Call (906) 932-4449 Packers-Lions preview Ironwood, MI Both squads hope to close disap- Redsautosales.com pointing seasons with a win SPORTS • 10 DAILY GLOBE Saturday, December 29, 2018 Partly cloudy yourdailyglobe.com | High: 18 | Low: 10 | Details, page 2 Casperson speaks on legislative session, grants By STEVE NEWMAN jects, including $10 million for the Michigan Department of Cor- cult and frustrating.” The best area. “Up here in the U.P., it’s [email protected] Copper Peak and Pine Mountain, rections decision to close the area legislators were able to do harder to get the attention” of the After 14 years in the Michigan $2 million for Gogebic Commu- Ojibway Correctional Facility was to prepare for the possibility. legislature, he said, but because legislature, six in the House and nity College, $1.5 million to near Marenisco. Casperson said Area groups looking for funding of the prison closure, “there was eight in the Senate, Tom Casper- assist Waupaca Foundry and $1 he battled with the department to were encouraged to put together no denying the need.” As a result, so, R-Escanaba, is moving on due million for Michigan DNR jobs keep the facility open through their proposals even before the Casperson and other legislators to term limits. for the area. three earlier prison closings, but prison closure was announced. in the area were able to “open His time in the Senate ended In a sense, the main catalyst to this time it became obvious DOC The prison closing and the every door possible” to look for with a string of appropriations be able to get new development was looking at two prisons in the outcry from the area did show for western Upper Peninsula pro- and investment in the area was U.P. He called the process “diffi- the need for the state to help the GRANTS — page 2 Switzer earns Young Alumni Award IRONWOOD – Mark Switzer, career counselor at Gogebic Community College, was recently awarded the 2018 Young Alumni Award by Grand Val- ley State University at the d o w n - state’s uni- v e r s i t y ’ s December Steve Newman / Daily Globe c o m - THE PARKING area near Fourth Avenue in Hurley, across from the snowmobile trail, is piling up with sleds Friday afternoon. Snowmo- m e n c e - bilers are out in force to take advantage of snowy conditions. ment cere- Mark Switzer mony. “ T h e With groomers out on trails, snowmobiling caution advised award was in recognition of his tireless HURLEY – The 6 to 8 inches overnight. lifts were open before the latest of early season conditions and ice efforts to remove barriers to of heavy snow that fell on Friday Trail conditions were fair to snow arrived. Snowmobilers are under snow cover. education and create inclu- on the Gogebic Range improved good in northern Iron County. now welcome at Whitecap via “Please use caution as you sive spaces within his com- conditions for all outdoor activi- Trails 3 and 13 south, from Trail 6, which extends right into may encounter rough areas in the munity,” according to GCC ties. the Hogsback east/south to 310 the parking lot. trails that will require additional Director of Admissions Kim Area motels and gas stations Road, were closed. The Gogebic Range Trail snow to improve conditions. Do Zeckovich. benefitted from the snow that A high of 18 degrees forecast Authority was grooming from not cross any area lakes unless The award is presented also blanketed Minnesota and for today would be ideal for rid- Hurley to Wakefield Friday. the trail has been clearly marked annually by the Grand Valley the Upper Peninsula. ing. Grooming was planned through- crossing the ice. Stay on marked Alumni Association to a The Hurley Area Chamber of For downhill skiing, White- out the night. trails and enjoy our system recent graduate who is mak- Commerce said the White Thun- cap Mountain Resort, near Vilas County officially opened responsibly,” said Dale Mayo, der Riders had three snowmobile Upson, opened on Christmas its snowmobile trails today at 9 Vilas County Parks and Recre- trail groomers running on Friday day with a base of 6 to 20 inch- a.m. ation Administrator. and two would operate es. A total of 13 runs and three Caution was advised because —Ralph Ansami AWARD — page 5 WINTER DRIVING Ironwood city planning commission meets Thursday IRONWOOD – The Planning commission- Ironwood Planning Com- ers will also discuss a mission will reorganize strategy for possibly on Thursday at 5 p.m. in updating ordinances to the women’s clubrooms cover recreational mari- on the second floor of the juana sales in the city. Memorial Building. The capital improve- Election of a chair and ment