The Hastings Banner — Thursday, February 3, 2022 — Page 3Marijuana licensee seeks transfer to unnamed entity
Greg Chandler
Staff Writer
About a month after the village of Mid-
dleville approved the awarding of marijuana
retail licenses to two applicants, one of the
two recipients is asking the village about
transferring that license to another entity.
Southfield-based DNVK, which had pro-
posed creating an adult use marijuana retail
business at 314 Arlington St., the present
location of Thornapple Floral, has approached
the village about having its license trans-
ferred to another entity, but has not submitted
a formal application, Village Manager Patri-
cia Rayl said.
At Tuesday’s committee of the whole
meeting, Rayl asked the council for direction
on the DNVK request – whether to allow her
to consider the transfer request administra-
tively or for the council to come up with an
ordinance amendment to address such
requests.
Attorneys Brad Fowler and Mark Nettleton
of the Grand Rapids firm Mika Meyers,
which works with the village on legal mat-
ters, fielded questions from the council
regarding the license transfer question and
how the present ordinance, adopted by the
council in August 2021, addresses it.
“The only segment of the ordinance that
talks about transfers says a permit issued
under this article is not transferrable without
the prior approval of the village manager,
under the same terms and conditions required
for the initial issuance of the permit under
this article,” Fowler said. “That’s the only
thing that the ordinance says.
“To the extent that council wants to amend
that ordinance to limit transfers further, or to
further delineate the process by which the
manager can approve a permit transfer, I
think that’s a valid discussion to have.
“In terms of deciding whether or not to
approve or deny this specific transfer, I guess
Mark and I would caution against the Village
Council getting involved in that because it
could arguably be against what the ordinance
provides, which is that you’ve delegated that
authority to Pattie as the manager.”
Nettleton explained a similar scenario for
how a license transfer could work.
“In some circumstances in licensing, likecable franchise [licensing] comes to mind
sometimes, where you’ll have one entity that
does all the pre-work and then gets the
license, and they transfer it to an affiliated
entity,” Nettleton said. “It’s just kind of how
they arrange their business.”
“Shouldn’t that have been in the original
application?” Council Trustee Ed Schellinger
asked in response.
“Legally, I don’t think that’s necessary, and
it’s certainly not in the ordinance that it
would have to be specified – do you intend to
transfer the license?” Nettleton said.
DNVK and Mitten Meds LLC of Mid-
dleville were chosen by Rayl in early Januaryto receive the retail business licenses after
they had gone through a site plan and special
land use process with the village.
Mitten Meds was approved to offer both
adult use and medical marijuana, while
DNVK was approved for adult use only. They
were selected from four applicants who
sought the retail licenses. The ordinance only
allows two marijuana retail businesses in the
village.
Under the ordinance, Rayl uses a scoring
system for evaluating applicants for the
licenses, taking into consideration such crite-
ria as background of the applicants, number
of employees from within the village, havinga business and financial plan, design of the
business, security details, impact on infra-
structure and having a “good neighbor” plan
to show support for the community.
Fowler told the council that, as the ordi-
nance now stands, Rayl would gather the
information on the new entity that would
receive the transfer and review it to see if all
the same terms and conditions are met that
were met with the original applicant.
“Our advice would be, look at it from an
ordinance amendment perspective as to how
you want to change the rules, as opposed to
ruling on whether or not this specific applica-
tion should be denied or approved,” Fowler
said.
Council Trustee Tom DeVries spoke out in
favor of reopening the process or considering
other applicants who did not receive approval
from the village.
“The license was granted to a specific enti-
ty, and I would personally be against this
manager automatically approving a new
license,” DeVries said.
The council will further discuss the trans-
fer question at its Feb. 22 meeting.Elaine Gilbert
Contributing Writer
Men, women and children have testified to
the life changing healing they have received
as clients of Hastings-based Spiritual Care
Consultants of West Michigan. They were
featured in video testimonies Tuesday at the
organization’s 14th annual banquet, held at
Grace Community Church in Nashville.
