Page 4 — Thursday, October 13, 2022 — The Hastings Banner
The Hastings Banner
Devoted to the interests of Barry County since 1856
Published by... Hastings Banner, Inc.
A Division of J-Ad Graphics Inc.
1351 N. M-43 Highway • Phone: (269) 945-9554 • Fax: (269) 945-
News and press releases: [email protected] • Advertising: [email protected]Frederic Jacobs
Publisher & CEOHank Schuuring
CFO- ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT •
Classified ads accepted Monday through Friday,
8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Jennifer Brown
Mike GilmoreTy Greenfield
Jennie Yonker- NEWSROOM •
Jayson Bussa (Editor)
Molly Macleod (Copy Editor)
Brett Bremer (Sports Editor)
Greg Chandler
Hunter McLaren
Subscription Rates: $78 per year in Barry County
$85 per year in adjoining counties
$90 per year elsewherePOSTMASTER: Send address changes to:
P.O. Box 188
Hastings, MI 49058-
Second Class Postage Paid
at Hastings, MI 49058Have you met?
Do you remember?
Did you see?
Free and accessible information
is a feather in the cap of Barry
County – let’s keep it that way
In an era where the term “misinfor-
mation” is thrown around the political
and social arena on the daily, people are
often left scratching their heads about
what facts and sources they can believe
and which ones they should be skeptical
about.
In fact, if we’re being completely hon-
est with ourselves, a lot of people tend to
blindly accept facts that fall in line with
their personal beliefs while scrutinizing
and discrediting those that might clash
with whatever narrative they have built.
It’s natural.
The bottom line is that accurate,
insightful information is important and
in unfortunately short supply – especial-
ly on social media.
Here at the Hastings Banner , our
staff works hard to serve our readers
with exactly that – cut-and-dry informa-
tion that is lite on the opinion (which, I
understand, might seem a little hypo-
critical to say as I write this opinion
column).
And while the members of our news-
room take seriously our duties to devote
careful research to each topic, I’ll be the
first to say that, for those in search of
truth, the Hastings Banner should only
be one of the places to look.
Thanks to the powers of the Freedom
of Information Act (FOIA), which was
set in place back in 1967, any resident of
Barry County – and in cities and munic-
ipalities across the country – have the
legal right to access records that are
created or obtained by United States
government agencies – even if they have
not been publicly released.
These can be records from the local
police department, health department
and everything in between.
I don’t want to get into the weeds
explaining the background, powers and
limitations of FOIAs, but the United
States government provides extensive
information about it online to anyone
that is interested in filing a request for
records.
FOIA is an incredibly powerful tool
when it comes to transparency in gov-
ernment and establishing the truth. In
just my three-plus months here in Barry
County working at the helm of the Hast-
ings Banner , I have noticed this to be a
well-utilized tool, which merits a round
of kudos all around.
For starters, in over a decade in the
business, I have always understood
FOIA to be a tool utilized almost exclu-
sively by newspapers, media and other
organizations that are tasked with inves-
tigating government and government
entities. Given my background in jour-
nalism – I was a sports guy for many
years – I can’t say that I found myself
filing a laundry list of FOIA requests,
but I was surrounded by reporters that
routinely did exactly that.
Here in Barry County, one thing that
has struck me is how often FOIAs are
used amongst residents. I’ve walked
into many conversations where county
residents are talking about the FOIA
process and what sorts of records
they’re looking to obtain. In some cases,
results of FOIA findings have been
shared with myself and the team here at
the Hastings Banner.
In fact, in the past issue of the Hast-
ings Banner , we wrote a story about
dash cam footage captured of a Barry
County Sheriff’s Deputy as he made a
trip out of state. This was information
obtained by Joel Ibottson and his Local
Government Accountability Forum via
the FOIA process.
