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VOLUME 167, No. 40 Thursday, October 7, 2021 PRICE $1.

T HE

H AST INGS

Devoted to the Interests of Barry County Since 1856

Budget weaponized in mandate fight

Rebecca Pierce

Editor

Barry County commissioners took a page

out of the state Legislature’s playbook

Tuesday, saying they may withhold their half

of the Barry-Eaton District Health Department

budget if any districtwide mask mandate is

enacted in future.

Those mask and quarantine mandates for

area school districts, enacted by BEDHD

Health Officer Colette Scrimger on Sept. 17,

were rescinded by Scrimger last Thursday at

11:59 p.m.

“The rescission of these orders is due to

boilerplate language included in the fiscal

2022 state budget that purports to restrict

funding to local health departments with

COVID-19 local emergency orders in effect

as of Oct. 1, 2021,” Scrimger said in a health

department news release last week.

That “boilerplate language,” which the

GOP included in the 2021-22 budget approved

by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, bars local health

departments from issuing or enforcing mask

mandates for individuals under the age of 18.

Under the terms of the budget bill, any

health department with a mask mandate in

place on Friday, Oct. 1, would lose state fund-

ing – unless the order was supported by their

county board of commissioners.

Scrimger, along with some other health

officers in Michigan, weren’t going to take

that risk, even though the governor declared

the language an unconstitutional attempt to

craft policy in a spending bill. That didn’t

reassure health departments across the state;

15 of them had issued mask mandates.

According to a Bridge Michigan article,

BEDHD, along with health departments in

Berrien, Allegan and Dickinson-Iron, were

among those that rescinded mask mandates,

citing the threat of funding cuts. Marquette,

Ottawa, Washtenaw and Kent county health

departments opted to keep their mask man-

dates, while three others were debating wheth-

er to continue student quarantine orders.

Barry County commissioners, who partici-

pated in the Michigan Association of Counties

annual conference last week, did not meet last

week. But, the week before, they had to move

their regular meeting to the circuit courtroom

to accommodate 258 people who came to

speak out against the BEDHD mask mandate.

After nearly six hours of public comment,

largely favoring freedom of choice with regard

to mask wearing, board members reviewed

what they had learned from constituents.

Then, at Tuesday’s Committee of the

Whole meeting, Commissioner Jon Smelker

proposed applying the state GOP strategy –

what some have called “weaponizing the

budget” – to prevent a mask mandate from

being re-enacted locally.

Retired TK

teacher to

enter plea in

murder-for-hire

Greg Chandler

Staff Writer

A retired Thornapple Kellogg High

School teacher has agreed to plead

guilty to charges he tried to hire a hit-

man, using virtual currency as payment,

in an attempted plot to kill his wife.

Nelson Paul Replogle, 59, entered

into an agreement Sept. 24 to plead

guilty to one count of murder for hire in

connection with the plot that targeted

his wife, Ann, a former elementary

teacher in the Hastings Area School

System.

Replogle is expected to enter the

plea Oct. 25, according to documents

filed with the United States District

Court Eastern District of Tennessee in

Knoxville.

He faces up to 10 years in prison,

fines of up to $250,000, and supervised

release for up to three years after he’s

released from prison, according to court

documents.

Replogle retired in June 2018 from

the Thornapple Kellogg district, where

he had taught social studies. He had

served as a class sponsor and was

among those reading the list of names

of graduates at TKHS’ commencement

exercises in 2018, according to the dis-

trict’s website.

He was arrested in April in Knox

County, Tennessee, after Federal

Bureau of Investigation agents received

a tip from representatives of the British

Broadcasting Corporation about the

alleged murder-for-hire plot.

According to court documents,

Replogle used the internet April 15 to

arrange for the murder of his wife.

“Specifically, the defendant used the

internet to contact a dark web entry that

purported to arrange murders in

exchange for money,” the court docu-

ment noted. “The defendant used the

internet to provide the would-be killer

with [Replogle’s] wife’s name and

address, a description of her vehicle, a

specific date, time and place where she

could be found and the murder effect-

ed, and his intention that the killing

appear as ‘road rage of [a] car-jacking

gone wrong.’”

City of Hastings may get

its own county board seat

Greg Chandler
and Benjamin Simon
Staff Writer
A new redistricting plan for the Barry
County Board of Commissioners would add
one more commission seat, and give the city
of Hastings its own representative at the table.
A four-member commission – two
Republicans and two Democrats – have
agreed on a redistricting plan following the
2020 census numbers. The plan creates a
new commission district entirely within the
city limits of Hastings, and redraws the exist-
ing seven districts in such a way that no two
incumbent commissioners will have to face
one another in the next election.
It also brings the county board back to
eight commissioners, which it was from 2002
to 2011 using population figures from the
2000 census.
While at first glance, an even-numbered
board could run the risk of potential tie votes,
county board Chairman Ben Geiger,
R-Nashville, said there are benefits to have
an even number of commissioners.
“First thing is, you have to get more con-
sensus. On the seven-person board, you can
have three no votes. Well, that’s the same
number on an eight-person board, you can
only have three no votes because 4-4 is a tie,”
Geiger said. “So you need an extra commis-
sioner to get things passed.

“Nobody ever has to be the swing vote, which

means you have more ability to have vivid

debate without risking throwing the whole issue

out the window. Nobody likes to be the swing

vote. And if commissioners change their mind,

that can really cause some chaos for the board.”

Geiger said there were no issues with tie

votes when he served on an eight-member

county board, calling such a risk “small.” He

also says having one more commissioner

means fewer meetings for all commissioners.

