antrim
Motorcyclist is accused in crash that killed woman
BELLAIRE -- A man charged with causing a motorcycle crash that killed a Kalkaska mother will stand trial this week.
Authorities charged Joshua J. Smith, of Kalkaska, with a felony count of operating while intoxicated causing death after an Aug. 24 crash that killed Devin McCammon, 30. Smith faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
The two were on a motorcycle on M-88 near Grass River Road near Bellaire around 9:40 p.m. when the motorcycle left the road on a sharp curve and crashed into some signs, police said.
McCammon was pronounced dead at the scene, and Smith, 31, suffered minor injuries.
Smith's trial is scheduled to begin today in front of 13th Circuit Judge Thomas G. Power in Bellaire.
Smith's attorneys likely will attempt to show that he wasn't driving the motorcycle, investigators said.
grand traverse
Couple fights for diabetes cure
ACME -- Frank and Faye Zimmerman know the importance of medical research.
They have seen great strides in the treatment of type 1 diabetes since their son was diagnosed with the disease in 1988 and even more dramatic changes in the four decades since their nephew began his struggle with the condition.
"Our interest in the search for a cure for type 1 diabetes began in 1954 when our nephew Mike was diagnosed at just 3 years old," said Faye Zimmerman, whose nephew passed away in 2002 after years of devastating complications.
"We really got involved in raising funds for research after our son was diagnosed," said Faye, who along with her husband Frank, is being recognized by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation for their ongoing dedication to funding a cure to type 1 diabetes.
"We are honoring our tried and true supporters and Frank and Faye certainly fit the bill," said Cathy Coury, executive director of the west Michigan chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
Coury said the Zimmermans have been instrumental in Traverse City's JDRF Walk To Cure Diabetes with more than $370,000 raised in the seven years since they helped organize the event.
In 20 plus years of volunteering, Faye served on the board of directors of the American Diabetes Association and co-chaired a variety of events while living in Chicago. Frank joined the effort when the couple retired to Acme and the couple became involved with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
Police investigate dog killing in Garfield
TRAVERSE CITY -- Jan Zimmerman wept as she gestured to an empty cage piled high with colorful dog toys in her Garfield Township home.
The cage belonged to "Possum Pie," her beloved poodle mix of three years. Near the cage was a framed photo of Possum as a puppy, and Zimmerman proudly displayed a book of checks that featured the dog's photo in full color.
"He was my baby," Zimmerman said.
Police are investigating after Possum was taken from Zimmerman's yard late Sunday night and killed. She and her boyfriend found the dog's partially burned body near her home in the Meadow Lane mobile home park shortly before 1 a.m. Monday.
"It's pretty morbid and shocking," Grand Traverse Sheriff's Capt. Tom Emerson said. "We've had animals come up missing and stuff, but I don't remember anything like this."
It's not clear if the dog was burned before or after it was killed, Emerson said.
Zimmerman put the dog out on a leash on her deck shortly after 11 p.m. Sunday. When she went to get the dog only 15 minutes later, he was gone.
She and her boyfriend, Jeff Cascagnett, spent about an hour searching the neighborhood for Possum. They found the dog behind the home and called police.
"Whoever did it was pretty bold," said Cascagnett, who said he was doing paperwork near the home's front door when the dog was taken. "Just eight feet away and they came right up when I was sitting here."
Division Street option requires special election
TRAVERSE CITY -- A multi-million dollar reconstruction of Division Street through Traverse City may hinge on city commissioners' willingness to gamble $20,000 on a special election.
City Manager R. Ben Bifoss said the Michigan Department of Transportation has committed to working with the city to improve traffic and pedestrian safety on Division Street/U.S. 31 from 14th Street to Grandview Parkway beginning in 2010. Because one alternative may involve widening the road from Seventh Street to 14th Street to accommodate medians, additional right of way would be necessary from city-owned park land.
The city charter requires voter approval before park land can be used for a road.
Bifoss sprang the recent development on commissioners Monday night during a study session and told them they have until May 18 to schedule a special election for Aug. 4.
"This is an incredibly advanced schedule that both we and MDOT are working under," Bifoss said. "If we delay I have reason to believe (MDOT) will lose its sense of urgency."
Bifoss said even scheduling the election for November would push the project back to 2011.
'Belt-tightening not enough' for DNR
TRAVERSE CITY -- State natural resources managers spent their savings over the last five years and now it's time to find a better funding mechanism to keep the agency afloat, its director said.
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources may look far different in the near future without new revenue sources, Director Rebecca Humphries said.
"We have been operating with no general fund support for five years and we're just hanging on," she said. "We've been trimming costs. We're not filling all vacancies and we've been trimming programs. We're to a point where belt-tightening is not enough."
That's why Humphries is touring the state and holding town hall meetings, to gauge public support for DNR programs and where citizens suggest the agency could make more cuts. Programs the public deem less important may not make it into the next budget, Humphries said.
A proposal to have residents pay $10 toward Michigan's state parks when they update vehicle registrations is one way to boost revenues for the DNR's parks and recreation division. It would replace the use of existing day passes and annual state park stickers.
