Page 2 — Thursday, January 6, 2022 — The Hastings Banner
But health experts also say there are likely
many more cases of Omicron, since the state
only performs genetic sequencing of 400
cases of the virus each week.
Michigan has reported more than 12,
cases of the virus each day, which represents
a 75-percent increase in the number of cases
being confirmed compared to last week.
The testing positivity rate has steadily
increased over the past 15 days, according to
numbers released by the state. About 33 percent
of the 40,584 COVID tests conducted Sunday
were positive. That’s the highest positivity rate
since the tests became widely available.
Barry County was slightly below that rate,
at 31.4 percent.“Project planning is one of the greatest
needs that the City has as an organization,”
Sarah Moyer-Cale wrote to city council. “The
lack of comprehensive planning, especially in
coordinating projects identified by existing
plans in the Public Services department, can
severely undercut the city’s ability to operate
and perform in a way that best meets public
expectations. Lack of planning can and has
led to substantial rate and fee increases as
well as increased project costs.”
Prein &Newhof’s largest responsibility
will include coordinating five- and 10-year
capital improvement plans. Moyer-Cale
noted a number of plans that have not been
implemented, including ones regarding theresults of “PASER rating, SAW study, Water
Reliability Study, Water Asset Management
Plan, Park & Recreation Master Plan.”
“The primary objective of having an outside
firm update our Capital Improvement Plan is
to facilitate our strategy for getting these proj-
ects accomplished and to minimize emergen-
cy/unplanned spending,” Moyer-Cale wrote.
“This will be accomplished in a manner that
City staff can update on an annual basis with-
out the need for outside assistance.
“Frankly, we are so far behind in compre-
hensive planning that staff does not have the
time to update it ourselves in an effective way
prior to the upcoming budget and construc-
tion season.”classes, she “never imagined I could be able
to go to a school like that, just because it’s
like so expensive.
“It really allows kids who are from my
economic background, but are academically
capable, it opens a lot of doors for them to
actually go to schools out of state, go to Ivy
Leagues and go to better schools that cater
to their needs more than maybe an in-state
or community college school,” she said.
Longstreet starts identifying students who
qualify during the middle of their junior
year. By the start of their senior year, the
students worked countless hours to craft
their applications, writing essays and col-
lecting recommendations. They stayed after
school and spend full days huddled in the
administrative office fine-tuning their appli-
cation.
But it didn’t bother the three students,
Longstreet said.
“By and large, they love all of it, and they
love learning and they’re so excited,” she
explained. “I think that was the underlying
driving force – they are just so interested in
what could be possible in their future and
where could they do it.”
Here is a snapshot of the three accepted
students, their interests and what they hope
to accomplish with the QuestBridge schol-
arship.
Matt Pattok
A few weeks ago, Matt Pattok learned it
was possible to pinpoint someone’s birthday
in nine or less guesses. So naturally, he decid-
ed to create a computer program that could
guess someone’s birthday for him.
“I was like, ‘Well, I don’t really want to have
to do that math on my own,’” Pattok said.
This is just a normal day in the life of
Matt Pattok. Sometimes he’ll play video
games like Minecraft or a fan-made game
based on a TV show called “Attack on
Titan.” At Hastings High School, he has
participated in the fall play, Science
Olympiad, Youth In Government, math club
and quiz bowl.
But nearly every day, he said, he makes a
new computer science program. They’re not
big programs. They’re just small projects that
push his thinking.
He often recreates computer programs that
already exist – to see how they work from the
inside out. The day before he designed the
birthday guesser program, he made one from
scratch that can find the square root of any
number. The day before that, he made one
that copies files.
“It’s kind of just what I do when I’m bored.
I’m like, ‘Well, what’s something I could
make? What’s a little challenge?’ ” he said.
His hunt for a challenge has translated into
the classroom as well. Pattok is taking
proof-writing at Michigan State this semester,
his third dual-enrollment college math course.
While at Hastings, he completed the most
Advanced Placement classes of any student
Cathy Longstreet, a high school counselor,
has ever seen – anything from computer sci-
ence to microeconomics.
“A lot of kids will [take AP classes]
because they want to do it, so things look
good on paper when they apply to college, ”
Longstreet said. “But that’s not why he does
it. He goes because he enjoys the challenge.”
