With the start of the school year quickly approaching, the Michigan State Police wants to remind parents to talk to their children about bus safety and remind motorists to share the road.

Parents should talk to their children about the School Bus Danger Zones that extend 10 feet from the bus in all directions. When leaving the bus, children should walk 10 feet away from the bus before turning. Children crossing in front of the bus should move forward away from the bus until they can make eye contact with the driver. They should never cross in front of the bus without the driver’s permission.

Additional safety tips for parents to share with their children:

• Have a safe place to wait for the bus, away from traffic and the street.

• Do not run or play while waiting for the bus.

• Make sure to always remain in clear view of the bus driver. Never go behind the bus.

• Stay away from the bus until it comes to a complete stop and the driver signals you to enter.

• Walk to the bus stop with a buddy.

• Mind all traffic signals and/or the crossing guard. Never cross the street against a light, even if you do not see traffic coming.

• Do not talk to strangers. Tell your parents if a stranger tries to talk to you.

• Never leave with a stranger or get into a stranger’s vehicle.

Motorists are reminded to pay attention to school bus lights and observe the school bus stop law.

When approaching a school bus with its lights activated, motorists should always:

• Prepare to stop when a slowing bus has its overhead yellow lights flashing.

• Come to a complete stop at least 20 feet away from the bus when its overhead red lights are flashing. Do not proceed until the bus resumes motion and/or you are signaled to do so by the bus driver.

• Proceed with caution when the hazard warning lights, located near the headlights, are flashing.

With residents still squawking over allowing chickens to be raised in the city, Wayland City Council on Monday, Aug. 20, decided to revisit a chicken ordinance that had been tabled last year with the transition of a new city manager.

“I’ve heard more about chickens than any other issue in my 13 years on the council, especially in the last few weeks,” said mayor pro-tem Jennifer Antel. “Citizens have contacted me both for and against.”

Antel asked the council to move forward on the issue by holding a special meeting or forming a committee to deal with it once and for all.

Council member Tim Rose asked for a special meeting instead of a committee so more opinions could be expressed and council member Joe Kramer suggested a larger venue for meeting space since it was a hot topic.

Kelle Tobolic, a resident and Main Street/DDA member, said chickens were a want not a need and the city already does a lot to accommodate people. People like to raise cows, pigs and horses but don’t feel it’s necessary in the city, she said.

“And the last thing I’d like to see is sending the police to do a chicken check,” she said. “I don’t want my tax money spent on that.”

Joel Dressler of Standish Drive said he liked to see the ordinance back on the table for a proper discussion.

A special meeting will be called in September or by October.

In other business:

•The council unanimously approved the rezoning of two parcels on Reno Drive and a special use permit to operate a daycare center at 227 Apollo Place.

•Authorized the purchase of a junior plow wing for $13,474, which will help to plow more snow in less time in the winter months.

•Announced the splash pad will be closed after Labor Day unless the weather continues to stay hot.

Virginia Ransbottom can be contacted at vransbottom@allegannews.com or at (269) 673-5534.

With mixed emotions, Allegan City Council discussed the future of the vacant, city-owned Brady Street lot between 2nd Street Bridge and Mahan Park at their council meeting on Monday, Aug. 27.

While council member Nancy Ingalsbee was against any development more than two stories tall, she also did not want to see the loss of green space for July 3 Jubilee spectators, Bridgefest inflatables and Art in the Park events.

“If there’s a four-plus story building put there it will cut off the view of the boardwalk and people will only see a building, which won’t make them very happy after giving us money to make the boardwalk a recreation area,” she said.

All agreed a restaurant with outdoor seating along the riverfront would be a good fit but will be keeping an open mind to other developments, with parameters, as a pamphlet is developed to market the site to future developers.

As a certified Redevelopment Ready Community through the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, Allegan is receiving pro-bono predevelopment services through the MEDC as a way to help develop any underutilized city owned sites. Through a workshop provided by the MEDC and the Michigan Municipal League, city staff and a small group of community stakeholders were able to discuss possible uses and developments that could be placed on lot.

After that discussion last week, it was decided the best choice would be a three- or four-story mixed-use development that included a semi-public space.

Using this information, the MEDC and Michigan Municipal League team will be putting together a request for developer qualifications.

That request, along with a completed market research  study, will be available in October.

Prior to being a vacant lot, it is believed that the site was used as an auto repair garage. It is currently zoned C-1 (Central Business District).

The parcel was sold by the city to Grill House and Montage owners Marcia and Dan Wagner for $1 in 2008 to be developed as a restaurant; however, the economy tanked and the lot was sold back to the city for the same price in 2009.

A request-for-quote example produced by the Michigan Municipal League seeking developer plans for a lot in the City of Ypsilanti’s historic east side neighborhood was presented.

A similar process could be used for Allegan’s presentation. The council approved developing a draft for review.

City manager Joel Dye said the draft could specify conformity to the current zoning, which would limit the height of the building and its use. Complementing the existing boardwalk would also be a parameter.

Council member Patrick Morgan said the lot is the city’s last prime real estate on the riverfront; therefore a plan is needed and it should be sold at full market value.

“I’d like to see development, whether it’s a restaurant, mixed-use or housing but not just a private property turning a profit,” he said. “In my mind, the bonding of $500,000 for recreation on the riverfront was for Mahan Park to the Griswold and didn’t include the lot.”

Tripp said he would like to see a parking plan along with any development plans. He also asked if the “clank, clank, chunk, chunk” from traffic over the Second Street Bridge would be conducive for outdoor seating at a restaurant.

Dye said the city is working on a plan to address the bridge decking.

“It used to be asphalt,” he said. “We can mitigate that.”

Although a waterfront restaurant would be a private property, it could still serve as a park-like environment, Dye said.

“A successful riverfront has a restaurant on the water,” he said. “It lets you hear it, touch it and feel it by being right up on it.

