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SUNDAY, AUGUST 24, 2014 I LIVINGSTONDAILY.COM I MPA 2011 & 2012 NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR I
LIVINGSTON COUNTY DAILY
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INDEX
INSIDE
BRIGHTON
GARDEN CLUB
CELEBRATING 40
YEARS PAGE 1C
MARSHALL TUCKER
BAND WILL JAM IN
BRIGHTON PAGE 3A
Gubernatorial candidates split on data Page 7A
Southwest Gas is eliminat-
ing three natural gas storage
wells for each horizontal stor-
age well drilled at the 12,000-
acre, 70-well Howell Gas Stor-
age Field, a company repre-
sentative said.
The project is a “win-win”
forthecommunityandcompa-
ny because it eliminates wells
while improving the efficien-
cy of pipeline deposit and re-
moval of natural gas, spokes-
woman Vicki Anderson Gra-
nado said.
The company is in its third
year of the project that caps
existing vertical wells and
drills horizontally into the nat-
ural gas storage reservoir,
which stretches across How-
ell, Marion and Genoa town-
ships.
The project does not in-
volve drilling for new natural
gas or hydraulic fracturing, or
“fracking,” which also utilizes
horizontal drilling.
Each horizontal well
reaches natural gas storage
once accessed by three verti-
cal wells, Granado explained.
“Foreverynewwellthatwe
drill, because of the horizontal
(drilling) it’s going to allow us
to reduce our footprint. We
would imagine that the com-
munity would be happy that
Horizontal drilling helps
eliminate gas storage wells
By Christopher Behnan
Daily Press & Argus
ONLINE
Learn more about natural gas
storage in Michigan at http://
www.dleg.state.mi.us/mpsc/
gas/about3.htm.
See DRILLING, Page 2A
Lt.Gov.BrianCalleyfought
off a challenge from “tea par-
ty” favorite and Hartland
Township resi-
dent Wes Naka-
giri at the Michi-
gan Republican
Party’s state
convention Sat-
urday in Novi
and will remain
on the ticket
with Gov. Rick
Snyder in the
November election.
In a sign of unity, Nakagiri
drew loud applause and only a
few boos when he asked that
the results be made unani-
mous so the party could “unite
and defeat the Democrats.”
The official results were
not released, but several party
insiderswhoscrutinizethetal-
ly said Calley won with more
than 60 percent of the votes.
Snyder, Calley and the rest
of the Republican ticket ap-
peared at a news conference a
short time later and said the
party is united going into No-
vember.
The party and the grass
rootshave“neverbeenstrong-
er,”andtheenergydirectedto-
ward the lieutenant governor
fight can now be aimed at the
Democrats, Calley, a former
staterepresentativeandbank-
Hartland’s Nakagiri falls
short in bid for lt. gov.
‘Tea party’ activist
fails to oust Calley
By Paul Egan
Gannett Michigan
See NAKAGIRI, Page 5A
Wes
Nakagiri
Mark Howell counts himself
as one of the lucky ones.
His condition, unlike that of
many people entered into med-
ical trials, improved dramat-
ically despite a year of red tape
and bureaucracy to find experi-
mental treatment that worked.
But the Oceola Township
man may have had access to the
lifesaving treatment a year ear-
lier under “right to try” legisla-
tion.
“Right to try” allows drug
companies and physicians to
providenon-U.S.FoodandDrug
Administration-approved med-
ications to patients with proven
advanced or terminal illnesses.
“That’s definitely an option
that I could have had that I real-
ly didn’t have at the time. For
me, especially, that would have
kept another door open,” said
Howell, who is being treated for
stage 4 melanoma.
“There’s so many different
rules and regulations for who is
eligible,” he added.
The Legislature is consider-
ing a bill that would provide le-
gal protections to pharmaceuti-
cal companies and physicians
who provide unapproved drugs
in Michigan. To qualify, a drug
in question would have to com-
plete an initial medical trial.
A challenging year
“Right to try,” in concept,
could untangle a complicated
web of bureaucracy to access
experimental drugs, Howell
said.
His journey made headlines
in October, when the congres-
Cancer survivor touts ‘right to try’
Legislature eyes
bill for protections
By Christopher Behnan
Daily Press & Argus
See TRY, Page 5A
It was a day of classic Euro-
pean style to benefit local resi-
dents during Le Concours de
Livingston, held Saturday at
Whispering Pines Golf Club.
Classic high-performance
European cars, including Fer-
raris, Bugattis and Maseratis,
were displayed along the Ham-
burg Township golf club’s
greens during the event, which
benefited for Love In the
Name of Christ of the Greater
Livingston Area.
Love INC will use proceeds
from the event to support so-
cial assistance programs at 58
area churches. Love INC pro-
vides support to an estimated
7,500 Livingston County resi-
dents each year.
This year’s event was the
fourth annual and first held at
Whispering Pines.
Additional information
about Love INC services is
available at http://www.
livingstonloveinc.org.
CARS PRODUCE A CLASSIC
BENEFIT FOR LOVE INC
With a 1985 Ferrari 308 GTB in the foreground, from left, Kip Wasenko, Lamberto Smigliani, Lamberto Smigliani Sr. and Jesse Nyikon look at a 1970 Ferrari 246 GT Dino on Saturday
during Le Concours de Livingston at Whispering Pines Golf Club in Hamburg Township. GILLIS BENEDICT/DAILY PRESS & ARGUS
Le Concours
de Livingston
supports many
See a photo gallery at
livingstondaily.com.

2. NEWS Sunday, August 24, 2014 • DAILY PRESS & ARGUS 5Awww.livingstondaily.com
sional shutdown tempora-
rily short-circuited his
plans for a federally fund-
ed treatment program
that has up to a 70 percent
success rate.
Howell was eventually
approved for screening at
the National Cancer Insti-
tute, part of the National
Institutes of Health, after
a local support effort.
Howell was awaiting
word from the NCI when
he learned its admissions
system closed because of
the shutdown.
He later participated
in a chemotherapy medi-
cal trial through the Uni-
versity of Michigan. Tu-
mors that first shrunk
about 40 percent through
chemotherapy eventually
grew back.
This spring, he was en-
rolled in a trial of a drug
treatment known as PD1,
a treatment that strength-
ens the immune system to
allow it to kill cancer
cells.
The PD1 treatment
made the most differ-
ence, recently resulting
in as much as a 400 per-
cent reduction of his two
major tumors.
The treatment was a
Phase 4 trial when Howell
first applied for it. The
classification means it
has the most limited ac-
cess on the federal gov-
ernment’s four-phase
scale.
PD1 was later ap-
proved for “compassion-
ate use,” which allows
physicians to administer
the drug in potentially
lifesaving situations.
Medicaltrialsoftencut
short access to potentially
livesaving treatments
when patients choose sep-
arate options, Howell
said.
While he has shown
dramatic improvement,
Howell said he would
have gained peace of
mind with access to PD1 a
year earlier.
“How many people are
faced with similar situa-
tions and frankly don’t
have some of the luck that
I’ve had? A lot of other
people are left out to dry,”
Howell said.
Legislative action
The state Senate ap-
proved Senate Bill 991
this month, and it could be
considered in the House
as early as this week.
It would not require
medical coverage of un-
approved drugs.
It received bipartisan
support and little, if any,
public protest.
Critics elsewhere have
challenged the safety of
the concept, however.
A potential fallback of
thebillisthatitcan’tover-
rule FDA rules because
the Legislature can only
change state law.
Michigan is about the
fourth state to pass “right
to try,” however, which is
drawing growing atten-
tion to the issue, said bill
sponsor Sen. John Pappa-
george, R-Troy.
Pappageorge said it’s
only a matter of time be-
foreCongressenactsana-
tionwide “right to try”
law. The World Health Or-
ganization recently
adopted the policy to treat
Ebola patients in Africa.
Pappageorge’s wife
died in 1993 after a battle
with pancreatic cancer.
He said they would have
considered any treatment
option available in her fi-
nal days.
“We tried everything
we could, and had there
been somethinglike ‘right
to try,’ we would have
done that, too. When
you’re in that situation, to
have somebody say, ‘We
don’t know if this is safe
or not,’ is silly,” he said.
State Sen. Joe Hune, R-
Hamburg Township, vot-
ed in favor of Michigan’s
“right to try” bill.
Hune said he support-
ed the bill because it has
clear guidelines that en-
sure unapproved drugs
are only made available in
cases of last resort.
He said the FDA could
still target drug compa-
nies, but that they would
at least be protected in
Michigan courts.
“If you’re in your last
days of your illness and
you have sought every
other alternative, this
maybeanissue.It’ssome-
thingforfolkstoconsider,
but I don’t see it as a
harmful thing,” Hune
said.
“I think it’s a humane
step forward,” he added.
Contact Daily Press & Argus
reporter Christopher Behnan
at 517-548-7108 or at
cbehnan@gannett.com.
Follow him @LCLansingGuy
on Twitter.
Try
Continued from Page 1A
ROAD TO RECOVERY
The Daily Press & Argus has followed Mark Howell’s medical
progress since the congressional shutdown shortcut his original
treatment path 10 months ago.
For the past several weeks, the Oceola Township resident
has been administered the PD1 immunotherapy treatment at a
Mayo Clinic facility in Jacksonville, Florida. He flies to and from
the Florida clinic for the treatment.
Howell recently learned that what were once two baseball-
sized tumors are now only acorn-sized tumors, he said.
“We’re expecting more good results,” Howell said. “We’re
just continuing to watch those and treat those. Nothing new
has popped up, so that’s good news as well.”
The hope is for the PD1 treatment to remove remaining
signs of his cancer. Removal of what remains of the tumors also
could become an option.
He and his wife, Christina, and son, Gabriel, 1, recently sold
their Brighton Township home and moved to Oceola Town-
ship.
The cost of Howell’s treatments necessitated the move.
er from Portland in Ionia
County, told reporters.
Snyder described the
challenge as a successful
“exercise in the demo-
cratic process.”
But it wasn’t immedi-
ately clear what propor-
tion of Nakagiri sup-
porters would vote for the
Snyder-Calley ticket.
