Susie Trisel could barely walk a laundry basket up her stairs without getting winded two years ago.

The Mount Pleasant resident has since run three 5-kilometer races and one Bump ‘N’ Run, a 3.5-mile combination of running, swimming and miscellaneous abdominal workouts.

Trisel said she started training with Blaine Gebhardt and Kristin LaBelle, owners of Fit 4 U!, 1620 S. Mission St., a little more than two years ago. Since then, she has lost shed almost 28 inches from her waistline and said she feels more physically fit than ever.

“I’m 45 now, and I never thought in my 20’s it would ever be feasible to do these things,” she said.

No memberships here

Gebhardt has worked as a personal trainer since 2003 and in Mount Pleasant since 2006. LaBelle has three years of experience as a trainer.

The trainers celebrated the grand opening of their new fitness center, Fit 4 U!, Saturday. Although the building officially opened last weekend, Gebhardt and LaBelle already have generated strong interest.

“We have a good base,” Gebhardt said, “but we do have room for growth.”

Mount Pleasant residents Katy Cox (left) and Leanne Worgess workout in pairs during a cardio strength interval fitness class at Fit 4 U, 1620 S. Mission St. Fit 4 U celebrated their grand opening on Feb. 26 with a ribbon cutting ceremony. The fitness center offers a variety of programs including one-on-one training, group training, and active isolated stretching. (Paige Calamari/Staff Photographer)

She said Fit 4 U! does not offer memberships but, instead, classes and personal training.

Trisel said she tried working out at different fitness centers before she went to Gebhardt and LaBelle.

“I had no sense of direction,” she said. “I wasn’t disciplined enough.”

Trisel works out with Gebhardt one-on-one twice a week for core strengthening and attends the trainers’ cardio classes twice a week.

“If you work out for a while, it can get kind of boring,” she said. “One thing about working out with Blaine and Kristen is that they always keep it exciting.”

Personal training

Katy Cox, 39, of Mount Pleasant has worked out with Gebhardt for four years.

“Every class is different,” she said. “When you show up, you have no idea what to expect.”

When she started, Gebhardt only did personal training, but Cox said she talked her into starting classes.

Cox said she left for a month for a weight-loss boot camp and, when she came back, she wanted to maintain a routine similar to her experience there. Classes, she said, were a way for her to do that. She talked Gebhardt into starting them.

“I wanted something that could be in my life every day and I could fit into my routine,” she said.

Cox now attends personal training and classes five days a week. Her two sisters, Leanne Worgess, 40, and Laura Zurawski, 41, and her mother, Shirley Jenkins, 64, all work out with her.

It is not easy to sustain a relationship.

The process is one of give and take, lessons learned and joys shared.

Several local couples offered advice on what it takes to make a relationship last over lunch Thursday at the Isabella Senior Center, 2200 S. Lincoln Rd.

For them, this Valentine’s Day will be a time of celebration. But just what does it take to turn one commitment into years of experiences?

Norm and Noni Onstott of Mount Pleasant have been married 53 years and said the two keys to a successful relationship are compromise and making sure you have found the right person.

“If you think you’re sure, make double sure,” Norm said. “So many people get divorced these days and, when you have kids that, gets really messy.”

And once you’ve found the right person, it takes a little give and take to work through disagreements, Noni said.

“Try to remember that both of you have faults,” Noni said.

Wait to marry

The two married when Norm was 19 and Noni 22. Norm said he worked the morning shift at a carburetor factory and she worked nights.

He made his boss switch him to her shift just so he could work with her. But he said even after changing shifts, he was still too scared to ask her out.

Beal City residents Earl and Elaine Currie talk about their 44 years of marriage Thursday at the Isabella County Commission on Aging, 2200 South Lincoln Road. "The second day after we met, I knew we would get married," Earl said. (Jeff Smith/Staff Photographer)

“He stood there looking at me for I don’t know how long, and then sent someone else to ask my name,” she said.

When Norm finally got the nerve to meet her at a skating rink with some friends, they hit it off. After dating for a year, they were married.

Noni said marrying young was not a problem for them, but times have changed and she would only recommend it to someone who does not have any long-term education or career plans.

Because of the effort involved in starting a family, she said, it may be best to wait until you have achieved reasonable stability in a desired career.

Other ideas

Earl and Elaine Currie married young and have remained together for 43 years. At the time of the ceremony, he was 20 years of age, and she, just 17.