While it might be a small pocket of
Barry County residents that are familiar
with the FOIA process and utilize it reg-
ularly, the fact remains that this is ahealthy dynamic. This shows that every-
day residents – not professional investi-
gators or reporters – are concerned
enough with the goings-on of their local
government that they put in the effort to
navigate the formal FOIA process to
obtain information. They’re not relying
on skewed facts or half-baked, narra-
tive-stretching talking points – they’re
getting the cold hard facts and drawing
their judgements from them. Transparen-
cy in local government is a good thing.
At the Hastings Banner , we strive to
monitor local government and shine our
light on its happenings. That effort is
only more effective when large swaths
of local residents join in. The more the
merrier, as they say.
But, this high praise goes the other
way, too.
In my limited experience watching the
FOIA process play out here in Barry
County, I have to admit that the county
does a solid job of responding to FOIA
requests promptly, fulfilling requests in
a timely fashion and doing so with min-
imal fees attached.
In Michigan, the law states that the
government or government agency must
respond to a FOIA request within five
business days. Over time, there has been
some debate over the differences
between responding to a request and
fulfilling that request. Ultimately, the
general rule is that the agency must
respond and fulfill the request within
five business days, but a number of
exemptions can stretch that timeline.
Again, with still a relatively small
sample size to judge from, Barry County
treats FOIA requests with urgency, and
appears to respond and fulfill the
requests quickly. While it certainly helps
that Barry County is small compared to
the likes of Wayne or Kent counties,
prompt responses to FOIA requests don’t
happen by accident.
The county follows the letter of the
law, too, and is not prejudiced against
the validity of the request. I got a front
row seat to this during the flurry of
FOIAs that were coming into Barry
County Clerk Pam Palmer’s office –
some of them coming from the far reach-
es of the country.
These were requests for information
from the 2020 presidential and other
elections. Palmer and her team in the
clerk’s office and at the county diligently
responded and fulfilled (at least, when
merited) to these requests, even when it
was very apparent that it was a copy-
and-pasted FOIA request used to spread
all over the state and country.
Townships throughout the county
experienced the same thing and took the
requests seriously, consulting with their
legal counsel to determine what records
they would need to turn over.
I have colleagues that work in larger
counties around Michigan and I hear the
horror stories of FOIA requests that are
filed and float in purgatory for weeks or
months. Or, their FOIA requests are suc-
cessfully fulfilled but come with hun-
dreds of dollars worth of fees.
Relatively speaking, Barry County
and its residents have a healthy relation-
ship when it comes exchanging public
information and records. That’s a dynam-
ic that we should all strive to maintain.
Residents should use the system as
needed, trying not to bog it down with
frivolous requests.
If local government starts to slip and
fails to fulfill its duty for access to public
records, they should be held account-
able, as well.Jayson Bussa
Editor
Hastings BannerService with a smile
The Barry County Board of
Commissioners honored a handful of
county employees on Tuesday during its
weekly meeting.
Susan Hinga-Zeeryp (left) and Jennifer
Dailey (right) are pictured here. Hinga-
Zeeryp celebrated five years serving as a
legal secretary in the Barry County prose-
cutor’s office while Dailey commemorated
25 years of service as a case worker with
the family court.
Corrections officer Shawn Olmstead
and Barry County Sheriff’s Deputy Joseph
Cooper were also honored for five and 10
years of service, respectively, but were
not present to accept their awards.Candy Stripers
Banner June 27, 1968Pennock Hospital now has “Candy Stripers.” The teenage volunteer program was recently initiated to supplement the adult
escort volunteer service. The girls have received several hours’ training from Mrs. Mariam Sorby, R.N., school nurse, and
“on-the-job” direction from Mrs. Velma Eaton, chairman of the escort service. The “Candy Stripers” escort new patients to their
rooms, to X-ray and physical therapy, deliver flowers, mail and other items to patients and do other errand-type duties work-
ing with adult escorts. The “Candy Stripers” are (left to right, seated) Trudy Schlachter, Chris Neil, Vicky Clark, Sandy Hull
and Carol Stauffer. Standing are Pat Craven, Bev Weeks, Cheryl Koutz, Jody Tobias, Janine Towne and Janice Nobel. Marcia
Mulder was absent when The Banner picture was taken.Chris Bever made his return to working
in local government right here in Hastings.
