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September 2003 News

Obituary: Keweenaw's Town Crier John Kaleita

Posted 09/29/2003

 LAC LA BELLE -- Funeral services for John Kaleita, age 83, will be held at 11 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 29, at the Ryan Funeral Home in Calumet. John passed away on Wednesday, September 24, 2003, at the Keweenaw Memorial Medical Center after a lengthy illness. Keweenaw Now wishes to extend our deepest sympathy to Dorothy Kaleita and other members of John's family. We will miss and remember our Lac La Belle and Copper Harbor news contributor John Kaleita for his sincerity and his warm and caring personality; his strong interest in the health, beauty and future of the Keweenaw Peninsula; and his Town Crier newsletters, some of which appeared on Keweenaw Now. Read the obituary.

Stupak: Why billions for Iraq while needs at home go unfunded?

Posted 09/26/2003

 WASHINGTON, DC -- Congressman Bart Stupak, D-Menominee, was one of a dozen Democratic members of Congress who attended a Sept. 25 meeting called by the White House to seek support for the President's request for some $87 billion in new funding for military and reconstruction projects in Iraq and Afghanistan. Noting his disappointment with FEMA's second denial of any assistance for the $100 million plus in flood damages incurred by four Upper Michigan counties last May, Stupak said he asked President Bush's National Security Adviser, Condoleeza Rice, how the administration can justify some of the non-military items for Iraq, when serious and very similar needs remain unmet at home. more

TNC completes Keweenaw Tip purchase for Michigan

Posted 09/12/2003  Updated 09/15/2003 and 09/19/03

COPPER HARBOR -- On the Keweenaw Peninsula's tip, 6,275 rugged, wild and beautiful acres, including 5.5 miles of forested Lake Superior shoreline, now belong to the people of Michigan. On Sept. 10, 2003, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the State of Michigan completed the historic transaction with a celebratory event in Copper Harbor, followed by a Keweenaw Star boat trip around Keweenaw Point to the mouth of the Montreal River and back to Copper Harbor. more
Photo correction: Bare Bluff, owned by the Michigan Nature Association,  is adjacent to the new state land acquisition property. (Photo taken from the Keweenaw Star by Janet Shea)

President Bush's "Clear Skies" plan would ease industrial pollution rules

Posted 09/15/2003 

MONROE, MICH. -- Nearly 80 protesters turned out to voice concern about the Bush Administration's plan to ease industrial pollution rules during President Bush's appearance at the Monroe, Mich., Detroit Edison coal-burning power plant. Bush touted the benefits of his so-called "Clear Skies" initiative, claiming that it was a "common sense" proposal that would create jobs and improve the economy while protecting the environment. However, the Public Interest Research Group in Michigan (PIRGIM) reported, according to EPA data, the President's plan means the Monroe plant will not be required to cut any of its soot-forming sulfur dioxide pollution, which is responsible for hundreds of premature deaths and respiratory illnesses. more

See also the Detroit Free Press Editorial calling on Bush to visit Isle Royale, where inland lakes are "fed mostly by rain and snow melt, and airborne mercury from coal-fired plants shows up in their fish, as it does in virtually every other inland lake in the Midwest."

Planned Parenthood closes Houghton health center

Posted 09/03/2003 

HOUGHTON -- After two years of operation on Shelden Avenue despite opponents' often objectionable, graphic signs of protest, Planned Parenthood closed its health center in downtown Houghton on August 21. Services are now available from the Marquette center through a local phone connection, and birth control is still available on line. more

  August 2003 News -- October 2003 News