The banquet theme was “Hope” and each
testimony praised the inner-healing re-
ceived from troubles ranging from anxiety
to depression and un-forgiveness and even
the devastating news that a woman’s moth-
er had unsuccessfully tried to abort her five
times. Their healings were made possible
through God’s work at SCC where services
are free to all because of the generous do-
nations from many people, businesses,
churches and foundations.
Adults seeking services increased by 39
percent last year with 796 adult clients,
compared to 568 in 2020, said Gale Kragt,
SCC executive director and co-founder
with Hastings physician Dr. Troy Carlson.
“I’m going to credit that [growth] to the cra-
ziness going on in the world right now - the
pandemic and all. Families are in trouble,
and they’re looking for help, Kragt said.
The number of children who received ser-
vices also grew from 718 in 2020 to 734
last year.
Video testimonies of five adult clients and
three children were shown during the ban-
quet.
A tearful Babette, in her video, said she was
adopted when she was three months old and
had struggled throughout her life just deal-
ing with her identity, “lack of information
and parental identity.”
She was able to find and phone her birth
mother when she was 26, but the mom Ba-
bette had yearned to know told her to never
call again.
After a number of years, she again called
her birth mother who “ended up getting
really angry and told me she had tried to
abort me five times and it didn’t work. That
was pretty devastating news. I knew about
it [previously] because it was on my paper-
work of identifying information ... but to
have the person who gave you life actual-
ly tell you that they wish that you had not
made it was pretty devastating,” Babette
said as she sobbed. “That was a big thing; it
still hurts. It doesn’t just disappear.”
“She [my birth mother] rejected me and
didn’t give me any information about my
father and things went quickly downhill
from there, and that’s how I ended up get-
ting referred to Spiritual Care because I was
pretty low.”
At SCC, “they prayed over me, releasing
me from a lot of injury ... They call them
soul splinters that had been festering for a
long time – most of my life,” Babette said.
She previously had been told by well-mean-
ing people: ‘Just get up and get over it;
you’ll be fine.’
“It helped to have people there [at SCC]
that cared and were concerned, and they
would bring you one-on-one in the same
room with God in the way that they do their
healing process.
“God’s always been in my life,” Babette
said of being active at various churches,
“but there’s been a lot of distant feelings
just because of the adoption scenario and
the lack of being able to find out who my
parents actually are.”
At SCC, “it really helped me to know some-
body was praying, and they could bring me
to a closer relationship with God in a deep-
er level than I had ever known and get me
through these difficult times and learn how
to deal with things on a deeper level,” she
said.
Even though it was traumatic knowing that
her mother had tried to abort her, Babette
said SCC healed her and she received peace
about it.
“I know that God has me here for a pur-
pose and there’s a reason. If I have breathhe wants me here. He has a plan for me. I
don’t always know what it might be ... You
don’t know who might touch your life or
how,” she said.
“Anybody contemplating abortion or may-
be has had some and are feeling the severe
guilt or pain that comes with that loss, I
want you to understand that you are still
loved by the Father and that there is still
healing for you there [at SCC], acceptance
and love as there is for me having been a
survivor [of abortion] ... You don’t have to
go through that devastating pain, that guilt
and those feelings alone, there are people
who can help you get past that and under-
stand you’re loved no matter what ... I
don’t care what you’ve done wrong in your
life, God doesn’t hold that against you if
you go to Him and ask him for His forgive-
ness and love.
“My life is different today because I have
a better understanding of the Father’s love
for me,” Babette said, noting that she has
never been able to meet her earthly father
and her adopted father died in 2012. How-
ever, “I know that I’m adopted in a different
way by God the Father to His family and
that helps me,” Babette said.
Troubled with depression, anxiety and a re-
lationship with his girlfriend, a man named
Ryan said traditional counseling or therapy
wasn’t working for him.