TCAPS budget cuts hit athletics
TRAVERSE CITY -- Student athletes in Traverse City secondary schools should expect to see fewer trainers and game workers next year, the result of $61,000 in planned budget cuts.
Administrators in Traverse City Area Public Schools presented a draft outline of the proposed athletics reductions to school board members this week.
The outline follows up on roughly $2.4 million in cuts approved last month, a decision that targeted $150,000 from athletics without detailing specific plans.
Monday was the first time the proposal was shared with the full board.
Immediate reductions will take effect next year and include:
-- $30,000 by scheduling athletic trainers for high school home events only, and none for middle school;
-- $25,000 by using administrators and volunteers for such game duties as security, announcements and timekeeping; and
-- $6,000 by eliminating local transportation for high school students. Middle school students still will be bused.
The cuts will be "significant," said Cody Inglis, Central High School's athletic director.
Senior Center talk shifts to county
TRAVERSE CITY -- Arlene Henry helped run Golden Fellowship Hall, an Interlochen senior center, for a quarter-century before health concerns forced her to quit.
When no one else stepped up, the senior center slipped away.
"If there was a center here now, I'd be one of the first to go back," Henry said. "I just can't run it."
It's a common scenario around Grand Traverse County, said Georgia Durga, director of the county's Commission on Aging.
"In almost every small senior center, it's run by one volunteer and they just burn out," Durga said. "When they get sick, nobody picks up the ball and they just close."
A program in Fife Lake regularly served lunch to about 40 seniors, but closed when the lead volunteer fell ill, Durga said.
Now a small group of city and county officials, led by county Commissioner Ross Richardson, proposes a solution rooted in a funding inequity at the Traverse City Senior Center.
Richardson said about 23 percent of the center's users are city residents, but city taxpayers cover 55 percent of the center's $200,000 annual budget, plus about $30,000 in annual building and grounds maintenance.
GT Mall: Bankruptcy won't affect shoppers
In its drive to become the second-largest owner of shopping malls in the nation, General Growth Properties Inc. racked up $27 billion in debt. At around 2 a.m. in Chicago on Thursday morning, the retail giant buckled under the weight.
After months of tense negotiations with tightfisted lenders, General Growth filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
General Growth, which owns more than 200 malls, including the Grand Traverse Mall in Garfield Township, said shoppers at its malls will not be affected by its bankruptcy filing. The real estate investment trust owns or manages a dozen mall properties in Michigan, including shopping malls in Bay City, Grand Rapids, Jackson and Lansing.
The Chicago-based company is paying the price for its aggressive expansion at the height of the real estate boom. General Growth, like many homeowners during the frenzy, bought several properties at top dollar and now is finding lenders unwilling to refinance.
Plans for the Grand Traverse Mall were unveiled in 1989 and General Growth broke ground on the development a year later. It was built on a 70-acre hayfield in Garfield Township and spanned around 660,000 square feet, with an original construction cost of around $60 million.
But construction was temporarily halted because of a lawsuit filed against the project by the Northern Michigan Environmental Action Council in June 1990. Circuit Judge Philip Rodgers dismissed some of the lawsuit in June 1991, and the remaining counts were settled out of court. The mall finally opened in March 1992, 19 months after the groundbreaking.
LEELANAU
Lawsuit against officials leads to trial
SUTTONS BAY -- A trial looms in a lawsuit filed by a businessman who alleges Leelanau County officials improperly blocked his attempt to land a government contract.
Great Lakes Telecom Inc., which has an office in Elmwood Township, filed suit almost a year ago against former county Administrator David Gill and county Information Technology Director Ron Plamondon.
Great Lakes owner Ted Apostoleris alleges the two "engaged in deceptive, unethical and fraudulent practices" by preventing his company from securing a contract to provide voice and data cables in the new government center on M-204 near Suttons Bay.
Thirteenth Circuit Judge Thomas G. Power is scheduled to hear the trial beginning next week. He previously rejected the county's motion to dismiss the suit.
The government center houses 13th Circuit and 86th District courts and several other county offices. Construction began in 2006 and it opened for business early last year.
It was built by DeVere Construction Company.
wexford
Mushroom hunters predict bumper crop
MESICK -- The morel mushroom season is ready to sprout and experts believe it could be a stellar year if Mother Nature comes through with some much-needed rain.
Some suggest the early spring snowfall will help increase moisture levels. And as air temperatures climb and warm rain falls, morel hunters grow anxious to spring into the woods.
"Sometimes it's worked out for the best because it stays cold and the rain comes and they just seem to pop right up," said Bob Gray, of Mesick, a morel hunter and volunteer with the local morel festival. "I have seen morels growing next to snowbanks."
Carl Robinson, the self-proclaimed Mushroom King of Mesick, agreed with Gray.
"The snow isn't going to hurt them. I've picked them in the snow. They like the moisture," Robinson said.
Last spring was very dry and there weren't as many morels as usual, he said, but he's banking on more moisture this season.
"It will be one of our best years. I'll bet on it," Robinson said.
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