B.I. News on the 'Net, May 3-9, 2010

Happy Mother's Day to All the Mothers Out There!

There are many, many ways of saying this, but they all come down to this one statement. None of us would be here without the loving care and determination of our mothers. They have been there from the beginning. They have gone through pain and suffering. They have guided and chided us. They have done their very best to help get us through the good times and the bad times. We all owe them a great deal!

Enjoy this very special day set aside to honor you!

Food Pantry Open House Planned

The Beaver Island Food Pantry in planning on an open house on June 12, 2010. The time has not yet been determined. The reasons to have an open house include the ability of Islanders to see the food pantry in its location, to see how food distribution works, to ask questions, and to offer suggestions. Mark your calendar for this date to visit the food pantry.

District Library Re-Opens Today

The Beaver Island District Library will re-open today, Saturday, May 8, 2010, at noon. The library has been closed for five days to remove old carpeting, put down new carpeting, and to refinish the floor tiles in the main area of the library. While only planned to be closed for four days, the removal of the older carpet took much longer than planned. Hence, the extra day to complete the job. The color of carpeting has changed as well as the style. You'll have to stop in and see the changes.

Specially Scheduled Hearings and Special Meeting in St. James Township

There is a hearing scheduled followed by a special St. James Township meeting on Tuesday, May 18, 2010, at 7 p.m. at the St. James Township Hall. The hearing is to discuss the DNR property, a possible exchange of Whiskey Island for the DNR building and property on Beaver Island, and/or purchase of Whiskey Island for back taxes. Another hearing will take place on the same date related to the Charlevoix County Road Commission's fee to improve the Jiminy Crick Road that goes through the woods next to the St. James Campground. The special meeting is scheduled for after these two hearings to possibly make a decision about either of the two hearing's topics.

If you are interested in any of the above topics, it would be worthwhile to attend these hearings and special meeting.

Airport Committee (Authority) Meeting Scheduled

At its May meeting, St. James Township scheduled a meeting with the attorneys to discuss the airport committee (authority) issues for further clarification. This could possibly be a joint meeting depending upon Peaine Township's agreement. The date scheduled at the St. James meeting was Tuesday, June 1, 2010.

Lonhilt and Peter Come to Help Recorder Group

Lonhilt and Peter Close show smallest and largest recorders present

The Recorder Workshop was completed with the help from a grant provided to the local recorder (flute) group. Funding for this event was provided by the Beaver Island Cultural Arts Association. Lonhilt and Peter Close came from Brutus, Michigan. This husband and wife team lived in Germany during World War II. They moved to the United States and have been performing on recorders for more than 70 years.

They came to Beaver Island for the day on May 4, 2010. Part of the day was spent putting together a presentation to the 5th and 6th grade students, who are also learning to play the recorders. The adults and students performed music for each other. Students were given a lot of information about the recorder family and had an opportunity to see the main members of the recorder family of instruments from the picolo-sized instrument that is difficult to scrunch your fingers together to cover the holes to the much larger bass recorder. Besides the two mainland guests, who perform in Charlevoix and Petoskey and work with groups in both places, Beaver Island recorder performers also participated.

The Beaver Island recorder group consists of a soprano recorder played by Donna Stambaugh, an alto recorder played by Jayne Bailey, a tenor recorder played by Matthew Ritchie, and the bass recorder played by Joe Moore.

Six video clips of the workshop at BI Community School below:

Clip 1 Introduction, Adults play, then students play

Clip 2 Stories from Peter and Lonhilt

Clip 3 Students taught a round and play it, Adults perform a round

Clip 4 Adults perform and students perform

Clip 5 History of the Blockflute (wooden flute)

Clip 6 Adults perform, question and answer period

Clear View to the Mainland

This picture was taken from the area of Iron Ore Creek looking off toward the mainland. It's seems that the mainland is getting closer in this picture, but we all know it's just the clearness of the air and the direction of the wind.

The cement plant in Charlevoix from Iron Ore Creek

Editor's Note

This past weekend and the early part of this week from last Friday up to and including Tuesday were rather hectic with trips to the mainland to teach and to be taught, family commitments, and other things. We apologize for the late update, and only provide this as an explanation for those that are interested. We will endeavor to always do our best to get the website updated every Monday, but sometimes there are situations beyond our control.