“I’m very disappoint-
ed,” said David Lonier of
Auburn Hills, a Nakagiri
supporter who is running
for the state House.
“I was hopeful that we
would have some counter-
balance to this liberal-
leaning Republican Par-
ty.”
Nakagiri is an engi-
neering manager in the
autoindustryand“teapar-
ty” activist who tapped
unhappiness with the ad-
ministration’s support of
issues such as Medicaid
expansion related to the
Affordable Care Act and
the Common Core nation-
wideeducationstandards.
Lonier said he still
plans to support Republi-
cancandidateswhofollow
Republican principles,
but he would have to “wait
and see” whether that
would include the gover-
nor.
The convention vote
cappedaprotractedbattle
that featured a fight for
precinct delegates and
raucous disputes over the
election of state conven-
tion delegates at some
county conventions.
The “tea party” was
handed a defeat in the oth-
er contentious Republi-
can contest Saturday, as
Dr. Rob Steele and Ron
Weiser were selected to
be the party’s candidates
for the U-M Board of Re-
gents.
Weiser, a former state
party chairman, national
financechairmanandU.S.
ambassador to Slovakia,
has broad support but
fought charges he is a Re-
publican in name only.
Earlier,Snydergavean
emphatic defense of Cal-
ley as he opened the Mich-
igan Republican Conven-
tion with an unusually ani-
mated speech.
“Brian Calley is the
best lieutenant governor
in the U.S.,” Snyder told
more than 2,100 delegates
at the Suburban Collec-
tion Showplace in Novi.
“He’s a strong conser-
vativevoiceinouradmini-
stration,” Snyder shouted
to the crowd. “We don’t al-
waysseeeyetoeye,buthe
speaks up, and we work as
a team.”
Many of Nakagiri’s
supporters shouted, “No,”
when Snyder said: “We
need to keep Brian in this
position.”
Snyder touted his ad-
ministration’s record
since Republicans swept
all major statewide of-
fices in 2010, saying:
“Let’s sweep again in
2014.”
Snyder told the crowd
thatjobs,personalincome
and population are all re-
covering.
“We’re hitting on all
cylinders,”and“thisisnot
the time to go back to the
past, to those old broken
Michigan days,” he said.
StateRepublicanshave
repeatedly said a vote for
the Democratic guberna-
torial candidate, Howell
native and former Con-
gressman Mark Schauer
of Battle Creek, would be
a vote to return to the pol-
icies of former Democrat-
ic Gov. Jennifer Gran-
holm.
But Joshua Pugh, a
spokesman for the Michi-
gan Democratic Party,
said “it’s absurd to see
them desperately spin-
ning the outcome of their
fractious convention.”
Delegates also formal-
ly nominated the party’s
candidates for statewide
offices in the Nov. 4 elec-
tion. They nominated in-
cumbents Bill Schuette
for attorney general and
Ruth Johnson for secre-
tary of state, and Justices
Brian Zahra and David
Viviano for the Michigan
Supreme Court. Also
nominated for the Su-
preme Court, to fill an
open seat, was Kent Coun-
ty Circuit Judge James
Robert Redford.
The convention also
nominated candidates
Maria Carl and Jonathan
Williams for the State
Board of Education; Mi-
chael Busuito and Satish
Jasti for the Wayne State
University Board of Gov-
ernors, and Melanie Fos-
ter and Jeff Sakwa for the
Michigan State Univer-
sity Board of Trustees.
Dan Osterman, a con-
vention delegate who is a
mechanical engineer
from Belleville, said be-
forethevotethathewould
likely vote for Nakagiri.
The “tea party” challeng-
er doesn’t necessarily
need to win, just put up a
strong showing, Oster-
man said.
“It sends a message to
the governor,” he said. “It
would send a clear mes-
sage to him that you need
to start acting like a con-
servative.”
Julie Van Ameyde, a
first-time delegate from
Northville who owns a so-
cial media marketing
company, said she be-
lieves a governor should
be able to pick his own
running mate.
“I like Brian Calley,”
she said. “No one is going
to be perfect when it
comes to things that you
want, but I like Brian Cal-
ley and I feel like he is ap-
proachable.”
The Michigan Demo-
cratic Party also is hold-
ing its convention this
weekend at the Lansing
Center.
Nakagiri
Continued from Page 1A
“It would send a
clear message to
him that you
need to start
acting like a
conservative.”
DAN OSTERMAN WILLIAMSBURG — A
northern Michigan
mother and her 12-
year-old daughter
were hospitalized after
being hit by different
cars while walking
along a rural road.
A newspaper re-
ported Friday that 47-
year-old Bonnie Bab-
cock suffered a verte-
brae fracture. Jordan
Babcock suffered a
fractured pelvis and
internal injuries.
Jordan Babcock
was struck Thursday
near Williamsburg,
east of Traverse City.
Her mother was hit by
the second car as she
tried to help the girl.
The 40-year-old
driver of the car that
hit Jordan has been
charged with driving
while intoxicated caus-
ing serious injury. The
driver of the vehicle
that hit Bonnie Bab-
cock was not charged.
Mom, girl
struck by
2 vehicles
Associated Press