Pattok will study computer science at the
University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in
the fall. But he said he’s most looking for-
ward to the experience of being at college.
“I could say learning computer science
because I do have a lot of fun with that,” he
said. “But honestly, I mean, as you probably
figured out, I can learn it on my own if I
need to.”
He already has a spreadsheet full of clubs on
his computer. They range from Science
Olympiad to the Computer Science Society to
the Engineers Without Borders to theater clubs.
“The main thing I’m interested in is things
that I wouldn’t be able to figure out on my
own and can’t do on my own,” he said. “And
so most of that isn’t informational.”
He’s interested in being somewhere new,
meeting new people and trying new clubs.
Coming from Hastings, he called moving
to the fifth-largest city in the country, nearly
700 miles away from home, “a little scary.”
But that’s OK with him. That’s what he
wants.
“I’m in a small town. There’s not a ton of
people and most of the people are pretty sim-
ilar,” he said.
“But in Philadelphia, there’s all sorts of crazy
different people with ideas that I’ve never heard
of and experiences that I don’t know at all.”
Patrick Mallory
In the fall of 2022, Patrick Mallory will
arrive at Colby College with the majority of
his math classes already completed.
Calculus 3, differential equations, proof
writing – Mallory has taken all of them. Most
of the students in these classes are juniors in
college.
Mallory is a senior at Hastings High
School.
But this is nothing new for Mallory, who
has taken math courses at Western Michigan
University and Michigan State University.
For his entire life, he has aced classes and
tests above his grade level.
As a freshman in high school, for example,
Mallory signed up for the Advanced
Placement calculus exam. The test is normal-
ly intended for high school seniors who have
taken a year of calculus. But wanting to do
something new outside of school, Mallory,
who was enrolled in both algebra 2 and
geometry at the time, taught himself calculus
through YouTube and Kahn Academy videos.
“I just started studying calculus for fun
because I was like ‘Oh, this looks fun,’
because I was kind of bored,” he said.
When Mallory mentioned his extracurricu-
lar activities to a math teacher at the highschool, Dan Hayward, he recommended
Mallory take the AP calculus exam.
Mallory got a 5, the highest possible score.
“Looking back on when I took the calc
board, at the time I didn’t think anything of
it,” Mallory said. “But now imagining some
of the freshmen that I know, if I was one of
my senior friends in calculus, and I found out
about some freshmen taking the calc board, I
would probably lose my mind. Like, there’s
no way.”
Although Mallory has fulfilled a number of
his college math requirements, he still wants
to major in math when he arrives in Waterville,
Maine, to attend Colby College. Malloy said
he has only taken “a small dip into what actu-
al mathematics is about.”
Mallory intends to pursue a Ph.D. in math,
with the intention of becoming a college pro-
fessor.
But he has other interests, too. He plays the
clarinet in the symphonic band, marching
band and orchestra pit. He plans to continue
playing the clarinet in college. He dabbles
with the alto saxophone in the jazz band as
well.
In recent years, he also has become enam-
ored by linguistics and hopes to double-major
in a foreign language. Right now, he’s think-
ing German.
“For years, Patrick was math, math, math,
math, math,” said Cathy Longstreet, a high
school guidance counselor.
Then, as a result of a series of interests in
his personal life, he started to have a love for
linguistics about a year ago, Longstreet said.
That’s part of the reason he chose Colby, a
liberal arts school, where the college lowers
the number of required courses and provides
students with the opportunity to study a wide
range of subjects.
“You’re not confined by specific courses,”
Mallory said. “Like, you don’t have to take
all of these different numbers of courses. It’s
more open.”
Although Mallory has been accepted to
college, he hasn’t stopped doing math.
Take last week, for example. Mallory, like
every high school student, had winter break.
He spent the week pre-teaching himself linear
algebra – even though he will learn about the
topic in his class at Michigan State this
semester.
Hannah Vann
As a kid, Hannah Vann grew up watching
“Criminal Minds,” “Grimm” and “Law and
Order.”
Those TV shows made Vann want to
become a lawyer. “I love those crime shows,”
she said.
She first thought about becoming a crimi-
nal lawyer. But, as the years progressed, her
goal changed.
“At the beginning of high school, I decided
that’s not really what I wanted to do because
I felt like, I don’t know, I’d have like a guilty
conscience if I put an innocent man away orlet someone go free when I knew they were
guilty,” she said.