Frank Solle's 5th and 6th Grade Play Pictures

"No Place Like Nowhere" at the Beaver Island Community Center on Friday, April 30, 2010 at 7:00 PM

For more pictures, click HERE

Wendy Anne and Barge Haul Logs and Metal

With the concept of getting logs and junk cars and metal off the Island, the Wendy Anne took another barge load over to the mainland. The idea was to get as many pictures from as many locations as possible. These are the results.

From the harbor

From Mike Boyle's Beach

From the mouth of the Jordan River

POSTING OF BOYS BASKETBALL COACHING POSITION

POSITION Boys Basketball Coach for 2010-2011 Season 

CERTIFICATION: High School Diploma or higher

QUALIFICATIONS:

•  Demonstrate an interest in working with children ages 13-18 years.

•  Demonstrate an understanding of the role of interscholastic athletics and communicate it to athletes, parents and the public.

•  Knowledgeable about rules, regulations, skills of the sport and be able to communicate them to the athletes.

•  Willingness to attend off-island training as required.

•  Willingness to travel with and supervise students on away trips. 

DESCRIPTION OF JOB

SALARY: New coaches with 0-3 years of experience will be paid $1100 for the season; coaches with 3 or more years of experience will be paid $1500 for the season

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATION: May 21, 2010

STARTING DATE: November 2010

INQUIRIES DIRECTED TO Kathleen McNamara

Principal/Superintendent

Beaver Island Community School

231-448-2744

Smoke-Free Law Goes Into Effect

As of May 1, 2010, the smoke-free law has begun. These are some information pages sent to BINN from Pam Grassmick. Thank you, Pam. This provides most of the information that you might need to know.

Not Smoke, Just Insects

As we all are aware by just going outside this spring, there are hundreds of thousands of these insects flying around and congregating in swarms that resemble a column of smoke. Midges are what most have used to describe these non-biting, but get-in-every-exposed-human-body-opening bugs. They seem to fly up your nose, in your mouth, and even in your eye. Thank goodness they don't bite, or we'd all be riddled with bug bites.

Last Week's Nature Pictures

Mute swans, terns, deer, loons, turtles

Pictures may be found HERE

Run-off Creeks Very Low

With the lack of snow last winter and the lack of rain this spring, the creeks of the Island are all but dried up. Their is barely a trickle of run off water from most of the creeks as seen during the week of April 26, 2010. It will be very difficult for any fish to run up these very low creeks.

Iron Ore Creek quite low....

Cable's Creek low also....not much moving water from Lake Geneserath to Lake Michigan

The Jordan River is also just barely empying into the lake.

District Library Closed This Week

Due to the purchase and installation of new carpet, the Beaver Island District Library will be closed next week from Monday through Thursday, May 3-6, 2010. If you are getting close to the end of your book, or if you are in need of a few movies to tide you over, you should get in before Saturday at 5 pm. There will be no computer access nor any wireless access during this period of time. There are public computers available at the Beaver Island Community Center. Check with them for hours and terms of use. They do have wireless too.

Island Mystery Partially Solved

Three of these have to located on Beaver Island recently. There are those that consider this a mystery because neither township, nor county government can provide any information about them. The CMU Biological Station is also unaware of the purpose of these. The three have been found by a resident who lives at the south end, but verified by the editor. Phone calls are in to several other levels of government to help resolve the mystery. If you know and can verify the purpose of these, please email medic5740@gmail.com. Please, only verified answers.

Calls were made to CMU, MSU, Charlevoix County Equalization, the federal Geological Survey agency, State of Michigan DNRE, who offered to research this more, as well as Beaver Island motels, Beaver Island car rentals, Island Airways, Fresh Air Aviation, both township supervisors, the US Department of Agriculture, the Charlevoix County MSU Extension agent, and the local police agencies. Not one single phone call provided any help in determining what was happening and why these were placed on the Island.

The object is approximately in the shape of an "L." It is approximately three feet in lenght for each leg of the 'L." The white plastic is secured to the ground using pins that resemble something found in a special knitting kit. The plastic is between 12 and 14 inches wide.

