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March 25, 2005News in briefFROM STAFF REPORTS'People fund' grants help area groups BOYNE CITY - Community groups in the region will share more than $69,000 in grants from the Great Lakes Energy "People fund." The money is generated by utility customers who allow their monthly electric bills to be rounded up to the nearest dollar. The program raised nearly $128,000 in Great Lakes' 26-county service area between Kalamazoo and the Mackinac Bridge. Twenty organizations in northern and central Lower Michigan received grants. They included $10,000 each to the Women's Resource Center in Petoskey for work on a shelter home for domestic violence victims, and the Top of Michigan Trails Council to develop a non-motorized trail between Charlevoix and Boyne City. Group against dove hunts has signatures LANSING - A group that wants to stop mourning dove hunts in Michigan says it expects to beat next week's deadline for a critical step in its campaign. The group - the Committee to Restore the Dove Shooting Ban - plans to submit signatures of thousands of Michigan voters to state election officials on Monday. They must have at least 158,879 valid signatures to qualify their referendum for the November 2006 election. Voters then would decide whether to allow dove hunts in Michigan. Groups seek more strict Lakes controls Ships navigating the St. Lawrence Seaway may carry more than coal and grain through the Great Lakes, say environmentalists, who warned Thursday about potential secondary "cargo" like killer shrimp or monkey gobies. At the start of a new shipping season, Great Lakes United and the National Wildlife Federation called for stricter controls on oceangoing vessels, which have the potential to carry ecosystem-destroying lake invaders in discharged ballast water. "Every time an oceangoing vessel enters the St. Lawrence Seaway it's like playing Russian roulette with the health of the Great Lakes," said Jennifer Nalbone of Great Lakes United. Soo Locks mark 150th season SAULT STE. MARIE - The Soo Locks were to open today for their 150th season. The Great Lakes Fleet freighter Indiana Harbor is expected to be the first vessel of the season to pass through the locks at Sault Ste. Marie, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said. One of 13 "thousand-footers" sailing the Great Lakes, it is running empty upbound to two harbors in Minnesota.
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