Raging River Almost Ready, Eagle Mine Resumes Operations, Base Hospitality Expanding, NMU Grad Salaries, District One Primary Race, 'Apertivo' at Zephyr?, and Nheena

The Latest from Marquette, MI by Brian Cabell

“I EXPECT WE’LL be open later this summer, but we’re not pushing it. We want it to be just right when we open.” That’s developer Mark Curran talking about his Raging River campsite, just south of Marquette Mountain…1001 acres of wilderness featuring the Carp River and astonishing views of Carp River Falls…97 campsites, 12 “glamping” sites…

The Noquemanon Trail Network, with the help of Raging River, has been carving out about 10 miles of new trails at Raging River, and Curran welcomes all bikers and hikers to use them, even now, but with this warning: If you run into a sign that says AREA CLOSED DO NOT ENTER, stay away. It’s dangerous. Electrical systems are being installed…The entire trail system will soon be opened up once construction is completed.

Meantime, Curran’s other campsite, Rippling River, just a few miles north, is having another banner summer. Popular with both visitors and locals.

BACK TO NORMAL operations…The Eagle Mine, which had to shut down mining in late May because of a “fall of ground” incident, resumed mining and milling earlier this month. “Fall of ground” occurs when rocks and boulders unexpectedly break loose due to instabilities in the rock mass…Fortunately, no one was injured in the Eagle incident, and during the shutdown, the company switched most of its 470 workers to maintenance and repair work. “That area (where the fall of ground occurred) has been rehabilitated with new bolts,” says Matt Johnson, the External Relations Manager for Eagle. “It’s entirely safe and secure.”

Something else: Eagle is now scheduled to shut down for good in 2029…However, the mining company just met with federal officials in hopes of obtaining a $100 million grant that would allow Eagle to turn mining waste into two sellable products…If they obtain the grant, that would likely extend Eagle’s mining and milling operations beyond 2029.

IT’S STARTING TO look like a burgeoning UP hospitality empire. Base Hospitality Group, founded by two locals, Charlie Holsworth and Josh Paquette, has just bought the Ramada Inn on Washington Street…That gives them eight properties in the UP—five in Marquette, one in the Soo, one in Munising, and one in Baraga, along with another boutique hotel now under major renovation on Baraga Street in Marquette. It’s due to open next Spring.

And the two business partners probably aren’t done with acquiring hotel and motel properties. “We’re kind of attracted to redemptive stories,” explains Holsworth. “The uglier, the better. We want to buy them, give the owners a fair price—some of them have owned their properties for decades, and fix them up.” They recently reopened the rejuvenated Birchy motel just south of downtown Marquette.

THAT VITALLY IMPORTANT development project at the former hospital site continues to move along…“We’re now looking at demolition being completed next Spring, including final grading, topsoil and seeding,” says Dave Nyberg, the Executive Director of Business Engagement and Economic Development at NMU. After that, construction can begin…The NMU Foundation, which owns the 23 acres, still doesn’t have a signed contract with Veridea, the developer at the site. But Veridea has said it plans to develop as many as 375 housing units on the site—townhomes, bungalows, and rental apartments, along with an expansive greenspace. Also possible: a performing arts center.

NATIONAL POLLING TELLS us that only 36% of Americans now have confidence in the value of a college education. That number has been declining in recent years as college costs increase…And yet Axios reports that Michiganders with a college degree earn a median income of $63,000 after five years, while those without a college education earn only about $30,000 on average.

A closer look at the numbers provided by the US Department of Education contains some dismaying news for NMU grads…and promising news for Michigan Tech. NMU grads, after five years, average about $50,000. Tech grads average $86,000, the highest of all of the state universities…The lesson here? If you wanna make money, STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) are your ticket to success.

PRIMARY ELECTIONS COMING up next month and one of the more interesting contests finds three challengers, two Democrats and one Republican, trying to unseat incumbent Jack Bergman, who’s served as our Congressman since 2017.

Bergman strongly supports former President Donald Trump, strengthening our Southern border, restricting abortion, helping farmers in Michigan, and expanding broadband to rural areas. He’s a retired Lt. General in the Marine Corps and a former commercial pilot. A solid conservative.

Challenging him in the Primary is Josh Saul, a US Army veteran. Equally conservative-—citing, as his priorities, securing the Southern border, demanding greater government accountability, improving veterans care, and fighting the “woke” agenda. Needless to say, he’s fighting an uphill battle against Bergman.

The Democratic race promises to be a much closer contest. Bob Lorinser, “Dr. Bob”, is a longtime physician, a former medical director for Marquette County, and a former diplomat serving ten years in various hot spots around the world…“My campaign is about economic mobility,” he says. “Everybody has a right to a job, everybody needs to make a livable wage, and businesses need to have the ability to expand and hire employees and make money.” He strongly supports reproductive rights for women and protecting the environment…He’s the only one of the four candidates who lives in the UP. He lost the 2022 race to Bergman.

Callie Barr of Traverse City is challenging him for the Democratic nomination. She’s a former high school teacher and attorney, whose husband served two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan…She has harsh criticism for Bergman and the current state of the Republican Party. “If we can’t work together, if they refuse to work with us, well, that’s terrifying to me,” she says. “We’re talking about democracy here, and Bergman is too busy playing partisan politics.” Barr, who lives in a gun-owning home, supports the Second Amendment and responsible gun ownership. She also supports reproductive rights for women and more help for the middle and working class.

IT’S BEEN ABOUT seven months since Sean Hartwig took over operations at the Zephyr, the charming wine bar on Front Street. Back in November, he said he wasn’t planning any changes until he got a sense of what the community wanted at Zephyr…Now, he’s got some ideas: “What I’d like to do eventually is open on Sunday for brunch, possibly with music, and maybe open Monday, as well,” he says. “I’d also like to introduce the culture of ‘apertivo’, from maybe 4 to 6 pm.” ‘Apertivo’ is an Italian tradition of enjoying a drink before mealtime—a Negroni, aperol spritz, Campari—often accompanied by a small snack.

THE FEDERAL MINIMUM wage remains at $7.25 an hour. Ridiculous…Michigan’s minimum wage was recently boosted to $10.33. Almost equally ridiculous…But now we get word from Axios, that just 13% of all workers in the US are earning less than $15 an hour. Finally, we’re getting somewhere…The pandemic, for all the tragedies, problems, and inconveniences it caused, did apparently have one beneficial effect: It forced employers to pay higher wages to employees holding the least appealing jobs.

NHEENA. ONLY ONE name needed—kinda like Cher and Beyonce. A genuine community treasure. The City Commission recently renamed the skate plaza the “Nheena Weyer Ittner Skate Park”. Fully deserved, because she fought for the park and got it done…Just like she fought years ago, against all odds, to found the Marquette County Children’s Museum, and was, more recently, one of the principals in revamping the Kids Cove playground at the Lakeshore to make it inclusive for all children, even those with disabilities…Nheena, a former school teacher, has spent the last several decades devoted to making kids’ lives better. “It’s what I know,” she says. “I’m kind of a Pollyanna person. I just keep going and going. I don’t care how many obstacles I run into. I just keep going.”…A role model for us all.

QUOTATION OF THE WEEK

“Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man.”  

— Rabindranath Tagore