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To reelect Trump would be a big mistake
Sign of the Times
In South America, some families of people who have died of COVID-19 have had to wait days for a coffin, either because of the short supply or they were unable to afford one, the Associated Press reported on May 8. In response, ABC Displays, a Colombian advertising company, has developed a cardboard hospital bed with metal railings that can be converted into a coffin. The beds can hold a weight of 330 pounds and will cost about $85 each, company manager Rodolfo Gomez said. He plans to donate 10 beds and hopes to receive orders for more from emergency clinics that might run short on beds.
Not Men From Outer Space
People in Washington’s Puget Sound were startled on the evening of May 6 by a brilliant streak of light across the sky followed three minutes later by a loud explosion. “Huge boom that shook the house. It was the loudest boom I’ve ever heard,” one witness in Brier reported, according to KOMO. The American Meteor Society investigated the many reports it fielded and determined the noise came from an exploding meteor entering Earth’s atmosphere. The meteor may have been part of the annual Eta Aquarid meteor shower, which occurs when Earth moves through the remnants of Halley’s comet.
Bright Ideas
Restaurants have adapted to local lockdowns with curbside and drivethru services, so it’s no surprise that other businesses are following suit. Minx Gentlemen’s Club in Virginia Beach, Virginia, is offering drive-thru pole dances and other entertainment in a makeshift outdoor space, according to The Sun. Dancers were showered with bills or grabbed their tips using a trash picker to reach into vehicles as patrons enjoyed the performances from the safety of their cars. Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, Little Darlings is offering completely nude drive-up strip teases. “Guests can drive up to the front door, and we’re going to have dancers separated by the 6-foot separation rule, and (customers) can enjoy a totally nude show right from the seat of their car,” a Little Darlings spokesperson told KSNV.
Recent Alarming Headline
In Clocolan, Free State Province, South Africa, where the now-seven-week-long lockdown includes a ban on buying or selling alcoholic beverages, thieves broke into the Rest in Peace funeral parlor and made off with four gallons of exhumation liquid, the Daily Mail reported on May 12. The fluid, used to preserve body parts that have been exhumed, is 97% alcohol, police spokesperson Brigadier Motansi Makhele said, and the burglars had to break through roller blinds and into a locked steel cabinet to get to the liquid. A forensic officer predicted: “If the thieves drink that liquid without watering it right down, then they will drop dead themselves!”
Inexplicable
In 2006, Armin Meiwes, now 58, was convicted of killing, dismembering and slowly eating Bernd Brandes, 43, over a number of months in Rotenburg, Germany, but today, the man who advertised himself as a “friendly and polite” cannibal, goes for “walks around town” with a police escort and wearing sunglasses and a cap to disguise himself. Meiwes had advertised in 2001 on a website called The Cannibal Cafe for “a well-built 18- to 30-year-old to be slaughtered and then consumed,” and Brandes answered the ad. At trial, Meiwes told the court he had always dreamed of having a younger brother “to be a part of me” and thought cannibalism would be a way to satisfy that obsession. Two officers accompany Meiwes on his outings, reports the Daily Mail, and he is described by his keepers as a “friendly, outgoing, polite” prisoner who is helpful to others, attends church services and works in the prison laundry.
Questionable Judgment
Curtis L. Fish, 48, arrested and charged with kidnapping and raping a woman on New Year’s Day in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, was released when the COVID-19 crisis erupted in jails, according to PennLive.com. On May 12, police responding to reports that Fish tried to break into the Crossroads Tavern in Hilltown Township attempted to Taser Fish, but he fled to his home nearby, where he set off and aimed fireworks at a SWAT team before his house suddenly caught fire. “Fireworks outside and fireworks inside,” said tavern owner Mike Mrozinski. “So I believe that’s what lit the house on fire.” A body thought to be Fish was found inside. Mrozinski said Fish, whom he had known for 16 years, was “not the same guy I had known him to be” before the rape charges.
Joseph Todd Kowalczyk, 20, tweeted at the FBI on May 10, threatening that he had “10 bombs ready to go off ... in my basement ... come get me you guys have till 8 before I make this city in my own little hell #forwaco.” The FBI determined the tweet came from a mobile home park in Clinton Township, Michigan, according to The Detroit News, and officers showed up at Kowalczyk’s home the next day, where he explained that he was “testing the government” and was upset that they had not responded more promptly. He told agents he had no weapons and would not make any more threatening tweets, but as the day wore on, Kowalczyk taunted the FBI in further posts, disparaging the agency and police for their slow response. On May 12, he was arrested and charged with transmitting a threat to injure, which is punishable by up to five years in prison.
Paying the Price
Restaurants in West Plains, Missouri, endured a social media storm in early May after a customer posted a photo of a receipt that included a “Covid 19 Surcharge.” But the restaurants pushed back, according to KY3. “It’s not a tax. It’s basically just a small percentage to cover all of our extra expenses,” said Bootleggers BBQ owner Brian Staack. Kiko Japanese Steakhouse manager Sarah Sherwood said prices on most items have doubled, and Ozark Cafe co-owner Heather Hughes confirmed: “Every day there’s something else (food suppliers) can’t get or the prices have gone up exorbitantly.” The restaurateurs say it’s easier to add the 5% surcharge than constantly change the menus, and they’ve been upfront with customers, using signs and notes in their menus. While the initial response was surprise, Sherwood says the community has “really come together to support the local businesses.”
Florida
A Mother’s Day bouquet became a weapon during an altercation in Pinellas County, Florida, early on May 11. Sandra Kay Webb, 32, allegedly became angry with her husband because he bought flowers for her children to give her for Mother’s Day. The Smoking Gun reported that Webb threw the bouquet at her husband and hit him with it, then spit on him. Webb was charged with domestic battery; she admitted throwing the flowers, but denied the spitting.
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20 FASCINATING PEOPLE
Every year, Northern Express reporters scour the North to find 20 average folks dedicating themselves to a not-so-average existence — people who parlay their passions into something bigger than themselves. Here, our picks for the unsung but undoubtedly fascinating people that reporters Patrick Sullivan, Ross Boissoneau, Craig Manning, Al Parker and Clark Miller found for 2020:
Wayne Richard “Dick” Smith Living History
Dick Smith cultivated his interest in northern Michigan history the old-fashioned way: He lived it.
Smith, who was born in 1934, lived through the Depression and World War II, and attended University of Michigan Law School. In his late 20s, he became the prosecutor for Emmet County. He would later become district court judge, and after that, Petoskey’s city attorney.
There have been many hassles and hardships during the state’s stay-athome orders, but for Traverse City resident and author Cindy Hull, there has been one upside: She’s had a lot of time to write.