Now, she’ll attend Oberlin College where
she will study an environment-related major
with the intention of becoming an environ-
mental lawyer.
“She really has a passion for activism and
what can I do to help change things for the
better in the future type of thing,” said Cathy
Longstreet, a high school counselor.
Vann shifted her interest in criminal law to
environmental law during her early years at
Hastings High School. They began learning
about environmental science, watching a
number of documentaries that Vann still
remembers, like “Before the Flood” with
Leonardo DiCaprio.
“I noticed, like, wow, our planet is kind of
starting to fall apart,” she remembered. “I
want to be able to help prevent this oncoming
destruction and I want to be able to impact
this world in a positive way. Why not saving
the future in such a small way that might be
looked over?”
When filling out her QuestBridge applica-
tion, Vann made it a priority to apply to
smaller liberal arts schools rather than large
research universities. Oberlin, for example,
has just 2,785 students.
“I feel like a liberal arts college will, one,give me some more personalization because I
feel like research institutions tend to be big-
ger schools and they’re more math and
STEM-focused in general,” she said.
Not many people in Hastings know of
Oberlin. But Vann had remembered reading
about the college in her AP U.S. history class.
Oberlin, she remembered, was one of the first
schools to allow women and Black people.
“I just thought the history behind it and the
road that Oberlin is heading on is a school
that I want to be a part of,” she said.
Vann was accepted into QuestBridge; par-
ticipation in a number of extracurricular
activities, including the National Honors
Society, cross country, Science Olympiad, the
musical, choir, Youth In Government and
glee club, didn’t hinder her academic perfor-
mance. On top of that, she works as a server
and host at Seasonal Grille.
In the fall of 2022, Vann will move to
Oberlin, Ohio, where she will be four hours
away from home in a place she has never
even visited.
And she can’t help but express excitement.
“I’m super excited actually,” she said.
“Some people get homesick or scared going
so far away from home. But honestly, I’m just
excited to kind of be more independent and
live my own life a bit.”VOLUME 167, No. 45T HASHETINGS Thursday, November 18, 2021 PRICE $1.Devoted to the Interests of Barry County Since 1856Shopping local is a must
See Editorial on Page 4for spot in state semifinalsVikings rework rotations
marijuana ordinancesRutland frets about See Story on Page 14
See Story on Page 3Barry County boy's wish is grantedCancer survivor becomes police officer for a day
County got to live his dream of being a police Seven-year-old Dremony Rose of Barry Taylor OwensStaff Writer
officer Friday.day as a Hastings City Police officer through a partnership with the Make-a-Wish Foundation.A survivor of lymphoma, Rose spent the
complete with radio and handcuffs. After he was sworn in, he went on patrol in a cruiser Dre donned his own uniform and duty belt, and toured the Hastings Police Department,
City Hall, Department of Public Works and Barry County Central Dispatch.family, and gave Deputy Police Chief Julissa Kelly a traffic ticket.He also “arrested” a couple members of his
for so long now – and it’s nice to finally see him happy and smiling,” his mother, Alisha “It’s really nice because he has wanted this Rose, said.
year fight against Stage 2 follicular lym-phoma.neck when he was 4 years old. She took him Dre is currently cancer-free after a multi-Rose said she first noticed a lump on his
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 doctor into giving me a referral to an [ear, nose -
and throat] specialist.”for concern, until they removed the lump and had it biopsied. Once they found cancer in the That doctor also thought it wasn’t a causetissue, Rose said the process moved very quickly.answers to ‘This is what he has,’” Rose said, adding that the cancer had spread into his “We went from a year of not having
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.
