Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
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By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] BESSEMER — Members of the Gogebic County Board of Commissioners voted April 10 to undertake discussions with Watersmeet and Marenisco townships regarding how PILT funds are distributed. The acronym PILT stands for “payment in lieu of taxes,” and representatives of the two townships approached commissioners with their related frustration in what they view as unfair allotments. According to the U.S. Department of the Interior, “Payments in Lieu of Taxes are federal payments that help local governm...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] BESSEMER — Members of the Downtown Development Authority continued a debate at an April 10 meeting as to whether to release a city lot to support a local business or to retain the land for possible future development. The discussion related to a letter of request from James Thull dated Nov. 16, 2023. Action on Thull’s request has been tabled since that time. Thull said in the letter that he now owns a building at 119 E. Sellar St. that he uses to rent apartments. His request was to purchase the adj...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] BESSEMER — The Gogebic County Board of Commissioners voted last week to appoint Peter Tacconelli of Bessemer and Whitney Vernetti of Ironwood to 3-year terms on the Board of Directors of the county’s Community Mental Health Authority in Wakefield. The board also voted to reappoint three incumbents to the board: Joseph Bonovetz of Bessemer, who also is a county commissioner; Carrie Braspenick of Wakefield; and Patricia Crabtree of Ironwood. Bonovetz abstained on the otherwise unanimous vote. The act...
WAKEFIELD, Mich. - Mary Ann (Grivicich) Anderson, 99, of Wakefield, passed away peacefully at home on Friday, April 12, 2024, with her daughters at her bedside. Mary was born on March 27, 1925, in Ironwood, the youngest of seven children to Marco and Matilda (Smolich) Grivicich. She attended Luther L. Wright High School in Ironwood and graduated with the class of 1943. In 1946, Mary was united in marriage to Robert A. Anderson. They were blessed with three daughters, Diane, Paulette and Mary....
Email calendar items and community news to [email protected]. For more information, call 906-932-2211. Thursday, April 18 Bessemer St. Vincent de Paul, financial assistance, 9-10 a.m.; food pantry, 10 a.m. to noon. 906-663-4436. Gogebic-Ontonagon Community Action Agency food commodity distribution for seniors, Bergland, Lake Gogebic Senior Center, 9:25-9:40 a.m. EDT; White Pine, Carp Lake Township Hall, 10-10:15 a.m. EDT; Ontonagon, Holy Family Catholic Church, 11-11:30 a.m. EDT; Mass City Resource Center, 12:30-1 p.m. EDT. Ironwood St....
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] BESSEMER — The Bessemer City Council voted on Monday evening to approve a request by Jeremy Johnson and Melissa Anderson to purchase city property on the corner of Mine Street and First Avenue for $1 with the understanding that construction of a home must commence within a year. The vote included the understanding that Johnson and Anderson must submit a related site plan, as requested by Mayor Peter Tacconelli. City Councilman Adam Zak also requested that the agreement include the caveat that “any major d...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] BESSEMER — Members of the Bessemer City Council voted on Monday evening to table the posting of the city manager opening until their next meeting on April 22. Council members agreed on most aspects of the post but decided that they need more time to research how to phrase the rate of pay. Interim City Manager Mandy Lake provided a refined version of the posting, which includes photos of the Bessemer area, along with updated statistics. “What I did do is revamp the characteristics we’re looking for in a...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] WAKEFIELD — Members of the Wakefield Chamber of Commerce may need to start paying nominal rent for their location at the Wakefield Visitors’ and Information Center. That was the conclusion of a Monday evening discussion by the Wakefield City Council. From about mid-May to October each year, the chamber uses the visitors’ center, which is next to Sunday Lake and the public deck that features the Chippewa Indian statue known as Nee-gaw-nee-gaw-bow. “The property is the city’s,” said City Manager Robert Brow...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] MARQUETTE --- Ewen-Trout Creek's Bree Besonen joined a pretty exclusive club last week. The eighth grader was named to the All-U.P. Second Team at the 49th annual Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association girls basketball meeting last week. She's believed to be one of just three girls to ever be named to the All-U.P. team as an eighth grader. She knows the other two pretty well - they're her sisters. Elise Besonen made it in 2017 and...
