Life as Performance Art
Conspiracy theorists have taken time off from party, gender and the usual run of politics to resummon and oldie-but-goodie, UFOs.Given the rancor and stridency such said-hot-buttonConsidering some of the other hot-button topics of sure to generate ranting and rancor, flying…
Mike’s Musings: One Vote Can Change Everything – remember the tie vote in Hopkins
If anyone still doubts whether one vote matters, they need only look to what happened last Tuesday in Hopkins, a school district in Allegan County. In what some say was a record turnout, a bond issue did not pass because…
Trailblazers split twill bill against host Martin
By Jason WesseldykSports EditorMARTIN—After letting a late lead slip away in a tough extra-inning loss, Saugatuck responded in a big way.The Trailblazers dropped a 3-2 heartbreaker to Martin in eight innings in the opener of a SAC doubleheader Tuesday, but…
Blue Star
By Scott SullivanEditorCracking CodesThe mugger who demanded “What’s the frequency, Kenneth?” while assaulting CBS News Anchor Dan Rather Oct. 4, 1986, was only identified eight years later as William Tager.Rather, having wrapped up another broadcast, was walking to his Manhattan…
Saugatuck names Ondersma new DPW head
By Scott SullivanEditorThe City of Saugatuck is pleased appointed Mark Ondersma its new Director of Public Works, with a start date of May 26.Ondersma, who replaces 9-year DPW head Scott Herbert, brings nearly two decades of municipal and military public…
Douglas manager seeks clearer contract terms
By Scott SullivanEditorDouglas City Manager Lisa Nocerini asked council Monday to review and perhaps revise her contract re:
Tangram: completing pieces in building boom
By Scott SullivanEditorChicago builder Johnny Walker — after nine years as a self-employed real estate investor focusing on evolving assets, per his LinkedIn website page — and his family fell in love, as many do, with Saugatuck.“My wife was in…
Life as Performance Art
It turns out I’m a rarity: of all the last or surnames in the U.S., Stoppel ranks at 52,970th from the top of the charts. Still, with some 6.2 million Stoppels, it’s not surprising to discover at least two more…
Mike’s Musings: RIP Spirit, you were mocked by many, but this frequent traveler loved you
The news that Spirit Airlines has shut down operations after more than three decades in the sky feels like the end of an era—and not just for bargain travelers. For this frequent Spirit traveler, the news was devastating. I woke…
Saugatuck scores victory over archrival Fennville
By Jason WesseldykSports EditorFENNVILLE—Rivalry matches tend to bring out tight, competitive play.And the girls soccer matchup between Fennville and Saugatuck on Monday, April 27, was no exception.In the end, it was visiting Saugatuck that came away with a 3-1 win,…
Blue Star
By Scott SullivanEditorOriginsEtymology, a meal in itself, studies the origins of words and the way their meanings change throughout history.For instance the line “don we now our gay apparel” from the 18th-century Christmas carol “Deck the Halls” has different connotations…
What the Canary saw
By Scott SullivanEditor Who’s the money behind a 40-condominium Enclave proposed on 19.3 acres — more than two of them state-protected wetlands, within sight of Saugatuck Township’s first-ever public sculpture? RoundaboutThe 11-foot-tall yellow steel “Canary in a Coal Mine” perches…
Life as Performance Art
The U.S. Postal Service announced April 9 first-class stamps would rise from 78 to 82 cents July 12. Not good news but inflation is touching everything.The problem is people are buying fewer stamps because we are sending fewer first-class letters.…
Mike’s Musings: Let’s keep data centers in industrial areas
If solar panels and windmills weren’t enough, the newest intrusion to our lands and quality of life is the need to grow the number of data centers in America and Michigan exponentially. And that has created a frenzy among the…
Saugatuck boys dominate, girls edged late in tri-meet at Gobles
By Jason WesseldykSports EditorGOBLES—The Saugatuck boys track team turned in a dominant performance Monday, while the girls squad came up just short in a tightly contested tri-meet at Gobles.The Trailblazer boys earned a pair of decisive wins, defeating Gobles 88-48…
Blue Star
By Scott SullivanEditorZombie Fish“Zombie” fish swim with fellow siscowet lake trout, in cold depths of Lake Superior, per the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.The part-living salmon swim ice-water mansions with plumper kin as if reborn from the sunken Edmund Fitzgerald’s 29…
‘Wild Heart’ war manifests again
By Scott SullivanEditorThe Saugatuck Township Planning Commission March 17 OK’d builder/developer Scott Bosgraaf renovating no-longer-used Pine Trail Camp cabins on 4.3 acres of more than 20 scooped up last summer by Holland recycling magnate Jeff Padnos.The plot high atop bluffs…
Life as Performance Art
History fascinates me. Not so much timelines we learned to create in school, nor memorizing dates, names, battles, et.al. All that mattered but I best liked finding connections between them and how things worked out.The late Perry Miller, who wrote…
Mike’s Musings: Artemis II gives me hope that Mars colony is possible
Artemis II isn’t just another spaceflight, it’s a statement about who we are, what we value, and whether we still have the will to push beyond the edge of the known.When astronauts swung around the far side of the Moon—the…
NFL star again gives to city parks
By Scott Sullivan Editor Saugatuck’s once-anonymous $100,000 Village Square Park donor is famous NFL quarterback Kirk Cousins. He and wife Julie, both Saugatuck residents, have given to the community before, helping build playgrounds in Douglas parks — now it’s Saugatuck’s…