because she thought that treatment was their only option. But Dre’s doctor told her they would keep fighting and figure out something else.Rose said she was at her lowest point -
really brave.”Eventually they did.“He did really well,” she said. “He was 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.have to repeat that same song and dance “There’s always that chance that we’ll
again,” she said.contacted the Make-a-Wish Foundation, and Rose was contacted.At one point, someone from the hospital 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 assaultSenator John Bizon, 70, R-Battle Taylor OwensStaff Writer
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.senator for comment.Detroit, said Wednesday, “We have The Banner His attorney, Martin E. Crandell of was unable to reach the
released no statements at this time – and we have no plans to.”City Police Department, the woman, 52, According to a report by the Marshall
said she first saw Bizon when she arrived at work that morning.facility at a picnic table designated for employees, which she thought was He was sitting outside the health care
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 understand, she stood next to him and showed him the medication on her laptop.-
around her, “intentionally grabbed her with his right arm/hand,” pulled her to At that point, Bizon put his arm 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.order a different medication for him, but He then told her he wanted her to
she refused. She told him that what he was requesting was not a medication for his diagnosis.told her he was disappointed in her and The woman said he questioned her,
became visibly angry. He then got down from the table and left, all the while repeating that he was disappointed in her.assistant what had happened, the assis-When the woman told the medical
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.Bizon is a state senator, who had been sent to the clinic by the hospital’s presiAnother employee told the woman that -
dent and chief executive officer Gregg Beeg, according to the police report.Monday:Beeg released the following statement
propriate treatment or harassment of patients or care providers of any kind in our healthcare environments. We take any concern related to such matters “There is absolutely no place for inap-
extremely seriously and have processes in place for the reporting of concerns byCorlett resigns as Delton Kellogg superintendentTaylor OwensStaff Writer
Kellogg Schools superintendent, Kyle Corlett announced his resignation during a board of education meeting Monday.After more than four years as Delton Corlett said he has accepted a post as
superintendent of Ludington Area School District, and his resignation is effective Jan. 1, 2022.the Delton Kellogg Board of Education for “It is with heartfelt gratitude that I thank
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 believes the opportunity at Ludington aligns with his mission of impacting the lives He called his decision bittersweet, but said of students and will provide the professional growth that will benefit his family.Ludington is nearly twice the size of Delton.superintendent.With a student enrollment of around 2,200, The board voted 4-0 to seek an interim 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.interim superintendent at the December board But Martin said they plan to approve an
meeting, which will be Corlett’s last.duct the search and hiring process for a new superintendent in late winter or early spring, since that is when many candidates are look-She said she expects the district will con-
ing for new positions.during Dr. Corlett’s tenure,” school board President Jessica Brandli wrote in an email “Our district has seen many changes
to lion-dollar bond and we are soon to begin The Banner. “We passed a multimil-construction on a new addition to our ele-mentary building.COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Corlett was fully committed to ensuring our students received “We are making our way through the
the quality in person education they deserve.”trict’s fourth in about eight years.spent three years as interim superintendent The next superintendent will be the dis-Corlett replaced Carl Schoessel, who
after the retirement of Paul Blacken. The district had conducted a search for a permanent superintendent after Blacken’s retirement, but struggled to find candidates while in a budget deficit. --
years as the superintendent of Hastings Area Schools, helped the district establish a more Schoessel, who had spent more than 20Some local Farm Bureau officials are Farm Bureau rep demands no-fault fixGreg ChandlerStaff Writer
calling on the state to make sure people who had been receiving benefits under Michigan’s catastrophic auto injury insurance fund program get access to a $25 million 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 afternoon at the Barry County Courthouse.-
Bureau delegates across the state for support for the effort at the co-op’s annual state convention Nov. 30-Dec. 1 in Grand Rapids.Hubka said he plans to ask his fellow Farm -
since 1973 or whenever this thing went into “We paid money. They paid money evereffect, 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.people such as Troy Hughes, a Middleville “We paid into that fund.”Hubka was speaking out in support of
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.
$23 billion, MCCA Executive Director Kevin Clinton told the As of June 12, the MCCA fund totaled “All these folks paid into that fund up Detroit Free Press.
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.”the plan. They were made a promise. Now let’s keep that promise, and go back and “They paid the money. They were under
grandfather those folks. That’s the fair, the religious, the righteous thing humanly that you can do.”create the $25 million Post-Acute Care The state Legislature in July voted to
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.”
out, “and then it makes our job that much harder.”voted to issue refund checks to Michigan “Unless it’s refunded,” Calley pointed Earlier this month, the MCCA boarddrivers out of its fund, which had a $5 billion surplus. Whitmer pushed for the refunds.[money],” Hubka said. “You tell them: “Then you don’t refund the damn
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.”
passed the new relief bill, “we were trying to support the providers who needed that [funding support]. We thought we’d trade Calley replied that, when the legislators
data and give them more reimbursement to keep their doors open.”mother, after speaking with Calley, to further explain his effort.Hubka met with Teresa Hughes, Troy’s -See BOY, page 2See SEN. BIZON, page 2State Sen. John Bizon
See CORLETT, page 2 Kyle CorlettDepartment. (Photo provided)Dremony Rose, 7, heads out on road patrol with the Hastings City PoliceAn update on Troy Hughes appears on Page 15.^VOLUME 167, No. 48PRICE $1.
