HB 10-21-2021

Page 10 — Thursday, October 21, 2021 — The Hastings Banner

169602 BARRY TOWNSHIP BARRY COUNTY, MICHIGAN

NOTICE OF SPECIAL ASSESSMENT PUBLIC HEARING

ON THE SPECIAL ASSESSMENT ROLL

FAIR LAKE AQUATIC PLANT CONTROL

SPECIAL ASSESSMENT DISTRICT 2021- TO: THE RESIDENTS AND PROPERTY OWNERS OF THE TOWNSHIP OF BARRY, BARRY COUNTY, MICHIGAN AND ANY OTHER INTERESTED PERSONS:

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that the Township Supervisor and Assessor have prepared and filed in the office of the Township Clerk for public examination a special assessment roll covering all properties within the Fair Lake Aquatic Plant Control Special Assessment District No. 2021-1 benefited by the proposed aquatic plant control project. The roll has been prepared for the purpose of assessing the costs of the project within the aforesaid special assessment district, which district is more particularly shown on the plans on file with the Township Clerk. The costs of the project are as shown on the estimate of costs on file with the Township Clerk at the Township Hall, 11300 S. M-43 Highway, Delton, Michigan. The project cost (including adminis- trative costs) is $45,235, which is the amount of the assessment roll. The assessment amounts assessed against each property in the district will be $190.06 per year per parcel. The term of the special assessment will be two years, 2021 through 2022 inclusive.

PLEASE TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that the Supervisor and Assessor have further reported to the Township Board that the assessment against each parcel of land within said district is such relative portion of the whole sum levied against all parcels of land in said district as the benefit to such parcels bears to the total benefit to all parcels of land in said District.

PLEASE TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that the Township Board will meet at the Barry Township Hall, 155 E. Orchard Street, Delton, Michigan on Monday, October 25, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. for the purpose of reviewing the special assessment roll, hearing any objections thereto and confirming the roll as submitted or revised or amended. The roll may be examined at the office of the Township Clerk during regular business days of regular business days until the time of the hearing and may further be examined at the hearing. Any person objecting to the assessment roll shall file his objections there- to in writing with the Township Clerk before the close of the hearing or within such other time as the Township Board may grant.

PLEASE TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that an owner or party in interest, or his/ her agent, may appear in person at the hearing to protest the special assessment or may file his/her appearance and protest by letter before the hearing, and in that event, personal appearance shall not be required. Any person objecting to the assessment roll shall file his/her objection thereto in writing with the Township Clerk before the close of the hearing or within such other time as the Township Board may grant. The owners or any person having an interest in real property who protests in writing at or before the hearing may file a written appeal of the special assessment with the State Tax Tribunal within 30 days after confirmation of the special assessment roll.

Barry Township will provide necessary, reasonable auxiliary aids and services such as signers for the hearing impaired and audio tapes of printed material being considered at the meeting to individuals with disabilities at the meeting upon seven (7) days’ notice to the Barry Township Clerk.

Debra Knight, Barry Township Clerk P.O. Box 705 Delton MI 49046 (269) 623-

Man threatens family with

hitman, stabs house

A 69-year-old man told police a 48-year-old Nashville man came to his house, threatened to hire a hitman to kill his family and left a knife embedded in the side of his house in the 800 block of North Main Street in Nashville at 7:18 p.m. Oct. 3. The resident told police the suspect claimed the resident’s son was having an affair with his wife. The suspect said he would pay someone from Lansing $2,000 to kill everyone in the house. He then stabbed his knife into the side of the house, pinning an envelope with some of the son’s belongings inside. The son, 49, told police he had dated the man’s wife while he was in prison, but they broke up when he was released. The case remains under investigation.

Woman rams boyfriend’s car,

hides in woods

A 37-year-old man called 911 to report that his girlfriend, 36, of Pontiac, hit his vehicle with her own, left the scene, returned and hit his vehicle again around 10 p.m. Oct.

While he was on the phone with the police, the woman pulled off her pants and yelled
to the dispatcher that the man was sexually assaulting her. She left before police arrived,
but she was soon found on foot, hiding from the officers in some nearby woods. The
boyfriend said she is addicted to methamphetamine and had suffered a recent relapse.
Officers found a warrant for her arrest on a probation violation in Montcalm County. She
was taken into custody and transported to the jail there.

