The Leelanau News Blog
leelanau county news • traverse city news • michigan news

Here's a letter from a regular Leelanau News reader that we feel is more than worth your time.

Each year it seems we face sorrowful news about tragic events regarding our young people.  Now is a common time due to the number of graduations that are about to take place.  But, it’s not necessarily now.  It’s not necessarily a teenager.  It can be a college event.  Or, perhaps a group of joy riders.  Driving too fast.  Missing a stop sign.  In the wrong place at the wrong time.  Drinking too much.  Bowing to peer pressure.  The list is lengthy.  They hurt themselves or someone with them, or someone else.  Or, they die...
(more...)

The first issue of the Glen Arbor Sun of the summer takes a look at the village of Empire and its new core of youthful boosters.
In Empire celebrates the harvest, and a youth movement, Ashlea Walter says "We don't take ourselves too seriously, and yet there's a spirit of adventure here in Empire that allows things like this (the Asparagus Festival) to happen."

You'll also want to check out What Makes Empire Unique and and learn about newly minted restaurant mogul Frank Lerchen (owner of the Village Inn, The Friendly Tavern and new Gemma coffee house).

The Madison Post takes a look at Leelanau County that's worth a read. One of the comments of the writer that might bear consideration is that's it's hard to find our beautiful beaches - is that intentional on our part?

Read Behind Door County lies Leelanau in the Madison Post

This morning founder Michael Moore announced that the second annual Traverse City Film Festival will expand to seven days (Monday, July 31 to Sunday, August 6) and screen nearly 50 movies. This year's festival will pay a special tribute to the films of Stanley Kubrick on the 50th anniversary of his first feature film. All 11 Kubrick films, including "Dr. Strangelove" and "A Clockwork Orange," plus "Spartacus," "2001: A Space Odyssey," "Lolita," "The Shining" and others, will be screened in what is believed to be the country's only complete retrospective of his films this year.

The festival will also add a "guest director" (Terry George, director of "Hotel Rwanda"), midnight movies, and pay homage to the films of David O. Russell, with showings of "Three Kings" and other movies. Free panels will feature Malcolm McDowell, Matthew Modine, as well as Moore, George and Russell. Visit the link below for much more information.

Traverse City Film Festival web site

Information on the Stanley Kubrick Retrospective

Also see Festival May have Found a Home in the TC Record-Eagle

The Enterprise reports that the Glen Lake School Board unanimously adopted a resolution to recall 10 of 11 teachers issued pink slips earlier this spring at a special meeting Monday night.

The call-back notice was made possible as a result of several factors that came into play. Chief among them is finalization of a $225 increase in the state’s per pupil foundation allowance, which will bring in an additional $200,000 in revenue to the district. It also is predicated on the elimination of two temporary teaching positions currently being filled with long-term substitutes, a middle school administrator’s position, and a 3-days-a-week superintendent seat.

Read 10 Teachers Spared Ax in the Leelanau Enterprise 

This Week's News

The top story of the week was the emergence of more details about the proposed redevelopment of Sugar Loaf. Sugar Loaf Development L.C.C. partners Brian Sculthorp and Ed Fleis, owners of the two golf courses, sewer plant and other properties surrounding Sugar Loaf Resort had a few thoughts to share about redevelopment plans unveiled recently by the resort's owner, Kate Wickstrom.

Other news items included some great Panoramas of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, a report on the area's new minor league baseball team, the Traverse City Beach Bums (including a neat article on the Traverse City Resorters ballclub from the early 1900s) and a thought-provoking letter by Glen Lake School Board trustee Jeff Smith about inequities in school funding.
The Week's Weather

We had a week of (mostly) clouds and 50s. All the rain we've had has things really, really green. The lilacs are in full bloom and there's lots of tulips around as well! Apparently, the rains have re-energized the morel population and reports of white morels are trickling back in. The article "On the Trail of the Michigan Morel" from Absolute Michigan has (in addition to a ton of other stuff) a photo of a HUGE morel from Oakland County that's worth clicking over to.

Thursday, May 18, 2006: Cloudy, light rain & upper 40s (50Ëš/42Ëš)
Friday, May 19, 2006: Cloudy & low 50s (55Ëš/37Ëš)
Saturday, May 20, 2006: Sunny, breezy & upper 60s w/ late rain (71Ëš/34Ëš)
Sunday, May 21, 2006: Mostly cloudy & upper 40s (50Ëš/37Ëš)
Monday, May 22, 2006: Mostly sunny & upper 50s (57Ëš/34Ëš)
Tuesday, May 23, 2006: Sunny & low 60s (64Ëš/33Ëš)
Wednesday, May 24, 2006: Morning sun, afternoon rain and upper 70s (80Ëš/43Ëš)

Click for the Leelanau news archive from May 19th-25th, 2005!

Glen Lake School Board trustee Jeff Smith has written an excellent letter to the Free Press regarding education funding inequities in Michigan that everyone should read.

Consider that this year the state will pay my school district in northern Michigan about $7,000 to educate my daughter, while at the same time, Birmingham's school district, between state and local taxes, will have about $12,000 to educate a girl there. Multiplied from kindergarten through 12th grade, that difference would mean the girl in Birmingham receives a $156,000 education while my daughter receives a $91,000 education -- a $65,000 gap.

Read Make district funding more equal by Jeff Smith in the Detroit Free Press.

The Traverse City Beach Bums open their inaugural season at Weurfel Park (located at Chums Village business park off U.S. 31 south of Traverse City) this week and the Record-Eagle has a nice feature introducing you to the baseball team and the ballpark. The Wednesday opener culminates almost six years of plans and preparation by club owners John and Leslye Wuerfel.
Read Play Ball! in the TC Record-Eagle

Traverse City Beach Bums web site

**NEW** Traverse City Beach Bums Photo Gallery 

Baseball History: Traverse City Resorters

The Record-Eagle also has a great feature on the Resorters, Traverse City's minor league ballclub of the early 1900s that featured future major leaguer Bundy Brief. The team played in the Michigan State League against the Cadillac Chiefs, the Muskegon Lumbermen and the Holland Dutchmen.

Photo courtesy John Russell / Great Lakes Images and Traverse City Beach Bums

The Leelanau Enterprise reports that Sugar Loaf Development L.C.C. partners Brian Sculthorp and Ed Fleis, owners of the two golf courses, sewer plant and other properties surrounding Sugar Loaf Resort have a few thoughts to share about redevelopment plans unveiled recently by the resort's owner, Kate Wickstrom. According to the Enterprise:

...the partners are "disappointed that we have not been consulted during the preparation of Kate's plan since we share a common interest in the successful redevelopment of the entire Sugar Loaf region," said Fleis, a Leelanau County native.

"It is essential that there be cooperation between the two property owners to develop a common master plan for the entire Sugar Loaf area," said Sculthorp, a native of Scotland who has partnered with Fleis on several major development projects in Florida.

Read Unpaid Money Clouds 'Loaf' in the Leelanau Enterprise (heartily recommended as the story addresses many of the issues surrounding Sugar Loaf)

Sleeping Bear Dunes Overlook, photo by Mark Houston

Mark Houston's 360Michigan features a staggering number of 360 degree panoramas from all over Michigan. These images allow you to spin in every direction and if you've never experienced one, you owe it to yourself to check these out!

The photo above is a section of a panorama of the overlook on the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. (trail information)

Now get on over to 360Michigan.

(This post was copied from Michigan in Pictures, a daily blog of Michigan photos)