“It’s a special place to go to celebrate special events.”

Dye also said the lot’s current use during festivals could be absorbed elsewhere, while a development would be utilized 365 days of the year instead of just a few.

“The MEDC has heavily funded development in downtown Allegan and this project is exciting to them,” Dye said. “We’re not putting a dime into it. It’ll be an interesting document.”

Council members Traci Perrigo and Delora Andrus said they were anxious to see a request for developer qualifications.

“The property used to have a for-sale sign on it at one point and it was zoned (commercial) for a reason,” Perrigo said.

Andrus said she’d like to see a proposal and then decide whether to sell or not.

Ingalsbee said she’d like it to go to a vote of city residents.

Mike Manning said he was up in the air.

“People have talked about an ice skating rink there,” he said. “They’ve also talked about development, so I have no comment until we see what comes in.”

Mayor pro-tem Rachel McKenzie was absent due to the death of her father.

Virginia Ransbottom can be contacted at vransbottom@allegannews.com or at (269) 673-5534.

OVERISEL TWP.—A person was found dead after a house fire on 46th Street Thursday, Sept. 6.

According to the Allegan County Sheriff’s Office, central dispatch got a 911 call about 10:13 a.m. reporting a house on fire in the 4600 block of 46th Street with a resident unable to get out.

Deputy Flokstra arrived and found the house fully on fire. The deputy and a neighbor tried to get into the house to help the resident but were unable because of the amount of smoke and flames.

After five local fire departments put out the fire, the lone resident of the home, whose identity wasn’t released by police, was found dead inside.

Firefighters from the Overisel Township Fire Department, Salem Township Fire Department, the Hamilton Fire Department, the Zeeland Fire Department and the Holland Fire Department responded.

The sheriff’s office and the Michigan State Police Fire Marshall’s Office are investigating the fire.

A ribbon cutting ceremony Thursday, Aug. 30, at the Otsego Township Dam impoundment area marked the completion of a two-year cleanup effort and the reopening of the Kalamazoo River to the public.

Representatives from the Michigan departments of Natural Resources and Environmental Quality, the EPA, U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, state Rep. Mary Whiteford and several area neighbors gathered at the site to open the gates and take the first paddle down the natural course of the river, diverted more than a century ago when the dam was built.

Lois Heuchert, owner of Plainwell Kayak Company, supplied the kayaks and a sign that said “Welcome Back.”

Mark Mills, DNR wildlife field operations manager said the river and state-managed properties along its banks are open to the public for access and outdoor activities. The site has been closed since 2016 to ensure safe operations during the cleanup, dam removal and to allow plants and grass to get established.

Upton and DNR deputy director Bill O’Neil cut the ribbon. Upton tossed the “Closed” sign aside and the red warning gate was opened.

Upton said just the week before, along with help from a lot of people, including the DNR, $180,000 was spent with Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grant money for the Allegan County Conservation to implement an incentive program for best practices to reduce sedimentation in the Gun River watershed.

“We’ve all worked together as we think about contaminated areas around the country,” he said. “Superfund has been a big help along with brownfield legislation, which I’ve helped sponsor year after year constructing bipartisan amendments.

“But this is the day we really look forward to—a day we can actually open this back up to where we all want it to be.”

The river can be accessed at two public parking lots: Jefferson Road west of Otsego at the Pine Creek impoundment, and at the former dam location near Fox Mountain Drive, east of Bittersweet Ski Area on River Road.

Heuchert recommends the Fox Mountain launch for families who want to bypass a choppy area just downriver of the former dam.

That’s an area where the valley narrows with underwater boulders and a little bit of white water. With a stronger current, it could be a hazard for beginners. Thursday, with the water level down slightly, kayakers got splashed and had a blast.

“It’s a natural geological formation,” said Mills.

Plainwell Kayak Company is now offering the two-hour float down to the Trowbridge Dam as one of the company’s rental excursions.

The Otsego Township Dam cleanup site is a 1.7-mile stretch of a larger 80-mile cleanup in Allegan County on the Allied Paper/Portage Creek/Kalamazoo River Superfund site. The $33-$35 million project completed included the removal of the Otsego Township Dam, removal of PCB-contaminated sediments and soils from the river channel and banks, and restoration of the banks with native vegetation.

Caused from the dam, the state purchased the flooded banks of the river back in the 1960s. After taking out the dam, those banks are now above ground again and accessible to the public.

Mills said the effort is paying off, with fish and wildlife quickly recolonizing—as well as outdoor recreation enthusiasts as of Thursday.

The Trowbridge Dam removal is the next piece of the puzzle for contamination cleanup and restoring the natural flow of the water. Upriver of the dam, which is failing, the current slows dramatically.

Otsego resident Sheri Vandenbosh who lives around the bend from the launch was elated to be one of the first people back on the river.

“It was so dirty and they cleaned it up so much, it’s just beautiful,” she said.

For more information about recreation opportunities or safety restrictions at this site, contact the DNR Customer Service Center in Plainwell at (269) 685-6851.

Virginia Ransbottom can be contacted at vransbottom@allegannews.com or at (269) 673-5534.

Storm clouds parted just in time for a sturgeon release party on Wednesday, Aug. 29, at the New Richmond Bridge County Park. A few hundred people descended upon the Kalamazoo River for the release of 35 6- to 9-inch sturgeon reared in the streamside hatchery at the park.

A young red-tailed hawk even joined the party, swooping down next to the bridge and capturing a snake before landing on a car for photos by spectators. Appetite satisfied, the fish were safe.

The Gun Lake Tribe of Pottawatomi Indians; Michigan Department of Natural Resources; U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service; Kalamazoo River Chapter of Sturgeon for Tomorrow, and Grand Valley State University led the release ceremony.

