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

Jim Sorbie wonders if that's our cheese-loving neighbors you can see in this photo looking across Lake Michigan from Alligator Hill near Glen Arbor.

I thought it could be Washington Island, but would appreciate confirmation from anyone who knows about such things.

Springtime & Maple Sap, photo by Jim Sorbie

News from the Week

The top story (in my opinion) was the re-emergence of spring peepers and an article we did over at Absolute Michigan all about these harbingers of spring. Other stories from the week included the posting of preliminary input from from the Leelanau Tourism Initiative listening sessions, the latest on Leelanau resident and Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Weaver's struggle with some fellow justices on the court, how much of a late-year budget bite area schools would face under the latest Senate proposal and a cool old photo of the Merc and Leland's Main Street from years ago.

The Week's Weather

The weather was quite nice: lots of sun, most of the rain at night and temps in the 60s and 50s. It looks like a classic case of "In like a lion, out like a lamb."

March 22, 2007: Morning rain, then partly cloudy & 50s (57Ëš/34Ëš)
March 23, 2007: Mostly sunny & 60 (62Ëš/30Ëš)
March 24, 2007: Cloudy & low 50s (54Ëš/36Ëš)
March 25, 2007: Brief morning rain, then mostly sunny & upper 60s (68Ëš/39Ëš) Record High!
March 26, 2007: Partly sunny & upper 60s (71Ëš/48Ëš) Tied Record High!
March 27, 2007: Cloudy & low 50s (52Ëš/39Ëš)
March 28, 2007: Early clouds, afternoon sun & low 50s (52Ëš/37)

Click for the Leelanau news archive from March 2006!

No time at all today, so here's a photo my dad took, a link to a nice article on making maple syrup in Leelanau County in this week's Enterprise and another link to a very comprehensive feature on Michigan maple syrup from Absolute Michigan and a feature that's chock-full of photos of the maple syrup making process at Michigan in Pictures.

Preliminary input from from the Leelanau Tourism Initiative listening sessions has been posted to the web.

Participants listed hoped-for outcomes from increased tourism to the Peninsula such as year-round sustainability of local economy, jobs and community revitalization & economic diversification along with things they hoped to avoid like chains, congestion and elimination of our current lifestyle.

Click to read the findings.

Last night and this morning the peepers were out in full strength. This prompted me to put together a Spring Peeper-palooza over on Absolute Michigan featuring a pondfull of facts, photos and peeper calls.

The Leland Merc and Leland, Michigan, circa quite a while ago! You can get more historical (and present day) photos of the Merc and Leland at LelandMerc.com.

The Record-Eagle reports that last night the Republican controlled Senate passed a $34-per-student midyear cut for K-12 schools, along with hundreds of millions of dollars in reductions to local governments, health care and other programs.

"We should be thinking about we can invest in public education, not how we can take money away from kids in public education," said Sen. Ray Basham, D-Taylor.

Republicans countered that the $34 per-student cut is a modest amount for schools to have to make up in the two months remaining in the school year and that a tax increase this budget year is unacceptable. Some districts have warned they'll have to lay off teachers if their state aid is cut at this point in the school year.

For a local take on this "modest cut" (which comes at a point where there are 3 months or less remaining and most money has been spent), here are our rough calculations:

• $17,068 for Leland
• $31,178 for Suttons Bay
• $365,000 for Traverse City

Note that Glen Lake & Northport are out of formula and as such, I believe they are unaffected by these cuts. Sorry there's no pretty picture with this ... as a school board member I can't see much attractive in this.

The Traverse City Record-Eagle reports on the latest from the ongoing war between Leelanau resident Justice Elizabeth A. Weaver and "the majority of four" Supreme Court Justices. On Tuesday, Justice Weaver sent a memorandum to the Governor and State Legislature accusing 4 of her fellow Supreme Court justices of using inaccurate records of meetings to abuse power, revise history and keep their decision-making secret.

"The public's been kept in the dark on the important issue of judicial disqualification for over a year. This is not a secret club. My duty to the public is to keep them informed of what I believe they need to know."

Read Justice Weaver slams majority in the Record-Eagle and get background information at justiceweaver.com.

Photo credit: Orton Iceboat II by Andy McFarlane.

News from the Week

The top story from the week was a report on Leelanau Odyssey of the Mind teams who advanced to the the State finals (held April 14 at Traverse City Central High School). We also featured a pair of cool YouTube videos, one of Backcountry Skiing somewhere in the Sleeping Bear Dunes and the other a nationally produced travelogue from 1949 featuring all kinds of Glen Lake, the Sleeping Bear Dunes (complete with Dunesmobile rides), cherries and Traverse City. You can also click on over to Keith Burnham's Leland Report for a picture of pruning operations on the massive cottonwood in Leland.

The Week's Weather

After a balmy week prior, last week was pretty much what you'd expect from March: mostly clouds, some sun, some snow, some rain and even a thunderstorm last night.

March 15, 2007: Mostly sunny & 30s (36Ëš/17Ëš)
March 16, 2007: Sunny & low 30s (33Ëš/14Ëš)
March 17, 2007: Early sun, then clouds & flurries (34Ëš/18Ëš)
March 18, 2007: Mostly sunny & mid 30s (37Ëš/17Ëš)
March 19, 2007: Heavy overnight snow, then mostly cloudy (41Ëš/24Ëš)
March 20, 2007: Early clouds, then sunny & 30s (37Ëš/15Ëš)
March 21, 2007: Light rain & 50s w/ overnight thunderstorms (55˚/26˚) just 2° shy of the record from 1991!

Click for the Leelanau news archive from March 2006!

The Record-Eagle has an article on the opening of the Spirits, Relics and Rituals: The John F. Korachis Collection of African Art at the Dennos Museum in Traverse City this Saturday (Mar 25). The reception starts at 6:30 and features the Juno Award-winning African Guitar Summit.

The collection features around 60 objects including masks, life-size sculptures and other figures, and furnishings such as chief stools and doors, and you can learn more about the exhibit (and see photos) from the Dennos.

Read Function to form: Dennos Museum exhibit focuses on African art in the Record-Eagle and visit the African Guitar Summit web site.

Photo credit: African Guitar Summit by jbach