Petoskey Favors New Football Stadium?

According to an article in today's Petoskey News Review, Petoskey School District voters are supportive of a new millage to develop and operate $15 million worth of new school sports facilities. This according to Lansing-based polling firm EPIC-MRA, which surveyed 300 district residents from Nov. 11-14, and found that a majority of those surveyed (57%) supported the idea.

School officials are apparently considering new football, track and soccer facilities at the south end of the Petoskey High School/Petoskey Middle School complex. The proposed new taxes would cost the owner of a $200,000 home roughly $79/year.

I found these survey results to be quite surprising, given the current weakness in our local economy. So I thought it would be interesting to conduct my own survey. (I have been looking for an excuse to have a survey for a while now). So here's your big chance! Please click on the link below to complete the survey.

Petoskey Schools' Sports Facilities Improvement Proposal Survey

Northern Michigan Hospital Cancer Center

Northern Michigan Hospital Cancer Center
Northern Michigan Hospital (NMH) in Petoskey has been at the forefront in the fight against cancer since the 1970's, when NMH added medical oncology/hematology and radiation oncology to its team of experts. In the past 30 years, NMH has diagnosed and treated more than 25,000 cancer patients, providing the region with some of the latest in specialty cancer care and clinical research.

In 2005, the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer once again accredited NMH as a Comprehensive Community Cancer Center with commendation, one of only twelve programs in the state to receive that designation. The NMH Cancer Committee, led by NMH Cancer Program Director and oncologist Dr. Ervin Hire, has created four teams of experts who will focus on four kinds of cancers that affect the majority of patients in our region: colorectal, lung, breast and prostate cancers. Each team will study the most effective diagnostic approaches and treatment options, to create guidelines for incorporating the latest advances.

Thanks to NMH, all of us who live in the area can rest assured that we have experts to turn to if and when our lives our touched by cancer.

Journey To Bethlehem

After hearing about the live nativity play put on by the Stutsmanville Chapel for a number of years, I finally had the opportunity to attend with my family. We were not disappointed. The production, entitled "Journey to Bethlehem", involved six separate scenes, which I will describe as "The Visitation", "The Census", "No Room at the Inn", "Hark the Herald Angels Sing", "The Three Wise Men", and "The Nativity".

And despite the blizzard-like weather, what a performance it was, both indoors and out, involving a cast of close to a hundred people, not including various livestock and animals including dogs, cats, chickens, horses and sheep. "Journey to Bethlehem" runs from Thursday through Sunday, December 8th-10th. Please call Stutsmanville Chapel in advance for reservations at (231) 526-2335. Stutsmanville Chapel is located approximately five miles North of Harbor Springs on the Northwest Corner of State and Stutsmanville Roads.