“I would never advise anyone that young to get married,” Elaine said. “Wait until your mid-20s, when you’ve gotten through school.”

The two agreed with Norm and Noni that the best way to make a relationship work is to help each other and work through problems.

They also believe it is important to recognize each other’s differences and embrace them. One of the Curries’ major differences is that Earl is a morning person and Elaine is not.

“He humors me,” Elaine said. “He brings me my tea and leaves me alone (in the morning).”

Lake Isabella residents Bob and Karen Karcher are 50-year veterans of marriage and have similar advice.

“Certainly learn to give and take,” Bob said. “It’s not all one way.”

The two emphasized the importance of doing things together and enjoying the other person’s company.

One way the Karchers have been doing that recently is by dancing at the senior center. Karen said they just started about five weeks ago and plan to continue going to the dance sessions every week.

Bob and Bev Tenny of Mount Pleasant have been married 57 years. But for Bev, her husband is more than just a life-long partner.

“He was my best friend and he still is,” Bev said. “You have to treat him like a friend.”

A proposed manufacturing facility in Midland could bring 1,200 new jobs to areas around central Michigan, including Mount Pleasant.

The Dow Chemical Company announced last week that Midland is the preferred site for its new manufacturing plant for Powerhouse solar shingles. The unemployment rate in Isabella County is 9.6 percent — a number some say could be reduced with the addition of the new facility.

As Mount Pleasant is 26 miles from Midland, Dow Director of Public Affairs Kate Nigro said jobs are likely to extend to Mount Pleasant residents.

“The expected growth (of jobs) will be in the manufacturing, commercial and technical areas,” she said.

Although Midland is the preferred site for the facility, Nigro said they are still working to secure funding from local, state and federal authorities before they finalize the project.

Nigro said The Michigan Economic Development Corporation may give Dow $140 million in incentives for the development to support the addition of green jobs and clean energy services. The company is expecting to have that confirmed by the end of this month.

Dow also is looking to secure local funds, she said, but details are not yet available. The hiring process will likely start toward the end of this year and updates will be available at the company’s Web site, dowinmichigan.com.

Nigro said Dow hopes to take advantage of Michigan’s manufacturing base and workers experienced in the field who may have lost their jobs during the auto industry’s decline.

“Alternative energy and green jobs are being viewed as one of the key industries to bring back jobs lost,” said Brian Anderson, president of Middle Michigan Development Corporation.

Job creation, he said, is one of the main reasons state and federal governments have been pushing for production of these types of facilities.

Anderson said the establishment of the Dow facility in the local area will undoubtedly be a great asset to the community.

He believes the plant will not only bring new jobs back to the area, but also more people.

“With so many great neighborhoods and schools, it would be safe to assume many new hires to Dow Chemical would choose to live in Isabella County,” he said.

Business owners say Mount Pleasant customers have remained loyal to locally owned establishments in hard times and, in doing so, have helped to support the city’s economy.

Local businesses were recently provided with flyers and information promoting the 3/50 Project, a national mission headed by retail consultant and professional speaker Cinda Baxter.

The project aims to inform Americans of the advantages of shopping locally and its effects on the economy. Downtown Development Director Michelle Sponseller said many local stores have seen strong sales even in tough economic times.

The flyers have been great for encouraging people to buy local instead of from corporations, said Cathy Smith, owner of the Basketree, 112 E. Broadway St.

“All of downtown passes (the flyers) out and we just talk about it with customers as well,” she said. “It really has made people aware of shopping locally and the effects.”

Smith said her business has been up from last year at this time. She thinks customers are becoming more aware of the positive effects of shopping local.

Local benefit

For every $100 spent in a locally owned business, $68 of it gets returned to the community through taxes, payroll and local spending by the owners, according to the 3/50 Project. If that $100 was spent in a national chain, only $43 of it would come back to the community.

If 50 percent of working citizens in the U.S. spent $50 a month in locally owned stores, it would create around $42.6 billion total each month for the stores.

“It’s not that we wish an end to every Home Depot, Walmart and PetSmart,” Sponseller said. “It’s not an all-or-nothing message. There are some products you can only find at chains. It’s about balance.”

Telah Hartupee, sales floor manager for Ace of Diamonds, 128 E. Broadway St., said she thinks local customers have always stayed loyal through hard times, and does not believe it has been a problem for the city and her business.

“I just think it’s how the downtown people are, and I know employees in the downtown area keep business here,” she said.