“The number of boards that we are assigned

has increased since I first started in 2011. We

can become more subject-matter experts on a

lot of things,” Geiger said. “As chair of the

board, I told everybody, I want them to start

with a passion. This job is more than approv-

ing minutes and paying bills. You ran for

office because you have a vision and you

want to achieve something. That’s tough to

do when you have more committee assign-

ments that you have to assign.”

Hastings Charter Township Supervisor Jim

Brown also supported the idea of an

eight-member commission.

“That’s going to force everybody, right,

wrong, or indifferent, to get serious about

doing the right thing. And you got to throw

politics out of this,” Brown said.

Hastings High School celebrating homecoming this week

Benjamin Simon

Staff Writer

It’s homecoming week at Hastings High

School.

The halls have been decorated, students are

showing their spirit in a variety of ways, and

the final touches are being put on floats creat-

ed for the parade by each class.

Special activities Friday, Oct. 8, will

include a school assembly and the homecom-

ing parade starting at 5:30 p.m.

This year’s homecoming parade will fol-

low the theme of “Super Saxon Week,” with

the seniors as “The Avengers,” juniors as the

“Justice League,” sophomores as the

“X-Men” and freshmen as the “Fantastic

Four.”

Students celebrated the week of events

with an assortment of dress-up days, includ-

ing pajama day Monday, beach day Tuesday,

Wacky Wednesday, class spirit Thursday and

will conclude with Saxon Spirit Friday.

The football game against Jackson

Northwest High School will kick off at 7. The

homecoming king and queen will be

announced at halftime. An outdoor dance,

complete with a fire pit, yard games, s’mores

and a disc jockey, will conclude the week’s

festivities Saturday.

The homecoming court includes Ruby

Barber, Brianna Barnes, Arian Bond, Anna

English, Allison Teed, Jacob Fish, and Andre

Perez, TJ Russell, Harrison Smalley and

Owen Winegar.

Barber has been a member of the competi-

tive cheerleading, sideline cheerleading and

Green Gables facing

tough financial straits

Loss of federal grant represents 41 percent of its budget

Taylor Owens

Staff Writer

Earlier this month, Green Gables Haven

Community Shelter unexpectedly lost a fed-

eral grant of $210,000, which represents 41

percent of its annual budget.

The shelter’s executive director, Janie

Bergeron, and board president, Stephanie

Fekkes, said they were shocked by the news.

“I don’t know why we didn’t get it,”

Bergeron said. “There is no explanation – and

I’ve asked.”

She said the grant has been essential to the

shelter’s ability to provide for the needs of

domestic violence victims in Barry County.

“This grant paid for my dedicated staff to be

in the shelter 24 hours a day, seven days a

week, 365 days a year, including holidays,”

Bergeron said. “... This grant paid for legal

services saving clients from losing everything,

[and] helped pay for essential counseling.

“This grant paid for so much,” she contin-

ued. “It allowed us to help the most vulnera-

ble in our community, hence helping our

community to be stronger, safer and happier.”

The shelter has received about $210,000 a

year Victims of Crime Act grant funding since

2017, Bergeron said. Recently the grant

became competitive, with many domestic vio-

lence shelters competing for the same alloca-

tions, but Bergeron said her conversations

with state officials led her to believe there

would be enough money to continue funding

Green Gables for the foreseeable future.

Bergeron and Fekkes said they felt confi-

dent they would receive the grant, based on

the amount of people the shelter has been

able to serve, and continues to serve, in more

than 17 years.

“Green Gables Haven is essential to this

community,” Bergeron said. “We have served

over 2,154 individuals, with 833 of those

being children, in getting out of abusive rela-

tionships.”

As of the end of August, Green Gables had

served 55 adults and 11 children in 2021,

Bergeron said.

“It’s baffling to us that we would lose the

money when we’re serving so many people

and our need is so high,” Fekkes said.

Green Gables serves a higher number of

people, in comparison to its population, and

with a lower budget, than many other shelters

that applied for the grant, she added.

Fekkes said part of the issue may be that

the state considers Barry County to be served

by the shelters in Calhoun County.

“They won’t let us split off from Calhoun

County and be a separate entity, because, by

Does our American flag

need a redesign?

See Editorial on Page 4

Viking spikers improve

school record for aces

See Story on Page 15

School bands wow

the crowd in Hastings

See Story on Page 3

See NEW DISTRICT, page 2 See HASTINGS, page 8

See MURDER, page 8

See GREEN, page 8

Gravel racers hit the road

The city of Hastings was the place to be for 3,200 cyclists on Saturday when the

2021 Barry-Roubaix gravel road bike race got underway after a yearlong absence.

Karen Surdenik, of East Lansing, was among many visitors who came to participate

or watch or both. Here, Surdenik's sign adds some levity to the event she was enjoy-

ing while waiting for her son, Danny, to finish the 100-mile competition. She said she

had never attended the event before and she has never participated in a race. But,

after seeing the Barry-Roubaix for the first time, she said she feels motivated to ride

in the 18-mile competition next year. “It was awesome to see,” she said. For a visual

recap of this year's event, turn to Page 18. (Photo by Benjamin Simon)

The 2021 Hastings High School homecoming court includes (front, from left) Arian Bond, Allison Teed, Brianna Barnes, Ruby

Barber, Anna English, (back) Andre Perez, Harrison Smalley, Jacob Fish, TJ Russell and Owen Winegar.

See BUDGET, page 8

Barry County Commissioner Jon

Smelker talks with fellow Commissioner

Catherine Getty during a break after taking

action Tuesday to address the mask man-

date issue. (Photo by Rebecca Pierce)