Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
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LANSING — Gov. Rick Snyder Friday appointed John Matonich, of Lake Gogebic, to chair the Michigan Trails Advisory Council. Matonich retired in 2016 as CEO of Rowe Professional Services Company. He served there as CEO from 1992 to 1999 and as president from 1997 to 2014. Matonich, a Bessemer native, lived in lower Michigan before returning to the Lake Gogebic area in Marenisco Township. He also serves on the Gogebic County Road Commission board. He earned his bachelor’s degree in land surveying from Michigan Technological University in Hou...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] MERCER, Wis. — Mercer Library Director Teresa Schmidt discussed the basics of building a website Thursday during a class on the basics of using WordPress. Schmidt gave an overview of the various stages of building a website during her WordPress 101 presentation and answered questions from those in attendance. After discussing choosing a domain name and hosting company, Schmidt opened up a WordPress Dashboard and showed the various key parts of a WordPress site. This included choosing a theme and p...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] HURLEY — It’s possible cellphone coverage in Iron County will improve after the Iron County Board of Supervisors’ finance committee approved an agreement with U.S. Cellular Thursday to allow the company to lease tower space from the county. The company will pay Iron County $1,300 a month to lease space on two of the county’s towers, one located in the Mercer area and the other in Upson. “I think it’s real fair,” said Darrell Petrusha, who has been working for the county on various communication...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] Ironwood and Gogebic County projects were approved for Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund grant awards by the state legislature. The Miners Memorial Heritage Park mountain bike trail system project was approved for a $280,000 grant and the Iron Belle Bessemer to Ramsay trail project will receive $299,900. In February, the Gogebic County Board passed a resolution supporting an application to the trust fund for development of three miles of the Iron Belle. The total project cost is $1,428,000. Board...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] HURLEY — The Hurley School Board will consider the bid process for the planned technology education expansion project at Monday’s regular monthly meeting. The school board originally discussed a 4,300-square-foot addition to the technology (wood and metal shops) area at the K-12 school that would cost around $1.1 million and a wellness center costing around $1 million. When the planning process began, district administrator Chris Patritto said the school district had a $3.9 million fund balance, so...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] BESSEMER — The present ambulance service for Gogebic County will continue into 2019, with Beacon Ambulance covering the west end of the county and Aspirus covering the east end. The Gogebic County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday approved a $370,000 subsidy for Beacon to provide the service. Aspirus has a current contract that runs through March and will likely be renewed then by the board for the eastern end with a $57,000 subsidy. Jim Lorenson, of Ironwood, who chairs a special ambulance c...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] WAKEFIELD - The Wakefield city council voted Monday to adopt temporary rules regarding the use of its newly remodeled community room. In the past 10 months, a local initiative called 4 the Kids solicited donations and held fundraisers to collect about $20,000 to replace the community room floor with a sports-friendly surface, so that younger kids from the Wakefield-Marenisco K-12 School would have a place to practice when older kids were using the school...
WAKEFIELD — With winter set in on the Gogebic Range, local law enforcement officials are reminding drivers to fully clean off their windshields and windows before hitting the road. Not only is cleaning windshields safer, according to Michigan State Police Community Service Trooper Jerry Mazurek, but it’s also required by law. Mazurek said in a news release Michigan law requires drivers have unobstructed windows while driving. “A person shall not operate a motor vehicle with … an object that obstructs the vision of the driver of the vehicle...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] BESSEMER - The Bessemer city hall auditorium featured several tables Monday evening during a combined meeting that joined members from five different governing bodies. Represented were the city council, planning commission, downtown development authority, parks and recreation commission, and an informal branding group. A representative of each entity provided an overview of objectives accomplished in 2018, after which members of each group discussed future...
