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’ Economic Development and Capital Improvements Committee learned last week that the county fairgrounds are positioned for progress on various counts. They also voted to authorize the county’s insurer — the Michigan Municipal Risk Management Authority — to negotiate with U.P. Engineers and Architects in Houghton on costs relating to continuing plans to replace the 4-H horse barn and the hay barn. “MMRMA said today they would like...
By MEGAN HUGHES [email protected] IRONWOOD — The Gogebic-Iron County Airport voted Monday at its regular monthly meeting to replace the airport’s water pump, which failed earlier in the day, leaving the airport without access to water in the main buildings. Airport manage Jeremy Busch said that with the lack of access to water, the bathrooms were unusable, and in the meantime the airport called in for portable toilets to be brought to the site until repairs could be made. “The capacitor went bad,” said Busch. “His suggestion...
By LARRY HOLCOMBE [email protected] IRONWOOD - Construction continues on the city of Ironwood's new water treatment facility near its well fields in Ironwood Township. On Monday, the city commission approved a Rural Development package for $375,134 for the ongoing Phase 1 of the project. $343,045 of that was to CD Smith Construction, with remainder going to engineering services, said city manager Paul Anderson. Anderson said the mild winter has helped construction and the company continues to do numerous wall pours as the concrete...
By MEGAN HUGHES [email protected] HURLEY - Amateur historian Leo Filipczak of Cornucopia, Wisconsin, paid a visit to Hurley on Monday evening to speak about the history of the Subcarphian region of Eastern Europe, it's impact during various wars, and its ties to national identity for people of Polish, Ukrainian and Slovakian descent. His interest in history began when he was young, he told the Globe following the presentation. "I've always been interested in history," he said. "I went...
By LARRY HOLCOMBE [email protected] HURLEY - Northwoods maple syrup was front and center at the Hurley K-12 School on Thursday, March 7. Students from the high school's Northwoods Manufacturing program were busy during the day making syrup and facilitating tours of the operation to a continuing run of small groups of elementary students. Each tour began with a short presentation with science teacher Dan Rye in a stand of tapped maple trees between the parking lot and Range View...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] BESSEMER — Members of the Gogebic County Board of Commissioners’ Personnel and Negotiations Committee explored last week the possibility of hiring a temporary coordinator for the county fair. The fair coordinator position has remained open since Marlene Saari resigned from that role late last year. The committee’s informal discussion centered around whether the fairgrounds might be better served by a fairground administrator with a broader range of duties regarding the fairgrounds at large. “What...
By MEGAN HUGHES [email protected] IRONWOOD - The Awkward Stage Drama Club is preparing for its fourth Murder Mystery dinner theater, according to director Mary Hanson. The show, titled "How to Host a Murder Mystery Dinner Party (in 15 Simple Steps)" is planned for April 5-7 at the Golden Dragon restaurant in downtown Ironwood. Hanson said the dinner will feature hors d'oeuvres and dessert, and the entire evening will be "very interactive with the audience." Hanson said the show is set as...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] BESSEMER — Members of the Bessemer City Council considered options in security at their Monday meeting. Although no formal action was taken, Mayor Peter Tacconelli said he will talk to Department of Public Works Lead Ben Tucker, as well as former DPW lead Neal Nelson, regarding whether city employees can install security cameras in the Bessemer City Hall. “I do believe our DPW can handle that installation,” said Tacconelli. “I really don’t feel we need a technician to install those cameras.” T...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] BESSEMER — Members of the Bessemer Parks and Recreation Commission voted last week to add several additional components to a pending new five-year recreation plan and a related capital improvements plan. Commissioners voted, specifically, to add the expense of a splash pad and ADA playground equipment to the improvement plan’s cost. They also voted to add the splash pad to the recreation plan and to track down which goals in the previous five-year plan already had been accomplished so that those...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] HURLEY - Members of the Hurley City Council learned Tuesday evening that the city's $2.3 million utility construction project is set to start as soon as weather permits. Jeff Seamandel, a project manager in the Rhinelander office of MSA Professional Services, said he has scheduled an April 3 pre-construction meeting. He predicted that a May start date for construction led by Jake's Excavating and Landscaping will be set at that meeting. The session is expe...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] WAKEFIELD — Two city officials provided annual updates to the Wakefield City Council on Monday evening. Public Works Director Michael Singleton and Water and Electric Lead David Semenac delivered the reports. Semenac said that flooding in the spring of 2023 posed challenges for his crew, which had to deal with water sampling, water boil notices, etc. He said his crew likes to average the installation of 15 new electric poles each year. “We were able to do 18,” he said of the past year. “We had a...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] BESSEMER TOWNSHIP - This year's mild winter resulted with more grass than snow on Saturday, but skiers still threw plenty of powder as they competed in the annual Muk UP at Black River Basin. Snowmaking at the Snowriver Mountain Resort site made it possible for the fundraising event for Team Z to proceed as usual with a crowd of supportive spectators at the bottom of the hill. "The snow is great here right now," said Dan Tregembo, director of Team Z, a...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] HURLEY — At their Tuesday evening meeting, members of the Hurley City Council gave an informal thumbs up for plans to improve local ball fields. Brad Benton, speaking for Hurley Area Youth Softball and Baseball, said that he and his colleagues would like to “spruce up” local fields. He specifically asked permission to remove some of the pine trees around the baseball field. “It’s very wet,” said Benton, explaining that the trees keep part of the field shaded so that it does not fully dry out....
