"Walk a Mile Barefoot" program begins
CURTIS - State Representive Gary McDowell, D-Rudyard, helped kick off the "Walk a Mile Barefoot to Help the Children of Iraq" program in Curtis on Friday, June 23. He assisted in helping send off boxes of used children's shoes to Iraq.
The program was initiated by Pfc. Sammi Norman Jr. (E6) of the Navy Seabees, a reserve building battalion and a fourth generation veteran from Curtis, when he asked his mother to begin collecting shoes for Iraqi children. Capt. Bill Kelly, director of the Curtis 4th of July parade and a former captain in the U.S. Air Force, extended the program to the annual parade, themed "The Year of the Veteran." A float in the parade will be designated for the "Walk a Mile" and will also accept donated shoes throughout the parade route.
McDowell, a retired United Parcel Service driver, has arranged for UPS to donate all the boxes, labels, tape, and pay for shipment of the shoes to Iraq. For more information on the program call Kelly at 906-586-9433.
Walk across the Soo Locks on June 30
SAULT STE.MARIE - Area residents are being invited to celebrate the history of the Soo Locks facility with annual Engineer's Day festivities to be held on Friday, June 30.
Beginning at 10 a.m. the locks will be open for visitors to walk across, an opportunity that comes along only once a year. In addition to this year's festivities Edison Sault Electric Company will host self-guided tours at the hydroelectric plant on East Portage Avenue, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. that day. Edison's plant is the longest horizontal shaft hydroelectric plant in existence.
The tour will include a number of historical displays about the plant with Edison Sault personnel on hand to answer questions. The Lake Superior State University Aquatics Laboratory, located within the plant, will also be open for touring.
Woman perishes at Pictured Rocks
MUNISING, Mich. (AP) - A woman was killed when she plummeted nearly 200 feet from the Pictured Rocks cliffs.
The 43-year-old woman from McBain was pronounced dead Thursday, June 22 when she arrived at Munising Memorial Hospital, The Mining Journal of Marquette reported. Police did not immediately release her name.
"We're trying to find out reasoning as to how or why she fell or jumped," Alger County sheriff's Deputy Steve Blank said.
The woman had been hiking near Miners Castle with her husband when they stopped and the woman began eating a snack. The husband told police he didn't see what happened next.
"He said he had stepped away and gone to the bathroom and when he got back she was nowhere to be found," Blank said. "He looked over the ledge and saw her."
The husband went to a park visitor center and reported that his wife had fallen.
Retired Coast Guard ship reaches final destination in Mackinaw City
MACKINAW CITY, Mich. (AP) - The decommissioned U.S. Coast Guard cutter Mackinaw has a new home.
The ship arrived Wednesday at Mackinaw City's Railroad Dock, welcomed by an enthusiastic crowd and a brass band. From now on it will be a museum ship, its icebreaking, training and search-and-rescue missions concluded.
A new cutter with the same name will assume the Mackinaw's duties and use its mooring dock in Cheboygan, 15 miles south.
"It means economic development for our town," Village President Robert Heilman said after reading a proclamation of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw Day. "This will mean a totally new period of history for us."
Officials with the Icebreaker Mackinaw Maritime Museum Inc. failed to raise the $3.7 million needed to buy property on the Cheboygan River to keep the 290-foot ship in its longtime home port.
The old Mackinaw was in danger of being dismantled for scrap after the Michigan Department of Natural Resources refused to host it at the state-owned dock in Mackinaw City. But local businessman Bill Shepler provided docking space, sparing the historic vessel.
On its final journey on June 21, the Mackinaw sailed from Cheboygan through the South Channel of the Straits of Mackinac and detoured east through Round Island Passage, giving Mackinac Island a final look and a Great Lakes salute on the ship's horn.
Shepler said he hoped to open the ship for tours in about a month. Much work remains to prepare it for the public, he said.
Gaylord Mail Processing Plant may close
GAYLORD - In an effort to reduce the $8 million deficit that currently exists in the Greater Michigan Postal District, which includes Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana, the Gaylord Mail Processing Plant is facing the chopping block. The plant employs more than 130 people, of which approximately 80 full-time union employees will be given the option to transfer. The processing of mail would be moved to the Traverse City facility, a move that may make the wait for mail longer for those living in rural areas, as Gaylord's hub currently deals with Northwestern Michigan. A meeting is slated to take place in the near future to gather public comment before a final decision is made.
Consumers warned about fraudulent e-mails
The FDIC has begun investigating a large number of consumer complaints regarding fraudulent e-mails that are circulating. Consumers should be aware that the e-mail, which informs the recipient that the Department of Homeland Security Diredcotr Tom Ridge has advised the FDIC to suspend all insurange on the recipients bank account due to suspected violations of the USA Patriot Act, is false. The e-mail prompts the user to verify personal identity, including bank account information, in an attempt to obtain personal information.
Consumers should in no way access the link provided in the message nor provide any personal information. The FDIC is attempting to identify the source of the e-mails and disrupt the transmission. Until this can be achieved, consumers are being asked to report any similar attempts to obtain this information to the FDIC by sending information to alert@fdic.gov.
