Page 4 — Thursday, May 27, 2021 — The Hastings Banner
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A time to celebrate, to
remember, to commit
Like waking from a fairy-tale slumber,
something remarkable may be about to hap-
pen in America this weekend.
After more than 15 months of being
locked down in our homes and locked out of
activities that brought communities together,
this year’s Memorial Day celebrations may
mark a return to the traditions of parades,
family picnics and ceremonies to honor
those who gave their lives for our freedom.
The miracle of vaccines allowing us to
protect ourselves from COVID-19 has pro-
vided Americans with a special feeling of
freedom to resume life as we once knew it.
We want to get together, free of masks and
social distancing requirements. We want to
fire up the backyard grills and enjoy sum-
mer-like weather with outdoor activities
we’ve given up for more than a year.
The joy of returning to close-to-normal
life will, of course, be tempered by the enor-
mous cost the world has paid to the scourge
of the COVID-19 pandemic. In America,
we’ve lost more than half a million people;
and, out of the 32 million total cases, some
continue to struggle with what may be life-
long side effects.
The virus hijacked everyone’s lives in
some way.
High school seniors, for example, many
of whom will be graduating during or around
this holiday weekend, were robbed of a spe-
cial year that should have included sporting
events, concerts, special productions, com-
petitions, proms and much more.
But perhaps the impact of COVID-19 can
help us better appreciate, in some small way,
the incredible price paid by those men and
women who sacrificed their lives to ensure
the freedoms we enjoy as a country.
Memorial Day, originally called
Decoration Day, was proclaimed in 1868 by
Gen. John A. Logan, commander-in-chief of
the Grand Army of the Republic, an organi-
zation formed to honor the end of the U.S.
Civil War and the Union soldiers who died
in that deadly conflict. Today, Memorial Day
celebrates the memory of all soldiers who
gave their lives in defense of this nation.
Now, more than 156 years after the end of
that war and the occurrence of so many more
wars since, I wonder if Americans still feel
the importance of this holiday tribute to all
of our soldiers, or has it just become the end
of another school year and a holiday mark-
ing the beginning of summer?
That’s not the celebration we should be
having – especially this year as we revel in
the freedom to assemble and a chance to be
with each other again.
This holiday should be remembered for-
ever in history as the beginning of a new
chapter in America. We are not just returning
to our old traditions and way of life; we need
to come back as a people and as a nation
that’s stronger and better than before.
Just as President John Kennedy chal-
lenged America in 1961 to fly to the Moon,
we must now commit to building a new,
prosperous and peaceful world, as Kennedy
said about the space program, not because it
will be easy, but because it will be hard.
It’s time for the people of this nation to
show just how resolute, skillful and thankful
we all really are. We have much work to do.
When President Abraham Lincoln struggled
to keep the nation together through the Civil
War, the key issue dividing the country was
slavery.
Today’s America is viciously divided over
issues like racism, immigration, violence,
poverty and economic inequality.
“America will never be destroyed from
the outside,” Lincoln said. “If we falter and
lose our freedom, it will be because we
destroyed ourselves.”
We’re doing a good job of destroying our-
selves right now.
Many of our cities are experiencing his-
toric levels of violence. Cities like Chicago,
New York, Memphis, Cincinnati, Trenton,
Portland, Seattle and Greensboro, to name
just a few, are approaching or have set his-
toric homicide records in 2020. Other plac-
es, like Fort Worth, Philadelphia and Los
Angeles, are reaching city gun violence lev-
els not seen in a decade or more.
While America was fighting the waragainst COVID-19, we’ve been fighting
each other. A recent study by the Council on
Criminal Justice, a non-partisan criminal
justice think tank, examined crime rates and
drug offenses in 34 U.S. cities. In January
and February 2020, the average city homi-
cide rate increased by 32.5 percent over the
same period in 2019. From March through
May, the rate was 19.4 percent higher. For
the summer months of June through August,
the homicide rate was 37.2 percent higher.
For September through December, the rate
was 28.2 percent higher.
“We believe this surge in homicides is
something of a perfect storm,” said Thomas
Abt, senior fellow at CCJ and director of the
commission, who points to the pandemic,
protests against police and other national
factors as likely culprits. “I think it’s import-
ant to note, for context, that while this homi-
cide spike will likely be the highest homi-
cide spike ever recorded in crime data, the
rates are still far beneath their peaks in the
‘90s.”
