State Roundup

Marquette Twp.
State opposes tribe-owned gas station in UP
MARQUETTE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration is urging the federal government to reject a gas station proposed by an American Indian tribe in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula because of a tax advantage over competitors.
The gas station in Marquette Township, near Marquette, could be free of certain state taxes because it would be owned by the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community. The tribe could sell gas at a lower price.
“While the tribe is free to run any business it chooses, it should not be able to gain an unfair commercial advantage over the surrounding competitors by having the property put into trust for the admitted purpose of marketing a tax advantage,” Snyder’s deputy legal counsel, Dave Murley, said in a Jan. 7 letter to the U.S. Interior Department.
The Mining Journal reported that Murley urged the government not to place the land in trust for the tribe, a key procedural step.
The tribe already owns a gas station in Baraga County, where its gas prices have been 15 cents to 25 cents cheaper per gallon than other stations, the newspaper reported.
“If the tribe or its members wish to compete, let them do so lawfully and on the same terms as Michigan’s other businesses,” Murley told the government.
The Keweenaw Bay tribe said it was disappointed by the state’s position. Tribal officials said the Baraga gas station has been open for more than 10 years and has competitors in the Baraga-L’Anse area.
“KBIC’s goal is to provide permanent jobs and services to the local community while generating the revenue to support essential programs and services for KBIC and the surrounding communities,” the tribe said Friday.
The tribe also is proposing a casino in Negaunee Township. The government has given Snyder until June to comment on that plan.

Paw Paw
Man arrested after urinating on sheriff’s building
PAW PAW, Mich. (AP) — A western Michigan man released from jail found himself in custody again after urinating outside the sheriff’s department.
Van Buren County authorities say the 42-year-old Holland man appeared at the sheriff’s office to bail out a friend early Saturday. The man instead joined his buddy behind bars after a deputy looked out the window and saw him urinating on the building.
The man was drunk and told the deputy that he simply couldn’t hold it. He was arrested for disorderly conduct.
Just three hours earlier, he had been released from the Ottawa County jail. The man’s name was not released.

Lincoln Twp.
14-year-old boy credited for bravery in rescue
LINCOLN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A 14-year-old central Michigan boy who came to the rescue of a rape victim fleeing a homicidal ex-convict is drawing praise from his family.
James Persyn III was home alone with his 11-year-old sister and 2-year-old brother Wednesday night when a Central Michigan University student started banging on the door and screaming for help.
“Her voice was, like, she was going to die if I didn’t open that door,” James told the Detroit Free Press for a story Sunday.
Their father, James Persyn Jr., 36, had left to pick up fiancee Tiffany Ramon, 28. Her shift had just ended at her family’s business, J & M Produce and Nursery, a few miles away.
“A lot of people, maybe most people, would’ve been like, ‘Get the hell off my porch,’” their father said.
Instead, James unlocked the door, and the woman ran in.
“She’s like, “We got to hide! There’s someone out there who just kidnapped me and he’s trying to kill me,’” James said.
The woman had packing tape wrapped around her body, a bruised face and an arm she said broke when she jumped from a vehicle her attacker was driving.
The woman told authorities she was walking to her car in a university parking lot when Eric Ramsey, a 30-year-old ex-convict, approached her with a gun, got into her vehicle, took her to his mother’s house and raped her.
Authorities said later that the weapon was a BB gun made to look like a handgun. Ramsey was eventually shot and killed by a sheriff’s deputy.
James said that after letting the woman in, he locked the front door and ran to the side door to lock it, too. He herded everyone into the bathroom to hide. The woman, 11-year-old Acelin and 2-year-old Angus Persyn joined her.
James went to his bedroom and grabbed his hunting knife. He pulled his Labrador retriever into the bathroom and closed the door, which has no lock, then turned off the lights.
“Let me in or I’ll kill you,” he said Ramsey kept shouting.
After the woman called 911, James said he called his father.
“We need help right now,” James said he told his father. “There’s a man outside our door trying to get in, and I’m really afraid.”
The father jumped in his car and raced to the home.
Meanwhile, Ramsey got a gas can from his vehicle, doused the side of the house, set it on fire and then fled.
James Persyn Jr. arrived home soon after and was dousing the fire when sheriff’s deputies showed up as well.
Ramsey was spotted early Thursday in Otsego County, where he rammed the first of two state police cars. He then stole a garbage truck and was fatally shot by a deputy in Crawford County, about 70 miles north of the university.
James and his sister took one day off school. When they returned to class Friday, people came up to congratulate the 14-year-old boy for the way he protected his family.
His father said James merely did the right thing.
“We never put the word ‘hero’ out there,” James Persyn Jr. said. “We just kept saying, ‘We’re proud of you.’ “

Adrian
Man gets prison for stealing prized football, TVs
ADRIAN, Mich. (AP) — A man has been sentenced to at least nine years in prison for stealing from a Lenawee County couple who opened their home to him when he was homeless.
Among the stolen items was a football signed by the 2011 University of Michigan football team for the deceased brother of homeowner Scott Jeffrey. Jason Hall's sentence was delayed last month so he could try to recover the football but it was sold.
Hall was also accused of stealing money, televisions, jewelry and checks while he was living with the Macon Township couple. Police say he subsequently broke into the home after moving out in 2011.
The Daily Telegram in Adrian says Lenawee County Judge Timothy Pickard sentenced Hall above the usual guidelines Friday.