Detroit, MI
With funding secured, here’s when Detroit Lake marina excavation could get underway
See restoration Opal Creek area after 2020 Oregon wildfires
Work is being done to restore access to Three Pools, Shady Cove campground and Little North Santiam trailhead in the Opal Creek area.
People have been so anxious for the dredging under the two marinas in Detroit Lake to begin that they assumed construction was starting this fall.
And this is a year when people are allowed to keep their boats at Kane’s Marina and Detroit Lake Marina into September, much longer than the past couple years.
The reality is the construction of the project, which will move 162,000 cubic yards of dirt from under the marinas and create a peninsula, is expected to start during the fall of 2025 after more than a decade of planning.
The Marion County Commissioners on Wednesday voted to accept $2 million from the federal department of Housing and Urban Development through its Community Project Funding Program.
It’s another step forward toward extending the recreation season in Detroit.
“I think this has been a long time coming project,” Marion County Commissioner Kevin Cameron said. “It’s still a long time out there.”
When will the excavation project start at Detroit Lake?
The first phase of the project, which included developing the design and figuring out what to do with the excavated dirt, was completed last year.
Now, Marion County is applying for permits and creating the engineering for the project.
Construction is expected to start in fall 2025 and be completed by the spring 2026, prior to the start of the boating season.
All of the dirt will be used to form a U-shaped 2,400-foot, 120-foot wide peninsula that would extend towards Piety Island south of the city.
The project aims to enable the marinas to operate when the water is as low as 1,525 feet above sea level. That is expected to make it so that the marinas could operate from May 1 through Oct. 1.
The design of that is to allow the tourist-dependent community of Detroit to earn more from the tourist season.
This year, boats have to be out of Kane’s Marina by Sept. 2, which is longer than in some years.
Last year, boats had to be removed by Aug. 21 because of low water levels in Detroit Lake. In 2021, it was July 11.
“It’s a wonderful investment for that community,” said Lari Rupp, an economic development specialist for Marion County.
How is the $5 million Detroit Lake project being paid for?
The $2 million in HUD funding is coming from the federal government’s appropriations from late 2022.
That money has to be used for costs associated with excavation and transportation.
Marion County has allocated $3 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds.
It also has $60,000 in money from the Business Oregon Brownfields Redevelopment Fund. And Marion County has allocated $50,000 in economic development lottery dollars.
The project has been discussed for years, but much of the delay was due to the lack of funds.
After the COVID-19 pandemic and the Labor Day wildfires of 2020 wiped out much of Detroit, more money has become available to help in the recovery.
“It takes a long time to get projects done,” Marion County Commissioner Danielle Bethell said.
Cameron said that community members had asked him about if the plan had been scaled back from initial plans. But they were informed the plan is unchanged.
“We’ve been following through from the same permits that were submitted in 2017 when they tried to excavate a certain area,” Rupp said.
Bill Poehler covers Marion and Polk County for the Statesman Journal. Contact him at bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com
Detroit, MI
Bruce Campbell announces cancer diagnosis; ‘Fear not,’ he tells fans
Treatment will delay the Royal Oak-born actor’s plans to tour his new film ‘Ernie & Emma’ this summer.
Royal Oak-born movie star and cult hero Bruce Campbell announced on social media on Monday that he has been diagnosed cancer — a type that is “treatable” but not “curable,” he said.
“I apologize if that’s a shock — it was to me too,” the “Evil Dead” star, 67, wrote in a message posted to Instagram.
He went on to say “I’m not gonna go into any more detail,” and he didn’t. He said the public announcement had to do with scaling back appearances on his schedule, including tour dates behind his latest film, “Ernie & Emma.”
Campbell planned to show the movie June 5 at the Redford Theatre; as of Monday night, that date is still on the Redford schedule, but Campbell wrote in his note he plans to get “as well as I possibly can over the summer so that I can tour with my new movie ‘Ernie & Emma’ this fall.”
The movie is written, directed by and stars Campbell as a man who goes on a journey following the death of his wife. Campbell produced the movie alongside his wife, Ida Gearon, and filmed it in Oregon, where he now lives.
Campbell told The News in January he dedicated “Ernie & Emma” to his childhood moviemaking pals, including Scott Spiegel, who died of a heart attack in September 2025.
“It’s a callback to the carefree days of Super 8, where we could do whatever the f–k we wanted to do,” Campbell said of “Ernie & Emma.” “So I thought, ‘All the boys are responsible for this,’ so they’re all in there.”
Campbell got his start making movies around Metro Detroit with his childhood pal, Sam Raimi. Campbell starred in Raimi’s “Evil Dead” trilogy and has since appeared in most of Raimi’s films; Campbell makes a brief appearance in a photograph in the background of an early scene in Raimi’s latest, “Send Help.”