That doesn’t make up for the time she couldn’t spend with her grandchildren, of course, but for Hull, who released her first mystery novel, “Human Sacrifice,” last November, it’s something.
Hull, who in 2012 retired as head of the anthropology department at Grand Valley State University after a long career spent working in many far-flung lands, set “Human Sacrifice” in a place she knows well: Mayan ruins in Yucatan, Mexico, where a murder puts a group of university faculty under suspicion. Much like quarantine, her second book, which features some of the same characters, takes place somewhat closer to home: an over-55 community in Florida.
Hull’s writing career came about after she looked into taking a writing class at Interlochen. As it turned out, the only one that fit her schedule was her favorite genre to read, mystery writing.
That class, taught by local author Aaron Stander, helped her work out how to devise the mechanics of a plot, story arc,
Cindy Hull Intrepid Mystery Writer
and character details that could unfold to propel a mystery forward.
Asked whether she’s planning on a third book, perhaps one set in Traverse City, she said, “I don’t know whether I’ve got that one in me or not.”
It was as prosecutor that Smith played a role in one of the most notorious cases in the area’s history. He presided over the initial investigation into the murder of six members of the Robison family in Good Hart in 1968.
There was another notorious case — one that’s gone largely forgotten — when a group of criminals from downstate came north while on the lam for an armed robbery. One in the group had served time at Camp Pellston, so they decided to try to burn it down. Their plans were thwarted at the last minute, Smith said, but then they managed to break out of jail in Petoskey. They were captured and sent off to a more secure jail in Sault Ste. Marie.
“That was the only one that could probably hold them at the time,” he said.
Today, Smith and his wife live on 60 acres north of Harbor Springs. He said he’s thinking about writing his memoirs.
Michael Long A Weapon for Mini-People’s Education
Once upon a time, Michael Long spent a school term aboard a fleet ballistic missile submarine — a “weapon of mass destruction,” in his words. Today, he holds a much different job title: executive director for the Great Lakes Children’s Museum in Traverse City.
The road to get from point A to point B is as fascinating as you might expect. Long graduated from the United States Naval Academy in the late 1970s with a degree in mechanical engineering and enrolled in Nuclear Power School, where he got his training aboard a nuclear submarine. The training convinced Long of one thing: The Navy wasn’t the right place for him. His search for a different career led him to jobs in technical writing, IT, and customer support. Eventually, he found his passion: working with nonprofits that serve kids.
Long served his first nonprofit executive director role in Eagle River, Wisconsin, after helping a group write a business plan and secure funding for a then-brandnew children’s museum. That path would eventually lead him to Traverse City and its Great Lakes Children’s Museum, where Long has been at the helm since 2014. When he took over, the museum was in dire straits. By the beginning of 2020, he’d doubled the budget, quadrupled the donor base, and brought the museum to a new point of stability. Now, he’s guiding the organization through its biggest challenge yet: COVID-19. Just as you’d expect from a guy who spent time on the deck of a nuclear sub, though, Long isn’t backing down.
Piper Shumar
Giver of Bikes Nine-year-old Piper Shumar was at the annual Iceman Cometh Challenge mountain bike race a couple of years ago and had some time to kill while her dad was out on the trail. She noticed a lot of empties lying around. She decided to collect some of them so she could buy herself a winter bike helmet.
She collected so many cans after the race that she earned around $100.
Her dad, George, suggested that instead of a helmet, she use the money for Bikes for Tikes, a program like Toys for Tots but with bikes. The family was already involved with the charity, helping to assemble donated bikes.
Collecting returnables and turning them into bikes soon became a habit.
“It was super fun, and then I just wanted a bunch of kids to have as much fun as I
did when I was on my bike,” she said. “After that, we started collecting more cans, and it just got really big.”
Last Christmas, Piper collected enough cans that she was able to donate 130 bikes.
“It just became word of mouth, and then Timber Ridge said they would put a drop box out there, and all the campers started donating, and it just went on from there,” George Shumar said.
The fourth grader said she has no plans to retire from her new-found hobby.
“I don’t know when I’ll stop, but I’ll probably keep going,” Piper said.
An avid bike rider, Piper has raced in the Slush Cup and Snow Cone races at Iceman, and she plans to continue on with the sport.
“I like having fun and seeing what different skills I can learn,” she said.
To learn more about the project and how to donate, visit “Project Piper” on Facebook.
Wayne Wissner The Magical Grandpa
Wayne Wissner spent a career as a professional magician in Michigan and later at a theme park in Kentucky where he worked for two decades.
In retirement, Wissner returned to his Michigan roots, settling in Bear Lake with his wife.
Their grandchildren have come to visit each summer and, upon finding Grandpa’s magic equipment stored in the pole barn out back, they had questions — lots of them.
“They were all fairly young, and we have a big pole barn out here, and there was one illusion, ‘the mummy case illusion,’ which was just standing in the corner,” Wissner said.
He showed them the trick — turning a mummy into a person — and from that mo- ment on, the kids were hooked.
They began practicing, formed their own magic troupe, and soon set their sights on performing.
“They wanted to do something for people to come, [where] they could give money to charity,” Wissner said. So he built them a stage, and the kids invited the neighbors, charging a dollar per person or a food donation to attend, and put on a show. The money went to the local library; the food to the food bank.
The next year, the kids staged a full production, complete with help from a sound person, a lighting person, and stagehands, at the Ramsdell Center for the Arts in Manistee. They gave those profits to the teen center in Manistee.
As for this summer, the kids — Michael, 13, Aria, 11, Lennon, 10, Anthony, 10, and Oscar, 8 — might have had some magical foresight. Long before the pandemic hit, they had agreed that, as much as they love performing, they were ready to take a break, Wissner said. “It’s so much work that we just said, Let’s take a summer off and do one next summer.”
Audiences, we’re betting, will reappear.
Francisca Stig-Nielsen Born Above the Borscht
Francisca Stig-Nielsen has a story to tell. Thing is, she probably won’t remember much about it. Her coming into the world was an event not only for her family but also for patrons at the Cabbage Shed in Elberta. That’s because her parents, Frederik Stig-Nielsen and Betsy Mas, had decided they wanted to have their baby at home — and that home just happens to be an apartment above the popular Elberta restaurant and tavern. “It has good juju,” said Mas of the apartment.
The couple met in law school in Portland, Oregon, but decided after graduation they didn’t want to join the rat race. After a short stint in the
Peace Corps, the husband and wife relocated to their favorite vacation spot in northern Michi- gan. They were soon regulars at the Cabbage Shed’s open mic night, and eventually, both be- gan working at the eatery too. When they heard the apartment upstairs was going to become vacant, they jumped at it. “The space is unique, with beams, high ceilings, a view of Betsie Bay,” said Mas.
