Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
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BESSEMER — A public hearing was scheduled directly before Tuesday’s city council meeting in Bessemer to discuss a variance request from Shawn Koski, who wanted to put a home behind his shop, which is zoned for industrial purposes. Koski’s request was denied. Council member Linda Nelson, who sits on the Planning Commission, said the commission made their recommendation to deny the variance because, “It’s not a hardship situation.” Mayor John Frello said that variances to zoning ordinances...
IRONWOOD — Back to school is a whole different ballgame for a student parent with three children in school. Beki Farrell, 34, of Ironwood, started her sixth semester at Gogebic Community College this week. She has made the dean’s list every semester, and is transferring to the University of Wisconsin-Superior to pursue a degree in childhood counseling after this semester. Farrell’s children are Niko, 15, Devon, 12, and Levi, 5. They go back to school next week. When Farrell first started at GC...
IRONWOOD — Burton Industries celebrated its 35th anniversary on Thursday evening at its facility in Ironwood’s Industrial Park, with spirits high despite the weather raining on outdoor plans. The evening included a short presentation, as well as dinner, games and prizes. The company has grown from a family affair in the basement of their rental house in Minocqua, Wis., in 1978, said Mark Leman, chief operating office, a time when gas was 63 cents a gallon, President Jimmy Carter was in the White...
IRONWOOD TOWNSHIP — Construction is underway at the Pat O’Donnell Civic Center, with the old floor being removed right now, said Brian Roehm, manager of the facility. According to Roehm, Ruotsala Concrete donated $17,000 worth of labor to cut and remove the slabs. From Sept. 9-26, volunteers are needed, because that is when rebar needs to be laid and mesh piping will be installed. On Sept. 27 the concrete of the new floor will be poured, a critical time for volunteer assistance, Roehm said. Cur...
SILVER CITY — The ninth annual Porcupine Mountains Music Festival ran Friday through Sunday, featuring 22 bands on the Peace Hill and Singing Hills stages, and 24 bands and performers on the Busking stage. Incoming festival director Cheryl Sundberg said that what makes this festival unique is the Friends of the Porkies focus on celebrating all kinds of music. “It’s a labor of love,” Sundberg said, run by 120 volunteers, six of whom work year round. “We’re rewarded by the smiles and the music....
IRONWOOD TOWNSHIP — The $4 million project at the Carl Kleimola Technical Center on the campus of Gogebic Community College is set to finish on time, said project foreman Bill Tregembo, of Angelo Luppino, Inc. Some electrical work will be completed through the end of the week, and carpets need to be installed, Tregembo said. All inspections have been completed. Keith LaFave, of Excel Fire Protection, was installing sprinkler systems on Thursday. Josh Pekuri, Lindquist Electric, was getting r...
IRONWOOD TOWNSHIP — Ninety-three students stampeded into the Campus Suites at Gogebic Community College on Tuesday, their induction into dorm life the first experience living away from their families for many. Students living at the suites this year come from as far away as New York, said dean of student services Jeanne Graham, although most come from throughout the Midwest. “The suites provide a nice community atmosphere,” said Graham. “It’s a good living and learning environment.” Orientation...
BESSEMER — City Manager Michael Uskiewicz told Bessemer City Council Monday night that FEMA payouts for four small projects have been approved for up-front payment, including $2,306 to fix a sidewalk and drainage on Clayberg Street. Another $6,922 will pay for labor and equipment used when dealing with flood issues this past spring. Altogether 11 projects were approved, with a total reimbursement from FEMA of $67,300. It is yet unclear what portion the state of Michigan will kick in toward r...
IRONWOOD — Clyde and Sally Gasparick are closing their music service store, Gasparick Music, after 22 years in business in downtown Ironwood. It’s a second retirement for Clyde, who retired from teaching in 1996. Clyde moved to Ironwood from Bark River in 1966 to teach music in the Ironwood schools. He and his wife raised their five children in Ironwood. In 1991, the Gasparicks saw a need in the community for a music store, so they went into business. Sally worked the store during the day, while...
BESSEMER — Friday morning at 6 a.m. Bessemer will be featured on “Today in America” on the Discovery channel, which reaches 104 million households. Bessemer’s spot is five minutes long, said city council member Al Gaiss, and the city’s intention in creating the spot was to attract people and businesses to the area to see what Bessemer and the surrounding area have to offer, especially to those sick of the rat race. Mayor John Frello, former Chamber of Commerce president Glen Pavlovich...
IRONWOOD — Tony Fabbri, of Ironwood, has finished a two year labor of love to rebuild a 1959 Cushman Eagle, which he calls “The eagle flies again.” Fabbri owned a small engine shop for 40 years before his retirement. He got the Eagle from his friend Michael Anderson in exchange for getting Anderson’s two Cushmans up and running. Fabbri did everything from replacing the tires, bearings, and engine, to sewing the seat and building parts for the machine, including using bed rails for part of it....
BESSEMER — A proposal was accepted by the Bessemer City Council to sell the old Presbyterian Church at 400 South Moore Street to Douglas Kikkebusch of Ironwood, for the amount of one dollar. The property had been out for bids for repurposing. City manager Michael Uskiewicz called Kikkebusch’s proposal “intriguing.” Kikkebusch plans to repurpose the building into an art gallery, studio space, and retail area, primarily for handmade glass works of art. His work is currently featured at a gallery...
