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

30 years ago

MARQUETTE — Walter Leon Cutler, recent U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia and a veteran diplomat, will speak on the Middle East crisis Saturday at Northern Michigan University. Cutler’s address will begin at 7 p.m. Saturday in the Great Lakes rooms of the Bottum University Center. Cutler served as ambassador to Saudi Arabia in 1988-89 and also held the position from 1984-87. Between assignments, he was research professor of diplomacy at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. His appearance is being sponsored by the NMU Political Science Symposium. He will also visit a political science class.

60 years ago

MANISTIQUE — Michigan biologist convicted of setting fire to state forests has been sentenced to spend four months in jail and pay more than $50,000 in fines. Circuit Judge Dean Shipman also ordered the former Department of Natural Resources biologist to spend 250 hours a year for five years in community service work. Shipman ordered them to begin their county jail sentence by 5 p.m. that dat. On Friday they repeated their claim of innocence and said they would appeal the Schoolcraft County conviction. A jury in August found him guilty on two counts of arson. Prosecutors said they started the fires to create habitat for sharp-tailed grouse when the DNR refused their proposals to burn the land under a wildlife management program. About 350 acres were burned in two 1989 fires. They still face two remaining arson charges in Schoolcraft County and was cleared of similar charges in Mackinac County.