plan will be vice-chair are the first two reviewed and adopted. items of business on the The planning commis- Ralph Ansami/Daily Globe agenda. sion’s second meeting of U.S. 2 IN Kimball, Wis., is snow-covered and slippery Friday afternoon. While snowfall had lessened, windy con- Goal-setting for 2019 the year is scheduled for ditions were making it difficult for plows to keep up with the drifting. will follow. Feb. 7. Downtown fire kills three, shakes Ironwood community Editor’s note: The Daily Globe taken to Aspirus Ironwood Hos- He said investigators were dence of a meth lab was found is counting down the Gogebic pital. able to determine the fire began at the scene. Range’s top five stories of 2018 Stories of The fire also destroyed 102 E. in a second floor apartment at While the lack of answers each day through Monday, New Aurora St., the former home of 102 E. Aurora, but the building may not be satisfying, Snyder Year’s Eve. The editorial depart- Chelsi’s Corner boutique and a collapse and water needed to defended the thoroughness of ment staff sat down and came up the Year number of apartments on the extinguish the flames hampered the investigation. with its annual list, naming a upper floors, as well as the adja- efforts to determine the cause. “This investigation was done, fatal fire in the early morning cent storefront to the east before “We basically have it nar- not only by us, but the Michigan hours of Feb. 20 in downtown it could be contained. rowed down to a room, but in State Police and the ATF,” Sny- Ironwood as the second-place While asbestos mitigation that room we don’t know what it der said. “Some of the best in story of the year. temporarily delayed cleanup of was,” Snyder said. the country came in to help us tling the blaze with the help of the site, Aurora Street reopened The probe remains open in with this fire and we still were By RICHARD JENKINS the 2018Hurley Fire Department for to traffic March 10. In the fol- case new evidence emerges or not able to come up with a [email protected] most of the day. lowing months, the remains of advances in the science of fire cause.” Feb. 21, 2018. City Commis- Mark Arnold Verrette, 57; the structure were torn down investigation allows investiga- One thing Snyder said all sioner Jim Mildren later said it Patrick James Somerville, 51, and removed, leaving a vacant tors to determine the cause from investigators were adamant was the day he “thought we and Levi Dean Watkins, 27, all space in the downtown by mid- the existing evidence. about was the fire wasn’t related might lose our downtown,” as a of Ironwood, died in the fire. All May. “The scene was very highly to an earlier blaze in the build- fire left three dead and two three died from smoke inhala- As there is yet to be an offi- documented, so that if (new evi- ing. buildings destroyed. tion, IPSD Fire Marshal Bran- cial cause of the fire, the case dence is discovered or fire sci- The initial blaze was report- The Ironwood Public Safety don Snyder said Friday. remains open. ence evolves) in the future, we ed at 2:34 a.m., a little over an Department responded to Three others were rescued “We’re not forgetting about may be able to make a call on reports of the Aurora Street fire via windows from the building’s it. It remains open, it remains an the fire,” Snyder said. at 3:49 a.m. that morning, bat- second and third floors and active case,” Snyder said. He did make clear no evi- FIRE — page 5 TODAY INDEX Partly cloudy — Details, page 2 Business . .14 75 cents Classifieds . .13-15 Friday Today’s records Snowfall Comics . .12 Vol. 100, No. 33 High 23 High 45 (1979) 24 hours to 7 a.m. Community . .3 Low 11 Low -29 (1933) Friday 3.0 in. Snow depth 10 in. Obituaries . .8 Year ago today Precipitation Season total 57.4 in. Opinion . .4 High 3 24 hours to 7 a.m. Last year 64.5 in. Low -14 Friday unavailable Sports . .9-10 l 2 SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2018 AREA / STATE THE DAILY GLOBE • YOURDAILYGLOBE.COM FIVE-DAY FORECASTFOORECAST FOR IRONWOODIRRONWOOD Grants TODAY SUNDAYY MONDAY TUESDAYTUESSDAY WEDNESDAY What’s next for From page 1 state assistance. Waupaca Foundry was Tom Casperson? an early opportunity that came to the table through State Sen. Tom Casperson has held elected office SnowSnoow at the state level for the past 14 Few Snow work by Marenisco Town- Partly Cloudy Mostly CloudyClouudy ShowersShowwers Mostly Cloudy years. So what’s next for him? Showers ship and the Michigan Eco- LikLikelyely nomic Development Cor- It turns out that there’s more 18° 10° 30° 22°222° 26° 8° 13° -5° 12° 4° poration.