VOLUME 167, No. 45 Thursday, November 18, 2021 PRICE $1.
T HE
H AS T I NGS
Devoted to the Interests of Barry County Since 1856
Shopping local
is a must
See Editorial on Page 4
Vikings rework rotations
for spot in state semifinals
See Story on Page 14
Rutland frets about
marijuana ordinances
See Story on Page 3
Barry County boy's wish is granted
Cancer survivor becomes police officer for a day
Taylor Owens
Staff Writer
Seven-year-old Dremony Rose of Barry
County got to live his dream of being a police
officer Friday.
A survivor of lymphoma, Rose spent the
day as a Hastings City Police officer through
a partnership with the Make-a-Wish
Foundation.
Dre donned his own uniform and duty belt,
complete with radio and handcuffs. After he
was sworn in, he went on patrol in a cruiser
and toured the Hastings Police Department,
City Hall, Department of Public Works and
Barry County Central Dispatch.
He also “arrested” a couple members of his
family, and gave Deputy Police Chief Julissa
Kelly a traffic ticket.
“It’s really nice because he has wanted this
for so long now – and it’s nice to finally see
him happy and smiling,” his mother, Alisha
Rose, said.
Dre is currently cancer-free after a multi-
year fight against Stage 2 follicular lym-
phoma.
Rose said she first noticed a lump on his
neck when he was 4 years old. She took him
to several doctors who said it was not a
major issue and gave him antibiotics. It
went on for a year.
“Finally, I reached a breaking point,
because I knew there was something
wrong,” Rose said. “He started to not want
to eat. He didn’t really want to play. He
wasn’t himself. So, I kind of forced the doc-
tor into giving me a referral to an [ear, nose
and throat] specialist.”
That doctor also thought it wasn’t a cause
for concern, until they removed the lump and
had it biopsied. Once they found cancer in thetissue, Rose said the process moved very
quickly.
“We went from a year of not having
answers to ‘This is what he has,’” Rose said,
adding that the cancer had spread into his
chest and lungs. “And I was scared. I was
scared because I didn’t know what we were
going to do. I didn’t know how we were
going to help him.”
Dre went to Helen DeVos Children’s
Hospital in Grand Rapids, where doctors
started him on chemotherapy. But he had a
severe allergic reaction to the treatment and
they had to stop.
Rose said she was at her lowest point
because she thought that treatment was their
only option. But Dre’s doctor told her they
would keep fighting and figure out some-
thing else.
Eventually they did.
“He did really well,” she said. “He was
really brave.”
Dre still needs to visit the doctor every six
months to make sure the cancer hasn’t
returned, and Rose said he will likely need to
do so for the rest of his life.
“There’s always that chance that we’ll
have to repeat that same song and dance
again,” she said.
At one point, someone from the hospital
contacted the Make-a-Wish Foundation, and
Rose was contacted.
When she asked Dre what wish he wanted
to fulfill, he told her he wanted to be a police
officer. Rose said police officers made him
feel safe.
“I think that’s when he decided, ‘Well, ISen. Bizon
charged
with assault
Taylor Owens
Staff Writer
Senator John Bizon, 70, R-Battle
Creek, has been charged with misdemea-
nour assault, after a nurse practitioner at
the Oaklawn After Hours Express in
Marshall said he inappropriately touched
her during a medical visit Aug. 14.
The Banner was unable to reach the
senator for comment.
His attorney, Martin E. Crandell of
Detroit, said Wednesday, “We have
released no statements at this time – and
we have no plans to.”
According to a report by the Marshall
City Police Department, the woman, 52,
said she first saw Bizon when she arrived
at work that morning.
He was sitting outside the health care
facility at a picnic table designated for
employees, which she thought was
strange. He waved to her, but she said
she did not wave back because she did
not know him.
Later, during his examination, she
recommended an over-the-counter med-
ication for Bizon to take for his symp-
toms. When Bizon said he did not under-
stand, she stood next to him and showed
him the medication on her laptop.
At that point, Bizon put his arm
around her, “intentionally grabbed her
with his right arm/hand,” pulled her to
him and “squeezed her waist with his
right hand, in a cupping motion,” the
report states. He then told her he was an
otolaryngologist, which refers to an ear,
nose and throat doctor.
The woman told police she was so
shocked by his actions, she did not say
anything.
He then told her he wanted her to
order a different medication for him, but
she refused. She told him that what he
was requesting was not a medication for
his diagnosis.
The woman said he questioned her,
told her he was disappointed in her and
became visibly angry. He then got down
from the table and left, all the while
repeating that he was disappointed in her.
When the woman told the medical
assistant what had happened, the assis-
tant said Bizon also touched her arm
while she was taking his vital signs, and
told her his blood pressure was high
because she was in the room. The medi-
cal assistant later repeated that encounter
to the police.
Another employee told the woman that
Bizon is a state senator, who had been
sent to the clinic by the hospital’s presi-
dent and chief executive officer Gregg
Beeg, according to the police report.
Beeg released the following statement
Monday:
“There is absolutely no place for inap-
propriate treatment or harassment of
patients or care providers of any kind in
our healthcare environments. We take
any concern related to such matters
extremely seriously and have processes
in place for the reporting of concerns byCorlett resigns as Delton Kellogg superintendent
Taylor Owens
Staff Writer
After more than four years as Delton
Kellogg Schools superintendent, Kyle Corlett
announced his resignation during a board of
education meeting Monday.
