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Central Michigan Life
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Mount Pleasant, Mich.
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union township
Trustees to vote on medical marijuana dispensaries Resolution would end six-month moratorium By Jordan Spence Staff Reporter
Union Township will present a draft of its medical marijuana dispensary resolution at its board of trustees meeting tonight at 2010 S. Lincoln Road. The township adopted a medical marijuana moratorium six months ago to have time to consult with lawyers, residents and trustees before creating a final draft of a resolution. “We are likely to approve (on) Wednesday, sending the measures to a public hearing at the July 13 meeting,” said Township Supervisor John Barker. “After which we may pass them.” The planning commission has completed its work and recommended the township get the drafted
photos by amelia eramya/lead designer
zoning text amendments and licensing ordinance. “How we zone the dispensaries is going to be similar to how we approach adult bookstores,” said Zoning Administrator Woody Woodruff. “We have outlined the framework where uses are permitted.” The zoning regulations state that a dispensary must be 500 feet away from schools and residential areas and 1,000 feet away from other dispensaries. It will not be easy for someone to obtain a license for a dispensary, Woodruff said, as there will have to be background checks, paperwork and hearings. “I think what our provisions do is protect our neighborhoods, schools, churches and day care centers from being in close proximity to any of these establishments,” Barker said. “At the same time, we seek to ensure that only legitimate A union | 2
Painted benches, chairs and writing desks occupy the streets of downtown Mount Pleasant for the Chair Affair 2011, a silent auction by Art Reach of Mid Michigan.
take a seat
Beaver Island offers students experience in natural world
Chair Affair decorates downtown Mount Pleasant with colorful furniture By Amanda Grifka | Staff Reporter
Colorful banners and sidewalk art across the streets of downtown Mount Pleasant will soon be complemented by creatively painted chairs, benches and writing desks. Chair Affair 2011, a silent auction by Art Reach of Mid Michigan, 111 E. Broadway St., began Monday and will last until July 23. Bidding and voting for the furniture can be done at the Art Reach Gift Shop. Forty-four artists are participating this year, including some from 11 area schools. Andi Hofmeister said the Chair Affair is a unique challenge. “What do you do with a canvas full of holes?” she said. Hofmeister, a Mount Pleasant resident and retired musician, painted a bench for this year’s auction.
Her bench is titled “Cherry Blossoms” and is sky blue with the titular flowers as well as a branch that comes out at viewers, she said. “It’s a rather bright bench,” Hofmeister said. The furniture sells for anywhere from $50 to $400, but some artists are known in the community and can sell for much more, said Kim Bigard, Art Reach gift shop and gallery coordinator. The People’s Choice award winner gets $100. Prizes for first, second and third place are also given to student participants for $100, $75 and $50, she said. Paula Clark Nettleton, director of the CMU Educational Materials Center, won the People’s Choice Award for past two years. Her chair this year is called “Bird’s Eye View.”
Biological station hosts 500 guests every year
“The seat looks like you are looking down on the rainforest,” she said. Her chair is on the auction, but not in competition this year. The chairs and benches were built by CMU engineering and technology students and area builders, according to the Art Reach website. Hofmeister said she participates in all three of Art Reach’s summer events, including the sidewalk art and banner displays. Nettleton said the events bring people downtown. “(Art Reach does a) fabulous job,” she said. “The day of the auction is fun for everyone with the banners flying, sidewalks covered in chalk, jazz music playing and the chairs all together.”
By Amanda Grifka Staff Reporter
Few students can learn everything they need for their degrees from inside a classroom — especially those studying biology. About 500 visitors come to the biological station on Beaver Island yearly, one of two island biological stations in the Great Lakes. Twelve classes are offered on the island. “It’s an amazing and unique opportunity for students to work very closely with faculty members and to build a tight community with their classmates, sharing ideas and discoveries as they happen,” said Zach Eagen, CMU Biological Station manager.
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Eagen said there is no plan to close down the station due to economical and ecological concerns despite some rumors. “More and more students are discovering this unique opportunity and one-of-akind learning experience and sharing it with friends,” he said. Rebecca Uzarski, a biology faculty member, said the station in northern Lake Michigan allows for field-based, hands-on learning that cannot be done on campus. Eagen said students typically spend the mornings in labs with their faculty and afternoons in the fields putting theory to practice. Daniel Wujek, a professor who teaches BIO 597Z3: Field Botany of Northern Michigan, said his students can go to a different field each day, which would not be possible A island | 2
CMU grad, mother recovering after bus accident May bus crash in Va. killed 4, injured 54 By Ariel Black Staff Reporter
Everything was on track for success for a triple-majored 2011 graduate from Nepal, until one fateful moment. Now, Pratik Chhetri and his friends are asking for any help they can get to cover medical expenses for himself and his mother. Early in the morning on May 31, Chhetri was celebrating graduation with his mother Geeta when they were involved in a bus accident,
injuring them and 52 other passengers and killing four. The accident happened around 5 a.m. in Virginia while Chhetri and his mother were traveling from North Carolina to New York visiting family friends. The bus, operated by Sky Express Inc., ran off the road and overturned. Chhetri suffered fractures on his thoracic vertebrae, while his mother, who was visiting from Nepal, sustained major spinal cord injuries. Chhetri has since been released from the hospital, but has a back brace. “He may need surgery down the road if his body doesn’t heal naturally,” said 2011 Nepal alumnus Samik Upadhaya, a close friend of
Chhetri’s. However, Geeta’s injuries were more severe, and she is still being cared for at Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg, Va. “We don’t know the extent of her injuries yet, but (Geeta) just got off a ventilator a few days ago, so she can breathe on her own now,” Upadhaya said. “The priority now is to get her out of the hospital and into a rehabilitation center.” Upadhaya is also an international student from Nepal, and he and Chhetri plan to continue with graduate school at CMU for chemistry. Chhetri graduated this year with a triple major in biochemistry, biomedical sciences and mathematics.
“He’s a great guy and has been really active on campus,” Upadhaya said, who also lived with Chhetri. “You can say he’s an achiever. He does what he sets his mind to.” After Upadhaya heard about the accident, he spent a week in Virginia with Pratik and his mother. He said they talked to several lawyers during that week, and one has been finalized. Chhetri’s health insurance will soon run out, and in an effort to help pay for medical expenses, Upadhaya helped make a donation website for Chhetri and his mother at sites. google.com/sites/pratikfund. photo courtesy of samik upadhaya
A crash | 2
Nepal alumnus Pratik Chhetri, right, stands with his mother Geeta Chhetri.
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