By Cheryl HolladayThere may not have been a $100,000

winner at the Catch Us If You Can draw-ing at Spicer’s Boat City April 27, but finalist Mark Smith of St. Helen seemed pleased with the $1,000 award in cash and prizes he won after catching a tagged fish in the contest last year.

Smith, along with Daniel Carnell, also of St. Helen, and Steven Miles of Houghton Lake, were the three final-ists in the drawing, having caught fish tagged by the Houghton Lake Area Tour-ism Bureau.

Smith had caught a bluegill June 20, 2012, in Lake St. Helen while fishing

with his wife, Ellen.“It was keeper size,” he said of his

catch. “We were catching so many. We were just trying to keep count.”

Smith said he discovered the tag when he went to fillet the fish.

Carnell caught a 9-inch perch in Lake St. Helen July 4, 2012, while fishing

with his friend, Don Thompson. “It was 90 degrees out and I was

headed back toward the dock,” he said.Before the drawing Saturday, Carnell

said if he were to win any money, he would “probably go out to dinner first” and then “buy more fishing gear.”

Miles said he was fishing with his cousin, Scott Miles, in the East Bay of Houghton Lake when he caught his tagged fish. He said if he were to win the big prize, he would split the use of the Smokercraft boat (part of the $100,000 package) with his uncle, Gary Johnston, and split the money with his cousin.

“There’d be enough left for that [fish-ing gear]!,” Miles said.

Overseeing the seventh annual draw-ing – held promptly at 2 p.m. – HLATB Vice-president Dave Clouse had the three men draw keys from a hat, one of which opened a “treasure chest” drawing barrel.

Smith was the first to try his key and when it opened the door, the other men knew they would not be winning a big prize. Smith then pulled one of 20 enve-lopes in hopes it contained a $100,000 prize notification. If that had been the case, he would have needed to pull an-other one. As it was, the first envelope

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75cents HoughtonLake,Michigan•www.HoughtonLakeResorter.com Thursday,May2,2013cents Houghton Lake, Michigan • www.HoughtonLakeResorter.com

The Houghton Lake

The Houghton Lake ResorterRoscommon County Herald-Newswww.houghtonlakeresorter.com

May 2, 2013Seventy-third Year No. 14

26 Pages Three Sections

More than 6,700 paid copies

DATE HIGH LOW4/24 44 304/25 47 334/26 60 304/27 70 444/28 71 374/29 71 454/30 71 51

Week of April 24-30Precipitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 .33Snowfall (Goodbye for now) . . . . 0 .00

AnnualPrecipitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 .3Snowfall (Final for season) . . . . 59 .10Houghton Lake Legal Level . 1138 .10Lake level 5/1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1139 .70Higgins Lake Legal Level . . . 1154 .11Lake level 5/1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1154 .02Lake St . Helen Legal Level . . 1155 .25Lake level 5/1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1156 .42

Court news .................................A2Obituaries ...................................A3Opinions .....................................A4Sports .......................A6-7 & B8-10Outdoors .....................................A7Happenings ...................A8 & C1-4Classified .................................B1-5Education ..................... B6-7 & C8TV listings .................................. C5Business ..................................... C6Religion & Family ..................... C7

Weather Almanac

130Runners and walkers

who competed in the 2013 Bobcat Trail Run/Walk 5K held last Saturday

at Houghton Lake High School .

See page B10 .

Bobcat Branch . . .C8

Village Clean-up . . .C1

ForecastMay 2nd - 5th

Thursday - Chance thunderstorms,

50s/70s

Friday - Slight chance rain, mostly cloudy, 40s/70s

Saturday - Mostly cloudy, 40s/60s

Sunday - Chance showers, partly sunny, 40s/60s

Facts Stats&Facts &Facts Stats& Stats

HERALD-NEWSHERALD-NEWSServing the greater Roscommon County area since 1883.