Alice Belfy provided the first clue. She had had some contact with two ladies who were doing survey work for MSU. She also stated that information could possibly be obtained from Kevin White. Kevin White's daughter Chelsey had a friend who might know something about this. Kevin White got a phone number to be called to verify this information. The information was partially verified in a phone call on Monday, April 26, 2010.

Update: With the help of Alice Belfy and Kevin White, the following information is available on April 26, 2010. These were used by the Michigan State University Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Service for GIS mapping of Beaver Island for a contracted project. GIS stands for Geographic Information Service OR Geographic Information System. Aerial mapping and 6-inch high resolution aerial images is the purpose. More information may be available later.

For more on the uses, purposes, and definitions of GIS, click this link to go to Wikipedia. HERE

The following was provided to the editor in an email to help further explain the process and the reasons for completion.

Hello Mr. Moore,

The details and history of this project are many and long and I’d be happy to discuss them with you, but in an effort to get your questions answered I’ll give you a little background information and then address each of your questions.

I work within the Center for Shared Solutions and Technology Partnerships (CSSTP). We are an office within the State of Michigan, Dept. of Technology, Management and Budget. We work on a wide variety of things in support of State agencies and local units of government but specifically this project falls under GIS / Mapping, aerial photography, and partnerships.
In September of 2009, CSSTP / SOM entered into a 3-year agreement with Microsoft that collects 11,000 square miles of air photos per year, and allows all units of government in Michigan (state, county, city, village, township, & regional planning groups) access to the Bing Maps for Enterprise development platform.
Immediately upon initiation of the agreement, every county and regional planning organization in Michigan was contacted and given the opportunity to participate as a partner. The county cost for the imagery was $28 per square mile, a price that is far below the going rate if a county were to undertake a project like this alone.
Seven counties chose to partner. Since the Michigan Dept. of Transportation is the main contributor of the funding from the State side, they chose the rest of the counties to be flown to make up the 11,000 square miles. Charlevoix was included based on MDOT priorities. I’ve attached a map displaying the counties flown.

To answer your specific questions:
So, who at the level of Charlevoix County government should have known about this?
I was the main State point of contact for this project to promote the partnerships. In an effort to get the word out statewide, I used a combination of email lists comprised of GIS staff and equalization directors. I asked them to then forward the information on to departments, decision makers, and units of government within their jurisdictions. So ideally, board of commissioners, road commissions, drain commissions, equalization directors, assessors, and anyone else they could think of who could use imagery and the Bing Maps platform would have heard. In addition, it was suggested they also include city, township, and village officials in effort to build partnerships within the county.
Who did know about this?
My contact for Charlevoix county was Brian Kelly, GIS Coordinator and Sarah Merz, Northwest MI Council of Governments.
Why have I been repeatedly told, "Don't quote me on this," when I finally got some small pieces of information?
I’m not sure. Perhaps they didn’t feel knowledgeable enough about the details of the project and didn’t want to present any mis-information. If you are willing to put me in touch with them, I’d be more than happy to answer any questions.
Why is this such a secret?
This should have been anything but a secret. Because of a fairly tight timeframe to get the partnerships in place, I had to rely on my contacts in each county to spread the word and I encouraged them to do that at every opportunity. I can assure you there is nothing purposely secret about this project. Because partnerships are a key component to the success of the project, a good deal of effort went into getting the word out. In addition, I will soon be contacting everyone again to establish the partnerships for the 2011 flight.
Is this type of information available to the local townships?
Aerial photography is used by many townships in Michigan. It typically becomes available via a county-wide project managed by the county or a regional planning organization. In regards to this Bing project, any county that partnered has the right to share the photography with any city, village, or township within the county. Charlevoix county falls into the non-partner category but I will be contacting them soon to confirm with them that they were flown and offer the opportunity to partner and acquire a copy. If they choose not to, I’d be more than happy to make a copy of your township available for the $28 per square mile rate and you’ll get full access to the Bing Maps platform.
What is the cost to the local townships if it is available?
$28 per square mile.
Are the maps available at this moment?
Flying was completed April 23rd and processing is underway. We expect delivery in 2-3 months.
Who owns the rights to the maps?
The rights to the air photos is shared by Microsoft and the State of MI. Microsoft will be loading them into their Bing Maps website and the State will be making them available to all State agencies, State employees, and State web mapping applications. The State also has the right to sub-license a copy to partners. The 7 counties that have partnered to date will get their copy through this arrangement. The partner county in turn has the right to sub-license to any unit of government within their jurisdiction. The State and partners also have the right to share and sell the photos. The recipient of the shared or purchased image is considered an end-user and can NOT resell, redistribute or display the image on a website.
Who owns the contract for this aerial photography?
From the Microsoft side, the project is being managed by their wholly owned subsidiary Vexcel. Vexcel hired an ortho photography company named Pixxures to do the flights, process the imagery, and deliver the final products.
Does the State of Michigan require this?
Aerial photography is a very valuable asset to many State agencies as they conduct their day-to-day business in support of programs and citizen support. Probably a lot more than I can describe at this time. I’ll follow up this email at a later date with some examples, or there are several examples available from our website for your review.
Why doesn't the federal Geographic mapping agency not know that this has been completed or that it was in progress?
The United State Geological Survey (USGS) state liaison, Steve Aichele, was well aware of this project. I also communicated with Federal staff representing several agencies from all around the country. A great deal of effort went into trying to bring the Federal government in as a partner. We offered them a copy of the data for only $12 per square mile. If they would have participated, we were going to apply the Federal dollars to the county’s cost, reducing it from $28 to $16.
So you have the full story, allow me to elaborate. As part of Microsoft’s effort to gain an advantage over their competition and allow them a return on their investment, this imagery is not allowed to be freely distributed into the public domain without the end-user restrictions described above. Public domain is reportedly a requirement for data that is paid for by USGS funds. We presented this requirement to Microsoft as we really wanted the USGS on board. Microsoft came back with a compromise that they would allow the photos to go into the public domain 1 year after delivery. So sometime in the summer of 2011, this 2010 imagery could have gone into the public domain and met the USGS requirements. Unfortunately, after several discussions at many levels of government amongst several Federal agencies, it was decided that they would rather not make the $12 per square mile investment.
I’d be glad to discuss the details with anyone at the Federal level that you’ve spoken with who wasn’t aware of this project, so please feel free to share my contact information.

