Duct tape key in buoyancy boat battle

High school physics assignment: combine duct tape, cardboard ‘immerse in water. Report on buoyancy and distance traveled across 100 meter pool with two student crew rowing. Well, that’s the plan, anyway, that Brandon High School physics teacher Lesley Hildebrand gave to her students who launched 18 cardboard boats into the high school swimming pool last […]

H1N1 flu virus reported in school, absentees a ‘roller-coaster?

On Oct. 27, Goodrich School District officials reported confirmed cases of H1N1 flu virus at Oaktree Elementary School. Parents were notified of the cases and it was recommended by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention that students do not return to school until 24 hours after the fever has subsided without the use of […]

Funding for school bus inspections axed

A certification needed to legally operate district school buses may by the latest casualty of Michigan’s budget woes. The Michigan State Police Motor Carrier Division is responsible for inspecting and certifying the safety of more than 17,000 school buses each year. The funding for the program is part of the K-12 school aid budget. The […]

Local veteran part of Detroit: Our Greatest Generation

In June 1944 Gerald Marsh, then an 18-year-old private, was wading through the blood-tinged waters of the English Channel onto Utah Beach’a key landing site for the American troops in Normandy. Marsh, an Ortonville native, was called to duty on July 16, 1943, shipped to Europe in February 1944 and assigned to the Fifth Armored […]

Flu school absences not yet to levels of closing

While several school districts statewide have closed because of excessive absences due to the flu, both Brandon and Goodrich School districts have remained open’so far. On Monday, the Goodrich District reported 265 students absent, about 12 percent of the population. ‘Our magic number is 546 students out or 25 percent of the population,? said John […]

MSP arrest pair suspected in home invasions

Two suspects wanted for a series of daytime burglaries in southwest Lapeer County, in addition to Brandon, Hadley and Metamora townships, were arrested following a traffic stop in Oxford Township. At about 3:30 p.m. Sgt. Joseph Vandermeulen, from the MSP Lapeer Post, stopped a gold-colored Honda near Baldwin and Oakwood roads. Troopers arrested Steven James […]

Summer’s ‘Cash for Clunkers? boom continues

Brandon Twp. ? It’s been a couple months since the government-sponsored ‘Cash for Clunkers? program helped jam area car dealers? showrooms, however, the surge of business has continued for at least one area dealer Joe Carrier, general manager of Randy Wise Ford, 989 S. Ortonville Road, had customers waiting to buy new cars in his […]

Military contract lands in township

Atlas Twp.-A local company recently landed part of a $6.8-million defense contract to build assembly equipment for U.S. Army smoke grenade production. Township-based Burton Industries Inc., 6202 S. State Road, will build the conveyer system, essentially an assembly line, for the Pine Bluff Arsenal in southeast Arkansas for the U.S. Department of Defense. The award […]

A view from the ‘Roof of Africa?

Mt. Kilmanjaro conqured. On Oct. 13, after more than a year of planning, thousands of air miles and a training program comparable to that of a marathon runner?58-year-old township resident Jonathan Schechter arrived on the summit of the19,340 foot Mt. Kilimanjaro. Known as the, ‘Roof of Africa,? and located in the United Republic of Tanzania’Schechter, […]

Cuts to libraries threaten services statewide

While schools and municipalities are reeling from the impact after massive state budget cuts, area libraries may soon be contending with less revenue of their own. Gretchen Couraud, executive director of the Michigan Library Association, said the recently adopted state budget that would cut library funding from $10 million to $6 million could be catastrophic […]