They just hadn’t counted on the place being busy when Mas went into labor. As it lacks air conditioning, the windows were wide open on that steamy July day. “We surprised the patrons. We know several we found out had been here” during the birth, said Stig-Nielsen. Today, mom, dad and baby Frankie are all doing well. And in a twist, both Mas and Stig-Nielsen are back to practicing law.
Kevin LaRose Late-night Soloist
Interlochen Center for the Arts is quieter now than it’s ever been, which might actually work in Kevin LaRose’s favor. A safety officer who works the midnight shift at Interlochen, LaRose is also a talented multi-instrumentalist who’s developed a unique way to keep himself awake and alert while patrolling the vacant campus: He slips into the Dendrinos Chapel, Corson Auditorium, or other unused indoor spaces around 3 o’clock in the morning, hits record on his phone, and performs a brief piece of music on trombone. Or cello. Maybe saxophone, or re- corder, or kalimba. Even theremin. Pretty much any instrument within reach. Then he’ll post it to his Youtube channel. “I spend half my shift out of the office. Most nights there’s nothing to do,” LaRose said.
After graduating from Michigan State University, the Inter- lochen Arts Academy graduate found his way back to the arts campus, first as a safety officer for Interlochen Arts Camp, then in a year-round capacity. These days, he’s down to three nights a week, but he’s still able to accompany himself as he plays Eu- rope’s “The Final Countdown” on electric kazoo. Or “Someone To Watch Over Me,” on valve trombone. And Chuck Mangione’s “Feels So Good” on alto horn.
“I’ve been doing it since I got a loop pedal,” LaRose said, which allows him to double-track himself on various instru- ments in real time. He still plays as a freelance musician with other ensembles and was a regular presence at the jazz jam ses- sions at the Workshop Brewing Company. But until things open up again, he’s providing his unique jazz, pop and classical high- lights online, courtesy of his nocturnal musical meanderings.
Brittany Adams Scaling Up
When Brittany Adams graduated from high school in 2013, she couldn’t quite face the prospect of moving away from home for four years of college.
Suddenly left searching for a career much sooner than she’d anticipated needing one, Adams stumbled into the world of cosplay, a performance art where participants design and wear costumes to either play well-known characters or create their own. She started ex- perimenting with costuming and launched her own YouTube channel, all about cosplay.
Then one day, she discovered her passion in the pages of a maga- zine her dad had brought home. The article was about “professional mermaids,” cosplayers who wore silicone mermaid tails and made their living performing at festivals, birthday parties, and other events. While Adams says she was always “a dragons and monsters sort of girl” in her previous cosplay, she couldn’t get the mermaid idea out of her head.
Eventually, Adams gave herself over to the inspiration. She bought a mermaid tail, perfected her own mermaid cosplay, gave herself the name “Mermaid Phantom,” pivoted her YouTube channel to mermaid-related content, and began swimming and performing as a mermaid all around Michigan.
There have been challenges along the way: Adams is legally blind when she’s not wearing glasses or contacts, and since she can’t wear either during most performances – particularly those in water – she largely performs without being able to see. Nevertheless, Mermaid Phantom has built a substantial following (doing business as “The Magic Crafter”) that ranges from event hires to Etsy merchandise and beyond. Last year, Adams took her mermaid act all the way to Singa- pore, for the Asia Dive Expo.
The highlight of the work? For Adams, it’s the sense of won- der in kids’ eyes when they meet here. “Kids always ask if I know Ariel,” she said.
Goldie Beebe Most Valuable Chef
The best public-school chef in the country is right here in northern Michigan.
Goldie Beebe has been chef manager for Cadillac Schools since 2012. Last fall, she garnered thousands of votes in a nationwide contest to earn the title of “Chef of the Year” from Chartwells K12. The award sent Beebe on two separate trips — the first to Orlando to accept the award, the second to Washington, D.C. to tour (and, for a few hours, work in) the restaurants of renowned chef José Andrés. She even got her face on a box of Wheaties!
While Beebe loved those experiences and is flattered by the Chartwells K12 award, she’s most proud that students, parents, and community members in Cadillac saw fit to cast approximately 3,400 votes in her favor. She’s worked over the past eight years to phase out much of the processed food that tends to get served in school cafeterias. Thanks to Beebe, each Cadillac school has a fresh fruit and vegetable bar in the cafeteria. At Cadillac High School, there’s even a “menu-tainment” station, where chefs prepare food to order right in front of students.
Gene Lagerquist Speaker for the Trees
Retired logger Gene Lagerquist admits his idea is a big one. But he’s undeterred, saying if you’re going to make a dent, you need to think big. The president of the Spirit of the Woods Conservation Club wants to plant 1 million trees within the next five years, to be distributed among Mason, Manistee, Benzie, and Leelanau Counties. “It’s not a cureall, but it’s something the poorest and youngest can do,” he said. He acknowledges the cost will be steep. “It’s a big project,” he said. So he is looking to approach foundations and get grant money, but first, he said, he’s trying to involve paper mills, sawmills, and other groups he sees as vested partners. “They made a profit the past 200 years,” Lagerquist said.
While members of the conservation club are part of the effort, it is not an official activity of the group. Lagerquist has involved like-minded people from Carbon-Free Manistee and Citizens Climate Lobby as well as the conservation club and others. “Earth is suffering a death of 1,000 cuts,” he said. Given the current circumstances, it’s not clear when these activities can resume. The plan was to begin planting trees on Earth Day, April 22. “We worked with local nurseries. We had a kickoff planned for Earth Day, then the virus hit.” He is now working to further organize efforts, including creating a taxfree organization. Interested in helping? Contact Lagerquist at bobcatgene@outlook.com.
Hiro Miura X Marks the Spot
Have you ever happened upon a bottle of wine chilling beneath the surface of Grand Traverse Bay? If so, it was probably put there by Hiro Miura, tasting room manager at Chateau Grand Traverse. Several years ago, as a joke among coworkers, Miura started stashing bottles of Chateau Grand Traverse vino in an ersatz wine cellar deep beneath the waves. The challenge? Getting the wines from the surface to the seafloor without diving equipment. Miura, in addition to being a wine fan and a purveyor of great customer service and hospitality, has been freediving for years. He’s stowed many a wine underwater; a good handful of them have gone missing, which means someone’s been reaping the benefits of the unusual hobby.
For now, Miura says that hobby is on hold. Freediving is risky, and it’s a risk he’s not taking in the middle of a global pandemic. Instead, he’s been focusing most of his energy on planning and preparing for Chateau Grand Traverse’s reopening — something we suspect he’ll be willing to celebrate above sea level.
