U.S. Census disappoints

By Carol Stiffler When the U.S. Census Bureau released figures for the 2020 census, it indicated Luce County had lost 19.5% of its residents in the past 10 years. And Michigan believed it. I’m in need of confirmation from census officials – and I have requested...

Face to face with friends at last

By Bill Diem Our short summer on the lake was dominated by post-Covid conversations. We didn’t always talk about Covid, but we talked. We had not seen our Michigan friends and family face-to-face for two years, as our 2020 summer was cancelled. So we talked. First it...

Go to the fair!

By Carol Stiffler Luce and West Mackinac counties, let’s go to the fair next weekend. Our community is small, and our fair is small. Our community used to be bigger, and our fair used to be bigger. Even so, we have this gift of an annual county fair, scheduled for...

Forcing me to be good to the earth

By Bill Diem For me, here on vacation at last, I am reveling in the cool mornings and warm days. I liked the thunderstorm; it reminded me of many past thunderstorms I have enjoyed here. Lots of family started our vacation, and there was camp to open after being shut...

Newberry vs. meth

By Carol Stiffler The meth situation in Newberry is serious. We knew that, but most of us wouldn’t have known as much as we do if one local man hadn’t recently started making a stir. Newberry resident Chris Linhart published his phone number a few weeks ago, offering...

Newberry water and American infrastructure

By Bill Diem One of the things that Rep. Jack Bergman does well is keep his district up-to-date with federal programs that can help. Two big ones recently are federal support for better Internet connections in rural America, and improving water and sewage in...