30 years ago

REPUBLIC – Supporters of the Upper Peninsula-based Navy communications system known as Project ELF have won their second battle this year to keep it in the federal budget. Congressional negotiators settling differences between House and Senate versions of a 1996 defense spending bill have agreed to drop a provision that would have scrapped the $14 million-a-year system near Republic. The turnaround, a repeat of events that saw ELF eliminated in March but restored in April, means the system will live for at least another year. “They’ll have the votes to keep ELF funding for a long time,” said Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., who has criticized other, more expensive items in the $242.7 billion defense spending bill as well. “These guys vote for anything the Pentagon wants.” ELF, which stands for extremely low frequency, is a system of underground cables in the Upper Peninsula and in northern Wisconsin. It sends signals through the earth to U.S. submarines around the world when another system has messages waiting for them nearer the surface. Obey and other congressional critics insist the system is ineffective. Northern Wisconsin critics insist it’s also a hazard to their health. ELF was first taken out of the budget in March, when the House and Senate needed to make midyear spending cuts. It was saved in April, however, after a group of lawmakers said they were given classified reasons for its existence.

90 years ago

NEGAUNEE – Negaunee clocks, along with all other timepieces in Marquette County, will be set back one hour at 2 a.m. next Sunday morning, September 29, when the city will return to a Central Standard Time schedule. Residents of this city Saturday night will gain the hour’s sleep they lost in setting their clocks ahead to Eastern Standard Time on April 28. Persons attending churches, theatergoers and travelers are advised to take a second look at their timepieces Sunday to make sure they are registering “slow” time. This is the first year that all cities and towns in Marquette County have operating on a “fast” time schedule for the five summer months. The city of Marquette finally fell in line with exponents of Eastern Standard Time for the summer months when a vote was taken on the matter last spring.