ANTRIM
Elsenheimer retains seat in House
BELLAIRE -- Incumbent Republican Kevin Elsenheimer retained his seat in Michigan's House for the 105th District, challenged by Democrat Connie Saltonstall.
The district includes Antrim, Charlevoix, Cheboygan and Otsego counties.
Elsenheimer received 8,646 votes, while Saltonstall received 4,452.
Elsenheimer said he is humbled by voters' support and is excited for the challenges in Lansing over the next two years, particularly in restructuring Michigan's finances. It's an opportunity to "right-size Michigan's government for the future," Elsenheimer said.
BENZIE
Cicchelli faces another complaint
BEULAH -- Benzie County Prosecutor Anthony Cicchelli has agreed to plea deals with Michael Todd Martin that resulted in one impaired driving conviction and two traffic tickets.
Cicchelli on Thursday acknowledged Martin as an "acquaintance" and former rec league softball teammate. But Cicchelli contends their relationship didn't affect his decisions when he reduced or dismissed charges from each of Martin's three arrests.
Others aren't so sure. Benzie County officials said a county employee contacted state bar officials to complain about Cicchelli's handling of Martin's most recent arrest, making it the latest in a series of potential ethical problems confronting the lame-duck county prosecutor.
County Administrator Chuck Clarke said a county employee told him he'd filed the complaint about a month ago, but Clarke wasn't sure if any action was taken. The Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission already is investigating Cicchelli for a separate incident in which he ordered a magistrate to dismiss his stepson's speeding ticket.
Cicchelli in July dropped his bid for re-election. Beulah attorney John B. Daugherty was elected Tuesday and will take office Jan. 1.
Heckman prevails in sheriff race
BENZONIA -- Benzie County Undersheriff Rory Heckman edged out challenger Brant Downing 5,200 to 4,720 to become top cop at his department after serving as second in command.
Heckman, a law enforcement veteran of more than 30 years, will replace retiring Benzie Sheriff Bob Blank. He beat Republican candidates Jeff Morse and Damon Wilkes in the August primary.
Heckman plans to hire William Sholten, the county's emergency management director, as his undersheriff. One of the first things Heckman plans to focus on is convincing county voters to pass an upcoming jail millage, he said.
CHARLEVOIX
Crash kills man in Wilson Township
BOYNE CITY -- An Ellsworth man died in a head-on car crash in Wilson Township.
James Richard Browe, 65, was killed in a collision with a vehicle on East Jordan/Boyne City Road at about 4 a.m. Wednesday.
A Cheboygan man from the second vehicle was treated and released, but Charlevoix County Sheriff's officials would not release his name.
The accident remains under investigation.
GRAND TRAVERSE
Policy judged too expensive
TRAVERSE CITY -- Northwestern Michigan College's president recommended scrapping his own proposal to double his life insurance policy to $1 million, citing higher-than-anticipated premiums.
College trustees during a study session Monday publicly backed away from the possible increase to NMC President Tim Nelson's current life insurance policy.
Under the existing contract, $500,000 would be split between the college and Nelson's beneficiaries upon his death.
"I thought it was too expensive," Nelson said of the $1 million plan.
The policy, as it stands today, costs NMC $1,375 annually to Great American Life Insurance Company of Ohio, according to the college's human resources staff.
Raising it to $1 million would have cost $8,350 a year on top of that, paid for five years to Prudential Financial. The figure then would drop to annual payments of $3,350 for the next 15 years.
Trustees are considering other amendments to Nelson's contract, set to expire in 2011, including the amount of vacation days he can accrue.
Budget maintains trash surcharge
TRAVERSE CITY -- Grand Traverse County commissioners will recycle for their successors a decade-old problem of how to pay for recycling in an equitable manner.
The county currently levies a $9 per ton surcharge on all trash that comes from the county, the highest such tax in the state. The tax raises about $750,000 a year, of which more than half pays for eight drop-off recycling sites.
Several commissioners pledged not to renew the tax that expires Dec. 31, but changed course and on Oct. 29 voted to adopt a budget that maintains the status quo.
The board on Nov. 18 will hold a public hearing at the Governmental Center on extending the trash tax for another year. One proposal is to reduce the tax by up to $3 in 2009 and use the recycling program's current fund balance. The board also may decide to eliminate some of the drop-off sites.
