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New Buffalo Township Board hires new deputy clerk

Members of the New Buffalo Township Board accepted, with regret, the resignation of longtime deputy clerk Kathy Butler, as well as approved the appointment of Victoria Graham as her replacement, at their rescheduled Tuesday, Feb. 22, meeting.

New Buffalo Township Supervisor Michelle Heit said that Butler will be moving on as deputy clerk for the Village of Grand Beach.

“She’s one of the family… It’ll be tough, but we wish her well - they’ll be lucky to have her,” she said.

Board members approved appointing Graham at a rate of $19 an hour.

Clerk Judy Zabicki said Graham will be a “great asset to the township.”

“She’s young, she lives in the township, and she plans to be here for a long time,” she said.

Board members tabled accepting a bid for a parcel located at 10270 Townline Avenue in Union Pier for next month.

In September 2020, board members approved the purchase of the property from the Berrien County Treasurer for a delinquent tax amount of $4,851.

An original motion, upon recommendation from Heit, called for the township to accept the highest bid for the parcel in the amount of $30,000 from Chad Gradowski; however, this motion was withdrawn. The township had received three other bids for it, one of which was from John and Susan Mackanin in the amount of $17,411.91, the third highest bid.

John said neighbors as well as the president of the Gordon Beach Homeowners Association had written letters in support of them acquiring it, adding that their intent was to clean it up and make it a green space.

He said that the county treasurer said Michigan Combined Law states that the law in effect in 2020 when the property was acquired still is in effect today even though it changed in 2021: “Any funds in excess of the minimum bid shall be returned to the county.”

“As far as I could determine, the minimum bid was the amount that the township paid for plus $2,000 for a survey and some other expenses and anything over that does revert to the county and the township is not allowed to keep any of that; therefore, the highest bid isn’t necessarily any advantage and doesn’t provide any additional compensation to the township,” he said.

Heit said that, as stated by John, the treasurer said it seems to fall under the old act, which says they have to return “any monies we have beyond this property to the county;” however, she’s still not “super clear” on it.

Heit added the county attorney looked into it and it still “doesn’t seem clear on what that date means.”

Board members adopted a resolution to apply for a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Grant for some design work to be done at the Exit 1 overpass, such as a nonmotorized path and lighting. Since the project will involve some engineering, the township will be working with the Berrien County Road Department.

The 15th and 16th payments in the amount of $15,977.41 and $4,196.63, respectively, for the Public Safety Building Project were approved.

The rezoning of a parcel from C-1 to R-1 low density residential to construct a private road named Driftwood Path to a service site condominium consisting of 14 single family homes sites located on Community Hall Road was approved.

Board members approved Pat Donnelly, township parks director, attending the Michigan Recreation and Park Association Conference in Traverse City from March 3-6, with a $375 cost for registration and $360 for the hotel, as well as mileage and meal reimbursement.

The hiring of Sam Donnelly and Benjamin Coffeen (at a rate of $15 an hour) and Mike Bombin (at $13 an hour) as seasonal park employees was approved.

Zabicki, secretary of The Pokagon Fund Board of Directors, said that students and seniors can pick up applications for eye glasses, which are paid for by The Fund every two years, and that scholarship applications for college or trade school are now available for high school seniors.

BY FRANCESCA SAGALA

LAPORTE MOVING TO FURTHER BOLSTER POLICE DEPARTMENT

The LaPorte Police Department is assembling its own group of officers trained and equipped to safely handle the most dangerous situations.

An emergency response team is another step under Mayor Tom Dermody to fully restore a once depleted force.

“We’ve committed as a cornerstone that we’re going to have a safe community,” he said.

Police Chief Paul Brettin said nine officers have been chosen to serve on the ERT and will start training next month.

Brettin said funding is being pursued to purchase equipment like night vision goggles, ballistic vests, helmets, tear gas and wireless phones to negotiate with hostage takers and other sources of major threat.