Abt suggested presenting “a balanced
array of potential punishments and rewards.
You can’t arrest your way out of violence,
but can’t program your way out of it either.”
In the meantime, we see stories of terrible
incidents like a 6-year-old boy shot in an
apparent road-rage incident in California
Friday. Over a one-month stretch last year,
six children under the age of 16 were killed
in and around Akron, Ohio. And, in Chicago,
the city mourns the loss of a growing num-
ber of children under age 10 who were killed
riding in cars with parents or playing outside
their homes when bullets struck them.
Closer to home, in the large cities around
us, innocent children also have become vic-
tims of these senseless shootings. The statis-
tics are threatening and especially numbing
when they include children. These statistics
should scare us all.
Meanwhile, political elites do little or
nothing to quell the violence. Rather, they
fan the flames with talk – but little action –
addressing the problems.
This continued rhetoric does more to
divide the nation than bring us together.
So, as we think about the upcoming holi-
day, it’s important to take the time to attend
a Memorial Day celebration and reflect on
why those soldiers died to preserve our free-
doms.
But it’s equally important to understand
how important it is to all Americans that we
promote peace at home and throughout the
world.
“If we really care about peace, we must
stay strong,” former President Ronald
Reagan said. “If we really care about peace,
we must, through our strength, demonstrate
our unwillingness to accept an ending of the
peace. We must be strong enough to create
peace where it does not exist and strong
enough to protect it where it does.
“That’s the lesson of this century and, I
think, of this day. The rest of my contribu-
tion is to leave this great place to its peace, a
peace it has earned.”
As we see the growing violence and dis-
cord within our own borders, it should moti-
vate Americans to the point that they demand
action at all levels of government.
As Americans celebrate Memorial Day,
let us be reminded of the many who were
willing to die to support peace.
“It isn’t enough to talk about peace, one
must believe in it,” former First Lady
Eleanor Roosevelt said. “And it isn’t enough
to believe in it. One must work at it.”
Rather than focusing on what divides us,
let’s commit to working toward a more
peaceful nation by finding all the good we
have in common.Fred Jacobs, CEO,
J-Ad Graphics Inc.Regional champs
Banner May 21, 1959
Hastings High’s track and field squad,
which Saturday night scored a highly
coveted regional track victory at Grand
Rapids Lee, will seek their first West
Michigan B Conference title under the
lights at Johnson Field Tuesday night.
Trackmen above are (front row, from left)Mike Rogers, Frank Kenfield, Bill Yarger,
Mike Clardy, Ivan Snyder, Jack Shay,
Tom Palmer, LeRoy Waldron; (second
row) Bert Keeler, Don Frost, John Bishop,
Earl McMullin, co-captains Lee O’Donnell
and Mike Aderhold, holding the regional
trophy, Ken Neil, Ray Benner, Tom
Laberteaux, John Houseman; (third row)
Coach Jack Hoke, manager Ted
Bustance, Dave Wallace, Stan Aldrich,
John Crawley, Rolland Curtiss, DennisRuthruff, Ulvis Grinvalds, Charles Fox,
Dave Logan, Dim Durbin, Jerry Lyons,
Larry James, Tom Stebbins, manager
Bruce Babcock, Mike O’Donnell; (back)
Don Williams, Dennis Malcolm, Phil
Hayes, Bill Smith, John Helrigel, Roy
Hall, Duane Tack, Roger Cook, Jerry
Roush, Jim Rhodes, Don Steeby, Charles
Tervo, Monte Burnworth, Juste Grinvalds.
(Mr. Bobs Photography)Growing up in the little town of Bailey,
Joyce Foondle, 68, dreamed of becoming a
fashion illustrator.
At 18, she had plans to attend an art
institute; but while waitressing at a restaurant
in White Cloud, she met the Newaygo
County treasurer and was offered a position
working in the treasurer’s office. She
continued to work in the county’s mapping
and description department and discovered a
passion for working in county government.
She enjoyed being able to assist citizens
of the county and found excitement in the
shifting environment of local government
and zoning.
Foondle continues to find enjoyment in
her work, although now she does so as an
assessor, evaluating properties in Barry
County’s Johnstown Township and Calhoun
County’s Bedford, Newton and Leroy
townships.
