Page 4 — Thursday, April 21, 2022 — The Hastings Banner
Have you met?
Do you remember?
Did you see?
A time for stewardship
When I look at taxes as investments,
they’re a little easier for me to accept.
There probably has never been a tax bill
I enjoyed paying but, just like buying
stock in a company whose sales and mar-
ket price keeping going up, well-managed
public projects bring a return on invest-
ment, too.
Look at the return this nation received
from the tax investments Americans have
made over the years.
In 1956, President Dwight Eisenhower
proposed and built the greatest interstate
highway system known to modern civili-
zation.
Twelve years later, man walked on the
moon, thanks to the taxes that funded the
National Aeronautics and Space Adminis-
tration.
American taxes have built the strongest,
most admired nation on earth.
Naturally, not all investments are good
ones and they have to be monitored, but
every community in this country can take
pride in how local taxes have defined their
cities, towns, and villages.
That’s why I’m so invested in our
upcoming vote on May 3 to ensure the
future of our Hastings Area School Sys-
tem.
Last year, voters turned down a request
for funds to do some needed upgrades and
maintenance. Without that assistance, the
district limped through completing some
projects with money from past bonds and
sinking funds that had been previously
approved.
But now we have to finish fixing roofs
that leak, replacing windows that don’t
seal, and renovating bathrooms and lock-
ers rooms – along with a number of other
items on a list of projects that, with time,
continues to grow.
We’re not alone in struggling to keep up
our investment in our children: In 1996,
the U.S. General Accounting Office
reported that almost three-fourths of exist-
ing schools were constructed before 1970.
About one-third had need of extensive
repair or replacement and almost two-
thirds had substandard plumbing, roofing
or electrical systems.
Moreover, 58 percent had harmful envi-
ronmental conditions, such as inadequate
ventilation, acoustics, or physical security.
Recently, I agreed to join a small group
of local citizens in the “Finish What We
Started” campaign, an effort to convince
voters that the district can’t complete its
list of badly-needed projects without tax-
payer investment. We took on the chal-
lenge, knowing that voters in previous
elections have had concerns over past
grievances and misunderstood what our
educational leaders could accomplish with
their requests.
I know voters realize that, from their
own experiences maintaining household
and families, everything has a life expec-
tancy. Some of our school buildings are
well beyond the life expectancy for any
type of building. Central Elementary was
built in 1930, North and Southeastern
were built in 1954 and the high school was
built in 1970. The newest building, Star
Elementary, was completed in 1997. That
was 25 years ago and, like the others, it
now has some needs that can’t be met by
our normal maintenance budget.
The State of Michigan has made school
financing very confusing. All public
schools receive taxpayer funds for the
education of their community students
based on a per-student formula determined
by a school district’s size and other fac-
tors. Those dollars, however, are restricted
to just the education that takes place in the
buildings – teacher salaries, curriculum,
and programming.
When a boiler breaks or a roof leaks,
financial responsibility falls to the local
community. That puts school administra-
tors in the difficult position of having to
divert money away from education – or
ask their community for bond support to
meet maintenance needs.
If the May 3 bond request is approved,
it will not only sustain our declining build-ings, it will allow our educators to more
easily focus on the futures of our children.
That’s an investment in which our com-
munity can take pride.
With our tax investment, the district
will be able to replace all the outdated
windows at North and Southeastern
schools, do needed bathroom upgrades,
install security cameras and card key sys-
tems, and do some energy upgrades in an
effort to reduce gas and electric costs. The
district also plans to replace old lighting
with energy-efficient LED lighting.
The list is a long one, but becomes even
more daunting when realizing how quick-
ly even more deterioration will occur
without immediate attention.
At the high school, 180,000 square feet
of roofing needs to be replaced – along
with 128 windows. At the middle school,
there is 34,450 square feet of roof that still
hasn’t been replaced. Central has 36,
square feet of roof, and 137 windows that
need replacement. The bell tower on the
front of the building is rotten and needs
immediate attention. Star Elementary has
11,950 square feet of roofing to be replaced
or recoated.
All the elementary schools need replace-
ment or upgrading of playground equip-
ment. At Southeastern, local groups took it
upon themselves to replace one piece of
equipment but the rest needs attention.
