The Times Herald from Port Huron, Michigan • Page 3

3A MONDAY. MAY 13, 19 1 1 I PORT MICHIGAN 3A to cm: TO DISCUSS LOCAL NEWS HELP US WITH YOUR STORY: We want to talk with youne people who plan on becoming wort travelers this summer. Contact Jill Carlson at 989-4267 or 800-4624057. Judch Mclean, assistant managing edtfor989-255 Peggy Wish-Samecki. Rver District 7B5-4C81 Busy beavers block county drains, create floods and cost money IIIiJuiwImI dap) S'kM Mi 0.

1 4 t-r NEWS OF THE STATE Baby suffers injuries as car rams restaurant LIVONIA A one-month old baby girt was seriously injured Sunday after a car rammed through the glasshouse area of a restaurant The car, driven by an 88-year-old Lincoln Park man, came to rest at the table where the infant's family moments earlier had been eating breakfast Mi-kaela Cesario was in serious condition at C.S. Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor. The driver was trying to park in a handicap place when he hit the accelerator instead of the brake, police said. Millwright dies in fall from Holland windmill HOLLAND A part-time millwright working on the historic DeZwaan windmill fell 60 feet while trying to get the blades moving and later died, authorities said. Delwyn Ter Beek, 53, died Sunday morning at Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids, where he was taken after suffering head injuries in the fall about 7:30 p.m.

Saturday. Peet workers offer to take cut in pension DETROIT Workers at the defunct Peet Packing Co. agreed to cut their pensions by as much as $100 per month in an effort to save the struggling meat packing company. The offer came shortly before former Detroit Tigers pitcher Denny McLain, a former co-owner of the company, was accused in a federal indictment of looting the pension fund for personal use, The Detroit News reported Sunday. The plant closed in 1995.

Investigation begins in U.P. sawmill fire NEWBERRY Fire destroyed a sawmill at the Newberry Hardwoods Inc. complex, wiping out about $100,000 in equipment and tools inside. "It's a big loss, there's no question," said co-owner Bill Fisher. The Saturday fire burned the 40-by-100-foot sawmill where five employees cut hardwood logs into grade lumber.

State fire investigators have been called in investigate. Illegal dumping fills state forests with junk MIO Northern Michigan residents who have endured one of the snowiest winters on record might not like what they see as things warm up. The receding snow is revealing tires, mattresses, appliances, yard waste and household garbage, much of it on public forest land. "It gets worse all the time," said James McMillan, a district forest manager for the AuSable State Forest. "With landfill fees continuing to escalate and the landfills being farther away, it gets worse every year." From Times Herald wire services By RALPH W.

POLOVICH, Times Herald DAMAGE: One of Carol Eveningred's duties as St. Clair County drain commissioner is to inspect the damage done by beavers each spring to the more than 300 drainage ditches in the county. Sometimes, county drain workers need to pull apart the dams created by the animals to allow for drainage and to prevent flooding. Less demand for pelts means more beavers By BOB GROSS Times Herald A campaign to keep fur off the backs of people has had one unintended side effect a population explosion among some fur-bearing animals, including beavers. 'The market has been such that there hasn't been the interest in trapping," said Tim Reis, furbearer management specialist for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

Trappers use S25 as the benchmark price for beaver pelts, he said. When the price falls below $25, trapping is not worth the time and effort. "When fur prices were reasonable, people could cover the cost of traveling to and from trapping sites," Mr. Reis said. "We were reasonably effective in controlling animal numbers." But high-profile campaigns featuring fashion models have targeted fur clothing in general and trapping specifically.

Demand fell Mr. Reis said, and with it so did the price of pelts. Without trapping, "it's going to be increasingly difficult to manage beaver and other furbearers," he said. Other factors have contributed to the increase in beavers. "We've had some ideal years, wet springs and summers, high water tables," Mr.

Reis said. High water allows beavers more access to food trees such as aspens and willows that grow in wet areas. It also allows young beavers to move away from the home lodge and into new areas. "That helps them," Mr. Reis said.

"They do travel across land, particularly when the young are disbursing. They'll make some fairly lengthy moves." People also make some fairly lengthy moves. When humans move into areas with beaver, sometimes the two species come into conflict "We're getting increasing numbers of complaints from people who have chosen to live along watercourses," Mr. Reis said. "Beavers come up and eat their ornamental trees." The two species have this in common: Beavers and humans both alter their environments to suit their needs.

The problems occur when the needs of one species are not in accord with those of the other. "With people choosing to live in areas frequented by wildlife, either we have to coexist or we will have conflicts," Mr. Reis said. Beavers Dads use billboards to fight custody battle The Associated Press DETROIT Children have a right to both parents. That is the message of a Detroit-area billboard campaign sponsored by the Michigan Chapter of the National Congress for Fathers and Children.

