Tahquamenon Area Schoolsathletic director Fred Bryantstarted off Monday night’sboard meeting with a strongrecommendation that HondoDepew be hired as the JV girls’basketball coach. It was one ofthe items voted on favorablyduring the consent agendaitems.Bryant also related that the

press box at the football fieldis currently being upgraded.“It’s great that we have tworadio stations that want to cov-er our games,” stated Bryant.“Unfortunately, we just didn’thave the space to accommo-date three radio stations if aschool brought in a host. Also,visiting coaches and their filmand home coaches and theirfilm. It was just jammed inthere.”Volun tee r workers have

made a 20-foot extension withdonations from L.P. and otherprivate parties.“Projects like this don’t get

done unless there are people inthe community that take pridein the town, the school and thefacilities,” Bryant continued.He also reported that the

numbers for both volleyball

teams are strong, as is JV foot-ball.Bryant and the administra-

tion are looking at the pay-to-participate plan with the ideaof reducing the fee for somewho would qualify. “If a stu-dent qual i f ies for free andreduced lunch, rather than pay100 percent of the pay-to-par-ticipate…that fee is reduced by25 percent.”He is still working on large

families with more than onestudent playing sports.Bryant, backed up by super-

intendent Alice Walker, toldthe board that the athletes mustpay the fee prior to their firstcontest. “If they don’t pay,”stressed Walker, “they don’tplay.”The board accepted the res-

ignation of Katie Moeggen-borg. Four possible replace-ments have been interviewedand a recommendation will bemade soon.Approval was given for a

n ew h i g h s c hoo l Eng l i s hteacher, Mikal Staley, whograduated from Lake SuperiorState University. She workedlast year in Connecticut, butwanted to move back to her

home state of Michigan.The board accepted the bids

for supplying bread (Sara Lee),milk (Morning Glory), snow-plowing (Mike Aho Snow-plowing) and garbage pick-up(R & B Sanitation).Also accepted was the bid

from Johnson Controls forheating system improvementsTAS wo u l d l i k e t o m a k eshould the proposed bond issuepass in February. Now the pri-oritizing of possible projectsbegins.The board approved the rec-

ommendation of the negotia-tions committee concerning thewages and bene f i t s o f theadministrative staff.School will start September

8, when a half-day is sched-uled. Busses will roll at theirnormal morning times, butleave for home at noon.All TAS students are now on

a nine-week report card sched-ule.Due to Labor Day, the next

TAS workshop was moved toTuesday, September 8 at 6:00p.m. A K-12 Open House forall parents is scheduled forSeptember 17 and a teacher in-service set for September 2.

by Della JulianoNo money, no “clean-up

day” was the bottom line forboard members at the August11 Portage Township boardmeeting. Typically a day inearly summer when townshipresidents can get rid of oldfurniture and junk that doesn’tfit in a trash bag and paid forb y f u n d s s e t a s i d e i n t h etownship budget, “clean-upday” is a thing of the past—atleast this year.Township supervisor Donna

O’Grady reminded the boardthat the township is currentlyin a “mode” of bor rowingfrom the road fund just to payfor “things we need.”Clerk Marcia McDonald

suggested the board wait untilexpenditures for the ThreeLakes Academy have beenmade. She pointed out thateven charging 130 people $10to u t i l i z e “ c l e an -up day”dumpsters wouldn’t generate

enough money to pay for theproject, especially if the usualfive or six dumpsters wereused. If the township onlycont rac ted for a couple ofdumpsters, less people couldbe served and less money col-lected.Treasu re r Nancy Kis t e r

came up with the idea of sav-ing the approximately $3,000budgeted for the event untilt h e beg i nn i ng o f summer2010, which would still be inthe current fiscal year.O’Grady disagreed, stating

that i t is premature to plan“clean-up day” because thetownsh ip i s no t be t t e r o fffinancially now than when theboard originally cancelled it.While money for junk col-

lection was out of the ques-tion, the board did agree tospend about $10,000 for asecond applicat ion of dustcontrol brine. Road Commit-tee member John Townley

said he didn’t think the town-s h i p r o ad s n e ed ed i t , b u tadded that he lives “way offthe road.”In other action, the board:—Approved the transfer of

$25,000 from the road fund tothe general fund, a move nec-e s sa ry to pay some of thetownship’s bills.—Agreed to contract with

the Mackinac County RoadCommission for i ts annualgravel match program.—Approved a three-year

insu rance commi tmen t inorder to retain an annual pre-mium.—Authorized O’Grady to

proceed in a 75 percent matchgrant proposal process whichcould help pay for such thingsas an ice-rescue boat and polebarn to store it, or other itemsdeemed nec e s s a r y by t h eb o a r d , F i r e Dep a r tmen t ,Emergency Medical Servicesand community.