Sturgeon, or Nmé in Pottawatomi, is culturally important to the tribe as the fish represents an animal clan in traditional beliefs. Sturgeon clan people have spiritual knowledge offered as guidance to others and they live to an old age, just like lake sturgeon. The rehabilitation of lake sturgeon is also a reflection of the tribe’s present-day progression as a community and a tribal government.

A welcome was provided by Tribal Council vice chairman Ed Pigeon who said the release was the fourth since 2011. Tribal drum group, Sons of the Three Fires performed. The event included hatchery tours and light dinner.

During a hatchery tour, Gun Lake Tribe environmental biologist Jason Lorenz who reared the sturgeon since spring, said at six to nine inches the sturgeon have a better chance for survival because they are unlikely to be eaten by predators. With the natural survival rate of one in 1,000, the hatchery is increasing the odds.

Starting each spring, lake sturgeon travel past New Richmond Park to spawn upstream at the Allegan Dam. There, the sticky eggs and larvae are scooped up and brought to the hatchery trailer to be reared in protection from predators, starvation and disease.

Water from the river is circulated through rearing tanks to allow the young lake sturgeon to imprint to the river. As adults, they will return there to spawn. The technique enhances survival and helps maintain the population’s unique genetic characteristics.

Female sexual maturity isn’t reached for 20 to 26 years and 12 to 16 years for males. Female sturgeon spawn once every four to six years, while males spawn every one to two years. When the females spawn they lay 4,000 to 7,000 eggs per pound of fish. Their typical life span is 60-80 years and 55 years for males. They can grow to more than 7-feet-long and weigh over 240 pounds. Some have been known to live over 100 years.

“We started with 300 eggs this spring, 100 hatched but then we ended up with 60,” he said. “When we start to change their food some of them die off,” Lorenz said. 

Historically, spawning groups were between 50 to 200 but today less than 25 individual sturgeon ascend the river annually due to habitat loss.

Punkin Shananaquet, the tribe’s language and cultural coordinator, explained to the crowd that Nmé in Pottawatomi means king of the fish.

“Gathering as relatives to this earth, land and water, we release the little spirit fish, welcome them home and tell them to be determined on life because the young will take 100 years to reach maturity—like us—the ones who wear a blanket of snow on their heads, they will be a grandmother you go to seeking advice,” Shananaquet said. “This is a time to cherish. All ages, all colors and all walks of life are here today for one commonality—to preserve the sturgeon—the spirit of the Kalamazoo,” she said. “Especially the children who some day will be saving it.”

The first seven sturgeon were released by the Tribe. The rest were released by curious children in the crowd.

Virginia Ransbottom can be contacted at vransbottom@allegannews.com or at (269) 673-5534.

A Galesburg woman was bound over to Allegan County Circuit Court for her part in a series of crimes in Otsego in January.

Heidi Ann Hermann, 30, was in Allegan County District Court Aug. 9, according to court records, and waived her preliminary hearing on three felony charges.

She’s accused of being part of a robbery Jan. 26 in Otsego’s Mountain Home Cemetery.

Police said she got the owner of a pickup to drive her to the cemetery on the pretext of visiting her grandfather’s grave. When they got there, police alleged, she and Adam Nicholas Hahn, 27, of Kalamazoo, stole the pickup and assaulted the owner.

A few days later, the pickup was noticed at a rest stop in Hancock County, Ohio, by an Ohio State Trooper who ran the plates and saw the truck was stolen. The trooper arrested Hermann and Hahn.

Hermann was arraigned in May on two counts of armed robbery, one count of larceny from a person and one count of unlawful driving away an automobile.

The unlawful driving away an automobile charge was dropped before the hearing.

Hahn is charged with assaulting/resisting/obstructing police as a third habitual offender, escape from lawful custody, first degree home invasion as a third habitual offender and two counts unlawful driving away of a motor vehicle between this incident an another two days earlier in Plainwell. He has also been bound over to Allegan County Circuit Court.

Contact Dan Pepper at dpepper@allegannews.com or at (269) 673-5534.

While the levels were not known, state and local health officials got word to 16 households in the Otsego and Plainwell area over the weekend that dioxin showed up in a test of their well water.

The results are preliminary, and re-testing will be done, but Eden Wells, chief medical executive for the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services, said residents at those wells needed to use alternate drinking water.

“It’s a screen, but it tells us enough to where... this was something where we needed to get word out, let people know,” Wells said at a press briefing Saturday, Sept. 1, at Plainwell Public Safety. “If that signal’s true, we want to be the most proactive.”

Officials did not publicly release which homes had tested positive, saying only that 14 were in Allegan County and two were in Alamo Township.

After a public effort to spur state agencies to action earlier this year, 56 private wells were tested in July for hundreds of chemicals connected to waste from local paper mills and that were dumped locally and applied to fields and roads in the area decades ago.

Allegan County Health Department health officer Angelique Joynes said the samples were being tested for many types of dioxins as well as dozens of other contaminants. While 16 wells showed the presence of two types of dioxin so far, full results may show other wells contain different types of dioxins.

Wells said, “It’s very preliminary. It just tells us there’s a signal there of dioxin. We don’t have all the dioxins and we don’t even have all the wells back yet that were sampled.”

Dioxins are a group of chemicals that may be formed during chemical and paper manufacturing. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, dioxins are highly toxic and can cause cancer, reproductive and developmental problems, damage to the immune system, and can interfere with hormones.

Wells said, “Drinking is the main issue. If you are one of these households contacted by the local health department, it’s okay to be washing hands (and bathing) but we don’t want the ingestion, so mainly the drinking the cooking. Dioxin does not absorb well through skin.”

Pam McQueer, area resident and founder of the community action group that has helped be link between the agencies and the public, said the news was bad but she was grateful for the work the agencies were providing.

“The results of the test are going to scare everybody, including myself,” McQueer said. “With Parchment (wells showing PFAS contamination) being so fresh in everyone’s mind and with Flint. People really truly don’t know what to think.