Houseguest takes items

while owner is in jail

A 41-year-old man called police Oct. 6 to report his trailer and several “monkey cages,” worth about $1,500 had been stolen from his residence. The man said he had been in jail for 11 months, and let a man, 46, of Olivet, stay at his residence in the 7000 block of Huff Road. During that time, he took the trailer and the cages disappeared. The victim said the suspect had borrowed them, but declined to return them. When an officer called the suspect, he refused to speak on the issue. The case remains under investigation.

Drone suspected in

marijuana plant theft

A 63-year-old man called police at 3 p.m. Oct. 9, to report two marijuana plants had been stolen from his garden in the 6000 block of Charlton Park Road. He said the plants, worth between $3,000 and $4,000, had been taken that morning. He did not know of any possible suspects, but said a drone had been flying over his property recently and the drone operator may have spotted the plants. He said he did not believe they could be seen from the road. The case is inactive without any suspects.

State police shoot, kill fugitive felon

Taylor Owens Staff Writer The Michigan State Police fugitive team shot and killed a 40-year-old Barry County man in the 9200 block of Lindsey Road in Orangeville Township around 10 a.m. Oct. 13. Steven David Schumann had absconded from parole Sept. 24, police said, and the state police First District Fugitive Team out of Lansing was tracking him. They found Schumann in a vehicle on Lindsey Road with a female passenger. But, when they approached the vehicle, he “pro- duced an edged weapon” and took his female passenger hostage, police reported. “Two members of the fugitive team fired multiple shots, striking and killing the suspect,” they said. The female hostage was injured. One of the fugitive team members who fired at Schumann is an state police detective ser- geant, while the other is an agent of the Michigan Department of Corrections. The case is being investigated by the state

police Fifth District Incident Response Team. At the time of his death, Schumann was a suspect in a rob- bery at the Shell service station in Delton. According to a police report, Schumann went to the station at 2:30 a.m., where he pumped $7. worth of gas. The clerk, 55, of Delton, said he was acting strange- ly, and she noticed that he had paced around the car before pump- ing the gas. Eventually, he came inside and put multiple food items on the counter to purchase. But, before the clerk could finish scanning them, Schumann started putting them in plastic bags. She grabbed one of the bags and told him he couldn’t leave without paying. At that point, Schumann read the clerk’s name off her name tag and said, “If you don’t let go of my property, I’m going to hit you.” She let go, but followed him out of the door. Her son, 35, of Delton, was sitting in a vehicle

in the parking lot, and saw Schumann walk out with his mother following him. The clerk tried to write down Schumann’s license plate number, but had to jump out of the way when Schumann nearly drove into her. After she went around to the other side of the car, he switched gears and nearly drove into her a second time, causing her to dodge the vehicle again. At that point, her son had left his vehicle and approached Schumann’s car. He punched the passenger window, breaking it and cutting his hand, before the vehicle drove off. Both the clerk and her son later identified Schumann from a booking photo. His prior convictions included possession of controlled substances in 2019, escape from a felony jail sentence in 2017, first-degree retail fraud in 2016, resisting, obstructing or assaulting a police officer in 2011, one count of stolen property and two counts of forgery, also in 2011.

County offers consumer property protection alerts

Free service alerts property, homeowners to potential fraud

Property Fraud Alert is an online subscription service offered to the public that allows individuals to have their names monitored within the register of deeds office in order to track possible fraudulent recordings that affect their property. The threat of mortgage fraud and identity theft crimes continue to rise, and often vic- tims of these types of fraudulent activities are unaware their homes or identity have been stolen. While Property Fraud Alert does not prevent fraud from happening, it does provide an early warning system for property

owners to take appropriate actions should they determine possible fraudulent activity has taken place, according to a press release forwarded by Barry County Register of Deeds Barbara Hurless. A common property-fraud scenario involves a criminal filing a bogus deed, making it appear that the actual owner had transferred ownership of a parcel to someone else. The criminal then takes that deed to a bank, fraud- ulently obtains a mortgage and then disappears with a large amount of money. While it can happen to anyone, perpetrators of property fraud often prey on the elderly, people in long- term care facilities, absentee property owners and owners who spend much of the year out of

town, according to the press release. With Property Fraud Alert, subscribers will be notified when the name they have submitted is used in any recording activities within the register of deeds office. When subscribing to the service, the subscriber will have the option to choose to be notified by either e-mail or telephone. The best protection against property fraud is being proactive, the release noted. Property Fraud Alert is now available by free subscription online at propertyfraudalert. com and selecting “Barry, MI” from the drop- down menu, or by calling 800-728-3858. The Property Fraud Alert link also is available from the barrycounty.org website.

