Orin's shifting hand-plate signaled a left or right turn.

Orin’s neighbor Mr. Alban sat down next to him. He was one of the most successful farmers in Augusta Township. Orin’s father had a good farm too, one of the biggest, with a creek for the five children to play in. Maybe there would be time to help Charles build a dam tomorrow after chores. They could use the rocks from–Orin blinked, and stopped daydreaming.

There had been six children, but Orin’s brother William had died ten years ago, two years and eleven days after his birthday. His death certificate said he’d died of “congestion of the brain,” which may have been bacterial meningitis. Bacterial meningitis can live in an asymptomatic carrier. It can be transmitted when a mother gives her adorable toddler a kiss.

The men sat quietly. Dust motes drifted in the sunlight coming through the open window. Orin felt a breeze on his cheek and smelled the fragrance of the warm field outside. He heard a cough from the women’s side. Time passed. A cicada started its sawing trill, ending in a falling buzz.

Orin was still. But from his mind would come an invention for use in a noisy and dangerous world many decades after 1880.

One of the elders on the front platform stood up and shook hands with her neighbor. That was the signal: Quaker meeting was over. Occasionally no one felt like speaking or quoting the Bible. A silent meeting like today’s was still considered a good one. Orin stood up with the men. Now it was time for the big picnic outside, before evening services.

From the picnic tables, one could see the small white tombstones in the nearby Quaker cemetery. It held the deceased of the numerous Quaker families that had settled in northern Augusta and southern Ypsilanti townships.

Most folks in the area were Quaker farmers, as Orin and Charles became when they grew older and inherited their father’s 190 acres. Orin’s father died in 1909, and was buried in what was by then called Alban Cemetery. Orin’s mother had died of heart trouble, gastritis, and nephritis in 1902, and Lutie had died of pneumonia in 1907.

In 1913, when Orin was 48, his 66-year-old widowed aunt Elma Hewens died of bowel cancer. Her death certificate said that her father had been Orin’s grandfather, also named Orin Bemis, and that her mother was unknown.

Orin, a first son, was named for this paternal grandfather in a slight departure from Quaker tradition. As a loose rule, a couple’s first son was often named for his mother’s father, the second son for his father’s father, and the third son for his father. The first daughter was named for her father’s mother, the second daughter for her mother’s mother, and the third daughter for her mother. The custom showed the importance of the principle of equality to Quakers.

Charles signed Elma’s death certificate as kin. Elma was not buried in Alban Cemetery, but in Stony Creek Cemetery.

The Alban Cemetery’s Quaker farmers’ simple, dignified graves were usually inscribed with unadorned text. One grave, that of Abel Pasco who had died in 1871, was carved with a hand pointing upwards.

Orin watched the sky. He measured snowfall with a ruler, and maintained a rain gauge. By 1910 he was an official weather observer for the Michigan Central railroad. His observations were published, with those of other observers across Michigan, in the state weather bureau’s annual reports. He was 46 years old. He, Charles, and his sister Alice lived together on the old farm. None had married.

The farm was not electrified. After dinner cooked on the iron stove, kerosene lamps lit the evening reading and sewing. Outside was quiet and black. But the world was changing–fast–thanks to Henry Ford’s creations pouring off the assembly lines a few miles to the east.

Orin viewed automobiles as dangerous; he thought he could make them safer. In 1916, he was granted two patents for two turn signal inventions.

The gadgets were to be mounted on the back of a car. The first patent was a machine that when activated, displayed a sign that said “SLOW DOWN.” The user could also manipulate the device to expose a cutout of a pointing hand, signaling a left or right turn.

Orin immediately improved on this design with his second patent. A fan shaped segment with carefully spaced holes moved to expose either the letters “SLOW” or “STOP” from a background printed with “SSTLOOPW.” The driver could also activate a panel of joined hands to expose either half, showing a hand pointing left or right.

Orin proposed to operate this device with a foot pedal. The only drawback was that in the year of his patent, the most popular car on the road was the Model T. The Model T was operated with three foot pedals: the right one for the brake, the center one for reverse, and the left one for the gear lever. There was also a hand lever near the driver’s door for spark timing. Plus a lever on the steering column for the throttle. Orin was proposing to add a fourth foot pedal to what was already an acrobatic driving experience.

It never caught on. In the late 1930s, Orin, Alice, and Charles left the farm and moved together to 415 Pearl Street in Ypsilanti. Orin remained a weather observer until age 72. It wasn’t until the 1940s that turn signals, by other inventors, started to appear on cars. Orin died in 1942 at age 77, four months after his sister Alice and seven years before his brother Charles. He, Alice, and Charles died single.

Their legacy is Bemis road, named for Orin, Alice, and Charles’ onetime farm on the southeast corner of present-day Bemis and Stony Creek roads.

Orin’s elegant invention, an attempt to bring an iota of calm to the world, was never produced. Had it been, he could have seen that when his foot pedal was released, the hidden signal hands, like a benediction, pointed up.

Laura Bien is the author of “Tales of the Ypsilanti Archives,” is available in Ypsilanti at Mix boutique and in Ann Arbor at Nicola’s Books. You can reach Laura at ypsidixit@gmail.com.

McKie's ice saw was made a long time before MIOSHA.

Ypsilanti used to have horses that could walk on water. They pulled a plow over the surface of the Huron River. Men with long saws watched, waiting their turn to work.

From the late 19th century until the winter of 1922, the Michigan Central railroad maintained an ice-cutting station just northeast of Ypsilanti, behind today’s St. Joseph Hospital near an old gravel pit called Shanghai Pit.

In winter, the railroad hired men to cut ice from the river. Horses pulling a sort of plow scraped lines on the ice, which were then cut into blocks with hand-saws. The blocks were floated to shore, pushed by men with long pikes. Each 12 to 15-inch-thick block weighed well over a hundred pounds.

For decades, it was dangerous and exhausting work, until in 1920 Ypsilantian Charles McKie had an idea.

33-year-old McKie was a self-employed interior decorator. According to his WWI draft card, he was tall and slender, with blue eyes and brown hair. He painted and decorated the interiors of Ypsilanti offices. McKie owned a home at 213 Huron, where he lived with his wife Dee and his mother Martha. It was a nice neighborhood. One next door neighbor was Normal school music professor and violinist A. J. Whitmire. Nearby lived pastor Harvey Colburn, who would soon write the book for which he is remembered today, “The Story of Ypsilanti.”

McKie was friends with Lee Dawson, who with other family members ran the Martin Dawson Company, which dealt in hay, grain, seeds, coal, and building and painting supplies. Dawson had the contract for cutting ice for the MCRR.

McKie’s idea took him to the Wiedman auto dealership on Pearl Street, at the present-day bus station. He obtained four old Model Ts. The body of each car was cut off and the wheels removed, leaving just the gas engines and the drivetrains to the back axle. McKie mounted each engine on a wooden frame with sled runners. Where the rear wheels had been, McKie mounted two 48-inch-wide saw blades.

The Model Ts were now ice saws.

Transported to Shanghai Pit, they roared into life, with a racketing 4-cylinder, 20-horsepower engine and a swoosh of ice dust thrown up by the blade. They worked so well that although McKie had made four, the ice harvesters only needed one to get the work done. A wooden frame supporting what appears in a photo to be a leather screen was added where the windshield had been, to shield the operator from flying chips of ice.

Pushed to shore, the ice blocks traveled up a wooden ramp on a conveyor belt powered by a steam engine Dawson had rented. They were stored in the railroad’s Ypsilanti ice houses along the Huron and loaded onto boxcars for storage in the railroad’s ice-house in Detroit. Stored in sawdust for insulation, the blocks were used to cool boxcars. ‘The Michigan Central Railroad Company is filling its ice houses at Ypsilanti with fine ice from Shanghai Pond,” said the February 1910 issue of Cold Storage and Ice Trade Journal. “It is 15 inches thick.”