SAXON — Nolan Salzmann auctioned off 18 pies at Sunday’s 4-H pie auction at the Iron County Fair, with one unexpected addition; a lamb. The lamb, which missed Saturday evening’s livestock auction, brought in $400 for the 4-H Livestock Club. As for the pies, Melissa Simonar, whose chilled hot chocolate pie was judged grand champion in the youth category prior to the auction, saw her pie sell for $420. The adult grand champion pie was a key lime from Dan Mooreman, and it earned $470. More than...
BESSEMER — David Rowe, a science teacher at A.D. Johnston High School in Bessemer, has returned from a trip to Africa with a program called XSci Africa. Fifteen teachers from Michigan made the life-altering trip, including four from the Upper Peninsula, Rowe said. The trip was offered through Michigan Technological University in Houghton. While visiting schools and orphanages in Tanzania, Rowe was struck by how happy the children were with so little. “They are not looking for pity,” he said....
HURLEY — As the members of Hurley’s class of 2003 gathered for their 10-year reunion last Saturday, they began the festivities by remembering a classmate battling cancer. Several members of the class of 2003, as well as other friends and members of the community, participated in a “Run for a Reason 5K” fundraiser for Alyssa Paro. The morning race began and ended at Riccelli Park. Paro was diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer, Paget’s disease, at age 27 in late November, followed...
BESSEMER — Bessemer School Board verbally approved the appointment of David Radovich as part-time superintendent for the 2013-14 school year, through Gogebic-Ontonagon Intermediate School District at a special meeting Wednesday afternoon. The appointment is for 135 days at $400 per day, with a flexible three-day work week. Radovich graduated from Ontonagon High School in 1971, and served as principal at the Hermantown (Minn.) School District. In the 2007-08 school year, he was named n...
IRONWOOD — Interior Gardens is slated to open at 105 Suffolk Street in Ironwood on Monday. The store will sell organic and ecofriendly gardening supplies for indoor gardening, including hydroponics, said store manager Jim Super. Super said he and another employee from their main store in Minneapolis have been working on readying the space for more than two weeks; refinishing the floors, gutting the upstairs and painting. “We’re bringing the building back from the brink,” Super said. The plan is...
IRONWOOD — The Gogebic Range Health Foundation and Aspirus Heart and Vascular Institute teamed together to donate two automated external defibrillators to the community on Monday. The AEDs arrived via the Aspirus MedEvac helicopter. Scott Garavet, service line administrator at Aspirus Heart and Vascular Institute, said when they decided where to locate the new AEDs, they wanted to place them where they would have the biggest potential impact, at Gogebic-Ontonagon Community Action Agency in B...
By KATIE PERTTUNEN [email protected] HURLEY — Saturday the Hurley Education Foundation inducted five distinguished alumni at a ceremony at the Hurley K-12 school. Robert Peltonen, Donald Baldovin, John Sturgul, Larry Brunello and Jean Endrizzi were honored. Iron County district attorney Martin Lipske accepted on behalf of Robert Peltonen, who had to attend a family wedding. Lipske called him a “tremendous success.” A 1964 Hurley graduate, Peltonen is chief executive officer, found...
HURLEY — The Iron County Historical Society Museum held an open house on Friday, featuring rug weaving, a blacksmithing demonstration, antique musical instrument demonstrations and broom tying, along with self-guided tours of the museum. Eric Sorenson, of Marengo, provided the music with part of his collection of antique instruments. A mandolin he played was made at the Gibson plant in Kalamazoo, Mich. Sorenson said that about 100 years ago, Americans began to have more leisure time, and this i...
HURLEY— The Range Art Association’s Art Show was judged on Thursday night by John McFaul, an award winning wildlife artist who has adopted Ironwood as his hometown. McFaul has had over 75 solo exhibitions in galleries throughout the United States, and his original works are featured in private and corporate collections throughout the U.S. and Europe. Judging the 58th art show of the RAA provided McFaul with a way to get more involved in the local art community, he said. Next year’s show may b...
HURLEY — Fifty children, many from the Hurley School’s STARS program, gathered in the conference room at Hurley City Hall Wednesday to meet three birds of prey from the Northwoods Wildlife Center during part of the Hurley Library’s summer programming. Courtney Wright, assistant director of education for the center, brought an American kestrel named T.J., a broad-winged hawk named Rory, and Cecil the owl. The birds were all rescued and are cared for at the center in Minocqua because of visio...
BESSEMER — The Bessemer Area School Board of Education has some difficult decisions to make, and not a lot of time to make them, which resulted in a special board meeting on Wednesday night. The board approved posting for a high school principal, as they received district administrator Mark Johnson’s resignation late Sunday evening. Former board member Tim France said that the board got notice of Johnson’s intent to accept a different position on May 20. Board member Bill McDonald said that...
IRONWOOD — Ironwood’s Carnegie Library has recently faced a series of financial blows. A sump pump malfunction caused $2,500 worth of damage in the children’s room in the basement, said library director Elaine Erickson. “This is why we really need an addition, instead of using the basement,” Erickson said Monday. An insurance claim has been filed, but it is unclear whether it will be reimbursed. The majority of damage was to the carpet. The children’s room was closed for a week, right in the mid...
BESSEMER — Bessemer School Board received district administrator Mark Johnson's resignation letter late Sunday night, effective June 30. Board President Robert Berg read the letter to the crowd at Monday evening's school board meeting. In the letter, Johnson gave his appreciation for the board, staff, families, and the community. Johnson said that as a team, the school surpassed the goal of making Bessemer the best school district in the western Upper Peninsula. He said it had been an honor to work with such dedicated professionals. The b...
