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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

Always cool stuff to see at the airport, now, including movies from time to time.

Apparently, “Stealth” features Josh Lucas, Jessica Biel, and Jamie Foxx. Looks like this is a 2005 science fiction action film, replete with fighter pilots and robotic stealth aircraft. Yikes.

Movie night happens inside the FBO building – that’s the terminal building next to the parking lot at the airport. Seating is limited. Dupont-Lapeer Airport is located at 1232 Rood’s Lake Rd. in Mayfield Township.

Things are happening all day, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Learn about falconry, bats, native wild rice or even becoming a super hero. Take a canoe ride, find out what’s living in the pond, go on a nature hike (and learn a little local history, too), pot a plant for Mom. Oodles of possibilities for fun and wonderment at Wild Lapeer.

Wanted to mention that the Lapeer Chapter of the Flint River Watershed Coalition will be collecting bugs and identifying them at the event. A group member described it as both a show and tell and a working lab.

“We collect water bugs each Spring and Fall, the bugs are classified according to their sensitivity to the environment in which they live. This helps determine the health of the individual creek and the watershed as a whole.” Check out the coalition’s booth to learn more about all the cool stuff they do and about our watershed.They’re a friendly, interesting bunch, and they’d love to have you as a volunteer in the Lapeer Chapter.

And with that, in the most earth-friendly sort of way, get wild tomorrow!

Kid-friendly PT19 replica by Clarence Leazenby will come out of the hangar on May 19

Fun at the airport! It’s the annual Pancake Breakfast and Fly-In at Dupont-Lapeer Airport in Mayfield Township. Mark the date: Saturday, May 19 from 7 to 11 a.m. The local chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association, 1303, and Lapeer Aviation Inc. host the event. It’s a great time to get over to the airport, fill your tummy, and check out the planes. And this year, there’s some cool new fun for the kids.

Check it out. It’s a custom designed kid-sized Fairchild PT-19 replica. The PT-19 was a 1941 World War II army trainer. This one is the meticulous creation of local pilot Clarence Leazenby. With some help from sons Martin and Lyle, Leazenby spent about two months building the miniature airplane specifically with kids in mind. On the day of the pancake breakfast, kids can get inside the mini-PT-19 and see what it feels like to be at the controls inside a cockpit that’s just their size.

The airplane is 8 feet 4 inches long, with a wingspan of 10 feet. It was constructed from wood, with masonite used on portions of the top, wings, and tail. The bright yellow paint gleams with the careful craftsmanship Leazenby put into the project. Decals are particularly placed to recreate the PT-19 look. The 212 on the side denotes the month and year Leazenby completed construction.

“I think the kids are going to love it,” said Leazenby. I do, too.

“We tried to put everything to entertain the kids,” said Leazenby. That means a full instrument panel complete with genuine instruments like altimeter and vertical speed indicator. There’s a stick and a throttle, a compass, and of course, kids will buckle in with seatbelts for their special ride.

“We tried to put as many things in there that would work,” said Leazenby. Leazenby knows a thing or two about aircraft. The seasoned pilot built and flew his own Zenith 701 out of Dupont-Lapeer Airport, and his latest ride is an Ercoupe.

The “Sensenich” style prop spins, but there’s not actually a motor in the pint-sized PT-19. During the pancake breakfast, kids will “fly” around the airport in it as it is gently push-driven from behind.

“So kids will have an open view,” said Leazenby. He also notes the tail can be raised up and down to give it more of that flying feel.

“It climbs out at zero feet per minute,” quipped pilot Ron Holcomb.

Wow, what a very cool thing for Lapeer area kids! Parents will no doubt want to come armed with cameras.

Designer/builder Clarence Leazenby thought of everything. Here, he demonstrates the working lights on the PT-19 mini-replica. Notice the light glowing on the left wingtip.

In addition to the kids’ way cool ride, airplanes will be flying in from around Michigan to get in on the pancakes, so expect to see a variety of planes landing and taking off if the weather’s good to us. It’s always fun to stroll around the tarmac and check out the planes.

There’s likely to be a few Piper Comanches flying in to Lapeer. Airport manager Ron Keil is hosting a two-day Piper Comanche seminar that coincides with the fly-in.

And, of course, let’s not forget the pancakes. EAA members will be flipping ‘em, along with the other goodies – like sausage – that go along with the flapjacks. It’s always good!

Youth from the Civil Air Patrol will help out with parking, as well as with set-up and tear down for the event. Youth from the Lapeer Assembly of God will be giving a hand in the breakfast hangar as well.

$6 gets you in line with a plate inside the big hangar if you’re an adult. It’s $4 for kids 7 to 10, and kids under 6 eat free.

So, yeah, mark your calendar, and get over to the airport May 19. It’s located at 1232 Roods Lake Road in Mayfield Township.