Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
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ONTONAGON — Up to a thousand Ontonagon Area High School graduates and their families and friends are expected to celebrate the 2015 All School Reunion in Ontonagon this upcoming Friday and Saturday, July 24-25. The reunions have been held every five years. This year’s event features two new co-chairs, Ontonagon County Clerk Stacey Preiss and Rich Ernest. The pair took over the massive work of organizing the event, which hundreds of former students are expected to attend, after longtime chairman Andy Lockhart retired. Preiss said the org...
Unemployment rose in five of the six western Upper Peninsula counties in May, according to the Bureau of Labor Market. The civilian labor market grew in both Gogebic and Ontonagon counties with both total employment and the unemployment rate rising during the month. The labor reports in the two counties are almost identical to each other. In Gogebic County, 100 people were added to the labor force in May. Seventy-five of them are employed. Total unemployment in Gogebic county is 525, bringing the unemployment rate to 7.9 percent. That was up...
ONTONAGON — Ontonagon residents will be able to get their marine weather information close to home under an agreement signed by the Ontonagon Village Council Monday. The village agreed to lease village property at the Ontonagon marina to the National Weather Service so a weather station can be constructed there. The agreement permits the NWS to locate a maritime observation system and equipment at the marina to measure tides, currents, water and air temperatures, barometric pressure and wind along the Ontonagon River 24 hours a day, seven d...
ONTONAGON — The Ontonagon Area Board of Education heard about a new program which will be included in the Ontonagon curriculum through the Gogebic-Ontonagon Intermediate School District. Superintendent-Principal Jim Bobula said an agriculture class will be part of the science curriculum. He said the GOISD has hired an instructor, and Shawn Kolbus of the GOISD, was in Ontonagon looking for a site for a greenhouse which would be utilized as part of the agriculture curriculum. Although a credit class is for high school students, Bobula said the e...
ONTONAGON – Ontonagon Village Manager Joe Erickson told the Village Council Monday that engineers for a new dollar store in Ontonagon have been on the proposed site for the store and he expects a request will be made next week for a building permit to start the new structure. The new Family Dollar will be erected on M-38 across from the Ontonagon Court House and next to the former Pamida store. Mountain Engineers are the engineers for the store, which will replace the existing smaller store next to Pat’s Foods. Village council members said the...
ONTONAGON - Thirty years ago, Steve Polakowski graduated from the Ontonagon Area High School. On Friday night, he stood before the 31 OAHS graduates as their commencement speaker. In the interim 30 years, Polakowski earned a bachelor's and master's degree from Michigan Tech University, worked at General Motors, served as a senior research engineer at MTU and, in 1996, founded his own successful company, Great Lakes Sound and Vibrations. Today, GLSV is a recognized brand in the automotive,...
BERGLAND — Four of the six high schools in the Gogebic-Ontonagon Intermediate School District have received bronze ratings from U.S. News and World Reports. Ironwood, Besssmer, Watersmeet and Ontonagon high schools received the awards for mathematics and reading in a national ranking with schools across the nation. Bessemer had the highest proficiency among GOISD schools in mathematics and reading. Bessemer’s proficiency in reading was measured through testing to be 60 percent. Ironwood and Watersmeet were both at 54 percent, and Ont...
ONTONAGON - Ontonagon County has a new prosecutor and treasurer. Friday, Judge Roy Gotham swore in Michael Findlay as prosecutor and Ontonagon County Clerk Stacy Preiss swore in the new treasurer, Jeanne Pollard. Gotham told the crowd gathered for the ceremony that it was fitting the ceremony took place on Law Day. "We are a nation of laws and prosecutors, police and judges are vital to a free society," Gotham said. He said Findlay is a good lawyer and feels Findlay and his wife, Michelle, will...
ONTONAGON — The Ontonagon County board Tuesday said goodbye to long time treasurer Dee Killoran Tuesday. Killoran has worked for the county for 44 years and nine months, 32 of those years were as County Treasurer. Killoran is retiring at the end of the month. The board thanked her for her years of service. In her last report to the board she informed them that her office has finished the last of the foreclosed 30 parcels of land which will be offered for auction and bought the local delinquent tax rolls of $1,340,000. Stepping into the t...
ONTONAGON - "Use it or lose it" was the message the Ontonagon County Economic Development Corporation received Wednesday, concerning the Ontonagon Revolving Loan Funds. Dale Cook, Regional Loan Manages for Northern Initiatives, which manager all the Western U.P. RLF funds, stressed the revolving loan fund board has received a letter from the state concerning a little known clause in the revolving loan fund regulations called " continuing activity." The letter, Cook said, indicates if Ontonagon...
ONTONAGON - Five thousands Letters have been sent to Ontonagon Area School alumni inviting them to the All School reunion July 24-25. It is the first fully automated reunion with much of the replies and planning done through the internet. Julie Johnson, treasurer of the reunion committee said that returns are good and individual class meetings are being disseminated through the internet. Rich Ernest is the Chairman and Stacey Preiss is secretary of the committee. The trio agreed to take over...
ONTONAGON - Purple "Disable the Label" shirts were everywhere at the Regional Inclusive Community Coalition disability awareness event Friday in Ontonagon. March is developmental disability awareness month and the event featured information booths and simulation activities. Visitors used devices which simulated what it was like to have hearing, sight and strength disabilities so they could experience what it is like to have such handicaps. Michigan State University Extension had a booth...