Thursday, December 9, 2021THE
HASTINGSDevoted to the Interests of Barry County Since 1856Reading's a lost art among lawmakers
See Editorial on Page 4Hastings boys pull away from Panthers in 2nd half
downtown mural completionHastings celebrates See Story on Page 11
See Story on Page 3Three Men and a Tenor here Fridayent a “ha-ha-holidays” show Friday Three Men and a Tenor will pres-
evening, Dec. 10, at the Hastings Performing Arts Center, 520 W. South St.the program series between the “This is the second performance in
Hastings Performing Arts Center and the Thornapple Arts Council,” Spencer White, director of bands for Hastings Area Schools, said. “Three Men and a
Tenor do a great performance, and we’re really excited to have them back in Hastings.”mance will begin at 7:30 p.m., with The Three Men and a Tenor perfor-
doors opening at 6:30.Wednesday, White said seats are still available. Tickets may be reserved at Tickets are $10 each, and, as of
hassk12.org/hpac.the Doug A. and Margaret E. DeCamp Foundation, and the programming is presented by the Friends of Hastings This performance is sponsored by
Performing Arts Center and the Thornapple Arts Council.feature Edye Evans Hyde and the The third concert in the series will
Terry Lower Trio Feb. 18, and jazz trombonist and vocalist Aubrey Logan April 29, 2022.hassk12.org/hpac or by calling 269-More information can be found at
945-2002.Entries due Friday for Chamber holiday
lights contestsome holiday cheer to their neighborhood by decorating the outside of Area residents are invited to bring -
either their business or home. All businesses or residences within Barry County are invited to participate in the second annual Battle of the Bulbs.Once decorations are up, residents
are may email a photograph or brief video (less than 20 seconds) to [email protected] for entry in the contest. Submissions are due by Friday, Dec. 10.
the Barry County Chamber Facebook Page Monday, Dec. 13. The public will All photos/videos will be posted to then have until 8 p.m. Sunday, Dec.
19, to vote for their favorite businesses or residences by ‘liking’ the photos.trophy to display.The winning business will receive a In the residential category, first
place will receive $250 in Barry Bucks, which can be used at dozens of area businesses. Second place will win $150 in Barry Bucks, and third
place, $75 in Barry Bucks.Lake Odessa lighted parade tomorrow night
Commerce is ready for its fourth annual Christmas in the Village Parade in downtown Lake Odessa Friday, Dec. 10. The parade will get The Lakewood Area Chamber of
underway at 6 p.m. on Fourth Avenue at the Lake Odessa Village Park, and then head north to Tupper Lake Street. Participants will begin lining up at 5:30 p.m.