IRONWOOD — The Ironwood City Commission on Monday agreed to sell water at a discounted rate for this weekend’s sno cross snowmobile event at Mt. Zion on the campus of Gogebic Community College. Commissioners agreed to offer the same discounted water rate that is also granted for water used to make ice for the county fairgrounds track off Cloverland Drive. City manager Scott Erickson said the Fire on the Hill sno cross event at GCC returns Friday and Saturday. Practice begins at 11 a.m. Friday and ends at 4 p.m. On Saturday, there’s a $5 admis...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] HURLEY — The Hurley City Council accepted a favorable audit report for 2017 at Tuesday’s regular monthly meeting. The audit by Wipfli LLP found “no unusual transactions,” council members learned. Some of the city’s grant money from projects will be carried into 2018 for audit purposes. The state retirement system is overfunded, the council was told, but that was because of favorable stock market investments that can vary from year to year. The council approved hiring Wipfli to complete the 2018 audit a...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] IRONWOOD - The Ironwood City Commission on Monday approved an ordinance to prohibit marijuana establishments in the city for six months, when the issue will be revisited. "We'll do this again in six months," city commissioner Rick Semo said. Recreational marijuana use was approved in Michigan in the November mid-term election by a 56-44 percent margin, but cities can opt out of allowing marijuana establishments and many have chosen to do so. Recreationa...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] WAKEFIELD - The Wakefield city council voted Monday to have city attorney Ray O'Dea draw up an ordinance stating the city will opt out of allowing marijuana businesses to operate within the city. City manager Richard Brackney said a related public hearing will be held just prior to the second reading of the ordinance at a future meeting. The council then will vote on the ordinance. Wakefield's action follows in the footsteps of the cities of Ironwood and...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] IRONWOOD TOWNSHIP — After hearing from residents at the last meeting, the Ironwood Township Board of Trustees decided more work was needed on next year’s budget; with the board Monday scheduling a budget workshop next week. The workshop is scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m., prior to the board’s Dec. 17 meeting. During a Nov. 26 public hearing, several residents expressed their opposition to the amount of money allocated to the salaries of the three elected officials — township supervisor, clerk a...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] IRONWOOD - Excited patrons of the Historic Ironwood Theatre packed the house for Saturday night's annual Claudette Christmas show, during which they were clapping and cheering even before the acts began. Even musical director George Ackerman-Behr, who offered a pre-show warm-up by playing organ tunes such as "Winter Wonderland," received cries of "We love you!" The Claudettes began the show by applying their jazzy dance skills to pop Christmas tunes,...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] MERCER - The first combined Candy Cane Christmas Celebration was a big success in Mercer Saturday. In past years, the traditional Candy Cane Christmas parade was planned by a committee for a weekend separate from the annual Christmas party sponsored for area children by the Mercer Area Historical Society. This year, Mercer chamber director Beth Wetzler said both groups created a combined committee to host the parade and party on the same day, making it...
IRONWOOD — Gogebic Community College is conducting a survey of business and industry the region to assess ways in which the college can assist businesses with their training needs. One of the college’s 2018-2019 institutional goals calls for better collaboration with business and industry to enhance the college’s role in workforce development in the region, according to Dean of Instruction Ryon List. “This survey will play a vital role in GCC’s efforts to assess and determine the best training needs for business and industry,” he said in a n...
By LARRY HOLCOMBE [email protected] MERCER, Wis. – U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wausau, held a series of town halls in his Seventh Congressional District Friday, starting with a small gathering over morning coffee in the lobby of the Great Northern Hotel in Mercer. He fielded questions from a dozen people on a wide variety of topics, including border security, climate change and health care. Duffy said he is a supporter of securing the nation's borders and building a wall along the b...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] While Iron County opened its snowmobile trails this week, other Wisconsin counties will wait until Dec. 15 to do so. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources officials said lack of snow and trail easements beginning on Dec. 15 are factors in the counties’ plans. While Iron County has received nearly 50 inches of snow and there’s about a foot on the ground, snowmobilers weren’t exactly flocking to Hurley yet on Friday, as the trail news hadn’t spread downstate. About 80 miles of trails were opened init...