SAGINAW TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Merlyn G. Luoma, 95, of Saginaw Township, beloved father, grandfather and uncle passed, away peacefully on Monday, April 1, 2024. The son of the late Bert and Senia (Hahta) Luoma, Merlyn was born on Oct. 20, 1928, in Bessemer. He attended Bessemer Schools. He married Mae Makela on June 30, 1951. She predeceased him on June 19, 2001. Merlyn was a member of Our Saviour Lutheran Church in Saginaw Township. He was an inspector and draftsman and worked for Saginaw Township Water Department, Francis Engineering and Spicer E...
SUFFIELD, Conn. — Gloria “Linda” Artesani, age 92, a longtime Bessemer resident, passed away peacefully in her sleep on March 29, 2024, in Suffield, Connecticut. Linda lived in the Upper Peninsula for more than 50 years and proudly wore the badge of being a “Yooper.” Born in Boston, Massachusetts, daughter of Albert Artesani and Gala “Shufelt” Artesani, Linda is survived by her three children, daughter Karen, two sons Wayne and Tom; also six grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She also has a large family from the Boston area where she was...
BESSEMER — A question of whether or not to allot funds to the Gogebic County Council of Veterans Affairs has created a difference of opinions among governmental entities in Gogebic County. The issue was discussed at the March 27 meeting of the Gogebic County Board of Commissioners and has been scheduled for the next meeting’s agenda, as well. The commissioners’ discussion arose after learning that the city of Ironwood had informed the CVA that it will not pay its current requested allotment of $8,517. The 2024 budget for the CVA is $67,7...
IRONWOOD, Mich. - Harold M. Pospeck, 77, of Ironwood, passed away peacefully on March 7, 2024, at St. Luke's Hospital in Duluth, Minnesota. Harold was the son of Bernard and Catherine and the brother of wonderful siblings and their spouses: Donald (Marvella), Betty Rigoni (Omar), Connie Figuli (Robert), Gerald (Marlene), Henry (Mary), Laura Modjewski (John), Charlotte Wells (Al), James (Patricia) and Darlene Green (Bob). Henry, Laura, Charlotte and Darlene, and their spouses, along with...
BESSEMER - Last week's Gogebic County Board of Commissioners began on a high note with a donation of $10,000 to the county's Search and Rescue Team from the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians. Commissioner George Peterson III presented the check on behalf of the tribe. "They are wonderful people," said Peterson of the tribe, led by James Williams Jr. Peterson praised the tribe's ongoing generosity to a number of local causes. The commissioner's sweatshirt also included a...
BESSEMER — In an attempt to streamline the organization and documentation of seasonal storage at the Gogebic County Fairgrounds, one of the committees of the Gogebic County Board of Commissioners is requesting clarification of how the system has been managed to date. Members of the Personnel and Negotiations Committee voted last week to send to Thomas Hampston, a member of the county Fair Board, a letter with a list of questions regarding the storage process. The letter signed by Committee Chairman Daniel Siirila began as follows: “A rec...
Email calendar items and community news to [email protected]. For more information, call 906-932-2211. Thursday, April 4 Bessemer St. Vincent de Paul, financial assistance, 9-10 a.m.; food pantry, 10 a.m. to noon. 906-663-4436. Ironwood St. Vincent de Paul, food pantry and financial assistance, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., located behind Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church. 906-932-4325. Gogebic County Veterans Service Officer, 10:30-11:30 a.m., Wakefield City Hall; 1-2 p.m., Watersmeet Township; 2:45-3:15 p.m., Marenisco Township. 906-667-1110....
