Get to know your camera

Posted on May 23, 2012 by

This may be one I should sign up for. Cool class coming up at Gallery 194: Getting to Know Your Digital Camera. It’s a six session class for beginning to intermediate photographers learning to use their camera as a creative tool for expression. First class will meet up at Gallery 194 in Lapeer, the rest will be held at Dale Vronch’s Lone Willow Studio in Lapeer in the evenings.

The final session will include a supportive group critique and review. Students need to bring a fully charged camera, memory card and manual.

Starts June 19 at Gallery 194. Other sessions will meet June 21 and 26, July 3 and 10 at Lone Willow Studio. July 14 is a field shoot.

Tuition for the six sessions is $80. Call 810-245-4223 to sign up or get more info.

Posted in art, Lapeer, Lapeer County, Michigan | Tagged , | Leave a comment

One more time, freedom for whom?

Posted on May 22, 2012 by

Yesterday, the Michigan Catholic Conference announced its suit over the mandate requiring most employers to cover contraception. They say the mandate violates religious freedom, but freedom for whom?

The First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion. That freedom is for citizens – you know, the people. But if the bishops have their way, they will disregard an individual’s own religious beliefs and instead impose those of a power elite wielding the banner of a religious institution. That sort of thing implies theocracy, and I don’t think that’s what most US citizens think they’re signed up for.

Dictating moral beliefs and choices to citizens is clearly a prohibition of the free exercise of religion the Amendment discusses. What the Michigan Catholic Conference seeks is an erosion of the First Amendment by taking religious freedom away from certain individuals.

This isn’t about churches, they’re already exempt under the mandate. It’s about thousands of employees – everyday working people – in hospitals, or schools, or charitable agencies affiliated with the Catholic Church. Employees who ought to have the right to make their own moral decisions and the right to make their own health care choices, and with privacy, I might add. If you’re going to be in business and employ people, it does not give you, the employer, the right to determine what moral beliefs your employees must embrace nor to dictate health decisions for them.

Finally, there’s the obvious: This is open and reprehensible discrimination – a group of men seeking to take rights and options away from women. Simple as that.

Again, to the Catholic Church, I ask, Catholics come home? Au contraire, I think for many that ship is under sail and gathering speed. And to Catholic women – find your voice in defense of yourselves and your beliefs. Your leaders, as we all know, are indeed fallible.

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Local candidates for the Aug. 7 primary

Posted on May 18, 2012 by

Candidate petitions have now been filed. That means we have about 10 weeks to get to know our candidates for local government before the August 7 primary election. Although a number of incumbents face no challengers, there’s some healthy competition for a few spots. And there’s even a few Democrats in the mix. By the way, independents can still jump into the mix, they have until July 19 to file for the November election.

Here you go:

For State Representative to the 82nd District, Democrat John Nugent is challenging incumbent Kevin Daley.

All of the incumbent county commissioners are running for their seats, and three face challengers. This is in the newly redistricted map of the county, so for some voters their districts have changed.

District 1 commissioner and Democrat Cheryl Clark will actually face off another Democrat in the primary challenge. Dennis Harrand is looking to unseat Clark on the commission.

District 2 Republican Gary Roy, currently serving as commission chair, faces two challengers, Republican Richard Kloor and Democrat Michael A. Carrier Sr.

District 3 Republican Dyle Henning also faces two challengers, Democrat Les Jackowski and Republican John Lagalski.

District 4 Lenny Schneider, District 5 Dave Eady, District 6 Linda Jarvis, and District 7 Ian Kempf, all Republican incumbents, face no challengers.

In other county seats, three people will campaign for Drain Commissioner. Republicans Joe Suma and Michael Smith Jr. will vie with incumbent John Freeman for the job. Freeman was appointed to the position when former Drain Commissioner John Cosens retired. Challenger Suma currently serves as a Road Commissioner.

And on the Road Commission, with chair Doug Hodge preparing to leave, there are three candidates. Republicans Michael Hemmingsen, Jerry Hudson, and Gary Howell will run.

The campaign for Sheriff is already well underway, but a fourth candidate has now thrown his hat into the ring. We have two Republican candidates, Michael Gepfrey and incumbent Ron Kalanquin. And we have two Democratic candidates, Jeff Fick and Immanuel Eickholdt.

Republican Theresa Spencer seeks to secure the seat she was appointed to, County Clerk, and faces no challengers.

The usual suspects are running to keep other county seats. Incumbent Bryon Konschuh seeks to stay on as Prosecuting Attorney. Melissa DeVaugh as Register of Deeds, Dana Miller as Treasurer, Ray Davis as County Surveyor. All Republicans.

Other local election info coming soon, with township offices also on the ballot.

Posted in government, Lapeer, Lapeer County, Michigan, politics | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Airport. Tomorrow.

Posted on May 18, 2012 by

Don’t forget tomorrow morning is the annual pancake breakfast and fly-in at Dupont-Lapeer Airport in Mayfield Township. Always fun to fill up on flapjacks, then wander the tarmac to check out the cool rides.

And new this year, bring the kids to try out the bright yellow kid-sized airplane that will make its debut. See here for more about the airplane and the event.

Event runs from 7 to 11 a.m. Everyone is welcome. If you get in on the breakfast, cost for adults is $6, kids over 6 $4. The airport is located on Roods Lake Road between Haines and Bowers.

