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VOLUME 167, No. 39 Thursday, September 30, 2021 PRICE $1.

T HE

H AS T I NGS

Devoted to the Interests of Barry County Since 1856

County planners

OK Orangeville

gravel mining

Neighbors claim

ownership of strip

blocking access

Greg Chandler

Staff Writer

The Barry County Planning

Commission Monday night approved a

special land use and site plan for a pro-

posed sand and gravel mining operation in

Orangeville Township.

But a township couple claims they own

a strip of property that the owner of the

proposed mining operation would have to

cross to get to the site – and they are seek-

ing to block that access.

Despite objections raised by more than a

dozen residents, planning commissioners

approved the request from JMK Realty for

the nearly 75-acre site at 9650 Keller Road.

JMK Realty is the land-holding compa-

ny for the project, which would be devel-

oped by Grand Rapids-based Superior

Asphalt Inc. Both entities are owned by

Jeff Kresnak.

“We have basically a five-cell opera-

tion; five different areas that we’re going

to be extracting sand and gravel from,

with most of it being stone. That’s what

we’re anticipating that most of the use for

this pit to be,” project engineer Brad

Meyers said. “[Kresnak] needs those

materials to keep his operation going.”

The cells for the gravel pit would range

in size from 7.5 to 10 acres, and be mined

in three-year increments. Once sand and

gravel are removed from one cell,

Superior Asphalt would then move to the

next cell. The site is expected to be fully

mined by May 2036, according to the

application drawings.

“It could be quicker, based on what

we’re seeing right now with fixing the

roadways,” Meyers said. “We’re hoping

that it goes quicker.”

“We could go a little longer,” Kresnak

added. “We just don’t know how deep the

veins of stone go.”

Materials from the site will be trans-

ported by truck to Superior Asphalt’s

Dutton asphalt mixing plant at East Paris

Avenue and 68th Street, Kresnak said.

Township residents Karen and Glen

Hayward, who live across from the pro-

posed mining site, are seeking to block the

project, saying they own a strip of land on

the north side of Keller Road that Superior

Sheriff says an

apology would be

a good idea

Taylor Owens
Staff Writer
Hastings City Police say they are investi-
gating the events that brought an abrupt end
to the six-hour Barry-Eaton District Board of
Health meeting last Thursday.
Public proceedings were halted when
Hastings business owner Adam Heikkila
announced that he was making a citizen’s
arrest of BEDHD Health Officer Colette
Scrimger.
Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf said he
spoke to Heikkila on Friday and warned him
of the legal jeopardy he faces because of his
actions.
Potential charges include false arrest and
imprisonment. Heikkila also may have bro-
ken city and state statutes by disrupting a
public meeting, the sheriff said.
Leaf said he told Heikkila it would be a
good idea to apologize to Scrimger for his
behavior.
Leason Sharpe Hall had been filled to
capacity when the meeting started that morn-
ing; by the second round of public comment
that afternoon, though, the audience numbers
had dropped from 175 to about 50 people.
That’s when Heikkila approached the
podium, declared that he was making a cit-
izen’s arrest and cited several laws, includ-
ing the Fourteenth Amendment, as the basis
for Scrimger’s arrest. Then he read aloud
her Miranda rights and asked if she under-
stood.
Scrimger, who was sitting beside health
board members at the table in the front of the
room, did not respond.
“Your silence will say that’s acceptance,”
Heikkila said. “Officer Miller, I’m handing
over custody to you under Michigan law, for
you to take her under custody. This is the
law.”
“Do your job!” one man in the audience
shouted at Hastings City Police Sgt. Kris
Miller.
“Calm down,” Miller said.
“We’re tired of being calm, Miller,” the
man replied.
“Thank you, Mr. Heikkila,” Barry County
Commissioner and Board of Health Chairman
Ben Geiger said. “Is there further public com-
ment?”
But Heikkila refused to leave the podium.

Barry-Roubaix returns to Hastings after a two-year hiatus

Benjamin Simon
Staff Writer
When the Barry-Roubaix race organizers
sat down for an emergency meeting in mid-
March 2020, they didn’t know much about
COVID-19.
They figured it might last a few weeks,
maybe a few months, but hopefully, not long
enough to interrupt their gravel bicycle race
in April, the largest in the world.

“It was in the early stages and we weren’t

thinking about how long this was going to

last,” Event Director Scott TenCate said. “Is

this like a two-week thing? Is it a three-week

thing? Is it even going to come to Michigan?

Do we have to worry about it?”

The day after the Barry-Roubaix meeting,

the NCAA canceled March Madness. The

organizers realized the virus wasn’t going

away and decided to postpone the event.

“We just put the brakes on everything,”

he said.

They planned on bringing it back in the fall

of 2020, but that didn’t work. They planned

on the spring of 2021, but that didn’t work

either. So they landed on Oct. 2, 2021, and

hoped nothing would cancel the event again.

Nothing did cancel the event and, this

Saturday, Barry-Roubaix will take over the

City of Hastings for the first time in two and

a half years.

About 3,200 bikers will travel to the city

this weekend to compete in one of four races.

