06/19/2006

Editorial

Cheers

• To local resident David Hummel, a former recording engineer and sound consultant, for giving the nation something to hum about by donating his massive recording collection to the Library of Congress. His collection includes 6,000 record albums, 3,500 compact discs, 5,000 tapes (reels and cassette), hundreds of reference books and thousands of playbills from Broadway shows. The spectacular collection preserves important and rich sound history of our culture. Gotta dance! Gotta sing!

• To Traverse Area Community Sails, which will start construction in mid-August on a boathouse at Hull Park to store its 65-boat fleet, supplies and equipment. The 24-by-150-foot boathouse will be paid for and maintained by the group, which provides sailing camps and racing instruction for kids and adults. So far, the organization has raised $65,000 of the estimated $234,000 cost.

• To the students from Michigan State University and the University of Michigan who surveyed local residents and came up with hundreds of ideas on how to improve the design of the waterfront, Boardman River and the connection to downtown. Highlights include fountains in the parkway, a bayfront amphitheater and more walkways on the two-mile stretch of the bay from M-72 to the Traverse City Senior Center.

• To Kalkaska's Birch Street Elementary first-graders in Cynthia Raymer's class for the "Lucky Learning Land," a mini-society they created, along with their own currency, goods and services to sell to shoppers to learn about community and the economy. They made and sold cold lemonade, fresh fruit kebobs, flowers, designer folders, glitter-pencils and multicolored money to buy it with.

• To the state for introducing commemorative tokens that honor the car ferries that shuttled traffic between Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas from 1923 to 1957 when the Mackinac Bridge opened to traffic. Eight ferries moved about 1 million cars a year, compared to the 4.5 million that cross the bridge a year now. About 35,000 golden bridge tokens embossed with images of the ferries were minted this year.

• To St. Francis High School's Class of 2006. The 65 students garnered $2.8 million in college scholarship awards and offers from local and national sources. It's an impressive tally. Guidance counselor Beth Maday encourages students to start seeking scholarships at the beginning of their senior year.

• To the Traverse City Rotary Club's Committee for the Handicapped, which will hold its annual "Tag Day" fundraiser Saturday at locations throughout the Grand Traverse area. Tag Day has raised up to $30,000 a year to assist local children and adults with disabilities. Recent grants have bought equipment for a therapeutic sensory room at Cherry Knoll Children's center, a handicapped-access bathroom for a child in foster care and Special Olympics scholarships.