Environmental backers attack Bush

In Lansing, environmental groups used Earth Day Monday as an occasion to attack President Bush's environmental record and warn of two more challenges ahead. The first is the Bush administration's opposition to a federal clean air requirement that older power plants and other pollution sources install modern equipment to curb pollution. The second is Bush's ``Clear Skies'' initiative, which environmentalists say ignores global warming and delays emission cuts now required by the Clean Air Act. Under his ``Clear Skies'' plan, the president has asked Congress to approve mandatory limits on total industry output of three kinds of pollutants, and to let companies work out how to achieve them through a system of earning and trading credits. But environmental groups in Lansing said the Bush administration is responsible for 30 recent or ongoing attacks on public health and the environment, including shifting cleanup costs from polluters to citizens and failure to protect wild national forest lands. The environmental news conference came less than a week after the U.S. Senate defeated a Bush proposal to drill for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Fly-fishing lessons toss in ecology and ethics

In the past nine years, dozens of junior and senior high school students in five counties have learned about the art of fly-fishing, thanks to the efforts of volunteers from the Greater Flint Muddler Minnow fishing club in Flint.Along the way, the youngsters also have learned about conservation, streamside ecology, outdoor ethics and sportsmanship. And, club leaders hope, they develop a love for fly-fishing and keep the sport alive for future generations. The club worked with the Michigan State University Extension office to get several club volunteers designated as leaders in the 4-H program, where student members could learn about fly-fishing. At the end of the school year, volunteers take the students to a local river or stream for warm-water fishing for bass and other game fish. Two years ago, about eight students had a chance to fish the AuSable River in northern Michigan with some volunteers. The Muddler Minnows, which has about 60 active members, meets the first Wednesday of every month during the school year at Seymour Elementary School in Flushing Township.

Michigan mother prepares for bodybuilding competition

Rose Bouatic of Holland is your typical mom. She helps daughters Melissa and Termyra with their homework. She enjoys baking cookies and working in her garden. Oh, and she can bench press 155 pounds. She's training for the biggest of the best, the Miss Michigan Body Building Tournament, on April 27 at the Redford Theater in Detroit. Bouatic got back into bodybuilding and competing about three years ago. She earned four trophies in 1999 in bodybuilding competitions in west Michigan. She was named Miss Kalamazoo and Miss Grand Rapids, taking first place in her weight class, and was the overall champion.

Group sews baby clothes as part of ministry

In Port Austin they gather at the United Protestant Church on Tuesday afternoons and spend time sewing, talking, laughing, sewing some more, sipping coffee and nibbling on cookies. The group formed about three months ago, but what its members have done in those months is jaw-dropping and heart touching. ``We've made 70 baby hats and 17 quilts to give to Huron Medical Center,'' said a Piecemaker. Every quilt has a specially-made tag sewn on that says, ``With God's love, the Port Austin Piecemakers.'' When the group of ladies took the hats and quilts to Huron Medical Center Tuesday to present them to the nursery, staff members couldn't believe how much the group did in such a short period of time. They marveled at the impressive works of art.