EDITOR’S NOTE: Superiorland Yesterdays is prepared by the reference staff at the Peter White Public Library in Marquette.

30 years ago

NEGAUNEE — The Negaunee City Council agreed to accept an offer freeing it of liability for the cleanup of a Missouri toxic waste site by accepting a $5,091 buyout offer. The liability issue began in 1983 when the city contracted with Martha C. Rose Chemicals Inc. to dispose of some old electrical transformers containing toxic PCBs. The company disposed of the transformers in its Holden, Missouri, waste site and was later cited by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for improper disposal of toxic wastes before going out of business. The EPA concluded that everyone on the company’s records, including Negaunee, was liable for cleaning up the site. The first option, costing $5,091, pays the city’s share of the cleanup and clears it of all future liability for contamination, according to city manager John Korhonen. The second option, costing $2,913, would have only paid the city’s share of the cleanup costs, leaving it open to liability in the future. Korhonen and city attorney E. Nickolas Bridges recommended that the city take the first option.

60 years ago

ISHPEMING — John Johnson, who made a scale model of a green darner dragonfly and Evelyn Ojanen, who had a collection of fungi from the Upper Peninsula, were awarded honorable mention certificates in the 1958 program of science achievement awards conducted under the auspices of the Future Scientists of America Foundation. There were more than 30,000 entries from the United Stated, its territories and Canada. The two from Ishpeming were the only U.P. winners in this year’s contest.