The Sun and News

Your Hometown Newspaper Serving Middleville and Caledonia Areas

No. 31/ August 5, 2023 Published by J-Ad Graphics, Inc. • 1351 N. M-43 Highway, Hastings, MI 49058 145th year

- Caledonia village officials hold open
house for golf cart ordinance
- Thornapple fire captain still on leave
after drug-related charges
- Lee Elementary School hires new
principal
- Developer gets go-ahead to start
townhouse development in Gaines
- Crews finishing up AstroTurf project
at “The Ralph”

IN THIS ISSUE...IN THIS ISSUE...

Farmers Elevator grain bin out of

service after Wednesday incident

Greg Chandler
Staff Writer
A potentially hazardous
situation involving a large
grain bin at the Caledonia
Farmers Elevator was
resolved safely by co-op
employees late Wednesday
afternoon.
The incident was first
reported to Kent County cen-
tral dispatch about 12:
p.m., but CFE chief execu-
tive officer Joel Stoepker
said one of his employees
noticed something was amiss
much earlier.
“We had a grain bin that
started to (experience) a
small separation on one side
of it, from the foundation. It
was noticed it early in the
morning,” Stoepker said
Thursday morning in a tele-
phone interview with the Sun
and News. “One of our oper-
ations managers noticed
there was a very small pile of
grain (near the foundation) –
I’m talking like two or three
coffee cups (full) – it was a
rather small amount and he
thought it was funny, he
hadn’t seen that there
before.”
The manager then told
another individual about the
situation, and they soon start-
ed to inspect the area around
the grain bin. He also called
Stoepker to let him know
what was happening.
“We started immediately

moving that grain to another

bin, just to take a precaution-

ary measure. We brought

some trucks in and we moved

the grain very steadily out of

that bin, just to be sure that

there wasn’t going to be an

issue with it,” Stoepker said.

The Caledonia Fire

Department was called to the

scene and the elevator kept

the department up to date on

what was going on. Five

employees from the CFE

feed office across the street

were evacuated. Portions of

Kinsey and Lake streets were

closed off. Elevator officials

determined it would take

about six hours to empty the

bin and get it transferred to a

larger adjacent bin and a

newer cone-bottom bin.

“We wanted to err on the

side of caution and be safe,”

Stoepker said.

The bin is currently out of

service until it can be inspect-

Longtime Thornapple firefighter retires

Greg Chandler
Staff Writer
Firefighters from the
Thornapple Township Fire
Department honored one of

their own Monday night, as

he is retiring from the depart-

ment.

Capt. Alex Middleton is

retiring after 21 years as a

firefighter and emergency

medical technician with the

department, previously

known as Thornapple

Township Emergency

Services until the depart-

ment recently rebranded

itself. Middleton cited health

issues in his decision to step

down from the department.

“He’s going to be very

(much) missed in our depart-

ment, with his knowledge,

skills and abilities that he

has, his institutional knowl-

edge of this organization,”

Chief Bill Richardson said.

“It’s going to be a definite

loss for us.”

Firefighters from the

department and members of

the Township Board ate

cake, signed the fire helmet

that Middleton wore for so

many years and extended

congratulations to him for his

service to the community.

Richardson presented

Middleton with an engraved

fire ax with the department

logo and Middleton’s dates

of service to the township

— “just in case he needs to

chop some trees down while

he’s up in the (Upper

Peninsula),” Richardson

said.

Middleton joined TTES

on July 22, 2002. He held a

variety of responsibilities

within the department over

the years, most recently

serving as a training officer

for the past five years.

“It’s been a pleasure. It’s

been an honor,” Middleton

said in accepting his gift. “I

don’t even know what to

say. You move forward,

you do the job that needs to

be done, do it the way it

needs to be done, don’t

Michigan Supreme

Court ruling a

massive victory

for local auto

accident victims

Jayson Bussa

Editor

When Teresa Hughes

heard the news, she broke

down.

“I just cried for a half

hour — happy tears,” said

Hughes, of Middleville.

“Because my son’s life has

changed so much — drasti-

cally bad.”

Hughes’ son, 35-year-

old Troy Hughes, is one of

the thousands of motorists

around the state of

Michigan who were criti-

cally injured in an auto

accident and unexpectedly

saw the quality and acces-

sibility to medical care

plummet when lawmakers

in Lansing made sweeping

changes to the state’s auto

no-fault insurance laws.

Because of the new law,

any medical service not

already covered under fed-

eral Medicare laws, which

includes in-home caregiv-

ers and transportation to

medical services, will now

only be reimbursed by

insurance companies at 55

percent of what they were

back before 2019. Existing

accident victims were not

grandfathered into this

change in the law, either,

Troy Hughes is pictured outside of his current

living facility at Spectrum Health Rehabilitation and

Nursing Center in Grand Rapids. Hughes, originally

from Middleville, was injured in a motorcycle acci-

dent over a decade-and-a-half ago and requires

around-the-clock care. (Photos provided)

See HUGHES, page 3

Employees at the Caledonia Farmers Elevator work to remove grain from a

compromised bin on Wednesday afternoon. (Photos by Greg Chandler)

See ELEVATOR, page 2

Retiring Thornapple Township Fire Department
Capt. Alex Middleton (right) accepts a fire ax from
department Chief Bill Richardson, engraved with the
department logo and Middleton’s dates of service, at
Monday’s celebration. (Photos by Greg Chandler) See MIDDLETON, page 2