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‘Lights Out’ carries on Pictured are examples of care packages that will be mailed to members of the military serving overseas during the upcoming holiday season by Blue Star Mothers from Chapter 188, based in Ionia, Kent and Montcalm counties, as part of its Treasures for Troops event, in collaboration with Ionia radio station WION I-1430. — Submitted Photo

‘Treasures for Troops’ 7th annual collection by Blue Star Mothers, WION runs now through Nov. 8 KAREN BOTA

kbota@thedailynews.cc

In this long-exposure photo, members of the Greenville High School marching band color guard light up Legacy Field during the 45th annual “Lights Out” show Thursday evening. The show was the band’s only live performance of the year in front of an audience due to the coronavirus pandemic. — DN Photo | Cory Smith

Greenville High School band members relish chance to play for a crowd with annual performance CORY SMITH

csmith@thedailynews.cc GREENVILLE — Standing in the press box of Legacy Field, prepared to carry on with announcing her band’s performance on the evening, Susan Gould instead stepped away from the microphone, smiled, and shed a few tears.

On Thursday evening, with the football stadium surrounded in a dense fog, the bright stadium lights went dark while the field blinked, twinkled and glowed.

Standing silent in darkness, it was now time for the Greenville High School Yellow Jacket marching band to shine.

What resulted was an experience unlike any other for each high school student. With each note played, the through

stood firm in every student’s mind — this is it.

Attending school in a year restricted by the coronavirus pandemic, Thursday night’s halftime show performance was both the first, last and only one of the year.

But for a season in which there were no football game performances, no marching festivals and not a single indoor rehearsal due to COVID-19 restrictions, the spirit and determination of the students and Gould kept a 45-year-old tradition alive — “Lights Out.” With LEDs, glow sticks and more decorated throughout the band, taped and strapped to every member of the ensemble, the students performed to a live

Continues on Page 5A

Greenville High School senior Sarah Stephenson performs on the alto saxophone with her fellow members of the Yellow Jacket marching band. — DN Photo | Cory Smith

Brenda King-Gibson’s voice breaks a little when she explains why she hopes the community will support the Treasure for Troops care package event again this year.

“Because it’s Christmas time, and there’s nothing worse than being away from the people that you love at Christmas,” said King-Gibson, who chairs the project. “This is our way of letting them know that they’re being thought about.”

The Gowen resident knows what that’s like from personal experience. Her son is a veteran.

In its seventh holiday season, the Treasures for Troops event, which is put on by the Blue Star Mothers, Chapter 188, and WION 1430-AM radio in Ionia, collects items dropped off by community members to build care packages. These boxes are then mailed to men and women serving overseas.

Once again, the community is invited to participate from now through Nov. 8, when packing will be completed, and boxes shipped to arrive in time.

King-Gibson said the Treasures for Troops project was selected by WION seven years ago as the station’s featured Christmas event. That first year, 87 boxes were mailed out.

“Last year we did 312, so it’s grown exponentially each year,” she said.

Care packages begin with “the holy trinity” of a jar of peanut butter, a can of

Continues on Page 3A

Montcalm County Commissioners tour parks Additional maintenance work comes into focus CORY SMITH

csmith@thedailynews.cc MONTCALM TOWNSHIP — Upon being hired as the county’s new maintenance director in late August, Douglas Geizten quickly got to work looking for anything that might need improving upon.

Not long on the job, Geizten has turned his attention to three county parks that he said have received little attention over the years — McCarthy Park in Montcalm Township, Camp Ford Lincoln in Lakeview and

Krampe Park on Winfield Lake near Howard City.

It was only three years ago that parks such as Krampe were scheduled to be closed unless volunteers stepped up to provide maintenance.

Due to cuts following years of the county operating with budget deficits, the county maintenance crew was no longer taking care of the parks.

As the budget has steadied in recent years, Geizten and Montcalm County Commissioners are now hoping to improve what has been neglected over time.

“I think, if you’re going to have them, you need to keep them up,” Geizten said from McCarthy Park Wednesday as he toured the grounds with County Commissioners Chris John-

son, Jeremy Miller and County Controller-Administrator Brenda Taeter. “I look at everything from a taxpayer standpoint. If you got it and it looks awful, you ask, ‘where did my money go?’

If you got it and it looks good, apparently your money is going toward it.”

Geizten recently welcomed a logging company to review McCarthy Park, and if eventually approved by the commissioners, more than 30 trees will be removed in the main park area, with an additional 100-plus removed from the adjacent forested area of the park property that lies between M-91 and the Flat River.

Geizten said by removing

Continues on Page 6A

From left, Montcalm County Commissioners Chris Johnston and Jeremy Miller, Montcalm County Controller-Administrator Brenda Taeter and County Maintenance Director Douglas Geizten discuss potential improvements while touring McCarthy Park in Montcalm Township Wednesday morning. — DN Photo | Cory Smith

SINCE 1854 | VOLUME 165, ISSUE 246 Obituaries 2A | Views 4A | Classifieds 9A | Extras 17A | Weather 18A | Sports 1-2B | Community 3-4B | Election Guide 5-16B

Read about LOCAL candidates and issues!

And VOTE!

Read all about it in TODAY’S issue of the DAILY NEWS

Page 2A | Saturday, October 24, 2020

TODAY’S OBITUARIES

GAS SURVEY Area motorists are paying an average of $2.15 per gallon for regular unleaded gasoline, a 19-cent increase from last week, according to a Daily News survey of 20 area service stations conducted Friday. The lowest price was $2.09 at AGO in Gowen; the highest price was $2.18 at Wesco in Lakeview. Here is a list of the area gasoline prices surveyed:

Wesco

IONIA COUNTY $2.15 average BELDING

IONIA Pilot Travel Center LAKE ODESSA Shell PORTLAND Tom’s Fuel Center

$2.13 $2.15 $2.15 $2.15

KENT COUNTY $2.15 average CEDAR SPRINGS Speedway $2.14 GRAND RAPIDS Meijer (Knapp’s Corner) $2.15 ROCKFORD Marathon $2.15 SAND LAKE Wesco $2.14 MONTCALM COUNTY $2.15 average CARSON CITY Marathon $2.15 EDMORE The Depot $2.15 GOWEN AGO $2.09 GREENVILLE Meijer $2.14 Mobil $2.15 Murphy USA $2.14 HOWARD CITY Exxon $2.15 LAKEVIEW Wesco $2.18 MCBRIDE Sunoco $2.15 SHERIDAN Shell $2.15 SIX LAKES Marathon $2.15 STANTON AGO $2.14

POLICE REPORTS GREENVILLE PUBLIC SAFETY Officers responded to 13 incidents Thursday, including: • Suspicious situation, 12:05 a.m., N. Lafayette.

• Larceny from yards, 12:34 p.m., W. Orange.

• Personal identifying information obtain/possess/transfer with intent no time given, Tana.

• Retail fraud 3rd degree, no time given, W. Washington.

MONTCALM COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE Deputies responded to 9 incidents Thursday, including: • Agency assist, 2:23 a.m., N. First.

• Public peace, 7:44 a.m., Derby Road.

• Be on the lookout, 12:55 p.m., N131.

• Personal injury accident, 6:21 p.m., W. Dick/S. Johnson.

MONTCALM COUNTY CENTRAL DISPATCH Firefighters responded to the following fire calls Thursday: • Mutual aid, 10:37 a.m., W. Howard City Edmore/N. Miles, Belvidere Fire Department.

• Miscellaneous situation, 3:03 p.m., N. Miles/W. Cannonsville, Day Fire Department.

BONNIE LYNN JONES Bonnie Lynn Jones, age 58, of Edmore passed away on Sunday, October 18, 2020 after a short battle with cancer. She is survived by her husband of 25 years, Robert Jones; her mother, Mary Duncan of Alma; brothers, Christopher (Christina) Bennett of Greenville; Mark Darnell of Owosso; sisters, Mary (Mark) Bartreau of Auburn Hills; Hollie (James) Cooper of Holly; Danielle Bailey of Tulsa, OK; Barb (Don) Gruber of Ohio; daughter, Holly (Harold) Amy and family of Edmore; stepson, Robert Andrew (Erin) Jones and family of Grand Ledge; stepdaughter, Jessica (Ben) Hansen and family of Stanton; step granddaughter, Hollie Rae (Jeff) Barnes of Carson City; special niece, Harlee Bennett of Mt. Pleasant; special granddaughter, Kaila Lynn Darnell of Edmore.

Bonnie was a strong willed, hard working woman who worked as a nurse’s aide, home health aide, factory worker, potato sorter and most recently full-time homemaker and grand-

CHARLES “CHARLIE” BOW Charles “ Charlie” R. Bow, 62, of Belding, died Wednesday October 21, 2020 at Spectrum Health-Blodgett Campus in Grand Rapids.

Charlie was born on November 3, 1957 in Greenville, the son of Berwin and Betty (Bierly) Bow. He graduated from Greenville High School with the Class of 1976 and had worked at Electrolux in Greenville and later at Extruded Aluminum in Belding, retiring in 2017. Charlie was an avid golfer and especially enjoyed playing with his dad. He liked to fish and always enjoyed his bacon, potato chips and toast well done, basically burnt! He loved spending time with his family and will be greatly missed and lovingly remembered by his family and friends. He was married on October 14, 1989 in Belding to Tammi Jo Hatfield.

Charlie is loved and survived by his wife Tammi and their children; Kevin Packard of

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GETTING IT RIGHT Grand Rapids businessman Peter Secchia died on Wednesday. A MIRS article in Friday’s Daily News had an incorrect date.

DAILY NEWS thedailynews.cc

News from Montcalm and Ionia counties, the Daily News is published daily except Sundays and postal holidays by View Newspaper Group, 109 N. Lafayette St., Greenville, MI 48838 Second class postage paid at: Greenville, MI (UPS 144-220) Monthly Home Delivery Rates Subscription: $14.75 E-edition: $6 (Add e-edition to another package for $3 more) 6 and 12 month subscriptions available Go to thedailynews.cc for more information POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: The Daily News, PO Box 340 Greenville, MI 48838 The Daily News is delivered Monday through Saturday via United States Postal Service.

If you have any questions or suggestions, complaints or praise, please send to: Customer Service, Box 340, Greenville, MI 48838.

Member of the Michigan Press Association, Audit Bureau of Circulation, Inland Press Association, Newspaper Association of America.

and Theresa (Steve) Thomsen of Greenville.

He was preceded in death by his parents.

Funeral services will be 11:00 a.m. Monday October 26, 2020 at Family Life Center Church of God, 8683 Storey Road, Belding with Pastor William Overton officiating. Committal prayers will follow in Rest Haven Memory Gardens, Belding. Visitation will be Sunday from 2-4 & 6-8 p.m. at Johnson-Feuerstein Funeral Home, Belding. Memorials may be given to the Family Life Center Church of God. Envelopes will be available at the funeral home and at church. To share a message of condolence, order flowers or light a candle in memory of Charlie; please visit www.jffh.com.

Rockford, Keisha Sexton, Cassie Crooke, Chelsea Bow both of Belding, many grandchildren and his siblings; Gary (Mary) Bow of Oregon

CONNIE WILLIAMS Connie Sue Williams, age 63, of Stanton, passed away on Thursday, October 22, 2020 at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing.

Connie enjoyed spending time with her family and friends. It didn’t matter if she was at the lake, riding her motorcycle in the summer, or snowmobile in the winter, if her family and friends were around, Connie was enjoying life. She absolutely loved watching her granddaughters in whatever they were doing. Connie worked at the Montcalm County ISD for close to 30 years and not only loved working with the kids, but also all of her co-workers.

Surviving Connie is her husband, Chuck; sons, Jeremy (Christy) Williams and Josh (Stacey) Williams both of Stanton; granddaughters, Katelynn and Danielle; her sister, Karen (Mark) Kamradt of Stanton; many nieces and

opted” kids.

Connie was preceded in death by her parents, Donald & Marleen (Hall) Keeler and her daughter, Mellissa Williams.

A celebration of Connie’s life is being planned for a later date.

In lieu of flowers, you are asked to keep the needs of Connie’s family in mind as they deal with her sudden passing.

To leave an online condolence or share a favorite memory of Connie please go to www.

SimpsonFamilyFuneralHomes.com.

nephews, lots of great friends and many “ad-

ROBERT E. SHIVELY Robert E. Shively, 80, passed away Thursday, October 22, 2020. He was born June 2, 1940, in Carson City, Michigan.

Robert graduated from Carson City High School and worked as manager at Big Boy restaurant in Greenville for many years. After retirement, he was a greeter, jokester and flirt at Down Home Restaurant in Greenville. He loved Jesus, music and his family and friends.

He was a jokester and loved to sing.

Robert was preceded in death by his wife, Melody; his mother, Audra Galvin; brothers, Carl and Gordon; and sister, Peggy.

Surviving are: children, Terri Shively of Il-

linois, Mary (William) Meddaugh of Lansing, Ronald Shively of Lansing, Timothy (Tara) Shively of Lansing, Elisa Shively Greenman of Flint and Lisa (Eric) Sanborn of Greenville; 16 grandchildren; 17 great-grandchildren and granddog, Skeeter.

A celebration of his life will be held at a later date.

Online condolences may be left for his family at www.EstesLeadley.com.

UPCOMING AND PENDING SERVICES

THURSDAY’S LOTTERY MIDDAY 3: 1, 0, 2

mother. Her favorite things were home, family, friends, her pets, two tracking and camping.

Her favorite camping destinations were the Porcupine Mountains, Cannon Creek and Bois

Blanc Island. She liked wildlife and animals in general and enjoyed going to the zoo, especially with Kaila. She will be sadly missed by friends and family.

See you in Heaven my dear Bonnie.

A memorial service will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 8, 2020 at Brigham Funeral Chapel in Edmore with Jim Comden officiating. The family will greet friends at the chapel from 1:00 p.m. until time of service. A luncheon will follow at the Church of the Gentle Shepherd in Six Lakes.

Those wishing to contribute in Bonnie’s memory are asked to consider the Church of the Gentle Shepherd, 124 Bridge St., Six Lakes, MI 48886.

Condolences to the family may be made by utilizing the guestbook at www.brighamfuneralchapel.com.

TODAY Robert Egan — Celebration of life, 2 to 5 p.m., Simpson Family Funeral Home, Sheridan.

Joyce Wells — 3 p.m., Trufant Cemetery.

(Christiansen’s Michigan Cremation & Funeral Care, Greenville) MONDAY Charles “Charlie” Bow — 11 a.m., Family Life Center Church of God, Belding. (John-

Marshall FUNERAL HOME

son-Feuerstein Funeral Home, Belding) THURSDAY Gerald Roy Staffen — 1 p.m, Brigham Funeral Chapel, Lakeview.

NOV. 8 Bonnie Lynn Jones — 3 p.m., Brigham Funeral Chapel, Edmore.

STEVEN JAY SENN Steven Jay Senn, 63 of Sheridan, died

at his home on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020. Arrangements are pending. Hurst Funeral Home, Greenville, is serving the family.

GERALD ROY STAFFEN Gerald Roy Staffen, 84, Lakeview, died Friday, Oct. 23. Funeral services will be 1 p.m.

Thursday, Oct. 29 at Brigham Funeral Chapel in Lakeview. The family will greet friends from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at the chapel.

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Schools to community: Mask up for COVID or we close down RON FRENCH | Bridge Michigan School superintendents in West Michigan have a blunt message for their communities: Wear masks and social-distance, or schools buildings may have to close.

Alarmed by spiking COVID-19 cases, superintendents at 46 school districts in Kent, Ottawa and Muskegon counties signed a joint letter to their communities this week pleading with residents to follow safety protocols that health officials say can help limit the spread of the potentially deadly virus.

The letter captures a growing frustration among school officials, who have instituted strict safety protocols from state and local health officials, but have been unable to keep coronavirus cases out of their classrooms.

“Unfortunately, the collective hard work of schools alone is not sufficient in controlling community spread of the coronavirus,” the letter says. “Public health experts report significant increases in positive cases across our state and region in recent weeks. Health officials cite that the rise in cases is largely due to a lack of safe practices — mainly distancing and mask wearing — in social settings and community gatherings.

“If cases continue to trend upwards,

County Health Departments warn schools may be forced to implement additional restrictions to prevent continued infections.

Restrictions may include cancellation, or other mitigation efforts, of extracurricular activities like athletics, band, choir and drama.

“As a worst case scenario, schools may be asked to shift to a distance learning instructional model either periodically or for an extended period of time until cases decline,” the letter warned.

The letter comes as Michigan is experiencing a surge in coronavirus cases, with West Michigan being one of the regions suffering a large spike.

Kent County, home of Grand Rapids, has the highest seven-day average of new cases in the state. Ottawa County currently has its highest rate of new cases per 100,000 people (21 new per day) since the pandemic struck Michigan in March. Muskegon County, the third county whose superintendents signed the letter, has comparatively modest COVID-19 rates, at 9 cases per 100,000 people.

“We are in a steady incline,” said Kristina Wieghmink, public information officer for the Ottawa County Health Department.

“Cases are popping up all around the county, and many are associated with social

gatherings.

“The concern is coming from when we have students outside of schools, mingling in the community, and the risk of picking up the virus and bringing it in the school,” Wieghmink said.

Students and staff in Michigan schools are required to wear face masks. Most students have the option of learning from home during the pandemic. And schools have been quick to ask students to stay home if they’ve been exposed to a classmate who has tested positive.

Still, there are new or ongoing outbreaks in 84 K-12 school buildings, involving 435 confirmed cases among students and staff, according to the most recent state data released Monday. The number of schools dealing with outbreaks rose 25 percent Oct. 7-15.

In Michigan, local school districts are generally left to their own discretion on whether to open classrooms to students, conduct remote learning only, or some combination of the two, depending on the level of outbreaks and other circumstances in their communities.

Many Republican leaders, from President Trump to Michigan Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, have

Continues on Page 3A

THE JUMP

Saturday, October 24, 2020 | Page 3A

Crystal Township reconsiders community-wide trash pick-up

BRANDON SCHREUR bschreur@thedailynews.cc

CRYSTAL TOWNSHIP — The Crystal Township Board is once again looking into the topic of township-wide trash collection.

During last week’s regular meeting, Clerk Patty Baker-Marek brought up the possibility of looking into a township-wide trash collection for Crystal residents.

“I’ve been contacted by several people interested or wondering where the township is on this,” Baker-Marek said.

“At one point, before I came to the board, (former clerk Bob Naumann) was working on a contract ordinance to develop township-wide garbage pick-up. “(A township-wide service) would help save the roads,” she continued. “The trucks would only come through once a week instead of having different companies’ trucks two or three times a week, but I’m just bringing it up.”

Trustee Drew Lane asked whether or not the services would be part of resident’s taxes, which Baker-Marek said would likely be the case.

“Well, use me as an example, then,” Lane said. “We have four residences that use one trash, right now. I don’t want to pay four residences’ taxes (for trash pick-up).”