“I was looking for a different avenue to
take and Spiritual Care came across my ra-
dar,” he said.
Ryan described his plight as one of the most
difficult times of his life.
“I didn’t have happiness or satisfaction
in my life and my work ... I was carrying
around some things for quite some time that
I was struggling with.
“The Spiritual Care Consultants really
helped me in a lot of ways,” he said. “They
were just very friendly, very open and per-
sonable right up front ... They were happy
to have me there ... The process and the
atmosphere really helped a lot. They want
you to turn and face your problems instead
of setting them to the back burner. They
want you to get to the root of the problem,
really dig deep and face that fear, anxiety,
and sadness and maybe even anger you
might have buried in there and they want
you to pluck that out of yourself and place
it on a higher power.
Though Ryan attended church in his child-
hood, until he started going to SCC, he said,
“I never took spirituality, Jesus or the Bi-
ble very seriously. It was never something I
would pursue, but once I started attending,
it really started to click for me.
“I feel a lot lighter, in general, more pur-
poseful now in what’s going on in my life,
and I’ve been attending church much more
regularly ...”
The healing received through SCC “really
helped me grow, not only in a spiritual fash-
ion, but as a person,” Ryan said.
In another video testimony, Mary said when
she learned about SCC’s healing process,
she was intrigued and impressed because
of her years as a psycho-therapist and a so-
cial worker besides being a Christian. So,
when she invited her elderly mother from
Pennsylvania to live with her in Michi-
gan during the pandemic, she realized her
mother needed some in-depth healing “for
wounds inside herself.”
As a daughter, Mary thought she should
not try to delve into her mother’s private
wounds, so she turned to SCC.
“We were hooked up with a fabulous con-
sultant who met with my mother biweekly
[on Skype] and addressed those pertinent
end of life issues which were very import-
ant in her [mother’s life].
“That consultant worked with her for many
months, bringing her through the status of
not thinking well about herself to thinking
what she was in Jesus,” Mary said.
Her mother’s wounds stemmed from a very
traumatic childhood, growing up in the
1930s and ‘40s during World War II andbeing a child of immigrants. Her mother’s
parents were from Bosnia and Hungry.
Because of “the brokenness she felt in her
family of origin, the consultant showed her
the mercy and compassion of Christ and
used the Word of God, which invoked heal-
ing in her,” Mary said. Her mother told her
it was a beautiful healing process.
“The ability for her to be able to forgive
those who harmed her was paramount,”
Mary said. “My mother is now in a nursing
home in Pittsburgh where she is very happy
and content because that is her home.”
A man named Jim, in another video, had
always been quite healthy, but said he let
anxiety get a grip on him.
When he had an operation, he said he felt
“the world was just all around me. I had
so many things that were coming at me, it
seemed like 100 miles an hour ... My anxi-
ety was off the charts ... I needed help and I
chose Spiritual Care and Spiritual Care got
me back on my feet.
“I heard about Spiritual Care from an arti-
cle, and it got my interest. My doctor rec-
ommended it.
They [SCC] helped me seek God and God
was with me every step of the way ... I just
had to open myself up,” Jim said.
“My faith is so much stronger right now
because of Spiritual Care. I have great con-
fidence now in God. God is very special in
my life ... I chose to give myself to God,
and I’m very happy that I did that because it
changed my life. And I’m not turning back- no way. I’m very thankful for Spiritual
Care to help me with that,” said Jim.
“If you have any questions or doubts what-
soever of where you are in your life, Spir-
itual Care will help you and get you back
to where you want to go. God will help big
time. Don’t be afraid ... There is hope for
you,” he said.
Paula, in another video, said SCC changed
her life.