He’s also an author; Campbell’s autobiography “If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor” was published in 2001.
In his post on social media, Campbell thanked fans and said he was not out to elicit sympathy.
“Fear not, I am a tough old son-of-a-bitch and I have great support, so I expect to be around for a while,” he wrote.
agraham@detroitnews.com
Detroit, MI
Michigan State Police sends message to drivers after trooper involved in hit and run:
“Slow down and move over” is the message that Michigan State Police is sending to drivers after one of its troopers in a parked patrol car was struck while investigating a crash this weekend. The driver of that vehicle fled the scene.
Michigan State Police tells CBS News Detroit that we’re two months into the year, and it has had six incidents across the state where patrol cars were struck by oncoming vehicles. One of those incidents occurred on Sunday evening.
“Could have been much more tragic,” said MSP Lieutenant Rene Gonzalez, First District public information officer.
Gonzalez says on Sunday, an MSP trooper was near M-10 and Schaefer Highway in Detroit, simply doing his job, when his patrol car was hit from behind.
“Trooper was out there, and he was investigating a crash when, at the time, a Jeep SUV drove into the rear of the parked vehicle,” Gonzalez said.
The impact slid the trooper’s car into a concrete wall. The 29-year-old Detroit woman driving the Jeep SUV struck the center median, got out of the vehicle, and ran away.
“Not sure why they did it. Maybe not paying attention if they were distracted. They’re attempting to locate her at this time,” said Lt. Gonzalez.
The trooper walked away with minor injuries. Gonzalez says this incident is an example of why Michigan’s Move Over Law was put in place many years ago. The law, which went into effect in 2019, requires drivers to move over into the next lane and reduce their speed by at least 10 mph when emergency or service vehicles — police, fire, rescue, ambulance and road service — have their lights activated.
Drivers who are not able to move over are still required to reduce their speed.
“Trying to do our jobs, however, people are not paying attention. The law is easy. It’s simple. You see us, you see our lights activated, you have to slow down ten miles below the posted speed limit, and then if able, move over to the next occupied available lane,” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez says crashes like this can be deadly and often avoided.
“One life lost over something that was a totally preventable crash, it’s way too much. We’re asking that you slow down and move over when you see our lights. It’s a simple message that we’ve been pushing out for years,” he said.
Sunday’s crash remains under investigation. Michigan State Police detectives are still working to track down the 29-year-old suspect.
In the meantime, police are out enforcing the Move Over Law.
Detroit, MI
Rex Satterfield’s 1956 Bel Air takes 2026 Ridler Award in Detroit
The impact and history of autos in Detroit, The Motor City
Here are some facts about Detroit’s auto industry.
Rex Satterfield hoped to see his 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible snag one of the BASF Great 8 finalist spots at this year’s Detroit Autorama. But winning the Ridler Award — one of the highest honors in the custom car business — was something he didn’t foresee.
“It’s just overwhelming right now,” said the man from Russellville, Tennessee, as he left a ballroom at downtown’s Huntington Place and made his way back to the show floor on Sunday, March 1. “We weren’t expecting this.”
Getting a car recognized as one of the BASF Great 8 vehicles is a win in and of itself as they are considered the “absolute pinnacle of custom automotive craftsmanship worldwide,” according to the show. The cars undergo an intensive judging process.
And this effort had an unexpected and emotional complication with the passing in December 2024 of the original builder, Jeff Wolfenbarger, who was battling cancer even as he continued working on the car named “Elegant Lady.”
Kevin Riffey of Kevin Riffey’s Hot Rods and Restorations in Knoxville stepped in to finish the work Wolfenbarger started. He’d had two other cars in the past make the Great 8. He said the goal with this vehicle was straightforward, calling it a “purpose-built show car.”
From its prominent spot at the front of the show floor, “Elegant Lady” sported a creamy exterior, dubbed Light Coffee. The car carries a 1,000 horsepower Don Hardy race engine. The gauges, wheels and gas tank are custom, and the dash is from a 1956 Pontiac.
Satterfield plans to show the car around some and enjoy the moment with it. He said he’s been a car guy since he was a little kid.
The Ridler Award, named in honor of Detroit Autorama’s first publicist, Don Ridler, comes with a $10,000 prize. It was awarded on the final day of this year’s Detroit Autorama, which ran Friday, Feb. 27-Sunday, March 1. This was the event’s 73rd year.
Eric D. Lawrence is the senior car culture reporter at the Detroit Free Press. Send your tips and suggestions about cool automotive stuff to elawrence@freepress.com. Become a subscriber. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters.
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