Hartupee said some of her customers have found diamonds in Florida or Chicago and called to see if Ace of Diamonds had them before purchasing elsewhere. She has seen, she said, that many customers like to keep supporting an establishment once they find one they like.

In the end, she believes great service is the most important thing to customers, and they will always be loyal to the people who are friendly and take care of their needs.

“Treat them good and they’re going to come back,” Hartupee said.

An increase in joblessness in December pushed Isabella County from the number one spot in the state’s lowest unemployment rate, according to a state news release.

The county’s unemployment rate jumped to 9.1 percent from November’s 8.5 percent, giving Washtenaw County the lowest unemployment rate in Michigan. The two counties are the only ones to maintain at a rate below 10 percent.

Carolyn Bennett, director of promotions and workforce development for Middle Michigan Development Corporation, said Isabella County’s boost in joblessness is nothing to be too concerned about.

“It’s hard to pinpoint the exact reasons for the increase,” she said. “What is important is that Isabella County continues to have one of the lowest jobless rates in the state.”

Bennett said 2009 is no different than past years because unemployment rates usually rise slightly in December.

In 2007, the jobless rate in Isabella County increased by less than a percent point from November to December and, in 2008, it jumped 1.1 percentage points.

State decrease

Michigan’s unemployment rate has decreased to 14.6 percent from 15.1 since October, making three consecutive months of decline for the state.

“It’s really too soon to tell if this will continue,” said Bruce Weaver, economic manager for the Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth. “Since about June … the unemployment rate in Michigan has been hanging right at or around 15 percent.”

Since October, the labor force level in Michigan has decreased by 0.76 percent.

“When the economy is bad and jobs are hard to find, others who would be in the labor force go to school, training, or tend not to look for jobs,” Weaver said.

Janet Bloomfield, Central Area Michigan Works Consortium vice president for employment training, said the decline in labor force is a result of people losing faith in Michigan’s economy and giving up on looking for a job.

Bloomfield said she believes the labor force will start to increase again if unemployment continues to decrease.

“As Michigan’s economy is reinvented, I think that will give people hope,” she said.

Bloomfield said when people begin to enter the labor force again, it could cause a temporary increase in the unemployment rate but, overall, it will be a good sign for the economy when that happens.

In November, the 8,000 jobs gained were in the business sector, whereas employment losses were recorded in all other sectors. The only sector to add employment in December was health and education, which gained 4,000 jobs.

How do you quit smoking for good?

That was the question at “Semaa Tobacco: Traditional Use, Not Abuse” on Tuesday in the Nimkee Public Health Kitchen, 7498 E. Broadway Road.

The Tobacco Prevention Panel, made up of three Nimkee Memorial Wellness Center employees, a pharmacist and an ex-smoker, held a small seminar open to all Nimkee employees or patients to get support and information about how to kick the habit.

Steve Eggerd, pharmacist for Nimkee Pharmacy, started the seminar by presenting all the products available at Nimkee and explaining what they do and how they work.

“We want to let people know what resolutions are available,” said Nimkee Reach Grant Coordinator Leah Markel.
Markel is one of the main organizers of the seminar.

Many of the guests asked questions and shared their own experiences with the products. Eggerd stressed to them that everybody is different, so different products work for different people.

“You have to define your own addiction to find what works for you,” he said.

The products he shared included nicotine patches, nicotine gum, nicotine inhalers and Chantix, a tablet to decrease sensitivity to and cravings of nicotine.

John Gerhard of Nimkee’s Human Resources Training Department also spoke to the group about the importance of patience and perseverance during the quitting process.

“It’s not easy,” he said. “I would never paint an easy picture about quitting smoking.”

Open to other addictions

Gerhard said, as addicts, smokers are usually vulnerable to other addictions such as food or caffeine, but encouraged the guests to overcome those things.

He stressed the panel is there to support all of them and help get them through it.

Matt Sprague, a member of Seventh Generation of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, explained the difference between the tribe’s cultural use of tobacco and the common abuse of commercial tobacco.

Seventh Generation grows semaa (tobacco), sacred to the tribe and used for ceremonial purposes.

He said his tribe smokes the tobacco in a safer way by not inhaling it and that they use it for spiritual purposes.

“We puff it up, and it’s like our prayers going up to the Creator,” he said.

The tribe calls semaa a “gift from the Creator” and it is given as a gift in semaa pouches when they ask a favor of someone.

