The Leelanau County Board of Commissioners approved some dramatic salary increases this month, with their yearly salaries going up by 60% and their per diems — one-time payments for attending meetings — going up by over 70%.

As many of us may know, Earth Day is right around the corner on April 22. The annual event has been held on the same date since 1970 and is observed nation-wide and throughout Leelanau County as a way to demonstrate support for environmental protection.

Many of us are looking forward to the 2024 election season with something approaching dread — not just at potential outcomes, but at having to endure months of nastiness as increasingly polarized Americans claw at each other on TV, on social media and in newspapers. And yes, it has reached the pages of the Enterprise as well.

Sometimes you just have to step up when assistance is needed. That’s what Mary Kuntz of Leland did last week.

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

In 2024, International Dark Sky Week, April 2-8, ends with an extraordinary astronomical event passing over a large swath of North America: a total solar eclipse. Many U.S. residents are traveling to locations in the “path of totality” to experience the eclipse. Whether or not you are making such a journey, International Dark Sky Week presents an opportunity to revisit why the campaign to curb light pollution is important—and much misunderstood.

Periodically, the Enterprise offers a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” to activities taking place on the peninsula. Here’s the latest. A familiar face popped up in the Leelanau County government center recently – Chet Janik, the county administrator from mid-2012 to 2023. Janik is working with the county commissioners again as they search for a new administrator/ chief financial officer who, it is hoped, will complete the transition of county finances to its own independent department. Janik’s calm leadership, professionalism, and (perhaps most importantly) connections could be just what the county needs as it seeks to stop the revolving door of finance department heads that has been spinning since it was activated in January 2022. Although the tension at the county government center seems to have died down somewhat since the results of an organizational culture survey came in Jan. 3, it doesn’t seem like some employees and officials are ready to bury the hatchet yet. The survey exposed some long standing rivalries to the public. Lately the most contested issue has been who will be named finance director under the new administrator. Janik said he feels that the new administrator ought to choose who will be their finance director, but Commissioner Melinda Lautner has been championing Interim Finance Director Cathy Hartesvelt for the role and has argued that she be appointed full-time director immediately.

To the editor: In the season of Lent, Christians reflect on Christ’s earthly ministry and look forward to the yearly observation of Holy Week starting with Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday’s institution of The Lord’s Supper, Good Friday’s sober reflection of Christ’s Crucifixion and death, culminating in the great joy prepared for all of God’s Creation’s on Easter Morning in Christ Jesus’ triumphant Resurrection. The Bible testifies the truth with Matthew 27:1, Mark 15:2, Luke 23:3 all recording Jesus’ response to Pilate’s interrogation during His trial, “It is as you say.” With John 18:37 expanding Christ’s testimony, “I am, as you say, a king.

Growing things is fun. A lot of people got into farming with that in mind, only to realize a mortgage or two down the road that there’s more to it.

The cards were stacked against Deb Allen when she began working as county administrator in January 2023. Allen had worked since 2015 as executive director of development and community engagement for the Grand Traverse Pavilions, a municipal senior care facility in Traverse City.