“I was raised in a cult with an alcoholic abu-
sive father ... The main thing we focused on
was forgiving my father,” she said. “They
[SCC] gave me the tools to do that and I
was able to walk through forgiveness with
Jesus and realize my father was just a hurt-
ing person, and he was probably abused
himself,” she said with teary eyes during
her testimony. “... Spiritual Care helped
take the pain away and now when I think
of my dad, I think of him as that abused lit-
tle child. It’s sad that he went through his
entire life and didn’t understand what true
love was and the freedom and the grace that
comes from Jesus.”
The tools she learned during her sessions
with SCC are part of her life now, Paula
said.
“ I’ve realized my identity in Jesus; that’s
who I am ... Any time I feel that I’m carry-
ing around some anger or bitterness, I can
go back to those tools and pray and work
through forgiveness with God, with Jesus,”
she noted.
The New Pathways Paula learned at SCC
were very helpful to her because they en-
able her “to focus on things differently and
helped me to realize that forgiveness is a
process ... It’s not just a one-time prayer
and you’re done because life comes along
and people continue to hurt you,” she said.
“It was actually hard for me to commit and
show up to Spiritual Care because I knew
it would mean delving into my soul sliv-
ers, and that’s a scary place to go. But, they
helped me to have the tools to get to the
other side,” said Paula as she encouraged
“everyone” to go to SCC.
“I feel like I’m a very different person. I
view other people differently ... I used to
hate myself and couldn’t hardly look in the
mirror at myself. Now, I know who I am
through Jesus,” she said.
Three children, ranging in age from eight
to eleven, told how they were helped by
SCC. Kragt explained that they were part
of an extended family of seven who were
experiencing “difficulty that was causing
much pain and heartache for the children
and mom and dad.”
SCC worked with the entire family when
they came for help and Kragt said, “we just
saw God work with them in an amazing
way.”
The 8-year-old girl said, “It really helped
me through my hard times.”
Help with having a difficult time because
a grandfather was in jail, was the response
from the 10-year-old.
“It was really touching my heart that I’m
God’s child,” said the 11-year-old. “... It
helped me to not stay sad and mad at what
things happened to me and helped me to
place it on God’s hook”. One of the chil-
dren added, “It’s like drawing a big hook
and you draw about your feelings and you
give those feelings to God and then God
will take care of them.”
Dr. Carlson, who serves as chairman of the
SCC Board, talked about the banquet theme
of hope, based on Jeremiah 29:11, which
says, “For I know the plans I have for you,
declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and
not to harm you, plans to give you hope and
a future.”
“Jesus is our anchor which gives us hope
each and every day,” he said. “Hope gets
us through the toughest of times. Our faith
in Him, our cornerstone, allows us to have
hope. Hope is an encouragement to our
will. It provokes our logical mind to find
strength to be inspired with boldness and
encourage.”
Carlson developed an acronym as a remind-
er of what is hope: “H stands for Him [Je-
sus]. Everything we do in our life should be
based on our faith in Him, our cornerstone.
Without Him as our rock, our life would
crumble as the foolishness of man building
his life upon the sand. The “O” is the op-
portunity to serve him and fulfill the plans
He has for us as said in Jeremiah 29:11. The
“P” represents perseverance or persistence.
Hope represents an attitude to never give up
... It encourages our will to get things done
in our life, again based on our relationship
to Him,” Carlson continued. “We can’t do
it alone. The “E” stands for expectation to
know what He plans to do for you – to pros-
per and not to harm you, plans to give you a
hope and a future.
“... Whatever this crazy world is saying or
doing, and I think we can all agree, it’s as
crazy and chaotic as it’s ever been. Right
now, we have hope through Him and the
opportunity to persevere and persist in His
expectations for our life and our ministry
no matter the circumstances,” Carlson said.
He praised the leadership of Kragt and his
passion and courage to follow Christ and
thanked all the businesses and churches by
name as well as others who sponsored the
banquet.
Kragt called the banquet an inspiring time
and said Carlson is a doctor with a pastor’s
heart.
SCC is all about “what God has accom-
plished ... I want to make sure I give Him
all the glory,” he said.
