MichiBlogger

I discuss the local anti-recruiting protest in more depth at Murdoc Online, with an update.

KADI DEHAAN has been in a wheelchair for a year and half, but plan to walk across the stage to receive her high school diploma in Byron Center tomorrow evening.

Kadi is a long way from running the 100-yard dash or even taking the stairs instead of the elevator. For the graduation walk, she will have some heavy-duty help from her pink leg braces, a wheeled walker and best friend, Jill VerMurlen.

Here’s a great photo gallery. She’ll be attending Davenport University in the fall, but before that she will be traveling to Russia for an experimental stem cell treatment. Let’s hope that it’s successful and that those who follow don’t have to travel half-way around the world for some hope in the form of stem cells.

I LIKE TRAINS, but Amtrak is a national disaster. Which is why I’m not surprised that Michigan might be cutting a million dollars from the subsidy.

STUPIDEST THING I’VE HEARD LATELY:

We feel that this war would not be possible without the military and without recruiters.

So they’re protesting and “We’re going to keep doing this until it’s over.” This story ran on Saturday. I wonder if they’re still out there. Maybe I’ll go see if I can talk to them.

GOOD NEWS: Phosphorus levels fall in Lake Macatawa

THE FIRST SCULPTURE in the “Tom Otterness in Grand Rapids” event was unveiled Tuesday in front of the Kent County Courthouse. A total of 35 will be placed in downtown GR, plus another 5 within Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park.

For more info and a printable map showing the locations of the 40 sculptures, see this PDF.

THREE DEVELOPERS are on the list for the 16 acres of riverfront property in GR:

• Barnes/Stevens Redevelopment
• Grand Rapids Development
• Moch International

UPDATE: A map of the location is here.

THE GRIFFINS ARE DOWN 1-0 in their AHL conference final series against the Milwaukee Admirals, but don’t forget about Kalamazoo. The K-Wings, who haven’t won a title since 1980, are in the United Hockey League Colonial Cup finals against the Trashers from Danbury, Connecticut. Kalamazoo won Game 1 6-1.

MARINE RESERVISTS FROM GRAND RAPIDS will be activated for duty in Iraq:

“We don’t look at polls. They want to make their families proud, but they also want to make their community proud, and they want to take the fight to the enemy.”

Polls do not seem to reflect the reality on the ground in Iraq. The unit is Company A, 1st Battalion of the 24th Marines.

TELL ME THIS ISN’T WEIRD: On Mother’s Day, a story ran in the Flint Journal about the headstone of a woman who died in 1929 that turned up in the yard of an abandoned house.

The rectangular marble headstone is etched with two flowers and reads “Mother Nora Little 1894-1929″ but does not have the name of a cemetery.

A couple of weeks’ searching turned up nothing about Nora Little’s resting place or the reason for her tombstone being dumped on someones lawn. Luckily, the right reader noticed the story:

[Carl] Schopieray immediately recognized the name of Nora Little on the marker.

“That’s my mother,” he said.

Schopieray wondered how his mother’s tombstone made the 70-mile journey from a Standish cemetery to an abandoned house on Poplar Street in Flint.

Although the identities of those who moved the marker and their reasons remain unknown, all will be well when the tombstone is restored to its proper place. Right?

Wrong.

Schopieray’s mother’s tombstone isn’t missing. It’s right where it’s supposed to be. The tombstone that was dumped is apparently a duplicate.

Creepy? Or what? (via Shawn Smith)