THE ROSCOMMON COUNTY

Covering all of Roscommon County

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A group of 26 strong men, wearing high heels, sets out to walk a mile in support of the victims of sexual assault at Houghton Lake High School April 27. Benefitting River House Inc., the first “5280 Rock Walk” raised

over $3,600 for the shelter and domestic crisis service center. See page A8 for more from the event.

(Photo by Thomas Reznich)

STRONG MEN IN HEELS

Voters in Roscommon County’s 11 townships will be asked to approve a capital improvements millage for Kirt-land Community College May 7.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voters are asked to vote in their re-spective townships.

The Kirtland millage will be sought throughout the COOR Intermediate School District, which encompasses not only Roscommon County, but also Craw-ford, Ogemaw and Oscoda Counties.

KCC President Dr. Thomas Quinn, at a recent Roscommon County Commis-sioners’ meeting, said the college will be seeking .20 mil (20 cents per $1,000 taxable value) for 18 years (or the cost of one large pizza per year for a hom-eowner with a $100,000 home).

“I think that’s a manageable mil levy for the people,” Quinn said.

The mil is being requested for con-struction of a new student center because the 1996 debt levy will expire in 2015 and the current student center is in dis-repair.

The student center has had only one significant renovation, in 1981, Quinn said, and is not large enough to accom-modate the number of students Kirtland currently serves. When it was first built, there were 348 student attending, as op-posed to the approximately 3,000 who currently attend.

The proposed new building – 36,000 square feet – would house not only a caf-eteria and bookstore (as the current fa-cility holds), but would serves as a “one stop-shopping place” for students, Quinn

KCC seekssupportfor newstudent centerIn election Tuesday

Two townships in Roscommon County have additional millage requests that will appear on their ballots Tuesday, May 7.

In Lake Township and Roscommon Township, the Houghton Lake Ambu-lance Authority is seeking a millage re-newal for ambulance operating funds.

Voters will be asked to approve 1.69 mils ($1.69 per $1,000 taxable valuable) for the operation of the ambulance ser-vice over four years. The millage would generate approximately $300,000, or about one-third of the authority’s $1.1 million annual budget.

“It’ll make up the difference we don’t get from insurers (Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers) to cover our costs,” Dick Pastula, of the Houghton Lake Am-bulance Authority, said.

Houghton Lake Ambulance offers advanced life support and the authority has mutual aid agreements with other townships in order to assist them. Since the 2004 establishment of the authority, which is governed by representatives from Roscommon Township and Lake Township, Houghton Lake Ambulance has embarked on a series of programs to improve the education and professional-ism of the staff, improve medical billing to increase the recovery rate from insur-ance providers and upgrade the medi-cal equipment and vehicle fleet. It also moved into a new building, paid for with requests for additional funding.Houghton Lake Ambulance Millage

PropositionShall the previous voted increase in

the tax limitation imposed under Article IX, Sec. 6 of the Michigan Constitution in Lake and Roscommon Townships, of 1.69 mills ($1.69 per $1,000 of taxable value), be renewed at the original voted 1.69 mills, ($1.69 per $1,000 of taxable value) and levied for 4 years, 2013-2016 inclusive, for operating the Houghton Lake Ambulance, raising an estimated $432,367 in the first year the millage is levied.

In addition to the Houghton Lake Ambulance proposal, Roscommon Township residents will be asked to ap-prove a five-year road maintenance mill-age renewal.

The request is for .50 mils (50 cents per $1,000 taxable value) for five years. The funds collected are used in Roscom-mon Township for road maintenance and repair.

“It’s imperative that we keep our roads maintained,” Roscommon Town-

Roscommon, Lake votersto decide onambulancerenewal

Two members of the Grayling High School golf team and a Kalkaska woman were killed Monday in an accident in Kalkaska County.

In all, 10 people were involved in the accident.

A preliminary investigation con-ducted by the State Police showed that a white Ford Windstar van which was eastbound on County Road 612 (Nash Road) and a silver Ford Freestar van that was northbound on Crawford Lake Road NE, collided at the intersection of the two roads at approximately 11:25 a.m.

