIRE -- An Ohio man was critically injured in a snowmobile collision with a vehicle in Leelanau County.
Joel Hipp, 42, of Norwalk, Ohio, collided with a passing vehicle on M-72 as he attempted to cross the busy highway on a state snowmobile trail. The collision happened just after 2 p.m. Tuesday about a half-mile west of Newman Road in Kasson Township, said Leelanau County Undersheriff Scott Wooters.
Hipp was following another snowmobile rider and neither stopped at a stop sign at the highway's edge. Hipp collided with the side of a vehicle driven by Donald Lewis, 62, of Glen Arbor, Wooters said.
Hipp was badly injured and taken to Munson Medical Center in Traverse City, where he remains in critical condition, said hospital spokesman Dale Killingbeck.
Lewis was not injured and was not faulted for the crash, Wooters said.
WEXFORD
Police probe Cadillac man's death
CADILLAC -- Police are investigating the suspicious death of a 51-year-old Cadillac man found in his home.
Cadillac Police Chief Jeff Hawke said the man's body was discovered by another resident of the home shortly before 9 a.m. Tuesday.
"There were some situations with the original scene that raised some questions for us so we decided to process the scene for evidence," Hawke said. "We're not sure yet what the cause of death is ... we're waiting for autopsy results."
Hawke said the death investigation is ongoing and more information will be released as it becomes available.
