Latest News
Township water line work underway
By Scott Sullivan Editor Saugatuck Township started work Monday, March 17, to replace a nearly 100-year-old, 2-inch water line serving Riverside Drive and Dugout Road. “This is a legacy project dating back to the 1990s,” said township manager Daniel DeFranco.…
Ferry watermain work begins
By Scott Sullivan Editor The early arrival of springlike weather continues to aid Douglas efforts to reopen Ferry Street by Memorial Day weekend. The city shut down north-south Ferry between West Shore Drive and Campbell Road Aug. 2 last year…
OPS sets interviews for superintendent candidates
By Jason WesseldykSports Editor The search for the next superintendent of Otsego Public Schools continues to move forward.On Thursday, March 13, members of the Otsego School Board met to review the 22 individuals who had applied for the position. Deeming…
PHS presents ‘Tuck Everlasting: The Musical’
By Jason WesseldykSports Editor If you had the opportunity to live forever, would you take it?That’s the question at the heart of “Tuck Everlasting: The Musical,” which Plainwell High School will perform from Friday, March 28, through Sunday, March 30.The…
State Champs
It was a good day for area swimmers and divers at the Division 3 State Finals on Saturday, March 15.Otsego’s Liam Smith (left) won titles in the 200 IM and the 100 butterfly, while Plainwell’s Sam Harper claimed the 500…
Sports
Blazers fall to P-W in regional semis
By Jason WesseldykSports EditorGRANDVILLE—All things, no matter how good, must eventually come to an end.For the Saugatuck girls basketball team, the end came in a Division 3 regional semifinal on Monday, March 10.Taking on top-ranked and unbeaten Pewamo-Westphalia, the Trailblazers…
Otsego’s Smith capture two more state championships
By Jason WesseldykSports Editor YPSILANTI—People collect all sorts of things, like baseball cards, stamps, coins and rocks.Otsego junior Liam Smith? He collects state championships.In the Division 3 Boys Swim & Dive State Finals on Saturday, March 15, Smith won both…
Softball Season Preview:
By Jason WesseldykSports Editor ALLEGANAfter the Allegan softball team saw its 2024 season ended early due to a lack of healthy players, the Tigers are back for the 2025 campaign.And coach Luis Perez has some high hopes for this year’s…
Three Gobles players receive honors
By John RaffelCorrespondent GOBLES — Three Gobles players received all-conference honors this season.Picking up first-team honors were junior Jayden Otis who averaged 14 points and 8.5 rebounds a game and Aden Newberry who was at 11 points and nine boards…
Mendon girls bounced in regionals by Reading
By Steve Eldridge CONCORD —It was a tough finish to the season for the Mendon girls after winning a district championship last week. The Lady Hornets traveled to Concord Monday night, squaring off against the Reading Rangers in their regional…
Columns
Blue Star
By Scott SullivanEditorDadDon’t you hate columns that start “Don’t you hate …”? Pick your poison. We all hate, say, robocalls. So how come there are so many?I call folks who lean on tropes like these faux curmudgeons. A real one…
Mike’s Musings: Let’s not spoil special relationship with Canada
President Trump likes to say his favorite word is “tariff.” He hopes to use the word to force corporations to locate in the United States, instead of other countries where they have tax and trade advantages. More corporations mean more…
Life as Performance Art
BY G.C. STOPPELFew hold party politics and politicians in high esteem. Campaigns grow longer and more expensive and polarization fiercer. Consensus and compromise are no longer goals; they are dirty words.The last presidential election was packed with negative ads and…
Out and About: Clocks, family entertainment, and travel season
By now everyone should have their clocks set to the correct time. You’ll notice that you are probably getting up in the dark and watching the sunset around 7 PM. It would be nice if this could have been the…
May I Walk with You? BRIDE OF CHRIST
Ever notice that when Christians speak of the human soul that we always refer to it in the feminine gender? We use the pronoun she and not he, even when we speak of the soul of a male. All of…
Obituaries
Obituary: Yvonne Joyce Koppenaal
Yvonne Joyce Koppenaal, age 91, passed away surrounded by family on Feb. 21, 2025.Growing up, Yvonne entered the workforce at age 15, working as a “pinky” at Holland Hospital. She eventually began a long retail career in Saugatuck, where she…
Obituary: Mary Ellen Stofer
Mary Ellen Stofer, age 75, of Three Rivers, passed away peacefully on February 16, 2025 at Rose Arbor Hospice House in Kalamazoo. She was born on April 22, 1949 in South Bend, Indiana the daughter of the late Irwin Warkentien…
Obituary: Yvonne Joyce Koppenaal
Yvonne Joyce Koppenaal, age 91, passed away surrounded by family on Feb. 21, 2025.Growing up, Yvonne entered the workforce at age 15, working as a “pinky” at Holland Hospital. She eventually began a long retail career in Saugatuck, where she…
Obituary: Linda L. Wilson (Meade)
Linda L. Wilson (Meade), 79, of Allegan, Michigan, passed away peacefully Monday, February 17, 2025, with family by her side. Born December 28, 1945, in Allegan, Michigan, she was the daughter of the late Lynn and Lillian (Waanders) Meade.Linda was…
Obituary: Gerald Franklin Nye
Gerald Franklin Nye 85 yrs of age passed through the gates of heaven on Feb 11, 2025 in Traverse city at Munson Medical Center.Born in Douglas community hospital and raised on the farm in Ganges the son of Roy A.…
