City of Mt. Pleasant sets public hearing for anti-discrimination ordinance

A public hearing for the City of Mt. Pleasant’s proposed anti-discrimination ordinance will be held at the city commission’s June 11 meeting following a unanimous vote by the commission. A presentation by city attorney Scott Smith highlighted the proposed human rights ordinance at the commission’s May 29 meeting, letting the commissioners know how far along it had progressed. The intent of the ordinance is to provide basic employment, public accommodation and housing rights to all people, Smith said. The ordinance was drafted to supplement existing federal and state civil rights laws that protect race, national origin and religion.

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Mt. Pleasant’s Paint the High St. Bridge project kicks off fundraising drive

The view coming into Mt. Pleasant from the west is about to get friendlier. What started as a dream - to turn a local eyesore into an attractive community gateway - is coming to fruition for Mt. Pleasant’s Kurt Feight and his father Keith Feight. “The project is a go,” said Kurt Freight. “The vision and mission is to promote the community; to make it a welcoming and thank you sign for greeting guests to our community.” The father and son began action in late 2011 on the idea of improving the appearance of the High St. railroad bridge trestle at M-20 after noticing the view along that portion of M-20 could be more welcoming. “Every time I drove into town, I kept looking at that lousy bridge,” said Keith Freight.

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CMU communications vice president Renee Walker resigns

After four years at Central Michigan University, Renee Walker resigned from her position leading University Communications. The associate vice president of communications' final day was Friday after she and University President George E. Ross came to a mutual agreement, according to a letter Ross said to faculty and staff. “She has established a solid communications platform on which we will continue to build," Ross wrote. Ross hopes to have a fresh perspective on communications, he wrote.

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Grand Funk cranks up the rock at Mount Pleasant's Soaring Eagle

Grand Funk drummer Don Brewer was catching up with Bob Seger’s manager Punch Andrews the other day, the two veterans of the Michigan rock scene talking about how life has changed since the days their bands played Sherwood Forest in Davison and Saginaw’s Daniels Den. “We’ve both noticed that places are expanding the wheelchair sections when we come to play now,” Brewer said, laughing. “I guess when we have people our age showing up to see us again, well, they’re not always in the greatest shape.”

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Former Bay City Times-area standouts and Central Michigan University head into MAC baseball tourney

Central Michigan University capped off its baseball season by taking two of three games in a weekend series against rival Western Michigan University to earn a No. 3 seed heading into the Mid-American Conference Tournament. The Chippewas take on No. 6 Eastern Michigan in the opening round Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. at All Pro Frieght Stadium in Avon, Ohio. A quartet of Bay City Times-area player have suited up for the Chippewas this season, including senior Ryan Longstreth.

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CMU NASCAR Kinetics team wins national competition

via Midland Daily News


Central Michigan University students won first place in the national NASCAR Kinetics: Marketing in Motion competition. Five students, including one from Freeland, represented CMU in the semester-long competition with 18 other schools, including the University of Oregon and The Ohio State University. The team won an all-expense paid trip to Charlotte, N.C., for the NASCAR All-Star Race Weekend May 18-20. Grand Rapids junior Samantha Reed said the experience will make her more marketable to employers when looking for jobs after graduation. “This was an incredible hands-on experience,” she said. “We learned so much about sales, event planning and networking. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

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Dominic Sheahan-Stahl addresses Sacred Heart Academy class of 2012

Dominic Sheahan-Stahl got his chance to address the Sacred Heart Academy class of 2012 Sunday, although it was before their commencement ceremony and at a different venue. Sheahan-Stahl, 32, is an alumnus of the school and is now an actor living in New York City. He had been invited to give the commencement address, but was disinvited when school officials learned he was gay after seeing his engagement photos on Facebook.
Wearing a white t-shirt with the light blue words “Live Through Love” on the front, he read the speech he had written for the commencement in Central Michigan University’s Plachta Auditorium at 1 p.m., two hours before the official commencement.

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CMU charter schools panel: 'Time to break children free from monopoly of unions, public schools'

Charter schools save lives and futures, says Detroit News editorial editor Nolan Finley.
"We have to break our children free from the monopoly franchise of the education unions and public school bureaucracy," he said Monday morning in a panel discussion about charter schools at Central Michigan University. The discussion was a part of the dedication of the John Engler Center for Charter Schools at CMU. The university is the largest authorizer of charter schools in Michigan with 56 schools with nearly 30,000 students. After Engler in 1994 signed into law the Charter School Act, CMU became the first university in the nation to authorize charter schools.

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Mount Pleasant native Dominic Sheahan-Stahl writes open letter to Saginaw Bishop Joseph Cistone

Dominic Sheahan-Stahl invites the Saginaw Diocese Bishop to hear the message he has for Sacred Heart Academy graduates. After Mount Pleasant's Sacred Heart Academy officials invited the 1998 graduate and actor Manhattan to speak at the May 20 commencement, they canceled his address once they learned he is gay. The 32-year-old has been openly gay for 14 years. The Saginaw Diocese stated individuals who deny Catholic beliefs should not be given platforms at places that suggest diocesan support for their actions.

