George James

The company responsible for the management of the Blue Water Convention Center has changed. The 40,000 square foot convention center, opened in 2015 at a cost of $9 million, and  SMG had been the venue management company that operated the Blue Water Convention Center since its opening. This week however, SMG merged with AEG, a facilities management company, to form ASM Global.

The new company, ASM Global, is headquartered in Los Angeles and has offices worldwide. ASM Global has over 61,000 employees and operates over 300 different venues around the world. Bob Newman, President and CEO of ASM, said the merger, “marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter in the industry and one that will establish a new standard of excellence in managing live experiences.”

According to Marysville Mayor Dan Damman, Jean Cramer has submitted a letter officially withdrawing from the running for Marysville City Council. The resignation comes after widespread controversy over her remarks at a candidate forum Thursday, August 22. At the forum, meant for residents to get to know candidates running for three open city council seats and one mayoral seat, the moderator posed the question, “if you look at the population growth in the Great Lakes Region, in terms of migration, 1.5 million people were foreign-born and 1.5 million were natural-born which indicates there is a high level of folks moving to the region, but they’re not moving here (Marysville), so as a philosophical question, should Marysville be more aggressive about making that happen?” Cramer answered, “my suggestion, recommendation: keep Marysville a white community as much as possible…in other words…no foreign-born citizens.” Cramer’s comments received national and international attention. Marysville City Manager Randy Fernandez said Cramer’s name will still appear on the November 5 ballot because the resignation was submitted after April 26. In her letter, Mrs. Cramer offered no reason for the resignation.

In light of the situation, Mayor Damman says this an opportunity to move forward in a positive way to encourage more diversity in the community. Along with Kevin Watkins, President of the NAACP Port Huron Branch, the two are working with other community partners to develop a county-wide initiative for diversity.

On August 24, 79 A.D. after centuries of dormancy, Mount Vesuvius erupts in southern Italy, devastating the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum and killing thousands.  Both cities were buried under a thick layer of volcanic material and were never rebuilt. At noon on August 24, 79 A.D., this pleasure and prosperity came to an end when the peak of Mount Vesuvius exploded, propelling a 10-mile mushroom cloud of ash and pumice into the stratosphere. For the next 12 hours, volcanic ash and a hail of pumice stones up to 3 inches in diameter showered Pompeii, forcing the city’s occupants to flee in terror. Some 2,000 people stayed in Pompeii, holed up in cellars or stone structures, hoping to wait out the eruption Pompeii and Herculaneum were later rediscovered and excavated, providing an unprecedented archaeological record of the everyday life of an ancient civilization, startlingly preserved in sudden death.

On August 23, 1989, 30 years ago, Cincinnati Reds manager and baseball great, Pete Rose was banned from baseball for life.  It was discovered that Rose regularly bet on his own team.  As the all-time hit leader, many still question whether Rose should be given a second chance. Although Rose continued to proclaim his innocence, he was eventually persuaded to accept a settlement that included a lifetime ban from the game.  It  was known in baseball circles since the 1970s that Pete Rose had a gambling problem. Although at first he bet only on horse races and football games, allegations surfaced in early 1989 that Rose was not only betting on baseball, but on his own team.  In 2004, after years of repeated denials, Rose published My Prison Without Bars, in which he finally confessed to gambling on the Reds, though he added that had always bet on the Reds to win.  Because of the lifetime ban, Rose cannot work in Major League Baseball and, despite his stellar playing career, he is not eligible for the Hall of Fame.

Last night, Marysville held their candidate forum for the City’s upcoming election where residents will decide on the open mayor seat and 3 open council seats November 5th. Current Mayor Dan Damman opened the forum, turning things over to Scott Shigley, who moderated the evening.  In the running for the council seats are Paul Wessel, Shawn Winston, Kathy Hayman, Mike Deising all of whom have lived in Marysville for nearly their whole lives and Jean Cramer who moved to the Marysville area 10 years ago from Rochester. The lone candidate running for the open mayor seat is Wayne Pyden who says he’s lived in Marysville for 40 plus years. Topics included roads in Marysville and if candidates believed there were issues within the city limits, unfunded liabilities and legacy costs, the planned DTE site, current city developments amongst other topics, but things took a turn when a question was posed related to attracting diversity to the community. The moderator posed, “if you look at the population growth in the Great Lakes Region, in terms of migration, 1.5 million people were foreign born and 1.5 million were natural born which indicates there is a high level of folks moving to the region, but they’re not moving here (meaning Marysville), so as a philosophical question, should Marysville be more aggressive about making that happen?”   At this time it was Cramer’s turn to answer first, to which she answered, “my suggestion, recommendation: keep Marysville a white community as much as possible…in other words…no foreign-born citizens.”. All sitting on the forum and in the audience gasped and the remarks left many audience members and candidates in shock, vehemently condemning her remarks as many of them took it personally. Marysville Mayor Dan Damman and local Pastor Alex Crittenden were equally shocked. “I think to say that everyone in the room was shocked or stunned or completely taken aback would still be an understatement. Very clearly, Ms. Cramer’s sentiments don’t reflect that of the current city councils, they don’t reflect that of the office of the mayor. They don’t reflect that of the city administration and I’d have to say that they don’t reflect that of the vast majority of our residents.” Alex Crittenden, Pastor of Pilgrim Baptist Church in Port Huron said, “even now, I’m somewhat stunned. On the upside, if you can find an upside, I heard the clip, and, on the upside, the gasps, the reaction from the audience and then those who had a chance to speak afterwards, that’s the upside. That is the positive side. It says to me that yes, these kinds of things still exist…but thank goodness there are people who, on the other end of the spectrum, if you have those who are emboldened in this kind of rhetoric, you have people who are saying, ‘this is not the way it should be.’” The full video can be seen online at ebw.tv or later this week on the city’s website.

Local food truck, Eli’s Eats in the Streets, has been recognized as one of the best food trucks in Michigan. According to the group, Best Things Michigan, Eli’s Eats came in at number nine in the state. The article says that with the variety of, “breakfast, lunch, dinner and most every snack in between, Port Huron’s Eli’s Eats in the Streets delivers pretty much everything anyone could ask for, and all from a truck.” According to the author, “Eli’s is taking things to a whole new level,” citing the jalapeno sweet cornbread muffins or the grilled chicken with mango beer barbeque sauce and a delectable choice of kebabs with grilled asparagus as well. Other food trucks that made the list include Norma G’s of Detroit which took number the number one spot. Gorilla Gourmet of Kalamazoo claimed number two and the other mobile food eateries noted, hail from Grand Rapids, Traverse City, and Holland to name a few.