Residents caught in grip of failing state, national economies
Record-Eagle/Tyler Sipe
It's no secret times are tough in northern Michigan. Runaway gas and heating prices ravage the pocketbook. So too do food costs. Even staples like bread, milk and eggs cost far more than a year ago. Unemployment's up, wages aren't keeping pace with inflation, and for job searchers, good-paying positions are few and far between. Each month, demand grows on the region's food pantries and homeless shelters. Treasured homes are lost to foreclosure. We're struggling and it hurts. This three-day series offers snapshot examples of how your friends, family, neighbors, and communities cope during bad times.
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Sometimes she wakes in the middle of the night and worries she's not a good mother. She listens as her children sleep nearby, their rhythmic breathing a small comfort, a hedge against anxiety and fear that threaten to overwhelm her. She listens to the night sounds so close, just outside the thin walls of a tent she and her children -- Mary, 17, Edward, 12, and Aimee, 4 -- call home.
The coolers inside John Rosa's liquor store and pizzeria are half empty. It's too expensive to restock. Outside, gas pumps are shut off, and stand as weathered remnants of a bygone era. For decades, Rosa's family made a living selling gas and repairing cars. That was then.
Leah Ferguson worked as a dishwasher at a local American Legion Post, then for a catering business and finally made restaurant stops at Mustard's and Trattoria Stella in Traverse City. The recent Traverse City Central grad has plenty of service industry experience, but now struggles to find a job.
Bob Thalman is considering leaving Michigan to begin his career. He graduated in May from Cedarville University in Ohio with a degree in English and a passion for libraries. He has worked at the Traverse Area District Library since 2002, a job he holds today. But Thalman, 22, said Ohio is more "optimistic" than Michigan about library careers.
This story begins a three-day Record-Eagle series examines the lives of those caught in the grip of the failing state and national economies, and offers snapshot examples of how your friends, family, neighbors, and communities cope during bad times.
One northern Michigan man acknowledges he's guilty of the crime of poaching. But he said he illegally killed a deer only because of his lousy financial situation. "It's feeding your family," he said.
Jan Nickerson doesn't mind walking to the Kingsley post office each day to make her public transit bus connection. The money she saves by riding instead of driving steered her to the bus nearly two years ago.
A neighbor's worn-out swing set was headed for the dump before Becky Link salvaged it for her 4-year-old daughter, Riley. Link, of Honor, couldn't afford such a luxury. She makes $7.50 an hour at JC Penny in Traverse City, but after spending $10 in gas to get there and $20 for daycare, she leaves with only $30 after each eight-hour shift.
Logan Drake's sweaty hair clung to his forehead as his mother Kristine lifted the toddler from their car parked near Ace Buyers pawn shop. Logan's father, Shawn, popped the trunk and retrieved a rifle case. Then the family shuffled into Ace Buyers, and minutes later the Buckley clan had what they came for: money for food and gas for another week.
Madge Smith and her friend Barb Allen wheeled into the parking lot at Purchases Sales Company in Gaylord for just one thing: a gallon of milk. The friends from Waters stop by the wholesale milk and ice cream distributing company each week for bargains on dairy products.
Doris Morgan may have a lot on her plate, but she's buoyed by the "angels on my shoulders." Morgan, 53, drives a bus for the Bay Area Transportation Authority and, like many other northern Michigan residents, feels the acute pinch of the state's economic woes. She works full time, but at $12 per hour struggles to make a decent living. She's not complaining, though.
Susan Forcier loved the 10-acre, Hayes Township spread she called home for nearly five years. Over the past year she watched variable interest rates push her house payment to $1,500 a month, almost triple the previous payment, and late fees and penalties pulled her under.