Chayse LaJoie The Grappler
The COVID-19 virus crushed the schedules of many high school sports, but wrestling was one of the few to finish its season. And one of the top wrestlers in northern Michigan was Gaylord Blue Devils senior Chayse LaJoie.
Already a two-time state champion with a career mark of 189 wins and only 7 losses, LaJoie has trained in both Swe- den and at the Olympic Training Center at Northern Michigan University. He was a virtual lock to win a third crown in the 135 or 140-pound weight classes.
But the 18-year-old wanted to challenge himself and bulked up to the 145-pound class to take on another great grappler, Lowell’s Austin Boone. Eventually they met, and Boone was victorious by one-point, but LaJoie walked away with a sense of accomplishment.
The LaJoie family is at the center of a wrestling dynasty in Gaylord. Dad Jerry LaJoie coaches the Blue Devils varsity squad, and his sons Dominic and Chayse, have helped lift the program to new heights.
Chayse will face another challenge when he joins Dom on the highly touted wrestling squad at Cornell University. The Big Red team will enter the 2020-21 academic year as the No. 2-ranked team on the FloWrestling Preseason Team Tournament rankings.
The humble and ever-determined Chayse LaJoie, of course, being one of them.
Harry Goldson Jazz Man
Harry Goldson grew up playing music, performing on saxophone and clarinet with big bands. When he got drafted into the U.S. Army during the Korean War, he thought he’d be able to continue playing in the Army band. No such luck.
He and his wife, Piper, initially made their home in Chicago, though after visiting family in Traverse City, the two bought a condominium in Suttons Bay. They commut- ed back and forth until deciding to move Up North perma- nently. They opened an art gallery, and Piper, herself a pia- nist, bought Harry a new clarinet so they could play duos. Word got around, and soon Harry found himself playing with Encore Society of Music, with the Traverse Symphony Orchestra, and at various functions and concerts in this area as well as elsewhere in the state and nation (some of which can be found on his website at HarryGoldson.com). He and Piper established the Suttons Bay Jazz Festival, which ran for many years, and he recorded several CDs — one of which made its way to space on board the shuttle Endeavor in 2008
Now 91, Goldson still plays, but with the coronavirus precluding live performances, his music is temporarily grounded: “I was planning to do a concert, but I doubt there will be any this year.”
Jessica Dennis Heartache Helper
Jessica Dennis’s business — making attractive rings, necklaces and other jewelry — isn’t altogether uncommon, but it’s her specialized niche that sets her apart, one that unfortunately started with a tragedy.
After her seven-year-old son Payton died from brain cancer in 2017, Dennis incorporated some of his cremains into a piece for herself. “I felt I needed him with me,” she said.
At first, she only shared the results with family. “I didn’t know if it would seem weird or creepy. I didn’t plan to have any business [from it], she said. But when family members wanted their own such jewelry, she began to share the idea and results with others. The enthusiastic response prompted her to offer the special- ized pieces on her online shops (Etsy and jessica-den- nis-designs.myshopify.com).
Today, the majority of her jewelry business — about 80 percent, she estimates — comes from the rings, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, keychains, and other pieces into which she incorporates the ashes and hair of customers’ loved ones. (She also offers jewelry incorporating breast milk, which she said takes a little longer, as she has to dehydrate the milk and mix with resin.)
No matter what treasured item she receives, Dennis works quickly to get it back — tucked safely inside one of her designs — into the hands of the sender, even when business is brisk. “I get five to 30 packages every day with ashes, hair, even fur [from pets],” she said. “I typically ship within two weeks of receiving the ashes.”
Andrew Farron The Accidental Mountain Man
Ski hills have shaped Andrew Farron’s life, so it’s only fitting that he would stumble into managing one. Farron was born and raised in Traverse City. He grew up in the Slabtown neighborhood, just a stone’s throw from Hickory Hills Ski Area, and spent “pretty much six days a week at Hickory” throughout his childhood, first on skis and then eventually on a snowboard.
“That’s where the passion began,” Farron said.
It wasn’t the end of the story, either. After graduating from Traverse City West Senior High in 2009, Farron headed to Ann Arbor to study mechanical engineering. He joined up with the campus “Snowboard Club,” where he met both his wife and the friend who would serve as Best Man at their wedding. Then, after graduation, he headed the U.P. and made a home in Marquette.
Soon, Farron learned about Marquette Mountain, a small threechairlift ski hill within the Marquette city limits that was falling into disrepair. The chairlifts regularly broke down, electrical issues plagued every facet of the operation, and the snowmaking technology wasn’t working. Farron, whose engineering specialty lies in pumping and piping, approached the owner and made a pitch: hire me as general manager and I’ll start by fixing your snowmaking system.
It worked. At 27 years of age, with no previous experience managing ski hills or hospitality properties of any kind, Farron became the general manager of Marquette Mountain. He’s since helped spearhead what he calls a “rebirth” at the recreation area, fixing the ski hill’s mechanical problems and pointing it toward a future as more of a “fourseason community hub.” Across the board, Farron sees the potential to make Marquette Mountain precisely the kind of outdoor recreation destination he would have loved as kid. It’s just that now, instead of being the kid who spends six days a week riding the toe ropes, Farron gets to be the man in charge.
Travis Snyder Walking with Purpose
U.S. Marine Travis Snyder was living in Manistee last year when a good friend whom he’d served with in Afghanistan took his own life. Suicide is a serious problem among combat veterans, and Snyder wanted to call attention to it.
He decided to walk around Lake Michigan.
He would publicize and chronicle his progress on social media, and he would ask people to make donations to the Mis- sion 22 Organization, a nonprofit whose name denotes the average number of vet- eran suicides that occur each day.
Snyder started and finished in Man- istee, taking just 42 days to walk the 800 miles around the lake.
Snyder started off in late August 2019, heading north from his home- town and making stops in Copemish, Traverse City, and Petoskey, among oth- er places. He timed it so that he arrived in Mackinaw City the day before Labor Day and he was able to walk across the bridge among the throngs the next day.
Snyder said he’d mostly stayed with friends up to that point, but once he’d reached the U.P., his adventure began.
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“To me, that’s when the trip started, because I didn’t know anybody at all. I didn’t know where I was going to sleep and eat, and I also didn’t have cell service for those eight days,” he said.
It nonetheless always worked out. Folks offered him places to stay or some- times even gave him money for a motel.
Finding a safe spot to sleep was sometimes easier than the walk itself. Somewhere between St. Ignace and Brevort, Synder learned too late about bridge work and a resulting detour that would take him 43 miles out of his way, a devastating hiccup. A state police trooper saw him on US-2, asked where he was headed, and told him that if he kept going, he could reach the bridge before it officially closed later that day.
Snyder said he walked for miles through fog and drizzle and crashing waves on a completely empty highway.
