Bugsy in the Spotlight, Pizza@ Closes, Third Street Grill Opens, Graci Gallery Closes, Ski Jump Hopes for Snow, and the Tragic, Incomprehensible Loss of Beth Millner

The Latest from Marquette, MI by Brian Cabell

“IT’S A LITTLE OVERWHELMING.” That’s Bugsy Sailor, our local “sunrise guy” and store owner, reflecting on all the attention he’s received ever since CBS aired a beautifully crafted, lengthy piece last weekend on his sunrise obsession. He’s arisen before sunrise for the last 2252 days (with one miss) to photograph the sunrise, mostly in and around Marquette…Now the entire nation knows about it. “I’ve been hearing from all corners of the country, and from acquaintances I hadn’t seen in years,” he tells us. Bugsy’s initial goal had been to capture all the sunrises in a year, but then it…well…got out of hand.

“It just lifts up my spirits,” he says of his dates with the morning sun. “It’s made me a better, happier person.” Any thoughts of finally ending it? He concedes that those thoughts do enter his mind more these days, but nothing’s decided.

So how exactly did CBS find out about Bugsy? “My old boss at Michigan State just kept hounding them about it, insisting that this was a story they had to do,” Bugsy explains. And finally they did it. CBS, Bugsy, Marquette, and all the viewers out there across the nation are better for it.

YET ANOTHER NEW restaurant in town. The Third Street Grill opened last month in the same spot where the Fish Express recently closed down. It’s inside Kognisjon Bryggeri at Third Street Marketplace. On the menu you’ll find burgers, wings, a chicken sandwich, fries, curds, and an old time “Hammy Sammy.”…Business, we’re told, has been pretty brisk, considering we’re in the midst of winter.

BUT THE LORD giveth….and the Lord taketh away. Unfortunately, a few doors down at the Marketplace, Pizza@ has just shut down. The sign on the door says it’s just for the season. What we’ve been told, though, is that, come April, it may re-open but likely not as Pizza@. Customers came last year, but not enough of them. The problem may have been that we have about 2479 other restaurants in town selling pizza.

YET ANOTHER CLOSURE…Graci Gallery, also on Third Street, has closed its doors. "I had to decide where to focus my energies,” explains Joe Graci, the owner. He remains at his studio in the Lakeshore Building where he works and sells his contemporary wood sculptures…Graci Gallery displayed both his work and those of other artists, but selling art in a small town in the middle of winter can be a challenge. To say the least.

FOR THE LAST year, we’ve been hearing about possible Fairfield expansion plans in the vacant lot adjacent to the existing Fairfield Inn & Suites. But it remains just that—vacant. What gives? Dennis Stachewicz, Marquette’s Director of Community Development, says he’s been informed that construction on the expansion will start in April.

MEANTIME, THE VACANT property across the street from the Fairfield remains in city hands. “We’ve been in negotiations with the Fairfield owners to possibly sell them that property for a long time,” says Stachewicz, “but it’s been slow. Not much movement.”… You can’t help wondering whether the current market truly warrants building yet another hotel in Marquette.

PROGRESS ON THE (somewhat) contaminated Cliffs-Dow property, near the Lake. The City, with help of Trimedia and a $985,000 EPA grant, will soon be hiring a company to clean up the property and eventually prepare it for development…A pilot test on the groundwater at the site should begin in the Spring.

A HUGE MEDIA shakeup is underway, as reported by Axios. Their points, all valid, are these: 1) Trust in traditional media—the broadcast networks, the big newspapers and magazines—is vanishing. 2) People are now getting their information from hundreds—no, thousands—of different sources of varying reliability, many with a blatant political agenda. 3) The most powerful social platforms—X, Facebook, Instagram—no longer police speech or information. No fact-checking. Almost anything goes…“Free speech” reigns, for better or worse.

ANOTHER TEN DAYS before Donald Trump settles into the White House. Changes—many of them huge and profound—may lie ahead…Among Trump’s promises here in Michigan, according to Bridge Michigan, during the campaign: 1) “I will pass major tax cuts for workers, including no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on Social Security benefits for our seniors.” (Oct 10th, Detroit) 2) “I’ll cut your energy prices in half within 12 months. (Nov 1st, Warren) 3) “On day one, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history.” (Nov 1st, Warren) 4) “We will also allow new parents to deduct major newborn expenses from their taxes…” (Aug 29th, Potterville) 5) “I will make interest on car loans fully tax-deductible.” (Nov 4th, Grand Rapids)….Promises or campaign rhetoric? We’ll soon find out.

LET IT SNOW…The Ishpeming Ski Jump at Suicide Hill is coming up next Friday and Saturday (Feb 17th and 18th) and, yeah, there’s just a wee bit of anxiety about the rather sparse snow cover. “We’ve been putting it on 138 years straight, even through wars and pandemics, and we’re going to do it again,” insists Peter Copenhaver, the VP of the Ishpeming Ski Club…Their ski guns are limited at the site but they’re doing what they can while praying for more natural snow. Interestingly, while Marquette was slammed with snow on Wednesday, Ishpeming got next to nothing…Still, Copenhaver remains optimistic, while holding out the possibility that they may have to truck in some snow before the competition begins.

THE LIGHTS ARE out at Beth Millner Jewelry. It’s dark inside. The store is closed, possibly forever…We were all shocked this week to learn that Beth, young, vibrant, and talented, had passed. Incomprehensible. “She was an amazing person,” says a tearful Nina Lehto-Clark. “I worked for her for ten years. She taught me everything I know…She was so loved…” Beth was an NMU grad who turned her creative talents with jewelry into a prosperous store on West Washington Street. But she was so much more.

“She loved connecting people with others,” says Nina. “She would find people, learn their strengths and then connect them with other people in the community. She loved community!”

Beth was generous with her time, her energy, and her money, anonymously. A while ago, Nina’s dog needed cancer surgery, and she found out afterwards that Beth had paid for it, without telling her.

Yet, she was frugal with herself. “She bought all her clothes at Goodwill!” Nina says. “And she drove her old Honda around for years. It had a hole in the floor, but she didn’t care, and she kept driving it until gas fumes started leaking into it. It was dangerous. She finally had to get rid of it.”

A regular woman, authentic, with no pretension. “She loved puns, she loved dirty jokes,” Nina continues. “She took all her employees out on pontoon rides, she took us on winter cabin retreats.”

An artist, a mentor, a successful businesswoman, a lover of community, and above all, a devoted friend. “I loved her,” Nina says softly, her voice breaking. “I’m sorry…I’m just such a mess…I can’t…Beth was my family…I loved her.”

LEFT IN THE wake of Beth’s passing are six employees at her store—fellow jewelry makers—suddenly without jobs or income…So, the Faculty and Staff at NMU’s School of Art & Design have started a gofundme page for the employees…Last we checked, they had already raised more than $12,000. Sounds like a lot until you split it six ways; then you’ve got maybe enough to scrape through one month while you search for another job…And likely, that next job will not be nearly as rewarding as it was with the remarkable Beth Millner…A heartbreaking loss for everyone.

HAIKU OF THE WEEK

She shone like a star

A guiding light in the dark

It’s now extinguished.

—Anonymous