4/5/01 - April Horoscope: All people born in April are happy individuals, giggling at traffic tickets, erupting volcanos and even four years of bad crops. However, April 18th will be a questionable day. Be sure to ask somebody something.

4/28/01 - "It's hard for me to say 'no' when someone asks me to do something." Have you ever been in that situation? Maybe you need to talk --- to someone who understands and can help you avoid feeling guilty about saying "no." It's the sort of thing discussed at a series of group meetings to deal with the many problems involved in, or leading to, domestic abuse. A small group meets at the Daggett Clinic on Thursdays from 12 noon to 1:30 to talk and help each other. The quote above was taken from a worksheet handout on Self-Esteem, the subject of last week's meeting. The next two sessions will be on the process of making good decisions and reflecting on personal growth. The sessions are free and confidential. They're open to anyone interested in growth, self-improvement and new and better approaches to problem solving. You do not have to be in an abusive situation to take part, but getting involved in this kind of a group could help prevent abuse. Laurie, from the Rainbow House in Marinette, is the coordinator.

4/28/01 - Saturday Morning in Stephenson (early - before 8 ) Heather and Karen Hubbard were the first of the PTO Adopt-a-Highway group to show up for the spring highway cleanup. Five Newlins joined them to collect 15 bags of roadside garbage in about an hour and a half. They work the area between the Convenience Store and Ingalls, three times a year. Participating groups must submit a report to the state after each clean-up session letting them know how much litter was collected.

Joe Pernaski, a retiree living west of Stephenson, had his family and his boat, The Guzzler, in tow. They made a quick breakfast snack stop at the Convenience Center before heading out for a day of fishing.

At the city fire hall 30 fire fighters gathered for the last of 154 hours of classes required for all fire fighters. They were ready for a day of "hands-on" testing on proper use of ladders, ropes, breathing apparatus, search and rescue, etc. When asked how they tested for search and rescue, Jim Gardiner of the Stephennson department and Tom Johnson of the Menominee-Ingallston department said testers "block out" (the equivalent of blindfolding) the breathing apparatus worn by participants before sending them into the building to look for a dummy.

4/27/01 - What an excellent opportunity to see how the school board operates. What a shame that the reporter from the EagleHerald and I were the only "members of the public" there for the open meeting Thursday night where board members selected 4 candidates and 3 alternates to be interviewed for the job of Stephenson Area Schools Superintendent.

Granted, the meeting lasted 3 hours (from 5 to 8 pm), but they had 19 prospective candidates to evaluate, discuss, and categorize as 1) meets and exceeds qualifications, 2) meets qualifications, or 3) does not meet qualifications. Thirteen applicants are from Michigan. Other areas represented are Colorado, S. Dakota, Montana and Utah. Members of the consulting service hired to help with the superintendent search provided detailed background information on each candidate, listing strong points and weaknesses and encouraged board members to discuss their differences before making the final decision on who would, or would not, be interviewed. Interviews are scheduled to take place on May 3rd and 4th. A new superintendent is expected to be on site on July 2nd.

4/25/01 - Houses all over this area were evacuated today. Not because of any threats or disasters. It was more an act of nature... warm weather. Bikers, hikers, golfers, walkers, joggers, dog owners, families were all outside. In Erickson Park kids tested the new playground equipment, and Little-League-age boys warmed up for the start of baseball season. The tennis court was busy all day with a group of boys shooting baskets in the morning and bunches of younger children riding their bikes and playing games in the afternoon. It was a good day to go fishing after work, sit in a lawn chair and read for a while without having to worry about mosquitos, or check flower beds for blooming, or about-to-bloom, daffodils and tulips. And tomorrow is supposed to be even better!

4/24/01 - Yooper spring is back, unofficially, as of about 2 pm yesterday. It announced it's arrival with thunder, lightning, rain and strong winds. There were reports of a tree down on County Road 354 and another that blocked G-12, just east of the Convenience Center. That one messed up the power lines in the area and traffic had to be detoured for a while. There was even an unconfirmed report of a funnel cloud spotted in the Powers area. Now let's just concentrate on sunshine and gentle rain to get all the flowers blooming.

4/19/01 - Monday night's School Board Meeting was a 20-minute run through the 6 Action Item agenda, with people making motions and voting to accept the recommended items, followed by a move to go into executive session to discuss teacher negotiations. The interesting stuff was in the six pages of reports the school staff submitted to the board.

Mr. Weismantel listed end-of-the-year activities: April - 24, Honor Society Induction, April 30 - Senior Banquet, May 3- Evening with the Arts, May 5 - Prom, May 13 - Baccalaureate, May 16 - Senior Awards and Senior Tea, May 20 - Graduation, May 21 - Awards for Grades 9 - 11 & J.H. Awards.

Mr. Snyder reports grades 3, 6, 8 and 10 will be taking California Achievement Tests the week of April 23. A Science Fair was held at the Elementary School here yesterday

Sharon Hoots noted favorable feedback from teachers following an in-service training session on childhood/adolescence distorders. Also, there is a new phone system linking Daggett, Mellen and Stephenson Elementary Schools. A grant has been received which "will allow us to offer a Literacy Program for students entering Kindegarten through 5th grade and a Math program for students exiting 3rd grade. Proposed participation will be approximately 70 students with eligibility based on greatest need."

Area parents have a good record for attendance at parent-teacher conferences. The Daggett school had 86% participation and Mellen had 93%. Hoots also says teh bleachers at the high school gym were filled to capacity for the Mellen School's Spring Program.