The group wants legal changes to make it easier for both parents to stay active in their children's lives after divorce. "Custody decisions favor the mother almost 85 of the time," said Brian Broombaugh, the organization's vice president "For a lot of years, fathers have been pushed out of the system. They give up because it's too hard to seek joint custody." The advocacy group wants joint physical and joint legal custody to be the norm in divorces. And when joint custody is not awarded, custody should be given to the parent who most willingly supports equitable parenting time, the group says. The campaign's goal is to increase membership in the group, which has more than 50,000 members nationwide, and give a boost to legislation in Lansing.

The Senate bill, which calls for mandatory joint physical custody in most cases of divorce, has stalled in the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Jessie Dalman, R-Holland. Part of 1-94 to close for roadwork By NANCY TORNER Times Herald Drivers will find it slow going near Interstate 94 and the Blue Water Bridge. A one-mile stretch of east-bound 1-94, from Water Street to Pine Grove Avenue, will close for construction work from 6 p.m. today until 6 a.m. Tuesday.

Other closures include the freeway access ramps on Water Street and Lapeer Road, and the eastbound 1-69 ramp to eastbound 1-94, according to Michigan Department of Transportation officials. Traffic traveling east on I-69 will be routed off the freeway on Oak to 10th Street, said Bob Tiura, assistant MDOT project engineer in Capac. Trucks will be de-toured along 10th Street Other vehicles will be able to use either 10th or Seventh streets. Because of a city construction project on Military Street, "we didn't want to shoot them (vehicles) all the way down to Military Street," Mr. Tiura said.

Traffic going north on 1-94 will be routed off the freeway at Water Street, he said.Advi-sory signs have been posted south of the 1-69 interchange, giving motorists the option to exit at 10th or Water streets. Traffic to Canada will be rerouted back onto 1-94 at the Bridge Plaza on Pine Grove, Mr. Tiura said. The construction is part of a $6.5 million, six-month project to improve nearly 28 miles of Interstate 94 in St. Clair County.

Aspen Cottonwood and willow trees are among beavers' favorites. A family of six can devastate an acre in one to two years. A beaver uses its strong front teeth to cut down trees and to peel By BOB GROSS Times Herald One of the major problems Carol Eveningred has to deal with each spring weighs 50 to 75 pounds, has buckteeth and a flat tail and is, well, busy. Mrs. Eveningred, the St Clair County drain commissioner, oversees the maintenance of more than 300 drainage ditches that are a haven for beavers.

When beavers build a dam in a drain, the drain does not drain and that causes flooding, she said. Property upstream from the dam suffers from flooding and erosion, she said. Beavers especially like to plug up culverts. Flooding there can undercut the roadbed and cause the road surface to collapse, she said. Silt also collects behind the dam, choking the flow of water even after crews have removed all traces of the beavers' hard work Mrs.

Eveningred said the county road commission had to pull apart at least one dam last year near the Barth Road exit off Interstate 69. "There was a pond there and right next to it was a county drain," she said. "Last year, they had that dammed up and we couldn't get in there to get the dam out because the water was too high." If work crews cannot pull the dam apart, the county will hire a beaver trapper. Beaver trappers receive $35 for each beaver they kill. Sometimes, she said, the beavers build such a solid structure that the two field employees working for the drain commissioner cannot do the job by themselves.

"We have to hire a contractor to get the dam out and remove the silt," she said. The dams are destroyed with dynamite or pulled apart with heavy equipment. It's not enough just to pull the dam apart, she said. Beavers are highly adaptable animals and will recycle the wood along with such materials as planking, fencing, rail ties and wire if it is not removed or buried. There is no dollar amount for the damage beavers do in the county.

The drain commissioner does have a 1996 operating budget of $210,537 from the county general fund. That is used to employ five people at a cost of $186,000. The drain commissioner's office also receives special assessments from the county tax rolls to pay for drain projects and maintenance. FRED FULLER of Yale thinks a little beaver control is what Mill Creek needs. Mr.

Fuller is a member of the Mill Creek Coalition, a group opposed to a $2.9 million plan to dredge and straighten 18 miles of the Black River tributary in western St. Clair County. "One of the problems with the flow in Mill Creek has been beaver dams," he said. Mill Creek was designated a drain in the 19th century. It was last dredged and straightened in 1957.

In 1992, the Intercounty Drain Board ruled that a dredging project was necessary to relieve farmland flooding along the bark. The branches are used for food as well as building material for dams and lodges. Beavers build dams to modify the environment to their liking. Lenth and height of the dam depends upon what it takes to Beavers are the largest North American rodent. Most weigh from 35 to 50 pounds with some reaching 70 to 85 pounds.

Some have been known to reach over 1 00 pounds. Beaver habitat is almost anywhere there is a year-round source of water. Beavers are hosts for several parasites, including nematodes, trematodes and coccidians. Giardia lamblia is slow the flow of water. Si an intestinal Darasite 17.

transmitted by beavers that Lcarncause human neaitn nrnhTflms i stolid Tunnel ft'intranfeS trees. They have been especially active in the northeast corner of the pond. "We tentatively would like to see that knocked back a bit," he said. "We want to keep that and the east end (of the pond) as wild as we can." He said the township will keep an eye on the beaver colony. "Just as long as there's just a couple of them we're not going to do anything.