As initially stated, this was a long process to get this in place and there are many more details I’d be glad to discuss. I still have all of my emails if you’d like to see what was sent out in an attempt to get the word out. I also presented at conferences and was willing to make myself available to meet anywhere at anytime. In fact, in an effort to establish the 2011 partnerships, I’m still available. All folks have to do is ask.

I appreciate the opportunity to answer your questions. If I can provide any additional information, please feel free to contact me.

Best regards,

Everett Root
Center for Geographic Information (CGI)
Dept. of Technology, Management & Budget (DTMB)
State of Michigan
PH 517-373-7910
FAX 517-373-2939

*********************************
roote@michigan.gov
www.michigan.gov/cgi
*********************************
Mailing Address:
111 S. Capitol Ave
10th floor Romney
Lansing, MI 48933

 

BIRHC Presents

Cancer Support Group Meeting
May 5th, 2010 - 10:30 AM
at the Beaver Island Rural Health Center Community Room

In conjunction with the
Circle of Strength Cancer Support
Group in Charlevoix
Via REMEC Telehealth

Interested call Muggs at 448-2444

Citizen of the Year Dr. Jeff Powers, DVM

 

More than 80 people attended the award dinner

Steve West explains the billboard

Steve West introduces Chamber President Kathy Speck

Kathy Speck presents the nominees in her speech

2010 April 24 Kathy Speck Introduces Nominees and the Citizen of the Year Speech

Citizen of the Year Jeff Powers

Dr. Powers gives an acceptance speech

Jeff Powers' Acceptance Speech

Beaver Island Comedy Group Performs at Award Banquet

The B.I. Comedy Group performed at the Citizen of the Year Banquet after the dinner and the presentation. As usual, the group's efforts were very successful, making us laugh and laugh. The many skits were wonderful with some making the men laugh and some making the women laugh, but all bringing at least a big smile to your face. This group's presentation was a little over an hour long.

First comedy skit after dinner, click HERE

This is a little over five minutes from the very beginning of the evening's performance. It's topic is deer hunting and deer blinds.

The comedy group even started off the evening's banquet with the Hardware Jeff character bickering with another member of the group.

Then the dinner and presentation of Citizen of the Year took place as reported above. After that, there was almost a continuous stream of laughter in the Community Center theater as skit after skit provided a wide variety of humor.

