Page 4 — Thursday, April 22, 2021 — The Hastings Banner
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Editorial page 1
Originally from Battle Creek, Diane
Bennett never aspired to be a school princi-
pal.
After 31 years of teaching first- and sec-
ond-graders St. Rose of Lima Catholic
School in Hastings, Bennett’s heart belonged
to the classroom; and the idea of being away
from her students, tucked away in an admin-
istrative office, felt wrong.
But when former Principal Lori Pearson
left in April 2020 and the search committee
failed to find a viable replacement, Bennett
was approached by Superintendent Margaret
Erich.
“I love to teach, and I love being with the
kids in the classroom. And that’s where I feel
comfortable. So, I wasn’t interested in pursu-
ing the position. I’ve seen principals come
and go before, so I just thought, ‘Well, we’ll
find something new, someone who will lead
the school,” Bennett said. “We, as a staff,
were trying to help, and we were trying to
figure out what to do because we thought it
was important to start the year with a leader
and with a principal. And then we started
talking and we thought, ‘Well, what if one of
the teachers stepped up?’
“Margaret Erich said something like,
‘Well, it’s funny you would say that.’ And
then she approached me and asked if I would
really be interested.”
Bennett and Erich reached a compromise:
Bennett would accept the position with the
condition she continue to teach in the class-
room.
She was appointed to the position in July
2020.
“... My heart is at the school. But I still
wanted to teach. And she agreed to it,”
Bennett said. “I accepted the position and
just kind of jumped in head first.”
Taking over as principal during a pandem-
ic was challenging – and a little scary. But,
Bennett said she had the support of the teach-
ers, administrators and Parish Pastor Stephan
Philip to assist in her transition.
She stays after school for two hours each
day to balance her duties as a principal and
teacher.
The extra work doesn’t bother her, Bennett
said, because of her love for the school and
because she feels this path was meant for her.
“I do feel like I was on a path that I didn’t
know about before, that led me to this.
Because, like I said, I wasn’t planning on
being the principal. I thought about it in the
past, but then I decided no,” Bennett said. “Ijust put it in God’s hands. If I’m supposed to
do this, then let it just fall into place, let it
happen. And so, I really do feel like I’m just
following that plan and that I’m in the place
I’m supposed to be.”
Bennett began working at St. Rose in 1990
as a recent Michigan State University gradu-
ate. Besides being a substitute teacher in
Grand Rapids, this was the first real job she
landed after college. And it became her
home, both literally when she moved to
Hastings in 1993 and figuratively.
“The first time I walked in this building, it
was just that real family atmosphere and it’s
still like that. It really is still like that where
everybody’s just a community and a family.
And I’ve never seen it duplicated anywhere
else,” Bennett said. “It’s still like that; it’s
still a good fit. I like teaching Catholic
school because it’s like I am my whole self
here because we can talk about Jesus and
God.
“This is just my home away from home.”
In her free time, Bennett spends time with
her husband, Kevin Bennett, and three chil-
dren — Micala Torrez, Ethan Klipfer and
Brenna Klipfer — as well as her son’s fiancé
Madi Trumbull, son-in-law Ethan Torrez and
grandson Julian Torrez.
For her 31 years of educating area chil-
dren, Diane Bennett is this week’s BannerBright Light.
Favorite TV programs: “Gilmore Girls,”
“Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist” and “The
Chosen.”
Favorite teacher: Bonnie Brown at
Battle Creek Central High School. Mrs.
Brown taught the yearbook class and always
seemed to genuinely like her students and
believe in them.
I’m most proud of: Raising my three
beautiful kids.
Person I’m glad to have met: My hus-
band, Kevin. We met in high school in 1983.
First job: Besides babysitting, my first
real job was as a waitress at Speed’s Koffee
Shop in Urbandale, filling cup after cup with
coffee for hours and being left a nickel tip.
Favorite book: “Charlotte’s Web.” I first
read it when I was 10 – nothing’s topped it
yet.
Something on my bucket list: Holding a
polar bear cub.
What the world needs now: Faith, com-
passion, hope and prayer.
What I’d tell a high school graduate: Be
patient with yourself and others. “Be who
God made you to be and you will set the
world on fire.”— St. Catherine of Siena.
My biggest challenge: Saying ‘No’ to my
grandson. I haven’t been able to do it yet.
If only I could: Find a place on Lake
Michigan to stay for a week this summer —
it would be a great relaxing vacation.
When it’s quiet: I try to appreciate it.