Corlett said he has accepted a post as
superintendent of Ludington Area School
District, and his resignation is effective Jan.
1, 2022.
“It is with heartfelt gratitude that I thank
the Delton Kellogg Board of Education for
the tremendous opportunity to serve here, and
to the staff and community for welcoming me
with open arms,” Corlett said in a letter to the
board and community.
He called his decision bittersweet, but said
he believes the opportunity at Ludington
aligns with his mission of impacting the lives
of students and will provide the professional
growth that will benefit his family.With a student enrollment of around 2,200,
Ludington is nearly twice the size of Delton.
The board voted 4-0 to seek an interim
superintendent.
Vice President Kelli Martin, in a follow-up
interview, said board members have had little
time to discuss next steps, since Corlett had
just recently notified them of his decision.
But Martin said they plan to approve an
interim superintendent at the December board
meeting, which will be Corlett’s last.
She said she expects the district will con-
duct the search and hiring process for a new
superintendent in late winter or early spring,
since that is when many candidates are look-
ing for new positions.
“Our district has seen many changes
during Dr. Corlett’s tenure,” school board
President Jessica Brandli wrote in an email
to The Banner. “We passed a multimil-
lion-dollar bond and we are soon to beginconstruction on a new addition to our ele-
mentary building.
“We are making our way through the
COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Corlett was fully
committed to ensuring our students received
the quality in person education they deserve.”
The next superintendent will be the dis-
trict’s fourth in about eight years.
Corlett replaced Carl Schoessel, who
spent three years as interim superintendent
after the retirement of Paul Blacken. The
district had conducted a search for a perma-
nent superintendent after Blacken’s retire-
ment, but struggled to find candidates while
in a budget deficit.
Schoessel, who had spent more than 20
years as the superintendent of Hastings Area
Schools, helped the district establish a moreFarm Bureau rep demands no-fault fix
Greg Chandler
Staff Writer
Some local Farm Bureau officials are
calling on the state to make sure people
who had been receiving benefits under
Michigan’s catastrophic auto injury insur-
ance fund program get access to a $25 mil-
lion fund that was created by state lawmak-
ers earlier this summer to reimburse health
care providers in the wake of no-fault
insurance reform.
George Hubka, a member of the Barry
County Farm Bureau executive board, pre-
sented his concern about the issue to state
Rep. Julie Calley, R-Portland, during her
local office hours visit Wednesday after-
noon at the Barry County Courthouse.
Hubka said he plans to ask his fellow Farm
Bureau delegates across the state for support
for the effort at the co-op’s annual state con-
vention Nov. 30-Dec. 1 in Grand Rapids.
“We paid money. They paid money ever
since 1973 or whenever this thing went intoeffect, the no-fault [insurance],” Hubka told
Calley. “We were promised unlimited care.
We were promised to remodel your house.
We were promised assisted vehicles, the
whole schmear; we’re going to make you
whole if you have the accident.
“We paid into that fund.”
Hubka was speaking out in support of
people such as Troy Hughes, a Middleville
resident who was critically injured in a
motorcycle crash in 2007 and has been
reliant on funding support from the
Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association
ever since for his care.
As of June 12, the MCCA fund totaled
$23 billion, MCCA Executive Director
Kevin Clinton told the Detroit Free Press.
“All these folks paid into that fund up
until July of this year,” Hubka said to
Calley. “In his case, he’s been on it for [14]
years that he’s been disabled. Now, the pro-
viders are saying we can’t provide 24-hour
care anymore, because of what you folksdid to our reimbursement rates.”
“They paid the money. They were under
the plan. They were made a promise. Now
let’s keep that promise, and go back and
grandfather those folks. That’s the fair, the
religious, the righteous thing humanly that
you can do.”
The state Legislature in July voted to
create the $25 million Post-Acute Care
Auto Injury Provider Relief Fund to address
funding gaps resulting from the no-fault
insurance reform. Then Gov. Gretchen
Whitmer signed it into law.
“The money is not coming from the
insurance companies,” Hubka said. “Any of
this money that takes care of that grandfa-
thering is going to come from the MCCA
fund that they paid in to.”
“Unless it’s refunded,” Calley pointed
out, “and then it makes our job that much
harder.”
Earlier this month, the MCCA board
voted to issue refund checks to Michigandrivers out of its fund, which had a $5 billion
surplus. Whitmer pushed for the refunds.
“Then you don’t refund the damn
[money],” Hubka said. “You tell them:
You’re going to have this responsibility
from now on to take care of these (people)- whatever the number is – throughout
Michigan for the reminder of their time
under the rate that we promised them.”
Calley replied that, when the legislators
passed the new relief bill, “we were trying
to support the providers who needed that
[funding support]. We thought we’d trade
data and give them more reimbursement to
keep their doors open.”
Hubka met with Teresa Hughes, Troy’s
mother, after speaking with Calley, to fur-
ther explain his effort.
See BOY, page 2
See SEN. BIZON, page 2
State Sen. John Bizon
Kyle CorlettSee CORLETT, page 2
Dremony Rose, 7, heads out on road patrol with the Hastings City Police
Department. (Photo provided)An update on Troy Hughes
appears on Page 15.