Gnome and His Home Missing in Ironwood

The Ironwood Carnegie Library is a little bit less fun and whimsical today. Tom Acorn (that is the gnome's name) had dropped by the library to reside in his home (a hollow stump) a little over a week ago. He stated in a note that "I have moved here from the north to get warm." There was a place for people to leave Tom Acorn notes just below his home. Only one note was left and it was dated June 29. The gnome and his home were discovered missing on Monday, July 3, when Elaine Erickson, library director, went outside.

No ransom note has been sent by the kidnappers and it has been over 48 hours since the gnome's disappearance. Everyone knows (from watching police television shows) that the first 48 hours after a disappearance are the most crucial if the missing person (or gnome) is expected to be found. Hopefully the gnome is merely on a whimsical vacation and we will soon see photos of him at Mt. Rushmore or the Arch in St. Louis.

Perhaps the gnome, Tom Acorn, is a cousin to that wacky Travelocity gnome and the two are shooting new commercials based on Michigan vacation destinations.

You know what? That just might be a capital idea. Instead of the Pure Michigan ad campaign we could have a gnome highlighting Michigan's great travel and tourism destinations. There you go, Governor Granholm, some free marketing advice that did not cost Michigan taxpayers one thin dime. Shoot, maybe I will buy a gnome, grab our video camera, and shoot my own Michigan tourism ads.

Anyone with information regarding the missing gnome should call the library director, Elaine Erickson, at 906-932-0203. She will take the gnome back with no questions asked.

Read the Ironwood Daily Globe for all of the information regarding the missing gnome.

Upper Peninsula Town Harassed by Bears

There must have been a bear jamboree in Ironwood up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula over the weekend. On Saturday, Ironwood Public Safety Department officers received eight different reports/complaints of bears. A large number of the complaints seem to be in reference to one of the bears in particular. He was tracked and after the IPSD contacted the Michigan DNR he was put down. The bear had been traveling through back yards and other areas where children are normally present and could not be scared out of town. For the safety of the kids and other residents the DNR recommended that the only action was to put the bear down. Another bear was later spotted in town and officers spooked it enough so it ran out of town with someone's bird feeder in its mouth.

All-in-all, Ironwood residents had quite the time with the convergence of numerous bears on their town. I am sure it would have been neat to see the bears (from a safe distance), but scary as a parent when you want to keep your kids safe.

Read the original article in the Ironwood Daily Globe

Michigan's DNR has a brief, yet informative guide to "Preventing Bear Problems in Michigan." The first main point the guide makes is to "never intentionally feed bears." It goes on to list various potential problems and the appropriate actions that you should take. I found it to be informative and to the point. Too bad that most of it is common sense since it seems that common sense can be in such short supply some times :).