Her day-to-day work varies from taking
phone calls from township residents to
on-site property inspection. Foondle
primarily assesses residential properties, but
also assesses industrial, manufacturing,
agricultural and commercial properties.
Much of her time completing property
inspections is spent measuring anything and
everything on a property: driveways, pools,
sheds, pole barns, homes and more. She also
photographs the properties extensively and
evaluates the interiors either by
questionnaires filled out by the property
owners or by touring the interior.
The property’s cost class is then
determined based on Foondle’s assessment
observations.
Foondle assesses well over 2,
properties a year, but she rarely encounters
angry or troublesome property owners.
“People will generally say, ‘Oh you’ve
got a horrible job. Are people mad at you a
lot?’ Well, no, they really aren’t. I think
people understand that taxes are something
that they’re going to have to deal with,”
Foondle said. “Most of the people that I’ve
dealt with for a long time ... [have] known
me. And so they’ve seen my name. They
know what I do, and I really don’t have a lot
of problems with 99 percent of the people
that are out there.”
In addition to her day-to-day assessing,
Foondle also holds a real estate license andis a member of the Michigan Assessors
Association, having received awards and
held office in the organization.
She also was a MAA instructor for 15
years, teaching classes on gathering field
data and appraising single-family homes, as
well as a state assessor’s board instructor for
five years.
Teaching, whether in an official capacity
or during her assessor duties, is one of
Foondle’s favorite parts of the job. People
might call her about a property they just
inherited, home they would like to build or
other question about interpretation of tax
laws.
“What I really like is, besides the actual
appraising work – I love that – is helping
people understand the tax law of whatever
they have a question about. And I tell people
I’ve been around like 100 years so there’s
always new and different questions, but for
the most part, I enjoy being teacher.”
In her free time, Foondle volunteers at
cemeteries. She helps clean and repair
headstones and uploads photos of to
FindaGrave.com, a website that catalogs
cemeteries. She also has a ground-
penetrating radar system and lends it to
cemeteries if they need help determining the
location of burial sites.
“The cemetery work is relaxing for me.
... It’s respectful,” she said. “It’s a respectfulthing to people. I don’t care if they were
alive one day or they were 115. They had a
life, and I just want to respect them for that.”
Foondle also is an avid walker and
swimmer and enjoys spending time with her
two children, Nathan Foondle and Angela
Everhart, six grandchildren and two rescue
dogs.
For her assessing and volunteer services,
Joyce Foondle is this week’s Banner Bright
Light.
Favorite movie: “Mama Mia.”
Best advice ever received: From my
mom, who is no longer with us, “Life is not
always fair.”
If I could go anywhere in the world: I
would go to the Caribbean because I love
hot, steamy weather.
Person I’d most like to meet: Abraham
Lincoln because he just kind of leaves a
lasting impression on me. He was for the
people and was admired and was in office in
a time when things where tragic. So, I just
really respect him.
Favorite season: Summertime.
I’m most proud of: My children.
If I won the lottery: I would pay
everything off. I wouldn’t spend a lot of
money, but I would pay everything off that I
owed. I would pay everything off for my
children and my grandchildren, and the rest
of the money I would spend a little bit of and
the rest would be left to them.
Best thing about Barry County: The
terrain, lakes and rural nature of the county.
Favorite teacher and why: She was my
fifth-grade teacher Mrs. Spillane at White
Cloud Public Schools. She taught me how to
diagram sentences. Nobody likes to diagram
sentences, but I was the queen of
diagramming sentences.
Something on my bucket list: A trip to
Alaska because it is something very
different, pristine and nothing like what I
can see anywhere else, and so I think that
that would be a wonderful trip.Each week, the Banner profiles a person
who makes the community shine. Do you know
someone who should be featured because of
volunteer work, fun-loving personality, for the
stories he or she has to tell or any other reason?
Send information to Newsroom, Hastings
Banner, 1351 N. M-43 Highway, Hastings, MI
49058; or email [email protected].Joyce FoondleSignificance
in this symbol
Ron Koutz from the Lawrence J. Bauer American
Legion Post 45 hands poppies Friday outside the
Walmart store in Hastings. Friday was National
Poppy Day. The tradition of wearing a poppy dates
back to 1920, when it became the memorial flower
of The American Legion family. The American
Legion Auxiliary has used poppies for many years to
raise awareness and support for the nation’s veter-
ans, active-duty service members and their families.Write Us A Letter: