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

30 years ago

MARQUETTE/GREEN BAY — Northern Michigan University’s acting student’s attended the 27th Annual Kennedy Center/American College Theater Festival in Green Bay to perform Dr. Shelly Russell’s production of “Haywire.” NMU competed against regional productions from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. Marquette students were unsure of how they would be received among audiences, but were surprised at how their “eccentricities” were encouraged and even received a standing ovation. One student, Paul Giuliani, remarks that the experience of performing in Green Bay didn’t feel like a competition, instead, everyone was excited to see really good shows. If “Haywire” wins this completion, it will travel to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

90 years ago

U.P./MACKINAC — Rep. Brown will be presenting his plan for the Mackinac Bridge to Gov. Fitzgerald, and Brown is confident it will receive adequate consideration. Brown is seeking four million dollars from the state to be spent over five years to maintain and operate the bridge. If looked on favorably by the governor, a withdrawal from the highway funds would be taken from the state budget at $400,000 a year. The state would be investing six million dollars a year over the coming decade for the bridge, which there is “no present need or public demand.” There is critique on the bridge, if not indifference from the public, who seem to enjoy the boat crossing between the straits which offers a “welcome rest” from driving. Further investment in the ferry would be scraped by the new bridge, and potential funds for the highway, many fear, would take away from new construction in the Upper Peninsula itself.

At the state’s highway conference in Crystal Falls last week, there was no discussion of the bridge as well as no words said in its favor.