by Melissa Newland
This year, an estimated 2,600 men in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer. It is estimated 440 men will die from breast cancer this year. But for Steve Portice of Rose City, MI, grandson of the late Andrew McGee and Maggie Mae Portice of Skanee and son of George and Janice Portice of Twining, MI, these statistics are not going to include him! Steve was diagnosed with a 2.5-cm HER2/neu-positive stage IIIB breast cancer in June of 2016 after feeling a lump in his left breast. His diagnosis was confirmed after surgery was done Sept. 12, 2016 to remove the lump, along with 21 lymph nodes, among which four were found positive for cancer. A Stage IIIB tumor is characterized by having spread to the chest wall or has caused swelling or ulceration of the breast or is diagnosed as inflammatory breast cancer. It may or may not have spread to the lymph nodes under the arm, but it has not spread to other parts of the  body. HER2/neu testing is recommended because the outlook for HER2-positive cancers is reportedly improved if drugs targeting the HER2/neu protein are used as part of treatment. In some men with breast cancer, the cancer cells have too much of a growth-promoting protein known as HER2/neu (or just HER2) on their surface. Breast cancers with too much of this protein are called HER2 positive. They tend to grow and spread more aggressively without special treatment.  To read more, subscribe to the L’Anse Sentinel online, or buy a print copy at our local retailers.

by Melissa Newland
A new meteorological mast for the purpose of testing wind resources has been erected at 17193 High Point Road leading to Mount Arvon in L’Anse Township. This is apparently the third mast that has been put up in the area, with one of the other two locations at 18255 Mount Curwood Road and the third location at 17300 Black Bear Road. According to Catherine Andrews, who is on the L’Anse Township Planning Commission, 13 new locations have been added to the original 120 sites, with the new ones around the Herman area and one near Shepard. According to L’Anse Township Building Inspector Don Mleko, the company responsible for the wind test masts is Renewable Energy Systems Americas, Inc (RES Americas) based in Broomfield, CO. Mleko stated the company is leasing the properties from Weyerhauser, formerly Plum Creek Timber Company. It is standard practice to utilize meteorological masts to measure wind data for a potential future wind farm. High-quality data from a site is a key requirement for optimizing the design of the wind farm, predicting the future energy production of the wind farm and also as an input to selecting the type of wind turbines for a particular wind farm. A wind turbine obtains its power input by converting the force of the wind into torque acting on the rotor blades. The amount of energy which the wind transfers to the rotor depends on the density of the air, the rotor area, and the wind speed. To read more, subscribe to the L’Anse Sentinel online, or buy a print copy at our local retailers.

by Barry Drue
Beavers wreaked havoc that will prove a major headache and expense. A beaver dam failed and a wall of water cut a gorge through Stagecoach Road in Spurr Township. The dam failure took place around 12:30 a.m. on July 18, 2017. The Baraga County Road Commission is working to restore the culvert and road that was washed out. “There was no big storm event,” Road Engineer Doug Mills said. “When it went, it went dramatically. It was a high dam. There was about a 10-foot high wall of water.” “We took delivery on a 72- inch culvert last Friday. It’s designed for a 100-year storm event. But when a beaver dam breaks, all bets are off,” Mills said. Stagecoach Road is a dead-end road serving 17 property owners. The Road Commission was allowed by forest landowner Weyerhaeuser to make some improvements on an existing logging road that is being used for temporary access by residents and property owners. “Thanks to Weyerhaeuser— and they are making sources for materials available close by. If we had to haul the backfill a long distance that would get very expensive,” Mills added. “We’re working on it. We have a lot of prep work to do. We’ll get the road back to the way it was and open to traffic as soon as possible.” To read more, subscribe to the L’Anse Sentinel online, or buy a print copy at our local retailers.

by Melissa Newland
The time of year has come when little ones are out running about, learning how to live, learning how to survive and stay alive. In a world full of obstacles for these little ones, humans driving vehicles are probably the most difficult hurdle for them to overcome. Over the last weekend, this reporter and her husband and daughter, Jimmy and Kinsey, had the opportunity to help one of these little ones have a chance at life after its mother was hit by a vehicle near our home. We chose to help an orphaned fawn. The fawn and mother had been roaming around our area since the fawn was first born. On one occasion, the fawn even ventured up onto our deck to find safety while the mother was out foraging for food to nourish the young deer. Approximately a week after this incident, on Saturday, July 1, a passing vehicle accidentally hit a doe near our property, killing the doe instantly. Our hope was that it was not the mother to the fawn that had been recently spotted at our residence, but our hopes were soon dashed the next day when we heard a fawn calling out for its mother, obviously in distress. Jimmy and I went to investigate. When we arrived at the scene of the doe’s demise, we spotted the fawn a few yards away, crying to get the mother’s attention. We tried to corral the fawn, but our attempts were thwarted by the fawn running too far into the woods for us to catch. To read more, subscribe to the L’Anse Sentinel online, or buy a print copy at our local retailers.