Keep USA strong
for the future
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Engle leaves Ann Arbor
as waterski national champ
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New retailer sets up shop
in downtown Hastings
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Who will run?
Search in city for new county board
candidate finds reluctance to enter politics
Benjamin Simon
Staff Writer
The city of Hastings will start the process
of appointing a new city council member
after 1st ward representative Theresa Maupin-
Moore announced her resignation in
December.
City Manager Sarah Moyer-Cale said the
city will begin soliciting applications for the
position this week.
Those interested must apply by Jan. 21.
Moyer-Cale said she expects to fill the vacan-
cy sometime in February.
The post comes with few requirements,
although the applicant must be a resident of
the 1st ward and a registered voter.
Mayor David Tossava said he specifically
wants someone who is committed to the
Hastings community.
“I’m going to look for somebody that really
wants to do this,” he said. “I don’t want some-
body that just wants to be on the council as a
notch in their belt. I want somebody that really
wants to represent the people in their ward.”
But Tossava expressed concern about how
many will actually apply. He speaks from
experience: He has spent the last few weeks
trying to find people who are interested in
serving as a new county commissioner for
Hastings. Recent redistricting at the county
level allows the city to elect its own commis-
sioner to fill a new seat after sharing one with
the township for the past 11 years.
The mayor said he has found that most peo-
ple he has spoken to are reluctant to run for the
new commissioner position, and that makes
him wary of the city’s ability to find residents
who are interested in the council opening.
He’d be surprised, Tossava added, if the
city receives more than three applications.
“I don’t think we’re going to see people
coming out of the woodwork to run for it,” he
said. “I think you’re gonna find one or two
people that are really interested to do it and
then we’ll have to pick between them.”
Tossava said he believes the current politi-
cal climate has discouraged some people
from serving in public office.
“I think with the way the environment is
right now, people don’t want to get involved
in politics,” he said.
There’s a difference at the city council
level, though. City council members are non-
partisan – meaning they don’t have any party
affiliation. Tossava said he’s looking for a
“free thinker.”
“I think, still, you hear these people out
there that are Democrats and Republicans.
They believe in one way, they’ve been indoc-
trinated that way, they’re taught their whole
life to believe this way. And I think that’s a lot
of the problems we have,” he said.
The council must fill Maupin-Mole’s posi-
tion within 45 days of her resignation on Feb.- After receiving the applications, council will
convene at its Jan. 24 meeting to discuss the
next steps, which would likely include an inter-
view process. The appointed person would hold
the post until the general election in the fall of
2022 when they would have to run for office.
“We’re trying to find someone in a reason-
able amount of time,” Moyer-Cale said. “But
we’re not set on getting someone in that posi-
tion by Feb. 1. That might be biting off a bit
more than we can chew.
“We don’t want to rush it.”
Many in City Hall were surprised by
Maupin-Moore’s resignation.
“I’m flabbergasted, to be honest with you,”
Tossava said during the Dec. 28 meeting.
Moyer-Cale said she first learned of the
news when Maupin-Moore announced it to
the city council.
Maupin-Moore had spent six years in the
role. She is the current Eden Coordinator at
Thornapple-Manor.
A Hastings resident for nearly two decades,
she has previously held jobs with the Barry
County Commission on Aging and Barry
County Substance Abuse Services.
“I’ve had a few phone calls with people
come up and ask me why I was resigning,”
Maupin-Moore said at last Tuesday’s meet-
ing. “Still not ready to extremely talk about it
out in public. However, it has nothing to do
with my health, my new job and/or any new
health issues with my family. So thank you to
those people who have called and asked. But
it is not family and/or work-related.”
In other news, city council:- Approved a new contract with Mercy
Ambulance. The decision brought tears to the
eyes of Mercy
Director/Treasurer Rodney Palmer as he
took the stand to thank city council.
“This doesn’t happen without the city of
Hastings,” he said of the contract in an inter-
view with The Banner following the meeting.
“BIRCH fire is a great district and they have
a lot of runs, but the city of Hastings is the
core that kind of keeps this together so that
we have enough to do so we can keep our
doors open.”
The new five-year contract will come at no
cost to the city of Hastings. - Awarded $94,993.00 to C&D Hughes to
construct sidewalk and drive approaches
along M-43 west of the city. - Accepted the audit of the city’s 2021
finances. The city received the highest possi-
ble rating. - Hired Prein&Newhof, a Grand Rapids-
based civil engineering company, to produce
the city’s Capital Improvement Plan for an
amount not to exceed $25,740.
- Approved a new contract with Mercy
COVID cases surge as
Omicron numbers grow
Taylor Owens
Staff Writer
Health officials say the current surge in
COVID-19 cases in Michigan is being driven
by the new Omicron variant, which appears
to be more contagious, but less lethal, than
previous strains.
Since Christmas Eve, more than 1,
COVID-19 cases have been reported to the
Barry-Eaton District Health Department.
The presence of Omicron has not been
officially confirmed in Barry County, but it
has been confirmed in neighboring counties.
“Due to this surge in cases, you may not be
contacted by the health department if you test
positive for COVID-19,” the health depart-
ment advises on its Facebook page.
This prioritization by the BEDHD is not
unusual. Throughout the pandemic, the
department has not had the resources to con-
tact every positive case, so it has been priori-
tizing those ages 65 and up, then ages 12-
and then children up to 11.