Marnie Thomas said the 2020 parade was canceled because of the pandemic, and people are looking forward to Chamber Executive Director -
this year’s event.said, adding that a few businesses will be doing some small associated activities that evening. “Luminate Home “It’s a light-up parade,” Thomas -BRIEFSBRIEFSNEWSNEWSNine COVID deaths reported this weekThe Barry-Eaton District Health Taylor OwensStaff Writer
Department reported nine deaths due to COVID-19 this week, bringing the total number of deaths in Barry County to 111 since the pandemic
began in March 2020.this week, it is possible some occurred before then, since BEDHD officials said the large number of Although the deaths were reported
cases has caused staff to fall behind on investigating and reporting COVID deaths.active cases of the virus this week. Tuesday, the county confirmed 401
but there are likely many more cases based on the positivity rate of COVID tests, officials have said.Nearly one in three COVID tests
conducted in the past week came back positive, they said.166 tests conducted on Nov. 30 came back positive, a new record for the Approximately 44 percent of the county. In comparison, the highest single-day percentage reported, once
tests became widely available last year, was 21.5 percent on Nov. 25, 2020.Last month saw the highest num-
ber of hospitalizations and deaths due to COVID, according to BEDHD.dents hospitalized with COVID in November 2021, and 20 deaths.There were 56 Barry County resi-
reporting five cases of COVID-19 among its residents, while Hastings Rehab and Healthcare Center is Thornapple Manor is currently
reporting three.with Carveth Village of Middleville, said they saw outbreaks in recent weeks.Officials at both facilities, alongterm care facilities had seen a total of 46 cases since the start of the pandemic, and no new cases were report-ed until the start of November. Since As of February this year, long--
that time, an additional 48 cases have occurred among Barry County residents in those three facilities.ed 12 COVID patients in the hospital Spectrum Health Pennock report--
on Monday, including four in the intensive care unit. The hospital is at 75-percent bed capacity, after spending the past few weeks at 100-per--
cent capacity.pitalized with COVID in Barry and Eaton counties during October and November, according to BEDHD.A total of eight children were hos-
vaccinations, including booster shots, is available at barryeatonInformation on scheduling COVID health.org. -Delton Kellogg again chooses Schoessel
as interim leaderTaylor OwensStaff Writer
retired superintendent Carl Schoessel to bridge the gap between Kyle Corlett and its next superintendent.Delton Kellogg Schools will bring back “We look forward to hav-
ing Mr. Schoessel back in our community,” the Delton Kellogg Board of Education announced on Facebook and in a letter to the com-
munity, Schoessel’s first official day with the district will be Monday, Dec. 13.After spending more than adding that
20 years as superintendent of Hastings Area Schools, and filling in later as that district’s interim superintendent, Schoessel served -
as ‘interim’ superintendent of Delton Kellogg for three years, between the retirement of Paul Blacken and the hiring of Kyle Corlett.Schoessel helped get the district to a more
secure financial position, after it fell into deficit and was having trouble attracting superintendent candidates in 2014.in November that he accepted a position as superintendent of Ludington Area School Corlett, who was hired in 2017, announced District, and his last day at Delton will be Dec. 31.
Delton Kellogg Board of Education presi-dent Jessica Brandli said the district received applications from other candidates for the interim position, but Schoessel
was a natural fit.the district really helped,” Brandli said. “He is known really well. Our teachers speak “Obviously, his history with
very highly of him. Our entire staff speaks very highly of him.”June 30, 2022.Schoessel will fill in until
have a superintendent search consultant selected by the January 2022 school board Brandli said she hopes to
meeting, so the board can move ahead with the search and have a new superintendent ready by July 1.The board will formally approve Schoessel
Austin. People packed the streets of Hastings for the sixth Jingle & Mingle celebration Elliott Austin, 5, watches the Christmas parade Saturday from the shoulders of Sean Spotting Santa as the interim superintendent during its next meeting at 7 p.m. Dec. 20.
this past weekend, enjoying everything from carriage rides to a photo booth to meeting Santa. See more about Jingle & Mingle on Page 10. (Photo by Benjamin Simon)
Veterans seek to serve communityRebecca PierceEditor
County Veterans Affairs committee involved five candidates, all veterans, and a tough choice Tuesday for commissioners who could pick only one.Interviews for a vacancy on the Barry
meeting – which just happened to take place 80 years after the day 2,403 Americans lost their lives during the attack on Pearl Harbor At the board’s committee of the whole- commissioners focused their attention on service as they questioned candidates.of experience in war and peace by five men who applied for the opening: Scott Baker of The interviews wove a collective account
Hastings, Robert Geyer of Middleville, Martin Kretovic of Woodland, Dennis Mapes of Nashville, and Mike Timmons of Bellevue. Shawn Ricketts of Hastings also
applied, but was ill and unable to participate in the interview, county board Chairman Ben Geiger said.Veterans Affairs committee. His term expires Timmons is the incumbent chairman of the
this month, creating the vacancy.voice vote, commissioners agreed to recommend Timmons to return to the post. But they By the end of Tuesday’s meeting, in a -
took some time to think about it.