Baker-Marek pointed out that the township would have to work out many of the specifics for trash pick-up with whatever company the board saw fit to proceed with.

Crystal Township Clerk Patty Baker-Marek, left, and Trustee Drew Lane discuss the possibility of starting a township-wide trash pick-up service during last week’s regular meeting. — DN Photo | Brandon Schreur “The way it was set up, there was something different about the people who aren’t here not having to pay for full-time service or something like that,” she explained. “I’m not familiar with all of that, yet.”

Former township supervisor and Montcalm County Commissioner Chris Johnston said that, when he was involved with the process, the biggest setback in finalizing a township-wide trash service was finalizing some of the exact services.

“There are so many different ways that you can set it up,” Johnston said. “Some companies will do the billing themselves and it’ll just be a tax thing.

Some will add recycling onto it.

Some will do different summer and winter stuff. That’s really where you’ve got to start when setting this whole thing up. Do we want different services or do we just want trash?”

Johnston did point out that,

based on some initial estimates, a township-wide pick-up would likely be cheaper than the price most residents are currently paying for trash services.

“I think I pay around $240 (a year),” Johnston said. “They were talking that they could get it down to $120 or $130 a year.”

Treasurer Nancy Mills noted that not all Crystal residents utilize trash services.

“I know that there are people on my road who recycle and compost and don’t have a trash pick-up,” she said. “Their place isn’t trashed, either — it’s immaculate. I think you’re going to get some blowback (in establishing township-wide trash pick-ups).”

Trustee Sherry Kutt said that she’d feel more comfortable moving forward with any kind of trash ordinance only if the township held some sort of special meeting on the matter.

“Something like this, I don’t

know if we should technically be the ones to dictate it,” she said. “Maybe we should have some sort of public meeting or hearing on it or something.”

With Johnston once again pointing out that a lot would depend on what specific services the township wants and the proposals they’d then received, Baker-Marek said she’d potentially be in support of township-wide trash.

“I know that I, for one, would like to pay less for my trash pick-up than what I currently pay,” she said. “We’re paying all this millage money for the roads and then we’re having all these heavy garbage trucks go up and down them all the time.”

Crystal Township resident and recently-elected trustee Diane Rydahl suggested board members speak with a trash pick-up company before continuing the discussion.

“Why don’t you just talk to a company, see how they handle it and stop trying to figure it all out yourselves?” she asked.

“Let the person that runs the business or company tell you how all of that stuff works.

This is a waste of time trying to hash it out.”

Rydahl also recommended board members speak with surrounding communities with trash pick-up services to find out what they offer residents.

“We need to get some companies to give us a price. There ain’t no use in having a public meeting on it until then,” Supervisor Curt McCracken said.

“We’ll move on and put it on next month’s agenda.”

7th annual collection runs now through Nov. 8 Continued from Page 1A Chunky Soup and some sort of jerky, King-Gibson said.

“I always hit on protein, protein, protein. And those are the things from home that people miss,” she added.

In addition to non-perishable foods, volunteers tuck in hygiene items like toothbrushes, toothpaste, and small bottles of shampoo; games like Nerf toys, playing cards and activity books; and miscellaneous utilities items like duct tape, batteries and can openers.

“A few years ago, someone donated 200 comic books, which the kids loved,” said King-Gibson. “My veteran is 31, but these are somebody’s ‘kids.’”

Everyone receives a fresh pillowcase in their box, too, because no matter how many times they’re washed, King-Gibson said, “you never get the sandy grit out of the pillowcase.”

A big push at the moment is encouraging people to donate their leftover Halloween candy, which the Blue Star Mothers use in place of packing peanuts.

“Every square inch of the box is absolutely full,” King-Gibson said. “This is one of the few times of the year we can send chocolate because it doesn’t melt.”

Notes to the servicemen and women who will receive the boxes are always encouraged, whether it’s a personal message or a simple “thank you for your service.” Christmas cards are available at donation sites if people would like to sign one.

Her granddaughters, ages 4, 5 and soon to be 10, decorate cards with drawings and stickers.

“But no glitter. Glitter is

Pictured are Blue Star Mothers from Chapter 188, based in Ionia, Kent and Montcalm counties. The chapter is holding its seventh annual Treasures for Troops care package collection through Nov. 8. — Submitted Photo the bane of our existence,” King-Gibson said.

Ionia High School Principal Ben Gurk said students in English classes are asked to write letters of support. There are usually around 200 to include in the care packages.

“It is important to support our forward-deployed troops,” said Gurk, himself a Marine Corps veteran. “Being far away from friends, family, and the comforts of home can be challenging, particularly during the holiday season.”

“I tell them to just write about their day,” said King-Gibson. “You don’t know if the letter will be read by someone from Texas or Colorado or Michigan.”

She puts out feelers through Blue Star Mothers in Michigan, works with other groups and connects with “higher up” officers to solicit names of those who may not be getting support from their families. It’s expensive to not only buy items to

send but then to mail packages overseas, and not all families can afford the almost $20 per box postage.

“It’s one of our biggest expenses,” King-Gibson said.

“Bless their hearts, with the support we’ve had from the community, very little has had to come out of our budget.

We’ve been able to do enough fundraising to send the boxes.”

The event is publicized widely, thanks to WION and its media partners WGLM in Greenville/Lakeview, WRWW-LP, the student-operated station at Lowell High School, “and even our friends at ‘sister’ AM 1430 WRDN in Durand, Wisconsin, which is collecting money for shipping for our effort with the Blue Star Mothers,” said WION owner and manager Jim Carlyle.

WION has a list of the most requested items on its Facebook page at i1430, and also on its website, www.i1430.com, where drop-off locations in Io-

nia, Greenville and Lowell also are posted. That list is updated regularly as more area businesses and organizations come on board, King-Gibson said.

More information also is available on Facebook at Treasures for Troops 2020.

Email King-Gibson at Treasures4Troops@gmail.com with questions or to submit a request for a care package for someone who is serving overseas this holiday.

Donations for postage can be sent to Blue Star Mothers MI188, P.O. Box 366, Lakeview, MI 48850.

Founded in Flint in 1942, Blue Star Mothers is now a nationwide organization. It began as a public relations campaign after Pearl Harbor was bombed “to get the morale up at home,” King-Gibson said.

“They knew it would help those fighting overseas or heading overseas,” she said. “We have mothers from all over the U.S. We support our veterans, at home wounded and also serving currently.”

King-Gibson knows this has been a tough year for many people, and she isn’t looking to top last year’s record for donations.

But she hopes people will do what they can.

“It’s about our kids, and they’re all of our kids,” she said. “These are kids that signed their lives away to protect us. The least we can do is make sure we reach out and let them know somebody cares about them this time of year.”

Carlyle agrees. He has no particular goal set for the number of boxes he hopes to see mailed this year, “given current times,” he said.

“Our only goal as a group is to do the very best we can.”

Mask up for COVID or we close down Continued from Page 2A urged school buildings to be opened during the pandemic.

Michael Shibler, superintendent of Rockford Public Schools in Kent County, said social gatherings outside of school that don’t include masks and social-distancing “threaten our ability to keep our doors open.”

Rockford started the school year online for two weeks before beginning in-person instruction. A month into face-to-face learning, Shibler moved grades 9-12 back to remote learning because of a COVID-19 outbreak.

At least 17 students tested positive, and 416 students were placed in self-quarantine, out of about 2,400 students in those grades.

The students are scheduled

to return to classrooms Monday, after being homebound for 10 school days, Shibler said.

“We’ve been working hard to follow the protocols set by the state health department and the local health department,” Shibler said. “And I believe the vast majority of our parents and students are following those protocols (outside of school). But we do have incidents in which students or families are not taking this seriously.”

Shibler said contact tracing shows that social gatherings outside of school brought COVID into schools, rather than school outbreaks spreading the virus to the community.

That matches the experience of contact tracers in Kent County.

“Our people here in conver-

sations with schools and contact tracing; they don’t believe a lot of these cases are popping up because of schools,” said Steve Kelso, spokesperson for the Kent County Health Department. “We’re actually very encouraged by how well the schools have done. [Recent COVID-19 spread] is mainly from community spread.”

The letter from superintendents emphasizes that school leaders want school buildings to be open. “While safety remains our number one priority, we also acknowledge the important role schools serve for our broader community,” the letter says. “Schools are vital in meeting the academic, social, emotional and physical wellbeing of students and families.

We must do everything we can to keep schools safe and open.

“To mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in our communities and to keep schools open, we ask that all social and community gatherings continue to adhere to safe mitigation protocols. We’ve worked too hard over the last several months to reverse course now.”

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I’m sure you had a good reason!

I

was talking with a friend about someone who had done something negative to me.

I added,“But we also have this deep compassionate side to our friendship and truly care about each other.”

She wisely said, “As we grow up, friendships become layered and not so perfect. When young, we make friendships quickly.

Life is black and white. As we mature, we recognize the value of friendships and slow down on our judgements. We compartmentalize our differences. We may not like one part of them but we still like other parts.”

For instance, politics.

Not long ago, I left a friend’s home. She has political signs in her yard that are not my political choices. I called her as I drove home and left a message saying I was sorry, but when I turned around in her driveway, I “accidentally” ran over her signs a few times. She immediately called, laughing. We had a good time with it and then she said, “As I heard your message and laughed, I thought, wait, I better go look, maybe she really did run over them.” We laughed some more.

I appreciate when one can have polar opposite political beliefs and still enjoy and care about each other. These days, that’s getting harder and harder to do. It seems many will quickly toss out friendships of those who don’t share their politics. I treasure the friendships where you can differ, yet still truly care about each other. One friend shared, “I feel there are two kinds of friendships — ones that feed your soul and ones that drain it.

The first ones are hard to find.

The second are best kept as acquaintances only. I now realize I care most about the quality of my friendships, not the quantity.”

Another friend taught me there are three kinds of friends — friends for a reason, friends for a season, and friends for life. It’s proven true in my life. You may be friends because you work together. You may be friends while your kids are in school together.

When one moves on, the friendship often does, too.

Life friends are built on trust, caring about each other, common values and interests. You may not see a life friend often, but when you do, you begin where you left off. They will always be there for you and you for them.

In a seminar, I had to list the top three qualities I valued in a good friend. I chose trust, someone who cares about me and a sense of humor. What would yours be? What are the first ones you think of ?

For me, if I can’t trust a friend, the ball game’s over. Trust is the foundation of a good friend. The betrayal of trust is always sad. It affirms Maya Angelou’s quote, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” It’s helpful if one can remember this profound advice.

It may seem a given to have a friend that cares about you, but I’ve had friends that only care and talk about themselves.

I visited a friend once who had moved away. After 36 hours at her new home, she never asked one single thing about my family, my life or me. It was completely one sided and thus, not worth holding on to. I think friendship is a two way street. I care for and about you. You care for and about me.

That’s how it works. We are there to support each other. It’s circular.

Healthy friendships offer counsel and help us think through decisions. Once, a friend was in a bad marriage and I made a list of 50 reasons why I thought she should get divorced.

She appreciated the clarity and ended up divorcing him. This process helped her to get her perspective clearer. It also came with a big dose of love, caring and respect.

Friends often become family, sometimes closer. I always think my friends are my family, the one I chose. Childhood friends share our past, the way we were.

Friends share our challenges, celebrations, joys and sorrows.

Friends are happy for us and sad for us. Friends laugh with us, cry with us, pray with us. True friends realize we are all imperfect and all growing. They don’t judge us but understand and guide us, offering unconditional support.

To sum it up — If you kill someone, a good friend will always say, “I’m sure you had a good reason!” That’s friendship!

Page 4A | Saturday, October 24, 2020

VIEWS

GUEST VIEW

O

We need to promote legislation that supports veterans

n Nov. 11, we will observe Veterans Day. Citizens will pay tribute to veterans living and deceased who have served our country with honor. I write to ask that we do more this year as the numbers of veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and those who commit suicide continues to rise. We need to work together as communities and with government Karen services to reverse this Garvey awful trend. It is personal to me.

In October, 2019, my son-in-law, Joe, lost his battle with PTSD after ending his own life. As painful as our loss remains, we recognize that his pain, his struggle, was far worse as he never would have wanted to leave his beautiful wife and two young sons on their own.

Joe entered the Marines ready to serve and he did so honorably. Joe was ecstatic over the birth of his first son, singing and lifting him up to a bright future, a “Lion King” gesture. Four years later, for the birth of his second son, that jubilant Joe was replaced by a happy, but subdued, quieter civilian Joe. We didn’t realize the depth of his trauma or realize how difficult his struggle with PTSD really was until

after he ended his life.

Once out of service, Joe struggled with civilian life. He found that his military training and skills didn’t translate well in finding a good-paying job. Through friends, he was able to interview with Consumers Energy, an employer willing to take a chance to hire this “unskilled” (non-degree) veteran. Joe felt better knowing that he was making a wage that could support his family. Yet his quiet suffering continued, controlled somewhat with pills, but unresolved. He tried to minimize it, saying, “Marines don’t whine, there are others worse off than me.” So, in addition to his suffering, he also felt guilt about feeling or showing that pain.

While this tragedy is personal to our family, we are just one of many stories of military loss. Joe had veteran friends who were also coping with PTSD and depression, some also taking their own lives. Veterans shouldn’t have to carry their fight home. I’ve talked with veterans and vet families who are struggling. As they settle into civilian life, many vets don’t feel heard, supported or valued. This isn’t about medals or salutes or gracious words — it starts with listening and caring and providing a broader base of community support.

More can be done to transition troops from active duty to civilian life.

Once in a civilian setting, families and

vets need continued education and help to learn about and watch for the signs of depression and PTSD. Veterans need more local access to medical and psychological services, as transportation can also be a problem. There are things we can do. We as citizens need to ask more of our legislators, more of the military and more of ourselves to support our veterans.

Montcalm County has a veteran population of 4,329. Before the millage passed in June, there were no veteran support groups offered by the county, no assistance for emergency dental services and only one vehicle to transport veterans to VA appointments. Beyond passing the millage, we can work in other ways to help our veterans locally and state-wide. We need to be in contact with legislators to promote legislation that supports veterans. We can contact the Montcalm County Department of Veterans Affairs to see how to directly support area veterans. Let’s use this Veteran’s Day as a call to action and then work together to amplify the voices of our veterans, especially in memory of those who no longer have a voice.

Karen Garvey of Edmore is the Democratic candidate for District 70 State Representative.

The opinions expressed in the Guest View do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Daily News.

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The First Amendment Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

CONTACT YOUR STATE REPRESENTATIVES Contact your elected officials and express an opinion about state and national issues.

STATE REP. TOM ALBERT (86th District, including the cities of Belding, Ionia and Lowell) Email: thomasalbert@house.mi.gov Call: (517) 373-0846 Write: N-1190 House Office Building, P.O. Box 30014, Lansing, MI 48909 Website: gophouse.org/representatives/westmi/ albert STATE REP. JULIE CALLEY (87th District, including the city of Portland and portions of Ionia County) Email: juliecalley@house.mi.gov Call: (517) 373-0842 Write: N-1191 House Office Building, P.O. Box 30014, Lansing, MI 48909 Website: gophouse.org/representatives/southwest/calley STATE REP. JIM LOWER (70th District, including Montcalm County) Email: jameslower@house.mi.gov Call: (517) 373-0834 Write: S-1089 House Office Building, P.O. Box 30014, Lansing, MI 48909 Website: gophouse.org/representatives/central/ lower STATE SEN. RICK OUTMAN (33rd District, including Montcalm County) Email: SenROutman@senate.michigan.gov Call: (517) 373-3760 Write: Sen. Rick Outman, P.O. Box 30036, Lansing, MI 48909-7536 Website: www.senatorrickoutman.com STATE SEN. JOHN BIZON (19th District, including Ionia County) Email: senmnofs@senate.michigan.gov Call: (517) 373-2426 Write: Sen. John Bizon, P.O. Box 30036, Lansing, MI 48909-7536 Website: www.senatorjohnbizon.com STATE SEN. PETER MACGREGOR (28th District, including Cedar Springs and Grattan, Nelson, Oakfield, Solon and Spencer townships) Email: SenPMacGregor@senate.michigan.gov Call: (855) 347-8028 Write: Sen. Peter MacGregor, S-132 Capitol Building, Lansing, MI 48909-7536 Website: www.senatorpetermacgregor.com

G

The shooting gallery

uns. Where and when.

Don’t look now but the state is on the cusp of a dandy brouhaha over guns and where you can take them and where you can’t. The story you’re about to read unfolds on two fronts namely the state Capitol building and every polling place around the state.

Fasten your safety belts.

Ever since a bunch of open carry citizens legally rallied inside the state Capitol last April 30 with their AK-47s, handguns and a variety of long guns, some Democrats have been pushing hard to ban all weapons inside the building. Self-preservation is the motivating factor.

You see they objected to trying to do the people’s business on the floor of the house and senate under the watchful eye of gun-totters in the gallery looking down on them. Rep. Rebekah Warren, D-Ann Arbor, summed it up, “so you have someone at a high ground position above you with semi-automatic weapons. I don’t think anybody wants that in the workplace.”

Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist who presides over the state Senate where some Democrats wore bulletproof vests during the demonstration has asked the Senate GOP leader to ban all guns.

“There is no place for semi-automatic weapons in the Capitol or in the lawmaking process. The only reason you have it is to intimidate lawmakers.”

On top of the April rally, we discover five months later that at that time an alleged plot was unfolding to kidnap

the governor and other officials and now 13 alleged conspirators are sitting in the slammer awaiting trial on those charges. Oh, yeah. Part of the federal and state charges include a plot to attack the state Capitol building.

You can see why the temperature of some Democrats is off the charts.

Now comes the Senate GOP leader Mike Shirkey and House GOP Speaker Lee Chatfield, both confirmed pro-gun guys, with talks to do something about this. The something has not been decided but there is speculation they will ban the open carry of any weapon into the building but would allow concealed weapons. If they do, the pro-gun lobby will not be pleased.

The speaker won’t confirm any of this but does say, “there has to be some common-sense policy that we can adopt to ensure people are kept safe and people’s rights are protected. We are diligently searching right now to find that policy. The good news is we are still at the table.”

Note that the duo could have said, we are doing nothing about guns in

PUBLIC FORUM AND THANK YOUS Write: Your opinion or a letter of thanks should be emailed to letters@thedailynews.cc. If necessary, letters may be sent to Public Forum, The Daily News, 109 N. Lafayette St., Greenville, Mich. 48838. Letters that are not emailed will take much longer to appear in the paper. The Daily News will not acknowledge receipt of letters.

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TIM SKUBICK skubickt@aol.com

the building but they have not and the anti-gun folks are encouraged by the “ongoing conversations” going on behind closed doors.

