01/01/2007

Cheers and Jeers

Cheers

• To Elmwood Township officials and volunteers for making arrangements to show reruns of township board meetings on tctv2. The township got about $14,000 from the Cherry Capital Cable Council for new sound and video equipment, including three cameras and a video mixer. Residents will have to show up in person to see the meetings live, but it's a step forward. Grand Traverse County and Traverse City schools should be next.

• To YMCA officials on the kickoff of a campaign to raise $20 million to build a new facility that would include two indoor pools, gyms, a tennis facility and a field house; in short, a place for Grand Traverse residents to play and exercise for decades to come. It's an ambitious plan, but the payoff would be just as large.

• To Traverse City Light and Power and the city's Parks and Recreation Department for creating a site where area residents can drop off their Christmas trees once the needles start dropping. The site will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays through Jan. 21. It is at the end of Hannah Street behind the Traverse Area District Library.

• To the Michigan Lighthouse Assistance Program for providing $74,000 to two local lighthouses for much-needed repairs. The money, from the sale of specialty license plates, will be used to repair water damage at the Grand Traverse Lighthouse north of Northport and waterproof South Pier Lighthouse near Charlevoix.

• To Otsego County for re-establishing its snowmobile trail patrol, which has been out of action since 2002. Funding will come from a nearly $12,000 grant from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and a local match of 15 percent. Deputies will have to buy new cold-weather gear and helmets, but should be able to get on the trails as soon as there is snow.

• To state lawmakers who are taking a new look at Michigan's so-called driver responsibility laws, which have brought in about $257 million in fines but have not done what they were supposed to do — make Michigan roads safer. Lawmakers also say the state has collected only 40 percent of the fines levied because many offenders can't afford to pay. The program should be safety-, not budget-, based.

• To the Bay Area Transit Authority, beverage wholesaler H. Cox and Son Inc., T.C. Cab Company and Cadillac Cab Company for providing rides home on New Year's Eve for folks who had too much to drink. It's an invaluable service that has no doubt prevented drivers from going to jail and has likely saved a life.

Jeers

• To whoever is responsible for a Christmas evening burglary at the Women’s Resource Center Thrift Shop and a Christmas Eve break-in at the Living Hope Assembly of God church on South Airport Road, where more than $900 in cash and $5,000 in checks was taken. It was the second break-in at Living Hope and the seventh church burglary in recent months, police said. About $500 in cash and a digital video recorder were taken in the Women’s Resource burglary.