Escanaba Pasty Shop Robbed

Dobber's Pasties, legendary Escanaba Pasty restaurant, was broken into last week. Two men and one woman, a Dobber's employee, broke a window which set off the alarm and made off with about $1,200 and some credit card receipts - all of which were recovered upon the suspects arrests. Dobber's is an Escanaba and U.P. landmark with pasties to die for. The question on a lot of locals minds is, "Why in the world did they take the money? They should have taken the pasties."

Via the Escanaba Daily Press

Visit Dobber's Pasties website where you can order pasties online and within a day or two you can heat up your frozen pasty for a taste of the U.P.

Old newspaper predicted bread and gas would never be more than $1

The history books show that former President Richard Nixon did (ahem, Watergate anyone?) and said some peculiar things. A 1974 edition of the Milwaukee Journal was recently uncovered in a wall during a renovation of the DNR's Pocket Park office with an interesting headline - "Nixon Rules Out $1 Gas or Bread". We all know that Nixon was wrong on his pledge that we would never pay more than $1 for bread and gas. Interesting to note is that President Nixon made the comments in the midst of the mid-seventies Oil Crisis when OPEC put the U.S. and other countries under an oil embargo due to their support of Israel in its conflict with Syria and Egypt. The Oil Crisis led to gas shortages and inflated prices.

Via the Daily Press, Escanaba

Don't poke the bear

Steven Remsing has had his fill of bear hunting. The Sterling Heights man is recovering from wounds inflicted by a 430 pound black bear that he tangled with this past weekend. He was in the U.P. hunting black bear and after shooting one out of a tree it attacked his dog so he fought the bear to save the dog. In the process of saving the dog he had a chunk taken out of his forearm and a bite in his leg. Why fight a 430 pound black bear with your bare hands? As luck would have it, he was out of ammunition.

The DNR will tell you that they do not recommend hand-to-hand combat with a bear. Common sense would tell you that too, but the guy did end up saving his dog. He is currently recovering in the hospital.

Hope the dog will at least bring him the paper everyday or something to say 'thanks' :).

Read the article in the Detroit News

Update on the Edmund Fitzgerald life preserver

I recently mentioned a story about a family that discovered a battered orange life preserver with Edmund Fitzgerald stenciled on it. Many wondered if this was a hoax of some kind or if it could possibly be the real deal. Cynthia Edwards has apparently put to rest any ideas of the ring's authenticity or chance that it was a hoax. She is quoted in the Marquette Mining Journal as saying -

. . . her father acquired the orange preserver more than 20 years ago and stenciled ‘‘Edmund Fitzgerald’’ on it.

The ring was kept at the family’s cabin along Lake Superior and the Eagle River — not far from where it ultimately was found in the Upper Peninsula’s Keweenaw Peninsula — until it was lost about two years ago.

Her father painted the ship’s name on the ring as kind of a remembrance of the ship.

She also stated that, "It was never to trick anybody or make anybody think it was real."

Video of ex-Marine beating pickpocket

You can view the security camera footage from the convenience store where 72 year old ex-Marine Bill Barnes beat up a would-be pickpocket. Man, I hope I am that agile when I am 72. Mr. Barnes, you can still throw a mean punch.

Watch it at Mlive.com.

72 year old ex-Marine beats up would-be pickpocket

Awesome. As 72 year old ex-Marine Bill Barnes was scratching off a lottery ticket at a Grand Rapids convenience store a 27 year old would-be thief tried grabbing $300 in cash in Mr. Barnes' front pocket. Did I mention that in addition to being an ex-Marine that Mr. Barnes is also a former Gold Glove boxer and iron worker?

Jesse Daniel Rae (the pickpocket) must have thought that stealing money from Bill Barnes would be an easy feat. As soon as Barnes felt a hand in his pocket he grabbed Rae's wrist and rocketed off about six or seven punches before the store manager got involved.

Semper Fi, Mr. Barnes.

Read the article at The Detroit News.