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

30 years ago

IRON MOUNTAIN — Some Dickinson County prisoners will be put to work as part of their sentence in a program organized by Sheriff Donald Charlevoix. The Community Work Program began recently when a team of inmates under the direction of on-site supervisor Deputy Dan Maki began clean-up work in Dickinson County parks, Charlevoix said. Teams will continue to work through November, cleaning parks, picking up litter from the sides of roads and doing other projects for which manpower is at a premium due to state funding cuts. Charlevoix said the work program serves several needs. “It eliminates taking up valuable jail space for short-timers who are sentenced. It leaves the jail space for people who really need to be incarcerated,” Charlevoix said. “We’re generally at, or near, our capacity. It’s also a hell of a deterrent,” the sheriff said. “Most people don’t want to be seen standing on the side of the road in a blaze orange vest marked ‘County Jail’ picking up litter.” “It’s only for low-risk criminals with short sentences … usually people who committed property crimes,” said Charlevoix.

60 years ago

LANSING — It’s up to the Senate now to decide whether a man can be fined and sent to jail for handing out Michigan maps that don’t show the Upper Peninsula. The House agreed to the proposal Thursday, 85-16. All the dissenters live in the Lower Peninsula. The bill provides that any Michigan map distributed in the state must specifically say so if it fails to depict the Upper Peninsula. Violations would be a misdemeanor.