Prosecutor offers opinion on Walkerville Fire Board Page 3a
Pentwater OKs monthly contract extension for village manager Page 3a
Hesperia to have state’s first districtwide integrated lockdown and lighting system
Thursday, May 11, 2017
Oceana’s
Herald-Journal
Oceana County's weekly news source since 1869
lockdown system
Page 3a
Carr expected to succeed Wheeler on planning commission Page 3a
Felony charges issued after truck rams through Hart store Driver was charged with ‘act of domestic terrorism’ following 2015 attack on Grand Haven Coast Guard Station and the arson of his family’s Mears home
Schools to give the ‘Boot’ to high electricity bills
Hesperia schools are in line to be the first public school to have a district-wide integrated lockdown and lighting system, according to Hesperia Community Schools Superintendent Vaughn White. The Michigan based Lockdown Company has bridged two important tasks facing schools today: safety and energy efficiency. The Lockdown Company, the creators of “The Boot” has developed their
Hart P.D.’s Aaron Cavner receives American Police Hall of Fame General Commendation $1.50 Award
Two sections 22 pages
By John Cavanagh Herald-Journal Writer
Andrew Skinner • Oceana’s Herald-Journal
The entrance to Hart’s Shopko Hometown department store was still boarded up Saturday, May 6 three days after Matthew Krueger allegedly drove his truck through the store’s front entrance.
continued on 6a
A Mears man previously charged with arson, false threat of terrorism and malicious destruction of property, but never convicted due to an insanity plea now faces a new round of charges for allegedly driving a pickup truck through the front entrance of the Shopko Hometown department store at 2249 N. Comfort Dr. in Hart
Krueger
last Wednesday, May 3. Matthew Lawrence Krueger, 35, of 2813 N. 34th Ave., Mears, was arrested by Hart City Police following the approximately 3:12 p.m. incident in which no one was hurt. Krueger was arraigned May 4 in 78th District Court in Hart on one felony count of malicious destruction of a build-
Krueger to face Felony charges continued on 6a
Cold snap damages Oceana crops
Andrew Skinner • Oceana’s Herald-Journal
A Hart Township cherry orchard was feeling the effects of Monday’s early morning cold temperatures as many of the orchard’s trees were showing signs of frost damage. Trees in the orchard, which is located on a hillside, showed more damage in the low lying areas while trees higher up in the hillside were spared. According to MSUE West Central Michigan Tree Fruit Extension Educator David Jones, the damage is worse going down the hill because cold air sinks. “This is typical during spring frost events. Low spots always get it worse than hilltops,” he said.
Area growers nervously wait to see extent of frost damage
Just how much if any frost damaged occurred to Oceana County’s fruit crops with Monday’s early morning cold temperatures won’t be know for at least a few days. The low temperatures did damage some asparagus fields, but they are expected to rebound without significant problems. Michigan State University Extension Service Tree Fruit Extension Educator Dave Jones reported that minimum temperatures at 5 a.m. ranged from 23.9
degrees in the Elbridge/Hart area to 28.9 degrees in the Benona/Shelby area. National Weather Service spotter Bob Simonson of WEEH-FM in Mears recorded a 23 degree low temperature, breaking the previous record low temperature of 25 degrees set in 1956. “Heck of a cold snap last night,” Jones wrote in a mass e-mail to growers Monday morning. “I spent the night at Rennhack’s witnessing the wind machine battle first hand. I hope that those of you
SHS graduation set for Friday
Oceana County graduation season kicks-off this Friday, May 12 as 82 members of the Shelby High School Class of 2017 will receive their diplomas. Commencement is slated to begin at 7 p.m. in the Shelby High School gym and will include class speakers Natalie Fox and Holli Schlukebir. The SHS Class of 2017 has choosen coral and aqua as their class colors and the coral and aqua carnation as the class flower. The class song is “Count on Me” by Bruno Mars and the class quote is “Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground,” — Teddy Roosevelt. Additional Oceana County high school graduations include, Hart High School Thursday, May 25 at 7 p.m. in the school gym; Pentwater and Walkerville high schools Friday, May 26 at 7 p.m. in their respective gymnasiums; and Hesperia High School Friday, June 2 at 7 p.m. in the school gym. The Oceana’s Herald-Journal 2017 graduation section will be in the May 25 OHJ.
