5 YEARS AGO June 6, 2019
Venerable Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore has withstood high water before. And it is again, although much of the national parks beach is underwater and erosion is dropping tons of sand into the Big Lake. The concern is more with humans than the resource. More endangered piping plovers are nesting than a year ago, and the dune itself is in no danger of running out of sand. But water levels that have risen to within a few inches the record set 33 years ago is building a cliff along the Lakeshore that makes access difficult. And the receding beach is starting to threaten homes. *** Although commissioners initially balked at the multi-million cost, the county board agreed last week to move ahead with two major projects to improve county facilities. During a special meeting last Thursday, May 30, the board approved a $1.2 million contract with Lutz Roofing Company of downstate Macomb County to re-roof the county Law Enforcement Center (LEC).
10 YEARS AGO June 5, 2014
Delana Kirt of Lake Leelanau has been to Comerica Park a few times to see her favorite team — the Detroit Tigers. But on Saturday, the 8-year-old St. Mary second grader will take the field before the Tigers’ game with the defending World Champion Boston Red Sox. The daughter of Mike and Andrea Kirt is a finalist in the Major League Baseball Hit, Pitch and Run competition. A strong performance could earn Delana a trip to the nationals at the All-Star Game in Minnesota on July 15. *** By all accounts, the self-proclaimed owner of Sugar Loaf Resort is expecting to sell the long-shuttered ski resort to someone “soon.” “Of course, ‘soon’ is a relative thing,” said local real estate agent John Peppler who is representing Remo Polselli and an unnamed group of “investors.” The head of the Leelanau County Construction Code Authority, Steve Haugen, said he has heard from Polselli by phone or email almost every week since March when Haugen conducted an interior inspection of the resort and ordered that a four-page list of code violations be rectified. *** A business that may be the first of its kind in Leelanau County is expected to be open by this weekend — a fried fish outlet operating from a trailer in a parking lot. Located in the Barrels & Barrels convenience store parking lot on the east side of M-22 just north of Peck Road and just south of the Village of Suttons Bay, the business will primarily sell whitefi sh caught by local tribal fishermen in Lake Michigan waters surrounding the Leelanau Peninsula.
25 YEARS AGO June 10, 1999
The Leelanau Conservancy has received the single largest individual conservation easement in its history for 110 acres located off Wheeler Rd. in Cleveland Township. Robert and Gerry Krumwiede of Illinois still own the property, but the land will be spared from future residential or commercial development. *** Leland native Glen Petersen is producing an hour-long documentary based on 8 and 16 millimeter film footage dating to the 1940s. The films were taken by brothers Elden and Guyle Dame, descendents of Deacon Joseph Dame, who established what is now Northport. *** Corey Matthews, who escaped May 27 from the Leelanau County jail, continues to elude law enforcement. He was last sighted by a deputy of Wexford County Sheriff’s Department near Buckley driving a stolen GMC Jimmy.
50 YEARS AGO June 6, 1974
Fifteen teenagers from Suttons Bay picketed the County Courthouse at Leland Wednesday morning to protest a dog law which allows a property owner to shoot any dog which “pursues, worries or wounds livestock, poultry or persons,” on the property owner’s property. *** Leelanau County Sheriff’s Department has recovered a number of road signs and other signs from where they were dumped at Eagle Highway and Alpers Road Monday. The signs included stop signs and reflectors and were found on both sides of the road. Sheriff’s deputies theorize the sign vandals at various places and dumped at Eagle Highway – Alpers Road location.
75 YEARS AGO June 3, 1948
Serious forest fire danger hangs over Leelanau and surrounding counties, the State Conservation Department warns. Three fires in the Upper Peninsula got out of control Tuesday but by Wednesday afternoon large crews of fighters seemed to have won their battle. Reports reaching the county Wednesday afternoon of a 50,000-acre fire raging in Ontario, beyond Sault Ste. Marie, caused conservation officers and woodsmen to be particularly careful not to start anything. *** Michigan Bell Telephone Company has applied to the State Public Service Commission for permission to raise its rates an average of 30 percent in outstate and rural communities including Leelanau county. Long distance tolls, if the company has its way, will rise 28 percent.
100 YEARS AGO June 5, 1924
Fullers Orchestra of Kalamazoo will give the first of a public series of Monday Night Public Dances in the Community Hall June 9th, at popular prices of admission. The continuances of these dances will depend upon the patronage. Ochestra is well know and will do its part toward making every Monday night a pleasant one. *** The marriage of Mr. Elmer Dalton of this village and Miss Phylis Sheriden took place at the home of the bride Mr. and Mrs. Frank Sheriden at Glen Arbor on Monday last. Rev. Wheeler officiated. The happy couple left the same day via motor Southern Michigan to be absent for a few weeks.
