30 years ago

MARQUETTE — The future of Michigan gambling is under fire, and many charity bingo games are worried they will be pushed out. Bingo attendance has dropped an 11% across the state from 1992-1994 which the organizers blame on the rise of casinos on indigenous land. Betty Pope, who runs the Saturday night bingo games for Child and Family services in the U.P. claims that she has lost 50 players due in part to the casinos and the closing of the Sawyer Air Force Base. Sue Kensington, the director of the Women’s Center of Marquette, doesn’t single out any one component of their charity bingo’s losses, but their loss remains wide: a drop from $83,000 in 1992 to $27,000 this year. Many charity bingo teams feel the heat of competition with their casino rivals and believe they should have equal protection as other gambling and gaming institutions in the state.

60 years ago

MARQUETTE — The Presque Isle Park Zoo is officially open for the summer and welcoming guests today. City parks and recreation director James C. Engle is sure that this year’s zoo will be a success despite the late arrival of some ducks, geese and rabbits. The animal residents include Canadian geese, ducks and ducklings, a white woodchuck, young and old rabbits, a pair of raccoons, foxes, a porcupine, a bobcat, an owl, two peacocks, and two bear cubs. New this year are two celebrity otters made famous by their showmanship in Disney’s “Flash, the Teen-Age Otter.” The zoo at “The Island” is supported by the Marquette Parks Department who oversees the care and handling of animals, and is financially supported by the Shiras Institute. After reviving the zoo six years ago, it continues to be one of the area’s biggest tourist lures.