The Eastern Upper Peninsu-la Intermediate School District(EUPISD) has received a seattime waiver from the Michi-gan Department of Education.The sea t t ime waiver i s ineffect for all of the individualschool dis t r ic ts within theEUPISD service area for the2009/2010 school year. Thewaiver will allow high schoolstudents to take a variety ofonline courses or specific proj-ect-based learning opportuni-ties in lieu of traditional in-school classes.There are th ree spec i f i c

options available. The firstallows students to take up to a“full load” of online coursesaligned with an individual stu-dent’s graduat ion require-ments.T h e r e a r e a v a r i e t y o f

approved online courses avail-able through Michigan VirtualHigh School, a statewide asso-ciation known as GEN-NET,and o the r vendo r s . Thesecourses are aligned with theMichigan High School Con-tent Expectations (HSCEs)and will be monitored by local

district teachers in cooperationwith remote teachers associat-ed with the course providers.Students would still have to

take local district-approvedcourse-end exams that arealigned to the HSCEs in orderto obtain credit, just as they doin traditional courses.This option would be well

suited to students interested insemester or full-year creditrecovery, credit/course accel-eration and added potentialvariety of course offerings, aswell as those who would liketo access courses strictly fromhome or another off-site loca-tion.Students will be required to

meet face to face with localteachers periodically, but willbe monitored daily online asthey complete work, quizzesand exams. Current home-school families may want toconsider participating in thisoption.The second option is prima-

rily intended for credit recov-ery. Students participating inthis option will be able to par-ticipate in online, modular-

based learning programs thatwill allow for credit recovery.This option will be very help-ful for students that need par-tial credit to successfully com-plete Michigan Merit Curricu-lum (MMC) required coursesin order to graduate “on track”with their classmates. As withoption one, students wouldtake district-approved course-end exams in order to receivecredit.Students participating in

options one and two will beable to access the appropriatecourse options from home orother off-school-site locations.All courses will be selected bystudents and approved by localdistrict counselors/principalsand parents. Schedules will bevariable and allow for studentsto take courses completelyfrom home or attend schoolpart of the day for some cours-es and take other courses fromhome.If a student does not have

access to a computer at home,the district would provide alaptop for use while the stu-

A r a s h o f B r e a k i n g andEnterings hit the Newberrybusiness community last week,as six establishments wereentered in the middle of thenight and robbed of any cashthey had in their tills.The Old Bank, Neal’s Auto-

motive Parts, U.P. Trading,Newberry Florist, The BarrettCompany and Johnny’s Barwere broken into some timeduring the wee hours of August10. It was the second time in aweek for Johnny’s.Some of the businesses had

their doors pried open, whileothers had windows broken outto gain entry.

“Usually, if we get one lead,get one suspect, we can breakquite a few,” stated Undersher-iff Mike Jago. “We have sever-al people in mind, but have nosolid leads yet. We had a carout last night until 4:00 a.m.but the county can’t afford thismuch longer.

“Whenever I can justify it, Itry to put them (overtime offi-cers) on the grants,” continuedJago. “But I’m not supposed tobe out doing Youth and Alco-

hol enforcement patrol in thevillage for B&E incidents.”Any officers out on a Youth

and Alcohol patrol who sus-pect a B&E is in progress willswitch over to county time andinvestigate.“If you have a rash like that

in one night , you’ve got tobelieve it’s connected,” saidJago.“Businesses will have to be

more cautious about leavingmoney. It’s got to a time andplace where they’ll have toinvest in security cameras.”A l t hough b r e ak i ng and

entering has long been a prob-l em , Newbe r r y a n d Lu c eCounty have experienced morethan their normal share of late.As police manpower drops

due to unsupported millage atthe local scene and decliningstate revenues, crimes willincrease.Newberry Water and Light

and 41 Lumber were hit earlyin July, but Jago was not surethat those two were connectedwith last week’s crime spree.The Sheriff’s Department doeshave a suspect for the July

B&Es, but he has left the area.In the meantime, business

owners hit are taking steps toprotect their interests. The OldBank owner Sharon Browndeclared, “There won’t be anymoney left in here. The backdoor will have three differentlocks and I’m installing analarm system.”Sharon Magnuson, owner of

U.P. Trading, has installed abrace across the back door.A a r o n S c h r o e d e r f r om

Nea l ’s Au t omo t i v e Pa r t sreported that the thieves brokein through a side window thathas since been boarded up.Thieves will find it difficult

to break into the back door ofNewberry Florist, as new dead-bolts were installed and a bet-ter security system is in theworks. “We’ve been in busi-ness for 16 years,” sated JoyceNeumann, co-owner. “This isthe first time we’ve been bro-ken into.”The Barrett Company and

Johnny’s Bar also are takingsteps to increase their security,as are other downtown con-cerns.

