State Roundup

 Hickory Corners

Tree climbing skill competition held on Gull Lake shore  
HICKORY CORNERS, Mich. (AP) — Of the more than a dozen entrants who took part in the Michigan Tree Climbing Championship, only two qualified for an international competition.
Jack Richardson of Ann Arbor and Charity Barnes of Dexter earned spots Saturday in the International Tree Climbing Championship in Milwaukee this summer.
“I just gave it a whirl,” Barnes, a first-time participant and the only female competitor this year, told the Kalamazoo Gazette. “It was super fun to be here and see all the excellent climbers and to be a part of it.”
The participants competed in five events that demonstrated their competency in a variety of skills used by tree care professionals in everyday working environments. The event usually is held in the fall, but Saturday was a makeup day for the 2013 competition, which had to be postponed due to weather, said Bob Hunt, chairman of the Michigan Tree Climbing Championship committee.
Committee member Bill Drews said the competition usually attracts 20 to 30 contenders. The rescheduled date may have contributed to the below-average turnout, he said.
Saturday’s competition was held at Michigan State University’s W.K. Kellogg Biological Station on the shores of Gull Lake in Hickory Corners. It was sponsored by the Ypsilanti-based Arboricultural Society of Michigan, the Battle Creek Enquirer reported.
The next Michigan Tree Climbing Championship is scheduled for Sept. 27 in Holland.
 
Lansing
Final Olds rolled off assembly line one decade ago 
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — It was 10 years ago today that the final Oldsmobile drove off the line at General Motors’ Lansing Car Assembly plant.
That Alero sedan represented the send-off to a nameplate founded in the city more than a century ago by the son of a machinist.
It was a bitter farewell, the Lansing State Journal reports, but one tempered by the promise of new car industry jobs in Lansing for years to come in the form of new plants making other GM brands.
The Detroit automaker was criticized locally for killing the Oldsmobile division, but it might have turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
As the State Journal points out, Lansing’s auto economy no longer is tied to the success or failure of any one brand.
The Lansing Grand River and Delta Township assembly plants, plus a stamping plant and a warehouse operation employ thousands. The assembly plants, still GM’s newest in North America, build cars and crossovers and can be adapted to make a variety of vehicle and body styles.
By 2000, GM said it was ready to close the door on Oldsmobile. Other divisions — Pontiac and Saturn — followed. Still others, such as Saab and Hummer, would be sold off.
GM now has four nameplates, all of which have at least one vehicle built in Lansing: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC.