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Upper Peninsula might make effort to secede from state

May 16, 2012

Some know residents of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, or U.P., as nothing more than Yoopers, but at a recent Marquette County Board of Commissioners meeting, there was an effort to have their voice be heard.

At the meeting, Marquette County Commissioner Mike Quayle brought up the idea of having the Upper Peninsula split from Michigan and become the 51st state.

The idea was sparked by a proposed new tax on mining operations in the U.P. and other issues with
financial aid.

“Out of frustration, I didn’t propose, I suggested we look at seceding from the rest of the state (to) form our own state,” Quayle said.

St. Ignace resident Stephanie Damron, a family community services junior, said she likes the idea, but she does not see it ever going through.

“People up in the U.P. would be able to actually spend the money coming from the area and not have it distributed throughout the Lower Peninsula,” Damron said. “It would boost up the economy as a whole.”

Damron said she would still support the idea, even knowing she might have to pay out-of-state tuition to go to MSU.

She is hoping for what Great Lakes historian, James Carter said is a reciprocity agreement, which Michigan does for those residents in the neighboring states to have lower tuition costs and said she feels the Upper Peninsula does not get the revenue it needs from the state.

Carter authored a book on the historical account of the U.P.’s succession, “Superior: A State for the North Country,” and said he does not take any stance on whether the U.P. should become an independent state in his book, but does describe the history of the issue.

“Legally you could do it, the steps are all outlined,” Carter said. “As far as I can see, economically, it would be a burden to be a state separately.”

Upon hearing about the interest in the U.P. becoming its own state, graduate student Lex Ariff said he questioned the economic feasibility of the change

“I think it would affect unemployment rates in the U.P.,” Ariff said.

“I don’t think they can stand on their own, given the U.P. is way up there.”

Supply chain management senior Chanika Dorsey agreed with Ariff and said she doesn’t see a way the U.P. could become its own state.

“Michigan has more problems (than this),” she said. “It’s Michigan. It’s all the same state.”

Quayle does not see his idea following through, but he believes it would be successful if passed.

“Wouldn’t it be nice to learn from everybody else’s mistakes through the years and have a government for the people from the people?” Quayle said.

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