Some of the ice likely was used in Ypsilanti as well. Around the turn of the century, about half of American households had ice boxes. These small wooden cabinets lined with tin or zinc had a storage space for a block of ice and shelves on which to keep food cool. Ypsilantians who couldn’t afford an ice box and the regular home delivery of ice blocks about twice a week could store food in a cool cellar, or do without.

Although the MCRR’s ice harvesting site was upstream of the Peninsular Paper mill, another paper mill near modern-day Superior Road, and the factory waste and other waste that was drained into the river at Ypsilanti, there are hints that the Huron River ice was polluted. The MCRR claimed that it only used northern Michigan ice for consumption in its dining cars. It used Ypsi ice only to cool boxcars.

In 1919, train inspectors were alarmed to see the quality of Ypsilanti water. “[G]overnment inspectors of a train passing through Ypsilanti saw water running from a hose at the Michigan Central Gardens,” says the July 24 Daily Ypsilantian-Press. The men tested the water for purity. “The test was very bad and orders were immediately issued forbidding use of Ypsilanti [city] water.” Later, the inspectors found that the hose was not drawing city water, which came from a well, but polluted river water near a sewer outlet.

Demand for clean ice drove the creation of artificial ice-making factories. In 1906, Wyandotte’s Eureka Brewing Company began manufacturing artificial ice. In 1909, Ann Arbor founded the Artificial Ice Co. Detroit’s General Ice Delivery Co. and other Detroit companies began making ice. In 1918, the Wyandotte Ice Company followed. In 1919, the Ypsi Pure Ice Co. advertised in the Daily Ypsilantian-Press. The ad read, “Our new artificial ice plant is now in operation and we are prepared to supply ice to all consumers in Ypsilanti and vicinity.”

Artificial ice was clean, could be made in precise sizes, and could be made year-round without reliance on unpredictable weather. Except for isolated rural areas far from artificial ice plants, the age of ice harvesting was over.

Perhaps Charles might have made a business out of building and shipping his ice saw to Northern ice harvesting sites. Soon after the collapse of local ice harvesting, his own life took a downturn. He and Dee divorced. She remained in the Huron House, apparently alone: there is no census record of their having had children.

McKie eventually moved into Lee Dawson’s house at 214 South Hamilton. McKie no longer worked as an interior decorator, but at the less prestigious job of outdoor sign painter. His neighbors were laborers, domestics, and factory hands, including Harry Brothers, an auto striper in an auto factory, and foundry worker Newton Cary.

Although artificial ice factories made McKie’s invention obsolete, it would have happened eventually. A very few, expensive models of electric home refrigerators were produced in the 1930s, which became more widely available after WWII.

Today the only places to see iceboxes are antique shops and museums. The Ypsilanti Historical Museum has one in its kitchen. It’s just barely possible that its ice compartment once held a block of ice cut by a young man, gleeful at the controls of his loud, dangerous invention, all those years ago.

Laura Bien is a local history writer and is the author of “Tales of the Ypsilanti Archives.”

Daily Ypsilantian-Press editor George Handy waited as well for the next tidbit of news—his readers loved the story.

The 1926 photo telegraphed from New York to Ypsilanti.

When in January of 1926 that news came from New York, it was a bombshell. Ellin Mackay had eloped with and married Irving Berlin.

Handy needed a wedding photograph from New York—and fast—this story was too big to wait for the mail. He called New York.

Half an hour later he had a photograph, thanks to the only modem in Ypsilanti in 1926

That modem, half the size of a refrigerator, stood in the Press’s building at 101-105 North Huron. Called a “telephotography” machine, it could receive photographs from telegraph wires.

Telegraphy had a long history in Ypsilanti. The first telegraphic message sent in Michigan traveled from the Detroit telegraph office at Jefferson and Cass Avenues in Detroit to Ypsilanti’s railroad depot on November 29, 1847, through lines strung along the Michigan Central railroad tracks.

The first message sent by the “lightning slingers” (telegraph operators, especially railroad telegraphers) was not without a sense of playful glee.

Detroit sent first. “Detroit presents her compliments to her sister, Ypsilanti, who never promises more than she is willing and able to perform. Our connection by lightning is now complete, and the first flash in Michigan conveying intelligent messages has passed between us; may our ‘current’ never be broken, our ‘batteries’ always in order, and our ‘registers” ready at all times to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”

Ypsilanti replied, “Ypsilanti [-.-- .--. ... .. .-.. .- -. - ..] reciprocates the kind wishes of our lovely sister, Detroit, and as we are now not only on speaking terms, but within speaking distance, she hopes that our intercourse by lightning may be pleasant and profitable to both. So mote it [so be it].”

Continuing from the telegraph station in Ypsilanti, this “Erie and Michigan” line reached Chicago in the winter of 1848. But it wouldn’t be until many years later that photographs began flying along the wires.

In the 1920s, “Telephotography” was not new. As early as 1895, the San Francisco Call newspaper received a simple line drawing, sent by telegraph, of a Los Angeles parade. The message consisted of an alphanumeric code indicating the coordinates of the drawing’s line segments (not unlike the game “Battleship.”) The telegrapher also cabled a text description of the parade. An artist at the Call used the description to sketch details onto the line drawing, creating a detailed picture. The next morning, the paper printed a timely image of the Los Angeles event.

Telephotography made newspapers more seem up-to-the-minute. The technology was also used in law enforcement. Criminals’ pictures could be circulated in minutes, before the lawbreakers traveled too far. Their fingerprints could also be sent by wire. In 1922, the New York Times called telephotography “That Nemesis of Malefactors.” The speed of information transmission was beginning its long, dramatic, and world-changing acceleration.

The modem at the Ypsi Press consisted of a cylindrical metal drum and a tiny pinpoint flashlight, within its cabinet. It was hooked up to a telegraph wire. So was another similar machine, a transmitter, in New York.

In New York, a worker wrapped a photograph around the transmitter cylinder. When the machine was turned on, a tiny beam of light shone on the photo as the cylinder rotated about 100 times per minute, slowly advancing along a threaded axis. The transmitter scanned the photo in one-hundredth-inch sections at 100 lines to the inch; each square inch had 10,000 bits of information.

As the beam of slight scanned a slow spiral down the moving cylinder, a receptor caught the reflection of either dark or light areas of the photo. A photosensitive component translated the “dark” and “light” reflections into differing pulses of electricity. This coded electrical signal was telegraphed to Ypsilanti. The New York transmitter could send, and the Ypsi receiver could receive, 1,800 bits of information per second. A 5 x 7 photo could be sent and received in about 7 minutes.

In Ypsilanti, the receiver machine, whose rotation was adjusted to exactly match that of the New York machine, decoded the electrical signal back into information indicating light and dark areas. The receiver shone light of corresponding strength onto a fresh piece of photographic film attached to the cylinder.

In this way, a photo negative was produced, which was developed and used in the Ypsi paper. The resulting photo had a more limited tonal range than the original. Also, someone had blocked out most of the background in white to highlight the couple. Nevertheless, the photo contained an astounding amount of data.

1,800 bits per second is faster than the first commercial modem, AT&T’s 1962 Bell 103, which transmitted at 300 bits per second (bps). At this time, 300 bits per second equaled 300 baud, the unit of modem speed. Later, computer scientists figured out how to pack more bits into each baud, and bps became a more descriptive term for modem speed.

As much as we associate modems with the term “baud,” the term actually comes from telegraphy. Named to honor the French inventor who created the first teleprinter, J. M. E. Baudot, one “baud” is a unit of telegraph speed consisting of one Morse code dot sent per second.