Mr. Rundle's report covered a variety of topics, from plans to interview 5 candidates for the Assistant Principal position on April 10 and 11, to damage to grounds from improper use of vehicles, to an invitation from WesPac to join their football league.

A new 2000 Chevrolet Astro van was received on March 23rd, according to Mike Zemba's report. Gas and diesel quotes were awarded to Stephenson Marketing. The Marketing was also billed for damages resulting from water in the diesel. And finally, Brad Timblin reports on the many activities underway by the Maintenance Department - painting, cleaning, raking and generally getting ready for spring.

4/16/01 - Since nobody came up with an answer to what chairs would be like if our knees bent 'the other way,' I'll have to do it. If our knees worked in reverse they would be seenks, and chairs would have to be sriahcs. The fitness world would quickly come up with exercises so we could sit on our stomachs, doing away with beer bellys, and the female equivalent. Antique dealers, especially those who are also science-fiction fans, would rush to buy up all the old-fashioned chairs. They would be preparing for an invasion of outer-space aliens who, in spite of their fancy antennas and goofy clothes, would still have knees. They would take chairs back to their world the way we humans collect souvenirs of our travels.

Designers would have a ball coming up with Stomach Seats. The first ones might be rather crude, but competition would be fierce. Soon they would have fancy ones with chin and arm rests on the back, and we'd wonder how we ever survived the 'old-fashioned' way. Re-doing cars might be a little harder. Thank goodness that wasn't part of the question!

4/9/01 - Don't expect to see them performing on prime time TV, but when a group of Stephenson 4th graders donned their dark glasses and goofy hats to do a rap number everyone in the Elementary School gym paid attention. It was part of the Anti-Violence Program presentation this afternoon marking the beginning of "No Teasing Week." The idea started at the Carney school. They invited Stephenson and North Central students to join in. The 66 students worked for about three weeks to make posters, learn songs, write poems and come up with tips for handling hurtful teasing. Some of the tips were pretty creative, "Make believe the teasing is a rubber ball. Even though it's aimed at your heart it can bounce off." Others suggested using kindness, "Give a compliment back," or "Agree with them." They closed the program by singing "It's a Small World After All" emphasizing the importance of learning to get along with each other and working out problems.

4/7/01 - The City Council is thinking spring, with citywide cleanup to start on April 23rd. They talked about getting the streets swept and cleaned at their meeting Thursday night, but after all the wind and rain today Mother Nature may have taken care of most of that job for them. Ken Marklein plans to start flushing fire hydrants on April 16 and Jim Gardiner is looking into having the exterior doors of the Municipal Bldg. painted. There is one more small building to be torn down (they started today), the parking area to be completed and a few odds and ends to take care of and then they plan to hold an open house so everyone can tour the new Public Works facility.

Ken Rasner reported on negotiations with the public works employees for an agreement where the city would cover their health insurance increases in exchange for their willingness to accept a smaller pay raise. The council approved a motion to acccept Rasner's recommendation for a 28 cent pay raise for the two employees effective July lst.

Following a discussion on rising costs of utilities, in our area and throughout the country, the council approved a motion to accept a recommendation by Jim Gardiner to increase the basic rate for water service by one dollar per month effective July lst.

In other business, the City agreed to donate $200 to each of Stephenson's two Little League teams again this year. Bids were also opened for the sale of the old police car. The highest of the three bids, $1500, was accepted. The Council also voted to name U.P. Engineering as the firm to work on the Ice Rink upgrade project. Floyd Wangerin noted the need to start advertising for bids for the engineering work on the Menominee and Mill street bridge projects, since getting the planning and paperwork done could take a long time.

The Safety Committee report centered on traffic control and parking problems in the High School area. Possible solutions were discussed at length with plans to work on changes before the start of the next school year.

4/6/01 - Signs of spring everywhere. There are only a few little very dirty patches of snow left. We can handle that for a few days. People are cleaning and raking yards and soon all the dead leaves, scraps of paper, empty soda cans and other things that were hiding in the snow will be gone. Wednesday afternoon one class from the Stephenson Elementary School met outside to enjoy the sunshine, sitting on the still dead grass, without needing sweaters, jackets or mittens. And there is all kinds of heavy equipment activity at the site of the new School Sports Complex.

4/6/01 - Have one more response related to my 'onetyone' question of 3/23. It's reported as a true story from a local reader who says: I had a cousin named Ione. When a friend asked her to write it she did. He looked at it for a minute and said, "What kind of name is that? One-one!" I think that closes that subject. I've had some communication about the 4/1 'bent knees' question, but no suitably dumb answer, so I'll give you creative people a few more days.

4/3/01 - Today is the day the Purple Martins are supposed to return - according to a list of important events I found in my files. It's a good thing they didn't come last week - nobody would have noticed. There were many things going on. The High School Drama Class demonstrated their talent in a production of "State Fair" at the Tivoli Theatre three nights, drawing good crowds. The Catholic Church was nearly full all six nights of their Mission series. And the Friends of the Library celebrated a successful year-long effort to raise money for attractive and comfortable new chairs by holding a two-day open house, encouraging people to come and sit for a while.

4/1/01 - Here's the newest dumb question. It obviously requires a dumb answer, so give it a try. If people's knees bent the other way, what shape would our chairs take?

If you have any comments or suggestions, please take a minute to write H. Barb Upton.