RC school discovers it owns 160 acres of land in Bismarck Twp.
Members of the Rogers City Area Schools Board of Education learned they are the owners of two 80-acre parcels in Bismarck Township. The district has owned the wooded property for about 60 years, but only confirmed ownership recently.
Almost as a pet project, board member Keith Gordon decided to find out for certain who owned the property. He received approval from the board to have a title search conducted on three 80-acre parcels. Gordon found out the district owned two of the three. The third parcel was sold to the state of Michigan for $1. ?It?s good news, we have two 80-acre parcels that adjoin each other,? said Gordon. ?The bad news is all we can do is timber it.?
BECA– USE OF a deed restriction, the district can?t sell the land. ?I don?t know anything else we can do with it, (other than) harvest the timber, gain some dollars and have our students replant some trees.?
The land is located in the Hawks area near Ward Branch Road (T34N-R4E, Section 11). ?It went back to the individual primary school district,? said Don Schaedig, chief financial officer.? We only acquired it through annexation of the other school districts. We discovered it when Amoco Oil Company started drilling and asking for right-of-ways to drill an oil well on one of the parcels.? Board president Scott McLennan said he would like the administration to assess the value of the timber.
?I?ve asked in the past…what specifically did the district have control over or own?? said board member Norm Karbon. ?I don?t think past superintendents realized we had this,? said Gordon.
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Gordon said it?s not out of the question. IN OTHER board news:
? Bryan Mills has been reinstated as Drama Club advisor after one semester off. Emily Jensen, who directed ?The Crucible? in the fall, was not available for the second semester, principal Jim Connell said. The next play by the Drama Club is expected to be a dinner-theater murder mystery.
? The Governor?s Cup was proudly on display at the meeting. RCHS had more merit award winners last year than any other school in the Straits Area Conference (SAC) at 44.
The next closest school had 27. Inland Lakes was first in the Ski Valley Conference with merit award winners, but only third in the SAC.
