BY NOW, WE’VE all read about the $145 million dollar check kiting scheme and the Ishpeming woman, Brooke Vernier (also known as Brooke Ferns), who’s been charged with fraud in the case.
That’s $145 million, not thousand. That’s a lot of money, especially here in the U.P.
Well, time for some clarification here, and this comes from a couple of bank insiders.
No one’s lost $145 million. Not even close. Not even close to close.
In fact, one of the allegedly victimized institutions, River Valley Bank, says it actually lost no money because of the scheme.
No, the charges are that, over a period of time, Vernier artificially boosted the balances in seven accounts at three banks, and then wrote checks on those accounts. The banks may have been deceived temporarily but they were not robbed blind.
And Vernier didn’t walk away with $145 million and spend it on yachts, European vacations and gold bullion.
Exactly why the three banks and federal officials didn’t discover the scheme earlier is a head-scratcher. We’ll learn more about it in the weeks ahead.
And of course, these are just charges. We haven’t heard Vernier’s side of the story yet.
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IF YOU’RE A fan of Asian food, your options are shrinking in Marquette.
The Great Hunan Chinese Restaurant, which shut down–temporarily, we thought– after a kitchen fire last November, is done.
It never reopened after the fire and last week it auctioned off equipment and furniture.
A few items remain behind but the landlord says the Hunan’s space is available. He’s looking for a new tenant.
And just up the road, on West Washington, the Panda Garden, an Asian buffet, remains open, but a prominent For Sale sign has been displayed for several months now.
If the right offer comes in, another restaurant shuts down.
Where oh where will we find our Asian cuisine? Oh yeah, at the other excellent Asian restaurants in town.
YOU LIKE PASTIES?
Well, Lawry’s, one of the most highly rated pasty restaurants in the U.P., has just expanded its dining area.
It’s opened up a dining area outside under a newly constructed pergola. Things were getting a little tight inside.
Lawry’s is also investing in more kitchen facilities to expand its online offerings. Right now, online sales total about 20% of the sales for the restaurant. That’ll increase.
Who’s buying pasties online? How about the Yoopers and former Yoopers down in Florida at Christmastime? Comfort food.
Lawry’s, by the way, has been around since 1946. Started as a little shack with an outhouse in Diorite.
SPEAKING OF RESTAURANTS.
The Food Network online just published “10 Things I Ate About You: Marquette“. Yep, a list of the author’s favorite dishes or drinks at Marquette’s restaurants and pubs.
Among them, the tagliatelle at the Piedmont, the cafe scramble at the Sweetwater, the dark chocolate sea salt caramels at Dockers…and delicious and varied fare from Steinhaus, the Vierling, Jean Kay’s, the Ore Dock, the Border Grill, the Marq, and Lagniappe.
Great choices, all. But what about Elizabeths? Vango’s? The Casa? Black Rocks? The list goes on and on.
Which tells you we’ve got a pretty good dining and drinking scene in Marquette.
One more thing: These lists are totally subjective and arbitrary. Someone came to town, ate and drank at several places–but not all of them, by any means–wrote down some notes, and then posted a story.
That’s it. Cute. But not comprehensive and not the final word.
NOW, THAT WAS fast.
It was just about four months ago that we told you that the old Bonanza restaurant on US 41 had been bought by Superior Walk-in Clinic, which operates two other facilities at the Medical Center and in Munising.
Well, the Bonanza salad bar is gone and in its place is a lab and doctors’ offices. The clinic, without much fanfare, is already open for business and is treating patients.
They just have to step around the workmen who are still finishing up with the final touches on the building.
IMAGINE THIS: GAMES without an electronic component to them, and yet they’re intended for young folks in their teens, twenties, and thirties.
Doesn’t seem to make sense.
And yet Taiga Games, which started on Third Street in Marquette three years ago, has now opened a second store on West Washington Street.
Apparently business is good even though the merchandise doesn’t involve cool, electronic, digital stuff.
Just board and card games. And comic books. Kinda retro.
Maybe the millennials and the baby boomers have finally found common ground.
TALK ABOUT A creative marriage proposal.
Pat Digneit (one of the Double Trouble boys) went all-out with his proposal to longtime girlfriend Alyssa Pilot on the 4th of July. You might have seen them on and alongside the always animated Double Trouble float at the end of the parade.
Well, just as they got to the Commons, the float suddenly stopped and what followed was a re-enactment of the parade scene from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” culminating in Digneit asking for Pilot’s hand in marriage.
She had no idea it was coming. But she accepted and the crowd cheered. WLUC taped it.
Pilot had told Digneit a while back that if and when he ever proposed, she didn’t want it at the usual, sentimental, obvious spots–the beach, Black Rocks, etc. She wanted something fun.
Boy, did he come through.
You got news? Email briancabell@gmail.com