Department staff are advising people who
test positive to stay home, monitor their
symptoms, notify their close contacts along
with school or workplace and contact their
healthcare providers.
Free rapid and PCR COVID testing is
available at the BEDHD office on Woodlawn
Street in Hastings from 10:30 a.m. to 5:
p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Last week, while the tests were being
administered outside the back door of the
building, a long line of cars snaked around
the parking lot and out into the street.
Some people told The Banner they waited
between two and three hours to receive tests
that were administered as they sat in their
cars.
BEDHD reported 347 cases of COVID in
Barry County on Tuesday.
Two additional deaths due to the virus
were reported since last week, for a total of
133 deaths caused by COVID since the pan-
demic was declared in March 2020.
No new cases have been reported at Barry
County long-term care facilities in nearly a
month.
On Monday, Spectrum Health Pennock
had seven people with the virus who had been
admitted to the hospital, including two
patients in the intensive care unit.
The Omicron variant is most prevalent in
metro Detroit, where 201 of the 289 Omicron
cases have been found, according to Bridge
Michigan.Hastings students earn ‘life-changing’ scholarship
Benjamin Simon
Staff Writer
Before Hannah Vann even opened up the
notification to her application portal, she
started crying.
“I was so nervous because I didn’t know
what the outcome would be,” she remem-
bered.
Vann, who is a senior at Hastings High
School, had applied to QuestBridge, a
national scholarship program that covers the
cost of an entire college education for high
achieving low-income students.
These kids normally come from a typical
family of four earning less than $65,000.
And under QuestBridge, everything is paid
for – from tuition to room and board to trav-
el reimbursement.
“Essentially, anything they need to be
successful, [QuestBridge] will make sure
that that financial part is not averted,” said
Cathy Longstreet, a Hastings High School
school counselor and K-12 Counseling
Department Chair.
But the program is highly selective. In
2021, 16,500 students applied to the
QuestBridge National College Match pro-
gram and only 6,312 students become final-
ists.
From there, the finalists rank their top 12
schools out of QuestBridge’s more than 40
partner colleges, some of the most selective
in the country. Only 1,674 students matched
with a school – just 10 percent of the origi-
nal number of applicants.
On Dec. 1, Vann opened up her match
decision to learn that she had matched. She
had received an all-expenses-paid-for schol-
arship to Oberlin College.“Then I started crying more,” she said.
Vann was one of three Hastings High
School students to be accepted into the
QuestBridge National College Match pro-
gram this year, including Matt Pattok, who
will attend the University of Pennsylvania,
and Patrick Mallory, who will attend Colby
College.
That is the largest number of students
ever selected from Hastings.“Truly, I don’t feel like it’s exaggerating
to say that this is really life-changing,”
Longstreet said.
For Vann, specifically, the total cost of an
Oberlin College education can run up to
$80,000 annually, she said. And although
she has always performed highly in herParalyzed Marine
from Middleville dies
Greg Chandler
Staff Writer
A U.S. Marine from the Middleville
area, left paralyzed by a sniper’s bullet
in Iraq nearly 15 years ago, has died.
Cpl. Joshua Hoffman died Dec. 27
from complications relating to his war-
time injuries. He was 39.
Hoffman’s injury occurred in combat.
He was on patrol in Fallujah, Iraq, on
Jan. 6, 2007, when he spotted a man with
a rocket-propelled grenade. The insur-
gent ran off, and Hoffman and his unit
followed, eventually capturing the man.
During that encounter, Hoffman was
shot in the back of the neck, leaving him
paralyzed from the neck down.
After 14 months in a Veterans
Administration hospital, Hoffman
returned home to a specially-built resi-
dence in Irving Township.
Hoffman’s sacrifice for his country
was the focus when more than 200 peo-
ple gathered on that day, Jan. 31, 2009,
to mark the moment when he moved in.
He lived in his fully adapted “Homes
for Our Troops” house in Middleville
with his faithful companions, Motley
and Maggy, his family said.
“Though Josh left the war in Iraq, his
battle as a warrior never stopped,” his
family wrote in his obituary. “He faced
each new challenge head-on, never
wavering in his inner strength, and
always with a true warrior’s heart.
“Josh’s courage and strength was an
inspiration to all who knew him.”
Funeral services will take place at 11
a.m. Thursday, Jan. 13, at the Lauer
Family Funeral Home’s Wren Chapel,
1401 N. Broadway, Hastings. The ser-
vice will be live-streamed on http://www.
facebook.com/lauerfhhastings.
Inurnment will follow with military hon-
ors at Riverside Cemetery in Hastings.
The family will receive friends at the
funeral home from 6 to 8 p.m. on
Wednesday, Jan. 12, and on Thursday
from 10 to 11 a.m.
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THE
HASTINGS
Devoted to the Interests of Barry County Since 1856
A motorist receives a COVID-19 test outside the Barry Eaton District Health
Department office last week on Wednesday as a long line of people waited in their
vehicles to receive the test. (Photo by Rebecca Pierce)
Cpl. Joshua HoffmanCathy Longstreet, a school counselor,
speaks with the three QuestBridge schol-
arship recipients at Hastings High School.
This is Longstreet's fourth year guiding
students through the extensive
QuestBridge application process that
takes months to complete.Matt Pattok Hannah Vann Patrick Mallory