“But thankful these agencies are doing exactly what they promised to do.”

She also thanked former Otsego resident Mary Zack for first raising alarm bells through the Facebook page “Justice for Otsego,” which served as a forum for concerns and as a link to an online survey about residents’ serious medical conditions, including cancer diagnoses.

“Thank god for Mary Zack that she opened our eyes,” she said.

What’s next?

Dave Heywood with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality’s Kalamazoo office said full results should be known in approximately a week. Those definitive results would say which types of dioxin and other contaminants showed up and in what amounts in each well. There will be additional testing for other dioxin-like chemicals.

“That’s for the first sample collected,” Heywood said. “We’re going to go out and resample the wells where they have the detections to confirm the results. It’s not uncommon for there to be variability with laboratories; sometimes there’s lab error.”

That exact scenario played out earlier in the summer for a Pullman apartment complex’s water supply; a lab provided a false detection of cadmium there. DEQ officials said then that those types of mistakes are rare.

Heywood said the DEQ vets the labs it works with and considers the lab testing Otsego’s results to be reliable.

Residents with questions can call the Allegan County Health Department’s hotline at (269) 686-4546 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Residents can also contact the MDHHS toxicologist at 1-800-648-6942 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday for further information about dioxins.

It is too early to say how the community will contend with the contamination.

Heywood said nearby city wells had shown no detection of one type of dioxin compound.

“The City of Otsego and Otsego Township, they’re going to be asked to go back and look at those results and the data to be able to complete the full picture of what’s in the city system.

“Carbon filtration removes dioxin. At this point, it’s premature to say whether or not that’s going to be an appropriate response. Not only for the city wells, but also for the private wells”

Wells said toxicologists were already speaking with filtration manufacturers to see if that would work as at least an intermediate solution.

Health

Wells said state toxicologists have worked with dioxin issues before in the middle of the state. She said they will gather all of the data from the testing to piece together where the contamination is coming from and who is at risk.

“This is going to be a lot of analysis. This isn’t just looking at these tests,” she said. “They’ll be looking at where the wells are, who nearby may be at risk, what is the water flow underneath the homes, who’s well is at what depth—so many questions have yet to be answered.”

She said even drawing blood from residents now, for example, won’t paint a full picture of a person’s risk, because that won’t tell how much contamination the person had been exposed to in the past.

“We can measure the dioxin. It won’t tell how much at risk of a health problem you are directly,” Wells said, due in part to individuals’ situations. Some, for example, could have had a job at which they worked with, or were exposed to, more chemicals. “Health behaviors, genetics, occupation, all of that becomes rather individualized.”

She did say the state health department would be able to make better assessments for risk for the community and even parts of the community, as with rates of cancer.

“We’re still going to be here. Our knowledge has increased today, but we need a lot more to get a better picture of where we’re going,” Wells said.

Trust

McQueer said she and others with the community action group had witnessed the hard work of those going out and collecting the well water samples. She said she understands that other water crises might play havoc with the public’s trust in the agencies.

“But each and every agency is addressing this head-on, and they’re going to be aggressive and proactive,” she said. “I’m honored to be working alongside all of them.”

As doctor of naturopathy getting ready to open a wellness center, and through her role with the community action group, she said people had been asking her often what all the updates over the past few months had meant. Her phone had been ringing constantly since news of the dioxin broke.

Saturday, for the first time, she shared that the industrial contamination in the area had likely directly affected her.

She lived next to an industrial site in the area in 1978 and 1979. While there, she came down with an eye disease that blinded her for six months and was, doctors told her, the first of its kind.

“Here we are 40 years later, and the answers are coming,” she said. “This is going to be difficult for me. It brings back a lot of tough memories for me. It may not look like it’s bad on the outside, but on the inside (I’m) a volcano.”

But the test results brought a kind of relief.

“It starts putting pieces of puzzle together for me,” McQueer said. “I made it a point when I decided to be a part of the community action group that I would stand up and be the voice of those who had maybe lost their lives as a result of the negligence of some of these companies that are mishandling chemicals.

“I care for my community, where I’ve lived for 40-plus years,” she said. “I don’t ask people to feel bad for me, but I’m coming forward to say that if I can trust these agencies, so can these people today. They are going to help us connect these pieces together.”

Contact Ryan Lewis at rmlewis@allegannews.com or (269) 673-5534.

It’s the opening weekend to “Get Your Fix” at the 166th Allegan County Fair, which began last night and runs through Sept. 15.

It opened Friday, Sept. 7, with 5 Seconds of Summer performing that night with special guest “The Aces.” That afternoon was Open Class Rabbits in the rabbit barn and Open Class Pigeons that evening in the poultry barn.

Saturday, Sept. 8, had the start of Allegan County “Show Us Your Talent” in the community area. At 6:30 p.m. is the Off Road Demo Derby.

In the morning was the Youth Gymkhana Horse Show in Flats Arena, Youth and Open Class Dairy Cow is at Weldon Rumery Arena and Open Class Poultry is in the poultry arena. In the afternoon was the Youth and Open Class Sheep Show at Weldon Rumery Arena.

Here’s the schedule for the rest of the week:

Sunday, Sept. 9, is Family Day with a carload admission price of $15 until 3 p.m. “Taste of the Allegan County Fair” will also offer free food sampling from 1-3 p.m. At 7 p.m. is Pentatonix with special guests Echosmith and Calum Scott.

At 9 a.m. is the Youth English Horse Show at Flats second arena. At 1 p.m. is Youth Poultry and Water Fowl Show at the poultry barn.

Monday, Sept. 10, is Children’s Day with children grades 1-12 admitted free all day.

The midway opens at 3 p.m. with all rides $2 each. Harness Horse Racing starts at noon with free grandstand seating. At 6:30 p.m. the fair parade starts in downtown Allegan and will enter the grandstand area at 7 p.m.