Sprague said when someone receives a gift of semaa, they can throw it in a fire to burn it. That also is seen as a way of sending prayers up to the Creator.

“Tobacco is pretty abused now, and I don’t want us to get a bad name for growing it, but it’s used for different things by us,” he said.

Markel said, besides sharing information about quitting with the group, another main goal was to make known the cultural uses of tobacco.

She said they will be holding similar seminars in the future for patients and employees at Nimkee.

Robin Hood’s BBQ might look like just another house on the block.

But for owner Robin Heath, the southern barbecue takeout joint is his chance at a true entrepreneurial success story.

Heath opened the restaurant, 1010 W. Broadway St., on Dec. 26. Since then, the Mount Pleasant resident said business has been better than expected and he is already building a solid customer base.

The restaurant carries various selections of pulled pork and ribs, though he is considering a new dish aimed for the college crowd: a 10-pound nacho plate eating challenge.

“We haven’t worked out all the details yet, but we’re working on it,” he said.

His daughter Adrienne, 22 of Mount Pleasant, said the fact it is away from other businesses may help draw customers.

“Everyone’s been excited to have a business on the west side,” she said.

The entire Heath family helps with the restaurant, which is situated in one large room decorated simply, but offers a warm atmosphere.

Tom Kimbell, 20 of Mount Pleasant, lives right down the road from Robin Hood’s.

“It’s very convenient,” Kimbell said. “Other than the bar on M-20, this is the closest, most convenient place to eat.”

Heath said he chose the building because it was affordable and had the necessary plumbing and equipment. Although he would have preferred a bigger building on Mission Street, Heath is happy with the location.

He said many of his customers are regulars who come back three or four times a week.

Samantha Orlandi, 23 of New Boston, learned of the restaurant when her co-workers tried it for lunch. She has been there twice since then.

A large amount of business comes from workers on their lunch breaks, said Mount Pleasant resident Angie Wordwell, Heath’s fiancé.

Heath decided to open the business after being laid off as a sales representative with Michigan Office Solutions. He has been working on his barbecuing skills for the past 15 years and said the layoff was the “push over the cliff” he needed to start his own restaurant.

The people of Grace Church are working to transform the former Embers Restaurant into their new and improved place of worship by fall.

Jason Tubbs, a staff member who oversees the project, said construction began in August, less than two months after the church purchased the 24,000-square-foot building at Preston and Mission streets for $750,000. Since then, Tubbs said things have progressed smoothly.

The congregation hoped to have the building usable by Dec. 31, in order to christen the new location at an annual New Year’s Eve service. That goal was reached.

Now members hope to have all construction completed by mid-September, shortly after Mount Pleasant begins to buzz with the start of CMU’s fall semester.

“We’d like to have a grand opening of sorts in the fall, when the students come back,” Tubbs said.

Embers was a landmark Mount Pleasant restaurant for 50 years before closing in June 2007.

Church members have been meeting at least four nights a week to continue work on what they refer to as “Mission 1217” — the old Embers’ address on Mission Street. On Thursday, about 30 members were painting, putting up light fixtures and performing other structural work inside.

The church is holding one service in the new building at the end of each month until it is finished. As motivation to accelerate construction, it has set a goal to have at least one new room done by the time each service rolls around.

Accommodation

Adam Agosta, a Mount Pleasant resident and CMU graduate student, said he likes being part of the building process.

“It’s like a family,” he said. “It’s fun to do it together.”

CMU alumnus and Mount Pleasant resident Justin Weare worked as an Embers server in 2004. He said it was interesting to be back in the building and help with the renovation.

“It has been really weird and surreal, but cool,” he said.

Agosta and Weare said the main reason they are still in Mount Pleasant is because of Grace Church.

The church currently meets at the Ward Theatre, 218 S. Main St. The Embers location will offer more space, particularly to accommodate the growing number of children — anywhere from 100-150 — who come for one of two services each weekend, church members say.

Tubbs said local businesses have allowed the church use of their buildings to help accommodate the youngest members.

“We usually send the kids to about four or five different buildings, so it’s really inconvenient,” he said.

A big reason for the move was location. The Ward Theatre is harder to find, he said, so a location on Mission makes it easier to find and is closer to Central Michigan University’s campus.

“We do a lot of involvement with student groups,” Tubbs said. “This puts us within walking distance of campus.”

He said about 90 percent of the work has been done by volunteers within the congregation. There are about 75 different volunteers, he said, and most devote at least one evening a week to the project.