There was stand-up and sit-down comedy. There were skits to laugh at hunters in their hunting blinds, diary writings from a wife's perspective with the same situation from the husband's perspective, as well as a "How to Tell a Joke" session

This stand-up routine was absolutely hilarious.

A snowmobile repair scene brought tears to our eyes as we laughed.

We look forward to the next production from this comedy group. Hurray!!! Bravo!!!

The next production is scheduled for Thursday, July 1, 2010. If you can attend this event at the Beaver Island Community Center, you should. Laughs and hearty laughs are the reason for this season.

Sports Boosters Fundraising Chinese Dinner

May 14, 2010, at the Shamrock

Our Newest Supporter

  From the Beaver Island Conservation Club

The Beaver Island Conservation Club is pleased to announce its new partnership with Northern Development. Northern Development is owned and operated by island resident Paul Johnson. Paul has extended Northern Development's charter to include Wildlife and Habitat Management. Northern

Development will provide the following services for your property.

•  Food Plot / Crop planting and maintenance

•  Soil Testing and Preparation

•  Seed and Fertilization

•  Tractor Services

•  Trail Camera Placement and Reporting

•  Scouting and Stand Placement

•  Blind Construction

•  Other landowner / hunter needs

Northern Development has the most competitive rates for Tractor work and land management on the island. Moreover, through our partnership we have established reduced rates for BICC members. These rates can

Result in savings up to $100 for a complete 1 acre food plot. Paul Johnson can be contacted at 231-448-2168

Or via email at KPJohson@tds.net

For BICC membership information please visit our website at www.beaverislandconservation.org . You can also contact BICC leadership at the following email address and phone numbers.

Gavin West gavin.w.west@gmail.com 269-369-1788

Todd Ireland todd.ireland@immersi.com 616-340-3672

Donations and dues ($50 annually) can be sent to:

Beaver Island Conservation Club

PO Box 334

Beaver Island , MI 49782

For all information regarding this Press release please contact Gavin West at the above number or email.

Wellness Wednesday at Charlevoix Hospital

Charlevoix Area Hospital 's next “Wellness Wednesday” will be from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Wednesday, May 5, 2010, in the hospital's Solarium. The Wellness Wednesday Health Screens include: Total Cholesterol, HDL, ratio, and Glucose levels, Body Mass Index (BMI) score, Fat Percentage, and a Blood Pressure reading. No fasting required! Cost for the service is $12. Participants will also receive a blood pressure log and pedometer as well as all test results at the time of the screen. A Registered Nurse will adapt health Consultation and educational materials to individual results. Appointments can be made in advance by calling the office of Community Health Education at Charlevoix Area Hospital,

The normal cost of a cholesterol screening is about $180. This would now offer the full panel for those who are fasting which includes all the tests mentioned above plus the LDL and triglycerides.

(231) 547-8906 or by email: kjacobsen@cah.org Walk-ins are always welcome.

Peaine Township Regular Meeting

The Peaine Township Board meeting took place on April 14, 2010, with four of the five members present. The missing trustee was Paul Welke. This meeting took only one hour and ten minutes, which seems to be a long time to some, but this was one of the shorter meetings in a long time. The business was conducted with great care, but also with efficiency. The sound system does make a very big difference in being able to hear the comments and the information provided. Even a short, small problem with the sound equipment didn't increase the length of the meeting by much.

The specific topics discussed at the meeting included a somewhat lengthy presentation by Don Spencer on the Beaver Island Rural Health Center finances and the almost desperate need of the full two mills of taxes to maintain the services at the current level. Explanations of the attempts at getting funding from the State of Michigan and grants awarded to the BIRHC were included in Don's presentation. Although lengthy, the presentation was quite complete, and his knowledge of BIRHC finances was obvious. The Peaine Board voted unanimously to put the full two mill renewal on the ballot.

Jack Gallagher reported on the progress of the airport committee formation negotiations with St. James Township. It is progressing however slowly. Perhaps another meeting in the next week may bring the two townships into an agreement about the method to govern the airport. Two possibilities are an airport authority and an inter-governmental agreement. These have both been discussed and some decision may be made in the near future.