Fast forward to Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson who is being accused of unilaterally ordering a policy to ban open carry near polling places on Election Day. The ink on the edict sent to all local clerks was not even dry when the pro-gunners were all over her for an order she allegedly doesn’t have the power to do. They will likely haul her into to court to undo what she just did.

Ms. Benson, the Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel and Col. Joe Gasper who runs the State Police think she can do this as they worry about all the “what ifs” if poll watchers show up with guns in hand to watch citizens vote.

The trio collectively shouts, “Can you say voter intimidation?”

Recall that President Donald Trump has asked his backers to be at the polls.

He said nothing about bringing guns, but the anti-gunners would say, “Did he really have to?”

So here we sit days before the most historic presidential election in modern times with some lawmakers fearing for their lives and perhaps some voters feeling the same way and a four-letter word is the reason why: G-u-n-s.

Tim Skubick is a syndicated political newspaper columnist who also anchors and produces the weekly PBS show “Off the Record.”

• Writers are limited to one letter every 30 days.

• Except for subscribers, letters from outside The Daily News readership area will be accepted only if they concern subjects of interest to our readers.

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U.S. REP. JUSTIN AMASH (Michigan’s 3rd District, including portions of Ionia and Montcalm counties) Email: Visit amash.house.gov for email form.

Call: (616) 451-8383 (Grand Rapids office) or (202) 225-3831 (Washington D.C. office) Write: Grand Rapids office, 110 Michigan St NW, Ste 460, Grand Rapids, MI 49503; or Washington D.C. office, 114 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515 Website: amash.house.gov U.S. REP. JOHN MOOLENAAR (Michigan’s 4th District, including Montcalm County) Email: Visit moolenaar.house.gov for email form.

Call: (231) 942-5070 (Cadillac office), (989) 6312552 (Midland office) or (202) 225-3561 (Washington D.C. office) Write: Cadillac office, 201 N. Mitchell St., Suite 301, Cadillac, MI 49601; Midland office, 200 E. Main St., Suite 230, Midland, MI 48640; or Washington D.C. office, 117 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515 Website: moolenaar.house.gov U.S. SEN. GARY PETERS Email: Visit ww.peters.senate.gov for email form.

Call: Grand Rapids office, (616) 233-9150; or Washington D.C. office, (202) 224-6221 Write: Grand Rapids office, Gerald R. Ford Federal Building, 110 Michigan St. NW, Suite 720, Grand Rapids, MI 49503; or Washington D.C. office, Hart Senate Office Building, Suite 724, Washington, DC 20510 Website: www.peters.senate.gov U.S. SEN. DEBBIE STABENOW Email: Visit www.stabenow.senate.gov for email form Call: Grand Rapids office, (616) 975-0052; or Washington D.C. office, (202) 224-4822 Write: Grand Rapids office, 3280 E. Beltline Court NE, Suite 400, Grand Rapids, MI 49525; or Washington D.C. office, 731 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510-2204 Website: www.stabenow.senate.gov

OPINIONS The Daily News Opinions Page is an open forum for many viewpoints. Positions taken in syndicated columns, guest editorials, guest columns and letters to the editor, however, represent only the author’s views, and not necessarily those of this paper.

Saturday, October 24, 2020 | Page 5A

Greenville band members relish chance to play for a crowd Continued from Page 1A crowd, relishing the chance to do so.

As the band director, Gould made sure to enjoy the moment as well.

“I just sat back and watched the kids. I enjoyed it as a spectator and they owned it,” she said. “They sounded fantastic. As a teacher, you are always nervous, but I was never nervous tonight. They were at a level that we have not seen in a rehearsal. The performance was proud, clean and full of enthusiasm. As an audience member, I was beaming. A couple tears came out of my eyes because it was great to see the kids do what they are supposed to do.”

With every student wearing a special “musician” face mask with a piece of fabric also covering their instrument bells — all paid for through federal CARES Act funding — those items allowed the students to play their instruments more safely while social distancing in an outdoor environment.

While Friday’s regular-season finale for the high school football team was canceled due to a COVID-19 exposure, Gould said she was determined to make sure the students could perform and moved the performance up a day.

Without having to accommodate for the larger football crowd, each student was able to welcome up to 10 guests to the performance, resulting in a crowd that reached no more than 1,000 spectators.

For the students, performing for a live audience made an entire season of practicing outdoors every week to a wall of empty stands worth it.

“My knees were shaking a little bit, but it felt really good to be able to deliver a performance again,” senior trumpet player and band captain Michael Huckleberry, 17, said. “I was definitely blowing the hardest I was all night in those last few measures — I didn’t want to leave anything out here.

It meant a lot. It would have sucked for us to have to lose this performance during our last year. Being able to keep the tradition alive, that was pretty cool.”

For senior tenor drum player and drumline captain Rachel Gyurnek, 17, the experience was as uplifting a moment as anyone could ask for in a year shrouded by the

Members of the Greenville High School Marching Band light up Legacy Field during the 45th annual “Lights Out” show Thursday evening. — DN Photo | Cory Smith

At left, during a first performance with the stadium lights on, Greenville High School Yellow Jacket marching band members, junior Molly Ramos, left, and senior Dylan Lake play the bongos. At right, junior Parker Foote on trombone, sophomore Dakota Madole on tenor saxophone and sophomore Sean Gilbert on trombone play Thursday evening during the 45th annual “Lights Out” show. — DN Photos | Cory Smith pandemic.

“I was laughing and crying, though no one could see it … it was nothing but joy tonight,” she said. “The ‘Lights Out’ show has always just been a cool thing to be a part of, but this one … not only was it Lights Out, but it was our last time as seniors running through our show and that added a whole new emotional level to it for me.”

Performing a selection of songs from their “Creature Feature” show, with highlights including “Godzilla,” “Jurassic Park” and “King Kong,” senior and color guard captain Danielle Bursach, 17, described this year’s season as challenging, but rewarding.

Every rehearsal was held with precautions in place due to COVID-19, from keep-

ing color guard flags separated and sanitizing them every time they were used. While Bursach said those safety protocols were daunting at times, having a band class and marching band season of any kind during the pandemic also helped her and many students navigate through such a difficult time with a positive attitude.

“I don’t think there’s anything that can replace the band family for me. It’s an emotional thing. I cried after my last band camp, after my last Monday night practice — all of those nostalgic traditions, they really hit home,” she said. “There’s no word that can describe that feeling. We’re all so proud of the time we put into the show, we’ve all built these connections, so when you see us in that final circle at the end of the show, we’re celebrating that we did it, that we learned something new and put it out for everybody to see.”

Despite no performances in front of judges, early-morning 7:40 a.m. classes held in freezing temperatures, all while practicing social distancing, Gould said the culmination of the season was worth it, regardless of how it ended, with the live performance being a bonus.

“They have been working for this since July. Our philosophy was, we’re going to keep doing this and see what happens,” she said. “Being outside is safe and we know how to do this, so let’s enjoy music and music-making; let’s enjoy marching band for marching band’s sake, and if we were lucky enough to play it for people, that was an added bonus. They got to do that tonight and I think that’s why it was so emotional.”

Now in her 30th year as the Greenville High School band and orchestra director, Gould stressed that this year it was as important to her as ever to keep music in the lives of her students.

“It was worth it because this is what the kids live for,” she said. “They want to play their instruments and they’ve learned to play them so well, but playing alone at home is not the same as playing with your friends and it’s definitely not the same as playing for a crowd. This, tonight, performing for a bunch of appreciative family and community members, this is the stuff they remember.”

At left, members of the Greenville High School Yellow Jacket marching band drum line perform light up Legacy Field. At center, senior trumpet player Michael Huckleberry performs during the show. At right, In this long-exposure photo, Greenville High School senior and drum major Cole Bozung conducts the band. — DN Photos | Cory Smith

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Page 6A | Saturday, October 24, 2020

Montcalm County Commissioners tour parks Continued from Page 1A what he described as “about a third to half ” of the trees in the park, annual maintenance costs, along with liability, would decline.

Currently, Geizten said it takes four days of work by the county’s maintenance crew to handle leaf pickup at McCarthy Park alone each fall.

“We’re finding it difficult to maintain the leaf pickup and handle other duties.

Removing these trees, it alleviates leaf picking and the chance of a tree taking out a roof, so I’d like it done this winter if possible,” he said. “In the spring we can power wash the picnic tables and paint and maybe reopen the bathrooms.”

Additionally, with a history working as an electrician, Geizten said he saw more potential for parks such as McCarthy Park, which has three large pavilions.

Geizten introduced the idea of possibly installing electricity, expanding potential use of the park to include wedding receptions and other gatherings where power would be desired.

In doing so, Taeter said the income the county receives from rentals at the park could potentially increase.

For Johnston, improving the parks is something he believes should become a priority for the commissioners.

“If you walk around, there’s branches all over the place and we don’t want any

A large pavilion at McCarthy Park in Montcalm Township sits surrounded by trees in the heavily-wooded park.

Montcalm County Maintenance Director Douglas Geizten is aiming to have as many as 30 trees removed to reduce annual leaf pickup and reduce potential liability from falling branches and trees. — DN Photo | Cory Smith of this to damage anything or injure anyone,” he said. “This hopefully will bring in more sunlight and allow some more grass to grow, making this park a little more pleasant.”

Once Geizten has a finalized propos-

al, Taeter said it would come before the Community and Physical Resources Committee, of which Miller, Johnson and Commissioner Brendan Mahar sit, to then potentially be proposed to the County Board of Commissioners as a whole.

A trail covered with fallen leaves, surrounded by colorful trees, can take visitors through a brief but relaxing walk through a picturesque McCarthy Park in Montcalm Township. Montcalm County Maintenance Director Douglas Geizten is placing a focus on keeping better maintenance of the county’s parks overall. — DN Photo | Cory Smith

Struggling hospitality industry faces new challenge as winter looms CHLOE ALVERSON | Capital News Service The state’s hospitality industry adjusted to COVID-19 with mixed results but now there’s a new challenge: winter.

Patio season is coming to a close and restaurants are only half full, as a result of a recent Michigan Department of Health and Human Services order calling for restaurant capacity to remain at 50%.

“If people can’t be outdoors, we think we’ll lose 5,000 restaurants, which is roughly a third of the restaurants in the state,” said John McNamara, the vice president of government affairs for the Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Association.

The association is working with the Legislature and the governor’s office to allowrestaurants to enclose and heat their patios for the winter. It’s also hoping that banquet centers will be treated like restaurants to allow more servers than allowed under coronavirus restrictions.

“There’s lots of work to be done,” McNamara said. “Restaurants were a vanguard of public safety before this. A lot of people have changed their business models overnight in order to allow guests to still come in and enjoy a meal safely.”

Still, he said, more than a thousand restaurants “have closed their doors for good.”

“My focus the past six months has re-

ally been on giving our members tools to survive and thrive during this pandemic,” he said.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer established executive orders to protect residents and slow the spread, but those orders have since been rescinded under a court order.

The Department of Health and Human Services order continued her restrictions on restaurant capacity.

The pandemic hit the hospitality industry hard. In July 2019, Michigan had nearly 435,000 hospitality workers. Last July, that number hardly passed 270,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

It was even worse in April when it reported only 179,700 workers– the lowest monthly number in 10 years.

Typically, the monthly number of Michigan employees in the sector that provides food, beverage, travel and tourism hovers around 400,000, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The highest within the past 10 years was 436,700 in March of 2019, less than a year before the virus struck.

“We called it our carryout season,” said Marty Hutnick, the owner of the Four Corners Diner in the small southeast Michigan village of Romeo. “There were only three to four of us working, so it was hard.

But that’s what helped keep our doors open.”

Hutnick credits the “phenomenal community” for helping keep the establishment afloat. When they weren’t buying carryout, many customers purchased gift certificates. A few customers even went as far as helping the restaurant pay the bills for rent and electricity.

“The stress that it caused on me personally was very hard,” Hutnick said. “I don’t think people realize what goes on behind the scenes. I wanted to give up and turn the lock.” Compared to other business owners, Hutnick considers herself lucky to have survived carryout season.

“Some industries have not been hit as hard as others,” said Otie McKinley, the media and communications manager of the Michigan Economic Development Corp. and Pure Michigan. “When you look at the tourism industry and small businesses, they have been catastrophically impacted.”

The agency launched 19 coronavirus response programs to assist businesses during the pandemic. Working closely with local partners and agencies, the corporation used funding provided by the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act that was implemented at the end of March. About $100 million went toward supporting communities across the state through the Michigan Small Business Restart Grant program, McKin-

ley said.

“As we work to rebuild our economy, we want to do so in a way that creates a more equitable and resilient economy than what we had going into COVID-19,” he said.

The Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Association worked with lawmakers to ease the virus’ impact on the hospitality industry. It supported a bill passed in July that let restaurants sell liquor to-go with limited customer contact.

The legislation also permits cities to establish social districts for people to dine and drink from open containers outside.

East Lansing blocked off a portion of Albert Street, home to many restaurants, and set up picnic tables for sitting and dining or drinking.

“Closing Albert and having the social zone so close to us was an additional revenue stream that we’ve never had before,” said Bryan Ponke, the general manager at HopCat’s East Lansing location. “Even though our restaurant occupancy was limited and our sales were negatively impacted by COVID-19, we saw an outstanding spike in takeout sales.”

HopCat used the garage doors on the side of its building as its takeout window. Guests could order and pick up their drinks and food from the safety of the sidewalk. According to Ponke, the social district definitely helped business.

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Saturday, October 24, 2020 | Page 7A

Carson City moves forward with police academy program CARSON CITY — The Carson City Police Department in January will launch a pilot program with hopes of gaining a future officer on their force.

Mayor Tom McCrackin presented to the City Council an agreement between the city and an interested candidate for the police academy sponsorship program.

The candidate, a local woman, has signed the agreement. The council will vote at their next meeting to accept the contract as well.

“Now we just hope for the best,” McCrackin said.

Due to the council meeting being held indoors in the council chambers for the first time since March, and limited capacity allowed, city administrator Jean Southward requested the department heads not attend.

Police Chief Tony Keller explained at last month’s meeting that the sponsorship would cover the recruit’s cost at the police academy, and pay a small wage while completing the schooling. The recruit’s obligation would be to serve a minimum of three years as a Carson City officer.

“We’d pay for them to go to school.

We’d pay them a wage while they are there, then in return, they would be employed here as a full-time officer,” said

CM school board hears update on district’s Extended Learning Plan

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IN OTHER MATTERS …

The Central Montcalm Public School Board of Education: • hired Steve Wilson as a part-time paraprofessional; • hired Alicia Kelley as a probationary teacher; • hired Liz Adams as the Freshmen Class Adviser; • hired Shannon Doolittle as a part-time paraprofessional; • hired Nikota Howe as a Girls’ JV softball coach; • approved a request from Leah McCarthy for unpaid time off due to a medical procedure; • approved May 16, 2021, as commencement for the Class of 2021.

left after one year, they would have a $10,000 obligation. If they left after two years, they would have a $5,000 obligation to the city.

“It is really hard to get someone who sticks around. They get their training, come here to get their feet wet, then move on. We would have the officer for three years, with the hopes that they might stay awhile longer,” said Keller.

McCrackin said often when recruits are hired for the department, they stay only a short time to have the training, then move on to a bigger department.

“She’s ready to go in January, and could be on our force by summer,” he said. “Hopefully, she’ll stick around.”

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STANTON — The Central Montcalm school board heard an update on the district’s Extended Learning Plan at its regular monthly meeting this week.

The schooling option, titled “Hornets from Home,” is a 100 percent virtual offered during the pandemic to kindergarten through high school seniors. “‘Hornets from Home’ has the same Michigan standards as in-person learning,” said superintendent Amy Meinhardt, explaining having the plan helps to list goals, and assess how those goals are being met.

Course requirements for the elementary (grades K-5) students are English language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, physical education or health and art.

Students in grades 6-8 coursework are English language arts, mathematics (algebra I for select eighth-grade students, Amy science, social studies (geography, world Meinhardt history, U.S. history), and two of the following electives: introduction to art, introduction to communications and speech, lifetime fitness (PE), literacy and comprehension (reading skills), Spanish 1 or online learning and digital citizenship.

High School students must attain credits in English language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, world language, physical education/health, visual/performing/applied arts (art, music, technology) and electives.

In-person participation is above 96 percent of the student body, while virtual participation is in the 60 percent range.

“Are the mentors reaching out to the students?” trustee Jim Lingeman asked.

“The biggest drawback area is that the teens are required to have two-way communication,” Meinhardt said. “It is up to the student to do their part, and they should respond to their mentors, but …

“They are doing the work, they are just not communicating like they should,” she said.

The district will continue to offer the virtual program for learning for the second semester. It is different from the mandatory school closure distance learning program offered in spring of 2020.

Keller, who served four years in the department before being promoted to chief this summer. “It would be a very good opportunity for them and for us.”

“The candidate could start at Lansing Community College in January, and go to school through May,” McCrackin said.

“While there, we’d cover their costs, and then on July 1, when we start a new fiscal year, we’d bring them on the force. The difficult part will be finding that candidate.”

The council, in November, will approve exactly what stipend they could pay while the recruit is in training.

Keller explained that the three years would be valued at $15,000. If the officer

273377

LORI HANSEN | correspondent

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DAILY NEWS

Page 8A | Saturday, October 24, 2020

HEALTH Sheridan Community Hospital increases local services Submitted by Sheridan Community Hospital

At times, medical care cannot wait.

Sheridan Community Hospital focuses on satisfying community needs by increasing local healthcare services at the hospital.

The hospital serves Montcalm County and the surrounding communities by providing 24 hours a day, seven days a week access to care in departments such as the emergency department, walk-in clinic, diagnostic imaging and laboratory.

The Emergency Department is staffed and equipped to provide emergency care with a physician on duty at all times. All professional emergency department staff members are ACLS and PALS certified with advanced training in trauma care. Emergency radio communications are established with Montcalm County Ambulance and EMS personnel, as well as available arrangements for emergency transport by helicopter to other medical facilities for tertiary care. Ancillary service support, such as laboratory services, CT scanning and x-rays, are available at all times.

Although many people think that the emergency room is their only option because it is open 24 hours, the WalkIn Clinic offers a more affordable and convenient option for patients who need immediate care for non-life-threatening conditions. Along with being open all hours, the Walk-In Clinic accepts most insurance providers, including Medicaid and Medicare.

The Diagnostic Imaging Department provides diagnostic radiographic examinations, as well as high-resolution real-time ultrasound examinations, digital mammograms, CT scanning (80-Slice), and bone density testing. The department is staffed with qualified technologists with a board-certified radiologist on-site five days a week, for coverage 24 hours, seven days a week through the department’s teleradiology service.

The Laboratory is a fully accredited facility that provides the highest quality of testing available. The laboratory accepts outpatient draws at all hours with the intention of serving the hospital’s client base at their convenience. All laboratory testing is conducted by medical technologists/technicians fully degreed in the art of clinical sample analysis.

The laboratory capabilities include testing in the areas of general chemistry, immunochemistry, urinalysis, hematology, hemostasis, and blood banking.