“It was one of the most peaceful, serene moments of my life, being on that road,” he said.
Snyder plans more solitary walking trips to raise money for his cause. Next up: a 22-mile walk from Holland to Grand Haven and back on May 30. You can follow his progress and learn where to make donations by searching “Veteran Suicide Awareness: Travis Hikes” on Facebook.
Bill Siegmund Going with the Flow
As a kid, Bill Siegmund would spin a globe and think to himself, Wherever it stops is where I’ll travel someday. Then he grew up and made it all come true.
At 15, Siegmund became the youngest member of the Grand Rapids musician’s union. He played professionally — drums, with several bands — in high school and college. While attending the Grand Rapids’ Thomas Jefferson College, he earned a degree in ethnomusicology (the study of other cultures’ music) and added to his repertoire the veena, an Indian instrument with, of all things, a beeswax fretboard.
After college, Siegmund made good on his ambition to see the world.
Armed with a backpack and a fist full of traveler’s checks, he flew to South Africa. There he met up with wellestablished British ethnomusicologist Hugh Tracey, who was recording that country’s tribal music. Following that, he hitchhiked the length of Africa, from Cape Town to Cairo, a perilous adventure through several war-torn countries. His wanderlust still unsated, he continued on through Turkey, Iran, and Afghanistan — then over the treacherous Khyber Pass into India, where he devoted six months to practicing classical Indian music, meditation, and Bikram yoga.
When Siegmund finally returned home to Michigan, he was asked to summarize what he had learned on his travels — with a one-word description. He thought on it. Then the right word dawned on him. “Four experiences on the trip almost cost me my life, and they were all water-related,” he said. “So I said ‘water.’”
And with that simple statement, Siegmund found an entirely new calling. He immersed himself in water purification techniques and in 1978 founded Traverse City-based Pure Water Works, a company devoted to “changing the quality of life with quality water.” Over the last four decades, Siegmund’s company has pioneered new standards and developments in the water industry and served clients around the world — music, you might say, to all cultures’ ears.
If you think it’d be difficult to become the state’s first female hunting guide, to immerse yourself in a world synonymous with masculinity and steeped in male tradition, you would be right.
Drake, a single mother with two kids, one of whom is autistic, found herself nonetheless led by her passion for the outdoors to launch her own guide business, Drake Guiding Services, LLC, in 2016.
Since then, Drake said she’s taken clients onto state land for hunts, only to have jealous male guides attempt to thwart her work, standing in her way or making a commotion to interfere.
In addition to being the rare female in a male-dominated industry, Drake is fivefoot-two-inches tall and weighs about 100 pounds, so when she actually gets out into the woods and starts deploying her expertise, she said her clients usually don’t know what to make of her at first.
Drake, who lives in Afton, near Indian River, said her love of hunting started as a child, when her dad would take her trapping through northern Michigan’s forests.
Her first career was at a horse ranch, a strenuous job that she loved but ended when she suffered serious injuries after a horse fell on her.
Drake specializes in elk hunts but hunts all year-round and finds coyote to be especially satisfying prey, because the state’s coyote population is too large.
She takes conservation very seriously, and said she is careful never to overhunt a particular area.
Karl Manke The Reluctant Rabble-Rouser
George Armstrong An Extra-special Special Education Teacher
Maybe it’s one of those things where you don’t know what you’re good at until you try. Or perhaps it’s the pressure of not wanting to let oth- ers down. Either way, when a young special education teacher in Petoskey took on an assignment to raise funds for a camp just for kids with dis
You might have seen Karl Manke’s name in the news recently. That’s because the 77-yearold Owosso-based author and barber has ignited a national controversy by reopening his barbershop in defiance of Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s statewide stay-at-home order. But long before he had become an unlikely symbol in the movement to reopen Michigan’s economy, Manke was a northern Michigan boy enraptured by the state’s fascinating and oftforgotten history.
Born and raised in Frankfort, Manke still has a place Up North and finds his way back regularly — particularly for book signings at Traverse City’s Horizon Books but also in the narratives of his books themselves. One of his novels, titled “The Scourge of Captain Seavey,” tells the true story of Dan Seavey, a pirate who sailed the Great Lakes in the early 1900s — and for whom Manke’s grandfather claimed to have served as cabin boy. Parts of the novel take place in turn-of-the-century Traverse City.
Right now, Manke has two big things on his mind. The first is his latest novel, “Hope from Heaven,” which is being adapted into a film by the Lansing-based studio Collective Development Incorporated. The second is his business, the Karl Manke Barber Shop, which he reopened May 4, after six week of state-mandated closure. His decision sparked a battle with state officials: the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs yanked Manke’s license to cut hair, and he’s received both a misdemeanor citation and a cease-and-desist order. But after weeks of lost income and insufficient relief from the government, Manke saw no choice but to get back to business.
“This kind of belligerent act is not my forte,” he said. “It’s just not something that I feel comfortable doing. But I felt like I had to do it. We were supposed to go back May 1, and even then, we were barely hanging on. But then [Whitmer] dropped the bombshell and said, ‘No, it’s going to be another 28 days.’ And I just couldn’t do that. I’m an independent businessperson, and I had to go back to work. So I went back to work.”
abilities, he gave it his all. Spirit Day Camp debuted in 1984, in large part due to the efforts of George Armstrong.
Now, 36 years later, Armstrong is ready to hand off the work to the next generation. At least some of it. “It’s my last year at Petoskey High School, [but] I still plan to solicit funds,” he said. Challenge Mountain’s Spirit Day Camp is a summer day camp designed for individuals living with disabilities to enjoy recreational and leisure activities, just as Challenge Mountain itself was established to provide recreational opportunities for those with disabilities. For all his efforts, Armstrong was recognized by the Michigan Council for Exceptional Children as the 2019 Special Education Teacher of the Year.
Due to the coronavirus, 2020 will be the first year since 1984 the camp hasn’t been held, but thanks to what seems to be a contagious Armstrong can-do attitude, “We will still do some virtual things my wife has planned,” he said. Linda Armstrong is the Challenge Mountain program director. “I dragged her in to be a counselor,” he said with a laugh.
