5 YEARS AGO
April 3, 2003

A public hearing on county plans to construct a 72-bed jail has been set for April 23. The Suttons Bay Township Planning Commission set the public hearing after a special work session held last week to discuss county facilities proposals.

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How slow does it get in Leelanau County during spring break? Let’s put it this way. Bowling in the streets of Empire won’t stop traffic. But it will draw a small crowd, as few residents are left to gather.

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The state Open Meetings Act requires votes affecting township government to be made in the open. Paper ballots fail to meet that standard. A paper ballot vote taken Saturday at Solon Township’s Annual Meeting likely won’t affect salary resolutions adopted by the Township Board in February. Elected township officials in Solon will get the raises they expected despite the snafu.

10 YEARS AGO
April 2, 1998

A decision last week to expand the Grand Traverse County jail will likely have little long-term impact on talks to build a joint Leelanau-Grand Traverse correctional facility.

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Clinton Lautner is back in school with his classmates at Norris Elementary, according to his mother, county commissioner Melinda Lautner. Most of the schooling the boy has received during the past 16 months has been at home due to his serious illness.

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The search to find a local government to put its name on a financing plan to construct a new County Health Department building in Lake Leelanau has moved to the township level.

30 YEARS AGO
April 6, 1978

Budgets totaling $186,510 for operations of Leland Township and the Leland Harbor for the next 11½ months were approved at an Annual Meeting of township residents Saturday.

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The National Park Service appears to have changed its opinion about the relationship between road corridors and the roads themselves as provided for in the 1970 act that created the 70,000-acre Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Leelanau and Benzie counties.

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Leland Township’s fire unit at Lake Leelanau has elected new officers and has announced plans to update service to the rapidly-growing area it serves.

55 YEARS AGO
April 2, 1953

A legal tangle has halted negotiations for the sale of bonds for the county convalescent hospital addition to the infirmary at Maple City. The proposal will have to be resubmitted to voters in another election before bonds can be sold, according to Elmer Billman, chairman of the finance committee of the county board of supervisors.

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Workers in the fund drive for the proposed Leelanau Memorial Hospital at Northport Tuesday night reported contributions and pledges totaling $32,554 after only two days of soliciting. The drive opened Monday in the Northport-Omena areas.

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The first picketing by a labor union in Leelanau County ended Tuesday with the issuance of a temporary injunction authorized by Circuit Judge Charles L. Brown. A hearing will be held Tuesday at 11 a.m. in the courthouse at Leland to determine whether the injunction shall be made permanent.

110 YEARS AGO
April 7, 1898

The steamer Tiger will make her first trip of the season next Monday. The steamer Onekama sailed into Northport today.

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Miss Christine Garth, who has been teaching school on South Manitou Island the past winter, returned home Tuesday evening.

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The Union Ticket was elected Monday by pluralities over the Republican ticket varying from 16 to 62.