At 9 a.m. is the Swine Show at Weldon Rumery Arena, Open Class Draft Horse and Draft Mule Cart/Hitch and Open Class Harness Pony, Mini Mule Cart/Hitch both at Flats Arena. At 4 p.m. is the Youth Rabbit Show at the rabbit barn.

Tuesday, Sept. 11, is Senior Citizen’s Day. Admission for seniors is $4 until noon. A senior breakfast is a 8 a.m. on the Hilltop. At 7 p.m. is the Flying Star Rodeo with free grandstand seating (after purchasing a general fair admission ticket).

At 9 a.m. is the Beef Show in the Arena. 3 p.m. is the Dairy Starter and Dairy Street Show in the Arena. 4 p.m. is Youth Driving Horse Classes at Flats Arena. 5 p.m. is the 4-H Program (act and demos) in the Youth Exhibit Building.

Wednesday, Sept. 12, is Ladies’ Day. All ladies are admitted for $4 until noon. A 9 a.m. program with West Michigan radio personality Brook Taylor will be at the Hilltop tent. At 7 p.m. is the Southern Uprising tour. Artists include Travis Tritt, the Charlie Daniels Band and the Marshall Tucker Band.

At 11 a.m. is the Youth Livestock Auction in Weldon Rumery Arena.

Thursday, Sept. 13, is Veterans Day. All persons with military tags are admitted free, including parking, until 8 p.m. At 12 p.m. is harness horse racing with free grandstand seating. At 6 p.m. is Allegan County’s “Show Us Your Talent” in the community area and at 7 p.m. is the WPI/NTPA Tractor Pulls.

At 9 a.m. is Draft Horse Halter Class in Weldon Rumery Arena, followed by Special Grade Draft Horse Show; Draft Mules, Mules and Mini Mules; Halter Class; Pony Halter Class and the Open Beef Cattle Show. At 5 p.m. is the Youth Dog Show at the Hilltop tent.

Friday, Sept. 14, at 6 p.m. is the final round in Allegan County’s “Show Us Your Talent.” At 7 p.m. is SJO Super Cross Racing with free grandstand seating.

At 6 p.m. is Top Showman Orientation at Weldon Rumery Arena.

Saturday, Sept. 15, at 6:30 p.m. is the State Championship Demolition Derby.

At 9 a.m. is the Youth Western Horse Show in the Flats. At 4 p.m. is the Youth All Around Showmanship Contest in Weldon Rumery Arena.

For tickets or more information, visit www.allegancountyfair.com or call (269) 673-6501.

Editor's note: This announcement was submitted by Sherrie Chase, B.S.,CPS-M.

World Suicide Prevention Day is every year on Sept. 10. The Allegan County Suicide Prevention Coalition and the International Association for Suicide Prevention is encouraging people to light a candle near a window at 8 p.m. on this day to show support for suicide prevention, to remember a loved one lost through suicide, and for the survivors of a suicide attempt.

The theme of World Suicide Prevention Day this year is “Working Together to Prevent Suicide.” This theme highlights the most essential ingredient for effective global suicide prevention. We all have a role to play and together we can be a part in the prevention of suicide. In the past 45 years there has been a 60-percent increase in suicide rates worldwide. In Michigan, suicide is the second leading cause of death for 15- to 24-year-olds. Although we may see trends at certain times, there is no special type of person that dies by suicide; it can happen to anyone—any age, sex, nationality, culture or religion.

While suicide prevention is important to address year-round, World Suicide Prevention Day provides a dedicated time to come together with strength and courage around a difficult topic.

The Allegan County Suicide Prevention Coalition would like you to join together to prevent suicide by lighting a candle on Sept. 10. We will be offering free candles at the Allegan County Fair to observe the Day in a private and personal way. We will be with the Michigan State Police with their troopers.

The Allegan County Suicide Prevention Coalition is a community collaboration. The mission of the coalition is to “Reduce suicide attempts and deaths in Allegan County through commitment to suicide prevention and support for individuals, families, and community members.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis or experiencing suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Hotline at 1-800-273-TALK or text 741-741 to be connected to a free, trained crisis counselor. If you are interested in participating in the Allegan County Suicide Prevention Coalition, please contact (269) 673-6617 ext. 2711.

Heidi Denton, MSW, CPS-M
Allegan County CMH
Prevention Services
3283 122nd Ave
Allegan, MI 49010

Amy Embury, MA, LLP, CPC-R

Supervisor of Prevention Services

Allegan County Community Mental Health Services

(269) 673-6617  ext. 2711

(269) 686-5201  - Fax
 

Votes for Dorr Township’s recent recycling ballot proposal will be recounted Thursday, Sept. 13.

The proposal passed by a 15-vote margin, 863 to 848.

The official recount will begin at 8:30 a.m. at in the Jury Assembly Room at the Allegan County Courthouse, 113 Chestnut St., Allegan.

Resident and former township board member Patty Senneker requested the recount on the grounds that the vote-tallying machines in the township’s three precincts may not have totaled the votes correctly.

If the vote count stands, each residence in the township would pay a mandatory $36 surcharge annually to help fund recycling services.

Residents can currently pay a voluntary $25 annually to use recycling services coordinated through Allegan County’s Resource Recovery program. The new fee replaces the old one. If the vote tally changes enough that the proposal does not pass, the township will still be able to collect the $25 voluntary fee.

The $36 surcharge will be assessed to all households, including mobile homes.

The proposal voters passed states the funds will be used “to cover operational costs of the programs and to be distributed to Allegan County to fund the collection of materials for recycling including, but not limited to, recyclable materials, household hazardous wastes, tires, batteries, and yard clippings.”

In the lead-up to the vote, township officials had said the money will be used to continue and expand curbside and drop-site recycling programs and that the $25 surcharge no longer covers the costs of current services.

