5 YEARS AGO

May 24, 2007

Hopes for the holiday weekend are high despite the rising cost of gas. According to Jamie Jewel-Van Duzen, senior manager of sales for The Homestead Resort near Glen Arbor, while the price of gas may have some impact on how many travelers come to the county, weather plays a bigger role. “The whole gas price situation is unfortunate, but people still want to come. Generally the cost isn’t so great that it will keep people away, but bad weather will.”

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The third time was the charm for the Harleysville Lakes States Insurance building, as Leelanau resident David Mathia led an investment group in the purchase of the county’s largest commercial building. “We are excited to have this gorgeous building available again for commercial tenants,” said Mathia.

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Ownership of the Tendercare Health Center of Leelanau will change hands later this year following acquisition of the entire Tendercare network of nursing homes by a company headquartered in Canada. Tendercare Health Center of Leelanau opened in September 2006 after construction of a new $6.5 million, 42,000-square-foot facility was completed on the corner of Fourth and Elm streets in Suttons Bay.

10 YEARS AGO

May 23, 2002

Leelanau County, considered unique among the state’s 83 counties, will truly be in a league of its own pending a public hearing on a proposed ordinance for the purchase of property development rights. The ordinance could become a model for other counties seeking to save farmland. Grant funding could be possible but Leelanau County would still have to come up with a match of 25 to 30 percent of the cost to prevent landowners from splitting and developing their property.

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If you’ve enjoyed morel mushrooms in one of Leelanau’s many upscale restaurants this spring, it’s not a sure thing that they came from the backwoods of northern Michigan. According to the 1999 federal food code and adopted by the state soon after, restaurants are prohibited from using “wild” mushrooms in their dishes, except for those individually inspected and found to be safe by an “approved mushroom identification expert.”

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Remembering those lost in war is at best a bittersweet exercise for most Americans. But for some who have actually experienced the horrors of war, memories can bring great pain. “Memorial Day?” asked 82-year-old Anthony Ruthkowski of Centerville Township. “There are a lot of things I just don’t want to remember anymore.”

35 YEARS AGO

May 26, 1977

VFW Post 7731 at Lake Leelanau will carry on a Memorial Day tradition in Leelanau County this year, conducting ceremonies at several cemeteries and holding a special flagraising ceremony.

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Rainfall in Leelanau County has amounted to less than 1 inch since the melting of the winter snow cover and the forecast through mid-June calls for less-than-normal precipitation. Coupled with a National Weather Service prediction earlier of a second successive dry summer in Michigan, concern is growing over crop production and, in some areas, over receding ground water supplies.

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Six of Leelanau County’s 11 townships have been organized to press a protest against “ever-rising” property taxes, the leader of the resistance campaign, Col. J.B. (Bart) Collings of the Solon-Cedar area said.

60 YEARS AGO

May 22, 1952

Only three criminal cases and 13 civil are on the docket for the May term of Circuit Court opening Tuesday at Leland. Most of these are holdovers from previous terms.

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A total of 780 persons visited the Empire Air Force base Saturday afternoon in the special open house program in observance of Armed Forces Day.

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The Northport village council Thursday night approved a new budget of $18,420 submitted by the ways and means committee. The new budget is about $3,000 higher than last year’s but the local tax rate, set at 13 mills, will not need to be raised, village officials said.

115 YEARS AGO

May 20, 1897

J. M. Watts will place on Carp Lake about June 1st, a fine electric launch.

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Wm. Hitchcock has traded his residence in this village for Traverse City property.

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Capt. John E. Banta has purchased the residence of Wm Hitchcock’s and will hereafter make Leland his home.

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Northport. It pays to advertise in your paper. The Suttons Bay stage driver found his keg the next day after the Enterprise reached here.