sn 8-5-2023

Page 2/The Sun and News, Saturday, August 5, 2023

Caledonia holds open house on

village golf cart ordinance

Greg Chandler

Staff Writer

Caledonia has an ordinance

regulating the use of golf

carts on village streets, but

some residents might not be

aware of its existence.

For example, anyone who

owns a golf cart in the village

is required to have it regis-

tered at Village Hall. But to

date, only 14 golf carts are

registered with the village.

There have also been

reports of underage and unli-

censed drivers operating the

carts, as well as reckless use.

“I got a report the other

evening of a golf cart going

off the Paul Henry Trail into

Glen Valley (subdivision) by

way of a pathway — it

seemed to be occupied by

three (or) four underage

females. They were giggling

and laughing. The people that

were walking on the path had

to jump out of the way to

make way for the golf cart,”

Village Manager Jeff

Thornton said.

So Thornton held a gather-

ing Wednesday night at

Village Hall to explain the

ordinance passed by the

Village Council in 2019 and

why it was needed. About a

dozen residents turned out.

“We wanted to educate

people,” Thornton said.

“There’s been an uptick in

safety concerns in the village

regarding the use of golf

carts, and we feel that knowl-

edge is power. We want peo-

ple to become knowledgeable

on the safe use of the vehicles

so they don’t run into prob-

lems with injury or having

problems with the law.”

Thornton was joined at the

gathering by Kent County

Sheriff’s Deputy Melissa

Gokey and Brad Hoger, a

salesman at U.S. Golf Cars on

Cherry Valley Avenue.

The ordinance requires all

golf carts used on public

roads within the village limits

to be registered with the vil-

lage. While the council ini-

tially put a $10 annual fee in

place when the ordinance

passed, there is currently no

charge to register a golf cart.

Anyone who registers a cart

with the village will receive a

decal to be placed on the front

of their vehicle, Thornton

said.

The operation of golf carts is

treated similarly to the use of

cars and other motor vehicles.

For example, anyone who

drives a golf cart must be at least

16 years old and be licensed to

operate a motor vehicle. Golf

carts are required to be covered

by liability insurance but do not

need to have collision coverage,

Thornton said.

Registration applications

were made available at the

gathering and remain avail-

able at Village Hall.

“We ask for a picture of the

golf cart and proof of insur-

ance on your (homeowners)

policy,” Thornton said, add-

ing that the village needs to

be listed as an additional

insured on the policy.

Some of the restrictions

regarding driving a golf cart

include a required 15-mile-

per-hour speed limit. Also, no

one is allowed to operate a

cart from 30 minutes before

sunset to 30 minutes after

sunrise, nor is anyone allowed

to drive a cart during inclem-

ent weather or with snow or

ice on the ground. Golf carts

are not allowed on M-37, nor

are they allowed on the Paul

Henry Trail, Thornton said.

While violations of the

ordinance could result in a

civil infraction, punishable by

a fine of $100 on the first

offense, the intent is not to

write tickets.

“Everybody likes to edu-

cate before issuing a ticket,”

Thornton said. “We don’t

want to make anybody have a

bad day. We want everybody

to learn rather than be pun-

ished.”

The ordinance language

has been published in a book-

let available at the Village

Hall, 250 S. Maple St.

(screw) it up ... Thank you

very much. This means the

world to me.”

Middleton says he will

most miss the interaction

with his fellow firefighters

and EMTs — “It’s family,”

he said.

Middleton’s retirement

took effect on Tuesday.

ed. As of Thursday morn-

ing, the height of the grain

in the bin had been reduced

to less than 20 feet on the

sides, and no more grain

could be removed from it.

“We’re going to do a

full assessment of (the

bin), clean it up and

determine whether we’re

going to repair it or take

it out of service,”

Stoepker said.

The bin has a capacity of

30,000 bushels, and the

elevator gave a “rough esti-

mate’ that there were about

18,000 bushels of grain

inside the bin at the time of

the incident. One of the

millwrights who worked

with CFE on the situation

said that leaving some

grain inside the bin would

actually help keep it stable

until an inspection can be

done.

All CFE operations were

functioning at full capacity

Thursday morning,

Stoepker said.

Stoepker praised the

work of his team as well as

the support from the village

and fire department in

helping resolve the situa-

tion.

“We took every precau-

tion there was, to make

sure that there would be no

issues and nobody was put

into any danger,” he said.

“That’s why we asked our

feed staff to evacuate that

office and we barricaded

the road and we barred any

access to (the bin) so that

we could slowly and steadi-

ly empty all the grain out of

it so there was no shifting

or any issues inside the

bin.”

Firefighters cleared the

scene shortly before 7 p.m.

Wednesday and the barri-

cades were removed from

near the grain elevator

Thursday morning.

ELEVATOR, continued from page 1

MIDDLETON, continued from page 1

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We wanted to educate people. There’s been an

uptick in safety concerns in the village regarding

the use of golf carts, and we feel that knowledge

is power.”

— Jeff Thornton, Manager, Village of Caledonia

Joel Stoepker, CEO at Caledonia Farmers

Elevator, said that the company plans to conduct

a full assessment of a compromised grain bin (on

the left) to determine if they will repair it or take it

out of service.

Thornapple Township firefighter Hanna Gross

signs Capt. Alex Middleton’s fire helmet as fellow

firefighter Casandra Vugteveen waits her turn to sign.

The Thornapple Township Fire Department cele-

brated the retirement of Capt. Alex Middleton with a

cake.