The tools SCC uses with clients have been
made more accessible to clients and the
general public with the start of a podcast
channel registered with 20 different chan-
nels, he said.
“Since April we’ve had 4,500 downloads
... in 450 different cities. The top cities are
Delton, Hastings, Battle Creek and Nash-
ville in our area. Most of big downloads are
coming out of Michigan.”
Another new endeavor is having a Cowboy
Camp with 25 children who have ‘been
through horrendous times,” giving the kids
a chance to ride horses and learn about God
in partnership with the Cowboy Church
and the Thank God First Ranch, Kragt said.
Two of the camps were held last year and
more are planned for this year. A video of
the camp program was shown to the ban-
quet audience.
To help the community, SCC has been peri-
odically placing half page ads with encour-aging words in the Reminder, he noted and
sending weekly emails to 300 every week.
SCC also now has weekly radio programs,
recorded from Kragt’s office and aired on
WBCH, with a 60-mile radius from Hast-
ings, and WHTC in the Holland/Zeeland
area. Both programs air at 1 a.m. Saturdays
and feature stories of faith, hope and heal-
ing.
Sarah Sixberry, hired last May to help with
SCC’s children’s program, told the banquet
audience that she has “a huge heart to see
the youth truly come to know who they are
in Christ ...” and wants to help them focus
on their true identity.
“We truly want them to know they have
people to talk to, people that they can trust.
Alongside COVID comes loneliness, and
we constantly see kids searching for a place
to belong and purpose. And so, I’ve had
kids come in and say I don’t know why I’m
here.”
She grew up in Hastings, graduated from
Hastings High School and then earned a de-
gree from Spring Arbor University in 2019.
Following God’s leading, Sarah moved to
California where she went to a Youth with
a Mission discipleship training school and
worked there two years.
With SCC, Sixberry works alongside Vera
Yenger, director of the children’s program.
They spend three days a week at Maple Val-
ley Schools and Sarah also sees students at
Delton Kellogg Middle School.
“Since COVID, we’ve been seeing depres-
sion and anxiety rates increase. Our office
hours are getting busier seeing kids in the
office who want longer more in-depth ses-
sions,” Sixberry said, noting that hour-long
sessions are held in the SCC office versus
“20ish minutes” in school because students
have to get back to their classes.
The banquet audience also viewed a video
of testimonies from some of the commu-
nity business leaders who are members of
SCC’s Connecting Champions. Each had
high praise as they discussed why they sup-
port SCC, calling it a valuable community
resource.
A faithful SCC volunteer Win Ludy died
Dec. 26, 2021, and the SCC team wore
green ribbons at the banquet to honor his
memory because green was his favorite col-
or. Ludy and his wife, Barb, worked with
students at Delton Kellogg Middle School.
Kragt told the audience that when he went
to pray for Ludy at his home on Christmas
Eve, Win wasn’t talking a lot because of his
illness, but when Kragt started singing “Si-
lent Night,” Win started singing, too. Kragt
asked the banquet audience Tuesday to join
him in singing “Silent Night” in remem-
brance of Win.Donations
Spiritual Care Consultants (SCC) is a
non-profit Christian organization based
in Hastings and serving Barry County and
beyond. Because SCC is funded by grants
and generous donors, services are free to
all adults and children who are dealing
with a variety of issues, ranging from
depression to anger and anything else that
is making life difficult for them such as
grief, worry and being bullied.Donations to SCC may be made by
sending a check toSpiritual Care
Consultants,
1375 W. Green St., Suite #1,
Hastings, Mich. 49058
or by donating online at
https://www.spiritualcareconsultants.
com/pages/make-a-donationWe THANK YOU for your
generosity and support!Hope for healing is blooming for SCC clients
‘The license was granted to a specific entity,
and I would personally be against this manager
automatically approving a new license.’
-- Council Trustee Tom DeVries