What drew me to Barry County: My job
at St. Rose brought me here. I loved raising
my kids in a safe, small-town atmosphere. I
love living on South Jefferson because I can
walk to work and church and my kids could
walk to school. We can walk to the library,
playgrounds, movies, parades, restaurants
downtown or hear music. I can hear the loud-
speaker from the football field and the
marching band practicing in the evenings,
bells that ring on the hour. It’s a great little
town.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
any other reason? Send information to
Newsroom, Hastings Banner, 1351 N. M-
Highway, Hastings, MI 49058; or
email [email protected].Diane BennettNew supervisors
Banner April 21, 1966
Two new supervisors took their seats
on the Barry County Board for the April
session. Walter Soya (right), 48, Route 4
Hastings, was appointed to succeed
Harold Stanton, who resigned as
supervisor of Baltimore Township
because of illness. William Hayes
(center), 58, Route 2 Hastings, was
appointed to succeed Milton Buehler,
who had resigned the previous month to
become director of Barry’s new
equalization office. They are pictured
with Jerome Van Matre, 53, who was
appointed in August 1965 as supervisor
from Yankee Springs to succeed Claud
Willson, who resigned.‘Reluctant workforce’
jeopardizes recovery
If more evidence is needed that it’s easier
to turn around a rowboat than it is the
Titanic, take a look at our unemployment
numbers.
The COVID-19 pandemic ripped gaping
holes in America’s workforce. But, while
the government has been laser-focused on
helping us into the lifeboats, it has neglected
following the compass to a potential vibrant
economic recovery.
According to the Bureau of Labor
Statistics, unemployment rates reached a
high of 14.8 percent in April of last year;
one month after the illness took hold in the
U.S. As vaccines and personal safety mea-
sures began easing our fears, that number
has been steadily on the decrease. However,
unemployment levels seem to be sticking at
a current rate of 6.1 percent – well above the
average 4 percent level we’ve maintained
for nearly seven years straight – and despite
an economy that is, right now, ready to
boom.
The confusing economic current is gener-
ating concern about all the aid being provid-
ed by our own government to help us weath-
er the pandemic storm.
Bill Dunkelberg, chief economist at the
National Federation of Independent
Business, is among the group of experts
throwing out a mayday call to political lead-
ers who’ve created the confounding situa-
tion of having more jobs than workers to fill
them.
“It varies a lot by industry,” says
Dunkelberg, who reports that 40 percent of
NFIB small business members have job
openings they cannot fill. “For example, the
highest would be in construction, manufac-
turing, and transportation.”
Many NFIB members believe that the
unemployment benefits offered by the gov-
ernment are so high that they incentivize
Americans to stay off work rather than
re-enter the workforce. Even though bene-
fits will run out at some time, unemployed
workers would rather enjoy the extra money
and time off now than look for a job.
In March, lawmakers passed the American
Rescue Plan with $1,400 stimulus checks to
every American plus a $300 per week bonus
through Sept. 6 for anyone already receiv-
ing unemployment benefits. So, in a sense,
the government is paying workers a bonus
to stay at home rather than look for work.
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill were divided
over whether to extend the benefits,
Democrats saying the federal extension was
necessary because the economy was still
weak and workers were having trouble find-
ing jobs. Republicans, on the other hand,
maintained that continuing unemployment
with a bonus would deter people from going
back to their jobs or looking for work at all.
So far, it looks like Republications were
right.
Congressman Peter Meijer was among
that unanimous group of Republicans who
voted against the American Rescue Plan.
“The sweeping American Rescue Plan,
which I opposed, incentivizes employees to
stay home by making unemployment bene-
fits at times more lucrative than getting back
to work,” Meijer confirmed after our phone
conversation this week. “When I visit busi-
nesses around Michigan’s Third District, I
hear about the same challenge over and over
again: There is a crippling labor shortage.
“The end of the COVID-19 pandemic is
in sight, but businesses’ inability to find
workers is a roadblock to our economic
recovery.”
Rather than just opposing the American
Rescue Plan, Meijer offered an alternative:
He drafted a counter proposal, Direct
Dollars Over Government Excess, that
would have made supplemental unemploy-
ment benefits smaller and phased them out
faster in exchange for direct cash payments
up front.
“My conversations within the West
Michigan community suggest that direct,
targeted payments to individuals who need
it most would better serve our workforce
and labor market than current extended fed-
eral unemployment benefits do,” Meijer
said. “I fear for September, when these ben-
efits are set to expire, and we have more
individuals on the government payroll than
ever before.