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Soaring Eagle Waterpark hopes to attract local families for "fun-cation" close to home

Guests at the newly opened Soaring Eagle Waterpark and Hotel in Mt. Pleasant will never forget that they are near water. Splashes of bright turquoise and blue are prominent among the otherwise warm, earth-toned décor of the hotel. From a turquoise velvet chair in a guest suite to wavy blue glass panels in the lobby and the subtle wave patterns on the carpet, water is everywhere. Hotel management say the resort was designed to complement the existing Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort down the road to create a one-stop vacation destination for families. “We are very excited to be offering a family fun-cation destination in Mid-Michigan,” said Bonnie Sprague, general manager of the hotel and water park.

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Dick's Sporting Goods Announces Grand Opening Celebration At Indian Hills Plaza in Mt. Pleasant, MI

Dick's Sporting Goods, the largest U.S. based full-line sporting goods retailer, invites the community of Mt. Pleasant to their three-day grand opening weekend. The store will open its doors on Wednesday, May 16 and begin the celebration with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday, May 18 at 8:00 a.m. at the retailer's new location at Indian Hills Plaza, 4228 East Bluegrass Road, Mt. Pleasant, MI 48858, (989) 772-1990. Special extended store hours will also be in effect for Friday (8:00 a.m. to 10), Saturday (8:00 a.m. to 10) and Sunday (9:00 a.m. to 8). Dick's Sporting Goods also has a variety of special athlete appearances and giveaways scheduled to celebrate the grand opening festivities. On Friday, the first customers through the door will receive a free Reebok t-shirt while supplies last.

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Pure Michigan kicks off Mt. Pleasant campaign

“Pure Michigan” is the sixth most recognized state tourism advertising campaign in the world. Michigan.org is the top state tourism website in the nation. Now, Mt. Pleasant is benefiting from both. Several community partners have joined with the Mt. Pleasant Area Convention and Visitors Bureau to create a radio advertising campaign for the area. Actor and Michigan native Tim Allen lends his voice to the campaign, which is airing in Grand Rapids, Flint and Kalamazoo, as well as Toledo, Ohio, and Ft. Wayne and South Bend, Ind.

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Keno Davis embraces fresh start at Central Michigan

The only career mementos that mark Keno Davis’ new, windowless office at Central Michigan University are three coaching awards from the year that changed his life. That dream season of 2007-08 at Drake University earned Davis national coach of the year honors. Now, after three tumultuous years at Providence College of the Big East Conference and a year in broadcasting, the son of former Iowa coach Tom Davis is out to prove himself again at the mid-major level. Keno Davis takes over a Central Michigan program that has only four winning seasons in the last 33 years.

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Motorless Motion owner talks cycling

Allison Quast is about to start her fourth summer as owner of Motorless Motion, the bicycle shop in downtown Mt. Pleasant previously owned by her father. In March, she purchased a property containing a carriage house and a main house that was a rental property until deemed unfit for human occupancy by the fire department, and is in the process of restoring it so she and her fiancé can use it as a home. While not running Motorless Motion and restoring the old house, she also serves as the liaison between the planning commission and zoning board of appeals; vice president of the Downtown Development Board; vice chairwoman of Mid-Michigan Pathways Group, which hopes to create a rail trail from Clare to Ithaca; and participating in Talk Around Town, the Mt. Pleasant Toastmasters club she started.

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CMU freshman contracts bacterial meningitis

A Central Michigan University freshman has bacterial meningitis. Central Michigan Life reports Livonia resident Nicholas Collins tested positive for meningitis between April 30 and Monday. He lived in Trout Hall on campus and moved out Thursday. School officials alerted students, CM Life reported. Anyone who has been in close contact with Collins should call CMU Health Services at 989-774-6577. Bacterial meningitis is a bacterial form of the infection that causes inflammation in fluids surrounding the brain and spinal cord, according to the Centers for Disease Control. It can cause hearing loss and brain damage, although it is treatable.

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Kathy Griffin ready to make grown-ups laugh at Mount Pleasant's Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort

Kathy Griffin says she would have been merciless on someone like herself a few years ago. “I mean, I lived with my parents in a two-bedroom apartment in Santa Monica until I was 28,” she said. “I was the person who wouldn’t leave. It was quite pitiful; I’d go on a date and couldn’t take the guy home.” But her mother and dad’s investment in their daughter’s dream paid off — “They wanted to retire in California, anyway,” said the Chicago native. “I just told them Los Angeles had great golf courses” — and she’s moved up from the D-list with her sharp-witted insights on the celebrity world.

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Student housing under study by Mt. Pleasant planners

A generation ago, Central Michigan University students celebrated the end of spring semester with something they called the End of the World party, a massive, drunken street party that brought thousands of people to Mt. Pleasant’s South Main Street. After a court order and a massive police presence, the party faded away about a quarter-century ago. Students now leave town for the summer fairly quietly, but South Main Street and its concentration of student housing remains a concern for the city of Mt. Pleasant. “About 80 percent of the incidents (police) track are in the student area,” said Jeff Gray, the city’s director of planning and community development.

