Rover looks number of veterans buried at local cemetery, what's being built in Haring Township

CADILLAC — Did you miss it?

I bet you did. While most of you were sleeping, something happened early Saturday morning. We officially said goodbye to summer and hello to fall. At 2:50 a.m. Saturday, the fall equinox occurred in the Northern Hemisphere, but the equinox occurs at the same moment worldwide.

I’m sure you are all intrigued, so Rover thought before he answered some readers’ questions he would give a little information about this annual event and what it means. While some might think it means it’s time to enjoy all things pumpkin spice and the coming of sweatshirt weather, it is more than that.

In the Northern Hemisphere, the autumnal equinox occurs in September, while in the Southern Hemisphere, it occurs in March.

During an equinox, the sun crosses what we call the “celestial equator, an imaginary extension of Earth’s equator line into space, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac. The equinox occurs precisely when the sun’s center passes through this line.

For those in the Northern Hemisphere, the almanac said when the sun crosses the equator going from north to south, this marks the autumnal equinox. When it crosses from south to north, this marks the vernal equinox. In the Southern Hemisphere, it’s the reverse.

After the autumnal equinox, days become shorter than nights as the sun continues to rise later and nightfall arrives earlier. The almanac said this, however, ends with the winter solstice, after which days start becoming longer.

The word “equinox” comes from the Latin aequus, meaning “equal,” and nox, ”night.” On the equinox, day and night are roughly equal in length, according to the almanac.

Now that you likely have more information than you ever wanted about the fall equinox, Rover will get back to what he does best, answering readers’ questions.

This week, Rover had questions asking him to find out how many veterans are buried in Maple Hill Cemetery in Cadillac. He also answered a question about construction occurring in Haring Township near Walmart.

Remember, if you have a question and you would like the newshound to sniff out an answer, email it to news@cadillacnews.com, submit it via the Cadillac News website or call (231) 775-6564. There also is an Ask Rover Facebook page that is getting rolled out where previous Ask Rover questions and answers are posted. You can submit questions there as well.

Q: How many veterans are buried in Maple Hill Cemetery?

A: Rover reached out to Cadillac Assistant DPW Operations Manager and Cemetery Sexton Gabe Marine to get this answer. He told Rover there are approximately 1,600 veterans who are buried at Maple Hill Cemetery.

Marine said the cemetery has veterans dating back to the Spanish-American War and then all wars after that buried in the cemetery including the Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Q: What is being built on Boon Road in front of the Walmart?

A: Back in June, the Cadillac News did a story about this. At the time, Haring Township Zoning Director Mike Green said a site plan was approved in Haring Township for a Popeyes that will be built in the Walmart parking lot facing toward Boon Road. That was all the information Green had but said there could be more information available by calling the building department in Wexford County.

In June, building department manager Brooke Fuller said a building permit was filed, received and it was issued in May. She said typically those permits are good for one year but they have to start the project within the first six months. She also said a soil and erosion permit was filed for the location.

On those permits, Fuller said the building department requests an estimated time for the start of construction and when it will be completed. On that permit, Fuller said May 2023 was designated as a start time for temporary erosion measures with an estimated time of October for completion of site work.

According to the Popeyes website, the restaurant was founded in 1972 by Al Copeland. It started with a small restaurant in a New Orleans suburb but has expanded the brand of New Orleans–style fried chicken restaurants to more than 2,700 restaurants in the United States and around the world.

Rover reached out to Restaurant Brands International Inc., to see if they could provide an opening date for the new restaurant, but didn’t hear back in time for this week’s Ask Rover. RBI owns the Popeyes brand, as well as Tim Hortons, Burger King and Firehouse Subs.