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GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I’ve got a message for you, courtesy of poet Lisel Mueller. I think her wisdom can help you thrive in the coming weeks. She writes, “The past pushed away, the future left unimagined, for the sake of the glorious, difficult, passionate present.” Of course, it’s always helpful for us to liberate ourselves from the oppressive thoughts of what once was in the past and what might be in the future. But it’ll be especially valuable for you to claim that superpower in the coming weeks. To the degree that you do, the present will be more glorious and passionate and not so difficult.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) “Wherever I am, let me never forget to distinguish want from need,” vows author Barbara Kingsolver. “Let me be a good animal,” she adds. That would be a stirring prayer to keep simmering at the forefront of your awareness in the next six weeks. According to my understanding of the astrological omens, you’ll be getting clear signals about the differences between your wants and needs. You will also discover effective strategies about how to satisfy them both in the post-pandemic world, and fine intuitions about which one to prioritize at any particular time.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Writing some Chinese characters can be quite demanding. To make “biáng,” for example, which is used in the name for a certain kind of noodle, you must draw 58 separate strokes. This is a good metaphor for exactly what you should avoid in the coming weeks: spending too much time and devoting too much thought and getting wrapped up in too much complexity about trivial matters. Your focus should instead be on simple, bold approaches that encourage you to be crisp and decisive.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Singersongwriter Jill Scott is strongly committed to her creative process. She tells us, “I was once making a burger for myself at my boyfriend’s house and a lyric started pouring out and I had to catch it, so I ran to another room to write it down, but then the kitchen caught fire. His cabinets were charred, and he was furious. But it was worth it for a song.” My perspective: Scott’s level of devotion to the muse is too intense for my tastes. Personally, I would have taken the burger off the stove before fleeing the scene to record my good idea. What about you, Aquarius? According to my analysis, you’re in a phase when creative ideas should flow even better than usual. Pay close attention. Be prepared to capture as much of that potentially lifealtering stuff as possible.
PISCES (Feb 19-March 20): To protect ourselves and others from the pandemic, most of us have been spending more time than usual at home—often engaged in what amounts to enforced relaxation. For some of us, that has been a problem. But I’m going to propose that it will be the opposite of a problem for you in the next three weeks. In my astrological opinion, your words to live by will be this counsel from author and philosopher Mike Dooley: “What if it was your downtime, your lounging-in-bed-too-long time, that made possible your greatest achievements? Would they still make you feel guilty? Or would you allow yourself to enjoy them?”
ARIES (March 21-April 19): “The best of my nature reveals itself in play, and play is sacred,” wrote the feisty Aries author Karen Blixen, who sometimes used the pen name Isak Dinesen. The attitude described in that statement helps illuminate the meaning of another one of her famous quotations: “I do not think that I could ever really love a woman who had not, at one time or another, been up on a broomstick.” In my interpretation of this humorous remark, Blixen referred to the fact that she had a strong preference for witchy women with rascally magical ways. I bring this to your attention, Aries, because I’m inviting you to cultivate a Blixen-like streak of sacred play and sly magic in the coming days. come from his instrument, it’s neither sleek nor elegant. It’s bruised with multiple stains and has a jagged gash near its sound hole. Some Tauruses want their useful things to be fine and beautiful, but not Willie. Having said that, I wonder if maybe he will finally change guitars sometime soon. For you Bulls, the coming months will be time to consider trading in an old horse for a new one.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): When Lewis Carroll’s fictional heroine Alice visits the exotic underground realm known as Wonderland, she encounters two odd men named Tweedledee and Tweedledum. The latter tells her, “You know very well you’re not real.” He’s implying that Alice is merely a character in the dream of a man who’s sleeping nearby. This upsets her. “I am real!” she protests, and breaks into tears. Tweedledum presses on, insisting she’s just a phantom. Alice summons her courageous wisdom and thinks to herself, “I know they’re talking nonsense, and it’s foolish to cry about it.” I suspect you Cancerians may have to deal with people and influences that give you messages akin to those of Tweedledum. If that happens, be like Alice.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “The less you fear, the more power you will have,” says the rapper known as 50 Cent. I agree with him. If you can dissolve even, say, 25 percent of your fear, your ability to do what you want will rise significantly, as will your influence and clout. But here’s the major riddle: How exactly can you dissolve your fear? My answers to that question would require far more room than I have in this horoscope. But here’s the really good news, Leo: In the coming weeks, you will naturally have an abundance of good insights about to dissolve your own fear. Trust what your intuition tells you. And be receptive to clues that serendipity brings you.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): For his film Parasite, Virgo filmmaker Bong Joon-ho received Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay.
In his natal horoscope, Joon-ho has Pluto conjunct his sun in Virgo, and during the time Parasite began to score major success, Saturn and Pluto were making a favorable transit to that powerful point in his chart. I’m expecting the next six months to be a time when you can make significant progress toward your own version of a Joonho style achievement. In what part of your life is that most likely to happen? Focus on it. Feed it. Love it.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): According to my analysis of the astrological omens, the coming weeks will be a favorable time for you to seek out, seduce, and attract luck. To inspire you in this holy task, I’ll provide a prayer written by Hoodoo conjurer Stephanie Rose Bird: “O sweet luck, I call your name. Luck with force and power to make change, walk with me and talk through me. With your help, all that can and should be will be!” If there are further invocations you’d like to add to hers, Libra, please do. The best way to ensure that good fortune will stream into your life is to have fun as you draw it to you.
ScORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Scorpio comedian John Cleese does solo work, but many of his successful films, albums, stage shows, and TV programs have arisen from joining forces with other comedians. “When you collaborate with someone else on something creative,” he testifies, “you get to places that you would never get to on your own.” I propose you make this your temporary motto, Scorpio. Whatever line of work or play you’re in, the coming weeks will offer opportunities to start getting involved in sterling synergies and symbioses. To overcome the potential limitations of social distancing, make creative use of Zoom and other online video conferencing.
McGee’s 72 Traverse City’s East-side Eats
By Jillian Manning
When John McGee and Glen Harrington met while working at Apache Trout Grill, they had no idea a friendship would one day turn into a multirestaurant partnership. Today, the duo owns and operates McGee’s 72, McGee’s 37, Harrington’s by the Bay, Sorellina, Slate, and Grand Traverse Bagel & Bakery.
Opening McGee’s 72 was the cornerstone of a plan to have eateries across Traverse City: east side, west side, and downtown. The restaurant is located in the building formerly occupied, circa 2000s, by the heavily Italian-influenced TraVino Traverse Bar & Grille. However, the building’s history is even a bit more personal for McGee, as it used to be Grand Traverse Resort and Spa’s golf center.
“I was a golf professional for nearly 19 years,” he says. “I came full circle because I had worked in the building in the late 1980s, back when it was a [golf] cart barn. It’s fun to now own the building, but in a million years I never thought that would be the case.”
When McGee and Harrington first took an interest in the building, it was in foreclosure, and it took 14 months for the duo to finalize the purchase, with extensive renovations to follow. The restaurant officially opened in 2014.
Today, McGee’s 72 still caters to both golfers and longtime TraVino diners, but it’s become a local hotspot for the east-side crowd. McGee says that the bar is perennially popular, whether that’s for a group of fans gather to catch the game, postwork socializing, or a casual dinner for couples or friends. Their all-day happy hour strategy, McGee acknowledges, is a significant part of the draw.