For coronavirus concerns, Sheridan Community Hospital offers COVID-19 testing, available 24 hours, seven days a week, through a drive-thru set up at the Emergency Department entrance.

An outpatient order from a doctor is required. Individuals should contact their primary care provider to determine if testing is necessary or indicated and to obtain an order. If individuals are symptomatic, they can be evaluated at the SCH Walk-In Clinic/Emergency Department at any time and screening can be ordered at that time. This can also be used for travel requirements.

Sheridan Community Hospital is essential in taking care of its community and the surrounding areas. The hospital urges the community to stay safe and healthy by continuing to follow preventive measures of washing your hands, wearing a mask over your nose and mouth while out in public, and social distancing. We are all in this together and we will get through this.

Months after COVID diagnosis, 1 in 4 studied have yet to recover ROBIN ERB | Bridge Michigan

Months after being infected by COVID-19, 1 in 4 Michiganders surveyed reported they had not fully recovered.

Rather, COVID survivors report facing lingering illness, heightened anxiety, and economic uncertainty, according to a joint study led by the University of Michigan and made public Wednesday.

“We knew that the pandemic has caused a lot of stress and harms the mental health but just seeing the extent of it has been really striking,” said Nancy Fleischer, lead investigator and a professor at U-M’s School of Public Health.

She called COVID “a devastating illness in terms of the physical, social and economic impact.”

“Many people have been experiencing very frequent symptoms of depression and anxiety,” she told Bridge Michigan.

The Michigan COVID-19 Recovery Surveillance Study (MI CReSS) will document Michiganders’ experiences over time. It is being conducted with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, and the first findings were released Wednesday.

Researchers said the data can be used to “make informed decisions about how to best support Michiganders during the ongoing pandemic.” They encouraged the state to remain “vigilant” in social distancing, handwashing and other safety protocols, but neither the report nor Fleischer discussed other policy implications.

“It is critical that we, as a society, recognize that COVID-19 has effects beyond the acute phase, and that we really need to do everything we can … to reduce transmission so that we don’t have this increasing number of people with these long term health effects,” she said.

Doctors have begun to learn more about the lingering effects among socalled “long-haulers,” but much of the research has focused on patients who had been hospitalized. In contrast, the Michigan survey sought out a broader cross-section of infected people. Just 1 in 3 were ever hospitalized, although 65 percent described their symptoms during their initial infection as “severe” or “very severe.” Others said they were “moderate” or “mild.”

In telephone and online surveys of 638 Michiganders who were sick before April 15, researchers found the following: • Among the 1 in 4 (26 percent) who said they had not fully recovered from COVID-19, half reported suffering from fatigue; 44 percent from shortness of breath and 18 percent from altered taste and/or smell.

• More than half (53 percent) of all respondents reported ‘worsened” stress levels and mental health.

• Among those who fully recovered, recovery times varied, ranging from less than one week to 18 weeks.

• Nearly 1 in 5 families struggled to pay bills, and 1 in 10 had difficulties getting enough nutritious food. A majority (60 percent) said they or their families experienced reduced employment hours or job loss.

Participants were selected from the Michigan Disease Surveillance System, which tracks confirmed cases of COVID-19. The average age was 52.

Their recollections underscored the chaotic first few weeks of the pandemic, when hospitals were overwhelmed, testing was limited, confusion reigned over symptoms and treatment.

• Nearly 3 in 5 respondents made several attempts before they were finally tested. At least one person made as many as 10 attempts.

• Nearly 1 of 4 respondents waited

“I thought it’d be better by now, but now, I don’t see it ever getting better,” Jeff Curtis said, six months after he left the hospital following a COVID infection. — Bridge photo | Dale Young more than a week to seek care, 8 percent said they were turned away.

• Among those who thought they knew the source of coronavirus exposure, half believed they were exposed at work, while a quarter thought they were exposed by a family member Nobody has to explain the infection’s physical toll to Jeff Curtis.

A former owner of an asphalt company, the 66-year-old Osseo man spent his life around heavy equipment. He loves tinkering on motorcycles and cars in the pole barn of his southeast Michigan home and camping in his fifth-wheel.

But now, six months after being wheeled out of Hillsdale Hospital after being on a ventilator for three days — celebratory moments caught on video — he’s 50 pounds thinner, his hair is falling out in clumps, and he’s gassed after 20 minutes of even the mildest of work.

Curtis, who was not part of the U-M study, welded a step on his Ford F-250 so he could climb inside.

“My legs won’t hold me, my arms won’t hold me,” he said.

A retiree, he liked picking up odd jobs and a bit of cash working on cars. He worries about another bout of COVID. “I damned near didn’t make it the

first time, I don’t know if I could survive another round,” he said. “I don’t have the air capacity anymore.”

Most striking for Fleischer, the researcher, is COVID’s toll on mental health.

In interviews, some survey participants cut interviews short because they became distraught, said Patricia McKane, director of the state health department’s Life Course Epidemiology and Genomics division.

“Other times, people were upset and wanted to continue because they wanted so badly for their information to be helpful for other people,” she said.

More than 2 in 5 people interviewed (43 percent) reported that others acted “scared of them” because of their diagnosis and nearly one in five reported being embarrassed or afraid to disclose their diagnosis, researchers said.

Researchers are analyzing the data to see if COVID’S impact varied based on such factors as income, age, race, ethnicity or socioeconomic status.

They’ve also begun interviewing a second group of participants: those who were sickened between April 15 and May 31.

The study is funded, in part, by U-M’s Institute for Data Science, School of Public Health, and MDHHS.

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Saturday, October 24, 2020 | Page 9A

CLASSIFIEDS

SHARE, SELL AND BUY LOCAL To place your classified ad, call (616) 754-9301 or email classifieds@thedailynews.cc

SERVICES WE OFFER:

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Announcements

Card of Thanks

Bud and Louise Williams would like to thank those who sent

The family of Carole Merithew would like to say Thank You for the cards, flowers, love & support during the journey & transition of our Mom.

75th wedding anniversary!

Finally, a heartfelt Thank You to Simpson Family Funeral Homes & the South Sidney Church for helping us give Mom the perfect tribute to her life & legacy.

subscribe

As we navigate through these troubled times, please take a moment to reflect, remember & be thankful for the care & compassion that healthcare workers give to us and our loved ones each & everyday.

HUGE AUCTION

on your terms.

Tools * Row Boat * Lawn & Garden * Antiques/Collectibles * Furniture * Appliances

Lori Hull & Family Mark Merithew & Family Jill Ouellette & Family

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31 @ 10:00 AM

Brute 7000 Generator. Asking Coleman Powermate generator $400, CASH ONLY. 989-283- 10 HP, 6250 watts $325. Call 1254.

(616) 350-7423.

ESTATE AUCTION

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29 @ 3:00 PM 11331 14 MILE RD NE (M57), ROCKFORD, MI Antiques * Collectibles * Furniture * John boat * Tools Auction Location: Mootsies Marine & Sport Center Parking Lot. (Mootsies is still in business). Nothing from the business being sold. Bud & Betty retired to the Upper Peninsula. Their son has moved the articles to his place of business for the ease of the auction. Betty loved to collect miniature oil lamps, figurines and glassware.

Estate of Bud & Betty Kellogg

275284

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING MAPLE VALLEY TOWNSHIP, MONTCALM COUNTY PROPOSED ZONING ORDINANCE AMENDMENTS TO REGULATE WIND ENERGY FACILITIES The Maple Valley Township Planning Commission will conduct a public hearing at 6 p.m. on November 9, 2020, at the Maple Valley Township Hall, 4662 N. Bailey Rd, Coral, MI 49322, to consider and hear public comment concerning amendments to the Maple Valley Township Zoning Ordinance that would regulate the development and use of Wind Energy Facilities within the Township, including amendments to Section 408 and creation of a new Section 733. A copy of the proposed Zoning Ordinance amendments is available for inspection at the office of the Township Clerk, 4662 N. Bailey Rd, Coral, MI 49322, and also will be available for inspection at the public hearing. Written comments will be received by the Township at the Township Hall prior to the public hearing or at the public hearing. Oral comments may also be made at the public hearing.

Maple Valley Township will provide auxiliary aids or services to individuals with disabilities. Persons needing such services should contact the office of the township clerk by writing or calling the clerk not less than four (4) days before the public hearing.

Shirley Sanders, Township Clerk 231-354-6496

BRIEF LIST: 12 ft Alum row Boat; Outboard motor; Craftsman LT2000 Riding Lawn Mower; Dump Cart; Chipper/Shredder; 2500 pressure washer; (2) Toro snow blowers; Live traps; (3) Weed Whips; Kennedy Rolling Tool chest; Work Benches; 7 ft Tall Wooden storage Cabinet; (2) Rolling Peg Boards; Metal Machinist tool Box; Oliver Jointer; Harwi Industrial Table Saw; Delta Compound Saw; Atlas Table Saw; Shop Smith; Manual Hand Forklift Stacker; Klondike Sled; Generac 5500 Generator; (2) Craftsman Bench Grinders; 16 in Scroll Saw; Hand Tools; Shop Vacs; Laser Level; Lots of Nails, Screws & Hardwares; Spray gun Washer; Antiques: Metal Ice Chest; Walking Cultivator; Snow sled; (20) wooden Boxes; Cobblers Bench; Pitcher Pump; Schwinn bicycle; Child’s Bicycle; Buck Saw; Whipple Trees; Vintage Woodworking Tools (Hand Planes, Saws, Clamps); Copper Boiler; Copper Pan; Dietz Rail Road Lantern; C.I. Mailbox; Child’s Bed Frame; Painted Trunk; (2) Sets of Flatware; Rayo Lamp; Barn Lantern; Oil Lmaps; Sheffield, England WW II 18 in Machete; American Legion & Other Military clothing; Lunch Pail & Thermos; Ken & Barbie dolls; Milk Can; Sugar Bucket; HOUSEHOLD: Upright Freezer; Chest Freezer; Under counter Fridge; Stainless LP Grill; Ping golf clubs; Edmund Scientific Telescope; Vizio TV; (7) Stackable Footlockers; Picnic Tables; (6) Rolling Craft Bins; Wooden Stamp Blocks; Craft Items; Material; RotaTrim Cutter; Fabric Covers; (3) Fireproof Sentry Safes; Luggage; Canner; Blankets; Kitchen Goods; glasses, pots & pans; Canning Jars; Many 78 & 45 Records; Card Tables; Picture Frames; Braided Rugs; Infrared Heater; Sofa; Corner Hutch; Sweepers; Chairs; Dehumidifier; Portable Air Cooler; Photography Equipment; (2) Zero Gravity chairs; & More!

I want to buy a used guitar, musical equipment, and a motorhome. Cash. 616-585-1709 WANTED: White Pine trees, wood lot.

Arlin Ramer. 989-235-3020.

Red and Russet potatoes for sale, 50lb for $12. Pumpkins and winter squash available as well.

6085 W. Cannonsville Rd, Lakeview. 989-831-8304.

House For Rent GREEENVILLE West-Side: One bedroom house for rent. 1 parking space. No smoking, no pets. $650 per month. Deposit required. 616-894-3590.

Mobile Home Rental Crystal Area. Mobile home 16'x80'. 3 bedroom, 2 bath.

Single family residence. No pets. No smoking. Heat included. Paved road. $700/mo plus $700 deposit. Corner of Holland Lake and Crystal Road.

Call 989-235-6402

Campers Trailers

Camper for sale! 2009 Jayco For Sale Or Trade Feather lights. 19ft. 2 drop-down Leaf bagger. Fits Cub Cadet beds. Asking $6000. Call 616models LT1022, 1045, 1046, 232-2749.

GT1222. Very good condition.

Help Wanted $100. (989) 291-5516 Medical Assistant–Clinical/ClerFor Sale Miscellaneous ical experience, Part-time. NE Guns For Sale! Benelli-Super- Plainfield allergy clinic offers n o v a 1 2 g a u g e . $ 4 2 5 . work-life balance in a positive Winchester bolt-action 270. team setting. Email resume: 1AllergyJob@gmail.com or $500. Text 989-584-3445. fax 616-988-8512.

ZONING OFFICIAL POSITION FOR EUREKA CHARTER TOWNSHIP

(616) 754-9437 • www.merrittauctionservice.com

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BRIEF LIST: 14 ft. Fishing Boat on Trailer, no motor; Slick Skin Fish Scaler; Boat Anchor; Fishing poles; Fishing Tackle; Portable Air Tank; Keller 6 ft step ladder; Dyna charge 12v Charger/ Starter; (3) LP Tanks; Precision Seeder; Toro Electric Blower; Hand Tools; Porter cable pancake compressor; Kubota A450 Engine Generator; Trailer Inserts; (2) floor Jacks; Singer Cabinet Sewing Machine; Viking Sewing Machine; Martha Washington Sewing Cabinet; Antique Marble Top End Table; Oak Knick knack shelf; Dr’s Scales; French Provisional Dresser & Chest; Armoire; California King Bed Frame; Oak dining table; (6) Oak dining chairs; Glass Top China Cabinet; Server; Curio Cabinets; Floral Uph. Sofa; Kitchen Dishes, Cups, Utensils, & small appliances; Towels; John Deere canister set; Figurines; Angels; Carnival glass; Miniature Oil Lamps; Mini Genie Oil Lamps; Ant. Dishes;(2)Stoneware Jugs; & More!

IMMEDIATE OPENING - DIESEL TRUCK MECHANIC WANTED. At Corrigan Oil in Greenville Mich. Day Shift. M-F. Full Benefits.

This is in a small shop environment where you will: diagnose, adjust, repair, or overhaul trucks, equipment, and all types of diesel engines. Full job description can be found at www.corriganoil.com or Indeed.

• 3+ years of position related experience preferred. • CDL A with Hazmat and Tanker endorsements preferred. • Able to pass drug screen and background check. Corrigan Oil is a family owned business offering long-term career opportunities and a culture where you will be treated with respect and proud to work within.

Corrigan Oil is an equal employment opportunity employer.

If interested & qualified, please submit application at: www.corriganoil.com. Send resumes to: apreston@corriganoil.com. Or call at: 810.494.2165.

ORDINANCE NO. 820 AMENDED October 13, 2020 PLEASE TAKE NOTE: That Ordinance No. 820 was amended by the Sheridan Village council at its meeting October 13, 2020. This amendment will be effective 30 days after publication.

Section 10, 4a. For direct connection, the connection fee shall be $1200 plus the cost of street, sidewalk and ground repair for each single-family residence.

Add Section 10, 4c. The rates to be charged for sewer service and connection fees outside the corporate limits of the Village shall be double those charged to users within the corporate limits.

ORDINANCE NO. 851 AMENDED October 13, 2020 PLEASE TAKE NOTE: That Ordinance No. 851 was amended by the Sheridan Village Council at its meeting October 13, 2020. This amendment will be effective 30 days after publication.

Section 5 A #3 The fee for connection or replacement of the water service shall be a minimum of $1200.

Dated October 24, 2020

AUCTION

FRED & LOU ANN SCHMIDT ESTATE

A copy of the job description is available at the Eureka Charter Township Hall between the hours of 9-1, M-F. A minimum of 20 hours per week is required, mostly at the Township Office, and salary is commensurate with experience. Please submit your resume by November 1, 2020, to Eureka Charter Township Supervisor, 9322 S. Greenville Road, Greenville, MI 48838, to be considered for the job.

Interviews will be scheduled for the first week of November, with the final hiring done at the Regular Board Meeting on November 9, 2020. Training with the present zoning official may begin immediately, with complete duties beginning January 1, 2021. Call Supervisor Rod Roy at 616-754-5053 with any questions.

TOWNSHIP OF OAKFIELD NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Oakfield Township Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, November 17, 2020 at 7:00 p.m. at the Township Office, 10300 - 14 Mile Road, Rockford, Michigan, to hear and consider the application of the Mark and Joy Hoskins Trust to rezone property from the R-R Rural Residential and Agricultural District to the C General Commercial District. The property proposed for rezoning is located at 10920 – 14 Mile Road, Rockford, Michigan, south of 14 Mile Road (M-57) approximately 1/4 of a mile West of Wabasis Avenue.

The proposed amending ordinance is on file and may be reviewed at the Township Office during regular business hours. All interested persons are invited to attend the public hearing. Written comments may be submitted to the Township Office at the address above prior to or during the public hearing.

Dated: October 24, 2020

PLANNING COMMISSION OF THE TOWNSHIP OF OAKFIELD

Seasonal Position Opening

2 AUCTION RINGS!

HAVING SOLD THEIR HOME, FRED AND LOU ANN SCHMIDT WILL BE SELLING THE FOLLOWING ITEMS AT PUBLIC AUCTION LOCATED AT 9730 E. PLEASANT VALLEY RD. SHEPHERD MI. 48883 DIRECTIONS: FROM SHEPHERD TRAVEL EAST ON BLANCHARD RD. 2 MILES TO WISE RD, GO SOUTH 1 MILE TO PLEASANT VALLEY, THEN WEST 1/4 MILE TO SALE SITE. WATCH FOR PIONEER AUCTION SIGNS!

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31ST @ 10AM Trailers, Scooter/ 3-Wheeler, Guns/ Sporting, Household/ Collectibles, Toys, Shop Tools and Lawn & Garden

FOR PHOTOS AND INFORMATION, PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE

275254

JASON CLARK - (989) 621-7194

NOTICE TO ALL CREDITORS:

The Harriet A. Lillie Living Trust The Settlor, Harriet A. Lillie, date - Possess and maintain a valid Michigan driverʼs license and a driv- of birth August 23, 1929, who lived at 11782 West Carson City ing record acceptable to Road, Greenville, MI 48838, died the Villageʼs insurance carrier.

September 26, 2020. There is no personal representative of the - Possession and maintenance of a CDL-B with air break endorse- settlor's estate to whom Letters ment. of Administration have been issued.

- Snowplow experience preferred.

Creditors of the decedent are notified that all claims against WORKING CONDITIONS AND PHYSICAL ABILITIES: The Harriet A. Lillie Living Trust u/a/d December 29, 2015, as Sitting, standing, walking on level and slippery surfaces, carrying, amended, will be forever banned climbing, lifting (minimum 75lbs.), pulling, pushing, reaching, twist- unless presented to Jacquelyn ing, turning, kneeling, bending, stooping, squatting, grasping for pro- Mourer, Trustee, within four longed periods of time. months after the date of publication.

May be required to work weekends, holidays, and evenings.

Notice is further given that the Trust will thereafter be assigned Must have ability to work indoors or outside in a variety of environ- and distributed to the persons mental extremes such as heat, entitled to it. cold, rain, snow, wind and dust.

Dated:10/21/2020 Must have ability to work independently as well as ability to work as Theresa K. Cottrell (P41888) part of a team.

6585 Belding Road, Suite C Rockford, MI 49341 (616)8660902

- High school diploma or equivalency is required.