Since that day when the Press received its New York photo, time moved on. The telephotography machine became an obsolete clunker. Irving Berlin’s father-in-law eventually forgave him and accepted their marriage—a wise move, since Irving would stay married to Ellin for 62 years, until her death in 1988.

Berlin died the following year, shortly before the popularization of dial-up modems, like the one that had transmitted his happy wedding picture all those years ago.

Thanks to Isaac Eiland-Hall for research assistance.

Laura Bien is an Ypsilanti history writer. You can reach her at ypsidixit@gmail.com.

Tindall's tellurian demonstrated an irregularity in the Earth's rotation.

Eleven years into an exhausting workload for a big congregation, in 1874 Presbyterian minister George Tindall was tired. He maintained a grueling schedule of ministerial duties for one of Ypsilanti’s largest churches.

“The Presbyterian is the second church society in regard to age,” said the Ypsilanti Commercial in an 1874 article that summarized business and cultural institutions in town. “The present church building, situated on Washington Street, was dedicated in ’57. It is of brick, and is 55 x 96 feet, with a lecture room in the rear, 23 x 50 feet. The spire is one hundred sixty two feet high. The property belonging to the society is worth $30,000,” (today, over half a million dollars). “Rev. Geo. P. Tindall is pastor, having been called to the position in 1863. The present church membership is four hundred fifty.”

Ypsilanti’s population at the time was around 5,000, so Tindall’s flock represented almost ten percent of Ypsilanti residents. He was responsible for home visits to the afflicted, he officiated at weddings and funerals, and held private meetings to counsel parishioners, aside from three Sunday services for which he wrote sermons every week. He also was expected to attend numerous social functions, such as the annual Christmas celebration.

“The Sabbath school of the Presbyterian Church held a festival in their church on Christmas eve which was the finest affair of the kind ever witnessed in Ypsilanti,” said the January 5, 1867 Commercial. “The exercises were lengthy after the audience were seated but highly interesting to both old and young. . . Rev. Mr. Tindall and [his wife Louisa] were remembered with a magnificent tea set . . . ”

It was all getting to be too much. But for all his work with godly matters, Tindall still found time to analyze God’s creation with a scientific eye. His mind was on the motion of planets. He pondered the Earth’s multiple simultaneous vectors of rotational and orbital movement. One such vector was a phenomenon whereby the Earth, caught between the gravitational pull of the Sun on the Earth’s equator and the force of the Earth’s rotation, wobbles slightly, like a spinning top.

This wobble is called “the precession of the equinoxes,” and in June 6 of 1874 Tindall filed a patent for his tellurian. He had invented a model of the Earth’s rotation that demonstrated the precession of the equinoxes.

The precession of the equinoxes, says EMU physics and astronomy department assistant professor Patrick Koehn, is the slow wobble in the earth’s axis that over 26,000 years, traces an imaginary cone in the sky.

“Usually, when I’m talking to my astronomy students,” said Koehn in a personal email, “I pull out a bicycle wheel that has an extended axle–that is, I can hold onto this axle like a handle and get the wheel rotating fairly quickly. I then place it on the ground in the classroom, and we chat about it. The spinning wheel will eventually start to tip a bit, and the axis of rotation (the axle) will start to sweep out a cone. It looks like the axle is wobbling.”

Explaining that this wobble slowly shifts astronomical navigation points in the sky that are marked by the spring and autumn equinoxes, Koehn said that it “causes the rotational axis of Earth to sweep out a cone in the sky. Since the Pole Star (currently Polaris) is the star that the axis of the Earth points nearest to, if the axis moves, the Pole Star will change with time. It takes 26,000 years for the axis of the Earth to sweep all the way through the cone, so in 26,000 years, the Pole star will again be Polaris. When the Egyptians were building the pyramids, for example, the star called Thuban (in the constellation Draco) was the Pole Star.”

On a more terrestrial note, aside from his weightier duties George likely heard many petty parishioner complaints and dealt with difficult people. However, his imagination was not a small one confined by such quotidiana. His was a mind that ventured to explore subtle celestial motions occurring over vast expanses of space and time.

On October 27, 1874, Tindall’s patent was approved. Just as the patent concerned the Earth’s axis, this approval became a pivot that altered the course of his life. A little over a year later, Tindall submitted his resignation to the church. In it, he said that in October of 1874, he had a physical breakdown due to overwork. He also said that he was leaving the church to take an easier job in Flint. There was more to the story: rumors, origin unknown, said that his small salary had been decreased.

“The report that was circulated that the pastor’s salary was cut down is not correct,” said a December 25, 1875 Ypsilanti Commercial article that included both Tindall’s resignation and the church board’s response. “The facts are that [the church board] fixed the limits that it should not go under nor exceed given amounts.”

In his resignation, Tindall, wielding graceful and calculated language honed through years of sermons, said, “I have been persuaded that I have overworked, and must in some way gain relief. . . the way is open for me to withdraw to the field to which I am invited, where I may, under changed conditions, more nearly meet all the demands of the pastorate.” Tindall made what appears to be one opaque reference to salary when discussing his labors. “[W]ith a church membership of about 500 most of the time, and about 300 families or calling places, [this] has seemed to require all one’s time . . . These more than ordinary, and unremitted labors, year after year . . .”

Tindall left for Flint. It was to be the last pastorate he held before his retirement. He later went to California, and when he died there in 1894, he was remembered in Ypsilanti. Whatever squabbles may have contributed to his leaving Ypsi were not mentioned in the affectionate obituary printed here.

“Many of his parishioners of 30 or 40 years ago are still here,” said the September 21, 1894 Ypsilanti Commercial, “and all hold him in affectionate remembrance for his earnest and beautiful Christian character and the tender sympathy and faithfulness which characterized all of his pastoral and social duties.”

Tindall’s mortal remains were buried in California. His immortal soul—if humans have one–was now free to forever wander the universe, one he had contemplated in quiet moments in his home long ago in Ypsilanti.

Laura Bien is a local history writer. You are invited to visit her Ypsi history blog Dusty Diary and contact her at ypsidixit@gmail.com.

A driver from UPS/Overnite is trapped inside his truck after a powerline fell. This happened on South Huron next to Ypsilanti City Hall around 1:15p this afternnon. YpsiNews reporters saw a bright flash from a transformer behind City Hall. The damage resulted in a power line falling across the road and landing on the truck. The driver is OK, but Ypsilanti Fire Department has asked the driver to stay in the vehicle until crews from DTE can make sure the line is not energized.

Ypsilanti police have closed off South Huron at Ferris. The power outage has snarled traffic in every direction as drivers look for alternate routes. Traffic lights are out at Huron and Michigan Ave as well as Washington and Michigan Ave.

Power is out for businesses and residents in about a 6 block area.

An early airplane flies over Recreation Park, circa 1914.

“In a paper published every minute, I read that a Prof. Stoneborn had created quite a sensation at Icetown, at the North Pole, by his success in attracting the new comet by electricity . . .” That’s what 18-year-old Vee Cornwell imagined newspapers might be like in her talk “America in 1985,” given at an 1885 city youth talent show.

She described falling asleep while reading Jules Verne, and traveling to the future. Her “paper published every minute” prediction was only a handful of years off from the rise of online newspapers and blogs. Of the other predictions Vee made in her talk, the most interesting ones are those she got wrong; they expose the memes and culture of her day.

Vee Cornwell may have inherited a futuristic imagination from her father, Clark Cornwell, the son of Cornelius Cornwell, who founded the city’s first paper mill. An “early adopter” of technology (and mayor from 1886-1888), Clark was the first person in Ypsilanti to have a phone installed in his home, in 1878. It was linked to Clark’s paper mill at Lowell, northwest of the city, and to another at Geddes.