Federal grants, private donations and other sources of funding are being pursued to meet the over $100,000 startup costs.

“The need is there and we’ve fallen behind on that need,” he said.

Brettin said the department used to have an ERT but it was disbanded several years ago.

He said equipment used by ERT’s for added protection is no longer safe to use after five years and decision makers then felt the city didn’t have the money to restock.

Ever since, Brettin said the department has relied on emergency response officers from the LaPorte County Sheriff’s Office and Michigan City.

He said the advantage of having an ERT here is quicker and guaranteed response.

Brettin said there’s always a chance outside departments won’t have adequate resources to provide at a moment’s notice if they’re experiencing their own high demand.

He said officers lacking skills and tools to effectively deal with those situations would still respond but at a greater risk to themselves.

“It’s a lot safer to take a trained team in there,” he said.

Brettin said ERT members would also go out and arrest individuals wanted for major felonies or with history of extreme violence.

Right now, Brettin said warrant sweeps in LaPorte are done by the two other local police agencies with help from the U.S. Marshal’s Office.

He said more sweeps would occur in LaPorte from the department here having its own ERT to use at its discretion.

“We have too many high risk warrants individuals in our community. We need to be knocking doors, knocking them in and removing people that do not want to live their lives appropriately and safely in our community,” Dermody said.

The police department is back to having more than 40 officers after years of struggling with manpower, which dropped to nearly 30 officers more than a year ago.

Significant pay raises were also given to help maintain the numbers.

Brettin said the goal is to active the ERT this summer.

“We got the officers who are interested. We’re just waiting for the green light,” he said.

SPORTS

From the Bleachers

COLUMN BY KURT MARGGRAF IN CHICAGO

While I’m not sure how

long I’ve been writing this column, I am sure of one thing: The week after the “big NFL game” is the slowest week in sports (maybe one day, someone will be able to explain why the NFL doesn’t want everyone to call their big game the S*#+r Bowl). At least the sports world had the Olympics; however, as I mentioned last week, they failed to capture my attention this year.

Most other years, pitchers and catchers are reporting to spring training, but this year, the powers that be can’t agree on how to split up the big pot of money, so spring training has been delayed for at least one week. The NBA tries to fill the void with their all-star game but the highlight of the all-star weekend is historically the slam dunk contest and it seems like the “high flyers” no longer want to participate. This year’s contest was particularly uninspired and it seems most of the big-name players now prefer to participate in the three-point shooting contest. For a few years now, the local NHL team has not been interesting and has done more to drive fans away than attract them.

Generally, I’m really in a good mood; however, the thing that’s been consistently bothering me is the fact that the owners of baseball teams can’t work out a deal with the players. The sport brings in so much money that there should be plenty to go around. Greed seems to be the only reason the two sides can’t reach an agreement. While the rich players and even richer owners are squabbling over a few dollars, many people who aren’t nearly as wealthy are suffering. Some friends of mine rented a home in Arizona so they could attend some spring training games. There are concession workers, groundskeepers, and tons of other peripheral jobs that will go unfilled because an agreement can’t be reached. I’m afraid that baseball, the sport I love, is going to be made irrelevant if the participants can’t get their act together.

For years, I’ve felt that there should be a third party at the negotiating table for Major League Baseball. The people who foot the bill are not represented at all and if they were, I’ll bet the cost of a ticket wouldn’t be so sky high. Wouldn’t it be nice if regular people could bring their families to a game and get a hotdog and a beer or a soda, and not have to maximize their credit card in order to do it? Come on guys, get your acts together and settle this labor dispute so we can hear the announcers say “play ball” without missing any of the regular season.

I just saw that a young lady on the team playing against the USA’s soccer team scored three goals...for the wrong team. Talk about a bad day.

Bill Waterston said, “You know, Hobbes, some days, even my lucky rocket ship underpants don’t help.” Talk to you next week. Peace, love, and happiness.