“Instead of happy hour, we have a happy life,” he said. “If we’re open, we do happy hour pricing and specials throughout the day and evening.”
The food, of course, keeps customers returning. Favorite bar-side appetizers include the risotto “tots” — fried pasta-and-cheese balls of goodness — and boneless wings with your choice of sriracha lime glaze or mango chipotle BBQ. The happy hour menu also includes special pricing on beer, wine, and well drinks, as well as McGee’s signature Happy Hour Sangria.
For dinner, guests find an array of options, from the prime rib on Friday and Saturday nights to flatbread pizzas to smoked Gouda chicken pasta with bacon, asparagus, and portobella mushrooms. Seafood reigns among the entrees, with classic Great Lakes walleye alongside Ahi tuna and cioppino. And some of the lunchtime favorites — the “Express Lunch: Pick Two” is not to be missed — are present as well, like McGee’s ever-popular Baja Chicken Tacos and the San Marzano Tomato Bisque.
Influences from McGee and Harrington’s other restaurants make a welcome appearance too. The La Sorellina salad (baby spinach, candied pecans, gorgonzola, pear, and citrus vinaigrette) is a big hit, and McGee also points to Harrington’s custom ground steak burgers as another top item.
“We cut all our steaks in house,” he said. “All the trimmings go into a grind, with some chuck added to it, to create a burger that stands above the rest.”
That attention to detail is an important element of McGee’s culinary philosophy. He says nearly everything in the restaurant is made from scratch.
“It’s a labor-intensive prep, but the quality shows through, and that’s why we continue to do it in that fashion.”
Like so many others, McGee’s 72 menu saw few changes under COVID-19 restrictions. Most items were still available, including to-go beer and wine, but the biggest — and best received — change happened when McGee’s 72 began offering a buy-one, get-one-free offer on all of its offered meals, all day long.
“We made that decision right from the get-go,” he said, and the reason was a no-brainer: “We want to stay as busy as we can to keep the staff employed, but while doing that, help out the community because people aren’t going to work, and some of them aren’t making the money they used to.”
The generosity that they sent around seems to have come around. When asked what good had come out of the shutdown for their properties, McGee had several stories to tell. Blue Cheese Crusted Burger, with bacon.
“The community has come out in great support. I was just at Harrington’s earlier today, and a gentleman whose daughter works at the hospital ordered lunch for 35 people. Great Lakes Wine and Spirits has bought gift cards for their staff. We have organizations that have bought gift cards for first responders.
“A lot of people are coming together to give back to the community, to the people on the front lines, and they’re helping restaurants along the way.” The popular Baja Chhicken Tacos.
Now that some of the state’s restrictions on restaurants have lifted, McGee’s 72 will offer a “buy one, get one half-off” offer while staff develops plans for dine-in service at a later date. In the meantime, pickup is still available at the restaurant (4341 M-72 E, in Williamsburg. Call (231) 421-8800 to order; the menu is available at www.mcgees72.com
"Books I Didn't Finish" it's OK, you get the idea. by Matt Jones “Jonesin” Crosswords
20 • may 25, 2020 • Northern Express Weekly ACROSS 1 Raised-eyebrow remarks 4 From Bangkok 8 Loud two-year-old, maybe 14 Kabuki relative 15 Fair share, between two 16 Baltimore player 17 Start of a best-selling 2003 Mark Haddon title 20 Remote button 21 Meas. for really fast rotations 22 Band supposedly doing their final concert in 2021 23 Pellets found in some old pocket puzzles 24 Catches 26 100 centesimi, once 29 Sargasso, for one 30 Scandinavian native properly called S·mi 33 Start of a time-traveling Mark Twain title 38 Like the Beatles 39 Some time ___ 40 Colin, to Tom Hanks 41 Wildebeest 42 Start of a Fannie Flagg title (the movie title being shorter than the book) 46 New Age vocalist from County Donegal 47 Chicago trains 48 Closed facilities (work out at home!) 49 Run off to get married (wait, how would that work these days?) 51 “On the Road” narrator Paradise 53 See 12-Down 56 Aries symbol 57 December garnish 61 Start of a classic 1972 Judith Viorst kids’ book title 64 1998 Olympics city in Japan 65 Japanese seaweed 66 Metal container? 67 Wallace’s canine sidekick 68 Big thick book 69 It gets caked on DOWN 1 Where “I’m not a doctor” spokespeople usually “play one” 2 Hostess snack cake 3 “Falling Up” poet Silverstein 4 Part of a “hang loose” sign 5 Long-eared hoppers 6 Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Century (1999) 7 Befuddled comment 8 ___ nova 9 “Entourage” agent Gold 10 Shares a secret with, maybe 11 Focal points 12 53-Across students 13 Tasting party options 18 Like the mojito’s origin 19 Lifts 25 Actress Emily 26 “___-A-Lympics” (1970s Hanna-Barbera cartoon) 27 Words of support 28 One of the Bee Gees 29 Paper packaged with a board game, perhaps 31 Variety of owl, hippo, or seahorse 32 Airline that went bankrupt in 1991 34 Winner of the most French Open singles titles 35 Pad see ew ingredient 36 Opposing argument 37 “May contain ___” 43 Procedure where you may be asked to select numbers 44 Terbium or erbium, e.g. 45 Looked the wrong way? 50 “Ready ___ ...” 51 Band of murder hornets, e.g. 52 The Governator, familiarly 53 Candidate who dropped out in February 2020 54 Fruit spray banned by the EPA 55 Blocks that inspired an animated Batman movie 58 Chemistry 101 model 59 Drive-___ window 60 Pay attention to 62 “Fuel” singer DiFranco 63 Kanga’s kid
the ADViCE GOddESS
BY Amy Alkon
Smells Like Quarantine Spirit
Q: I started seeing a guy right before quarantine. In fact, we’ve broken quarantine a lot to be together at his place. I really like him, but I’m worried because our entire relationship has taken place indoors (watching movies, playing video games, sex). We have no experience together in real life, and maybe I don’t know the real him. What if we go to dinner and he’s rude to the wait staff? How can I figure out what kind of person he is when we can’t go to places where we engage with other people?
— Worried
A: You see who people are when they’re tested. That’s why fiction is filled with knights going off on a decades-long perilous quest for the Holy Grail as opposed to briefly looking behind the couch for the Apple TV remote.