Meth stalks rural Michigan

Bridge Michigan Experts say a resurgence in methamphetamine abuse poses a renewed threat to Michigan – especially in wide, rural swaths of the state where treatment is scarce and the drug is anything but. The coronavirus pandemic has raised even more barriers to helping those addicted to this potent drug. “Meth has never really stopped being a problem, especially in rural Michigan,” said Liz Lenz, coordinator of the Barry County Substance Abuse Task Force. “It certainly is of growing concern now.” In an Upper Peninsula courtroom, Circuit Court Judge Brian Rahilly leafed through the pages of his Sept. 22 criminal docket in Alger County. The defendants scheduled to appear before him fit a familiar pattern. Nine of 20 cases that day involved charges tied to methamphetamine? from possession to delivery or manufacture of the drug, including one case that also charged an assault. “Just off the cuff,” the judge said, “I would say most days half of my criminal docket is meth and it’s probably higher than that.” Rahilly has been on the bench since January, following his election last year to the circuit court, which spans four rural counties. “For every 10 cases involving meth, I might get one involving another substance; it’s not even close,” he said. “I would say meth is the most critical issue we face at this time in our local communities.” A 2020 report on overdose deaths in 12 largely rural counties in the west side of lower Michigan recorded 289 overdose deaths – a 35-percent rise over 2018. Methamphetamine was found to have contributed to a third of those deaths. Michigan health officials don’t yet have a detailed breakdown of overdose deaths across the state for 2020, in which deaths by all types of drugs reached an all-time high of 2, deaths, a 17 percent rise from 2019, according to preliminary data released in July by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But overdose deaths tied to methamphetamine over the past decade point to an omi- nous trend, as deaths from psychostimulants including meth skyrocketed: from 11 in 2010 to 210 in 2019. And those on the treatment frontlines say that death statistics reflect but part of the dam- age wrought by methamphetamine – wrecked families, children pried from their parents, destroyed futures. At the same time, treatment advocates say, gaps in rehabilitation support systems continue to plague much of rural Michigan, whether it’s treatment for opioids or methamphetamine. Added to that, and perhaps related, is that much of rural Michigan – which has seen high levels of persistent poverty, unemploy- ment and falling population – leads the state in the rate of suicide. “I think it’s unconscionable that somehow we have so few resources in northern Michigan,” said Kevin Fischer, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, a grass- roots advocacy organization. “We don’t have a good plan to address these issues. It’s as if we cut these people loose and told them, their behavior doesn’t matter.” A 2019 study found that more than 500, Michigan residents with a substance-use disorder (about 1 in 5) went untreated. Commissioned by the Michigan Health Endowment Fund, an independent healthcare foundation that receives funds from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, the analysis

noted acute shortages of mental health and substance abuse providers in rural stretches of the state, concentrated in the northern Lower Peninsula and the Upper Peninsula. It noted 25 counties had no psychiatrist and 10 counties – all rural – had no psychiatrist or psychologist. Sixteen rural counties did not have a substance use disorder treatment center, and seven rural counties lacked the trifecta of a psychologist, psychiatrist and substance abuse center. President Biden’s proposed $3.5 trillion social-safety-net plan – its prospects for passage anything but certain – contains modest plans to address this issue, including offering scholar- ships for 1,000 U.S. medical students who agree to serve in rural and underserved areas. In August, the federal Department of Health and Human Services awarded $7.5 million to 15 agencies across 13 states to strengthen treatment programs for methamphetamine users, including $500,000 over three years to the Michigan Center for Rural Health at Michigan State University. Robert Mellin, chief clinical officer for the U.P.’s Great Lakes Recovery Centers, said the chemistry of methamphetamine makes treatment a particularly steep challenge, even with support. Great Lakes manages nine outpatient drug treatment offices across the U.P., as well as four residential treatment centers and three recovery houses. But he said traditional outpatient treatment