“We must encourage Americans to return
to work and ensure we don’t hinder our
economic recovery.”
What we have now, technically, is mas-
sive competition between business and
industry and the federal government for
some 10 million desperately needed work-
ers who would rather sit home and enjoy thegovernment’s generous program.
Last week, I got a phone call from a
human resources executive at one of our
local industries who wanted to talk about
the problems he’s having filling positions at
his company. “Business is great,” he said,
“we’ve got lots of orders – but not enough
people to keep the lines running.”
The man called me to find out what other
companies are doing.
“We’ve advertised and talked to our
employees, but we’re just not getting
enough response,” he told me. “And I’m
getting pressure from ‘higher-ups’ in our
company for not being able to fill a growing
number of slots to keep up with orders.”
These concerns over the shortage of
workers are certainly not the first I have
encountered. Just last week, Judy’s Kettle
Café in Nashville reduced its hours to offer
only breakfast and lunch on certain days due
to the lack of staff. And several other restau-
rant owners in the area say their employees
are working extended shifts and more days
to make up for the lack of staff.
Across the country, we’re hearing reports
of businesses reducing production – or even
closing – due to the lack of employees to fill
positions. Yet Washington is tone-deaf to a
problem that needs immediate attention,
especially because it could kill the nation’s
economic comeback.
Although America is dealing with a cru-
cial worker shortage, fewer people are look-
ing for work than at any time since the Great
Depression – and we’re still at a 6-percent
unemployment rate.
Reluctance to return to the workforce is
creating a larger ripple effect for all of us.
“Michigan businesses are facing a very,
very uneven recovery,” former Lt. Gov.
Brian Calley, president of the Small
Business Association of Michigan, told
Bridge Magazine recently. “Larger busi-
nesses are doing better than smaller busi-
nesses. And industries dominated by small-
er businesses are generally more negatively
impacted by the pandemic.”
There’s no way to tell how many busi-
nesses have closed so far in real time,
Calley said, but the number is significant.
An estimated 45.3 percent fewer businesses
were open at the end of March in Michigan
compared to January 2020, according to the
database TrackTheRecovery.org. And older
businesses are just as vulnerable as newer
ones.
Beyond the reality of business and indus-
try being forced to close or move production
to other states or, worse yet, overseas, mem-
bers of this reluctant workforce also may be
vulnerable themselves. Millions of
Americans who sit home, watching televi-
sion, playing computer games, overeating
and possibly abusing drugs and alcohol,
become a threat to their families and com-
munities.
For the individual, though, experts con-
tinue to remind us that being productive is
good for the soul. There’s nothing more
satisfying than leaving a hard day’s work
feeling satisfied that something was accom-
plished. Plus, people need people. We thrive
on the social interactions that work brings
us.
So as we fumble through this pandemic,
facing worker shortages and risking social
and mental health issues that might not even
be realized until long after we get back to
some normalcy, let’s all agree that the econ-
omy will never get back to where it was if
we continue to encourage people not to
work.
With government handouts continuing
for another five months, how many jobs will
go unfilled in the meantime?
“Humans need a sense of purpose, which,
for most of us, comes from the jobs we
hold,” said Napoleon Hill in his book, Short
Lessons of Life. “Having a job gives you
self-respect, dignity, and self-worth, which
provides the solid foundation that can lead
to a successful future.”
America has the jobs. It has the workers.
It has the chance for a successful future.
Fred Jacobs, CEO,
J-Ad Graphics Inc.“Michigan businesses are facing a very, very uneven recovery.
Larger businesses are doing better than smaller businesses.
And industries dominated by smaller businesses are generally
more negatively impacted by the pandemic.”Brian Calley, Small Business Association of Michigan presidentA regular
turtle troop
The hard-shell fellows were
sunbathing Saturday, hanging out on a
log in a marshy area along M-43 just
south of Delton. But they were gone in a
heartbeat, just after this photo was taken.
Although turtles may seem impregnable
in their fortress shells, raccoons,
opossums, foxes and other mammals
are known to raid turtle nests to snack
on tender hatchlings. Heavy shells or
not, cagey turtles move fast. These are
common painted turtles; however, the
Michigan Department of Natural
Resources is asking residents and
visitors to report sightings of other less-
common reptiles. Anyone who sees a
Blanding’s turtle, Eastern box turtle,
spotted turtle, wood turtle or Eastern
massasauga rattlesnake is asked to
report the observation at Michigan.gov/
EyesInTheField.