their decision difficult, several commissioners said, since they didn’t want to discourage the others from getting involved in county boards and committees.An impressive slate of applicants made -
Carla Wilson Neil, Tim McKay, Michael Spangler and Shannon Alexander Szukala.The current committee has five members, On Jan. 24, 2017, the county board
increased the committee from three to five members. It was noted Tuesday that this number could go as high as seven, although no commissioner proposed doing that.Wilson Neil, a U.S. Air Force Vietnam
War-era veteran whose four-year term on the Veterans Affairs committee started Jan. 1, spoke briefly to commissioners during the meeting’s first public comment segment: “I believe you received a letter with our com-
ments and thoughts.we’re very appreciative of everyone interested in serving, we would like to support the “With all due respect to everybody, and -
incumbent, Mike Timmons. Thank you very much. We appreciate the consideration.”the position to speak to the commissioners Mike Timmons was the last candidate for Mike Timmons
Tuesday. His remarks, spoken slowly in his deep Texas drawl, were concise.Texas. My wife is from Michigan. So, I live in Michigan.”“My name is Mike Timmons. I was born in He paused as listeners laughed.“I spent 20 years in the Navy,” he contin-
ued. “Was in ‘Nam off and on from 1964 to 1974. After about the 125th combat mission and patrol, I stopped counting them. Went to Grand Valley College and got a degree in
public administration.in Ottawa County. I had a couple of kids, was a Scout leader, Red Cross worker, retired from the Federal Center here in Battle Creek, “While there, I was a reserve deputy sheriff
lay speaker for the Methodist Church, 16 years as Assyria Township supervisor.– a lot of which is helping people. I think one of my greatest pleasures in life is having the “Generally speaking, I’ve had a good life
good feeling that I get when I’m able to help somebody.kinds of ways. I learned that starting as a “And you can help people all different
deputy sheriff, through the Red Cross, through working at Salvation Army, and through being a township supervisor. People come up with all kind of problems that, if you look at them, you can give ’em help.”
the county Veterans Affairs committee has Timmons said his service since 2015 onprovided him with opportunities to help vet-erans in many ways.help him through the Michigan Veterans Trust Fund, we can help him with other facil“If a veteran comes in, we can not only -
ities that the county has available.”some folks like to get stuff that they really Scams often prey on veterans, he noted.“One of the things we have to be alert to is
don’t rate. And sometimes it’s hard to tell what it is you have before you, when you’re looking at the paper and you have to sort of read between the lines ... I’ve enjoyed being able to do that. I think I’ve done it well. I’d like to
continue doing it. It’s as simple as this.”Timmons’ work, saying, “Thank you for your service, not only to the military, but to the Commissioner Bruce Campbell praised
community. You’ve done amazing things, always contributing. ...Your feelings and mine are exactly the same. Nothing makes you feel better than to improve the quality of life and helping other people. I appreciate
that, Mike.”known Timmons since Smelker became a county commissioner.Commissioner Jon Smelker added that he’s
See VETERANS, page 3See NEWS BRIEFS, page 2Sen. Bizon to be arraigned MondayTaylor Owens
on an assault charge at 10:45 a.m. Monday, Dec. 13, before Judge Jason Bomia in the Calhoun County District Court.Sen. John Bizon, R-Battle Creek, is scheduled to be arraigned Staff Writer
Bomia’s Youtube page for livestreams of proceedings in his court, a clerk in Bomia’s office said the decision to stream cases is at the judge’s discretion. Courts had used livestreaming to overcome COVID-19 restrictions during the pandemic, While the Calhoun County court website has a link to -
but have been using that technology rarely now.would be livestreamed.Bizon, 70, grabbed a nurse practitioner around the waist The clerk in Bomia’s office said it is unlikely Bizon’s case According to a Marshall City Police Department report,
while she was discussing medication with him during an Aug. 14 examination at the Oaklawn After Hours Express in Marshall.Bizon’s attorney, Martin E. Crandell of Detroit, told The
BannerCounty Prosecutor Julie Nakfoor Pratt was assigned the case.After the Calhoun County prosecutor recused himself. Barry Nakfoor Pratt told said she expects they had no plans to issue a statement on the case. the case will go to trial.Carl SchoesselBarry County:
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The signs are posted for the COVID-19 test and the vaccine. (Photos by Rebecca Pierce)
A long line of vehicles quickly queued up in the parking lot and out into Woodlawn Street in Hastings as people waited as long
as three hours to get the COVID-19 test.From left, Patrick Mallory, Matt Pattok and Hannah Vann meet in the hallway at
Hastings High School. These students were three of 1,674 students, or 10 percent of
all applicants, who were awarded a prestigious QuestBridge scholarship that will cover
all the costs of their college educations.