The county clerk’s office announced that any attending the recount process can request accommodation by calling (269) 673-0290.

The recycling surcharge was the only proposal of three they passed. Dorr voters overwhelming turned down an increased library millage, 634 to 1,070, as well as a parks millage 600 to 1,105.

ALLEGAN—Planners Wightman & Associates are hosting an open house Wednesday, Sept. 12, from 6-7 p.m. at the Griswold Auditorium to discuss the future of parks and recreation within the City of Allegan. This open-house style meeting will have several interactive stations for public input.

Standing in front of a vacant building at 120 S. Main St., in Wayland on Monday, Sept. 10, Main Street/DDA executive director, Ingrid Miller accepted a $200,000 Façade Restoration Initiative grant and said the building was most likely the next façade grant recipient.

Bill Sorensen, the owner of Red Wagon Garden Center is moving his floral and gift shop downtown to the old D.W. Shattuck building and calling it “Dahlia City Floral and Gifts.”

Wayland was one of only three Michigan communities selected to receive Michigan Economic Development Corporation funding through the new Façade Restoration Initiative’ pilot program.

The grant funding will provide matching funds of up to 50 percent of façade restoration costs.

Miller said with the grant, the Main Street/DDA program hopes more businesses will apply for façade funding.

Miller said the Haircut Hut was the first business to get local façade grant funding. Acqua in Vino, Jayda Gale Distillery, the Main Street office followed, while 110 through 118 W. Superior Street is currently underway as well as the West Michigan Veteran’s Assistance Program store at 130 W. Superior St.

“This is a new initiative for us,” said MEDC executive vice president Greg Tedder. “We’ve always been supportive of façade programs and we know an aesthetically pleasing downtown increases foot traffic, which increase sales, which increases property values, which incentivizes other property owners to take care of their property—so it’s kind of got this snowball effect.”

Recognizing a lack of local funding available, the MEDC also recognized the experience and expertise to administer it was at the local level. Making funding available, 60 communities and DDA’s applied.

“Wayland’s application was the strongest of all of them,” Tedder said to cheers and applause from about 30 local community members. “You were selected because of expertise, history, track record of success and setting up clear guidelines and expectations of the program.”

As a pilot program, Tedder said the MEDC plans to help put money into other communities in the future.

“We are confident this is going to be a successful model for everybody else,” he said.

Miller said the community was excited to be participating in the pilot program.

“The snowball effect is 100 percent true because we have done a great job with our façade program and had the unfortunate opportunity to have to say, slow down you have to wait until maybe next year—and now we can spend all this money.”

The building owners and engagement in our community are top notch and we really couldn’t do it without the owners, the investments they are making, the staff and an amazing DDA board and volunteers all heading in the same direction.

“We are really excited to be shining up downtown and bringing in new business.”

Sorensen hopes to open “Dahlia City Floral and Gifts” by Nov. 1. The move will allow the floral and gifts to double its size in the former D.W. Shattuck store, rebuilt after the disastrous fire of 1902. Sorensen’s Red Wagon Garden Center on Division Street will expand its focus on the greenhouse and garden center, he said.

Before Miller credited others for downtown renovations, Wayland City Council member Rick Mathis read a prepared statement at the council meeting the week prior to the check presentation.

He said the efforts of the DDA/Main Street program have reached Master Level status, opened support of multiple local businesses, created downtown growth, received national recognition and honors and now a $200,000 grant that only went to three communities in the state.

“Under Ingrid’s leadership, the DDA/Main Street has surpassed the vision of what we wanted it to be,” Mathis said. “We are extremely lucky to have Ingrid as our director and I want to personally applaud all of her efforts and hours spent to make Wayland a great place to be.

“I am truly honored to have her as a part of the City and Wayland and to everyone else involved.

“This is a big deal.”

Virginia Ransbottom can be contacted at vransbottom@allegannews.com or at (269) 673-5534.

Though state and local officials expected full results of water testing in the Otsego area to be complete by now, the Allegan County Health Department announced Sept. 7 they now expect them in an additional two weeks.

Health department medical director Dr. Richard Tooker said he believed it was due to the laboratory requiring more water for its analysis.

“I think it’s due to the lab indicating there was not enough water (in the sample) from some wells,” Tooker said. “Since the (Michigan Department of Environmental Quality) doesn’t want to release piecemeal results they’ve collected more water.

“Also, I think there was a need to have a secondary lab do quality control. They’re making sure; I think this is being extra prudent. We’re talking about some pretty important test results. They’re going to do due diligence.”

Additionally, another residence has been notified its well has tested positive for dioxin, bringing the total to 17.

On Sept. 1, the health department first announced those preliminary results, which noted the presence but not the concentration of the highly toxic chemical. At that time, 14 were in Allegan County and two were in Alamo Township.

After a public effort to spur state agencies to action earlier this year, 56 private wells were tested in July for hundreds of chemicals connected to waste from local paper mills and that were dumped locally and applied to fields and roads in the area decades ago.

Dioxins are a group of chemicals that may be formed during chemical and paper manufacturing. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, dioxins can cause cancer, reproductive and developmental problems, damage to the immune system, and can interfere with hormones.

The water is unsafe to drink, and residents with affected wells are being provided bottled water for the time being.

Residents with questions can call the Allegan County Health Department’s Hotline (269) 686-4546 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Residents can also contact the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services Toxicologist at 1-800-648-6942 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday for further information about dioxins.

The rain parted just in time for the Allegan County Fair Parade’s 91 entries on Monday, Sept. 10. This year’s theme was “Get Your Fix” at the 166th annual fair.

The parade lineup included huge farm equipment, shined-up tractors, proud horses, large dogs, marching bands, primped floats, heroic veterans, loud fire trucks, flashing police cars and delighted kids with bulging bags of candy. Allegan Dental Center got a thumbs-up from thankful parents in the crowd after handing out toothbrushes.

