The Times Herald from Port Huron, Michigan • Page A1

IMES ERALD WWW THE IMES ERALD COM Friday, June 27, 2014 SINCE1869 SINCE 1869 PORT HURON, MICHIGAN WWW THE IMES ERALD COM Copyright 2014 The Times Herald Co. AGannett Newspaper Printed in the USA $1 Retail Monday-Saturday For home delivery see page 2A. GO USA! World Cup fans in Fort Gratiot root for the American side SPORTS, 1B Silas C. Arnold, 67 Eleanor A. Bassett, 73 Donna E.

Baunoch, 81 icael E. Czenkus, 74 Georgia B. Greaux, 68 Carolyn A. Keith, 70 ale W. Lohr, 74 Geraldine L.

McNash, 84 Agnes F. Pavlik, 86 William G. Sampson, 33 Roger A. Slamka, 69 eorgia J. Stewart, 76 DEATHS, 4A Dear INDEX We look at whether ort stricter ental policies are orking.

COMING SUNDAY Scoring Ice time is family time for the Guskes of Port Huron RECREATION, 3B another summer eekend packed with un in the Blue Water A rea. Page 3A HAPPENING The St. Clair County Board of Commissioners is going digital. Commissioners are using tablets for county duties. Three of the seven commis- ioners recently received tablets; four members use their personal devices.

Bill Kauffman, county administrator, said it is not uncommon for an an entire ream of paper to be used in printing meeting agendas and packets. the cost of producing hard copy versions of agendas, we fully expect to realize reductions in staffing time, material osts, and Kauffman said. One iPad was purchased about three years ago Kauffman did not know how much the county paid. he most recent purchases in May were an iPad for about $765 and an Android tablet for about $600. People issued a county-owned device are required to sign a waiver indicating they have received it and are responsible for it.

Kauffman said the commis- ioners were either provided with an iPad or an Android tablet, depending on the operating system they were most comfortable with. Commissioners sing personal tablets were not provided with devices purchased by the county. Commissioner Bill Gratopp has been using a tablet for three years. He said he went to the information technology department and requested to be a for the iPads. been pushing for a paperless system since been on the Gratopp said.

going to make us better at our jobs, and going to make i easier. In the long run, it will County buys tablets for board Devices are expected to save paper By Nicholas Grenke Times Herald Bill Kauffman Bill Gratopp Classic cars would have been dodging construction crews and orange cones his weekend on M-25 if the state had ontinued with a scheduled construction project. AMichigan Department of Transportation road resurface project on M-25 between Hancock Street in Port Huron and -136 in Fort Gratiot was supposed to tart Friday and last through Tuesday, logging Pine Grove Avenue for thousands of cruisers in town for the Blue Water Cruise Weekend. But MDOT decided Thursday to delay the project after learning about the weekend events. are going to delay it so the cars can drive through without dust and said Diane Cross, spokeswoman Cruise Weekend dodges a roadblock State agrees to delay M-25 paving project By Beth LeBlanc Times Herald Areport with a lower threshold for the level of bacteria that causes beach closings states 6 percent of water samples from Michigan beaches in 2013 indicated unsafe conditions for swimming.

But state and county officials defended the use of the higher threshold and said swimmers have little to fear from pathogens in the water in the Blue Water A rea and in Michigan. when dealing with water quality, affected by many different said Steve Demick, environmental health director for the St. Clair County Health epartment. why we test on a weekly basis to determine week-to-week how events are a ffecting water he report by the Natural Resources Defense ouncil, based in Washington D.C, ranked Michi- an seventh of 30 states for safe beach water qual- i ty in 2013 with 6 percent of its samples exceeding Avery Hogans, 9, digs a hole as his brother, Mitchell Hogans, 3, keeps sticking his feet into the hole Thursday at Lakeside Beach in ort Huron. One in 10 U.S.

beaches is not safe for swimming, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council's 24th annual beach report. MARK R. HERALD State, report disagree about healthy beaches SANILAC COUNTY BEACHES Birch Beach Birch Beach Middle Birch Beach North Delaware Park Forester County Park Forestville Beach Great Lakes Beach Lexington Beach Lexington County Park Port Sanilac Park Sanilac County Park Sanilac County Roadside Park ST. CLAIR COUNTY BEACHES Burtchville Township Park Chrysler Park Beach Conger-Lighthouse Beach Fort Gratiot County Park Holland Road Beach Jeddo Road Beach Keewadhin Road Beach Krafft Road Beach Lakeport State Campground Lakeport State Park Lakeside Beach Marine City Beach Marine City Diving Area Metcalf Road Beach Washington Street Park Number of samples tested in 2013 Number of samples that exceeded coli limits 0 0 0 0 48 51 0 52 39 40 0 0 48 48 51 48 54 48 51 48 48 48 51 48 48 48 48 3 3 2 3 1 0 1 3 0 6 1 6 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 2 SOURCE: Natural Resources Defense Council Report shows 6 percent samples indicate risky erm levels in the water By Crystal Garcia Times Herald MORE ONLINE Check out video of how water is tested at ww.thetimesherald.com. Face it: no end to orange bar- els and detours.

Starting Monday, the eastbound Interstate 69 exit onto the I-69 business loop will be closed until the fall. is part of that whole interchange said Diane Cross, spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Transportation. The $76 million rebuild of the i nterchange in Port Huron Township started in fall 2013 and is scheduled to be finished by fall 2015. It involves 3.7 miles of freeway improvements and includes eplacing several bridges and ramps. During the ramp closure, Cross said, people will be detoured on to the interchange to the Lapeer connector to Construction will close eastbound I-69 exit By Beth LeBlanc Times Herald.