The Alpena News
News Photo by Justin A. Hinkley
Bill Speer, longtime publisher of The Alpena News, reads a copy of his newspaper recently in front of tall stacks of newsprint stored at the newspaper in downtown Alpena. Speer will retire next month after 42 years in journalism, 33 of those years in Alpena, including 30 as publisher.
ALPENA Forty-two years ago, Alpena News Publisher Bill Speer began his professional career as a journalist.
On Feb. 11, when he turns out the lights to his office for the last time, he will end a career that spanned three states, numerous roles, and that has seen him supervise hundreds of employees.
sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com
ALPENA The Bagley Street Bridge was designed to handle traffic and pedestrian trends of the time it was built in 1976.
Beginning Feb.1, the bridge will be closed and reconstructed to meet the needs of today and the future, Alpena County Road Commission Managing Director Ryan Brege said.
The bridge is expected to be closed until late December for the $10.3 million project. Funding for the project includes money from the Michigan Department of Transportation, the federal government, and a Road Commission match.
Brege described the bridge as functionally obsolete, requiring large amounts of work. He said the bridge fit the needs of the community for many years, but, when it was built, the M-32 corridor had little to no development and Bagley Street was rarely used.
Jan 2, 2021
Amelia L. Paad, 105, of Alpena, passed away on Dec. 29, 2020. She was born on Sept. 5, 1915. She was the daughter of Julius and Hattie Paad of Cathro. She was an active member of Word of Life Baptist Church, formerly Ripley Blvd. Baptist Church. She was also a member of the German Baptist Church which later became the Fourth Avenue Baptist Church. She was an active member of each church, helping with the Sunday School classes and participating in various women’s organizations including sending items to missionaries to the mission headquarters and then to Africa.
Amelia is survived by her loving nieces and nephews, Jean Allam, Albert (Elizabeth) Allam and family, Thomas (Sandy) Allam and family, Harry Paad and Paul Paad and their families, the families of Charlene (Paad) Morlan and Richard Paad, cousins, and friends. She was preceded in death by Charlene (Paad) Morlan and Richard Paad. She leaves her family and friends with her life lessons of always being content in h
Alpena News guest columnist
I moved to Grand Rapids from Alpena when I was 18 to study at Cornerstone University, an evangelical school.
Though I had been to Grand Rapids before, moving there was something of a culture shock. Until then, I had never driven on a highway other than the long and empty stretches that surround Alpena, and my friends had to snatch me out of the street more than once as I went to cross an intersection without waiting for a traffic light to change. Leaving the patterns and people of my small hometown was disorienting, to say the least.