Best of Show went to the new salon in Allegan—Hairworks 404. The float featured Kryn and Dottie Grauman and Jasmine Grimmer seated on a purple couch with their hair in curlers and heads under purple hair dryers.

Other first-place entries were Drozd Seeds; Superior Carts; CHS feed truck, agronomy spray unit and propane truck; Mike Valenti; Fraternal Order of Eagles; Allegan County Historical Society and Mary Whiteford.

Second-place awards went to Milk & Honey 4-H Club; George Galloway family tractors; Channel 3 News; Allegan Child Evangelism Fellowship; Crystal Flash; Roger Smith and Sons; The Grocery Outlet; Sylvia’s Place; Rogue Dreams; and Hopkins FFA.

Third-place awards went to the City of Allegan, Grand Marshal Jodi Byers; Otsego Cheer (three vehicles); George Galloway family tractors; Jestina’s Studio of Dance; Petro Farms (tractor and wagon); and Auto West.

There’s still a whole lot of fair left to go.

Here’s a brief schedule:

Thursday, Sept. 13, is Veterans Day. All persons with military tags are admitted free, including parking, until 8 p.m. At noon is harness horse racing with free grandstand seating. At 6 p.m. is Allegan County’s “Show Us Your Talent” in the community area and at 7 p.m. is the WPI/NTPA Tractor Pulls.

At 9 a.m. is Draft Horse Halter Class in Weldon Rumery Arena, followed by Special Grade Draft Horse Show; Draft Mules, Mules and Mini Mules; Halter Class; Pony Halter Class and the Open Beef Cattle Show. At 5 p.m. is the Youth Dog Show at the Hilltop tent.

Friday, Sept. 14, at 6 p.m. is the final round in Allegan County’s “Show Us Your Talent.” At 7 p.m. is SJO Super Cross Racing with free grandstand seating.

At 6 p.m. is Top Showman Orientation at Weldon Rumery Arena.

Saturday, Sept. 15, at 6:30 p.m. is the State Championship Demolition Derby.

At 9 a.m. is the Youth Western Horse Show in the Flats. At 4 p.m. is the Youth All Around Showmanship Contest in Weldon Rumery Arena.

For more information, visit www.allegancountyfair.com or call (269) 673-6501.

Bob Evans Farms Inc. is recalling some of its pork sausage link products, federal officials announced Thursday, Sept. 13.

Products such as 12-ounce overwrapped trays of flavored sausage links are included in the recall, as they may contain pieces of clear, hard plastic.

Approximately 46,734 pounds of product is being recalled in total, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.

The raw pork sausage link items were produced Aug. 1.

They include Bob Evans brand maple pork sausage links and brown sugar and honey, both with use-by dates of Oct. 16 or 19; Meijer brand maple flavored sausage links with a use by of Sept.6; Giant Eagle brand maple links with a use by of Sept. 10; and Schnucks brand maple sausage.

The products subject to recall bear establishment number “EST 6785” and were shipped to Michigan and throughout the Midwest.

The food agency said there were no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products but urged customers to throw away or return the products.

Consumers with food safety questions can “Ask Karen,” the agency’s virtual representative available 24 hours a day at AskKaren.gov or via smartphone at m.askkaren.gov. The toll-free USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline 1-888-MPHotline (1-888-674-6854) is available in English and Spanish and can be reached from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday. The online Electronic Consumer Complaint Monitoring System can be accessed at www.fsis.usda.gov/reportproblem.

A water line extension from Allegan southeast to several homes with contaminated wells will go even further.

Allegan Township supervisor Steve Schulz said this week that township board members had voted at their Sept. 4 meeting to approve spending an estimated $220,000 to add to the project, which is being funded by a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant.

“We got an estimate and decided it was within our financial wherewithal,” Schulz said. “The money will come from our capital improvement fund.”

Township officials were hoping to piggyback on the EPA project to help save costs. That project seeks to provide usable water for residents along Jeffrey Drive and 29th Street. Since a massive fire that destroyed Allegan Metal Finishing in March 2015 along M-89, three residential wells turned up levels of chromium that exceeded EPA limits for safe drinking and bathing. The agency said the metal chromium is used mainly for making steel and other alloys. Chromium compounds are also used for chrome plating. The metal can be a carcinogen when inhaled or ingested.

The township spent $70,000 to cover the cost of the engineering for that portion of the project, while the EPA will cover the construction costs of extending city water lines out along M-89 and south to the ends of 29th Street and Jeffrey Drive.

The township looked into extending that project so as to serve the many living nearby in the mobile home park. The extension amounts to another 300 to 400 feet of line, to approximately the entrance to the mobile homes and opposite Betten Baker Chevrolet Buick GMC, and an additional crossing beneath M-89.

“This way, if something does happen to those wells, the line is there,” Schulz said. “We’ve already got sewer out there. This will get it pretty close to shovel ready; we just felt it was prudent to do at this time.”

The EPA’s project was set to release bids in anticipation of construction finishing yet this year, but a recent lockout of Operating Engineers Local 324 by a contractor association has stalled the process. More than 1,000 heavy equipment operators have been kept from working for a week as of Tuesday.

Schulz said, “With (the lockout) of construction workers right now, it may not get done in this cycle.”

He added that it was already a busy construction season and potential bidders had expressed some concern about finding time to fit the project in, especially the bore-and-jack crews who would be drilling horizontally beneath M-89.

Even if the lockout ended this week, the bids would still need to be let for 30 days.

“That would get us to October,” Schulz said. “Now, this is not a huge job; it could be done in a short amount of time, so it’s still possible this year. But I’m not holding my breath.

The EPA has yet to announce whether or not an investigation has begun into the source of the chromium contamination. In July, an EPA spokesperson said only that the agency was attempting to work with the potentially responsible party to conduct a groundwater investigation on-site.” It did not provide the name of the potentially responsible party.