And many of the locker rooms used by
athletic teams and every day by hundreds
of physical education students need com-
plete renovation.
We also need to consider the transporta-
tion of our students. The district currently
has 19 buses – but four stay mothballed in
the garage because of their high mileage
and/or mechanical problems.
A detailed list of all projects and needs
has been published in recent issues of the
Reminder and the district has posted the
list on its website.
No one likes taxes and I know that, as a
businessman and a homeowner, I will
have to pay more. But I can see the need.
The Hastings school millage rate of 6
mills is lower than most area districts.
The May 3 proposal asks for 6.8 mills,
an increase that will cost most voters $
per year or less. Do the math: The market
value of a $100,000 house has a taxable
value of $50,000. So, 0.8 mills equates to
$40 per year or $0.8 on each $1,000 of
taxable valuation.
My advice for voters is to do their due
diligence. Decide what is important and
then become active. Have a voice and be
engaged in the process. And make it a
priority to attend future school board
meetings to listen to issues and question
board members.
How can we expect school leaders to
deal with crucial issues if they can’t deter-
mine where the community stands?
That’s why our current citizens’ group
took on the responsibility of getting the
message out to district voters about this
alarming need to upgrade our facilities.
These issues are important and they call us
to stewardship.
Continuing to put them off will only
increase the burden for coming genera-
tions.
These are our schools; they represent
our community and the importance we
place on education. I’m supporting the
bond and suggest that other voters in the
district take a serious look at these needs
and support it as well.The Hastings Banner
Devoted to the interests of Barry County since 1856
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1351 N. M-43 Highway • Phone: (269) 945-9554 • Fax: (269) 945-
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Greg Chandler Benjamin SimonSubscription Rates: $52 per year in Barry County
$60 per year in adjoining counties
$65 per year elsewherePOSTMASTER: Send address changes to:
P.O. Box 188
Hastings, MI 49058-
Second Class Postage Paid
at Hastings, MI 49058Stepping up to serve
in the clerk's office
Barry County Clerk Pamela Palmer
promoted Senior Circuit Court Deputy
Clerk Sarah VanDenburg to the role
of first deputy clerk, filling the vacan-
cy left by Karen Barnes, who recently
retired. As of May 15, VanDenburg
will mark a 14-year milestone with
the clerk's office where she got her
start as a vital records, elections and
gun board clerk and jury coordinator.
In November 2021, VanDenburg
became the senior deputy clerk. This
most recent promotion makes her
Palmer's chief lieutenant in the clerk's
office.Bowling champions
Banner April 19, 1962
The Champions – This is the
Hastings Radio and TV bowling quin-
tet, which won team honors during
the 1962 Hastings Women’s Bowling
tournament at the Hastings Bowl.
John Wills (left), owner of Hastings
Radio and TV, sponsors the team,
which includes (kneeling, from left)
Sharon Connor, Peg Keeler; (back)
June McKelvey, captain; Shirley
VanDenburg; and Pat Grabau. The
lassies won the handicap honors with
2,958. Shirley also accumulated
1,612 to win the actual All-Events
championship, and Shirley and June
were third in the doubles division.
(Photo by Barth)Hastings High School senior Amy Fors-
berg, 18, is irked by classmates saying
they’re tired.
“Why would you say you’re tired?”
Forsberg said. “You have all of your life to
be tired, you’re only 18.”
Forsberg tries to give everything she’s
passionate about her full attention, she said.
Especially after the COVID-19 pandemic
derailed many after-school activities, she
said she tries to be grateful for the opportu-
nity to participate in them at all.
She dedicates a lot of her time to music.
She’s played the drums since she was in
sixth grade and plays in the symphonic,
concert, marching, jazz, and steel bands and
is in the drumline. She’s been the drum
captain this year.
“Band’s my life,” Forsberg said. “I love
band, and everybody knows I love band. A
lot.”
She also loves to sing in the choir.
During her final semester at HHS, she is
taking three sections of choir, and a section
of band alongside her math class. She even
took some of her required classes over the
summer just to make sure she was able to
take as many sections of choir as she could.
Even though she’s known now for her
extensive involvement with music, she
wasn’t always that way. When her mom
enrolled Forsberg and her brother in piano
lessons when they were younger, she
wasn’t a fan.