The phone created a sensation. Even Ypsilanti Commercial editor C. R. Pattison was impressed. “The other day we were in Cornwell & Co.’s paper office, in this city,” he said in the March 2, 1878 paper, “and witnessed the wondrous power of the telephone. Mr. Cornwell held a conversation with the mill at Lowell, giving his orders verbally and receiving immediate audible replies. Great is the telephone.”

Vee predicted another communication breakthrough, as reported in the “paper published every minute.” “I also read that the whole length of the lunar wire had been laid, and that a message from the moon was daily expected.” Her word choice seems odd: “laid” instead of “extended” or “raised.” But just 19 years earlier, the transatlantic cable had been laid. It seems likely Vee modeled her moon wire on the transatlantic cable.

Vee also posited devices that suggest television and radio. While walking in the world of 1985 with her companion, “I did not observe any theaters or churches, and inquired what part of the city they were in. ‘Oh!’ replied my friend, ‘theaters and churches are abolished now, only the stages of the theaters being retained, and by means of an electric dioscope all that takes place on the stage can be distinctly seen and heard by people in any part of the city. Sermons are read in the minister’s study and transmitted to houses by telephone.’”

Vee suggested two methods of high-speed aerial transport, neither of them airplanes. “At last we came to a wide river, and I was looking for a ferry, when my guide pointed to an immense metal sphere and said, ‘Step in’ . . . An authoritative voice now cried, ‘All right! Fire!’ A tremendous concussion followed, and when I regained my breath the door was opened and my fellow passengers were getting out. We had crossed the river.” Astonished, Vee asked a companion “‘I suppose you have railroads still?’ ‘No!’ she replied. ‘Short distances are traversed by bombshells, fired by a substance called chloro-nitrogen, which superceded dynamite thirty years ago. Electric balloons are used for longer distances. The mail balloon starts from New York and arrives in San Francisco one hour and forty-five minutes ahead of the sun.’”

Over a century before Vee’s talk, the Montgolfier brothers had flown over Paris in their balloon, the first men to experience a successful untethered flight in a man-made craft. And although theoretical designs for aircraft dated back for centuries, it would be 13 years after Vee’s talk before Augustus Herring made what is regarded as the first powered “airborne condition,” halfway between gliding and true flight.

Herring flew his compressed air-powered hang glider in St. Joseph, Michigan in October of 1898, several years before the Wright Brothers’ flight. Airplanes were not a reality to Vee, but balloons were, and it made perfect sense to her to add the then-novel power of electricity to create what seemed like futuristic science, the “electric balloon.”
Continuing the scientific theme, Vee took a poke at eccentric Ohio scientist John Cleves Symmes, who proposed in 1818 that the Earth was hollow, inhabitable, and accessible by a hole at the North Pole. “I also learned that an expedition to the north pole had found Symmes’ Hole, and had explored the inside of the earth and annexed it . . . to the United States.”

Vee’s talk also reflected the social movements of her time, which included the often overlapping causes of temperance and suffrage. These were combined into one when she and her companion stopped in a saloon for refreshment. “I rather hesitated, but as she seemed very well bred, I said nothing. We entered an elegantly furnished room, and were handed a bill of fare.” The menu offered water—89 different kinds-that included “Water Charcoal Filtered,” “Mineral Water,” and “Rain Water.” Vee asked her companion, “‘Do they not have any wine, beer, or champagne?’ ‘Hush!’ said my companion, ‘there is a fine of $5 for the mere mention of any of the old poisonous compounds. All intoxicating liquors were abolished when women were admitted to the house of representatives.’”

Towards the end of her talk, Vee discussed an antigravity machine. “Being tired with our long walk, I expressed my surprise that my companion seemed to feel no fatigue. ‘Why!’ said she, ‘I don’t believe you have a negative gravity machine.’ She then told me that this useful article” had been invented by Frank R. Stockton, a popular late 19th-century humorist, novelist, and writer of short stories, some of which were fantastical.

“‘No one ever gets tired walking now,’ said my companion. ‘Don’t you notice that we have no carriages or street cars? Let us go into this store and buy a machine for you.’ I chose one which consisted of a small battery enclosed in a watch charm. No sooner had it been adjusted to my weight than I hardly seemed to touch the ground.’”

Vee was fitting in nicely to the world of 1985 when tragedy struck, according to her talk’s conclusion. “I lost all sense of fatigue, and was stepping lightly along, when—-Crash! I awoke. My book had fallen from my lap.”

Laura Bien is a local history writer. Contact her at ypsidixit@gmail.com.

Michigan looked in command from the opening gun. Senior Emily Hanson (Bloomington, Ill./Normal Community) gave U-M a first-place finish in the meet’s opening race, the 1,650-yard freestyle, making it her first win in that event this season. Her time of 16:40.53 was good enough to meet NCAA ‘B’ qualifying standards. Sophomores Kristyne Cole (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) and Megan Craig (Ann Arbor, Mich./Mercy) and freshman Kally Fayhee (North Aurora, Ill./Rosary) finished in sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively, earning a total of 36 points for the Wolverines.

The 200-yard butterfly was dominated by U-M seniors Margaret Kelly (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) and Courtney Beyer (Los Altos Hills, Calif./Los Altos) as both earned new season highs in the 200-yard butterfly and finished 1-2, with Kelly earning an NCAA ‘B’ mark. Senior Emily Christy (Schwenksville, Pa./Spring Ford Area Senior) and redshirt senior Lori Morton (Portage, Mich./Central) rounded out the Wolverine contingent, as the quartet combined to score 63 points and occupy four of the top seven places. The Wolverines ended the first day of competition in the 400-yard freestyle, once again taking the top two spots, with the foursome of Kelly, senior Leigh Cole (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer), sophomore Alexa Mehesan (West Des Moines, Iowa/Valley) and K. Cole taking home first place with a time of 3:25.67.

The Wolverines placed four swimmers in the top 11 during the 100-yard freestyle, led by a second-place finish from L. Cole, who narrowly missed out on first by a slim margin of seven one-hundredths of a second. Freshman Katherine Carl (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Lahser) beat her previous career best (55.21) by nearly four seconds, clocking in at 51.76. Despite swimming exhibition, her time was the third-fastest in the event Friday.

Sophomore Liz Johnson (Milford, Mich./Milford) broke away down the stretch of the 200-yard backstroke to earn a first-place finish, with freshman Ashley Cohagen (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) coming in third. Freshman Julia Andracki (Arlington Heights, Ill./Prospect) had the lead down the stretch in the 200-yard breaststroke but could not hold off a late surge from Ana Pena Gonzalez of Wayne State and finished in second at 2:20.72.

Senior diver Stephanie O’Callaghan (Howell, Mich./Howell) secured top honors in the only diving event of the evening, scoring a 581.30 on the three-meter board. Fellow senior Caitlin Dunphy-Daly (Royal Oak, Mich./Rochester) came in fifth (524.80), while redshirt freshman Sarah Suprise (Portage, Mich./Hackett Catholic Central) came in 12th (404.05).

The Wolverines return to Jones Natatorium tomorrow (Saturday, Dec. 5) for the conclusion of the EMU Invitational, in search of their seventh straight EMU Invitational title. Competition will begin at 10 a.m. and continue at 6 p.m.

