St. Joseph Hospital set to open new $10 million surgical wing

The Bay City Times reports on the grand openning plans for the new wing of St. Joseph's Hospital in Tawas City.

Visitors will get their first look at the new facility come Monday, when the $10.5 million building opens for business. The glass-and-brick structure overlooks Tawas Bay.

The new surgical and cardiovascular center increases the hospital's operating space from about 5,000 square feet to some 26,000 square feet. The new building has two general surgery rooms and one room for orthopedic surgery. The huge jump in size will help the hospital meet the growing demand for surgical procedures in Iosco County and the surrounding region. The demand is being driven by the area's aging population and increasing ranks of retirees moving to Northeast Michigan.

The grand opening of the surgical center on Monday will see 31 procedures performed there, as physicians begin using the new facility in earnest. The center will have a staff of between 30 and 35 people.

The building is a large wing of the existing hospital, which is located near the intersection of highways M-55 and US-23 in Tawas City.

AuSable-Oscoda talk joint harbor

The Oscoda Press has this article about a request for funding for a joint AuSable - Oscoda harbor proposal.

Both the AuSable and the Oscoda Township boards of trustees have long envisioned a bustling recreational harbor and marina on the Lake Huron shore and now the dream may become real.

Currently, AuSable Township's future land use and recreational plans call for the harbor to be located off the AuSable Shoreline Park, while Oscoda Township plans picture a harbor in the waters east of the Oscoda Beach Park. But for more than a decade, neither township moved beyond the point of including a harbor in official plans — that is until recently.

Both Stalker [Oscoda Township Superintendent] and AuSable Treasurer Judy Reeder believe that if there is a harbor both areas will benefit financially.

After long discussion, AuSable trustees agreed to support the Oscoda grant applications, provided the harbor/marina is pursued as a joint AuSable-Oscoda project, Reeder said. Stalker presented the joint venture concept to the Oscoda Township Board at its Monday meeting, in which many AuSable Board members also attended. During the meeting, the Oscoda Township Board supported two resolutions authorizing Stalker and Assistant Superintendent Gary Kellan to seek funding by applying for a state Coastal Management Program Grant and a Waterways Grant.

Through the grants, the township will be seeking $49,500 worth of funding.

Lake Huron fisheries doing well overall

Booth Newspapers has a positive story about lake fishing -- lots of good news:

"We have very, very good reproduction of yellow perch from 2003 and 2004," she said [Tammy Newcomb, the Lake Huron fisheries coordinator for the Department of Natural Resources]. "We were hoping to see that 2003 year-class carry over -- it was something like 37 times greater than was previously ever recorded -- but we didn't see the carryover. This year also threw off a big crop of yellow perch, but they were small, too. So we're seeing good natural reproduction, which we haven't seen since the late 80s, but we haven't seen the big year-classes carry over. But this has been a mild winter, so we may see that 2004 year-class carry over. We're hoping.

"Walleyes are doing very well and they appear to be carrying over. Most of the data is from Saginaw Bay, but we've been hearing very good reports of walleye fishing up and down the coast."

What holds the most promise for the salmon fishery is the herring population. "Lake herring, a native species which were pretty much ousted by alewives, are increasing and expanding in the places where they are found," Newcomb said. "Our hope is those populations will continue to grow and will fill that niche where alewives used to. "Herring could provide a good forage base for salmon and they grow beyond the size that predators can use them, so that preserves the brood stock. They're good forage for lake trout, too."

Lake trout? Ever since officials have been treating the St. Marys River for lampreys, lakers have been on the comeback. "That lake trout fishery has been tremendous," Newcomb said.

As for salmon, there's evidence, by the number of fish returning to the weirs, that there are more fish out there than anglers are catching, Newcomb said, though she's at a loss to explain why. Chinook salmon are known to travel up to 50 miles a day in the ocean and it could be the big fish are just roaming out of traditional fishing territories.

Oscoda-Wurtsmith loses bid to become site of new jet factory

The Bay City Times updates their March 3 article.

The Oscoda-Wurtsmith Airport didn't make the final cut of airports the state will promote in an effort to lure a new jet factory to Michigan.

The Michigan Economic Development Corp. decided the former Air Force bomber base didn't have a deep-water shipping port close enough and lacked enough workers in the region to support the needs of European airplane-manufacturing giant Airbus.

The MEDC instead chose Alpena Regional Airport, Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti and an airport in Sault Ste. Marie as candidates it will back in an effort to land an Airbus factory.

Lake levels going up Lake Huron has risen 10 inches in past 12 months

The Bay City Times has this article with an update on current and projected lake levels:

Lake Huron is up 10 inches from this time last year, according to the latest forecast from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The lake, measured together with Lake Michigan for forecasting purposes, is expected to be up by 8 to 10 inches this July, compared to the summer of 2004, said Phil C. Ross, acting chief for the Corps' hydrology branch in Detroit.

"As far as levels over the last five years, it definitely looks like it's going to be higher than it has been, which I think a lot of boaters will be happy about," Ross said.

In recent years, water level forecasters have been careful about saying that lake levels are on the upswing, signaling an end to near-record low water levels that have plagued the Great Lakes, causing barges to lighten their loads and marinas to dredge. But Ross said he thinks the levels are edging back up, even though there's still a degree of uncertainty about the natural cycles of the lakes.

"If the meltoff is good and spring rains are semi-heavy and at least above-average, then you're definitely going to see higher levels (this summer), but it's definitely going to be driven by the storm patterns this spring."

Lake Huron is still 10 inches below its long-term monthly average level for March, and 40 inches below the highest recorded monthly mean in 1986, but 20 inches above the lowest recorded monthly mean from 1964. The lake is projected to rise another 3 inches by April 4, the Corps says.

Oscoda leaders want state to help it push for new jet factory

The Bay City Times covers this story regarding possible expansion of the Oscoda-Wurstsmith Airport into an airplane manufacturing site for Airbus. Last year Oscoda pitched Boeing 7E7 manufacturing but lost to a site in Tennesse.

Officials at Oscoda-Wurtsmith Airport want European airplane-manufacturing giant Airbus to consider the old Iosco County bomber base for a proposed jet factory. Thomas Salter, Oscoda-Wurtsmith Airport manager, said the airport is one of a handful in Michigan seeking Michigan Economic Development Corp. support in a bid to land an Airbus factory. "We met with MEDC last week in Lansing, and there were at least six airports represented at that meeting," Salter said Wednesday. "The state is going to have to pare down the list to three airports and then they'll forward those three to Airbus."

Airbus, doing business as EADS North America, announced in January it will conduct a nationwide search to find a site for a proposed $600 million factory complex that would employ up to 1,000 people. The factory will only be built if Airbus wins an upcoming contract from the U.S. Air Force to build a new generation of aerial refueling aircraft.

The MEDC met last week with representatives from Oscoda-Wurtsmith, Alpena Regional, Kent County International, Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti, Chippewa County Airport and Sawyer Airport in the Upper Peninsula, Salter said. The state will pick three airports this month to submit proposals to Airbus, he said. The company is expected to choose a location in the United States by year's end.