PIONEER AUCTION SERVICE, LLC

Oakfield Township is accepting applications for a Zoning Administrator. Applications can be picked up at the Township Office Monday-Thursday 8AMNoon.

The Village of Howard City Department of Public Works is looking for an enthusiastic, self-motivated, hard-working person to become part of our team. If this is you, please send your resume to PO Box, 510, 125 E. Shaw St., Howard City, MI 49329, no later than Novem- The Village of Sheridan is taking applications for part-time comber 13, 2020, at 11:00 am. munity center manager. For more information visit villageofGENERAL DUTIES: sheridan.com or the Sheridan Village Office at 115 East EverA variety of manual labor, maintenance and construction-related green St. Call 989-291-3485, tasks related to the operations of the public works department, in- ext. 204. Application closing on cluding but not limited to all public facilities, water and wastewater October 30th. treatment plant and systems, water distribution, wastewater collection systems, storm drainage, streets and parks.

Legals EDUCATIONAL, LICENSURE & KNOWLEDGE REQUIREMENTS:

AUCTIONEERS NOTE: THIS WILL BE A NICE FALL AUCTION YOU’LL ENJOY, SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE! IT’S HALLOWEEN SO BRING THE KIDS FOR CANDY AND PRIZES. FREE COFFEE AND DONUTS AS SUPPLIES LAST.

For more pics and info visit us on www.pioneerauctionservice.com

Eureka Charter Township has an opening for a Zoning, Planning, and Regulatory Ordinance Administrator for Eureka Charter Township. Duties include management of the provisions of the Eureka Charter Townshipʼs Regulatory and Zoning Ordinances, Code Enforcement, and to provide leadership advisement to the Eureka Charter Township Board and Township Planning Commission. Minimum qualifications for the job include two years of experience working in the field of regulatory or code enforcement at a Township, City, County, State, or Federal level. Training will be provided if necessary.

Kathy Sanders, Village Clerk

Publication Date: October 24th, 2020

NO BUYERS PREMIUM!

Wanted To Buy

Auction Location: At the home of Tim & Karolee Tobey.

Estate articles from Greenville, Grand Rapids, Stanton and a woodworker from Shelbyville. 3 auctioneers selling.

3 Tents are full! 10% Buyers Premium.

Bargain Box

A-1 Lawncare and Snowplowing, Residential and Commercial is now accepting regular clients or as needed. Mowing, trimming, and fall clean ups. Call A-1 Lawncare and Snowplowing Greenville. (616) 754-7762.

Bud's Auto Parts. Used cars and parts for sale. We buy junk cars. Gowen. 616-754-0111

7131 COUNTY FARM ROAD, GREENVILLE, MI

275295

Farm Produce

Lawn & Garden

754-9301 • thedailynews.cc

Thank you all.

(616) 754-9437 • www.merrittauctionservice.com

Home Improvement

For Sale: Lowe 14Ft Aluminum boat & Karavan Trailor. Covor & Motor. Hunting/Winter Suit, StrikerIce, 3XL, Red&Grey, New, Never Worn. Leave a message at 231-856-7811.

Roofing, Shingles, Metal, Rubber, Vinyl siding, Window replacement. Seamless Gutter, Pet Breeding Services with covers. Licensed and In275388 Looking for stud service! AKC sured. 616-754-3878 German Shepard. 5yrs old. Very good temperament and guard Bargain Box Bargain Box Professional Services dog. Not breeders, only time Log Splitter, 6HP, 20 ton $450. Navy Blue 3-cushion couch, new Above and Beyond Tree Ser- breeding. Get your first choice of condition. $225. Navy Blue Swiv- vice | Licensed and insured with puppies for payment!

Call (616) 350-7423. el Rocker Recliner w/oak trim. free estimates text or call 616- G r e e n v i l l e a r e a . E m a i l $125. Call and leave message 232-0542. dgfegley55@gmail.com.

616-754-5386.

Thank you to the entire staff at Woodland Hospice House, Mt. Pleasant. Everyone there, on every shift, of every day, treated Mom with dignity & respect & for that we will be forever grateful.

Bargain Box

Farm Folks Furniture Sales!

3239 Miner Rd. Crystal. Open Fri-Sat, 9am-6pm EVERY WEEKEND UNTIL WINTER. Baked goods moved from Crystal Market to here! Lots of used furniture, clothes, books and more added weekly.

cards and kind wishes for their

Thank you to the ICU Staff at MidMichigan Medical Center – Gratiot for your care & concern. Thank you to Sister Mary Gretchen & The Sisters of Mercy for their prayers & presence not only for Mom, but for all of us.

For Sale Miscellaneous Firewood - semi loads, 10(ten) cords delivered. All hardwood.

231-846-0346. Call anytime.

Please clip this ad for a fellow woodburner. Immediate delivery on 10 cord loads.

tion.

Notice is further given that the Trust will thereafter be assigned and distributed to the persons entitled to it.

Page 10A | Saturday, October 24, 2020

Dated:10/21/2020

Legals

Theresa K. Cottrell (P41888) 6585 Belding Road, Suite C Rockford, MI 49341 (616)8660902 Jacquelyn Mourer, Trustee clo 6585 Belding Road, Suite C Rockford, MI 49341 (616)8660902 published 10/24

following locations in Ionia County: Belding Police Department, 120 Pleasant St., Ionia county Sheriff’s Office, 133 E. Adams St., Lake Odessa Police Department, 839 4th Ave., Portland Police Department, 773 E. Grand River Ave. These sites cannot accept liquids, needles or sharps.

This service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.

STATE OF MICHIGAN 8TH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT FAMILY DIVISION MONTCALM COUNTY

OCT. 24 EDMORE HARVEST FESTIVAL Come to the Edmore Harvest Festival from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Mac’s Farm Market, 6738 PUBLICATION OF HEARING N. Academy Road. There will be CASE NO. 2019-0920NA PETITION NO. 1 vendors showcasing their talent, a rolling smokehouse food truck TO: Samantha Davis and kids can go trunk-or-treating IN THE MATTER OF: Shawn between noon and 5 p.m.and then paint a Mac’s Market pumpkin. There Richard Himebaugh Jr. also will be cider and donuts for the A hearing regarding your parent- entire family. al rights will be conducted by the

court on November, 24th 2020 at 1:30 p.m. in Family Division of 8th Circuit Court, 625 N State Street, Stanton, MI 48888 before Hon. Charles W. Simon III.

OCT. 27 PIERSON SEN. OUTMAN OFFICE HOURS State Sen. Rick Outman will host office house from 10 to 11 a.m. at Pierson Township IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED Hall, 21156 W. Cannonsville Road.

that Samantha Davis personally appear before the court at the time and place stated above.

OCT. 27 STANTON FALL STORY HOUR White Pine District Library This hearing may result in the hosts its Fall Story Hour on its termination of your parental Facebook page for children ages 3 rights. and older. Enjoy stories, skits, songs, crafts and maybe learn something new. published 10/24

AREA LOCALS OCT. 24 GREENVILLE MEDICATION DROP-OFF The Montcalm Prevention Collaborative is hosting a medication drop-off from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the former Jorgensen’s parking lot located at 1325 W. Washington St. Those with unwanted, unneeded or expired prescriptions and over-the-counter medications are encouraged to take advantage of this free, no-questions-asked service. Loose pills and bottles containing liquids should be placed in a Ziploc bag. Sharps will not be accepted at this event.

OCT. 24 IONIA COUNTY DRUG TAKE BACK Drug Take Back Day will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the

OCT. 27 GREENVILLE PRESCHOOL STORY TIME Join Miss Tiffany for a live, interactive storytime via Zoom at 10 a.m. Help your preschooler, ages 3 to 6, get ready to read with fun and engaging stories, songs, rhymes and activities. Each week will center on a letter of the alphabet. Register online to receive a Zoom invite with the Flat River Community Library.

OCT. 28 GREENVILLE MINI MOVERS Join Miss Tiffany for a live, interactive storytime at 10 a.m. via Zoom. Mini Movers is a beginning storytime made especially for babies and toddlers 2 years old and younger and includes a story, songs and rhymes. Register online to receive a Zoom invite with the Flat River Community Library.

BENEFIT FUNDRAISER FOR HAVE MERCY MEN’S SHELTER & RECOVERY HOUSE

SAT 10/24 Parking Lot Preview/Walk Thru 9am-4pm SUN 10/25 9am-3pm IF EITHER DATE IS RAINED OUT: MON 10/26 - 9am-1pm

• • • • • • •

Clothing Collectables Electronics Hand Tools Silver Bullion Cookies Household Items • & More!

1015 E. WASHINGTON, GREENVILLE East side of town, on M-57 across from Sparrow.

QUESTIONS? CALL JORDAN @ 989-331-1866

275242

OCT. 28 IONIA BLOOD DRIVE The American Red Cross will have a blood drive from 11 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. at Ionia Moose Lodge, 869 E. Lincoln. To schedule an appointment, call (800) 733-2767, visit www.redcrossblood. org or download the Red Cross Blood Donor app.

OCT. 29 SIDNEY BLOOD DRIVE The American Red Cross will have a blood drive from 10:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. at Montcalm Community College Student Activities Building, 2800 College Drive. To schedule an appointment, call (800) 733-2767, visit www.redcrossblood.org or download the Red Cross Blood Donor app.

OCT. 30 STANTON BLOOD DRIVE The American Red Cross will have a blood drive from 12:30 to 4:45 p.m. at First Baptist Church, 134 N. Lincoln. To schedule an appointment, call (800) 733-2767, visit www. redcrossblood.org or download the Red Cross Blood Donor app.

NOV. 2 LAKEVIEW LOST & FOUND GHOST TOWNS OF MONTCALM COUNTY Dana Kenneth Johnson will present “Lost & Found Ghost Towns of Montcalm County” at 6 p.m. at the Tamarack District Library. This presentation explores more than 50 ghost towns and forgotten sites in Montcalm County. The session is free and open to the public, but registration is required as seating is limited to 12 attendees. Call the library at (989) 352-6274, to reserve a spot.

NOV. 3 MUIR BLOOD DRIVE The American Red Cross will have a blood drive from 12:30 to 6:15 p.m. at Lyons Muir Church, 1074 Olmstead Road. To schedule an appointment, call (800) 733-2767, visit www. redcrossblood.org or download the Red Cross Blood Donor app.

FENWICK FUNDRAISING The adult with disabilities are planning a summer weekend getaway for 2021 and they are seeking donations of returnables, cell phones and all proceeds will pay for this outing.

Please contact Deb Thornton at (989) 248-3566.

MICHIGAN BLOOD DONATIONS NEEDED There is a great need for blood donations, especially O-negative blood throughout the state. To schedule an appointment to donate blood, contact Versiti Blood at (866) 642-5663 or visit www.versiti.org/ Michigan.

WEDNESDAYS CARSON CITY TEEN CENTER The Carson City Teen Center is open from 3 to 5 p.m., next to Main Street Pizza.

GRAND RAPIDS FOSTER PARENT VIRTUAL MEETING Bethany Christian Services is seeking people to become refugee foster parents.

Through informational virtual meetings, participants will learn more about refugee foster care, the specific needs of refugee youth and

Dear Fellow Readers, Just when I think the president can’t do anything more bizarre, he proves me wrong. He created an ad quoting Dr. Fauci saying what a great job he was doing. The quote was taken out of context and he refused to take it down even when specifically asked by Dr. Fauci. When Dr. Fauci called the White House event a super spreader, suddenly Dr. Fauci became “one of the ‘idiots’ leading the corona virus response.” He wants it both ways and he looks like the idiot when he tries. He famously (infamously?) said, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK?” He has not to my knowledge shot anyone on Fifth Avenue but he has surely caused the deaths of many Americans with his handling of the COVID-19 epidemic. He has run an ad that shows Joe Biden saying, “I will raise taxes,” implying they will be raised on everybody. The real quote I’m sure goes something like “I will raise taxes on the billionaire friends…” or “I will raise taxes on those who make over $400,000 per year.” One of the advantages of not worrying about telling the truth is that you can say anything you want.

The most important thing to know about the president is that he is not a Republican or a Democrat. He is a Trumpeter blowing his own horn to make himself look good and further his own agenda. He doesn’t care about anyone else (except maybe family). He is trying to get rid of Obamacare only because in the last election, President Obama called him “woefully under prepared” and “unfit to serve as president.” Repealing Obamacare and having no replacement first is like demolishing your house without a replacement and saying, “Oh where am I going to sleep tonight?” That is NOT a plan and the president has had almost four years to come up with one. The proper way to do this is replace and then repeal. There is a “first rule” about wing walking on an airplane. “Never leave holt of what you got unless you’ve got holt of something else.” Very sound advice in most things, but a concept that seems to have escaped the president and the Republicans.

In our state elections here in Michigan, John James and his surrogates accuse Senator Peters of collecting a government pension while working in the Senate. He does indeed do that. He was in the Navy Reserves for 20 years and they claim he collected $250,000. That’s $12,500 per year over that time. It used to be that people and Republicans specifically supported our military, but not in this case. John James touts his military service, but seems to look down on Senator Peters’ service. Again, like the president, James and cohorts favor ignoring the wing walking rule when it comes to health care. They attack Senator Peters for using his employer supplied health care just because his job is working in Congress. Believe me, John James will be using the same insurance if he ever gets there.

In my other national election, Peter Meijer and his supporters attack Hillary Scholten for working for the Justice department, which seems to be a respectable job (Bill Barr seems to like it). They also are in the camp of repealing without replacing Obamacare. (See wing walking rule above.)

In all of these cases, the Republicans seem to be attacking the Democrats for being decent hardworking citizens while trying to do favors for big business and dumping on regular citizens.

Paid for by: Cliff Bedore, 9455 River Road, Greenville, MI 48838

275384

how to provide for those children.

For more information and registration details, contact Claire Hopkins at (616) 256-2293 or chopkins@ bethany.org. Also visit www.Bethany.org/GrandRapids/Events.

JUNE FENWICK SEEKING DONATIONS The Adults with Disabilities group is seeking donations for a fundraising yard sale that will be held in June. Recyclable cans and bottles, along with gently-used clothing will be accepted. Drop-off locatons are located at 1210 Chase St. Apr. 1 in Greenville; 8297 S. Carlson Road in Fenwick and 508 Hayes Dr. in Alma. Funds will be used to pay for activities and outings for the group. To make a donation or to ask questions, contact Deb Thornton at (989) 248-3566.

IONIA ACCEPTING DONATIONS Ionia County government and Sparrow Health are accepting donations and asking all local people who sew to make and donate face masks to help fight the coronavirus pandemic.

The donated masks would be distributed upon request to community partners who work with high-risk, vulnerable populations such as first responders, hospitals, shelters, long-term care facilities and other front-line staff. Face masks pattern is courtesy of Phoebe Putney Health Systems and donation drop-off sites will be at the Sparrow Orthopedic/ Rehabilitation location, 537 W. Main St. They will be accepting donations from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.

MONDAYS GREENVILLE WAN HAT RACK The HatRack is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and offers free hats, scarves, wigs and hairpieces to anyone who has air loss due to cancer or other diseases. They are located at 124 W. Grove St. (in the Habitat for Humanity building).

Volunteers are needed for 3-hour shifts on a rotating basis. For more information, call (616) 824-2003 or email wanmontcalm@gmail.com.

TUESDAYS AND WEDNESDAYS HUBBARDSTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY The Hubbardston Area Historical Society display room is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Community Center. Lunch is served at 12:30 p.m. Tuesdays following a prayer service at St. John the Baptist Church. The HAHS will be open by appointment only in the months of January and February by calling (989) 981-6717.

GREENVILLE MONDAYS ADDING MEMBERS The Adult with Disabilities is seeking new bowlers for its league at 6 p.m. Mondays at Jacket Lanes. For more information, contact Deb at (989) 248-3566.

IONIA IMMUNIZATION CLINIC The Ionia County Health Department immunization clinics are currently by appointment only. To schedule an appointment, call (616) 527-5341.

BELDING CALS STORE HOURS Community Activity Learning Services is a thrift store located in the bottom of the Belding United Methodist Church open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and the first Saturday of every month.

All items are donated and the store is run by volunteers. The store helps adult special needs people to gain work and social skills. Volunteers help place workers in outside jobs or remain at the store.

THURSDAYS SAND LAKE SQUARE DANCING Rick Eyer and musicians provide live music for square and round dances at 6 p.m. every Thursday at the VFW Hall in Sand Lake.

Each evening begins with a potluck at 6 p.m. and dancing at 6:30 p.m.

Cost is $6 per person.

GREENVILLE YOUNG AT HEART EXERCISE CLASS There is a “Young At Heart” exercise class of low impact cardio and yoga from 10 to 11 a.m. Tuesdays at First United Methodist Church. This program is great for Parkinson’s patients and anyone looking to improve balance and strength. Each class costs $3 and participants should bring a floor mat and a pair of light weights. For more information, contact Becki Hansen at (574) 286-4250.

GREENVILLE FLAT RIVER CONSERVATION CLUB The Flat River Conservation Club is seeking potential members. The Flat River Conservation Club offers a variety of classes and events and rental space.

For more information, call (616) 754-9855.

GREENVILLE SEEKING VOLUNTEERS AND MEMBERS Montcalm Alano Club is a non-profit organization looking for volunteers and new

members. The group hosts AA and NA meetings on a daily basis as well as putting on social functions and fundraisers. There is no need to be a member to volunteer or perform community service approved by the court system. The group could use people to meet and greet walk-ins and to perform cleaning and office work. For more information, call (616) 232-2002.

MONTCALM COUNTY OLD BLANKETS NEEDED Donations are being sought of clean old blankets, including electric blankets, comforters, sleeping bags and towels. The items can even be frayed with holes. They will be used to make kennel pads for cat/dog rescue organizations. Contact Ralph Bain at (616) 754-5253 or ralph_bain@hotmail.com.

FENWICK FUNDRAISER Returnables will be accepted by the Adults with Disabilities group to help fund activities for the group, including state bowling in March. Returnables can be donated to Deb and she can be reached at (616) 255-7543.

WEDNESDAYS GREENVILLE LINE DANCING Let’s have a night out and have some fun line dancing at 5 p.m. at the Greenville Moose Lodge every Wednesday. 5 to 6 p.m. is for beginners, 6 to 7 p.m. intermediate and 7 to 8 p.m. is advanced. Cost is $5 for the night. For more information call Dorothy at (616) 984-2905.

GREENVILLE TAEKWONDO Taekwondo teaches the art of self-defense, confidence, concentration, self-control and balance. Try the first class for free. Classes for all ages and meet Monday, Wednesday and Thursday evening at the Greenville Area Community Center. Cost is $15 per month for Greenville residents and $22 per month for non-residents. The registration deadline is the first of every month. Call (616) 754-9163 to register.

FENWICK ADULT WITH DISABILITIES The Adults with Disabilities is open to any adult 18 or older with a disability. The group is currently seeking new members and accepts tax deductible donations to help fund social events for members.