ONTONAGON - Ryon Hokens, Director of Rehabilitation at Aspirus Ontonagon Hospital, said the Evole Chair, purchased by the Aspirus Ontonagon Foundation, has helped many patients at the hospital. The chair was purchased from proceeds of the annual Christmas show for the foundation. Jim Jessup, president of the foundation, presented a check for $3,799 to Deanna Wilson, vice-president of patient services at the hospital. Hokens said some patients are unable to stand and the chair is a "restorative"...
ONTONAGON — The Ontonagon Village Council Monday heard a report from Manager Joe Erickson reviewing the operations of the Ontonagon Village Housing Commission. The housing commission governs the operation of Cane Court housing units for low income residents. Cane Court is owned by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, with by-laws set by both HUD and the commission. Erickson distributed a long list of areas in which the commission has not followed the by-laws, noting he considers most of the problems to be institutional, s...
ONTONAGON - Instead of Ontonagon being at the end of the trail, village manager Joe Erickson wants it to be a place to start vacations and obtain jobs. The village and its council are taking a two-pronged approach to realizing that goal. One of the prongs is providing more recreational opportunities and the other is encouraging more businesses to move into the area. Ontonagon is nearing approval for a Michigan Natural Resources grant to provide a paddle craft and kayak site on Rose Island,...
BESSEMER - Andy Tingstad has seen many changes in both the court system and the community in his 32 years as District Judge for Gogebic and Ontonagon Counties. He retired effective Thursday at noon. Tingstad is not a native of the Upper Peninsula, although the U.P. is part of the family genealogy. He noted 2014 was the 100th anniversary of the Tingstad family leaving the Copper Country. He said that was the time of the big miners' strike in the Copper Country and the tragic Italian Hall...
A building that was constructed by the Village of Ontonagon in the early 2000's as an incentive to bring business to the area has finally achieved that goal. In a special meeting Monday, the speculation building, located in the former Renaissance Zone was sold to a relatively young new business. Following the closing of the Ontonagon paper mill, several men headed to the oil fields in North Dakota. Several of them were fabricators and found they could make and improve on equipment used in...
ONTONAGON - An attendance record was broken at the Ontonagon Theater of the Performing Arts Friday with the presentation of the "Christmas in the Snow." More than 350 people packed the theater, where the previous record was 329. This year marked the sixth annual Christmas show with performers Jim Jessup, Mike Urbis, Yvonne Blake and friends. The music and comedy between Jessup and Urbis featured Urbis as the reindeer hauling Santa, played by Jessup on the sleigh, Urbis as a hobo going "Home for...
ONTONAGON — The Ontonagon County Saint Nicholas Project met Wednesday to set in motion its next month of activities to help the elderly and those in need have a brighter Christmas. Committee members agreed that with the state of the economy in the county, there is a greater need to help struggling families and the elderly. For many, that need will be met with food vouchers. “Christmas is a good time to reach out to those families,” Saint Nicholas co-chair Kathie Bauer said. The food voucher program is in need of additional funds to ensur...
EWEN - Michigan State Police said a 21-year-old Ewen man was arrested after trying to rob a Ewen homeowner at gunpoint. Clint Alan Paulick, 21, was arraigned in Ontonagon County District Court Wednesday on charges of home invasion, first-degree, a 20-year felony; attempted armed robbery, a five-year felony; two counts of felonious assault and one count of larceny of a gun. His bond was set at $1 million. Troopers from the MSP Wakefield Post. Witnesses said Paulick entered the residence and held...
ONTONAGON - Dorothy Phillips' desire to go hunting during her two days off from teaching at the Ontonagon High School in 1984 probably saved her life. Phillips was helping out a friend, the late Gladys Chamberlain, who needed medical work at Marshfield but would be unable to drive for 24 hours after the tests. Phillips talked her into getting her checkup on Wednesday so they could go hunting on Thursday and Friday. Phillips found herself in Marshfield with nothing to do for 24 hours and decided...
ONTONAGON - The Ontonagon Rotary Club Wednesday presented the Ontonagon Amateur Hockey Association a check for the "Skates for Kids" program at the recreation facility. Jason Clinesmith, president of the hockey association, and Shannon Clinesmith, treasurer, accepted $800 as the proceeds of the Rotary log sale during the Ontonagon Labor Festival. The Clinesmiths said the skates will be purchased and rented free to skaters using the rink. The pair explained the new efforts to keep the recreation...
ONTONAGON - Beautiful weather, large crowds, music, floats and some surprises highlighted the 57th annual Ontonagon Labor Festival parade Sunday in Ontonagon. The parade featured a special presentation, welcoming Highland Copper Company president David Fennell to Ontonagon County. Highland recently purchased the rights to mining projects in the Upper Peninsula, including the White Pine Mine. William Fischer, president of the Ontonagon County Economic Partnership, presented Fennell with a framed...
When you have been involved with an organization as long as I have with the Ontonagon Labor Festival, you have many memories. For more than 50 years, with many chairmen and groups, the annual event has been part of my life. It has become more than a local celebration. It is a homecoming, a last hurrah of the summer, a goodbye to the Upper Peninsula. It's all these things and more to many people. For me, it is a flood of memories. The most vivid, of course is the one in 2008. The phone woke me...
ONTONAGON - Ontonagon Labor Festival officials learned Highland Copper president Dave Fennell will be the parade marshal at the Festival Parade Sunday at 2 p.m. The Ontonagon County Economic Partnership has spearheaded an effort to welcome Highland Copper by distributing "welcome" signs around town. Fennell received a law degree in 1979 from the University of Alberta and practiced corporate and resource law until 1983 when he founded Golden Star Resources. During his term as president and CEO,...
