Traverse City Record-Eagle

Our Views

January 23, 2012

Cheers: 01/23/2012

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• To the late James S. Peters Jr., Kalkaska school board president, who died Jan. 13 at age 50. He had served on the board since 2001. He will be missed. As board member Terry Thomas said, "He worked hard and he had a big heart for Kalkaska."

• To Traverse City peace proponent and environmentalist Ann Rogers for her many years of advocacy.

• To the family and friends of Nicholas Kreiser and his twin sons, Noah and Logan, who were born three months premature in 2009. Noah was diagnosed with liver cancer, survived three surgeries in 10 days and now needs a liver transplant. A chili dinner and silent auction benefit was held Sunday at Streeters.

• To the Maritime Heritage Alliance and its 100 to 150 volunteers on the 30th anniversary of local maritime history. The alliance kicked off the year last week by holding its first of five annual basic crew training sessions to teach new members sailing and safety skills needed to crew aboard the sloop Welcome and the Madeline, a replica of a wooden schooner that sailed the Great Lakes in the mid-1800s. Another alliance project this year is replacing the Madeline's deck.

• To the annual Chili Cook-Off, which lured more than 1,800 to the Park Place Hotel on Jan. 14 and raised $14,000 for the Downtown Traverse City Association. Both the turnout and money set records for the event, now in its 18th year. About 60 volunteers helped make the day a success. Proceeds pay for numerous downtown events over the year, including Friday Night Live, downtown art walks and Christmas holiday activities. Mount Holiday's white chili took home the "People's Choice" award as the day's favorite entry, and it also finished first in the white chili category.

• To The National Writers Series on its 2012 lineup of authors and guest hosts to conduct interviews. Changes for 2012 include lower prices, book club discounts and "NWS Introduces," which brings in a debut author. Student registration is also under way for the Front Street Writers Program, a collaboration between the writers series and the Traverse City Area Public Schools. Writers scheduled this year are Geraldine Brooks, Vince Gilligan, Jodi Picoult and Anna Quindlen.

• To Cherry Capital Airport for the first increase in passengers going through the airport in five years. In 2011, the passenger count totaled 352,250 travelers, a 2.5 percent increase over 2010. The record is more than 430,000 in 2005, when the new terminal opened.

• To anonymous donors who will match up to $100,000 worth of donations of food, personal-care items and money to the 18th Annual Father Fred Foundation Frostbite Food Drive, which runs Feb. 3-12.

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