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Jacksonville Jaguars release former CMU quarterback Dan LeFevour

Former Central Michigan University quarterback Dan LeFevour was released by the Jacksonville Jaguars, the team announced Monday. LeFevour was a sixth-round pick by the Chicago Bears in 2010, but has spent the last two seasons bouncing from team to team as a third quarterback. When the Bears cut LeFevour, the Cincinnati Bengals picked him up for the 2010 season. The Bengals cut LeFevour before the 2011 season. The Indianapolis Colts signed LeFevour to their practice squad, but Jacksonville signed LeFevour off the practice squad.

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Psychic Sylvia Browne to entertain Mother's Day crowd in Mount Pleasant

Who could have foreseen what life had in store for the good little girl encouraged by the sisters at her Catholic school to share her gift with the world? “The nuns were so good to me,” remembered Sylvia Browne, the renowned psychic coming on Mother’s Day to Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort in Mount Pleasant. “They protected me, and when I was 18, they encouraged me to help people full-time. “I was only 5 years old when I sensed that both of my great-grandmothers were going to die, and within weeks, both did. Thank God I had a grandmother who was psychic, too. It scared me — this was in the 1940s in the Midwest — but she helped me see ways to put it to good use.”

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Mt. Pleasant Meadows ready to open

Horse racing and the state of Michigan haven’t been seeing eye to eye for some time now. As to why it would take a serious sojourn and hours-long dissertation to discuss the specifics as to why horse racing has left this state at such a fast gallop. However there’s some good news for horse racing fans in the mid-Michigan area in that Mt. Pleasant Meadows opens this weekend coinciding with the running of the Kentucky Derby.

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CMU Research Corp., Mt. Pleasant Chamber Launch Startup Support Program

The Central Michigan University Research Corp. and the Mount Pleasant Area Chamber of Commerce announced a partnership called the Prelaunch Passport Program to provide local resources such as accounting services and marketing consulting to startup businesses. Already, nearly 20 CMU-RC clients are enrolled in the program. “The Prelaunch Passport Program is aimed at stimulating the local business community and fostering an environment to help new ventures plant roots in the community,” said Erin Strang, president and CEO of CMU-RC.

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Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart grad Dominic Sheahan-Stahl: 'It gets better'

Dominic Steahan-Stahl wants people to know despite discrimination, it gets better. The 32-year-old former Mount Pleasant resident and 1998 Sacred Heart Academy graduate made a video supporting people who have experienced discrimination. Sacred Heart officials uninvited Sheahan-Stahl from giving the commencement speech on May 20 after they learned he is openly gay. The graduating class, which includes Steahan-Stahl's brother William, supported Dominic Sheahan-Stahl. In the video, he encouraged people to not point fingers. "I, my family and my community are all going to make sure that when you are my age, this will be a thing of the past," he said.

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Mt. Pleasant woman injured in car-pedestrian accident

A 50-year-old Mt. Pleasant woman was treated for minor injuries at a local hospital after being hit by a car on the campus at Central Michigan University Wednesday. The woman, who sustained minor injuries, was walking across Preston Street at about noon when a 20-year-old Pinckney woman pulled east on the street from Franklin, hitting the woman near the crosswalk, Mt. Pleasant Police Public Information Offcer Jeff Browne said. Police blocked Preston Street from East Campus to Washington after the accident, as a crowd gathered in front of Park Library.

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Mt. Pleasant schools to update sex ed curriculum

The Mt. Pleasant school district’s sexual education materials are older than most of its students but many of the district’s sex ed informational videos, created in the late ‘80’s and early ‘90’s, could be replaced with newer versions. “There’s not a lot changing content wise, most of it just has to do with updating it so that people in the videos and the examples we have are dressed in clothing that we see today,” superintendent Mike Pung said.
He said the video updates would be the only changes that will be made to the program, and it will still fit state requirements. The school board is reviewing the materials and information. The board will again be presented with material at the Committee of the Whole meeting in May, and will decide if more review is needed or if action will be taken later in the month.

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Mt. Pleasant restaurant changes name and offerings

If you're in Mt. Pleasant and you're looking for CoCo Joe's Beach House restaurant, you're going to end up empty handed. The restaurant, located at 4855 East Blue Grass Road, changed its name and its menu recently. It is now known at Hunter's Ale House. The restaurant is headed in a completely new direction and will no longer resemble the beach-house theme it was once known for. The pianos are also headed out the door, eventually. "Over time, some of that will come out and some other things will come in," says Pat Simons, the general manager of Hunter's.

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Members First's Mt. Pleasant branch is now open

A new credit union is joining the financial scene in Mount Pleasant, as Members First Credit Union recently opened its doors at the corner of Bluegrass Road and Encore Drive. President and CEO Eric Brubaker says the credit union already has members in Mount Pleasant, from its existing branch office and headquarters in Midland. "We already have a strong group of members in Mount Pleasant. This building will allow us to give them an even higher level of service while welcoming in their family, friends and businesses," says Brubaker.

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