However, you don’t have to wait till restaurants reopen to get a sense of whether this dude’s a good guy or some Mr. Complainypants McMantoddler. And frankly, restaurant encounters are a pretty low bar for revealing character. Most people trying to make a good impression (and especially sociopathic douchesicles) know to contain themselves, genteelly waving their server over rather than yelling across the restaurant, “Yo, waitslave!” Because we live in Modernville, our lives are physically easier than at any other time in human history. We go to the gym to get the physical workout we previously would’ve gotten milking the cows and plowing the fields. Hard times that come from both physically and emotionally difficult situations are the gym where character is made and shows itself, where you see whether a person is fragile or “antifragile.” “Antifragile” is a term by risk researcher and former derivatives trader Nassim Taleb to describe how stress and conflict are sources of improvement for living things, strengthening them and making them more able to cope with difficult and unpredictable situations.
In other words, the quarantine can be a good thing for character investigation. In lieu of dinner dates, you can schedule challenging oneon-one activities that show you what he’s made of. Camping and hiking are two sure character exposers. Or, if you prefer your challenges less wilderness-oriented, you could work together to assemble IKEA furniture. Consider yourself on the path to happily ever after if you don’t end up with three mysterious pieces of hardware left and/or murder-suicide each other with an Allen wrench.
Trial By Fireworks
Q: I seem to need more excitement than most people. After eight months together, my boyfriend and I have fallen into a routine. Simply scheduling regular date nights seems unlikely to improve things. I’m 35, not 5, and I realize an ongoing relationship won’t be as exciting as when it was new, but I’m worried my boredom is a sign I don’t really love him. (And I’m pretty sure I do.)
— Worried Woman
A: Unfortunately, love is not a cure for boredom, so there’s a point in a relationship when it’s tempting to trade a lifetime with Prince Charming for three hours with Prince Random Stranger.
With love and stability comes predictability, the slow, bleak death of excitement. This is a bummer for anyone in a relationship, but especially hard if you “need more excitement than most people.” That suggests you are a high scorer in a personality trait psychologist Marvin Zuckerman termed “sensation seeking.” It plays out in a jonesing for novel, varied, and intense experiences “and the willingness to take risks for the sake of such experience” (such as risking a relationship for some strange). Recognizing that you have this craving could help you meet it in less romantically destructive ways. You might feed the beast on your own by taking up adrenaline-amping activities like hang gliding or zip lining, or if those are a little out of geographic or budgetary range, jogging through dark alleys in bad parts of town. To bring more novelty and surprise to your relationship, trade weekly date nights for weekly mystery date nights. Take turns planning them, and keep what you’re planning a secret from the other (save for any necessary information about wardrobe, etc.). Because novelty and surprise are the baby mamas of excitement, even an unexpected date eating hot dogs together on a bench while watching the sun set over a pretty body of water is likely to check the boxes.
But don’t stop at suggesting mystery date nights. Tell your boyfriend why: because you have quite the appetite for excitement. He can’t provide what he hasn’t been told you need, and this breeds resentment. You grow resentful over your unmet needs, and then he grows resentful over your resentment. And because it’s called “making love,” not “confirming hate,” any excitement you two had about sex (with each other) follows general excitement out the door, and “that thing” you do in bed becomes listening through the walls to the neighbors actually having sex.
In an effort to accommodate and assist those needing to hear during this period, effective immediately, Beltone is providing 1 on 1 free in home, in office or curbside hearing testing as well as remote telecare hearing services. Why? Because hearing and understanding what’s being said and going on around us is more important now than ever before. Please see below for current incentives we are offering to those in need of hearing care services. negative effects of untreated HEARING LOSs
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First Responders Eat Free at Randy’s Diner during Stay Home, Stay Safe restrictions. WE ARE OPEN FOR CURBSIDE CARRYOUT & DELIVERIES! And our dining room is open with outside tables available! Call 231-946-0789! Contact DinnerBell or GrubHub for deliveries! OPEN Memorial Day May 25th from 10am to 7pm!
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Call Mike 231-499-4249 or 231-929-7900
SOLD
Spacious double lot in desirable Slabtown 5 Bed/4 Bath, magnificent finishes throughout $1,395,000 MLS#1858727
NEW PRICE!
133’ of beautiful Old Mission Peninsula frontage Stylishly impeccable 3 Bed/2.5 Bath $1,100,000 MLS# 1872313
NEW PRICE!
7 Modern Live/Work Units near Boardman Lake Very unique investment opportunity $1,100,000 MLS#1854942
Two 20 acre parcels on Old Mission Peninsula Prime AG land, Conservation Easement in place $850,000 MLS# 1872811
39.5 acres, zoned Moderate Density Residential 3 Bed/1 Bath ranch, just miles from town $600,000 MLS#1863607, MLS#1863608
Desirable State Street neighborhood Marvelously updated Craftsman, 5 Bed/3 Bath $575,00 MLS# 1869152
SALE PENDING
OPENING ANNOUNCEMENT
Valued Guests, First off, we would like to thank you for your patience as we work through this trying time. The Tribe and Executive Team have been working diligently to ensure that the safety of our Guests and Team Members continues to be a top priority.
That being said, it has been decided that we will be reopening our properties on the following dates:
• Odawa Casino Mackinaw opened Friday, May 22 at 10:00AM. ° No one under the age of 21 will be permitted to enter Odawa Casino Mackinaw City. ° The Mukwa is open daily. ° Slot Machines are open with limited seating.
• Odawa Casino Petoskey will be opening on Friday, May 29 at 10:00AM. ° No one under the age of 19 will be permitted to enter Odawa Casino Petoskey. ° There will be limited entrances to Odawa Casino Petoskey; guests will be able to utilize the Main Entrance and the Underground Parking only at this time. The side lot and valet will not be available. ° The Copper Café will be open daily. ° Slot Machines and Table Games will be open with limited seating.
• Odawa Hotel will begin taking reservation calls at 10:00AM on June 1, for dates beginning on June 11.
Things will look a bit different when our doors open, and we will be reopening in phases. The phased reopening follows the guidance of public health professionals.
Here are just some of the actions we are taking to keep you and our Team Members safe. Please see our website for a list of what actions are being taken at each Odawa Casino property to ensure safety:
• We are taking temperatures before anyone is permitted to enter any of the properties. Team Members and Guests with a temperature above 100.0°F, without exception, will not be permitted. • In following CDC guidelines, Team Members and Guests are required to wear masks at any of the properties. Guests are encouraged to bring and wear their personal masks. Guests wishing to enter the Casino that do not have a mask may obtain one from Security or the Players Club at either Casino, or the front desk of the Hotel while supplies last. • All properties will temporarily be non-smoking. Designated outdoor smoking areas will be marked. • We are following social distancing practices everywhere. Watch for specific reminders throughout all properties.
We look forward to seeing you soon!
Ron Olson General Manager Odawa Casino