Both vehicles left the roadway on the northeast corner of the intersection,

where the silver van, which was carry-ing seven members of the Grayling High School golf team, including the coach, appeared to have rolled over once and the other vehicle rolled over multiple times. A State Police press release on the date of the accident stated “at this time, it is unknown for certain if speed limits and/or traffic control devices were ob-served.”

Three victims were ejected from the silver van, including student athlete Lou-is Menard, 18, and Grayling golf Coach Jason Potter, 28, who were both fatally injured. Cassandra Stapleton, 27, of Kalkaska, a passenger in the white Wind-

star, which was driven by her mother Rhonda Mitchell, 45, of Kalkaska, was also fatally injured. The seven surviving crash victims were transported to Mun-son Hospital in Traverse City, where they were admitted in conditions that ranged from critical to fair.

Hospitalized were Grayling student athletes Tyler Summers, Dallas Johnson, Mason Krey, Jake Hinkle and Gunner Metzer, Mitchell and her three-year-old granddaughter, who was held for obser-vation.

According to the State Police, the white van was on fire when troopers arrived on the scene. Troopers were

assisted at the scene by the Kalkaska County Sheriff’s Department, Excelsior/Coldsprings Township Fire Department, Kalkaska Fire Department/Rescue and ground and air crews from Northflight EMS.

A community vigil will be held to-night (Thursday) at the Grayling Coun-try Club, the home course of the Gray-ling golf team, at 6 p.m.

Roscommon High School golf Coach Mike Glover said the accident makes him think about the thousands of miles he and his team have driven to golf meets. “Our hearts go out to them,” said Glover.

The accident is under investigation.

Athlete, coach from Grayling golf team, woman die in Monday crash

The Roscommon High School Student Council (pictured May 1) cre-ated a banner for RHS students to sign, giving messages of support to Grayling High School students. “Feel free to sign this banner in support of our brothers and sisters at GHS,” a sign read above the banner. Six members of the GHS golf team and one coach were involved in a fa-

tal automobile accident on April 29. The accident resulted in the death of three people, including one GHS golf team member and the team’s coach. The student council also sent GHS a bouquet of flowers in both schools colors on April 30 and RHS has designated Friday as “green and white day” to show the school’s support. (Photo by Krista Tacey-Cater)

SUPPORT IN A TIME OF NEED

When canoe racers hit the water of the South Branch of the Au Sable River Saturday morning at Wallace Park in Roscom-mon, they’ll be vying for both cash and points in the Michigan Canoe Racing Association’s (MCRA) 2013 race series.

Registration begins at 9 a.m. with the first heat of the two-man Expert 1 class race to take off Le Mans-style (with one paddler running and the other waiting by the canoe) at 11 a.m. The second heat of the Expert 1 race will start six minutes later, and the Expert 2 race will begin shortly afterward.

Expert 1 teams paddle downstream to the foot of Dearheart Valley Road, where they negotiate a clockwise turn around a bouy, then head back upstream to the finish line. Organizer and racer Bill Torongo of Roscommon said the race usually takes between one hour, 20 minutes and one hour, 50 minutes to complete.

The Expert 2 race travels from Wallace Park to a point just downstream of Steckert Bridge, where they make their turn-around and head back to the park. Lunch, provided by the Grayling Moose Club, will be served at the park at 3 p.m., and awards will follow. Torongo said that between 35 and 50 C-2 are expected to compete Saturday.

On Sunday, C-1 paddlers will begin registration at 8:30 a.m. for the race at 10 a.m. Racers will be assigned starting positions determined by the order of registration, and each will start the race separately at 15-second intervals. Awards will follow the race.

Over $1,500 in prize money will be awarded during this year’s races, which are being sponsored by the Roscommon Canoe Racing Association.

31st Roscommon Canoe Classic offering prize money and points

Smith wins $1,000 ‘Catch Us’ prize

(continued on page five)

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