which constitutes the bulk of methamphet-
amine intervention – has a spotty success
record for people with addictions.
“Their no-show, cancellation rate is pain-
ful,” he said. “It’s kind of like they are here
and they are not.”
Mellin said no-show rates grew worse
during the pandemic, when Great Lakes
switched from in-person counseling to remote
digital sessions. Clients simply disappeared.
“We lost 40 percent of our outpatient busi-
ness,” he said.
Methamphetamine yields a high akin that is
to cocaine, as it floods the brain with dopa-
mine, a chemical tied to feelings of pleasure.
But repeated use also raises the threshold for
that initial rush, which means meth users need
to take more to reach the same high. Highly
addicted users can enter a manic state where
they’re awake and on edge for days, and prone
to hallucinations and paranoia.
While there are three medications approved
for opioid addiction, there are none for meth-
amphetamine. Though an outpatient behavior-
al strategy with a proven track record has
earned legislative support for California’s
Medicaid system.
Michigan law enforcement officials say
methamphetamine’s grip in the state grew in
recent years as the supply shifted from home-
brewed meth labs to a purer? and cheaper?
industrial-scale product.
In the early 2000s, meth made from pseu-
doephedrine, the decongestant in cold medi-

cines like Sudafed, poured out of homemade Michigan labs in the woods, in kitchens, garages and trailer homes. Accidental meth lab explosions became all too common around the state. State lawmakers responded, with GOP Gov. Rick Snyder signing a bill package in 2011 that clamped down on the sale of pseudo- ephedrine and required retailers to keep prod- ucts containing the drug in a locked case or behind the counter. But as the supply of home-cooked meth began to dry up, another source took its place, much of that in the hands of Mexican drug cartels. Law enforcement took notice. Over two years, In 19 largely rural northern Michigan counties, authorities nearly doubled methamphetamine arrests, from 226 arrests in 2018 to 542 in 2020. “A lot of it is coming from south of the border,” Michigan State Police Lt. Derrick Carroll said. “It’s higher grade, a lot cheaper than heroin and it is more readily available.” In June, state police pulled over a car with expired Georgia plates in Van Buren County in rural southwestern Michigan. Troopers found more than 100 pounds of methamphetamine, one of the largest seizures in recent years. State Police Lt. Richard Pazder, regional commander of the Southwest Michigan Enforcement Team, a nine-county multijurisdic- tional task force, said that bust is a sobering reminder of the rising threat posed by the drug. “These cartels have flooded the market with a product that is potentially lethal,” Pazder said. “People are using more meth and they are using it more often.” Paul Olson, an outpatient counselor at the Great Lakes Recovery Centers since 2013, said his recent caseload charts meth’s relent- less toll on the families and small communities west of Marquette. “Out here in our small town of Ishpeming,” he said, “meth is eclipsing every other drug, except alcohol. “People lose their jobs, that’s the first thing that happens. It’s very hard for a person to maintain any kind of job when they are using methamphetamine,” he said. “I’ve seen people who had their kids taken away because they started using. They were having one of those episodes and the police get involved and they find out they have children with them.” Olson recalled the recent downward spiral of a single mother of three young children. She had become addicted to prescribed opiate pain medication while holding down a clerical office job, switched to heroin after her pre- scribing doctor’s practice was shut down, then to methamphetamine after the local under- ground supply of opiates dried up. She lost her job. She began injecting the drug to get a faster and more potent high. “She was pulled over by the police when she was impaired by meth and she had the kids in the car. The kids were eventually taken away.” By this time, Olson said, the woman’s family had severed ties with her. “It’s that way with a lot of families around here. If you are using meth, they say, ‘You are dead to me.’” Olson said he saw the woman perhaps three times in counseling, and she seemed sincere in her desire to beat this drug. But, more than a year ago, she abruptly stopped attending counseling sessions, a court-imposed condition for her to regain custody of her children. Olson never saw her again. “They just kind of drop off the face of the earth,” he said.

Steven Schumann

‘Meth has never really stopped being a problem, especially in rural Michigan. It certainly is of growing concern now.’

Liz Lenz, coordinator of the Barry County Substance Abuse Task Force

HB 10-21-2021

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