Donations can be monetary or used ink jet cartridges, cell phones, digital cameras, returnables, can tabs for dialysis and gently used shoes. For more information, contact Deb at (989) 248-3566.

FRIDAYS AND SATURDAYS GREENVILLE CAT AND KITTEN ADOPTIONS CORe (Community Outreach Rescue) hosts cat and kitten adoptions every Friday from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. and from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. every Saturday at Bazaar Pets, 101 S. Lafayette St. GREENVILLE CALL FOR ARTISTS The Greenville Area Community Center is seeking local artists to display their artistic talents. Each month, the community center features a local artist as “Artist of the Month.” There is no cost. Individuals or groups who would like to be a featured artist should call the Greenville Area Community Center at (616) 754-9163.

CARSON CITY FOOD PANTRY DONATIONS Contributions to the food pantry in Carson City are always welcome, both monetary and nonperishable food items.

Current needs are spaghetti sauce, macaroni and cheese, canned meats, toilet paper. Monetary contributions may be mailed to Carson City Area Community Food Program, P.O. Box 166, Carson City, Mich. 48811. Those receiving food must be residents of the Carson City-Crystal Area Schools district and may come once a month for food.

SPENCER TOWNSHIP SMOKE DETECTOR INSTALLATION Spencer Township is starting a program in conjunction with the Red Cross to provide free installed alarms to residents of the township. Anyone who has questions or would like to schedule an appointment can contact Richelle Harkins at (616) 375-7238.

SIX LAKES GCOM BABY PANTRY The Great Commission Outreach Ministries (GCOM) Baby Pantry is open from 9 a.m. to noon every Saturday in the GCOM Building (old Six Lakes School), 107 Vesta St. It is open to parents of children age 3 and younger, who live in Belvidere and Cato townships and the townships to the west up to U.S. 131.

They can get diapers up to 3 years old, formula up to 1 year old and baby food free. Call Calene at (989) 330-0038 for more information.

STANTON SIGNED DETROIT TI-

GER BASEBALL FUNDRAISER The Stanton Veteran’s Park committee is selling autographed Rozema Detroit Tigers baseballs to raise funds for Veteran’s Park. They can be purchased by calling (989) 831-4440 or stopping by City Hall.

STANTON BABY PANTRY AT STANTON The Baby Pantry located at Trinity Evangelical Free Church, 400 N. Lincoln St., is open the first and third Tuesdays of the month from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 to 6 p.m. It is for families with children younger than the age of 4 who need assistance with diapers, formula, baby food, clothing and baby equipment. No appointment is necessary. Identification and proof of birth is required. Expectant mothers may use the pantry once before the baby is born for layette items. Call (989) 831-4657 or 831-5728 for information. The Baby Pantry also accepts donations of gently used clothing in sizes 0-5T and other baby items in good repair.

SIDNEY DISC GOLF COURSE A disc golf course is open and free to use at Montcalm Community College’s Sidney campus.. Course maps and score sheets are available at the Recreation Desk in the Activities Building at hole no. 1, located between the tennis course and College Drive. Discs are available to rent at the Recreation Desk for $2 each. For more information, visit www.montcalm.edu/nature-trails or email naturetrails@montcalm.edu or call MCC Biology Instructor Heather Wesp at (989) 328-1270.

VESTABURG EAST MONTCALM BABY PANTRY The East Montcalm Baby Pantry is looking for families willing to donate their children’s no longer used toys, books, baby equipment, furniture and clothing in sizes newborn to 7 to the baby pantry to help other families in the area. Receipts are available for tax purposes. The baby pantry is housed at Ferris Church of Christ and is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month. Call the church at (989) 268-5551 or East Montcalm Baby Pantry Coordinator Roxanne Russell at (989) 831-8817 for more information.

MONTCALM COUNTY LEGO DONATIONS Area residents are asked to donate any Legos they may have to their local libraries. Libraries are partnering with the Montcalm Area Intermediate School District to host Lego clubs in each school district in Montcalm County. The following libraries are accepting donations: Richland Township Library, Vestaburg; Tamarack District Library, Lakeview; Home Township Library, Edmore; White Pine District Library, Stanton; Carson City-Crystal Library; Spencer Township Branch of KDL; Flat River Community Library, Greenville; Timothy C. Hauenstein Reynolds Township Library, Howard City.

SIDNEY ENRICHMENT COURSE LISTINGS Montcalm Community College offers a variety of career development and personal enrichment courses. Visit www.montcalm.edu/ careerdevelopment for course details or to register online.

SIDNEY KENNETH J. LEHMAN NATURE TRAILS Montcalm Community College’s Kenneth J. Lehman Nature Trails are open to the public from dawn until dusk, 365 days a year. There is no charge to visit these beautiful trails winding through forests, grasslands and wetlands.

More than four miles of trails are marked with numbered trail posts and maps are available at most major trail heads. For more information, email naturetrails@montcalm.edu or call MCC Biology Instructor Heather Wesp (989) 328-1270.

WEDNESDAYS GREENVILLE FAMILY HISTORY CENTER The Greenville Family History Center is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. every Wednesday at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The center offers free access to Ancestry, Fold 3, Family Search and other premium sites. Appointments may be scheduled for other days and times. The church is located at 10700 W. Carson City Road (M-57), just east of Walmart. For more information call (616) 225-8210 or (616) 754-7731.

GREENVILLE CAN DRIVE Community Outreach Rescue (CORe) is accepting cans for its can drive during business hours at Bizarre Pets located at 101 S. Lafayette St. Cans can also be dropped off at 804 N. Cherry St. in Greenville All proceeds go towards the cat rescue. For more information, contact Mary at (616) 894-0871.

NEW ARRIVALS EMBER MAEVE Marietta Johnson and Richard Ely of Greenville are the parents of a girl, Ember Maeve, born Oct. 15, 2020, at Spectrum Health United Hospital.

EDEN LEDGER DEAL Faith and Dillon Deal of Greenville are the parents of a boy, Eden Ledger Deal, born Oct. 15, 2020, at Spectrum Health United Hospital.

FINN JAMES COX Nicole VanDeVelde and Steven Cox of Rockford are the parents of a boy, Finn

James Cox, born Oct. 18, 2020, at Spectrum Health United Hospital.

MABEL LORRAINE HOUSE Alexis McCleary and Joshua House of Carson City are the parents of a girl, Mable Lorraine House, born Oct. 13, 2020, at Spectrum Health United Hospital.

AUBREE WALTZ Zoey Hunter and Xavier Waltz of Sheridan are the parents of a girl, Aubree Waltz, born Oct. 12, 2020, at Spectrum Health United Hospital.

Saturday, October 24, 2020 | Page 11A

As evictions loom, Michigan areas to vote on affordable housing millages TED ROELOFS | Bridge Michigan Even before COVID-19, more than 1.5 million Michigan households were struggling to meet basic needs.

At the top of the list: rising rental costs that squeeze everyone from low- to middle-income wage earners, including many essential workers, to people on fixed incomes.

With economic volatility due to COVID-19 — and evictions a looming threat — Ann Arbor and Kalamazoo County residents will vote Nov. 3 on millage hikes that would expand affordable housing options.

The prospect of rental evictions in communities across Michigan was magnified Tuesday when President Trump abruptly halted coronavirus stimulus talks with Democrats until after the election. With federal $600-a-week unemployment checks having ended in July, Chicago-based consulting firm Stout estimated that more than 300,000 cash-strapped households in Michigan could be at eventual risk of eviction.

“It’s fairly certain there would be a huge spike in evictions if there isn’t going to be an extension of benefits of some sort,” Jim Schaafsma, an attorney for the Ypsilanti-based nonprofit Michigan Poverty Law Program, told Bridge Michigan.

Aubrey Patino of Avalon Housing, an Ann Arbor nonprofit housing network,” said a lack of affordable housing options also imperils workers performing critical tasks during the pandemic.

“This is an issue for health care workers, firefighters, delivery drivers; the people we now call essential workers who can’t afford their rent,” Patino said. “They are also people on fixed incomes, the disabled, people who have experienced homelessness.”

HIGHER RENTS IN ANN ARBOR, KALAMAZOO Ann Arbor is a tough market for working-class wage earners. A recent survey underscored the housing bind: The average August one-bedroom rental in Ann Arbor reached $1,448 a month, driven by ongoing housing demand tied to the University of Michigan.

That’s miles out of reach for thousands of residents.

A report from the Michigan Association of United Ways found that nearly half of about 47,000 Ann Arbor households in 2017 lived below the state “household budget survival” income level needed — about $61,000 a year for two adults with two young children — to

‘SURVIVAL’ BUDGET FOR MICHIGAN FAMILY OF FOUR Here’s how the Michigan Association of United Ways breaks down a monthly “survival” budget for Michigan households with two adults and two young children.

Housing Child care Food Transportation Health care Technology Miscellaneous Taxes Monthly total Annual total Hourly wage

$739 $1,122 $604 $693 $887 $75 $464 $522 $5,106 $61,272 $30.65

Source: Michigan Association of United Ways, 2017

Homeless at 19, Kalamazoo resident Erika Brown bought her own home last year: “I know what it is to have nothing.” — Submitted photo afford the basics of housing, food, child care, transportation and health care.

Ann Arbor resident Luke Jackson, who is currently bringing in no income, stands far below that threshold.

A full-time student at Eastern Michigan University and father of two, he shares a two-bedroom duplex with his children that costs about $1,100 a month — a bargain for Ann Arbor. For a while, he paid part of his rent from bartending wages and tips of about $200 a week.

That ended when COVID-19 shut down bars.

Now, he pays rent “entirely out of savings.”

With plans to graduate from EMU in December with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, Jackson expects to be better off once he finds a teaching job. But he worries about the grocery worker trying to pay rent on $11 an hour or the food server struggling because of COVID-19 restaurant restrictions.

“If these people are good enough to bag your groceries and serve you food, you should support them,” he said.

In July, Ann Arbor City Council voted to place a 20-year, 1-mill levy on the Nov. 3 ballot that’s projected to raise $160 million over the next two decades and support development of 1,500 affordable housing units. It would cost the owner of a home with a $250,000 market value $125 a year.

The revenue raised is to make housing affordable for low-income renters

paying more than 30 percent of their income for rent — the threshold for what housing advocates consider is affordable. Up to a fifth of the funding is reserved for supportive housing services such as counseling and skill-building programs for those making less than 30 percent of the area median income.

In Kalamazoo, one-bedroom apartments rent out for less than Ann Arbor, an average of $892 a month in August.

But that’s still 20 percent higher than the year before. And with nearly 4 in 10 Kalamazoo County households below that household income level cited by the United Way, that’s a cost many can’t afford as well.

County residents are being asked to approve a 0.75 millage for eight years that would raise about $50 million. If passed, it would cost the owner of a $250,000 home just under $94 a year. The revenue is projected to support development of approximately 500 affordable housing units over the next eight years.

“2020 has been hard for a lot of people,” said Stephanie Hoffman, co-chair of the Kalamazoo County millage campaign.

“Even before the pandemic hit, we were already dealing with a high homeless rate and housing insecurity. This crisis has been building for years.”

Campaign co-chair Chris Burns said the millage proposal is only a start.

He said the ballot proposal reflects the amount of new taxes backers believe

county voters will support — which is less than what his group believes is needed to cure the county’s affordable housing shortage.

“Experts in nonprofit housing say something like 3,000 affordable units, that’s what the shortage is. But we need to be doing something. This gets the ball rolling,” Burns said.

In Ann Arbor, advocates for the affordable housing tax proposal were unaware of any organized opposition. But there are doubters.

Though the city council unanimously voted to put the measure on the November ballot, council member Jack Eaton warned that it might be one of several tax requests to go before voters in coming years.

He compared it to “water torture,” and said it could price some residents out of Ann Arbor.

Stephen Lange Ranzini, president of University Bank in Ann Arbor, is another skeptic. He told Bridge the proposed millage could hurt homeowners barely able to afford their mortgage payments as it is.

“Is it really even ethical to take money away from workforce housing owners, making life harder for them? I have clients in our bank living on the edge in this pandemic cataclysm we are experiencing.”

Ranzini said he has one banking client who eats cat food at the end of month to save money so she can stay in her home.

“Do you make people like that pay for other people?”

But housing experts say the shortage

Continues on Page 12A

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Michigan areas to vote on affordable housing millages Continued from Page 11A of affordable units is an issue for communities across the state, including cities such as Detroit and Grand Rapids, and must be addressed somehow.

“It’s a problem created over time and it isn’t going to be solved overnight,” said Robert Goodspeed, a University of Michigan assistant professor of urban planning.

Goodspeed spearheaded research for a 2020 report that found Michigan’s overall eviction filing rate was 17 percent in 2018, or the equivalent of one eviction case for every six occupied rental units.

Genesee County topped the state’s 83 counties with an eviction filing rate of 26 percent, and many of the state’s top counties in southeast Michigan.

The Wayne County city of Romulus topped cities of 20,000 or more people with an eviction filing rate of 47 percent.

A TEMPORARY REPRIEVE For now, evictions are largely on hold even though the state’s moratorium on residential evictions expired July 15.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Sept. 4 issued a nationwide moratorium on evictions until the end of year.

But that ban doesn’t relieve tenants of their obligation to pay back rent once it expires. With over 400,000 unemployed in Michigan as of Sept. 12, the federal moratorium may just be delaying the pain for many.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan announced in late September a $48 million fund that offers low-interest loans, private grants and other tools to developers to create affordable housing.

The public-private partnership includes a $15 million commitment from JPMorgan Chase and $10 million from the Kresge Foundation. The overall goal is to raise $75 million.

“If you want to hold rent low enough that people of low income can afford it, but your housing costs to build are the same as every place else, you lose money,” Duggan said. “Nobody is going to build apartment units where the cost of building it costs more than they get back.”

The partnership will finance housing for residents whose income is at or below 60 percent of the area’s median income — the equivalent of $33,000 for an individual and $47,100 for a family of four.

Megan Thibos of United Way for Southeastern Michigan called the Detroit plan “a strong step in the right direction” for a city long plagued by poverty and lack of affordable housing.

“Obviously, we have seen decades of disinvestment in Detroit,” she said.

“The problems are larger than most

A millage campaign in Kalamazoo County is projecgted to support affordable housing there. “Even before the pandemic hit, we were already dealing with a high homeless rate and housing insecurity,” said Stephanie Hoffman, co-chair of millage campaign in Kalamazoo County. — Bridge file photo communities in Michigan.”

Indeed, the Michigan Association of United Ways report found that 74 percent of Detroit’s nearly 260,000 households live in poverty or at income levels below what the organization says is needed to meet basic needs (roughly $75,000 a year in Wayne County for a family of two adults and two young children).

Thobis noted that Detroit was already ravaged by a wave of home foreclosures that hit 1 in 3 properties between 2005 and 2015.

“As a result of the foreclosures, Detroit is a rental city at this time,” she said.

And too many of those families have trouble making rent from month to month. In 2017, 13 percent of Detroit residents reported being evicted or losing their housing in the previous year, according to a U-M analysis. That’s the equivalent of more than 88,000 residents losing their home in a year.

“If you are constantly juggling bills, if you are worried about your food situation, if you are worried about the roof over your head, that has a ripple effect,” Thobis said. “For families that

lose their housing, that can be a self-reinforcing, vicious cycle.”

In Grand Rapids, officials project the city will need nearly 9,000 additional affordable housing units over the next five years to satisfy market demand. That includes at least 5,340 rental units and more than 3,500 owner-occupied units.

According to the United Ways of Michigan report, 52 percent of Grand Rapids households were below the Kent County household survival budget of about $65,000 for a family of four in 2018.

Ryan Kilpatrick, executive director of Holland-base Housing Next, a nonprofit housing initiative, told MiBiz in July: “As long as we have folks earning wages that do not provide for a budget that they can survive on, we’re going to have housing issues.”

Kalamazoo resident Erika Brown can speak firsthand to what secure housing can mean.

In 2007, at age 19, her life had come apart. A graduate of Portage Northern Hill School in Kalamazoo County, Brown said she was expelled from Wayne State University after a physical encounter with another student.

“I had a difficult childhood; I had issues that I took out on other people,” she said.

She wound up in a Kalamazoo women’s shelter, “with nothing but a couple of trash bags filled with dirty clothes and a laptop someone had given me.”

She left the shelter after six months, but returned a couple years later, barely able to pay rent and sleeping on a mattress on the floor. The shelter manager encouraged her to believe she was the only one in charge of her future.

“I began to realize I was the reason I was in the position I was at,” Brown said.

Two years later, she was hired as manager of the same shelter, and today works as a program manager for Open Door Kalamazoo, a shelter and affordable housing nonprofit.

Brown said she bought her first home in 2019, a two-story wood frame house near Western Michigan University. It was a monumental step forward in her life, one she doubts would have happened without the support she got at the shelter.

“I know what it is like to have nothing,” she said. “I feel blessed.”

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Saturday, October 24, 2020 | Page 13A

New grocery in Grand Rapids is about more than food, it’s about equity too PAULA GARDNER | Bridge Michigan GRAND RAPIDS — Healthy food changed Alita Kelly’s life more than once.

Standing before a group of three vacant storefronts on Hall Street in southeast Grand Rapids, she explains how it’s ready to do that again — and perhaps influence her neighborhood at the same time.

The center door leads to a space that Kelly envisions using, maybe creating a deli or setting up dining tables. It’s directly behind the small building at 1220 S. Kalamazoo, where her Southeast Market will open in early 2021.

Kelly is opening a permanent farmers market-style store in a neighborhood where fresh food options are limited and at a time when research shows Blackowned businesses are closing faster than others.

She’s already contemplating an expansion because she sees herself successfully blending entrepreneurism, food systems and social justice.

“It’s something you can make money off of and feed your soul at the same time,” Kelly said.

A Grand Rapids native, Kelly returned to the city early this summer with a degree from the University of Michigan, where she studied environmental science and sustainable business. She looked back on her years of working through her own childhood obesity and employment in nutrition programs for nonprofits in the city.

And she said she’s recognized the COVID-19 pandemic opened a window into food sourcing that many hadn’t seen.

“It became really clear that there were some inefficiencies and fragile parts of our food system that needed to be addressed,” Kelly said. That included outbreaks at meat-packing plants and within migrant farm worker communities, and how being overweight and unhealthy could make the virus’ effects worse.

Community response to the Southeast Area Farmers Market, which opened in July and showcased Black vendors, was among the inspirations for Kelly to take the leap and open a brick-and-mortar store. She signed a lease in September for 700 square feet in a former beauty supply store operated by the landlord’s mother.

The price was enticing, Kelly said.

More importantly, it was in the center of a neighborhood that needs it, both near her own home and complete with “the foot traffic I was looking for.”

Boston Square is in Grand Rapids ZIP Code 49507, a 5-mile area home to many of the city’s traditionally Black neighborhoods and a handful of grocery stores.

