Newspapers are a lot of things, but one of the most important roles we serve is as a record of the community.
This week felt like we covered a lot of history.
Rachel Greco wrote about the 90th anniversary of Lansing’s Quality Dairy, a family owned company that got its start selling milk in a storefront because people could get it faster than having it delivered on a regular schedule to their homes. “Today’s milk, today” was the company’s early motto.
It’s amazing to consider that the Martin family’s business has survived the Great Depression early in its existence and a pandemic recently, and plenty of other challenges in the intervening years. Competitors like 7-11 have come and gone, and new ones like Sheetz are preparing to build stores in our region.
It’s very difficult for businesses to survive transitions from one generation to the next, something the Martin’s have succeeded at. It’s a neat story I hope you take time to read.
And the owners of the Michigan Princess, which so many of us have taken tours of the Grand River on, confirmed to the State Journal Friday that the boat is being dismantled. It was too damaged from an incident during routine maintenance two years ago for the Chamberlain family to repair. They still operate boats in Grand Ledge, Detroit, Petoskey and Traverse City, but gone is Lansing’s riverboat.
I’ve lived in the Lansing area for nearly 40 years. I remember while I was in college walking from a small apartment on Madison Street to the QD at Pine and Saginaw to buy bagged milk and bread. And I was on the Michigan Princess several times for business functions. So this week had a lot of nostalgia for me.
The week wasn’t all about old memories.
We wrote about Lansing City Council President Peter Spadafore’s decision to deny our appeal of the city’s decision to keep sealed from the public the internal investigation into a controversial music video filmed at a fire station last fall. It’s a troubling decision by elected officials that runs counter to Michigan’s public records law. That’s not just my opinion, but also that of an attorney who consults with Michigan newspapers on behalf of the Michigan Press Association.
And another city investigation, into a former Lansing police official who was charged with defrauding the city and pleaded no content to a misdemeanor embezzlement charge, remains ongoing a year after he was charged. You’re probably familiar with the case, as the detective routinely put in for overtime he did not work and used city and police resources for personal reasons, among other issues. The State Police, by their own admission, only looked at recent history in investigating the case, although rumors had swirled in the department for more than a decade about his activities.
Our reporting to dig deeper has faced a lot of roadblocks, from state police wanting $675,000 for copies of their investigative records to fights with the city administration for other records tied to Ryan Wilcox, some of which we won when the last city council president overruled the administration. That led to a series of stories on widespread problems with how the city monitors spending on the credit cards it issues to city employees.
It will be telling to see, assuming the city finalizes its internal investigation, whether the taxpayers ever get to see it.
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This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Loss of Michigan Princess, QD’s 90th birthday bring nostalgia
Reporting by Al Wilson, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
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