The 100-mile race will take off from Church

and Center Street at 7 a.m., followed by the

62-mile race at 10 a.m., the 36-mile race at

10:12 a.m. and the 18-mile race at 10:36 a.m.

Participants will then speed through the back

roads of Barry County for the chance to win

more than $34,000 in total cash prizes.

“It’s like – kind of a carnival,” TenCate

said. “I mean, there’s so much going on,

whether it’s sponsor tents, music, awards, the

race, the racecourse.”

At 3,200 riders, the race will have a slight-

ly lower number of participants than previous

years. In 2019, the event attracted 3,300 rid-

ers and, in 2020, it sold out within a week as

4,100 riders signed up. TenCate pointed to

various reasons for the dip, including more

bike races in the fall and COVID-restrictions

limiting international travel.

But TenCate said people can expect an

event similar to previous years – from the

race course to the awards to the packet

pick-up.

“Our goal is to just keep a great experience

and continue to make small tweaks instead of

major changes, and so, right now, we’re not

going to make any big changes probably for

2022 either,” he said.

Barry-Roubaix started in 2009 after Tim

Curtis, a Hastings resident, invited TenCate

and other members of his racing team to

check out the gravel roads of Barry County.

Rick Plight, a member of the team and race

promotor, joined Curtis on the ride. When

Plight returned from the course, he had no

doubt in his mind: There had to be a gravel

bike race in Barry County.

The first one took place at Long Lake

Recreation Area in Yankee Springs with just

280 riders. The next year, the riders doubled

and, over the years, it kept doubling. They

moved the race to Gun Lake State Park for two

years until they ran out of space once again.

That’s when Mike Stevens, the owner of

Founders Brewing Co., a title sponsor of the

event, suggested the organizers look at

Hastings.

“Let’s blow it up,” TenCate remembered

Stevens saying. “Let’s really make this a big

event.”

In 2012, Barry-Roubaix hosted its first

race in Hastings and they haven’t left since.

“It was like this perfect fit,” TenCate said.

The City of Hastings has come to adopt the

event as well. On Saturday, Hastings Mayor

David Tossava said he will watch the race

from his normal post on the corner of Green

and Church streets.

“It’s just an energy,” he said. “... There’re

old people, they’re young people, there’re

kids. When they ride down Green Street, you

can hear every pedal of that bike, every time

they pedal. It’s just a neat sound.”

The event also showcases Hastings to peo-

ple all across the country and world.

This year, it will bring people from 27

states to Barry County. When there’s not a

pandemic, people from more than 40 states

and countries such as Canada, Australia and

Germany will visit the city.

“The economy is boosted by this,” Tossava

said. “...They’re spending money as they get

here. When you’re downtown Saturday

morning, there won’t be any place to park.

You’ll see racers having breakfast at our

restaurants. So it did generate a lot of revenue

for the city of Hastings.”

When asked what he is most looking forward

to, TenCate pointed to the after-party in the

Barry Community Foundation and Green Street

United Methodist Church parking lots. There,

thousands of riders, spectators and community

members will celebrate the day’s activities.

“They had this experience, they’re all

talking about their particular story of their

experience out on the course and their smil-

ing and they’re having a great time laughing

with their friends and stuff,” TenCate said.

“And that, to me, is what it’s all about.”

Six-hour health board meeting

marred by unruly conduct, threats

Citizens line up outside for long wait to speak out against mask mandate

Taylor Owens

Staff Writer

Hundreds of people attended the Barry-

Eaton District Board of Health meeting last

week, and provided nearly five hours of argu-

ments against the department’s mask mandate.

Thursday’s meeting might have gone on

longer, but Adam Heikkila of Battle Creek

brought it to a halt when he announced he

was making a citizen’s arrest of Health

Officer Colette Scrimger, and refused to

leave the podium.

A sign on the front door of Leason Sharpe

Hall states the room has a 175-person capac-

ity. Even before the meeting started at 9:

a.m., the room was filled and a line of people

waiting to get inside stretched down the street

and around the corner.

People waited patiently in the cold rainy

conditions, holding umbrellas and listening

to the meeting on their mobile devices.

Several had young children with them. Some

of them, when they finally got to the podium

to speak, told the board they had waited out-

side for more than an hour and a half.

The first round of public comment, which

started just after 9:30 a.m., went long enough

for people to come in and speak on their

lunch breaks. It did not end until after 2 p.m.

People told stories of their children’s strug-

gles with masks when they were required last

year. Several parents brought their children with

them to speak about their experiences.

To mask or not,

that is the question

See Editorial on Page 4

Saxon golf growth

continues at tourney

See Story on Page 18

Band invitational

marks 30th year

See Story on Page 10

See POLICE, page 2 See HEALTH, page 3 See ORANGEVILLE, page 8

The Barry-Roubaix will return to Hastings Saturday when 3,200 cyclists are expect-
ed to compete in one of four races. This look back at the 2018 event shows a group
of cyclists on Gun Lake Road between Hastings and Yankee Springs. (File photo)

Protesters wait to get in Leason Sharpe Hall just before the Barry-Eaton District Board of Health meeting began last Thursday.

(Photo by Scott Harmsen)

Police probe citizen's arrest