Brew Pubs, Back Pay and Burritos

Beer-lovers, rejoice. Marquette (actually Harvey) is about to get another microbrewery. The Bayou just got its license to brew its own suds but it'll be at least a few months before the operation is up and running.

Optimistically, they're hoping for April. Realistically, more like June. They've got to revamp the facility and install five tanks.

They've got a brewmaster ready to go, they'll be producing five different beers, and they're now looking for a logo for the new brewery which will officially be called the Chocolay River Brewery. The Bayou will hold a contest to determine the winning design.

If you've followed the evolution of the Bayou over the last decade, you've seen it change from a "dive bar" (Sorry, no other way to put it) to a neighborhood eatery with a vastly improved menu and more attractive appearance to a...brew pub, with a little cachet.
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Now, what's with the supposed Mexican restaurant soon to open over L'Attitude?

Okay, it'll be called Sol Azteca or Aztec Sun.

The staff is ready, the facilities and food are ready but...the menus aren't printed up yet and the sign's not here, either. According to one of the senior staff people, that's all that's holding the opening up. If the menus get here in the next few days, Sol Azteca could open as early as Monday.

It'll be mid-priced Mexican food--tacos, enchiladas, steaks, etc--in one of the best venues in town.

One eensie-teensie problem. Sol Azteca still doesn't have a liquor license. The staff member told me they're hoping to get it within a month, two at most.

Let's hope it's soon. Mexican food tastes better with a Corona or Dos Equis.
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So far, three candidates have tossed their hat into the ring for Marquette County Sheriff after the current sheriff, Mike Lovelace, unexpectedly announced his retirement a couple of weeks ago.

The three are Undersheriff Jack Schneider, Chocolay Police Chief Greg Zyburt, and a third candidate who wishes to remain anonymous. Understandable, since the candidate may not want his (or her) employer to know that he wants to move on.

Applications close down on December 15. Then the troika of Probate Judge Cheryl Hill, Prosecutor Matt Wiese and County Clerk Jack Dishnow will interview the candidates and choose the new sheriff who will take over February 1.

Interesting fact. The sheriff doesn't have to have a law enforcement background. It's considered an administrative position.
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Update on the back pay issue for beginning reporters at TV6 and Fox UP:
President and GM Rob Jamros says it's been resolved, after an investigation by the US Department of Labor.

Jamros says back pay will be given to all the underpaid news employees over the last 24 months. That will include some personnel who've since left the station.

Salaries for current employees have already been boosted about $5000 a year.

Jamros says a misunderstanding of the labor laws by WLUC's owners had resulted in the underpayments.

As for the station's new owners, Jamros says he's very optimistic because Sinclair is a genuine TV operation whose business is in running small and medium market TV stations. The previous owners, Barrington Broadcasting(who, frankly, were not popular with most of the staff here), was essentially an investment group intent on making as much money as possible in a short period of time.

Let's see if Sinclair takes a different approach.

You got news? Email me at briancabell@gmail.com

TV6 Changes Ahead?

Keep your eyes on TV6 and Fox UP in the weeks ahead. The Sinclair Broadcast Group recently bought WLUC, which operates both  TV6 and Fox UP, and now the employees are waiting to see what happens next. Who's going? Who's staying? Any programming changes? It's fair to say there's an air of nervousness in the halls of the station.

On the other hand, a big, well-funded broadcast group (Sinclair now owns 164 stations nationwide) just might decide to pour some money into one of its newest acquisitions.

Of concern to some employees and U.P. viewers: Sinclair has a controversial reputation when it comes news and politics. Back in 2004 on its ABC stations, it refused to air a Nightline segment that dramatically listed all of the dead soldiers from the Iraq war. Later that year, just before the presidential election, 62 of its stations preempted prime time programming to air a documentary highly critical of Democratic candidate John Kerry.

And in 2010 a handful of its stations aired an anti-Obama infomercial.

Partisan politics, news and business can make for a toxic mix.

Let's hope the local news coverage here doesn't suffer (Maybe it expands!) and everybody keeps their jobs. Too often, these big broadcast groups come in to a small market and say all the right things...and the next thing you know, they're tightening the purse strings and booting people out the door.
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Speaking of TV6, still no word on whether current and former news employees will be getting a lump sum for back pay.

In case you hadn't heard, the US Department of Labor came to town a couple months back and interviewed several news employees and determined they weren't making adequate salaries for the hours they worked.

Shortly afterwards, salaries for beginning employees were boosted from around $18,000 to $23,000 plus. A nice little hike that put smiles on the faces of the news kids.

Back pay? Nothing announced so far.

Full disclosure: I was the news director at WLUC from 2004 to 2011 and tried, probably not hard enough, to get salaries raised. The reasoning behind the paltry pay? If young, ambitious reporters were willing to accept a miserable salary, it wasn't management's role to insist they take more. Business is about making profits.
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Did you see the Jim Harrison article in the Sunday New York Times? Pretty damn flattering. Before moving to Montana, he lived in Grand Marais and often visited Marquette.

He had especially kind words for The Landmark Inn ("a hotel of New York standards") and the Vierling ("a restaurant I would visit every day"). It's priceless advertising to a national audience that has money and may not have heard of the UP until now.

Harrison hasn't been back here in a few years but he's fondly remembered for his sparkling conversation and his fine taste in food and drink.
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As for paid advertising, did you know that Marquette County has been promoted on the jumbo screen in Times Square in New York City?

It's just a four second spot every hour but it's a huge invitation, complete with photos, to come visit Marquette County. It's already been up twice this summer, again on Thanksgiving, and then again this coming New Years Eve. It plays for several days around those dates.

Pat Black of the Visitors and Convention Bureau is the brains behind the campaign. She wants to play with the big boys.


You got news? Contact me at briancabell@gmail.com