Another Bison stampede on Hardwood

BY STAN MADDUX

The boys’ basketball team from New Buffalo continued its season long stampede over their opponents. Parmley led a balanced attack with 19 points, followed by Anderson with 17 points. Mitchell and Lijewski each added 16 points.

The Bison (16-1) defeated Lawrence 91-30 at home Friday, Feb. 18.

The game was never in doubt for New Buffalo, which has notched several 50-point victories and twice scored over 100 points in a game.

A baseline three point shot from Anthony Anderson followed by a short jump shot by Anthony Lijewski gave the Bison a 28-6 lead with less than a minute to play in the first quarter.

Jeremiah Mitchell was the catalyst when 18 of the next 20 points were scored by the Bison.

Mitchell converted a steal into a driving lay-up before later nailing a three-point shot and capped off his run with a driving lay-up from a steal at half court. The sharp shooting Anderson than caught fire by sinking three consecutive shots from beyond the three point arch within a short period of time to make the score 58-12 just before halftime.

New Buffalo also began the third quarter in spectacular fashion when Mitchell, before his feet hit the floor out of bounds, threw a one-handed pass to Kaden Parmley for a three-point bucket.

Anderson then hit another three point shot.

The final points of the game were scored when Zack Forker converted an offensive rebound into a lay-up. Mark Shaw and Ryan Vinson contributed 11 and nine points respectively. Head coach Nate Tripp said he was happy with the performance of players like Parmley, Shaw and Anderson. He also dished out compliments to Landon Haskins for his play on defense. “This was a good game,” he said. Tripp said providing his players with extra incentive were expressions of what he described as “unsportsmanlike conduct” from Lawrence, which was apparently not happy with the hard style of play from New Buffalo throughout the game.

Other teams have also let their hard feelings known about New Buffalo not letting up after reaching a huge second half lead.

Tripp said he’s only trying to teach his players to give 100% every minute to prepare for a possible deep run in the post season.

“The players were pretty fired up. They’ve learned to play with sportsmanship. They’ve learned to play with pride. They’ve learned to love the game and love every second on the court. They’ve learned to take it like men when they lose. They played great basketball tonight,” he said.

Bison ranked nationwide in scoring

BY STAN MADDUX

New Buffalo is one of the smallest school districts in Michigan; however, when it comes to scoring, the high school the Michigan High School Athletic Association power rankings, which are based largely on strength of schedule. “Now ninth in the entire nation, basketball team is one of the giants nationwide.

According to MaxPreps, New Buffalo is No. 9 among all schools in the entire country in scoring at 83.3 points a game. The Bison (16-1) run a highoctane offense, with players who can run, shoot from all distances and score points off steals and other turnovers.

Head coach Nate Tripp said that, after making it to the regional last season, he knew his senior laden team would be very good; however, he didn’t expect the players to blast off like a rocket, perhaps, heading to places never reached before in the solar system.

“I really expected to us to be kind of hit and miss as we installed a new defense and I expected us to take our lumps and just kind of navigate our way through the season while working toward the districts. It’s been really incredible how the guys responded to everything since day one,” he said.

The Bison seem to have become even better since beginning the season with a victory over Class A Sturgis.

Recently, the Bison were No. 1 ranked in Class D. Currently, they hold the No. 2 ranking, according to that’s incredible. You can say we’re ninth in the state, and it would be amazing, but to say we’re ninth in the entire nation in scoring, it’s surreal for sure,” Tripp said. The core players are Kaden Parmley, Jeremiah Mitchell, Mark Shaw, Anthony Lijewski, Ryan Vinson, Zack Forker, and Anthony Anderson. The mission for the team is bringing home the first state title in New Buffalo in basketball since 1963.

Senior Zack Forker seemed excited about the team being in the Top 10 nationwide for scoring but said the real prize is scaling the top of Mt. Everest in basketball during the post season.

“Nothing else matters,” he said.

“What’s really cool about our team is our coaching staff, our players realize that if we don’t pull through in the playoffs the regular season was really for naught,” Tripp said.