Team Standings (After Day One)

1. MICHIGAN 361
2. Eastern Michigan 298
3. Toledo 233
4. Wayne State 210
Event Winners/U-M Finishers (Day One)

1,650-yard Freestyle
1. Emily Hanson, U-M 16:40.53#
6. Kally Fayhee, U-M 17:13.39
7. Kristyne Cole, U-M 17:17.49
8. Megan Craig, U-M 17:21.23

200-yard Backstroke
1. Liz Johnson, U-M 2:01.33
3. Ashley Cohagen, U-M 2:03.01
10. Emily Brunemann, U-M 2:10.39
11. Emily Hanson, U-M 2:10.62

100-yard Freestyle
1. Sarah Kowalski, Eastern Michigan 51.06
2. Leigh Cole, U-M 51.13
4. Catherine Nosal, U-M 51.86
6. Alexa Mehesan, U-M 52.27
11. Katrin Vetter, U-M 53.69
Katherine Carl, U-M 51.76
Liz Koselka, U-M 52.77
Mary Grace Godfrey, U-M 53.10
Deirdre Jones, U-M 53.34

200-yard Breaststroke
1. Ana Pena Gonzalez, Wayne State 2:19.85
2. Julia Andracki, U-M 2:20.72
8. Val Barthelemy, U-M 2:25.83
Emily Brunemann, U-M 2:23.05

200-yard Butterfly
1. Margaret Kelly, U-M 1:59.19#
2. Courtney Beyer, U-M 2:02.90
5. Emily Christy, U-M 2:04.66
7. Lori Morton, U-M 2:06.37
Linnea Johnson, U-M 2:05.47
Keenan Koss, U-M 2:06.24
Emily Brunemann, U-M 2:06.35

400-yard Freestyle Relay
1. MICHIGAN, ‘A’ 3:25.67
(Margaret Kelly, Leigh Cole,
Alexa Mehesan, Kristyne Cole)
2. MICHIGAN ‘B’ 3:28.90
(Liz Johnson, Liz Koselka,
Mary Grace Godfrey, Catherine Nosal)
MICHIGAN ‘C’ 3:31.51
(Katrin Vetter, Katherine Carl,
Deirdre Jones, Kally Fayhee)
MICHIGAN ‘D’ 3:34.12
(Linnea Johnson, Megan Craig,
Emily Brunemann, Emily Hanson)

Three-Meter Diving
1. Stephanie O’Callaghan (U-M) 581.30
5. Caitlin Dunphy-Daly (U-M) 524.80
12. Sarah Suprise (U-M) 404.05

# NCAA ‘B’ qualifying standard

N O T E S

• Michigan has won the last six EMU Invitationals.

• Emily Brunemann did not swim the 1,650-yard freestyle, the event in which she won a national title back in 2008. Instead, she swam in the 200-yard backstroke, 200-yard breaststroke and 200-yard butterfly, all for the first time this season.

• Megan Craig swam the 1,650-yard freestyle for the first time since her sophomore year in high school. She finished in seventh place (17:17.49).

• The EMU Invitational is Michigan’s last swimming event of the calendar year. They return to the pool Jan. 2, 2010, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, for the Copa Coqui.

Q U O T E S

Michigan Head Coach Jim Richardson
On his team’s performance Friday … “Really solid. For the people who swam at Purdue, we wanted to see if they could swim between their fastest times of the season so far and what they swam at Purdue. That’s been the majority of them. For the people who had more rest, we wanted to see them swim faster than they have all season and how close to lifetime bests they could come. We had a lot of real good swims out there. I am very pleased.”

On the performance from some of the well-rested freshmen and upperclassmen … “I think it shows that they have stayed true to their training. They haven’t let the fact that they haven’t competed take anything away from their preparation. Everyone says it’s the will to win. It’s not — it’s the will to prepare to win. That is the most important thing. They have passed that test with flying colors. We see day in and day out where people are and what they are capable of doing. It is nice to see them step up in somewhat of a pressure situation and do it then. We want these meets to be an accurate reflection of their training.”

On whether his team was sluggish with their times following the two-week break … “I would be disappointed if it were for any reason other than illness or fatigue from academic pressure, which is happening right now. I don’t think we have the kind of people on this team that are fragile like that. You don’t get points for how you feel or how you look. It can be ugly and fast, and that’s okay at times like this. Learning how to get your hand on the wall when you feel good or you feel bad is a real important skill to develop in the pool.”

U-M Senior Emily Hanson
On her first-place finish in the 1,650-yard freestyle … “It feels really good. Bruno [Emily Brunemann] wasn’t there and she always pushes me. Today gave me an opportunity to see where I was at. I’ve been training real well all season and gotten pretty consistent results. Definitely feels good to get a win.”

On her relationship with Emily Brunemann … “I think this past summer really helped mold our relationship. We spent a lot of time together training day in and day out. We are really close.”

On how her senior year has been going … “I am having an absolute blast. Our team is such a tight-knit group. There’s still a lot left to the season, but I am having a lot of fun.”

U-M Freshman Katherine Carl
On her 100-yard freestyle time … “It was a great time for me. It was my fastest of the season and I’m very happy with that. Training is hard, but I’m definitely getting faster and stronger as the year progresses.”

On her freshman season to this point … “I love it here. The coaches are great, the rest of the girls on the team are awesome. It’s a perfect fit for me.”

U-M Senior Emily Brunemann
On swimming in three events for the first time this season … “It was Stefanie’s [Kerska] choice, actually. She wanted me to work on my strokes for the 400 IM and that was the whole reason for doing it. It was also to give me a little bit of a break from the mile (1,650). I know I was going to have to do a lot of events, but up until this afternoon, I didn’t know which ones. I think I did okay. I am not a backstroker. It is my worst event, but I think I did alright in the other ones.”

On not swimming the 1,650-yard freestyle … “Also Stefanie’s choice. If it were up to me, I probably would be out there because I love the mile. But it’s nice to occasionally get a break.”

Story courtesy of University of Michigan Sports Information.

(Editors Note: If the story seems slanted towards U-M athletes, it is because YpsiNews.com has called Eastern Michigan University Sports Information Office several times over the past year for EMU sports news and stories, but they haven’t returned our calls.)

“It was an excellent team effort tonight,” said Spartan head coach Tom Minkel. “We had some tough, hard-fought matches, and I think this was the best team effort we’ve had in some time.”

The match started at 174 pounds where Ian Hinton defeated EMU’s Nick Hendrick, 5-1. After a pair of Eagle wins at 184 and 197 pounds, heavyweight Alan O’Donnell put MSU on top, 10-6, when he defeated David Wade, 2-1.

“I was pleased we were able to keep our composure and stay on task early on,” Minkel said. “I feel like we’ve made some good progress in the last couple weeks, and hopefully, we continue to improve.”

The Eagles 18th-ranked Chris Jenkins slashed the MSU lead to 10-9 when he defeated Eric Olanowski at 125 pounds but that would be as close as EMU would get, as the Spartans claimed the night’s final five matches.

No. 1-ranked Franklin Gomez won his 22nd consecutive match at 133 pounds to start the Spartans’ winning streak, followed by freshman Dan Osterman, who registered a major-decision win (15-6) over Andrew Novak at 141 pounds.

“We were all pleased with Danny,” said Minkel. “He is a freshman but wrestles like a seasoned veteran. He stepped up and did what we expected him to do tonight.”

David Cheza (149 pounds), Anthony Jones Jr. (157 pounds) and Kyle Bounds (165 pounds) closed out the meet with wins for MSU.

MICHIGAN STATE 26, EASTERN MICHIGAN 9
174 lbs.: Ian Hinton (MSU) dec. Nick Hendrick (EMU), 5-1 MSU 3, EMU 0
184 lbs.: Phillip Joseph (EMU) fall Nick Palmieri (MSU), 1:27 EMU 6, MSU 3
197 lbs.: Josh Lewis (EMU) maj. dec. Tyler Dickenson (MSU), 12-3 MSU 7, EMU 6
HWT: Alan O’Donnell (MSU) dec. David Wade (EMU), 2-1 MSU 10, EMU 6
125 lbs.: No. 18 Chris Jenkins (EMU) dec. Eric Olanowski (MSU), 5-0 MSU 10, EMU 9
133 lbs.: No. 1 Franklin Gomez (MSU) dec. Sean Clair (EMU), 4-2 MSU 13, EMU 9
141 lbs.: Dan Osterman (MSU) maj. dec. Andrew Novak (EMU), 15-6 MSU 17, EMU 9
149 lbs.: David Cheza (MSU) dec. J.J. Johnson (EMU), 6-2 MSU 20, EMU 9
157 lbs.: Anthony Jones Jr. (MSU) dec. Aaron Sulzer (EMU), 5-4 MSU 23, EMU 9
165 lbs.: Kyle Bounds (MSU) dec. Justin Brandel (EMU), 8-2 MSU 26, EMU 9

Story courtesy of Michigan State Sports Information.

