John Stamos and Other Celebrities

It's random topic day here at Luke's Ponderings, and today I want to discuss a recent event that had Marquette, Michigan in the national spotlight. It's regarding the John Stamos extortion plot, where two individuals were accused of extorting $680,000 from John Stamos over supposed incriminating photos of Mr. Stamos. The trial wrapped up yesterday and the two accused, Allison Coss and Scott Sippola, were found guilty of extorting Mr. Stamos. It's an unfortunate event that lead John Stamos to the Upper Peninsula - and despite trying to keep his name clear of any wrongdoing, hopefully he enjoyed his visit away from the courtroom.

One individual asked Mr. Stamos how the city of Marquette was treating him. His response, "it's a beautiful little town." I couldn't agree more and I know many other people who have visited have felt the same way. As I said, it's unfortunate it took a trial like the one he dealt with for him to visit here. Because the Upper Peninsula, not just Marquette, is a beautiful place. It's also unfortunate how two greedy individuals could've given the Upper Peninsula a black eye by their attempted extortion plot. However, I'm sure many people out there who are familiar with the U.P. and it's people realize we're not all like that. There's only a few bad eggs; yet it's always the bad eggs who give us bad press.

And then I got to thinking about other celebrities who have visited the Upper Peninsula at some point in their lives, for less negative circumstances. The Rolling Stones made a visit to Marquette when one of their former band members, who was from Marquette, passed away. Kirk Gibson, former Detroit Tigers player and current manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks, has snowmobiled in the Upper Peninsula. Ted Nugent, musician and spokesperson, has hunted in the U.P as well as performed and given speeches. There was also a rumor that Madonna owned a camp on Lake Michigamme at one point in time, but I don't know if that was ever true at all. And several musicians and artists have performed at shows in casinos in Bark River and Sault Ste. Marie, as well as on Northern Michigan University's campus. I mean really, if you think about it, it's extremely rare for A-list celebrities to visit the U.P., but it's not inconceivable for other lower list celebrities to come up here. Some people may not recognize them nearly as much as they might in more populated areas.

As for Coss and Sippola, they are out on bond until sentencing in the fall. They face the potential of five years of prison time for their attempted extortion plot. It's rather strange of them pulling off such a stunt when the supposed incriminating photographs were never found. All that we saw was a photo of Stamos posing with Coss. And Mr. Stamos poses with fans all of the time, just as he did outside of the courthouse in Marquette this week. Needless to say, it was a dumb move on Coss and Sippola's part, no matter what financial situation one might be in. Sippola built a ritzy home in Marquette Township and his nightclub in Marquette wasn't doing so hot. There's speculation he was trying to extort this money from Stamos just to make ends meet. Whatever the case, he and Coss were caught red handed. Now they'll likely be sentenced at least a few years, if not more, of jail time.