Luce County Loses Animal Control Department

After voters in Luce County turned down a request for animal control millage November 4, Luce County will no longer operate an animal control department. It will have no shelter, no animal control officer, and no assistant as of November 29.

Animals housed in Luce County are being transferred to other shelters, according to the county sheriff, and while police can write tickets to owners of nuisance animals, they will not take nuisance animals away, as there is no place to put them.

Seven years ago, Luce County commissioners established an animal control board there, taking the responsibility away from the sheriff's department. Perhaps this year voters assumed that if the millage did not pass, animal control duties would revert back to the sheriff's department, Sheriff Kevin Erickson speculated in a published report, but he pointed out that is not going to be the case.

Mackinac County Animal Shelter in St. Ignace is able and willing to accept a few dogs from the Luce County shelter, Jo Ford of Mackinac Animal Aid Association told The St. Ignace News November 14.

- The Newberry News

50th Anniversary Commemorates Loss of the Carl D. Bradley

In Rogers City, a week of special events is planned to commemorate the sinking of the Carl D. Bradley November 18, 1958. Events began Saturday, November 15, and continue through Sunday, November 23. Thirty-three lives were lost and two were saved when the ship went down in northern Lake Michigan. Most of the seamen were from Rogers City.

The former publisher of the Presque Isle County Advance, Harry Whitely, recalls in a report published last week that he was crossing the center span of the Mackinac Bridge, heading north to an Upper Peninsula deer camp, at the same time the Bradley passed below the bridge westbound on November 14, 1958. A friend traveling with him remarked, "There goes the Bradley on her last trip," meaning the last trip of the season. She sank on her return trip to Rogers City.

This year's annual bell ringing ceremony Tuesday was moved to the Rogers City High School gymnasium in anticipation of a large crowd. For the first time, the original Bradley bell, recovered from the ship in 2007, was to be rung by a family member of each person lost on the ship, while the image of each lost sailor was projected on a large screen. The annual ceremony is organized by the Great Lakes Lore Maritime Museum.

- Presque County Advance

Northern Michigan Tribe's $120 Million Debt Puts It on 'Vulnerable' List

With $120 million in debt, the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians is listed among companies considered "vulnerable to default" by Standards & Poor's business analysts. The northern Michigan tribe is one of 181 global companies listed as "weak links" in the debt market. The list was published in Business Week.

The tribe's competition from the Grand Traverse Bay Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians' new facility and a lack of diversity in its gaming operations were reasons given for the rating. Analysts are "highly concerned" about the tribe's ability to generate enough earnings to make its payments, and gave it a low B- rating among industries in the gaming sector.

The tribe's chairman is Frank Ettawageshik.

- Petoskey News-Review

Is It Snowmobile Season Yet?

An eight-inch snowfall in the Gaylord area over the weekend of November 8 and 9 prompted a flurry of phone calls asking whether the snowmobile trails are now open, the Gaylord Area Convention and Tourism Bureau reported last week.

"We're getting our hopes up" for the season, said bureau director Paul Beachnau in a published report.

Snowmobile dealers in that area have reported brisk sales this fall, and long range weather forecasts suggest a favorable upcoming winter for the sport.

Trails throughout northern Michigan officially open December 1.

- Gaylord Herald Times