(Editors Note: YpsiNews.com has called EMU Sports Information for news and stories several times over the past year but they haven’t returned our calls.)

Some decades after these men, during the Depression, Ypsilantian Robert Roy Dickerson invented an automatic “toast buttering device” in what may have been one ordinary man’s attempt to secure wealth and fame.

The oldest son of Willis merchant Charles Dewitt Dickerson and his wife Judith Fountain Dickerson, Robert grew up in modest circumstances. Around the time he attended high school, the family moved to a home on Summit Street. Robert attended Normal College (EMU) and graduated in 1913 with a degree in Manual Arts. He was not an athletic student, but participated in the Young Men’s Christian Association, the fraternity Alpha Tau Delta, and the Crafts Club, and was treasurer of the oratory club. His unsmiling senior picture in the 1913 Normal College yearbook suggests a steady, serious young man.

Robert married Hazel Kelly a year after he graduated and the couple left town for California. Robert became a school principal and later a superintendent in the newly settled southern California city of Imperial. His first child, Mark, was born in 1915.

In 1917, Robert registered for the WWI draft. His draft card says that he was a tall man of medium build, with blue eyes, light hair, and “not bald.” He was never drafted. He and Hazel had two more children, Robert Jr. in 1917 and Phyllis in 1919, after which the family returned to Ypsilanti.

It appears that Robert’s parents gave or sold him the Summit Street home upon his return. His parents moved to 509 Forest, where they ran a boarding house. In 1922, Robert opened a small restaurant in the home, at 235 North Summit near the water tower. Robert’s wife Hazel worked as a cook, and in 1922 gave birth to the couple’s fourth and final child, Charles.
When the Depression began with the “Black Thursday” stock market crash in October of 1929, the effect upon Ypsilanti wasn’t immediate. By 1931, however, the situation had worsened in town. In this year, Robert invented his toast-buttering device.

Made of 94 separate metal parts, and about the size and shape of a desktop printer, the electrical device contained a reservoir of melted butter and an overhanging rack supporting several pieces of toast. In his patent application, Robert said “an object of the invention is to provide a simple and comparatively inexpensive device in which slices of toasted bread for instance may be positioned and by a simple manipulation or leverage device [the machine could] raise a tray carrying melted butter [from the reservoir] to contact with one side of the toast.”

Robert thought highly of his intricate toast-butterer. His patent was granted, and he immediately incorporated the “Dickerson Butterfaster Company.” The 1931 city directory lists his occupation no longer as restaurant owner but as “salesman,” likely for the toast-butterer. He probably hoped to initially sell the device to the 2 dozen other small restaurants in town, which included the Wolverine Café at 207 W. Michigan Avenue, the Ypsi Lunch at 2 North Huron, and the stylish orange and black-themed coffee shop at the Huron Hotel (now the Centennial Center) at Pearl and Washington.

Robert’s hopes evaporated as, despite his efforts, he failed to sell his toast-butterer. Perhaps by 1931, Ypsilantians were eating out less and restaurateurs had less discretionary money. It also may be that the issue of speedy toast-buttering was less pressing than Robert had imagined, and that he had invented a solution for a problem that didn’t exist.

Robert abandoned his toast-butterer and his restaurant, and in 1932 opened the Tower Grocery Store, also at 235 Summit. In an era before large supermarkets, there were 34 other small grocers in town, who delivered groceries to homes. Competing with them were the cheaper, upstart “cash and carry” outlets of A&P and Kroger’s, which would later expand and out-compete the traditional small grocers.
From the Tower Grocery, Robert could watch the construction of the Ethel Terrace apartments across the street (now Flo-Mar Apartments). He witnessed many other changes in town as well, since the Tower Grocery stayed open until Robert, at age 60, sold it in 1950 to Thomas Theodoris. Theodoris tried to continue the little grocery but it closed after just a few years.

Robert vanishes from city directories by 1954. He is apparently not buried either in Highland Cemetery or in the Dickerson family plot in Ypsilanti Township’s Union-Udell Cemetery, although his daughter Phyllis, the last of Robert’s children to pass away, was buried there in 2008. It may be that Robert returned to California to live with his son Robert Jr., who was a minister there.

Robert was an ordinary man with a humble dream of popularizing a restaurant appliance. Though he failed, there was ingenuity and dignity in his attempt, and he adapted and switched to running a successful grocery. Permanently preserved in the U.S. Patent Office, his toast-butterer is a reminder of all the ordinary unsung Ypsilantians with the imagination and perseverance to create something new.

[Correction Dec 6, 2009. Elijah McCoy was a black Canadian, not African-American. The error was in reporting.] ]]> http://ypsinews.com/index.php/200912-ypsilanti-home-of-the-automatic-toast-butterer/feed/ http://ypsinews.com/index.php/200912-emu-debates-concealed-guns-on-campus/ http://ypsinews.com/index.php/200912-emu-debates-concealed-guns-on-campus/#comments Wed, 02 Dec 2009 23:25:44 +0000 Steve Pierce / YpsiNews.com http://ypsinews.com/?p=1511

EMU Student government hosted a debate over propsed changes to Michigan’s Concealed Carry laws. Representatives from the NRA and the EMU Police department argued for and against the concealed carry of firearms on campus.

Advocating for concealed carry was Reid Smith, a member of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, and Professor David Coy, an accounting professor at Adrian college and a volunteer on the Board of Directors for the National Rifle Association. Coy arrived about 15 minutes late.

Arguing against guns on campus was Paul Leighton, a criminology professor at EMU, and Greg O’Dell, Chief of the EMU Department of Public Safety.

Just over 100 students, staff, visitors, and EMU police officers attended the nearly two hour debate.

Michigan law prohibits anyone under 21 to carry a concealed weapon. So a large number of EMU students would not be permitted to hold a concealed pistol license as they are too young.

Chief O’Dell said he was opposed to the possession of guns on campus as it would increase the rates of suicide. O’Dell said cops have an extraordinarily high rate of suicide because of easy access to guns.

According to NIH and the FBI, police officers are twice as likely to commit suicide as the general public. Leading one audience member to ask after the debate if perhaps EMU police officers should not be permitted to carry guns on campus.

Ann Arbor.com reported about one student who told the story, “My aunt was murdered by someone with a concealed weapons permit,” she said as her voice began to crack and she fought back tears. “Just because people go through these classes doesn’t mean they won’t kill someone.”

The student wouldn’t give her name and left before the debate ended. A student sitting next to her said the aunt was killed by a family member in their home. The murder apparently had nothing to do with the concealed carry of a firearm.

Under Michigan law and the Michigan State Constitution, concealed carry is currently allowed on the campuses of public universities except concealed carry in dormitories and classrooms. The EMU Board of Regents passed a rule against the possession of any firearms while on campus.

According to a recent ruling from Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox and the Michigan State Police, licensed concealed carry permit holders may openly carry a firearm into a pistol exclusion zones including dormitories and classrooms.

The carrying of a concealed weapon on campus can be confusing. During the debate, it was pointed out that off-duty police officers that are also EMU students have carried firearms into classrooms. This is apparently a violation of the Regents policy. According to the university no action has been taken against these students.

