Yesterday’s News
Pirates blank Falcons Page B1
Thursday, September 15, 2016
Two sections 24 pages
Oceana’s
Remembering the flood of Sept. 11, 1986
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ORV improvement plan to be unveiled Saturday The public is invited to offer input into proposed improvements at the Silver Lake State Park Off-Road Vehicle area during an informational meeting set for this Saturday at the Golden Township Hall in Mears. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the
Silver Lake Recreation Association will present a conceptual master plan for ORV area parking and access improvements at the 9 a.m. meeting. The two groups have worked in conjunction to develop a plan to present to the Michigan Department of
Environmental Quality for a permit to allow for a parking lot expansion in a critical dunes area. Earlier this year, engineers Beckett and Raeder completed a conceptual plan which showed 234 additional parking spaces on the north-
west portion of the existing parking lot along with new access roads and other changes to improve traffic flow in and out of the dune area. The park and the recreation association have been
working the past year on developing the new plan. As a 501(c)3 organization, the association qualifies for state grants for improvements. Any grant awards would come from the Department of
Natural Resources Off Road Vehicle Trail Improvement Fund. The conceptual plan can be viewed on the Silver Lake Recreation Association Facebook page.
Lucky Lake owner raises concerns over 2nd EFF event
Best buds forever
By John Cavanagh
Herald-Journal Writer
Less than a week after it was formally announced, concerns about a second Electric Forest Festival (EFF) at the Double JJ Resort in Rothbury made their way to the Oceana County Board of Commissioners. Although the county board has no say-so about the event, promoters contract with the Oceana County Emergency Medical Services to provide ambulance personnel on site dur- McCormick ing the event. The events are scheduled for June 22-25 and June 29-July 2 next year. Although past events were under the jurisdiction of Grant Township, future events fall under the jurisdiction of the Village of Rothbury as the Double JJ Resort was annexed to the village ear-
CONCERNS OVER 2ND EFF continued on 7a
• Contributed photos
Above, Chris Contreras, Laurie Garrity (Chris’ mom), Cindi Carlson (Dustin’s mom), Dustin Carlson gather the morning after the transplant surgery in July. Dustin and Chris, below, pose for a photograph at their final doctor’s appointment before surgery.
Chris Contreras gave his pal Dustin Carlson a kidney, and a life By Mary Beth Crain
Greg Means • Shoreline Media
OHJ Contributing Writer
Dustin Carlson and Chris Contreras have been buddies since high school. Although there was a two year age difference between them, they discovered a common bond at Hart High School, playing sports, going camping and just hanging out. Even after they graduated, Dustin in 1999, Chris in 2001, they continued to be close. Their friendship deepened as they both found jobs at GHSP in Hart, where they worked side by side for six years. Then, things changed. They came to the fork in the road, and took different paths. Chris moved to Grand Rapids in 2009, to attend Grand Rapids Community College, and later, Ferris, where he’s finishing his BA in business. Dustin took a job with ADAC Automotive in Muskegon, got married and had two sons. They kept in contact through social media, but saw each other less and less frequently. As so often happens in life, time increased the distance between them; they were young, active and consumed by their own busy lives. One thinks of the famous Carl Sandburg poem, “The Road Not Taken,” where “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both and be one traveler, long I stood and looked down one as far as I could…” The poet must choose one road over another, and pensively reflects, “Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.” Fortunately for Dustin, Chris’s road didn’t take him
“I never thought of myself as
a hero. When I saw Dustin after the surgery, the gratification was instantaneous. His eye color was normal, his whole appearance was good, and you see the results right there. I’d do it again in an instant,”
Members of the Muskegon County Sheriff’s Department, Dalton Township Fire Department and Eagle Towing inspect the wreckage of 1997 GMC minivan driven by Larry Junior Drake, which lost control, rolled over and struck a tree in the US-31 median north of Riley Thompson Road in Muskegon County last Tuesday, Sept. 6. Drake and his wife, Wanda Faye Drake, both of Hesperia, were killed in the single-vehicle accident, which also seriously injured their adult daughter, Wanda Foster.
away forever. He came back—to save his friend’s life. Last September, Dustin began feeling ill. He grew increasingly exhausted, and was subsequently diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease—a genetic curse. His dad, Bill Carlson, had had the same affliction, and, in July of 2002, had received a kidney transplant. Dustin began undergoing dialysis—but not before he almost died. “He was rushed to the hospital in February, in the middle of the night,” his wife, Jessica, recalls. “I heard him get up, and when I went to check on him, he was totally out of it. He was going in and out. We went to Lakeshore Hospital in Shelby, where he actually stopped breathing. He was intubated and rushed to Muskegon. It was absolutely terrifying.” The prognosis was grim. Like his father, Dustin would need a kidney transplant. But the waiting list for a donor was five to seven years. His only alternative was dialysis—a sobering prospect. “That is no life,” Dustin shakes his head. “You’re on the machine three days a week, and it consumes pretty much the whole day. You feel terrible, exhausted. It eats up your life.” The extended Carlson family has convened for this interview. Dustin, serious and thoughtful, wears a deer hunter tee and camo cap, in contrast to Jessica, an attractive, dark-haired woman with state-of-the-art hot pink and jeweled nails. Sons Christian, 2 ½ and Jack, 7, are quietly absorbed in smartphone games. Dustin’ mother, Cindi, and father, Bill, eagerly offer their memories and perspectives.
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DALTON TWP – A Hesperia couple died at the scene of a one-vehicle crash on northbound US-31, north of Riley Thompson Road, Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 6. Their adult daughter, who was in the back seat was listed in seriously/stable condition at the Mercy Health Hackley Campus in Muskegon. Killed in the crash were driver Larry Junior Drake, 60, of Hesperia and his wife, Wanda Faye Drake, 53, who was the
continued on 6a
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vehicle’s front seat passenger. Both were properly restrained in a 1997 GMC Safari minivan. Their daughter, 35-year-old Wanda Foster, also of Hesperia, was riding in the rear seat. According to police Foster was also properly restrained and was able to extricate herself from the wreckage. Muskegon County Sheriff Dean Roesler, who responded
HESPERIA COUPLE KILLED IN US-31 CRASH continued on 7a
OHJ seeks artist info for local ArtPrize works Oceana’s Herald-Journal is planning
BEST BUDS FOREVER
— Chris Contreras
O U R M I S S ION
Hesperia couple killed in US-31 crash
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to feature area artists competing in ArtPrize 2016 Sept. 21 through Oct. 9 in Grand Rapids. Artists from or with ties to Oceana County who are exhibiting a work of art at the mostattended public art event on the planet are asked to contact the Herald-Journal with details of their work. Artist info can be e-mailed to editor@ oceanaheraldjournal.com with the subject line ArtPrize prior to Wednesday, Sept. 21.
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