There seems to be a shortage in the number of members on the Zoning Board of Appeals, and this has been posted for about 60 days. The public was encouraged to try to get someone to send a letter of interest for this position. There was an appeal by Donna Stambaugh in the public comment portion of the meeting for this need to fill this position.

Full video of the entire meeting and descriptions of the information provided may be found HERE.

Beaver Island Transfer Station Information

St. James Township Public Hearings and Board Meeting

Public Hearings

On April 7, 2010, the St. James Township Board held two public hearings and it regular monthly board meeting all on the same night. The public hearings were related to the need for rental housing and the need for senior housing. This need was expressed very succinctly and completely by Pete LoDico and Sandy Birdsall with comments by Connie Wojan as well. The report provided by Pete LoDico indicated the need for the $400,000 grant to build a six unit rental apartment structure on the property near the BI Rural Health Center that was donated for this purpose. All federal regulations related to senior housing income levels for qualifying for this housing were included in his report. Also suggested was the need to sell a one acre parcel of this property to a developer for the purpose of building duplexes or other living quarters for seniors not qualifying for the federal income levels of the rental units. Excellent reports were provided to any in the public interested in this project.

Regular Board Meeting

The regular township board meeting followed the two public hearings. The highlights of this meeting included the statement from Wolverine Power which allows an agreement to be drawn up for the veteran's memorial project location at the old power plant property. The township zoning administrator position was given to Doug Tilly, a twenty year veteran of the zoning board, thoroughly familiar with the zoning ordinance in both townships.

Video Clips of the St James Meeting and Public Hearing:

St James Public Hearings on Senior Housing

St James Regular Board Meeting

Beaver Island Natural Resources/ Eco-Tourism Commission

Part I of a Series of Symposiums on Understanding and Managing Beaver Island's Ecosystems

For Sustainability and Economic Growth 

Symposium Number I

Managing our Forest and Wildlife for Sustainability

June 28, 2010, Beaver Island Community Center

8:15- 8:45a.m. Registration, coffee and snack

8:50 am. Welcome, Keynote Address -- Eric R. Myers

Each speaker will address the most important issue(s) concerning their topic.

9:00 -- Our Beaver Island Forests Today

•  A look at our existing forests (types of forests, soil types, tree species, habitat provided/GIS data

•  Regulations and Management Practices as they occur today ( Private land , state land, DNR compartments for logging, state land management)

9:45 -- Our Forest of the Future / Effects of Land Management Decisions on Our Forests

•  Forest Succession and Sustainability -- Eric R. Myers

•  Managing Threats: Differences between types of logging and their effect, Poor practices for sustainability, Invasive Species (garlic mustard and emerald ash borer) and disease (Beech Bark Disease)

•  Private Land Management (Decisions to Log, Contracts, Conservation Easements)

Short Break

11:00 -- Effects of Land Management Decisions on Wildlife Species/ Habitats of:

•  Deer, turkey, ruffed grouse, woodcock, wood duck, beaver (45 min)

•  Song birds and Ecotourism 

12:10 -- Questions for Morning Session Speakers 

12:30 -- Break for Lunch: On your own.

1:45 -- Roundtable Discussions: 1) Rank the most important forestry, wildlife, and ecotourism issues discussed in the morning. 2) List economic factors to be taken into consideration. 3) Recommend future management ideas including proven ways of monitoring resources. 4 Miscellaneous.

2:45 -- Roundtable Presentations- conclusions and questions from each table

3:15 - 4:00 -- Panel Discussion by experts on issues raised –questions from roundtable and wrap up—where do we go from here?

New Transfer Station Hours Started May 1st

The Transfer Station will go to spring/summer hours beginning May 1, 2010. The hours will be 8:00-5:00 Monday - Saturday. Closed Memorial Day and Labor Day.

“What Do We DO on Beaver Island?” DVD

DVD proceeds benefit the Beaver Island Rural Health Center, the Beaver Island Food Pantry, and the Beaver Island Fire Department Auxiliary.

“What Do We Do on Beaver Island….when you're not here,” the important happenings on Beaver Island in the year 2009, is a LIMITED EDITION!

The DVD may be purchased online at the link below, or it may be purchased from stores and businesses on the Island.

You can order your DVD today by sending $20 plus $5 postage to DVD, c/o Joe Moore, P.O. Box 50, Beaver Island, Michigan 49782 or you can order yours over the Internet from the provided link.