People enjoy seeing them," he said. FRED LUDWIG has been keeping an eye on one beaver colony for nearly 40 years. Dr. Ludwig, a retired Port Huron physician, owns property along Birch Creek in southern Sanilac County near the border with St. Clair County.

He remembers seeing the first beaver dam on the creek in the late 1950s. "There have been one or two dams on the Birch Creek consistently since that time," he said. He has an orchard on his property. Despite their proximity to fruit trees, the beavers always have preferred eating the willows that grow along the banks of the creek. "They don't knock down that many big trees.

They like particularly willows," he said. "Even though the one dam was just below the orchard, they never came up and ate my apple trees. "They don't create any problems in that stream." MRS. EVENINGRED expects beavers to continue to be a part of her annual spring routine. "Like birds, they keep coming back to these known spots," she said.

They will continue to be a nuisance when they get into 13 yM'mmm MICIHHAH GNS Tunes Herald The reform crusade that began in the late 1820s gave rise to several new religious denominations, among them the Spiritualists, Seventh-day Adventists and Mormons. By 1860, Battle Creek had become the foremost center of the Seventh-day Adventists, a denomination that had originated in the East in the 1840s. Source: Michigan: A History of the Wolverine State creek. Mr. Fuller said beavers cause much of the flooding.

"They've built a lot of dams up and down the creek," he said. He said the county has used dynamite to blow up the dams, "but the beaver will come along and rebuild unless they're trapped." "There are places where they can live and build dams where they don't cause any problems," he said. "(But the county has to) keep after it and control them in places where they shouldn't be." TIM SASSANELLA of Port Huron Township is willing to trade a few trees for the benefit of having a few beavers in the 40th Street Pond. Mr. Sassanella is a member of the township's parks and recreation commission.

The commission manages the 40th Street Pond as a township park. "Beaver do a lot more good than they do harm sometimes," he said. "We enjoy them in the pond. We enjoy having a few of them down there. They're good for the fish.

They actually keep the weeds cut down in the lake," he said. "If the weed growth gets too dense, the more difficult it is for the fish to move around," he said. Beavers have built at least two lodges at the pond. There is no problem with flooding, but they have knocked down several large areas where their activities adversely affect what people are doing. "Beaver really are fun to watch," said Mr.

Sassanella, "but they do destroy things. "It's eruoyable to see the wildlife come back. Unfortunately, the beaver have to be controlled when they become a nuisance. "We live in Michigan, and there's lots of water here," he said. "(The beavers) are not going to go away." CORRECTIONS City makes pitch to state for soil-test grants AND AMPLIFICATIONS The Times Herald strives for fair and accurate reporting, and we regret it any time an error is made.

It is the policy of this newspaper to correct substantive errors of fact that appear in its news columns. Please bring errors to the attention of Judith McLean at 989- The team of Kelley Baldwin, Bryan Mosher and Meredith Whipple received special certificates of merit from Eastman-Kodak, the federal patent office and Office of the Air Force as well as a sponsor's award from Nynex for their acid rain project. The students, from Port Huron Northern High School, were participating in an international science fair in Tucson, Ariz. The awards were omitted from an article that ran on 3A Saturday. Contaminated arV DOWNTOWN i PORT HURON q.

Grand River PlnaSt. Sy watt si a Court ja IY Union St. a I I Chestnut St. Ortewold St. 1 14 V) I contamination from petroleum products.

Additional testing will deter mine how deep and wide contamination goes, he said. Other types of contamination might also surface, he said, since the property has been used by various industrial and commercial operations since the early 1900s. The other parcel formerly belonged to a private bus company. The Canadian National site, a former scrap yard, could contain oil, lead and other contanants connected with a railyard operation, he said. If the grants are approved, the city could begin testing within 10 days, he said.

Test reports would take about eight weeks to complete. Feasibility studies would be needed prior to any cleanup operations, Mr. Osbom said. Money for the cleanups would be sought, if possible, from previous property owners who contributed to the contamination, Mr. Osbom said.

The city, he said, will do title searches to determine all possible responsible rties. sharamani, with the department's Environmental Response Division. The grants are designed to help communities identify and evaluate potentially contaminated sites where cleanups could lead to economic development, she said. "We know that there's contamination (at one of the city sites)," Mr. Osbom said.

"We don't know the extent of it." One of the Merchant Street properties, adjacent to the Black River, is a former Gulf Oil distribution site, he said. Preliminary soil borings show By NANCY TORNER Times Herald The city of Port Huron is seeking $187,000 in state grants to test three properties for soil and water contamination. Two of the sites, at Merchant and Clyde streets, are owned by the city. The third, on Fourth Street between Court and Griswold streets, belongs to Canadian National Railroad. The two city-owner properties are about an acre in size, said Larry Osbom, director of public works.

The Canadian National property is about 15 acres. The city is working with the railroad to obtain a $60,000 state grant because of the property's development potential, Mr. Osbom said. Railroad officials have indicated an interest in selling the property. The remaining $127,000 will be used for the two city-owned parcels.

City officials should know next month if the grants have been approved by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, said Chandu Man- Timet Henti.