Alita Kelly grew up in Grand Rapids’ Boston Square neighborhood. She’s returned there to open a neighborhood grocery and, she hopes, inspire more Black entrepreneurs. — Bridge photo | Daytona Niles The ZIP Code is 41 percent Black, twice the rate for Michigan’s second-largest city as a whole. The area is 37 percent white, while about 16 percent describe themselves as “other.” About 5 percent are biracial.

Gentrification is creeping toward the ZIP Code, Kelly said, as Grand Rapids’ housing market continues a yearslong hot streak for demand, driving up prices.

Listing prices in the area doubled from January 2016 to Oct. 1, from $74,900 to $157,000. Growth was slower to the north, where listing prices climbed just $10,000 to $375,000 over the same period, according to Movato.

Then, about a half-mile south, is a 9-acre area targeted for a planned redevelopment. About half of the neighborhood’s homes are owned; another 14 percent are vacant.

Kelly envisions her market underscoring not just health-awareness in a traditionally conservative city where marches for justice this summer mirrored some of the nation’s social unrest. She points to food access as a component of equity for nearby residents.

“We’re going to offer something very different that the neighborhood is hungry for: connection,” she said. “True connection. An experience that goes beyond just buying groceries.”

Keith Jones lives in the neighborhood and shops at Mr. B’s Party Store. Located just to the north of Southeast Market, the store is a go-to for drinks, packaged food and snacks.

Now, Jones said, people are talking about what else will be available when Southeast Market opens. Quality produce will be welcomed. So will the chance to get

fresh meat. Eventually, he said, he thinks prepared foods would sell well among the families near the active intersection.

Jones doesn’t use the term “food apartheid” like Kelly, but describes what she means as he talks about the neighboorhood having far fewer healthy options than places with fewer Black or more higher-income residents. It’s a phenomenon documented over decades, including a 2010 study called The Grocery Gap that showed convenience stores and fast food restaurants are more common in many U.S. neighborhoods that are predominantly Black.

Jones also notices reactions on the busy street in front of Kelly’s new storefront from people watching the store take shape.

“There’s a sense of anticipation,” Jones said.

BUSINESS CLIMATE Kelly’s endeavor comes as new business filings are increasing in Michigan, yet Black businesses are closing at a higher rate than those owned by whites.

A study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that active businesses fell by 22 percent from February to April, which it called “the largest drop on record.” Black businesses “experienced the most acute decline,” it said, a 41 percent drop. Latinx business owners fell by 32 percent while Asian business owners dropped by 26 percent. Yet the number of white business owners fell by just 17 percent.

Even the Paycheck Protection Program assistance funds for small businesses disproportionately went to non-Black businesses. According to the same study,

fewer Black businesses entered the pandemic in a financially stable position, 42 percent to 73 percent for whites.

A look at loans in locations with high numbers of Black-owned businesses also show fewer loans. In Wayne County, for example, just over half of businesses there are Black-owned, yet 11.6 of its businesses received the loans to help small businesses with payroll and other costs.

Part of the problem, said Pamela Lewis of the New Economy Initiative in Detroit, is the lack of Black business relationships with commercial lenders. She and other groups in Detroit are trying to change that for both traditional businesses and neighborhood innovators, like what Kelly is doing in Grand Rapids by creating economic opportunity while filling a void.

“That starts to change the narrative around problem-solvers,” Lewis said.

“It’s less to do with economic development outcomes and more to do with culture change and inclusion.”

At the same time, Michigan’s new business filings were up 49 percent during the last week of September over the same period in 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

It’s a sign of an entrepreneurial spirit taking hold among some in the state, said Brian Calley, president of the Small Business Association of Michigan. That’s critical for growing the state’s business base.

The coronavirus recession may be seen as a sign of risk, he said. But, he added “risk is relative,” and a person who’s lost a job or delayed starting a business may see opportunities created in the vacuum as others close.

“They might as well take that chance,” Calley said. “I’m not surprised by it. I’m encouraged that people are still trying.”

Beyond the store, Kelly wants to create a sales outlet for Black growers and food processors. Across the United States, Black farmers now comprise fewer than 2 percent of the nation’s growers.

Bruce-Michael Wilson of Groundswell Farm in Zeeland, between Holland and Grand Rapids, is one of them.

He said he’s been inundated with requests to provide products for similar markets, from Detroit to Chicago. He sees the need for better fresh food supplies when he sells in both Black and rural white communities. That’s increased during the pandemic.

“Anybody that’s trying to do something like [that] is going to be a bonus for the neighborhood,” Wilson said of local markets. “People in underserved communi-

Continues on Page 14A

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What drives farmers to join farmers markets?

ERIC FREEDMAN | Capital News Service

Why do farmers join new farmers markets, especially in poor urban areas where the financial risk is greater than in more affluent communities?

Some rely solely on farm income to support their families. Others are startup farmers seeking new business opportunities.

But for others, the major motivations are their love of gardening or the desire to build community, a new study found. For those farmers, recreational pleasure or a civic mission outweigh economics.

“Farmers markets in low-income, urban areas struggle to establish and sustain themselves,” the study by Michigan State University researchers said. “Accordingly, farmer recruitment and retention remain a challenge.”

Vendors who participated in new low-income, urban markets “to support their livelihoods were the most likely to drop out,” the study said. “Those who farmed for recreation or as social mission were most loyal and did not drop out.”

Overall, farmers markets are booming.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports there were 8,771 nationally in 2019, up from 1,755 in 1994.

The Michigan Farmers Market Association lists 225 on its website, and the executive director, Amanda Shreve, says the

actual number may be higher.

While COVID-19 delayed this year’s opening of some farmers markets and led others to new sanitation and social distancing practices, the association knows of only four that didn’t open at all this season.

One was the three-times-a-year special farmers market on the lawn of the Capitol in Lansing. Shreve said. Another was in Munising, because its regular location was unavailable, and there wasn’t enough space for social distancing at an alternate location.

The others were the Grow Benzie Farmers Market in Benzonia and the Grayling Farmers Market.

The Michigan Farmers Market Association lists 225 markets on its website.

Meanwhile, one opened this year, the Marlette Farmers Market in the Thumb, Shreve said.

The expanding popularity of farmers markets has increased competition to attract vendors and created challenges for starting new ones, according to the study published in the journal, “Agriculture and Human Values.”

Lead author Dru Montri said she saw a lot of quick growth during the decade she was the state association’s executive director.

And more farmers markets meant greater competition for vendors, including

a growing number of startups that opened in poorer urban areas to provide better access to food, said Montri, who is now the director of government and stakeholder relations at MSU’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

The study interviewed vendors from 27 farms at six markets, two of them in each of three cities with higher levels of poverty, unemployment and SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps) recipients than the Michigan average. Those markets were all 5 years old or younger.

The study didn’t name the cities.

Farmers who were interviewed at the young new markets fell into four categories: • Full-timers who rely on agriculture for their primary livelihood.

• Seekers of business opportunities, such as new farmers, with other income sources.

• Self-identified recreational gardeners who sell their products, generally raised on less than an acre, solely for enjoyment and relaxation.

• Those with “civic intentions” to use small-scale urban farming “to accomplish larger social goals,” such as youth development and leadership, providing entrepreneurial experience and community organizing.

The challenge of recruiting and keep-

ing farmer-vendors is one of the most urgent concerns in establishing and sustaining a new farmers market, the study said.

And that problem is “more pronounced in low-income urban areas where farmers markets are especially vulnerable to failure.”

Montri, who owns a small farm in Bath with her husband, said the findings can help market managers recruit and can help the association’s trainers focus on building community and networks when looking for types of farmers to recruit.

For example, full-timers who depend on farming for livelihoods, choose markets based on sales potential, meaning income, the study said. Five of the 27 fit that category of farmers whose primary goal is to maximize income.

And 13 of the 27 reported that selling at farmers markets provided them a new business opportunity while relying on offfarm income or savings from prior careers.

Recruiting vendors from the other two groups – recreational gardeners and those who are mission-driven – may prove more successful because they don’t depend on market sales to continue operating, the study said.

“Farmers who are most suited to low-income, urban farmers markets may be currently overlooked by market managers who regularly target full-time livelihood vendors,” it said.

New grocery in Grand Rapids is about more than food Continued from Page 13A ties just don’t have access to good food.”

Meanwhile, new for-profit, small businesses in low-resource communities help to inspire other local entrepreneurs and can lead to jobs for nearby residents, Lewis said. They’re also paths to family wealth.

That’s one reason that Kelly feels strongly that her store shouldn’t be a nonprofit, despite some suggestions that change would generate grant funding.

She’s invested at least $40,000 in the store, using her savings and receiving about $29,000 from an online fundraiser that took off this fall.

“It’s important and powerful to show the community that this can be owned by someone like me,” Kelly said. Owning a store makes her an entrepreneur trying

to build intergenerational wealth, which is something her 9-year-old daughter and customers will recognize. “More Black families need that.”

GETTING STARTED Kelly and new business partner, Khara Dewit, are working through every detail they can think of before they open the store in early 2021.

An initial group of 30 people signed on to pay $50 per week for food sourced through the market until the doors open.

That will fund the first waves of food orders, and let the pair use the space more like a warehouse until it opens to regular customers.

Support has been strong. Among the volunteers is a nearby carpenter who finished the wood for shelves, and his brother, a chef, donated the metal shelf fram-

ing. The online fund-raiser exceeded the initial goal of $23,000 by $6,000 as of early October.

The building modifications for food service, like adding a prep sink, are taking shape. An application for the store to process the state’s SNAP food benefits for low-income families is in progress, and should be finalized by early 2021.

New lights in the high ceiling of the space shine brightly across the future store that looks fresh and ready for shoppers, far ahead of Kelly’s initial timeline.

“I didn’t think it was going to be pulled together this well,” said Kelly, as she and Dewit, an accountant, showed off the storefront.

Initial products will be produce, dairy items, meat and bread. The store at first won’t stock processed foods, but Kelly recognizes that her customers may be

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looking for them. “We don’t intend to be a ‘purist’ market,” she said, and will take advice on inventory from her customers.

Wilson, the farmer, said many markets start with the best intentions, but they have to be sustainable.

Kelly has her eyes on that goal. Making prepared meals out of inventory that isn’t fresh enough to sell is among her strategies for later in 2021. Someday, the market may have its own farm. In the meantime, she hopes, shoppers will feel a closer connection to their food.

Kelly envisions her neighborhood accompanying her as the store’s scope grows.

“Not only is the store [going to be] a space where you can find fresh, healthy food,” Kelly said. “I also want it to be a place where people in my community … connect to the Earth, just like I did.”

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[BRACKET CONTEST[ Spartan Stadium will be empty for Michigan State University’s opening game today. Will that move fans into more dangerous indoor settings to watch the game? — Bridge file photo

Cheer on MSU: At home; preferably alone; welcome to COVID game day RON FRENCH | Bridge Magazine Empty stands. No tailgating. And if you’re watching the game on TV, please don’t do it with a bunch of friends or in a bar.

Football may be coming back to East Lansing, but what fans normally think of as Game Day will have to wait.

With plans already in place to have no fans in the stands for Big Ten football games because of the coronavirus pandemic, Michigan State University President Samuel Stanley did his best Tuesday to discourage fans from crowding together to watch today’s opening game against Rutgers University on TV. “We encourage all Spartan fans to watch the upcoming football season from home in a safe manner,” Stanley wrote in an email to students and staff. “Do not gather in crowds or host large watch parties. The gathering of fans, indoors or outdoors, only gives the COVID-19 virus the chance to spread.”

A similar letter will be sent to alumni of MSU, which has the most confirmed coronavirus cases among Michigan colleges.

There will be no tailgating allowed on campus, something that is usually common both in parking lots around Spartan Stadium and in the grass around academic buildings. Open alcohol won’t be allowed, either.

The regulations are in place for at least the opening game scheduled to kick off at noon. Plans could change before the Spartans’ other three home games, the first of which is Nov. 14.

“Like everything related to COVID, [there is] constant evolution,” MSU spokesperson Emily Guerrant told Bridge Michigan on Wednesday.

The University of Michigan hasn’t finalized its plans for home football game days, but U-M spokesperson Rick Fitzgerald said it would likely take a “similar approach” as MSU. U-M’s first home game is Oct. 31, against Michigan State.

Western Michigan University, Central Michigan University and Eastern Michigan University, all members of the Mid-American Conference, will also play without fans or tailgating this year, with the season beginning Nov. 4.

MSU and Ingham County health officials have reasons to be concerned about the potential for football Saturdays to turn into super-spreader events. In less than two weeks after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer allowed bars and restaurant dining rooms to reopen June 8, there were 144 confirmed cases of coronavirus traced to one East Lansing college bar. In late August, MSU shuttered its dorms shortly before the fall semester began and encouraged students to stay home and take classes online, but more than 30,000 students live off-campus, many of whom are locked in to leases for the school year.

When those students returned to East Lansing, COVID-19 cases skyrocketed, with many outbreaks traced to off-campus parties. The Ingham County Health Department ordered quarantines for residents of dozens of fraternities, sororities and off-campus student houses.

MSU has more coronavirus cases among its students and staff than any other college campus in the state, with 1,531 confirmed cases in new or ongoing outbreaks, according to a state report released Monday.

Ingham Health Director Linda Vail told Bridge she is concerned that football Saturdays could be the next big event that could spread the potentially deadly virus.

Closing Spartan Stadium and eliminating tailgating may just push revelers into indoor settings for watch parties.

“I love college football, but we’re in a pandemic,” Vail said. “You can’t say ‘Let’s all get together and have a watch party and celebrate.’ You just can’t.”

Vail urged students and fans to avoid bars and restaurants for game-watching, also. Bars and restaurants can operate at 50 percent of capacity or up to 125 people.

WE WILL BE GIVING AWAY

16 $25 GIFT CARDS

from participating restaurants to random registered voting participants at the conclusion of the bracket contest!

SEMI FINAL ROUND: October 20 - October 25 FINAL ROUND: October 26 - October 29 VOTE ONLINE @ thedailynews.cc/pizza BRICKYARD BAR & RESTAURANT

Deluxe: Topped with pepperoni, ham, mushroom, green pepper, black olive and onion.

112 W Main St, Stanton • 989-283-1212

Open Sunday though Thursday 8am-8pm, Friday & Saturday 8am-9pm. Visit online at facebook.com/Brickyard-Bar-andRestaurant-356193777863446

CASTLE BREWING CO.

Feta Late Than Never: Featuring garlic oil, mozzarella, feta, banana peppers, bacon, chicken and fresh tomato.

1310 W Washington St, Greenville • 616-712-6226 Open Tuesday through Thursday 11am-10pm. Friday & Saturday 11am-11pm. Sunday 12pm-8pm. Closed Monday Visit online at castlebrewingco.com

EDDIE’S PIZZA PALACE

The Wolverine: Ham, sausage, onions, mushrooms and double cheese.

609 N Lafayette St, Greenville • 616-754-3115 Open Tuesday through Thursday 11am-8pm, Friday & Saturday 11am-9pm & Sunday 11am-7pm.

Visit online at www.eddiespizzapalace.net

FLAT RIVER BREWING CO.

The Dent: FRBC craft beer cheese base topped with 3 cheese blend mac n cheese and smoked crunchy bacon on 12” flat bread crust.

SEMIFIN

ALIST

SEMIFIN

ALIST

SEMIFIN

ALIST

SEMIFIN

ALIST

300 W Greenville West Dr, Greenville • 616-232-2447 Open Tuesday through Thursday 3pm - 8pm, Friday & Saturday 3pm-9pm.

Visit online at www.flatriverbrewingco.com

FLO’S PIZZERIA RISTORANTE & SPORTS BAR Flo’s Signature Pizza: Our award-winning pizza loaded with pepperoni, spicy capicola, ham, sausage, meatballs & bacon.

107 S Lafayette St, Greenville • 616-785-1001 Open Monday through Saturday 11am-12am and Sunday 11am-11pm.

Visit online at www.flossportsbar.com

SIDNEY GENERAL STORE

The Deluxe: Pepperoni, ham, sausage, onions, mushrooms and green peppers.

2991 S Derby Rd, Sidney • 989-328-5005

Open Monday through Thursday and Sunday 6am-10pm, Friday & Saturday 6am-11pm. Visit online at facebook. com/pages/category/Convenience-Store/Sidney-GeneralStore-2231685940411700/

Stay Protected

STEELE STREET BREWING

Grandma Berbari’s Gyro: Mozzarella, lamb, cucumbers, tomato, onion, house tzatziki sauce, and feta.

and Get Your Flu Shot Today

Sparrow Carson Apothecary & Gift Shoppe

300 S. Steele St, Ionia • 616-523-4003

Open Wednesday through Saturday 5pm-9pm, Sunday 5pm-8pm. Closed Monday & Tuesday.

Visit online at steelestreetbrewing.com

is now offering influenza vaccines.

Most insurance plans accepted and no appointment is required.

YOUR HOUSE OF PIZZA

Philly Cheese Steak: A layer of roasted garlic and parmesan sauce, tender philly cheese steak, fresh mushrooms, red onions, green peppers, and blend of mozzarella and provolone cheese.

Sparrow Carson Apothecary & Gift Shoppe

1437 W State St, Belding • 616-794-0310

245 S. Second St., Carson City 989.584.3272

Open Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday 3:30pm-9pm, Friday & Saturday 3:30pm-11pm. Visit online at facebook.com/ Your-House-of-Pizza-574351929269743/ 274964

Monday - Friday | 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Saturday | 9 a.m. to noon

thedailynews.cc/pizza

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Page 16A | Saturday, October 24, 2020

With traditional Halloween activities like indoor parties and trick-or-treating posing an increased risk for COVID-19 spread, the CDC recommends the following activity guidelines for safer celebrating this year:

Carve or decorate pumpkins with members of your household. If you carve pumpkins with neighbors or friends, do so outdoors at a safe distance wearing masks.

Create a “candy hunt” by hiding treats throughout the house or yard.

Host a virtual costume contest or party.

Have some fun crafting decorations and dressing up your home.

Enjoy a Halloween movie night at home with spooky snacks.

Plan a Halloween scavenger hunt. Give your kids a list of Halloween-themed things to search for while you walk the neighborhood admiring Halloween decorations at a distance.

If you decide to participate in these activities, here are some tips to help protect your family and others:

Trick-or-Treating

• Set up one-way trick-or-treating with individually wrapped goodie bags lined up at the edge of your driveway or lawn for families to pick up while maintaining a safe distance. Be sure to wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 second before and after preparing goodie bags.

Outdoor Parties & Parades • Stay outdoors in the open air.

• Limit the number of participants to a small group.

• Maintain a distance of at least 6 feet between people at all times.

• Wear protective masks. A costume mask should not be used to replace a protective mask, unless it is made of two or more layers of breathable fabric, covers the mouth and nose, and leaves no gaps around the face.

