UPbeat News May 2000

5/25/00 - I guess it's time to admit that I have been temporarily barred from attending any of the interesting meetings and activities in the area for the next couple of weeks. Not by local officials or law enforcement personnel, thankfully, but by an orthopedic surgeon in Green Bay who 'strongly advices' his hip replacement patients to refrain from driving for several weeks after their surgery. He also likes for them to use a walker at first. Those are very helpful and safe, but also very frustrating and slow. Sometimes meetings are so short and fast that even if I tried to get there they could be over with by time I got down the hall to the right room. So I'm considering this period a time of retirement from the sometimes hectic schedule of 'normal' retirement and will be catching up on reading and cleaning out files where I may run into interesting information to share - like "every time you frown 200,000 times you get a permanent wrinkle." So if you are walking around this Memorial Day weekend and you hear some kid telling their mom, "Wow, Mom, that was 199,999," get your camera ready. You may have a chance to record medical history.

5/14/00 - Now that the lilacs, tulips and trillums are blooming it's probably safe to give you May people your not-too-serious horoscope: This month will be truly wonderful. But not for you. The nicest person born under your sign was Scrooge, and your lucky color is fading. (There is also a frost warning for tonight so I hope you remembered to cover all the outdoor plants

The Stephenson City Council, at their May meeting, approved a motion to add parking spaces in front of the Municipal Building, making it easier for us to pay our utility bills. The flagpole will have to be moved closer to the building. The city has also received Critical Bridge funding to replace the Menominee Street Bridge. The city will have to provide a 5% local fund match and be responsible for costs of preliminary engineering and construction engineering, which are not eligible for federal or state aid. And Ken Marklein and Bill Rasner are working on plans to install the time-and-temperature sign, offered to the city by the MFC bank which was recently bought out by Wells Fargo, near the sign on U.S. 41 used to promote city activities.

Jim Gardiner reports the Fire Department answered calls to a chimney fire at the Steve Berzsenyi home on River Road on May 10 and to the Elmbrooke Farm on Cemetery Road on May 4 where a downed power line started a grass fire and destroyed a utility shed.

5/10/00 - The Menominee Co. Fair Board met Monday night in Stephenson. Their main project was to check out a potential new fairground site at the Acorns and Pine Cones campground and to tour the Shakey Lakes park site. Nina Desjarlais, Secretary-Manager of the Fair Board, reported this year's fair will be held at Shakey Lakes again but the Board will continue to search for and consider other possible sites closer to Stephenson and/or U.S. 4l in the mid-county area. The Board will provide Jerry Ward, The Wizard of Wood, with a half cord of wood, 14 inches in diameter and 3 to 4 feet long, for a series of four one-hour presentations a day on his wood carving methods and projects. Other entertainment features, games, displays and concessions for this year's fair are at various stages of completion or deliberation. Nina is also submitting a request to the State for grant money to help with future fair plans.

5/9/00 - Taking garbage to the collection site on Sat. mornings is not always an exciting experience. But once in a while, you never know when, interesting and unusual things happen. That was the case last Saturday. I turned off the highway by Erickson Park planning to check out the Feather and Fur Swap at Veteran's Park, on the east side of the railroad tracks. There was a freight train headed south blocking the tracks and the tail end of a passenger train heading north was on the sidetrack, waiting for the freight to pass. I decided the animals could wait and headed back to the road by the County Shed to wait for the train to pass that intersection. It arrived a few minutes later, going about 5 mph, loaded with passengers who crowded onto the small platforms at the back of each of the 8 or 10 cars and waved to the motorists as they passed. The best information I could get was that the train came from Milwaukee and was headed for Canada. That came from Doug Quaak who teaches Math in Menominee and was in Stephenson for the Feather and Fur Swap...and he got his information from somebody else. Doug and his wife Mary are Secretary and Treasurer of the Northern Poultry-Pigeon-Rabbit Club that meets in Stephenson once a month. They put on several small animal swaps throughout Michigan and Wisconsin every year. Their membership covers an area from Manitowoc, WI to Marquette, MI. There were about 20 vendors present, offering chickens, ducks, pheasants, quail and other fluffy, feathery critters for sale. Kathy Juedes of Wausau sold one of her two pygmy goats. Cheryl and Chris Vieth from Marinette and Peter Kleiman from Wilson were near experts on the various types of rabbits and how to raise them properly. They all agreed that raising small animals is a very rewarding experience.