Man faces harassment charges
TRAVERSE CITY -- A Traverse City man faces a criminal charge after police said he attempted to prevent a woman he allegedly assaulted from testifying in court.
Kenneth Wade Burch, 26, is charged as a habitual offender with bribing, intimidating or interfering with a witness. He hadn't been arrested on the charge Monday morning.
Burch already faces a criminal charge stemming from an alleged assault on the mother of his child. He is subject to a no contact order on condition of bond in that case, but he allegedly contacted the woman by telephone and e-mail on multiple occasions.
In some of the contacts that allegedly occurred up to 10 times a day, he pressed the woman to drop the charges or to not testify in court, police said.
Local shop flies flag upside down
TRAVERSE CITY -- Not everyone is excited about the nation's first black president. Some are downright hostile.
Employees at Hampel's Key and Lockshop on Randolph Street in Traverse City flew an American flag upside down Wednesday in protest of Sen. Barack Obama's victory in the presidential election.
And one employee directed a racial slur at Obama during a telephone interview with a Record-Eagle reporter.
"(The inverted flag is) an international signal for distress and we feel our country is in distress because the n----- got in," said Hampel's employee Rod Nyland, of Traverse City.
An hour later, Nyland apologized for the comment.
"I regret my choice of words. That was a poor choice and I apologize," he said. "It's probably not appropriate."
Hampel's salesman Jack Fellows said he is a spokesman for the gun shop. Nyland's comments weren't authorized and don't reflect his opinions, nor those of Karl Hampel, Fellows said.
Schmidt wins House seat
TRAVERSE CITY -- Wayne Schmidt defeated local attorney Roman Grucz for a state House seat for the 104th District, a territory that covers Grand Traverse and Kalkaska counties.
Schmidt, a Republican county commissioner in Grand Traverse, finished with 24,948 votes. Grucz totaled 19,984, while Libertarian candidate Dan McDougall collected 1,681 votes.
Schmidt said his top priorities in Lansing will be to modify the state's business tax structure and eliminate the business tax surcharge that's drawn wide criticism from business interests around the state.
County board gets new look
TRAVERSE CITY -- Christine Maxbauer may switch from a solo role in pushing and prodding a set-in-its-ways Grand Traverse County board to leading a newly constructed board.
Maxbauer, who often found herself at odds with the board's old guard, could find some support in January from new commissioners-elect Beth Friend, Mike Stepka and Ross Richardson.
After Tuesday's election, Maxbauer said she received several telephone calls from people who encouraged her to run for county board chairwoman.
But Maxbauer may be challenged for a leadership role.
Commissioner Larry Inman is promoting himself for vice chairman and Commissioner Dick Thomas for chairman because, with board Chairman Addison Wheelock Jr., they are the most experienced commissioners, he said. Between them, they have more than 40 years on the board.
Voters also returned commissioners Larry Fleis and Bruce Hooper to office for second terms.
School closes due to sickness
TRAVERSE CITY -- An illness believed to be the norovirus sickened more than 20 students last week at a Traverse City-area elementary school, prompting administrators to close the building Friday for cleaning.
Classes were canceled Friday at Blair Elementary after at least 25 students came down with stomach illnesses on Thursday, Principal Bob Peters said.
Traverse City Area Public Schools Superintendent James Feil said at least eight of the ill students were in kindergarten.
Some students were absent Thursday and others became sick during the school day, Peters said, adding that a teacher, an assistant and a custodian also fell ill.
After-school activities and child care were canceled Thursday. Classes are expected to resume Monday.
Vehicle thefts under investigation
TRAVERSE CITY -- Police are investigating multiple thefts from vehicles in Traverse City.
Two vehicles in the 5th and 6th streets areas were broken into overnight Tuesday, police said. City police responded near the intersection of Rose and Kelly streets on a report of a theft in progress Wednesday night. Officers didn't locate anyone in the area, but property from the vehicle was recovered on a nearby sidewalk.
Police caution residents to secure their vehicles and keep an eye out for suspicious activity in the wake of the incidents.
Big box-store may be coming
TRAVERSE CITY -- Acme Township may finally get a village anchored by a giant retail store, but it will be about two miles east of a site that sparked fierce community infighting.
