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VOLUME 168, No. 38 Thursday, September 22, 2022 PRICE $1.

T HE

H AS T INGS

Devoted to the Interests of Barry County Since 1856

Irving Township board mulls options after clerk signs

on to lawsuit to decertify 2020 election results

Jayson Bussa
Editor
A crowd filled Irving Township hall on
Tuesday night to show support for township
clerk Sharon Olson, who joined plaintiffs
across the state in a recent lawsuit to decertify
the 2020 presidential election results.
In the township board’s first meeting since
Olson appeared on the lawsuit, filed in federal
court earlier this month, the gallery was filled
with audience members focused on voicing
their approval of Olson’s move. Barry County
Sheriff Dar Leaf was among them.
Public commenters, most of which identi-
fied themselves as residents outside of Irving
Township, thanked Olson for her courage –
one even dubbed her a hero.
Earlier this month, The Detroit News
reported that Olson was listed as a plaintiff in
a lawsuit filed in federal court that sought to
decertify Michigan’s 2020 presidential elec-
tion results and force Governor Gretchen
Whitmer and Secretary of State Jocelyn Ben-
son to re-run the election process.
When given the opportunity to speak on
Tuesday, Olson explained her last-minute deci-

National 24-Hour Challenge

cycling event comes to an end

Greg Chandler
Staff Writer
An endurance cycling event that drew
participants from all over the country to
Barry County for nearly two decades has
come to an end.
The National 24-Hour Challenge, which
had been held in Middleville for the last 19
years, has been discontinued. The event’s
seven-member board of directors Sunday
voted to end the challenge, saying it was no
longer sustainable, said Gary Goscenski, who

had been the event’s executive director since

October 2017.

“We sincerely appreciate everyone who

participated in the event over the many

decades and understand there will be a sense

of loss, considering the N24HC was more

than a cycling event. We became a family in

a sense and will miss our annual gatherings,”

Goscenski said in a statement posted on the

County board’s Committee of the Whole unable to

meet Tuesday when only three commissioners show

Jayson Bussa
Editor
After 18 years serving on the Barry County
Board of Commissioners, Hoot Gibson has
essentially seen it all.
However, Tuesday afternoon’s scheduled
Committee of the Whole meeting offered a
first for the veteran commissioner.
“I’ve never seen that happen before,” said
Gibson, who serves District 1, which current-
ly includes the City of Hastings and part of
Hastings Township. “That was interesting.”
With only three commissioners present at
Tuesday’s meeting, the Committee of the

Whole failed to meet quorum and was forced

to cancel the meeting. The cancellation

announcement by Chairman Ben Geiger

immediately at 9 a.m. solicited both disap-

pointed groans and jokes about it being the

shortest meeting on record.

“We knew that the margin was going to be

razor thin and everything had to fall into

place,” Geiger said following the meeting,

indicating that all but one of the absences

were anticipated.

Geiger and Gibson were joined by District

7 commissioner Bruce Campbell, who was

prepared to sit in as vice chair in the event the

meeting did take place.

However, commissioners David Jackson

and Catherine Getty were on vacation, vice

chair Vivian Conner was attending a confer-

ence and Jon Smelker was out due to illness.

The county clerk’s office was unable to

verify if, and when, the board ever failed to

achieve quorum.

Geiger said that the cancellation doesn’t

necessarily cause a log game to the agenda,

which would simply be pushed to next week’s

Board of Commissioners meeting, slated for

the usual time of 9 a.m. in the mezzanine of

the Barry County Courthouse.

Last week, the BOC’s chairman Geiger

took time to state that, despite the exit of

three commissioners and the arrival of four

new faces next year, the board would contin-

ue to work diligently for its constituents.

“There is a lot that I personally would like

to take care of before I leave this mezzanine

and I know there are issues that vice chair

Conner and commissioner Gibson are pas-

sionate about,” Geiger said during last week’s

BOC meeting.

“This cannot be a lame duck board where

we rubber stamp things and run out the

clock,” he added. “We are here to serve and

we will do that.”

A week before Tuesday’s cancellation, the

Board of Commissioners held a meeting that

clocked in at less than 30 minutes. The Com-

mittee of the Whole meeting before that was

roughly 30 minutes.

Gibson and Geiger, who were both present,

will not be returning to their seats next year,

nor will Conner.

Impressively, Gibson has yet to miss a

meeting in his nearly two-decade tenure.

Stephens waives

preliminary hearing in

Brickley murder case

Greg Chandler

Staff Writer

A Nashville man accused of perjury

during a murder trial in Barry County ear-

lier this year will stand trial after waiving

his right to a preliminary hearing Wednes-

day morning in District Court 56B.

Dustin Scott Stephens, 36, was bound

over to circuit court by Judge Michael

Schipper after waiving his hearing. Schip-

per scheduled a pretrial conference for the

suspect for 10 a.m. on Oct. 26.

Stephens is facing multiple charges as an

accessory in the February 2021 murder of

18-year-old Gracyn Brickley in Maple

Grove Township. He is charged with perju-

ry in the trial of a capital crime – a charge

that carries a potential life sentence if con-

victed – as well as tampering with evi-

dence, being a felon in possession of a

firearm, accessory after the fact to a felony,

a felony firearms charge and being a habit-

ual offender-second notice.

Andrew Lafey was convicted of first

degree felony and premeditated murder in

the videotaped torture and murder of Brick-

ley in April 2022. He is serving a life sen-

tence without possibility of parole and is

currently lodged in the Earnest C. Brooks

Correctional Facility in Muskegon Heights.

Two other defendants have preliminary

hearings pending. Sheralyn Randolph, 52,

of Nashville and Coleen Rice, 36, of Hast-

ings, are charged with felony counts of

tampering with evidence and accessory

after the fact of a felony. Randolph is also

charged as a habitual offender-fourth

notice, which carries a possible life sen-

tence if convicted.

The tampering with evidence charge is

punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Stephens remains held in the Barry

County Jail on a $50,000 bond.

Lack of housing has ripple

effect on county

See story on page 4

Lakewood celebrates 2012

state championship team

See story page 9

"Steel Magnolias" takes

stage in Hastings

See story on page 5

See IRVING, page 2

See CHALLENGE, page 3

Dustin Stephens

One of the first packs of riders rolls through the checkpoint at Delton Kellogg High School during a previous National 24-Hour
Challenge. Organizers announced this week that the event has been discontinued. (File photo by Brett Bremer)

Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf addresses the Irving Township board on Tuesday

night during the public comment portion of its monthly meeting. Leaf and others threw

their support behind Irving Township Clerk Sharon Olson, who is a plaintiff in a feder-

al lawsuit that aims to decertify the 2020 presidential election results. (Photo by

Jayson Bussa)

Irving Township Clerk Sharon Olson (left) is seated next to township trustee Mike

Buehler (right) during Tuesday night’s meeting. (Photo by Jayson Bussa)

See COMMITTEE, page 3

“I think the primary

reason was lack of

leadership to

continue to

organize the

event.”

— Gary Goscenski,

National 24-Hour Challenge

Executive Director