Luce County will ask votersat the November election fora reinstatement of the ambu-lance mil lage—a one-mil lproperty tax for a period offive years beginning in 2010to be used for the operationand maintenance of the ambu-lance service.The two caretakers of the

Manistique River dam willr e c e i v e a pay i n c r e a s e t o$250, contingent on MackinacCounty agreeing to the pro-posal. Luce County pays forone caretaker, while Mack-inac County reimburses theother.Pet Pals requested a transfer

of $5,000 in grant money heldby Luce County. PedigreeDog Food supplied the fund-ing , which was or ig ina l ly

scheduled for improving theheating system at the animalshelter. However, when theanimal millage failed last yearand Luce Coun t y An ima lControl dissolved, that moneybecame available for Pet Palsto establish a spay/neuter pro-gram for cats.The commissioners passed

a resolution supporting thePet Pals request and later soldthe group all the equipmentlef t over by the closure ofAnimal Control for one dol-lar.Undersher i ff Mike Jago

reported on four grants he ispursuing for the county. Onewould provide child restraintseats and three others fundingfir ORV patrols, snowmobilepatrols and border patrols.

Jago stressed that applicationsfor the grants have been sub-mitted, but money has not yetbeen awarded.Hondo Depew and Joanna

Slaght were appointed to theHelen Newberry Joy HospitalBoard of Trustees for termsexpir ing in 2010 and 2012respectively.The Luce County Planning

Commission requested a Pub-lic Hearing before the start ofnext month’s meeting. TheState of Michigan is requiringall units of government withp l ann ing commis s i on s t ocomply with the same stan-dards of membership.As a consequence , Luce

County’s original ordinancecreating the Planning Com-mission needs to be amended.

Derrick HenaganIt has been over a year since

Derrick Henagan left a friend’shouse on M-135 last August 4,2008 and wa lked in t o t h ewoods intent on heading to hishome on the same road. Henever made it and was declaredmissing shortly afterwards.Despite friends, family and

police dogs extensively search-ing those woods, Henaganremains missing a year later.No new evidence has turned up

and the case, although official-ly open, remains a mystery.Henagan was 36 years old

when he disappeared and isdescribed as a white , 6’ 1”male weighing 170 poundsw i t h da rk b rown ha i r andbrown eyes.He has several tattoos. At the

top of his right arm is a tribaldes ign ; on h i s l e f t a re thenames Rayce and Dy wi thdesign around them. There isalso a wizard on the back ofhis left arm.According to Michigan State

Police, there has been neitherword f rom Henagan to hisfamily nor any use of his cellphone in the past year.“Derrick was a people per-

son,” said his mother, BettyHenagan. “He was not the typeof person to walk away.”The missing man has a six-

year-old son whom he wouldcall every night, just before

bedtime, whenever the ladstayed with his mother.“I hope Derrick is alive, but

I fear he is dead,” she sadlyadmits. “I had a gut feelingwhen I got the call a year agothat he was dead. I hope I’mwrong.”According to Betty Henagan,

Derrick and his girlfriend atthe time of his disappearance,Dianne Maddox, were expect-ing a baby last December. “Hewould not do this (leaving hisb a b y ) , ” d e c l a r e d B e t t yHenagan. “He wanted thisbaby.“I want justice. I want to

bring him home and bury him.I’m never going to go awayand shut up. I want to get toknow my grandchild.”In an ironic twist , today,

August 19, is Henagan’s birth-day. He would have been 37,and his mother will never letgo.

VOLUME 124 U.S.P.S. NO. 383980 PRICE 80¢ Newberry, Michigan Wednesday, August 19, 2009 Number 14THE NEWBERRY NEWS

EUPISD Receives Seat Time Waiver

Portage Township Forcedto Trash Clean-up Day

Improved Press Box Nearly Complete

Local B & Es Put Shop Owners on Alert

Vote on Ambulance Millageto Reappear This Fall

Henagan Still Missing

TAS busses are ready to roll.

Ground breaking has begun on the new Lynn Auto Parts store on the corner of NewberryAvenue and East Avenue C. Randy Papist, manager of Lynn Auto, expects to open the larger storesometime in November.

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