VOLUME 167, No. 43 Thursday, November 4, 2021 PRICE $1.
T HE
H AST I NGS
Devoted to the Interests of Barry County Since 1856
A (rueful) ode to football;
and praise for Highpoint
See Editorial on Page 4
Trojan trio headed
to state finals at MIS
See Story on Page 11
County considers projects
vying for federal funds
See Story on Page 5
Secretary of State offices
open Wednesdays eveningsSecretary of State offices will shift
Wednesday hours to stay open until 7
p.m., beginning Nov. 3, to provide ser-
vice to residents who cannot visit offices
during traditional business hours.
“We continue to offer numerous con-
venient options for Michiganders to
conduct their business with us, includ-
ing expanded online transactions,
self-service stations at grocery stores,
and now evening office hours,”
Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said.
“We are heeding the call for evening
hours from community organizations
and leaders and adding another way
we’re making government work for the
people.”
Visits during Wednesday evening
hours are available for booking at
Michigan.gov/SOS. Wednesday hours
will now be 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The department releases thousands of
office visits twice per day, every busi-
ness day for residents to book online at
Michigan.gov/SOS or by calling
888-SOS-MICH. Residents also may
walk up to any office and they will be
served immediately if there is availabil-
ity or assisted with scheduling a return
visit at a time convenient for them.Set clocks back
this weekendThe good news: Many people will
feel like they get to sleep in early next
week.
The bad news: Evening light will
seem nonexistent for the next few
months.
Daylight saving time ends in the wee
hours Sunday, so people may want to set
their clocks back an hour before retiring
Saturday night.
The end of daylight saving time may
seem late this year, and with good rea-
son. It concludes the first Sunday of
November, which in 2021, is Nov. 7.
Daylight saving time will go into
effect again Sunday, March 13, 2022.Leadership Barry County
preparing for new sessionLeadership Barry County will begin a
new year with a new cohort of leaders in
the Jan. 21, 2022, kickoff retreat at
Pierce Cedar Creek Institute.
The leadership program will run
through May 11 and consist of 10 ses-
sions covering various topics, such as
communications, diversity, equity,
inclusion, civic engagement, a tour of
Barry County and more. The cost is
$435; some scholarships are available.
Leadership Barry County is an oppor-
tunity to learn about the county and
enhance leadership skills for individual
growth, organizational improvement,
and increased community effectiveness
while networking with others.
Founded in 1990, Leadership Barry
County is one of the state’s longest-run-
ning rural leadership endeavors. The
program is offered annually to individu-
als who live or work in Barry County
and seek to become better-developed
and networked leaders.
Information and registration can be
found at leadershipbarrycounty.org.Help for Holidays signup
continuesHelp for the Holidays, a program
coordinated by Barry County Cares,
helps people in need at Christmas time.
Sign-up for Help for the Holidays will
be through Nov. 24.
Barry County Cares connects individ-
uals and families with churches, organi-
zations, businesses and others who pro-NEWSNEWS
BRIEFSBRIEFS
See BRIEFS, page 3
Uptick in violent crime alarms law enforcers
County board agrees to hire full-time detective
Rebecca Pierce
Editor
An unrelenting surge in violent crime,
punctuated by two horrific homicides and
two unidentified bodies, spurred Barry
County’s chief law enforcement officer to
make a rare appearance before county com-
missioners Tuesday.
Given the growing caseload – and the
nature of these crimes – officers are reaching
the point where they will begin to burn out,
Prosecutor Julie Nakfoor Pratt said.
The prosecutor didn’t just ask commission-
ers to hire another sheriff’s department detec-
tive, she implored them to do so.
And they agreed, unanimously.
The recommendation for a full-time hire
will come up for a formal vote at next
Tuesday’s board meeting.
Nakfoor Pratt, Sheriff Dar Leaf,
Undersheriff Jason Sixberry and Detective
Sgt. Janette Maki presented evidence to sup-
port their request.
Maki and Nakfoor Pratt were in court
Monday on the Lafey case, in which the defen-
dant is charged with torturing the 18-year-old
victim, videotaping the murder then showing it
to his friends. This is not the only unsettling
case they’re contending with now.
“What we’re asking for is the creation of
additional full-time position,” Sixberry said.
“The time frame would be basically for start-
ing January 2022.”Karpinski's
influence
carries on in
Saxon athletics
program
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
The legacy of former head coach Bill
Karpinski, who died Saturday, Oct. 30, will
still be playing a role on the Saxon gridiron
30 years after “Coach Karp” coached his final
football games at Hastings High School.
William J. Karpinski Jr. coached the
Hastings varsity football team from 1975 to
1979 and again from 1988 to 1991. His
Saxons had undefeated regular seasons in
1979 and 1990.
The 2021 Saxons improved to 9-1 this sea-
son with a playoff victory over Charlotte
Friday. That is the most wins the program has
had in a single season since Karpinski guided
his 1990 team to the playoffs with an unde-
feated regular season.
Current Hastings varsity football coach
Jamie Murphy played for Karpinski at
Hastings High School and then at Hillsdale
College. Current Saxon JV football coach
Marsh Evans had just gotten his start under
Saxon head coach Jeff Simpson a couple
years earlier and transitioned to Karpinski’sNashville man
faces Nov. 17
trial on torture,
murder charges
Taylor Owens
Staff Writer
Andrew Lafey, 22, of Nashville, will be
tried for the torture and murder of 18-year-
old Gracyn-Michael Brickley of Ionia County.