O U R M I S S ION To be the primary source of information for our communities
www.oceanaheraldjournal.com
with machines got them fired up without too many hitches. We have more cold weather on the way tonight (though minimum temperatures are forecasted to be slightly higher), but I wanted to send out a quick e-mail blast because we already have questions coming in about what this means for us in West Central and how Promalin figures in to this equation. Jones pointed that the temperatures
Andrew Skinner • Oceana’s Herald-Journal
frost damage unknown continued on 2a
Thursday, May 25, 2017
Section C
Class of 2017
Oceana area honor students
INDEX Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8a Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-9b Court, Cops, Gov’t . . . . . . . 5b Obituaries . . . . . . . . . . . . 10a Outdoor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6b
A stalk of asparagus, left, shows signs of frost damage Monday morning, May 8 while smaller stalks appear to be unharmed by the frost.
School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4b Social . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9a Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B1-3 Stuff to doq . . . . . . . . 11-12a Viewpoints . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4a
Maxwell resigns Pentwater seat PENTWATER — With regrets, the Pentwater Village Council accepted the resignation of Councilman Bill Maxwell at its regular meeting May 8. Maxwell stepped down citing personal reasons after making his final report as the chair of the buildings and grounds committee. Prior to the announcement, former Councilman Dan Hoekstra said that he had heard that one of the sitting council members had planned to resign and asked if council would follow the same
Follow the OHJ
www.oceanaheraldjournal.com www.twitter.com/oceanahj
protocol it used last January when Pamela Burdick was appointed to the council vacancy created by the resignation of April Watkins. Burdick was the fourth place finisher in last November’s election for the three available council seats while Hoekstra lost his bid to be elected village president. Village President Jeff Hodges said he would solicit letters of interest to fill the council vacancy and make a recommendation to the full council at its next meeting June 12.
CALL US •Report a news tip •Run a classified ad •Subscriber services
873-5602
8<TBDAHJ=a d il>0
2a
• May 11, 2017 • Oceana’s Herald-Journal
Garden Center
Andrew Skinner • Oceana’s Herald-Journal
Apple blossoms near a wind machine seemed to be unaffected by the recent cold temperatures.
Frost damage unknown Farm ma h t rk r o et n
from Page 1a
u
he reported were not long in duration, but that doesn’t minimize the fact that it got quite cold. “Obviously, these temperatures look scary, but we are going to have to wait and see in coming days what this will mean across the region,” Jones wrote. “The duration here is key, as is the site. We all know that we are in a region of massive microclimate, so we may end up seeing quite a bit of site specificity. That said, if you hit these temperatures there is almost certainly at least a small amount of damage. My response to people asking what kind of damage we are going to see is ‘time will tell’ right now.” As for asparagus, extention educator Ben Werling said reports from Crystal and Elbridge
p
townships suggest that low temps froze any emerged spears. “Early pickings will be lost where spears had emerged,” Werling said. “The severity of the loss will be variable. Some farms had made their last mowing of the rye cover relatively late and had few or shorter spears up. Others had longer spears that would have been harvestable soon. Wereling added that the major harvest could be delayed up to a week, especially if temps stay low as forecasted. “However, the freeze won’t have any long term impacts once picking resumes and there’s no reason to expect we won’t have good product to come and a good season,” Werling said.
Mother’’s Day Sale
annuals, hanGinG baskets & more Open...Friday, May 12th • 8am-8pm; Saturday, May 13th • 8am-6pm; Sunday, May 14th • 9am-3pm like uS On Face bOOk Brought to you by • Mike Blackmer • Brad Weesies • Kristy Sauser