MaxPreps is an online information gathering service for high school sports nationwide. Despite losing two starting players to injury and sickness, the boys’ basketball team from New Buffalo easily improved to 17-1 on the season Tuesday, Feb. 22

The Bison, ranked No. 2 in Class D, beat Michigan Lutheran on the road 95 to 52.

Ryan Vinson was out with the flu and Mark Shaw sat out the game with a sprained ankle suffered on the hardwood last week.

Head coach Nate Tripp said his remaining players didn’t miss a beat.

“The starting unit that we had last night came out extremely hard. Very purposed and determined,” he said.

The Bison jumped out to a 14 point lead at the end of the first quarter then led by 25 points heading into the final period.

Tripp complimented the play of Anthony Lijewski and Zack Forker, who stepped up with 22 points and 20 points respectively.

The 6’ 9” Forker was 10 for 12 in shooting from the floor.

He also grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked four shots.

Tripp also raved about the continued sensational play of Jeremiah Mitchell, who scored 21 points and grabbed 14 rebounds.

Mitchell also dished out nine assists.

“Every game he tends to get better and better and better,” Tripp said.

New Buffalo hosts Eau Claire Friday, Feb. 25.

The Beavers (13-4) are ranked No. 14 in Class D under the Michigan High School Athletic Association power rankings based largely on strength of schedule.

The Bison defeated Eau Claire last month 85-76.

“Eau Claire is going to be a really tough game. They’re very quick. They match up with us very well speed wise,” Tripp said.

Bison continue to roll without key players

BY STAN MADDUX

Tripp said he expects Vinson and Shaw to be back on the court against the Beavers.

Kaden Parmley should break the New Buffalo High School boys’ basketball all-time scoring record Friday night after tying the mark against Michigan Lutheran.

Parmley, a starter since his freshman year, has 1,255 career points.

Mike Nowak, who has held the record for more than 30 years, is expected to be in attendance.

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La Lumiere improved its chances of being invited again to the national high school basketball tournament with a blowout victory at home Tuesday, Feb. 22.

The Lakers, who went into the game ranked fifth in the nation, defeated Spire Academy 111 to 58.

La Lumiere, which was up by three points half way through the second quarter, turned on the jets and several slam dunks later went into halftime with a 15-point lead.

A dunk after catching a pass above the rim by 6’ 1” guard Jeremy Fears, Jr. seemed to ignite the Lakers.

Following that spectacular play came points from a short turn around jump shot by 6’ 7” forward Taj Manning and three consecutive buckets from beyond the three point line by 6’ 0” guard Aden Holloway.

A 6’ 10” center Kebba Nije ended the first half scoring with a three-point baseline jumper at the buzzer.

University of Notre Dame bound J.J. Starling was the catalyst to start the second half.

Lakers storm to victory

BY STAN MADDUX

The 6’ 4” guard scored on consecutive driving lay-ups then nailed a three point shot to give the Lakers a 25 point lead early in the third quarter.

The lead topped 30 points on another three point bucket from Starling, who finished the game with 18 points.

More slam dunks came from Manning and Nije; then, in the fourth quarter a steal at half court and dunk by Starling gave La Lumiere at 99-50 advantage.

Manning will play next year for Kansas State University, while Nije is bound for Penn State University.

Head coach Pat Holmes said the surge followed some adjustments on both sides of the court.

“When the ball moves, we have the ability to really make shots and, defensively, I thought us kind of switching off ball screens made it more difficult for them to get off clean shots,” he said.

Holloway was the leading scorer for the Lakers with 26 points.

La Lumiere improved to 20-4 on the season.

Holmes said he likes his team’s chances of being invited to the Geico Nationals in Ft. Myers, Florida.

The tournament in late March and early April features just eight teams.

“We’re trying not to get too far ahead of ourselves. We’re in great position to get a bid. We just have to finish strong and take care of business,” he said.

La Lumiere won the national tournament in 2017.