5/3/00 - Don Wojakowski was elected president of the newly formed Seniors And Lawmen Together (S.A.L.T.) committee at a meeting at the Senior Center in Daggett this morning. Other officers are Floyd Berger - Vice President, Judy Meintz - Secretary, and Jean Dawydko - Treasurer. Efforts are being made to find one person from each of the 14 townships in Menominee County to serve on an advisory board for the group. Signing up at this meeting were Louella Murray - Spalding, Irene Framarin -Meyer, Betty Eichorn - Nadeau, Walfred Granskog - Stephenson, Harriet Bonn - Ingallston, George Cross - Daggett, and Ellie Bassen - Menominee. Everyone present was asked to list some of their crime and traffic related concerns and to suggest areas or projects they felt the group could work on. These will be discussed at the next meeting at the Daggett Senior Center on June 14 at l0 a.m.

5/3/00 - A few years ago everyone seemed to be writing books and articles about angel sightings. They did all sorts of wonderful and impressive things, but you don't hear much about them anymore. Well...on April 26th 23 of them descended on Garden, Michigan. They didn't exactly come from heaven, but since they were all secretaries from Upper Peninsula churches, that's about as close as you can get! They gather for an annual Secretaries' Day retreat at the Marygrove Center and each year, according to Clara Marcoe from Precious Blood Parish in Stephenson, they come up with a special form of dress for the evening meal of the one-day retreat. Last year they dressed in formal evening wear. In the U.P. that can be anything from beautiful gowns to some less-than-glamourous Yooper concoctions. This year they decided to be angels. Clara borrowed a white robe from one of the altar servers and some wings and a halo Sister Francis had put together for a Christmas program. It was her third year of participation and she said it is always a wonderful, relaxing, informative day. This year the theme of the retreat was "forgiving" - and every secretary's job requires quite a bit of that. There was also time to network by meeting and exchanging ideas with others in the same line of work. Clara has been at her job at the Catholic church in Stephenson for 4 1/2 years. She comes from a large local family and enjoys shooting, deer hunting, and fishing. Angels do things like that sometime, especially in the U.P.

5/1/00 - The cartwheel turning kids at the Stage Dance in Stephenson would have loved it. Douglas Webster, the baritone featured at the Commnity Concert Series performance in Menominee Saturday night came down the aisle of the auditorium singing a piece from The Barber of Seville. But, instead of using the stairs to get on stage he did a fantastic, smooth summersault move that surprised and impressed everyone. One of the beauties of the concert series is that there are almost always a few surprises. Webster, who admitted to being 26 years old 28 years ago, and his piano acoompaniest started the program with the music of Schubert, Ibert and Duparc. By the second half of the evening they were into Gershwin, Bernstein and Cole Porter. Their encore was a lively, almost comedy routine with a song called The Wrong Note Rag.

You never know who you will meet at these events. Some you know, some you only think you know. When the Nashville Bluegrass Band appeared in March Joanne Hieshetter sat on my left and Joyce Johnson on my right. Joanne's husband taught school in Stephenson in the 80's and I knew her from involvement in the Friends of the Library. I recognized Joyce but couldn't place her. Finally I started to ask, "I think I know you..." - "K-Mart," was her quick reply. She's been Office Manager there for quite a while and EVERYONE thinks they should know her. As we talked a tall, handsome, dignified gentlemen in the row behind us tapped me on the shoulder and began chatting. Of course I knew him too, but from where? There were three possibilities: Dennis - the husband of my niece in Texas, Eric McLean - who headed the Instrument Department at Scott Paper Co. when I worked there in the 80's, or Ed Fries - a highschool classmate from Wallace who returned to the area from California not too many years ago. I decided it must be Ed, but as the conversation continued I mentioned having seen his wife recently and he looked a little strange. We both realized somebody didn't know who they were talking to. But the music had started so it was intermission before I learned this was Eric, not Ed. He had grown a beard and gotten a little grayer than when I last saw him. By then there were a couple of women standing a few rows back, pointing and waving in my direction. I recognized Nancy Francour and Rae Lynn Thoune, the cooks from Stephenson Elementary school. They were trying to get the attention of two women in front of me. They were familiar too but it took most of the rest of the intermission time to learn who they were and how they were related and who some of their other relatives were that I should know. Lucille Gardiner is Nancy's mother and Audrey Anderson is Rae Lynn's aunt. Beyond that got a little too complicated but it's safe to say if you've every passed through Stephenson you probably saw or talked to someone they knew or were related to.

Stephenson was well represented in other ways that night. Fourth and sixth graders and their teachers were in attendance under a program where businesses and individuals sponsor membership for up to 60 students to attend concerts each year. The performers usually acoknowledge their presence and answer their questions, which aren't always about music. That night one student wanted to know, "Is it hard to stand up there like that for so long?" He got a serious and interesting answer...because everyone knows there are no dumb questions.