Ballots

Together with many other Michigan’s local municipalities, Allegan Township received a request last month for a copy of every ballot cast in the 2016 presidential election from United Impact Group in New York, which was later linked to a Democratic super PAC

Township clerk Linda Evans said the township’s legal counsel had drafted a response to the Freedom of Information Act request. The township has offered to allow the ballots to be viewed and photographed in person, but not photocopied, as the township does not have a copy machine big enough to manage the oddly sized ballots.

Evans said even fulfilling that would cost the requestor $761.84. She said they had not yet heard a response or received payment.

Several other local clerks have reported receiving similar requests. Allegan County Clerk Bob Genetski said he had received a request for a copy of the Lee Township pollbook, for which he did receive payment.

Contact Ryan Lewis at rmlewis@allegannews.com or (269) 673-5534.

A Grand Junction woman admitted to smashing into another woman’s car on purpose.

Michelle Lynn Sterling, 43, was in Allegan County Circuit Court Monday, Sept. 10, and entered guilty pleas to a pair of felonies. Sterling admitted to assault with a dangerous weapon and malicious destruction of personal property $200 to $1,000.

Judge Robert S. Kengis asked if she’d driven into a 2008 Chrysler owned by the other woman Feb. 27 in Lee Township.

“I ran right into her car door,” Sterling said.

The car’s owner was outside it when Sterling hit it, she said, and Sterling intended to frighten her by doing it.

She agreed the crash had caused enough damage for the malicious destruction of property charge.

As part of agreement with Allegan County prosecutors, a charge of assault with intent to do great bodily harm and a charge of malicious destruction of property $1,000 to $20,000 will be dropped at sentencing. Prosecutors also agreed they would consider her mental health records in formulating their recommendation for a sentence.

Sterling was scheduled to be sentenced Monday, Nov. 26, at 1 p.m. in Allegan County Circuit Court.

Contact Dan Pepper at dpepper@allegannews.com or at (269) 673-5534.

After tornado sirens were activated twice in Wayland in anticipation of severe thunderstorms with high winds moving through Allegan County during the last week of August, Wayland City Council members said it left residents confused as to why it was sounded.

“I’d like some clarification because people were looking to me for answers,” said council member Lisa Banas at the Tuesday, Sept. 4, council meeting. “What we consider to be a tornado siren now goes off when there is a 60 mph wind?”

Wayland police chief Steve Harper who is also a member of the 911 Policy Board said the sirens are not tornado sirens but outdoor warning sirens that are also used for damaging winds and hazardous material release.

“If you hear a warning siren, it is being sounded for you to seek shelter and turn on your local news for further information on what prompted it,” he said.

Harper said according to the National Weather Service, at 60 mph winds, conditions are right for turbulence and funnel clouds.”

He further explained that when the severe weather alert system was established (about 42 years ago) the county was more rural and it was to alert farmers to come in from the fields.

Today, 32 warning sirens are in place for approximately 34,941 homes and a population of 79,754. The sirens are remotely set off by Allegan County Central Dispatch and can be limited to quadrants (NE, NW, SE, SW), by township or all of the above.

“The problem with the last siren that went off was there was a wide swath from South Haven up through Holland with 60-plus mile winds moving fast and there were only a few minutes to decide,” Harper said. “Over here we didn’t get much, but over there they did.”

He said in Ottawa County the protocol is to activate the outdoor warning sirens when storms are producing 70 mph winds. Allegan County is seeking to address that change (from 60 mph to 70 mph), he said.

Council member Rick Mathis said emergency management did themselves a disservice by not telling everybody ahead of time about a policy change for activating the sirens. 

“My whole life it has been a tornado siren,” he said.

However, Harper said it was never a policy change.

“Everyone equates it to a tornado siren because that’s what we use if for,” Harper said. “But it’s an outdoor warning siren.”

Mayor Tim Bala asked if the siren pattern sounds differently for a tornado than for straight line winds and if the siren is activated for a tornado watch. Harper said the siren is the same, being activated for 3-minutes, but not activated for a tornado watch unless the conditions are accompanied by 60-plus mph winds.

“So people need to get that out of their brain that it’s not just for a tornado,” Banas said. “Some of those straight lines winds are just as damaging.”

Harper referred to an Allegan County Emergency Management post saying weather protocol is established with support from public safety and the 911 Policy Board. Public Safety Alert Monitors are monitored by fire departments, law enforcement, schools and industry advising of conditions issued by the National Weather Service. When the public warning system is activated, the public needs to seek shelter and tuned to local TV, radio, and other forms of communications to determine appropriate action they should take to protect themselves. With winds more than 60 mph, it can cause damage to trees, power lines, structures; and cause serious injury or death.

Allegan County tests sirens on the fourth Friday of each month at 11 a.m. all-year-round. For questions, email scorbin@allegancounty.org or call Allegan County Emergency Management at (269) 673-0571.

Virginia Ransbottom can be contacted at vransbottom@allegannews.com or at (269) 673-5534.

State Rep. Mary Whiteford, of Casco Township, will host local office hours this month on Monday, Sept. 17.

“I take my responsibility representing my friends and neighbors very seriously,” Whiteford said. “Office hours are a wonderful opportunity for me to listen to thoughts and concerns from our community.”

Office hours will take place at the following times and locations:

• 10 to 11 a.m. at The Trestle Stop, located at 3366 M-40, Hamilton

• Noon to 1 p.m. at Allegan District Library, 331 Hubbard St., Allegan

• 2 to 3 p.m. at The Linking Center, 925 56th St., Pullman

No appointments are necessary to attend office hours. Those who are unable to make the scheduled times may still contact Rep. Whiteford by calling (517) 373-0836 or emailing MaryWhiteford@House.MI.gov.