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] IRONWOOD — The Pat O’Donnell Civic Center may be the site of this year’s Gogebic County Fair in Ironwood. County Fair Board members voted on Monday evening to have board member Linda Nelson prepare a related proposal to submit to the Gogebic County Board of Commissioners in time for that board’s March 13 meeting. Board member Thomas Hampston opposed the vote, but all others voted aye. Before the vote, Nelson said she already had spoken with Jay Kivisto, Civic Center manager, and said that he and...
By MEGAN HUGHES [email protected] Three community hubs in Gogebic and Ontonagon counties were recipients of Michigan Community Centers grant funds announced last week by the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, and are now planning for the future in which they can use these funds. Local recipients included the Ironwood Carnegie Library, the Historic Ironwood Theatre, and the Lake Gogebic Senior Citizens Club in Bergland. The Michigan Community Centers grant funds of $64...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] In what has been called a no-snow or low-snow winter, area ski hills are ending a short season early. In Wisconsin, Whitecap Mountains Resort in Upson closed on March 1. In Gogebic County, Big Powderhorn Mountain Resort and Mt. Zion Ski Hill closed on Sunday. The latter is on the campus of Gogebic Community College. In Ontonagon County, the Porcupine Mountains Ski Area and Adventure Mountain - due to their reliance only on natural snow - have each been ope...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] BESSEMER — At their most recent meeting last week, the Gogebic County Board of Commissioners delivered a hard no to any attempts to retain the 2024 fair at the county fairgrounds. The agenda included two items: 1. Reconsideration of the board’s Oct. 11, 2023, vote to close this year’s fair at the fairgrounds, along with any other major events there; and 2. Subsequent action to consider a revised proposal by county Fair Board members, who have been pushing for a smaller version of the fair that...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] IRONWOOD - Robert Sertic of Ironwood is 88 and still going strong, but he's already left a legacy in relation to a decades-long hobby. Sertic recently donated 270 model planes to Michigan Technological University. "They have an Air Force ROTC program," said Sertic in explaining the school's interest. He added that his daughter, Sue Pertile, also of Ironwood, put an ad out regarding the planes and MTU happened to answer it. "My daughter and her husband...
By MEGAN HUGHES [email protected] BESSEMER - The Bessemer Area School District held its monthly board meeting Thursday. The board approved the formation of a school golf team, and welcomed Max France to the board as the K-6 dean of students. France was voted unanimously into his position at the meeting, and is already settling into the new role at the Washington Elementary School after a month. Superintendent Richard Matrella commended the work of the new team at Washington elementary...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] BESSEMER — Members of the Bessemer Downtown Development Authority voted last week to allot $3,500 over a 9-month period to a Bessemer business that is now entering its third year of operation. The funding is part of the city’s Pop-Up Shop program. Benefitting from the funding are Nicolas Hernandez and Victoria Arrington, owners and operators of Iron Bay Delivery. They are doing business as Iron Bay Detail and Wash. “Iron Bay Detail and Wash will offer a wide range of vehicle detailing services,...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] BESSEMER — Members of the Bessemer Downtown Development Authority voted last week to advertise the position of a part-time executive director for their board. The person hired will take the reins from Samantha Dorr, who has served in that role for the past year and a half. The position was created when former City Manager Charly Loper assigned Dorr, then the city secretary, to round up information for the DDA while Loper was immersed in a multi-year utility and road project. It began as an extra...
By LARRY HOLCOMBE [email protected] IRONWOOD - Local Girl Scouts are marking their an annual rite of spring with the selling of Girl Scout cookies across the region. A group of Junior Girl Scouts with local Troop 5429 -- Natalie Sackmann, Evelynn Hembree, Ivy Bromley and Azaylia Jewell -- set up a table to sell cookies on Friday at 5 p.m. at Super One grocery store in Ironwood. It was just one of several planned pop-up shop cookie selling booths planned for the region by the troop...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] BESSEMER — Members of the Finance, Budgeting and Auditing Committee of the Gogebic County Board of Commissioners voted last week to accept and file a written proposal to help initiate a new drug treatment and mental health center in the U.P. Commissioner Joseph Bonovetz said the proposal that Houghton County Administrator Ben Larson submitted to the Upper Peninsula Coalition for Area Progress. Larson’s proposal says that there is U.P.-wide support to establish a U.P. Drug Treatment and Mental Health...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] BESSEMER — A variety of improvements are now in store for the Gogebic County Jail, thanks to a vote last week by county officials to fund $1.5 million for the listed projects. Members of the Gogebic County Board of Commissioners’ Finance, Budgeting and Auditing Committee discussed and recommended the action, which the board later approved. The vote specified that funds will be allocated from the Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Fund. The U.S. Department of Treasury defines that fund as “a...