Generations Management LLC proposes a 271,000-square-foot retail shopping center anchored by an unnamed big box-store of 150,000 square feet near the intersection of Bates Road and M-72.
In a separate proposal before the township, the same developers seek to rezone 90 acres from mobile home park to urban residential. The new zoning would allow construction of apartments, duplexes or single family homes, while keeping 15 acres available for mobile homes.
Proposed Meijer and Wal-Mart stores bogged down over lawsuits.
KALKASKA
Incumbent sheriff loses to challenger
KALKASKA -- Incumbent Kalkaska County Sheriff William Artress lost to challenger David Israel, a sheriff's detective, 5,049 to 3,251.
Israel, 60, has worked for the Kalkaska sheriff's department for about 15 years.
Israel will name current road sergeant Abe DeVol as his undersheriff, he said.
Artress is not the first area incumbent sheriff to be ousted this year. Incumbent Antrim County Sheriff Terry Johnson fell to Republican challenger Dan Bean in the August primary. Incumbent Grand Traverse Sheriff Scott Fewins was defeated by challenger Thomas Bensley in the primary election.
Republican incumbent Leelanau County Sheriff Mike Oltersdorf defeated Republican challenger Mark Walter in the August primary. There were no Democratic challengers in Antrim, Leelanau or Grand Traverse.
LEELANAU
Couple killed in traffic crash
SUTTONS BAY -- Andrea Byarski had a warm smile, an endearing personality and an overwhelming love for her dog, a black-and-white pit bull named Buddha.
"She always called him her baby," said her mother, Lauri Byarkski. "He was like a baby to her."
A long, ragged ditch and shattered tree limbs sit just south of a curve on Leelanau County Road 643 in Centerville Township. Authorities continue to investigate a Nov. 2 traffic crash that killed Byarski, 20, and her boyfriend, Markus Tarlton, 21.
Police believe Tarlton, who was driving a Subaru Impreza, may have lost control of his vehicle shortly before midnight last Sunday. The car left the road, went airborne, rolled and slammed into a tree. Both Tarlton and Byarski were pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigators believe speed was a factor in the crash, Leelanau County Undersheriff Scott Wooters said
Byarski and Tarlton were graduates of Suttons Bay schools.
Scripps defeats Franz for House seat
SUTTONS BAY -- Democrat Dan Scripps beat Republican Ray Franz for a two-year seat in the state House.
Scripps and Franz battled to fill the open seat in the Michigan House's 101st District, where term-limited Republican David Palsrok wasn't on the ballot.
The district includes Benzie, Leelanau, Manistee and Mason counties and Scripps held a 5,300-vote lead late on Tuesday night.
Scripps said he will work to make the voices of northwestern Lower Michigan heard in Lansing and will focus on creating a new energy economy, fighting for equity for local schools and protecting the environment.
3 seats to change on commission
Suttons Bay -- Change is coming to the Leelanau County board.
There will be turnover in three commission seats, and a Democrat won a spot on the Republican-controlled board.
Three Republican candidates won and Democrat David Marshall took District 6.
Marshall beat Republican Dan Semple 1,259 to 911 votes. Republican James Schaub Sr. beat Democrat Victor Walter in District 2, with Schaub leading 1,224 votes to 815.
In District 3, Dick Schmuckal, a Republican, won against Jackie Freeman, Democrat, with 1,269 votes to 646.
Incumbent Melinda Lautner, a Republican, was re-elected in District 7 with 975 votes. Democrat challenger Traci Cruz had 814 votes.
Commissioners Jean Watkoski, Mary Tonneberger and David Shiflett, all Republicans, won uncontested races. Watkoski represents District 1, Tonneberger covers District 4, and Shiflett serves in District 5.
Utility cleaning up waterfront
GREILICKVILLE -- A freshly laid concrete pathway winds along a piece of waterfront property, one of the first signs of what's to come for the stretch along Elmwood Township's M-22 corridor.
Traverse City Light & Power is spending about $70,000 to clean up its former coal dock property on West Grand Traverse Bay.
Crews landscaped on Thursday, and boulders are already in place along the shore to prevent erosion.
The sidewalk eventually will connect to Elmwood Township's bayfront park, where the township is planning its own rehabilitation work.
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