“I was like, ‘My mom wants me to do
music. She thinks I’m some sort of musi-
cian, but I’m not. I hate this. I hate piano
practice. I hate singing. I hate all of it,’ ” she
said.
But that changed when she started high
school and realized she had a talent for
music, she said.
“Then it became more fun,” she said. “I
stopped playing piano and started drum-
ming, and now I live to drum. I love
drums.”
Forsberg said she thinks that being
left-handed and right-brained, along with
dyslexia, have all contributed to her love
of music. She has lots of ideas and
thoughts she can’t always express in other
ways, she said.
“When it comes to physical art I have to
make with my hands, I can’t make it hap-
pen,” she said. “But if it’s music, it trans-
lates perfectly.”
As Forsberg approaches graduation,
she’s preparing to head for new horizons. Itwill be difficult to leave the community
where she discovered her love of the arts.
Even though she grew up in Hastings,
she never felt that growing up in a small
town has ever held her back. She’s grateful
for the community’s support for the arts and
the leadership opportunities she’s received
through her various interests, she said.
Soon, Forsberg will be heading to
another small town: Gunnison, Colo., to
attend Western Colorado University.
There, she will study outdoor recreation
and education.
“I always tell people I just want to play
outside when I grow up,” she said. “I just
want to teach people how to play outside,
and I want people to keep playing outside
for the rest of forever.”
Her love of the outdoors, she said, stems
from her mother, Denise Lowell, owning a
campground next to the house where she
grew up. She also attributes her outgoing
personality to being able to meet and talk to
lots of people who stayed at the camp-
ground at various times in her life.
For Forsberg, Gunnison is a town that
seems to cater to all of her interests. Its
proximity to the Rocky Mountains makes it
a great place to go hiking, trail running, and
fishing. Forsberg, who’s been a ski instruc-
tor since she was 16, can’t wait to hit the
slopes. She knew Gunnison was right for
her when she learned it offers lots of music
opportunities as well, she said.
She’d leave her phone and computer
behind if it was up to her, but she said hermom got her a phone to keep in touch and
a computer to help with school assign-
ments.
“The mountains are right there,” she
said. “The mountains are calling me. I don’t
need a phone to hear them.”
Her plans don’t stop there. After college,
Forsberg wants to head to Mongolia as a
Peace Corps member volunteering in edu-
cation or agriculture. When she returns to
the States, she plans on working seasonal
jobs outdoors, like being a ski instructor or
teaching whitewater rafting.
“I’m expecting to work seasonal jobs for
the rest of my life,” Forsberg said. “I’m OK
with being a tramp and a hippie dirtbag that
lives out of my car.”
For her enthusiasm for the arts and the
outdoors, Forsberg is this week’s Bright
Light.
Favorite music to listen to: No. 1 top
artist of all time: Frank Sinatra. Live,
breathe, die, I love Frank Sinatra. A boy
even asked me to a dance by singing Frank
Sinatra to me. Everyone knows I love Frank
Sinatra. I really love jazz, and I’m excited
for jazz fest coming up. If you were to be
able to walk into my ear and up to my brain
and knock on the door, it’s like a jazz fest in
there every single day, all day.
Favorite historic period: I’m a cowboy. I
know I like jazz and stuff, but I am a cowboy.
I want to be in honky-tonks, line dancing.
In high school, I’m most proud of:
Being drum captain. My No. 1 goal in high
school was always to be drum captain
someday.
Favorite book: I used to hate reading
because I’m dyslexic, so words don’t
always make sense. But then my junior year
I said, ‘I can be smarter and cooler.’ My
goal was to be able to talk to anyone about
anything. So, I said, ‘You’ve got to read
books, bro. There is no other way.’ I started
reading classics. “Pride and Prejudice” was
the first book I really fell in love with, but
“The Catcher in the Rye” is my No. 1. I
love “The Great Gatsby,” too.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 per-
sonality, for the stories he or she has to tell,
or for any other reason? Send information
to Newsroom, Hastings Banner, 1351 N.
M-43 Highway, Hastings, MI 49058; or
email [email protected].Amy ForsbergFred Jacobs, CEO
J-Ad Graphics, Inc.