Order online using the secure PayPal server:

Brett Maudrie's Military Address

He can receive letters and pictures, but no care packages.

PVT Maudrie, Brett Roster 437
E Co., 1-50th ITB, 4th Platoon
198th Infantry Brigade
9747 Second Armored Division Rd. Bldg. 3560
Fort Benning, GA 31905-5919

Health & Human Services Fair Scheduled for September 16, 2010

The Beaver Island Human Services Commission is hosting a health and human services fair this fall. The event will take place at Gregg Fellowship hall on September 16, 2010, from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. Mark your calendars so that you do not miss out on this great opportunity to get in touch with a wealth of information aimed at improving your health, happiness, and well-being.

Editor's Note: The Human Services Commission is working to get a wide variety of mainland services introduced to the needs of Beaver Island, a part of Charlevoix County.

NEW Community Calendar Feature

New Events Scheduled!

At a request from a couple of emails, the BINN Community Calendar has been extended from one or two months to include the rest of the entire year of 2010. Several people wanted to schedule their events without having a conflict with another event. The BINN reply via email was, "Of course, we would be happy to include a full calendar year in the Community Calendar!"

Please send us your calendar of events for the the entire year. We will put all scheduled events on one calendar with one place to check!

This will only work if all those people with scheduled events send a quick email with those events to the editor of this website. We will gladly post them on a community calendar available to everyone. Please take the time to send your events to:

medic5740@gmail.com

Beaver Island Bike Festival

Click each picture to view the brochure.

Free T- shirts -1st Beaver Island Bike Festival

Online registration information is now available for the 1st Beaver Island Bike Festival on June 26th. FREE T-SHIRTS for the first 250. The registration brochure will be available at the Chamber of Commerce office in the Community Center in early April.

On line registration is now available for the June 26 Beaver Island Bike Festival. Also, a brochure registration form is available at the Community Center.

http://www.beaverislandbikefestival.com/6.html

BEAVER ISLAND BIKE FESTIVAL
Your chance to experience the unique unspoiled beauty of Lake Michigan’s most remote island in a fun festival atmosphere. Bikers will ride at their own pace and enjoy incredible scenery, Island monuments, historic sites, a beach picnic lunch, a downtown after party and all the friendly hospitality Beaver Islands residents are famous for,” says promoter John Sohacki.
June 25 - 27, 2010


"The Beaver Island Bike Festival (June 25-27) is your chance to experience the unique unspoiled beauty of Lake Michigan’s most remote island in a fun festival atmosphere. Bikers will ride at their own pace and enjoy incredible scenery, island monuments, historic sites, a beach picnic lunch, a downtown after party and all the friendly hospitality Beaver Islands residents are famous for,” says promoter John Sohacki.

For complete information and registration information for the new Beaver Island event see the events section on the home page of The Beaver Island Chamber of Commerce web site www.BeaverIsland.org .

The new route map and course description for the second annual Beaver Island Marathon (September 4) is now available on the Chamber web site.

The Beaver Island Chamber of Commerce is a principal sponsor of both events.

Subscriptions to Expire

There are quite a few subscriptions that will expire in May or that have already expired in February and April 2010. We appreciate your support and ask you to renew your subscription as soon as possible. Emails have been sent out, but quite a few have been returned without delivery, which means that BINN does not have your current email address.

You can subscribe online by using PayPal and a credit card. Please click the link below if you wish to renew online:

RENEW

Meeting Minutes

The minutes of all public meetings will be posted

as soon as they are received.

News on the 'Net welcomes minutes to all public meetings. All organizations are welcome to submit meeting minutes for publication on this website. Please email them to medic5740@gmail.com.

Beaver Island Cultural Arts Association Minutes

Peaine Township Board Minutes

BIRHC Board Meeting Minutes

St. James Township Meeting Minutes

Beaver Island Community School Board Meeting Minutes

Beaver Island Ecotourism Goals Draft, rev. 3, 19 Jan 2010 NEW!

Beaver Island Natural Resources and Eco-Tourism Commission Minutes NEW!

Joint Human Resources Commission Minutes (includes agenda when available) New Feature for 2010!

Waste Management Committee Minutes (New for 2010!)