As of September, he’s been serving as
the city’s interim clerk and treasurer. Before
coming to Hastings, he was working for a
private college in South Carolina for two
years. Prior to that, he had worked in local
government for 23 years.
Bever felt it was time to return to work-
ing in local government and using his skills
for public service.
“If you have to spend a quarter of your
life doing something, you want to feel like
you’re adding value,” he said. “Getting
back here and learning about the city and
applying what I know – I think it will be
beneficial to me and I hope that in my time
here in Hastings I’m adding value.”
Born in Florida, Bever has spent most of
his life in South Carolina and Virginia.
Although people often warn him of the cold
Michigan winter ahead, he’s no stranger to
the Midwest. He lived in Indiana for a time
growing up, and he often visits friends that
live on the east side of Michigan.
Starting with two years in the Ameri-
Corps National Service Program, Bever
realized he loved the administration and
day-to-day operational work that went into
working in local government. He went back
to school and received his master’s degree
in public administration from the Universi-
ty of South Carolina.
Since then, he’s worked in several differ-
ent roles. Starting as an appraiser and then
moving to a budget analyst position, Bever
worked his way up to a director position.
“One of the good things about starting
off in budget is you get to learn about
everybody else because almost everything
has a fiscal impact. Everything needs a
budget,” he said. “I’ve worked in just about
every department you can, working with
capital budgets and long-range planning. I
just enjoy it. It’s a puzzle you have to put
together. How can we best utilize the pub-
lic’s resources to provide the service they
want in an efficient and effective manner?”Outside of work, Bever has a passion for
travel. He made it his goal to visit all 50
states before he turned 50, but was foiled by
the travel disruptions caused by COVID-- He hasn’t given up and only has four
states remaining: Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon
and Rhode Island.
His favorite places to visit lie overseas.
Bever said it’s tough to pick just one, and
it’d likely be a tie between Amsterdam and
Barcelona. Both have interesting architec-
ture and urban design that appeal to his
local-government-minded brain, with
Amsterdam being known by some as the
home of city planning.
Hastings is more than just his latest stop:
it’s the city where he was able to return to
his work in the public sector.
“I’m glad to be here in Hastings, and I
have great staff (here at the city),” he said.
“People care about the city here. It seems
like a good place.”
For adding value to Hastings and his
years of public service, Chris Bever is this
week’s Bright Light.
Person I’m glad to have met: I’m a big
’80s alternative, new-wave guy. My favor-
ite band of all time is Men Without Hats. I
saw them in concert in 2012 in the DC area
and I got to meet the lead singer (Ivan
Doroschuk). They have been my band for
40 years since I was in the seventh grade.
The music just always makes me happy. It’s
just fun, happy music. I got to meet him
after the show. He was probably like,
“Who’s this lunatic?” I got a picture with
him and he signed some CDs. I got to tell
him that music brought a lot of joy into my
life.
What the world needs now: We just
need people to be decent to each other.
One thing people don’t know about
me: I really like Guy Fieri. You know why?
He’s nice to people. He does a lot of stuff
for the Special Olympics and does a lot of
stuff for first responders. He gets people on
his show and he’s nice to people.
Favorite movies: “Hoosiers,” “Fargo”
and “The Shawshank Redemption.”
If I could go anywhere in the world:
The two bucket list items that I have are
Easter Island and Saint Helena, which is in
the middle of the south Atlantic. It’s where
Napoleon was exiled. The isolation of those
two places fascinates me. How do people
live? See, this is the nerdy, government part
of me. How do they generate electricity?
How do they get fresh water? What do they
do with their municipal waste? Who’s
maintaining the streets? There’s nothing
around them. Easter Island is out there in
the Pacific and Saint Helena is out there in
the South Atlantic.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].Chris Bever