September 12th, 2008

A new study of Michigan’s energy economy shows 70 cents of every dollar spent on fuel leaves the state. That’s according to a report done by the Michigan Public Service Commission. It says Michigan spent 26 billion dollars importing fuel last year.

Michigan imports all its coal and nearly all its petroleum. Natural gas is the only source of fuel produced in a significant quantity here. Gas wells in northern lower Michigan produce about one-fifth of the state’s demand for natural gas. Oil production peaked in Michigan in 1979 at about 35 million barrels a day. Now it’s less than six million.

August 28th, 2008

A cyclist killed in Kalkaska County was on the shoulder of the road when he was struck by a car earlier this month. That’s what investigators told the prosecutor in Kalkaska County. The prosecutor says the shoulder is fairly wide along that stretch of road and should have provided enough room for a vehicle to pass a bike. Carl Ray was killed after being hit by a pick up truck heading the same direction on Rapid City Road. No charges have been filed. The prosecutor is still waiting for some lab results to come back from the Michigan State Police lab.

Ray was an experienced cyclist and member of the Cherry Capital Cycling Club. A memorial ride is scheduled for him next Friday starting at 6 pm in Darrow Park in Traverse City.

August 21st, 2008

A new survey done by The Grand Vision found residents of Grand Traverse County and neighboring counties believe they have it good and expect things to remain that way. The researcher says he rarely finds people so upbeat about the place they live. Dee Allsop says for a rural community residents are very aware of growth issues and surprisingly open to tools for preventing sprawl.

August 15th, 2008

The head of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources says developers of a proposed theme park near Grayling have six months to show there is financing for the project. After that, the DNR will look for a new buyer.

Axiom Entertainment wants to buy 1,400 acres of state land to build Main Street America. The DNR wants assurance financing is in place before it sells. When asked what would happen if Axiom found investors in...say... eight months, a spokeswoman for the DNR, Mary Detloff, said even six months and one week would be too late. She pointed out the DNR has been negotiating with Axiom for years. Instead of information about investors, Axiom gave the DNR a marketing plan the department didn't request.

Officials in Grayling Township continue to support the proposed theme park. Some legislators are also pressuring the DNR to sell the land.

August 11th, 2008

A woman who wrote a book of stories about library patrons has been fired from her librarian job in Ludington. Sally Stern-Hamilton told the Ludington Daily News it’s ironic a library would fire her for writing a book since public libraries are considered pillars of free speech.

The Library Diaries is a collection of unflattering portraits of library patrons in a fictitious town in Michigan. But the director of the library in Ludington told Stern-Hamilton it was easy to figure out who she was talking about. In a letter notifying her of her suspension, Robert Dickson said characters in her stories were portrayed as mentally ill, dumb and unattractive and several were labeled perverts. Stern-Hamilton says the stories were based on her experiences but are fictitious.

The 15-year employee of the library is appealing her dismissal but apparently is having a hard time finding an attorney to help her with a civil suit.

August 8th, 2008

The tribal court in Peshabwestown has ordered a new election for the highest office of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. The court says the tribe’s Election Board violated the rights of the challenger in the race for tribal chairman. After he lost a close race to the incumbent in May, Derek Bailey charged the board with impropriety and went to court last week.

The GTB Election Board sent out an email to hundreds of voters criticizing Bailey for viewing his campaign website with a government computer. Bailey had been accused of violating election rules, but he didn’t know about the charge and wasn’t invited to defend himself. The email about the charges went out to every tribal employee the day before the election.

Bailey says he was slandered and the vote was affected. The court says Bailey did not clearly prove the actions of the board caused him to lose the race to incumbent Tribal Chairman Robert Keywaygoshkum. In fact, during the trial none of the witnesses said they had actually changed their vote because of the email. But the court says the board’s actions violated Bailey’s constitutional right to due process and were so egregious the only remedy is a special election.

The attorney for the board says the board disagrees with the opinion but will meet soon to schedule a new election.

Throughout the proceedings, Bailey has posted many of the court documents on his campaign website.

July 3rd, 2008

The developers of proposed theme park in Grayling are still working with a financial group being investigated by the FBI. The Wall Street Journal reports a probe into Remington Financial Group’s business deals in Pennsylvania and California.

The developers of Mainstreet America are trying to convince the Michigan DNR to sell 1800 acres of state land near Grayling. The DNR has asked to see proof that the developers have investors lined up to fund a new park. For help lining up investors, Mainstreet America has enlisted Remington. The financial group claims to be experienced at finding investment for complex real estate projects that cost over 100 million dollars.

But allegations have surfaced that Remington has a practice of charging up-front fees without any intention of searching for funds. The chairman of Remington denies any wrongdoing. A spokeswoman for Mainstreet America, Susan Haddad, says the report in the Wall Street Journal contains inaccuracies. And she says Remington is just one group involved in the proposed Theme Park.

DNR Official Mindy Koch says Remington is the only financial services group her department has met with regarding the land sale.

A report released today says Grand Traverse County fails to provide adequate legal defense services poor people accused of crimes. The National Legal Aid and Defender Association says that was true of all ten counties it studied, including Alpena and Chippewa. The report was requested by Michigan’s legislature. It criticizes the state for leaving the burden of indigent defense entirely to the counties. The report says the public defense systems vary widely and are under-funded.

Paul Shultz does defense work for the 86th District Court in Traverse City. He says public defenders don’t have the resources available to county prosecutors but should.

13th Circuit Court Judge Tom Power says the group that wrote the report is an interest group and it’s no surprise it concluded more money needs to be spent on indigent defense. He says the indigent defenders in his court do excellent work and he doubts the state could handle the program as well as local officials.

Read the report.

The Election Board for the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians says it didn’t slander a candidate for the Tribe’s highest office. The board says the informal hearing held to review complaints against Derek Bailey was a reasonable way to resolve an election dispute. It says the hearing varied from election regulations but did not violate them.

Bailey has sued in Tribal Court. He says the Election Board rushed through an illegal hearing over charges that he used his work computer to view his campaign website. In a court filing, the board admits Bailey was not notified of the complaint against him and was not invited to defend himself.

The board decided Bailey did use his government computer inappropriately but that it wasn’t clear his actions amounted to campaign violations. The opinion went out in an email to everyone who works for the Grand Traverse Band the day before the election last month. The next day, Bailey lost a tight race to incumbent Tribal Chair Robert Kewaygoshkum. The Elections Board says the email wasn’t slander because Bailey did use his government computer to view his website more than 100 times and because the opinion suggested he didn't violate campaign laws.

The vote has not been certified because of this and other challenges.

May 16, 2008

Traverse City Light & Power announced today it now has a real estate option which may lead to new windmills in Charlevoix County. The deal is pending final zoning approval from Norwood Township, and the utility still needs to study whether the site would generate enough wind. The 400-acre parcel is a rock quarry, zoned industrial.

The utility is planning public meetings about the proposed windmills.

Construction wouldn’t start for another three years.