Norton Shores
Bill designed to protect late-night clerks unveiled
NORTON SHORES, Mich. (AP) — Legislation is being announced that would require Michigan gas stations open after 11 p.m. to have two employees working or to install security cameras.
The bill unveiled Monday morning in western Michigan comes after the April disappearance of a 26-year-old woman from her job at a Norton Shores gas station.
Heeringa disappeared before she was set to close the station. Police said there was no indication of a robbery.
Democratic Rep. Collene LaMonte of Montague is planning to give details about her bill that could be called “Jessica’s Law.”
The gas station had no security cameras, leaving authorities without potential clues.
Chippewa Twp
Remains of Native Americans to be buried in Mich.
CHIPPEWA TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — The Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe and its Ziibiwing Cultural Society plan to rebury human remains of Native Americans formerly housed at two Michigan universities.
The Morning Sun of Mount Pleasant reports 81 sets of human remains, as well as funerary objects, will be brought from the University of Michigan’s Museum of Anthropology in Ann Arbor to the tribe’s Nibokaan Ancestral Cemetery in Isabella County’s Chippewa Township.
Another 44 sets of human remains, as well as funerary objects, will be brought from Wayne State University in Detroit to the cemetery near Mount Pleasant. And a set of human remains from the state police post in Mount Pleasant will be released to the tribe.
A “Recommitted to the Earth Ceremony” is at 1 p.m. Friday at the cemetery.
Lansing
Audit: One-stop state licensing system little used
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan departments mostly aren’t using a one-stop online permitting system designed to help people who want to start, operate or expand a business, according to the state’s auditor general.
The state spent $20 million developing and maintaining the Michigan Business One Stop System, but it gets little use, an audit released last week says. The system was created from 2007-09 to give entities doing business with the state a single entry point and to streamline licensing.
Auditors said that state agencies have no strategic plan for the continued development and use of the one-stop system.
A lead agency told other departments to integrate with the new system. But agencies said their permitting processes were complex and it was easier for businesses to use existing procedures.
“Seven of the nine state departments that are responsible for registering businesses or issuing licenses and permits do not use MBOS to process most of their licenses, permits and registrations,” the auditors wrote. They said the licensing and agriculture departments “were developing new licensing and permitting systems and were not certain whether the new systems should integrate MBOS.”
The reason, the auditors said, was that the two departments “questioned whether integrating the new systems with MBOS would provide value to the departments or their customers.”
The auditors said a survey of businesses that use the Michigan Business One Stop System showed that their overall satisfaction with it was low.
The Department of Technology, Management and Budget, which has overall responsibility for information technology operations in state government “should direct the new effort to develop the strategic plan” for the one-stop system, the auditors said. But they added that such a plan “will require substantial involvement and input from all departments involved with licensing, permitting and registration of businesses.”
The budget and technology department said in its preliminary response that it and other agencies “agree with the recommendation and will coordinate the development of a strategic plan to ensure the system meets the needs of the departments and their customers.”
“If we keep widening and adding lanes, we’re essentially widening the bandwidth for people to move further and further away,” said state Rep. Jim Townsend, D-Royal Oak. “Why do we know this? Because that’s what the last 50 years have taught us.”
Supporters say the work is needed to loosen traffic bottlenecks and encourage redevelopment of Detroit.
“I think the urban sprawl is already here, and the truth of the matter is I see people moving back to the city of Detroit,” said Detroit City Councilman Andre Spivey, who represents Detroit on the commission. “We need it done. ... We have to look at economic growth. ... How can we get goods and services through 75, down 94?”
The earliest work would begin no sooner than 2016 on I-75 and 2018 on I-94, said Morosi. He said the projects would conclude in 2030 or later.
I-94 would get extra lanes between Conner and I096, while I-75 would get them from Eight Mile Road to Michigan 59. There also would be interchange and bridge upgrades.
Flint
Possible home for ‘Wilderness Golf’ course in city
FLINT, Mich. (AP) — Flint is a potential home for a “Wilderness Golf” course.
When Detroit-area residents Frank Dattilo and Paul Lubanski were looking for a place to record a match of their new sport, they headed north.
The first game of the more physical variation of the traditional pursuit took place over the summer at the shuttered Mott Park Golf Course.
The scoring system for “Wilderness Golf” is based on the amount of time taken to play, not the amount of strokes over or under par. It’s also designed to be played on rougher terrain.
The round was shot for a documentary-style film aimed at introducing the sport.
Filming also took place at Dearborn Country Club.
The 16-minute video shows participants playing at both Mott Park and the Dearborn course, which is an active course. The idea behind the film is to introduce people to the sport and demonstrate how it’s played.
The video has been posted on YouTube as well as the game’s website.
Lubanski, who is a longtime athlete and sports writer, said he would like to see the popularity of the game take off and envisions it being the perfect vehicle for a reality show.
Dattilo, a former advertising executive, said the game could be a great way to repurpose forgotten golf courses across the country.
“If we, in some small way, were able to effect the resurrection ... of Mott Park and other closed courses, I think the entire concept would be wildly successful,” Dattilo told The Flint Journal.
Lubanski said he thinks Mott Park could be the site of the first-ever permanent “Wilderness Golf” course.