The local chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association and Lapeer Aviation, Inc. host the event.

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John Nugent to run for Michigan House

Posted on May 14, 2012 by

Game on! Found this cool piece of information in my inbox this morning from the Democratic Party:

The Lapeer Democratic Party Chair Gary Medland has announced that John Nugent has filed to run for the Michigan State House.

“John Nugent has demonstrated his service ethic and commitment to his community,” said Medland. Nugent is currently serving his second term on the Board of Education for the Lapeer Community Schools and sits on several committees for the Board. Nugent also previously served on the Michigan Association of School Board’s Government Relations committee whose role is to educate legislators regarding education policy.

“John has demonstrated that he is an independent thinker who is thorough in his study of an issue before he votes. We all want that quality in our public servants, ” Medland noted.

Nugent has lived in Lapeer for 11 years with his wife, Mary, and his two daughters, Emily and Ashley. They also have three adult children. Nugent works as a banker with a specialty in small business investment.

I hope to catch up with Nugent and explore the candidate’s views soon. I see he’s got a Facebook page here and campaign site here.

Posted in government, Lapeer, Lapeer County, Michigan, politics | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Easy Striders in gear

Posted on May 10, 2012 by

Some of the Easy Striders on a recent walk/run outing at the Davison Dog Park.

The Easy Striders group for beginning and intermediate runners and walkers is in gear. The group gets together every Wednesday evening at 6:30 p.m., meeting up at Elite Feet at its new location on M-24 in Lapeer. The Easy Striders set out from the store on various routes depending on abilities and goals.

Easy Striders meet again on Saturday mornings at 9 a.m. Although Rowden Park is the default location for Saturday run/walks, these have become “field trip” days for the Easy Striders, and they’ve been lots of fun. Last week, the group met up in Columbiaville to explore the Southern Links Trail. Upon returning to the trailhead, everyone walked over to enjoy breakfast at the Lakehouse Grill.

On another recent outing, Easy Striders journeyed to the Dog Park in Davison, definitely a thumbs up for runners/walkers.

This week, a number of Easy Striders are participating in events Saturday morning, so there is no “field trip” planned. The following Saturday, however, the group will meet up at the Prairies and Ponds at Oakdale at 9 a.m.

An Easy Strider sets out on the Dog Park trail.

There are other opportunities for Easy Striders to buddy up for a run/walk. Members have informal runs on several other days of the week.

Easy Striders embrace runners or walkers of various levels of abilities. Some are just starting out and some are running or walking 5Ks or 10Ks. It’s just more fun and more motivating with a supportive group to help you stay with it.

Check it out if you’re a runner or walker looking for inspiration, motivation or buddies. Participation is free.

Posted in fitness, Lapeer, Lapeer County, Michigan, running | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Team Chimeras wraps up awesome FIRST Robotics season

Posted on May 4, 2012 by

Chimeras drive team in action at the state finals. Matt Wagner (foreground) was one of six in the state to make the Dean’s List that took him to national competition. Troy Wilmer (left) and Jon Uren (center) were also hard at work on the drive team.

Whew! It was a wild, fantastic season for Lapeer’s Team Chimeras 1684 in the FIRST Robotics competition. It was also their best ever.

After two grueling regional competitions, the team went to Eastern Michigan University in mid-April to bot it out at the state finals. Out of 64 finalist teams from around the state, the Chimeras ranked 35 when the dust settled. The team has steadily climbed up in the state rankings over the past several years. Experience pays off as these savvy tech kids and their dedicated mentors learn from these competitions, and apply their growing knowledge.

Team member and Dean’s List nominee Ben Barker (left) roots for the Chimeras bot during a bout

 

At the state finals, team members Matt Wagner and Ben Barker were both nominated for Dean’s List. That’s an award named in honor of FIRST founder Dean Kamen. It’s designed to recognize certain participants for a whole suite of admirable characteristics, including but not limited to leadership, passion, technical expertise, entrepreneurship, and motivation of other team members. The pair was nominated by essays submitted by team mentors. In the end, Matt Wagner was one of only six teens in Michigan to make Dean’s List. And, as you can see, he managed to do that even while on crutches after suffering a knee injury.

Matt Wagner was named one of only six teens on the state’s Dean’s List

That earned him a spot at the national competition in St. Louis, where he and other team members and mentors traveled April 25-28 so he could vie for one of 10 world Dean’s List spots.

“Unfortunately, Matt did not make top ten in the world but he did make top 6 in the state,” said mentor Jon Uren. He went on to say, “Matt is the first Dean’s List finalist in the history of our team and Lapeer County. In my opinion, Matt and Ben both deserve to be top 10 in the world, but as far as our team goes, they are the prime example of FIRST and have exceeded all of my expectations. I am proud to mentor these two students.”

Chimeras Team 1684 – awesome

And, of course, it took the entire team and its mentors under coach Tony Diodato to advance in the competition the way they did. Ripping awesome.

Chimeras handily mastered the infamous and daunting triple bot balance challenge, here, along with bots from Team 2337 EngiNerds and Team 1023 Bedford Express.

Congrats and kudos all around. Can’t wait to see what happens next year. And, hey Chimeras, what are you cookin’ up in the off season?

Thanks to Team Chimeras and Dan Ernst for the excellent photos from the state competition event.

Posted in education, Lapeer County, Michigan | Tagged , | Leave a comment