Wearing a costume mask over a protective cloth mask can make it difficult to breathe, so consider using a Halloween-themed cloth mask instead.

Haunted Trails • Make sure these are one-way outdoor activities.

• Make sure protective masks and social distancing are enforced.

• If screaming is likely to occur, distancing of more than 6 feet between people is advised.

The greater the distance, the lower the risk of spreading a respiratory virus.

Pumpkin Patches & Orchards • Use hand sanitizer before touching pumpkins or picking apples.

• Wear a mask and practice social distancing.

The CDC recommends avoiding high-risk activities like traditional trick-or-treating, trunk-or-treat events, indoor parties, and haunted houses and hayrides.

PLEASE REMEMBER, if you feel ill or may have been exposed to someone with COVID-19, avoid in-person Halloween activities and do not give out candy to trick-or-treaters.

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300 S. Lafayette St. Greenville, MI 48838 231-250-3100

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DAILY NEWS wish you a Safe and Happy Halloween!

EXTRAS

Page X | Day, Date x, 2018

Saturday, October 24, 2020 | Page 17A

AMY DICKINSON

askamy@amydickinson.com

Friendship fail leads to wedding worry

D

ear Amy: In January, my best friend of 30 years and I had a falling out, this was not the first one we’ve had over the years.

I sent texts, checking on her health during the pandemic, with no response. Finally, two weeks ago, she contacted me.

She’s getting married and she said she couldn’t decide whether to invite me.

I told her that either way I would understand; it’s her day, not mine.

I didn’t hear back.

She messaged me tonight, asking if I’d like to attend her wedding, adding that I’m invited, but not my fiancé or my children.

I’ve never felt comfortable around her other friends, as she behaves very differently around them. (This behavior is what has caused us to fall out multiple times.)

Now I don’t know whether I should attend. On the one hand, I’d like to be there, because we’ve known each other since the first grade. I love her family, but I’m worried I’ll receive the same treatment from her and her friends that I have experienced before.

NOT going might be better than going. I wouldn’t want to go and then regret it.

However, I appreciate that she got over her pride and invited me.

What do I do? What should I say?

I don’t want to hurt her, but I also feel like after the last falling-out, we’ll never be close again. — AB in Illinois Dear AB: Your friend has been open about her reluctance to have you attend her wedding. Her reluctance has been underscored by the ungracious way she extended the invitation, and the parameters she has imposed.

Additionally, you don’t really want to go.

I’d call that a mutual parting of the ways.

You do not need to bring the hammer down on this friendship, because it is quite obviously waning. You could respond, “I’m so happy for you; I know this will be a wonderful celebration. I appreciate the invitation, but unfortunately, I won’t be able to make it. I’ll be thinking of you on the big day.”

D

KenKen® is a registered trademark of KenKen Puzzle LLC. ©2020 KenKen Puzzle LLC. All rights reserved. Dist. by Andrews McMeel Syndication www.kenken.com

ear Amy: One of my daughters got married last November.

My other daughter is getting married this November.

Can I wear the same dress to this wedding that I wore to last year’s wedding? — MOB X 2 Dear MOB: You can wear whatever you want to wear, as long as you feel good about how you look.

However, before wearing the same dress to this daughter’s wedding, you should carefully think it through and talk it over with the prospective bride.

Weddings last for part of a day, but the wedding photos last forever. Try to envision how you would perceive the pictures of each daughter’s wedding over time. Would you feel at all self-conscious — after the fact — about essentially looking exactly the same in the two sets of photos, taken at different occasions, a year apart?

You might be able to alter your look by adding a shawl or a dressy coat over your favorite dress.

D

ear Amy: You had some nerve, suggesting that “Unforgiving” should forgive her mother-in-law’s adultery.

Would you ever suggest forgiving a man for his adultery? I THINK NOT. — Disappointed Dear Disappointed: Not only would I suggest it, I’ve done it, myself. And that’s when I learned that forgiving was serving my own emotional well-being.

10-24-20

D

ear Amy: I’m writing in response to your answer to “Lost,” the granddaughter whose grandmother was now in hospice care but a rift in the family had many family members unaware of the grandmother’s status.

A very valuable resource is the hospice program. All hospices are required to have both social workers and bereavement counselors. Reaching out to them (this can be done through the nurse or directly through the hospice program) can be of immense help to navigate the pending loss for all family members.

This family seems to be at a very high risk for what is known as a “complicated bereavement.” This can be mitigated through use of the hospice program’s resources. Hospice services do not end when the patient dies, and bereavement does not start after the patient’s death.

I was a longtime hospice medical director, now retired.

I hope this family reaches out for some help to mitigate their losses. — Timothy J. Moynihan, MD Dear Dr. Moynihan: This grandmother was already in hospice care. Thank you for the reminder of all of the ancillary services hospice offers. And thank you for your own service to dying people, and those who love them.

Hospice care is life (and death) changing.

● ● ●

Each row and each column must contain the numbers 1 through 6 without repeating.

The numbers within the heavily outlined boxes, called cages, must combine using the given operation (in any order) to produce the target numbers in the top-left corners.

Freebies: Fill in single-box cages with the number in the top-left corner.

ON THIS DAY In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act becomes law, establishing the 40-hour work week.

BABY BLUES

FRAZZ

GARFIELD

ZITS

Page 18A | Saturday, October 24, 2020

WEATHER

Today 47° 32°

LOCAL SUMMARY Clouds and sun. Winds north-northwest 4-8 mph. Expect 3-6 hours of sunshine with average relative humidity 70%. Thickening clouds tonight. Winds north-northeast 3-6 mph. Average relative humidity 75%.

Cloudy and chilly tomorrow.

Sunday

Manistee

41/27

Ludington

High/low Normal high/low Record high Record low

68°/49° 58°/40° 83° (1963) 19° (1969)

SUN AND MOON 8:06 a.m.

6:43 p.m.

4:09 p.m.

12:49 a.m.

New First

Walkerville

White Cloud

43/31

44/31

Fremont

Montague

Nov 8

Nov 14

Nov 21

Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2020

Big Rapids

44/31

Coleman

46/32

Muskegon

47/33

46/34

Carson City

47/33

47/33

46/31

Flint

Owosso

47/32

47/32

Durand

47/31

47/32

Charlotte

48/33

47/31

Allegan

Lansing

Fowlerville

46/32

47/31

48/32

• AUTO A/C AND HEATER REPAIR • SUSPENSION AND ALIGNMENT EXPERTS

• HOME OF THE $45 SYNTHETIC DEXOS OIL CHANGE!

BREAD OF LIFE FOOD PANTRY Location: Greenville Community Church, 6596 Vining Road in Greenville Contact: (616) 894-9873 or www.bolpantry.org Info: Hours are noon to 3 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Pick-up food only. Valid ID is required.

CARSON CITY FOOD PANTRY Location: St. Mary’s Parish, 404 N. Division St. in Carson City Contact: (989) 584-6044 or email smsjchurch@ cmsinter.net Info: Hours are from 10 a.m. to noon Tuesdays. Those receiving food must be residents of the Carson City-Crystal Area Schools district and may come once a month for food.

CRYSTAL LAKE COMMUNITY CHURCH Location: 122 S. Main St., Crystal Contact: (989) 235-2522 Info: Hours are 1 to 3 p.m. Tuesdays except holidays.

You must fill out a form for the state of Michigan and a form for the church. You must also present your photo ID. Food is given once per month per household.

CROSSROADS COMPASSIONATE MINISTRY Location: Greenville Church of the Nazarene, 10087 S. Greenville Road in Greenville Contact: (616) 754-7605 Info: Hours are 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesdays.

DOLORES HALVORSEN MEMORIAL Location: 209 W. Washington in Sheridan Contact: VFW Post 5065 Ladies Auxiliary (989) 2919680 Info: Hours are 8:30 a.m. to noon, second Thursdays.

EAST MONTCALM BABY PANTRY Location: Ferris Church of Christ, 3443 N. Crystal Road in Vestaburg Contact: (989) 268-5551 Info: Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. second and fourth

NATIONAL CITIES City Albuquerque Anchorage Atlanta Bismarck Boston Cincinnati Cleveland Dallas Denver Helena Honolulu Indianapolis Las Vegas Los Angeles Miami Minneapolis Nashville New Orleans New York City Orlando Philadelphia Phoenix Pittsburgh St. Louis San Francisco Seattle Tampa Washington, DC

Today Hi/Lo/W 78/54/c 40/34/sh 75/65/sh 26/15/sn 68/41/pc 53/42/c 48/40/pc 63/54/c 62/14/c 17/2/sn 87/74/pc 53/38/c 85/57/s 72/60/c 85/77/t 31/25/c 59/53/c 80/67/pc 70/44/c 86/71/t 73/46/c 89/68/pc 53/37/c 52/42/c 67/54/pc 50/34/s 88/73/pc 77/50/pc

Sun. Hi/Lo/W 74/37/c 39/34/r 77/64/pc 25/4/c 51/44/pc 53/47/c 52/44/c 79/51/c 18/6/sn 14/-2/s 87/75/c 52/44/c 79/44/s 69/56/sh 84/76/t 31/19/sn 68/56/pc 80/68/pc 50/48/pc 87/74/pc 52/49/c 87/62/c 53/46/c 50/42/c 68/54/pc 49/35/s 89/75/pc 53/49/r

Weather(W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice.

On M57 in Carson City,

RIGHT ACROSS FROM M57 SURPLUS! 10428 E. Carson City Road, Carson City

274827

LOCAL FOOD PANTRIES

BELDING FOOD PANTRY Location: St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, 409 S. Bridge in Belding Contact: (616) 794-2610 Info: Open from from 2 to 4 p.m. Thursdays.

Sun. Hi/Lo/W 50/40/c 44/33/c 50/36/c 48/39/c 50/38/c 47/37/c 51/40/c 40/26/sn 49/37/c 41/31/c 39/29/c 50/38/c 35/27/sn 36/25/sn 32/22/sn 50/37/c 48/36/c 39/29/c 34/25/sn 44/35/c 41/31/i 49/35/c 48/37/c 40/30/c 52/46/c 51/38/c 53/41/c 44/34/c

Chilly with times of clouds and sun

CALL 989.331.4908

UP TO 6 QTS MOST CARS

BARRIE’S HOUSE Location: Settlement Lutheran Church, 1031 S. Johnson Road, Gowen Contact: (616) 255-9827 Info: Food pantry and clothing center operated

by Settlement Lutheran and St. Thomas Lutheran of Trufant. Open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursdays (currently drive-thru only). Individuals may pick up food once per month but clothing is available every week.

Today Hi/Lo/W 48/31/pc 43/29/c 47/29/pc 46/34/pc 47/34/pc 46/37/pc 49/34/pc 39/25/pc 47/32/pc 39/29/c 39/27/c 47/30/pc 35/26/sf 34/22/c 31/22/c 49/33/pc 46/32/pc 40/28/c 34/24/c 44/34/pc 41/28/c 46/29/pc 46/34/pc 40/29/c 48/44/pc 49/33/pc 51/35/pc 43/31/sh

51° 30°

GET READY FOR WINTER WEATHER!

• BRAKE SERVICE

• WE SELL COOPER TIRES! AND MOST OTHER MAJOR BRANDS

47/32

47/32

St. Johns Ionia Grand Rapids 47/32 46/31 47/32 Lake Odessa DeWitt

Wayland

Saugatuck

Sheridan

Belding

Frankenmuth

47/32

Greenville

47/32

Holland

46/34

46/34

47/32 Ithaca

Coopersville

Grand Haven

Saginaw

Alma

47/32

46/33

46/34

Midland

Pierson

46/31

Bay City

Mount Pleasant

45/31

44/33

45/32

46/32

Lakeview

45/32

47/33 Oct 31

City Adrian Alpena Ann Arbor Bay City Benton Harbor Chicago Detroit Escanaba Flint Gaylord Green Bay Hillsdale Houghton Iron Mountain Ironwood Kalamazoo Lansing Manistique Marquette Milwaukee Newberry Port Huron Saginaw Sault Ste. Marie Sandusky, OH South Bend Toledo Traverse City

43/30

Precipitation (in inches) 24 hours through 5 p.m. yest.

0.54 Month to date (departure) 2.55 (+0.14) Year to date (departure) 32.24 (+0.76)

Gladwin

45/31

Evart

Breezy in the a.m.; mostly sunny, chilly

REGIONAL CITIES

Standish

Thursday

50° 33°

Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.

Clare

43/30

42/32

Chilly with clouds and sunshine

45/31

Reed City

43/30

Wednesday

45° 30°

Cloudy and chilly with a shower or two

Cadillac

41/30

Tuesday 44° 30°

Cloudy and chilly

Baldwin

Temperature

Sunrise today Sunset today Moonrise today Moonset today Full Last

48° 36°

Partly sunny and cooler

ALMANAC Grand Rapids through 5 p.m. yesterday

Monday

Tuesdays. Clothing provided for infants and children, plus diapers, baby and toddler food and some furniture. You must bring your driver’s license as a form of ID. FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF BELDING Location: 301 W. Washington St. in Belding Contact: (616) 794-2610 Info: Meals to go are available from 4 to 5 p.m. every Thursday in April. Drive up to the church doors, place a letter-sized paper with the number of meals needed on your dashboard, remain in your vehicle and we will bring meals to you. Call for delivery and leave your name and address.

FROST SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH FOOD PANTRY Location: 977 Neff Road in Stanton Contact: (989) 831-4518 Info: Hours are 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., second Mondays.

GREENVILLE AREA ECUMENICAL FOOD MISSION Location: St. Paul Lutheran Church, 9844 SW Greenville Road in Greenville Contact: (616) 754-6676 Info: Hours are 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays. Food is available on an emergency basis. Must be resident of the Greenville school district and provide two forms of identification.

GREENVILLE FOOD KITCHEN Location: St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 305 S. Clay St. in Greenville Contact: (616) 754-3163 Info: Take-out meals may be picked up between 3:30 and 5 p.m. on Tuesdays. No inside meals are being served at this time.

HANDS OF JESUS FOOD PANTRY Location: 1220 N. Lafayette St. in Greenville Contact: (616) 225-9999 Info: Open 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays (closed noon to 1 p.m.) Must bring own boxes and baskets. Name, address, phone number and driver’s license required for service.

HELPING HANDS FOOD PANTRY Location: 1105 Ensley St. just south of Howard City Contact: (231) 937-5177 or visithelpinghandshc.org HOPE’S PANTRY Location: Hope Lutheran Church, 4741 W. Stanton Road in Stanton Contact: Gayle Stull at (989) 831-5594 or (989) 8314462.

Info: Call to set up an appointment.

AREA LOCALS LAKEVIEW MINISTERIAL ASSOCIATION FOOD PANTRY Location: Lakeview Community Church, 8980 Howard City-Edmore Road (M-46) in Lakeview Contact: (989) 352-7788 or newlifeumc@cmsinter.net Info: Set appointment Monday through Friday, between 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Must show identification for proof of person and residence. This pantry only serves those within Lakeview Community Schools district.

M-46 TABERNACLE FOOD PANTRY Location: 11098 E. M-46 Highway in Riverdale.

Contact: (989) 807-0203.

Info: Open from 10 to 11 a.m. Tuesdays.

MONTABELLA MINISTERIAL ASSOCIATION FOOD PANTRY Location: 504 E. Main St. in Edmore Contact: Edmore Faith United Methodist Church (989) 427-5575 or email churchmouse833@verizon.net Info: Hours are Wednesdays by appointment.

POMPEII BABY & YOUTH PANTRY Location: Pompeii United Methodist Church, 135 Burton St., Pompeii.

Contact: Glenda Braman at (989) 838-2249 or Mary Toth at (989) 838-2210.

Info: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. first and third Thursdays in church basement. Available items include diapers, clothing size 0 to 12 years old, cribs, cereal, baby food, formula, shampoo and more. Baby and youth clothing donations welcome.

SHERIDAN ASSEMBLY OF GOD Location: 4010 S. Sheridan Road in Sheridan Contact: (989) 291-3996.

Info: By appointment only SHILOH COMMUNITY CHURCH Location: 8197 Heth St. in Orleans Contact: (616) 761-3584 Info: Distribution on Mondays.

ST. CHARLES KITCHEN Location: St. Charles Catholic Church, 505 S. Lafayette St., Greenville.

Contact: (616) 232-9661.

Info: Meals to-go from 5 to 6 p.m. Mondays.

TRINITY CHURCH Location: 415 N. Mill St. in Stanton.

Contact: (989) 831-5728.

Info: Hours are 10:30 a.m. to noon first and third Wednesdays. Must be a Stanton resident.

The Daily News will publish this list often. If you have additions or corrections to make to this list, please email details to News Editor Elisabeth Waldon at ewaldon@ thedailynews.cc

THROUGH SEASON GREENVILLE MUSEUM CLOSED The Fighting Falcon Military Museum will remain closed to the public through this season. Private visits for individuals or small groups may be arranged by calling Bob at (616) 754-0161 or Jerry at (616) 7546991.

STANTON LIBRARY HOURS The White Pine District Library is open from noon to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The library is limited to 12 patrons at a time with a limited number of computer terminals and limited checkouts. Sidewalk delivery is available to the public with restrictions.

VESTABURG LIBRARY HOURS The Richland Township Library is open for limited hours; 3 to 5:30 p.m.

Mondays, noon to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.

The library is limited to 12 patrons at a time in the building. There are also limited computer terminals open and limited number of checkouts. There is curbside pickup by request.

THROUGH DEC. 31 SIDNEY EVENT CANCELLATIONS The Heritage Village volunteers have decided to cancel all meetings and events that had been scheduled (Heritage Festival, fall harvest dinner and Halloween in the Village) for the remainder of 2020.

Questions/inquiries about meetings, events and tours/ rentals for 2021 should be addressed to Shannon at (616) 894-9947 or Julie at (989) 328-1222. Business and event announcements will be conducted through member emails and the Heritage Village Facebook page.

THROUGH DEC. 31 GREENVILLE MEETINGS CANCELED The Montcalm chapter of Michigan Association of Retired School Personnel (MARSP) is canceling the remainder of its 2020 meetings, which would have been in October and November, as a health precaution.

For further information or questions about the Montcalm chapter, contact Norman Namminga at (989) 352-7530 or Miriam Zimmerman (membership) at (989) 584-3608. A short newsletter will be sent out in the spring about 2021 meetings dates and programs.

EATING OUT OCT. 24 SHERIDAN FISH FRY The Sheridan VFW Post 5065 will host a fish fry from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Dinner includes pollock fish or chicken strips, coleslaw, roll, baked potato or fries, dessert and a drink. Cost is $9. COVID-19 regulations will be followed.

MONDAYS GREENVILLE ST. CHARLES COMMUNITY MEALS St. Charles will serve a free community takeout meal from 5 to 6 p.m. every Monday at St. Charles Catholic Church. The to-go meals can be picked up in the foyer of the Activities Building.

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