Traverse City Record-Eagle

Opinion

January 7, 2013

Cheers: 01/07/2013

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-- To the more than 60 colleagues, students and friends of the late Jenn Miles who crowded into the chapel at Munson Medical Center to sing in tribute to her. The 42-year-old Miles loved stage-managing musical and theater performances by Traverse City's high schools, the Old Town Playhouse and Miracle Productions. She suffered a stroke two years ago but was able to continue working. Her health worsened last week and she died before friends could get there, so they sang in her memory.

-- To Traverse City-born Delta Airlines pilot Ken Pratt for his participation in creating the Freedom Center, a lounge for traveling military personnel at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. More than 30,000 Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine service men and women used the lounge in its first year.

-- To those who organized and participated in the fourth annual CherryT Ball Drop on New Year's Eve. Police estimated that up to 17,000 people poured into downtown and they didn't make a single arrest. Organizers also avoided the mass exodus of years past by continuing with music and fireworks until 12:20 a.m. instead of immediately after the cherry ball dropped.

-- To Traverse City Central High School senior Jonathan Patterson for his hard work to get to law school. While still a junior, he began taking night and summer classes at Northwestern Michigan College for an associate's degree he received in December. He enrolled at Grand Valley State University as a junior and will take Grand Valley night classes at Northwestern Michigan College's University Center while finishing his senior year at Central High.

-- To the Inland Seas Education Association for offering a series of Family Science Days for kids ages 5-12 at its offices in Suttons Bay. The monthly program started in December and will run through May.

-- To Emily and Kevin Cornell, the proud parents of the area's first New Year's Day baby. The couple arrived at Munson Medical Center at 6 p.m. New Year's Eve, and baby Jackson arrived at 1:30 a.m., weighing in at 7 pounds, six ounces and 19¾ inches long. Jackson was one of three babies born at Munson by early evening on New Year's Day.

-- To the Cherry Stop and Momentum, downtown stores that are swapping storefronts so one can downsize and the other expand. Cherry Stop, which is changing its name to Old Mission Traders, will open by Feb. 1 in the smaller location at 215 E. Front; Momentum will move into the former Cherry Stop store at 211 E. Front. Momentum should reopen sometime in mid-January.

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