Moreover, an officer or CPL holder that drives to EMU and then safely stores their firearm in their vehicle is still in violation of EMU Regents policy while their actions are legal under state law. Michigan State University Regents addressed this confusion as they too had a complete ban on firearms.

In June 2009, MSU Regents changed rules to allow the carrying of concealed weapons in open spaces by licensed concealed permit holders while still barring firearms in buildings. According to MSU spokesman Kent Cassella, “The rules were changed to better align with county and state law.”

Lansing’s Statenews.com reported, “At the University of Michigan, guns still are completely banned, with the county prosecutor enforcing the ban, (MSU Trustee Colleen) McNamara said. She said the prosecutor who handles crime on MSU’s campus did not prosecute people who violated MSU’s ordinance, instead siding with state law and prompting the board’s vote to change policy.”

YPSILANTI, MI, August 26, 2009

Preston Vancil bottled up the Sliders hitting Wednesday night for the Florence Freedom as they beat the Midwest Sliders of Ypsilanti 4-0. Vancil was the story of the night as he only allowed two hits throwing a complete game shutout.

The two Slider hits came from Robbie Knapp in the second inning, and Bryan Bonner in the eighth. Bonners double in the eighth was the only Sliders scoring opportunity as Vancil only allowed one runner in scoring position and three base runners all night.

Jon Haldis did have a solid second start allowing four runs in six innings.

Florence will go for the sweep Thursday night at 7:05 p.m. at EMU’s Oestrike Stadium. After this game the Sliders will only have one more home series when Washington Wild Things come into town for a three game set this weekend.

The Midwest Sliders of Ypsilanti losing streak has reached a season high five games after they lost both games against the Florence Freedom Tuesday night at EMU’s Oestrike Stadium.

The first game Florence lit up the board with 18 hits and 13 runs to show for. Freedom won 13-3 and jumped on Sliders early to leave no doubt. They scored five runs in the top of the first inning helped by two homers in their first at bats from Justin Pickett and Jay Johnson.

As the night grew Florence lead did as well as they expanded it too 13-1 by the fifth inning. Jimmy Baker did have a mammoth homer in the top of the sixth that gave the Slider fans something to cheer about.

Game two wasn’t that much better, although Midwest didn’t allow as many runs they still fell 4-1. The Sliders had their chances but couldn’t capitalize on big opportunities.

Freedom jumped out to a led early scoring in the first, and in the fourth helped by a monstrous shot by John Welch giving them a 4-0 advantage.

Sliders scored their first run from a double by Jeremy Jones, and doubled in by Byran Bonner.

Midwest had a huge chance to get back in the game in the bottom of the fifth when they loaded the bases and had only one out. Two groundouts later Florence squeaked out of a very tough jam still leading 4-1.

Wednesday Jon Haldis will take the mound to try to stop the Sliders skid. The first pitch will begin at 7:05 p.m. at EMU’s Oestrike Stadium. There are only five more Sliders home games left, as Sunday will be the clubs last home game this season.

MARION- The Southern Illinois Miners didn’t need their third walk-off of the series to earn the sweep against the Midwest Sliders of Ypsilanti. The Sliders fell 7-1 and tied the season high four game losing streak heading back home.

Tuesday’s doubleheader with Florence Freedom will start the last home stand of the season. It will be seven games long. Sunday will be the final Sliders home game in 2009 at EMU’s Oestrike Stadium.

Zack Pace drove in Midwest’s lone run in the eighth inning after the Miners had the game in hand. Nolan Shaffer got the loss and his record falls to 3-5 on the season.

Midwest will enjoy a rare day off Monday to regroup after a tough 1-5 road trip to get there things together for the final home stretch of games. Tuesday’s gates open at 4 p.m. with the first game of the doubleheader starting at 5:05 p.m. The Sliders will play two seven inning games Tuesday night.

MARION, ILL, August 23, 2009

Southern Illinois Miners won a remarkable fourth straight game in walk off fashion Saturday night at Rent One Park. The Midwest Sliders of Ypsilanti came from behind in the ninth to tie the game, but lost it in the 10^th inning 5-4.

Midwest scored three runs between the third and fourth innings which was highlighted by a Jonnie Knoble two-run single. Southern Illinois held a 4-3 lead all the way through the eighth inning.

Scott Van Es started for the Sliders and threw six innings allowing four runs and didn’t earn a decision. He gave way to P.J. Zocchi who pitched the 7^th, 8^th, and 9^th allowing only two hits.

The Sliders were down the their last out in the ninth when Robbie Knapp singled driving in Zack Pace to tie the game up, forcing extra innings.

When Zocchi came bout out in the tenth inning he couldn’t record a single out. The leadoff man tripled, which was followed by a walk off single to end the game.

Miners will look to extend their winnings steak to six games and get the sweep against Midwest Sunday at 6:05 p.m. Nolan Schaffer will take the mound for the Sliders.

MARION, ILL, August 22, 2009

The Southern Illinois Miners stole a wild one from the Midwest Sliders of Ypsilanti in the ninth inning at Rent One Park. Brad Miller hit a walk off hit; it was the Miners third straight walk off and fifth straight win.

Robbie Knapp started the thing off right for the Sliders hitting a two-run homer in the first inning. The Miners tied it in their next at bats.

The game was tied at threes for until the Sliders broke the tie in the eighth inning. Zack Pace doubled, and was doubled in by Joash Brodin. That play gave the Sliders a 4-3 lead late in the game.

Heading into the ninth Midwest kept Jeff Fischer in the game who had thrown three scoreless innings in relief only allow two hits. He let up his third hit to lead off the ninth and was then replaced by closer Arshwin Asjes.

Asjes collected two outs, but loaded the bases for when Miller stepped into the box. Miller then put the ball in the right-center gap between Pace and Clay McCord. Will Block who had three hits on the night, came around to score and end the game.

Saturday Midwest will look to even up the series with the Miners at 8:05 p.m. at Rent One Park.

EVANSVILLE, IN, August 21, 2009

Evansville took two out of three with the Midwest Sliders of Ypsilanti after Thursday nights 12-9 at Bosse Field. The Otters jumped out to a 6-0 lead in their first at bat and did not look back holding on to the led the rest of the game.

Midwest didn’t give up though, scoring four runs in the third to try to mount a comeback attempt. The scoring was highlighted by a Jonnie Knoble double, Zack Pace single, and Robbie Knapp single.

Scoring a run third, fourth, and fifth kept the Sliders at an arms length. Otters put up a three spot in the sixth inning, two off Garrett Maines error. After that Evansville could sit on their lead.

Dan Horvath started for Midwest and allowed seven runs in only three innings of work.

The Sliders will head to Southern Illinois to face the Miners in a three game set this weekend. First pitch Friday is at 8:05 EST. p.m.

Tuesday Midwest will host the Florence Freedom in a double header that will begin at EMU’s Oestrike Stadium at 5:05 p.m. The seven game home stand will be the last home games of the season.

EVANSVILLE, IN, August 20, 2009

The Midwest Sliders of Ypsilanti ended their offensive woes Wednesday night in Indiana. They lit up the scoreboard scoring 16 runs on 17 hits. The Evansville Otters kept it a game as they did some hitting themselves, scoring 13 runs.

It was all about the sticks tonight led by Bryan Bonner. Bonner went a remarkable 5-6 with a triple, four RBI’s, and two runs scored. Joash Brodin, and Lee Rubin also pitched in with big nights collecting five hits between the two of them. Brodin scored four runs and had two hits, while Rubin drove in a key five runs.

Adam Dominick who was acquired from a trade with Windy City, came in relief for Jeff Fischer and threw three scoreless innings. While he threw Midwest rallied a comeback as Dominick earned his third win of the season.