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] BESSEMER - Members of the Bessemer City Council voted on Monday evening to appoint Clerk/Treasurer Mandy Lake to the role of interim city manager. In separate votes, they also increased her salary to the equivalent of $5,000 per year and authorized her to prepare a job posting for city manager. "Ms. Lake has pretty much stepped up to the task," said Councilman Adam Zak regarding Lake, who already was acting in the city manager's role from the start of the...
By LARRY HOLCOMBE [email protected] IRONWOOD - Gogebic Community College played host to nearly 100 local middle and high school students for the inaugural Pi Day Competition on March 20. Thirty-one teams of three students from grades 7-12, representing four school districts within the Gogebic-Ontonagon Intermediate School District competed in a series of mathematical problems if not related to, certainly in honor of, pi - the ratio of the circumference of a circle to it's diameter -...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] BESSEMER — Plans by the Bessemer Area Historical Society to construct a new Bessemer Heritage Center on East Sellar Street have reached an impasse due to a discovery that part of the targeted property is not owned by the city, as originally thought. The Heritage Center is now at the main street address of 403 S. Sophie St., but the plan was to construct a new building on the south side of the 100 block East Sellar Street after the City Council and Downtown Development Authority both voted to sell a piece...
By MEGAN HUGHES [email protected] BESSEMER — The Bessemer School Board voted March 20 to approve the list of 2024 graduates, and heard a brief update regarding the electric buses that the district is expecting to introduce in the 2024 school year. Kassi Huotari, the district’s business manager, said that the board has officially paid for the buses. “We did pay for the electric buses, that cost us $10,000. They are completed and built now, but we are waiting to take them until after our charger is installed, so sometime during the summe...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] BESSEMER — Members of the Bessemer City Council voted to approve the hiring of an East Lansing company to serve as advisor in relation to the city’s Phase 3 project on the pending new Bluff Reservoir. The city agreed to pay Baker Tilly Municipal Advisors LLC its requested fee of $18,600, specifically to address issues in relation to the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund’s bond/loan process. Company Director Andy Campbell outlined Baker Tilly’s perceived role in a March 11 letter to city represe...
BESSEMER, Mich. - Norma J. Pucilowski, age 86, formerly of Bessemer, died March 18, 2024. Norma Jane Schneider was born on Oct. 23, 1937, to the late Alfred and Mary (Selvig) Schneider in Jamestown, Michigan. Norma attended local schools in North Dorr, Michigan, and graduated high school from Catholic Central in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with the class of 1955. On Aug. 17, 1957, she was married to the late Donald "Patchy" Pucilowski at the Visitation Church in North Dorr. In 1969, they moved from...
Email calendar items and community news to [email protected]. For more information, call 906-932-2211. Thursday, March 28 Bessemer St. Vincent de Paul, financial assistance, 9-10 a.m.; food pantry, 10 a.m. to noon. 906-663-4436. Ironwood St. Vincent de Paul, food pantry and financial assistance, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., located behind Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church. 906-932-4325. Alcoholics Anonymous, noon, Salem Lutheran Church, Ironwood. area74.org. Government Downtown Ironwood Development Authority, 8 a.m., Women’s Club Room, Memorial...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] BESSEMER — Gogebic County Sheriff Ross Solberg announced last week his plans to retire from his position as of the end of this year. “It’s not that I don’t like my job; I just feel it’s time,” said Solberg during the public comment session of a meeting of the Gogebic County Board of Commissioners. Solberg said his current term is up as of the Nov. 5 election, and he will not run for office. He added that he will endorse Undersheriff Jorge Cruz as his successor. Cruz confirmed after the meeting that he int...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] BESSEMER — After slightly more than four months on the job, Bessemer City Manager Christopher Frazer has resigned. Clerk/Treasurer Mandy Lake confirmed by phone on Monday that Frazer had submitted a letter of resignation on March 15. The action followed a March 13 special meeting, which consisted mainly of a closed session that included all council members, along with Frazer, Lake and City Attorney Ray O’Dea. After the closed session, the council voted to provide Frazer with the option of resigning wit...
