A New Hospital?, Shooting Range Plans, Finally a Dog Park, New Flights, Renaming a Federal Building, a Chicken Farm, and Penguins!

The Latest from Marquette, MI by Brian Cabell

AN INTERESTING DEVELOPMENT on the medical front. FrontierMed, a relatively young hospital chain that’s opened seven new hospitals in the last eight years in the Midwest, just signed a purchase agreement for 29 acres of vacant land in Chocolay Township…FrontierMed has been aggressive in its approach—building new hospitals in communities where older ones had already been established.

“I can’t confirm any purchase at this point,” FrontierMed’s Director of Marketing Mal Praktiis cautioned us from the company’s headquarters in Akron, Ohio. “But what I can say is that FrontierMed is always looking for growth opportunities and takes an innovative approach to medical care that’s proven to be highly successful.”

Their hospitals have ranged from 66-96 beds—much smaller than UPHS, for example—and their staff makeup is different from most hospitals: just a handful of doctors, most of whom are locums (temporary fill-ins), and a higher number of nurses…Last year, though, nurses at four of FrontierMed’s hospitals went on strike for higher wages.

A PROPOSAL FOR the troubled Cliffs-Dow property that may run into some resistance…A Trenary couple will submit plans to the Planning Commission next month to build an indoor and outdoor shooting range on the property…“I can promise that we will keep the noise down, especially at night,” says Sue Meiass, who with her husband Bill, is planning to build the range, “and there will be no danger whatsoever to the surrounding neighborhood. We are responsible gun-owners. Safety, to us, is number one.”

A neighborhood group has already started a petition drive to block the gun range.

AT LAST! A solution to Marquette’s dog park problem, it seems. The city and surrounding area don’t have a year-round park for dogs because Tourist Park is reserved for only campers during the warmer months. But now, a Trowbridge Park man is offering up a vacant property adjacent to his home as a full-time dog park. “My family and I love dogs, and we know there’s a need for them to run free and socialize in the summer,” says homeowner Graham Kraccer. “And we’ve got this property next to our home that we thought we might build on, but we figured, what the heck, the dogs need it more than we do.” The entire Kraccer family has been busy erecting a cyclone fence around the mostly bare lot for the last two weeks and hope to plant two pine saplings on it, as well. The property is smaller than most dog parks—only 30’ by 70’, but as Kraccer points out, it’s better than nothing. Opening date: May 1st…The family will ask for a token $2 donation for every visit to the new park.

LOOKS LIKE JET service out of Marquette Sawyer Regional Airport will soon be expanding. Beacon Airlines, a small regional carrier, plans to start round trip service between Marquette and Casper, Wyoming by June 3rd…“For now, this is just the summer schedule,” Beacon’s Operations Director Beau Wring told us, “but if the market is there—and we think it might be—then we’ll continue the service through the Fall and into the Winter.”…Beacon flies the Fairchild-Dornier 328 Jets with 30-33 seats in each aircraft. The schedule calls for five flights a week…Wring confirmed that Beacon is also considering a daily flight schedule between Marquette and Wheeling, West Virginia.

EGG PRICES, THANKFULLY, seem to be moderating a bit, and by next Winter, we’ll likely have a large, new, local source for eggs…Harvest Queen, the fourth largest egg producer in the nation, has announced it’ll be building a moderately sized chicken farm just southwest of Sugarloaf Mountain…The first phase of construction calls for six barns, 66’ by 400’, each of them able to house up to 30,000 chickens…“I can guarantee that these barns will provide the most modern and most humane accommodations for chickens in the industry,” says Harvest Queen’s Poultry Examiner Ima Frahd. “And, don’t worry, the odor for the surrounding area should be minimal. I think the neighbors will be pleasantly surprised.”

IF SOME PRESIDENT Trump supporters have their way, we may soon be seeing a new name on Marquette’s federal building—The Donald J. Trump Federal Building…Seventeen of his supporters met last weekend to organize fundraising plans to place a new gold-plated plaque on the building and a 12-foot high bronze statue of the President at the corner of Third Street and Washington. Total cost of the project? An estimated $750,000…“We’ve already got some big ticket donors lined up,” says Upper Peninsula MAGA Vice President Bill Phold. “But we’re also looking for everyday folks to help us out.” Phold says anyone contributing $100 or more for the plaque and the statue will receive a personalized Thank You postcard from the President.

ALLIANCE-BUILDING, MARQUETTE-style…Two 20-year-old juniors at NMU, Igor Pachensky and Stu Piddgye, have started a Russian-American Friendship Club on campus…The first meeting of the club drew eight interested students, but Piddgye expects the club to grow. “We all know that the alliance between our two countries is growing, and our personal friendship, as well,” he says. “We both have the same interests. We want peace and prosperity, through power.”…Pachensky’s father, Alexei, a telecom and banking oligarch, is the fourth wealthiest man in Russia.

IT’S ALMOST UNPRECEDENTED in this part of the world. The discovery of three penguins (two males and a female) on the small, uninhabited Connerie Island, nine miles northwest of Big Bay, has zoologists baffled. The flightless birds are usually found in the southernmost parts of the southern hemisphere…The likeliest explanation for the Connerlie Island penguins? A passing ship or ore boat dropped them off. “We’re just going to monitor them for now,” explains Joe King (PhD, Animal Studies, University of Michigan), “and see how they adapt to their surroundings. It appears they’re doing fine, except that the two males are ferociously competing for the female’s attention with their elaborate courtship rituals. It’s really quite cute.”

Superior Escapades, a touring company out of Skanee, has started daily trips to the island—$125 a person—where the tourists, when taking photographs, are warned to get no closer than ten feet from the penguins. Feeding the penguins is also discouraged.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Welcome to the world of bullshit, my dear. You have arrived.”

—Elton John