The Sliders looked like they had a rout in the fifth inning leading 15-6. But the Otters didn’t give up and kept scoring until Arshwin Asjes came on in the ninth to finally end their comeback attempt.

Thursday night’s rubber game will begin at 8:05 EST. at historic Bosse Field.

EVANSVILLE, IN, August 19, 2009

The Midwest Sliders of Ypsilanti slide in the standings continues. They lost to the Evansville Otters 10-5 Tuesday night.

The Sliders did jump out to a 3-0 lead after the first inning.

But once again Midwest killers Greg Alexander, and Luke Hetherington stuck again combining for six RBI’s. Alexander broke a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the fifth with a three-run bomb. Hetherington finished the game going 2-4 with two RBI’s and two runs scored.

Nolan Shaffer allowed five runs in just 4 1/3 innings losing his third game of the season. Earl Oakes and Kyle Wink threw and allowed the last five Otter runs.

Wednesday Midwest will try to turn around the skid in game two of the series against Evansville at 8:05 p.m. EST.

The Southern Illinois Miners came into Oestrike Stadium Sunday with their bats ready. They spread out 19 hits and 17 runs while the Midwest Sliders of Ypsilanti could only scratch out two runs on seven hits.

Southern Illinois jumped out to an early lead in their first at bats. A two-out rally, capped by Brad Miller’s three-run homer, gave the Miners a 3-0 advantage.

Bryan Bonner hit his second round tripper of the season in the fifth to cut the lead to 3-1. He pulled the pitch right down the right field line and over the fence.

Mike Penn got the loss but only allowed four runs in 5 2/3 innings of work and left the game with a 4-2 deficit. The bullpen really let the game get out of hand.

The Miners hit four bombs on the day as they outslugged Midwest and really broke the game open scoring 14 runs from the sixth inning on.

Monday the Sliders will enjoy a day off before heading to Evansville to play the Otters on Tuesday.

Two solo homers from Zack Pace and Robbie Knapp were all the Midwest Sliders of Ypsilanti needed to beat the Southern Illinois Miners 4-1.

Scott Van Es made his first start for Midwest and only allowed one hit and one run before leaving the game due to injury after 4 1/3 innings. Jon Haldis picked up his third victory of the season in relief throwing two hitless innings.

Earl Oakes came on as set up man in the eighth, and Arshwin Asjes collected his 12 save, setting the Miners down in order in the ninth. Sliders pitching only allowed a astounding two hits in Saturday nights matchup.

The Sliders scored their other two runs in the sixth inning off three hits and a walk, Ryan Kennedy and Bryan Bonner both singled in runs making it 4-1.

Sunday’s kids run the bases day will take part after the game. First pitch is at 2:05 p.m. at EMU’s Oestrike Stadium. Mike Penn (7-4, 4.47) will toe the rubber for Midwest as they try to take the series against Southern Illinois.

YPSILANTI, MI, August 14, 2009

Ryan Kussmaul threw seven strong shutout innings only allowing one hit on way to the Southern Illinois Miners 10-0 victory over Midwest Sliders of Ypsilanti.

Joash Brodin collected the Sliders only hit in the bottom of the first on a single. No Slider player even reached second base on Miner pitching Friday night.

The Miners scored their first seven runs of the game all on homers. Joey Metropoulos started the Southern Illinois slugging with a two-run bomb in the top of the first inning. The next two bombs built the Minor lead to 7-0, a two run shot from Tony Roth, and a three run bomb from Chris Crescenzi.

Kyle Kearcher got the loss after allowing eight earned runs in 3 1/3 innings. Kyle Wink served very valuable for Midwest tonight, throwing 5 2/3 innings in relief to help save the Slider bullpen. Wink only allowed one run finishing the game.

Saturday at 6:05 p.m. the Sliders and Miners will play the middle game of their series at EMU’s Oestrike Stadium.

YPSILANTI, MI, August 13, 2009

Behind a great start from Jeff Fischer the Midwest Sliders of Ypsilanti took the final game 5-3 in the series against the Evansville Otters.

Fischer threw 7 1/3 strong innings only allowing one earned run while striking out seven.

Ryan Kennedy scored the first run of the night. He walked, stole second base, advanced to third on a passed ball, and scored on a fielders choice.

Andre Liscinsky hit his first major league bomb in the fifth inning giving Evansville a 2-1 lead.

Midwest jumped backed on top when Robbie Knapp belted a two-run shot over the left field fence. It was Knapp’s 11 home run of the season and put the Sliders out front 3-2.

After the Otters tied the game at three, Midwest put together a rally of their own in the eighth. Three singles by Joash Brodin, Bryan Bonner, and Lee Rubin put the Sliders ahead 5-3 heading into the ninth.

Earl Oakes and Arshwin Asjes teamed up to throw a scoreless 1 2/3 innings in relief. Oakes received the win while Asjes earned his 11^th save of the season.

Friday Southern Illinois will head into Ypsilanti for a weekend set. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m. at EMU’s Oestrike Stadium.

The Midwest Sliders of Ypsilanti let another game slip through their fingers. They fell 3-1 to the Evansville Otters for the second straight night.

Midwest had plenty of opportunities, they left five runners on base between the seventh and eighth innings. In the eighth the Sliders lead off with two singles to put runners on the corners with no outs. A fly out and two strikeouts later they left the bases loaded.

Lee Rubin hit a sacrifice bunt in the seventh to advance runners to second and third with one out. The next two batters couldn’t get the game tying base knock.

Kennedy’s first game with the team he scored the lone run for Midwest. He walked in the fifth and later scored on a Lee Rubin groundout.

Sliders signed two new players before the game Justin Wilson, and middle infielder Ryan Kennedy. Kennedy reached on his every bat collecting two singles, and two walks.

Thursday the Sliders will try to avoid the sweep. They’ll send Jeff Fischer to the mound to stop the current four game losing streak. The first pitch is at 7:05 p.m. at EMU’s Oestrike Stadium.

YPSILANTI, MI, August 11, 2009

The Midwest Sliders of Ypsilanti lost a heartbreaker to the Evansville Otters Tuesday night at EMU’s Oestrike Stadium. Sliders had the lead going into the ninth but the Otters put together three runs in their last at bats to steal a 5-3 victory.

Mike Penn had a phenomenal start for Midwest throwing seven innings allowing one earned run on only four hits while striking out six batters.

The Sliders led early after stringing together three consecutive singles to earn a 2-1 advantage. They tacked on another run in the third when Zack Pace walked, stole second, advance to third on the throw and scored on a Joash Brodin groundout.

Between the first inning through the fifth Penn set down 15 Otters in order. Midwest clinched to their 3-1 to the ninth.

Four hits and a walk allowed by Arshwin Asjes allowed three Evansville runs to but the Sliders down 5-3.

Midwest had a great opportunity to tie the game in their at bats in the ninth. They loaded the bases on two walks and a hit batter, but couldn’t get the clutch hit to extend the game.

Nolan Shaffer will look to end the Sliders current skid Wednesday night. The game begins at 7:05 p.m. at EMU’s Oestrike Stadium.

The Midwest Sliders dropped three out of four games this weekend at All Pro Freight Stadium after Sunday’s 6-2 loss.

Kyle Wink lost his third game of the season but didn’t have any run support.

The Sliders went down three runs in the bottom of the second inning. They cut the lead to one run after putting up a two spot in the fifth.

Midwest scoring was highlighted by a Jimmy Baker solo homer. The Crushers answered in their next at bats by scoring three runs.

That was the end of the scoring as Lake Erie held their 6-2 lead.

Monday Midwest has a day off before hosting the Evansville Otters on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. at EMU’s Oestrike Stadium.