Lafey was bound over by Barry County
Judge William Doherty after a preliminary
hearing took place Monday. The trial is
scheduled for Nov. 17 in the Barry County
Circuit Court.
Lafey is charged with open murder, torture,
concealment of a body, and five firearms
charges in Brickley’s Feb. 16 death.
According to testimony given Monday,
Lafey shot Brickley twice in the chest and
abdomen with a.22 rifle. The shooting
occurred behind a house on Guy Road in
Maple Grove Township.
After Brickley fell to the ground, Lafey
used his phone to record an 11-minute video
that showed him repeatedly kicking her until
she died. Then he buried her body under a
few inches of snow, went back to the house
where he was staying, and showed his
friends the video.
The next morning, the homeowner, who
said Lafey had shown him the video, met
with Lafey’s father, Joseph Ketola, and they
reported Lafey to the police.
Lafey, who was arrested later that day, told
police where they could find Brickley’s body.
Several witnesses who were at the Guy Road
house that night, as well as Charlie James, the
owner of the house, testified Monday.
James said Lafey had been staying at the
house for two or three weeks, after his release
from the Kent County Jail in January.
Lafey had been convicted of third-degree
home invasion, witness intimidation and
assault with intent to rob while unarmed in
December 2019.
His father had asked James if his son could
stay at the house.
James told Prosecutor Julie Nakfoor Pratt
that he had met Brickley about a month
before she was killed. She had come by the
house a few times. Then she started dropping
by more often after she met Lafey, he said.
At one point, Lafey told James and some
other people at the house that he believed
Brickley had given him a sexually transmit-
ted infection.
“He said he was going to kill her,” James
said.
But neither he, nor the other people Lafey
said that to, took him seriously, James said.
“We told him, ‘No you’re not,’ ” James
told Nakfoor Pratt during the hearing. He said
he thought that was the end of it.
The night of the murder, James had left the
house to sell an Xbox to a friend in Charlotte,
and returned sometime before 11 p.m.
Almost as soon as he walked in the house,
James said, Lafey told him he had something
to show him. Then he held up his phone, and
James saw footage of him kicking Brickley
while she was lying on the ground.
“You spread your legs easy and you die,”
he heard Lafey say on the video.
As he showed him the video, Lafey acted no
differently than he usually did, James testified.Barry-Eaton health board meeting derailed again
Taylor Owens
Staff Writer
The Barry-Eaton District Board of Health
will have another try at finishing a meeting at
9:30 a.m. Nov. 18 in Hastings, after its last
two meetings were brought to an abrupt end
during public comment.
About 10 minutes into a meeting Oct. 28,
Rutland Charter Township resident Joel
Ibbotson refused to yield the floor after board
Chairman Ben Geiger said he had reached the
end of his time limit. The meeting went into
recess and was ultimately adjourned.
Ibbotson said he has reviewed the Michigan
Open Meetings Act and health department
board bylaws, and found nothing giving the
board the authority to limit speaking time to
two minutes for members of the public who
want to offer comment.“In the absence of a rule, there is no rule,”
Ibbotson told The Banner.
The health board’s Sept. 23 meeting came
to a similar end when a member of the public
refused to yield the floor. That meeting also
went into recess and then was adjourned.
On Wednesday, Geiger told The Banner he
planned to reach out to Ibbotson and find out
what his issues are to prevent a similar situa-
tion at the next meeting.
“Ultimately, at the end of the day, if some-
body wants to come talk without end, I really
can’t stop them, but they’re going to be
responsible for the consequences,” Geiger
said. “It is wrong and against the law to dis-
rupt a public meeting,”
John Amrhein, a public policy expert at
Michigan State University who has written
on the Open Meetings Act, said the act givesgovernmental bodies the ability to create a
rule implementing a time limit for a person to
speak during public comment.
But, Amrhein pointed out, the OMA does
not state where the rule must be recorded,
whether it must be written as part of board
bylaws, noted on a meeting agenda or merely
stated verbally at the beginning of a meeting.
Geiger said countless other governing bodies
in Michigan are able to hold functioning public
comment periods without such a rule in place.
Last week, he opened public comment by
stating that there would be a two-minute limit
on each person wishing to speak, but later
acknowledged to The Banner that the board
does not have this rule in writing.
When asked if the board would put the rule
in writing, Geiger replied, “I don’t believe it
would be a bad idea.”Ibbotson, however, told The Banner he will
not be at the next health board meeting – or
any other county meetings – for a while. He
said he had exhausted every recourse available
at those meetings without any result.
“It’s all been for nothing,” Ibbotson said. “I
stand by what I did, and I have absolutely no
regrets. If you know your rights, you have
them. If you don’t know them, you do not
have them.”
The issue he had planned to speak about
last week, he said, was the oath of office as it
pertains to the health officer.
That issue is being addressed in other ways
now, Ibbotson said. He and other residents
sent petitions to nearly every county inSee NASHVILLE, page 2
Detective-Sgt. Janette Maki addresses the Barry County Board of Commissioners
Tuesday as part of a contingent from county law enforcement asking the board for
support. From left are: Sheriff Dar Leaf, Undersheriff Jason Sixberry, Maki and
Prosecuting Attorney Julie Nakfoor Pratt. (Photo by Rebecca Pierce)See BARRY-EATON, page 3
See KARPINSKI, page 2
See UPTICK, page 3
Bill Karpinski speaks at a dedication ceremony in September 2007, joined by (back-
ground, from left) Earlene Baum, Larry Baum, and Karpinski’s wife, Marlene.