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…
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…
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…
Pub Crawl spreads green through downtown streets
By Scott SullivanEditorSaturday passed for St. Paddy’s during Saugatuck’s downtown pub crawl March 15. Throngs o’ leprechauns — clad in shamrock shades, green sequined hats and Guinness beads — Irish jigged, jogged and staggered down early-sprouting streets.T’was windy out. “Aye,…
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…
Deadly duo leads Saugatuck past Fennville
By Jason WesseldykSports EditorBatman and Robin. Mario and Luigi. Snoopy and Charlie Brown. Those are some iconic duos.The Saugatuck girls basketball team has a terrific tandem of its own in junior guard Tali Laskowski and sophomore guard Mylah Simpson.The pair…
Blue Star
By Scott SullivanEditorPsychoGreat news on the crazy front. A new website aims to share knowledge and lead discussions about psychopathy, a disorder characterized by fearlessness, difficulty inhibiting behaviors plus severe lack of empathy and remorse.We all know psychopaths. Charles Manson,…
Birders flock to barnacle goose seen here
By Scott SullivanEditorBirders were abuzz about a barnacle goose seen and photographed in a Saugatuck Township field and along the Kalamazoo River last week..If it can be documented as a wild bird, likely having migrated here from Greenland or northeast…
Pier Cove Park improvements set
By Scott SullivanEditorWork to improve Pier Cove Park will start March 24 thanks to state grants and local matching funds.Ganges Township — with help from a $266,000 Michigan Department of Natural Resources Trust Fund grant, its own $65,500 match plus…
Douglas beefs up Beery Field charge
You’ll get twice the charge — but at a charge — from the Beery Field electric vehicle charging stations soon.The City of Douglas, which for five years has offered the service free east of the park’s restroom/storage building, will implement…
Life as Performance Art
A year ago, somewhere between Halloween and Thanksgiving, there was a slight crisis on the home front. It was during this time that Madame Dewey realized she was missing a stocking. The default go-to response at other dire moments…
Mike’s Musings: Pat’s legacy will endure for many years
I lost a good friend and co-worker last week. Pat Maurer, has been a part of the Clare County Review since 1983, first as a sales rep, then a writer, then editor and finally as owner. Along the way my…
Saugatuck beats Loy Norrix in regular-season finale
By Jason WesseldykSports EditorIt was a case of David vs. Goliath when Division 3 Saugatuck hosted Division 1 Loy Norrix in a girls basketball clash on Thursday, Feb. 27.And as happened in the original battle, David earned a convincing victory.Led…
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…
Blue Star
By Scott SullivanEditorOfficialI can’t tell you how pleased I am that President Donald Trump has named English America’s official language. Now politicians may actually speak it. Trouble is, there’s a flip side.To start, so long to “Saugatuck” and “Michigan” whose…
Douglas outdoor dining will return
By Scott SullivanEditorDouglas City Council — urged by 51 letters or emails to expand outdoor dining in public rights-of-way — agreed to do so Monday.Members at their last meeting Feb. 18 tabled doing so “for additional clarification,” city planning and…
Saugatuck courts state grant to upgrade courts
By Scott SullivanEditorSaugatuck, which last year replaced children’s playground equipment in Village Square Park, is now seeking funds fund to improve its tennis and basketball courts.City council Feb. 24 approved paying engineer Fleis & VandenBrink $3,600 to prepare a Michigan…
Life as Performance Art
American psychiatrist William Glasser, mid-1960s founder of Reality Therapy and author of “Choice Theoryy,” died more than a decade ago. He was never well received by followers of Freud, Jung and others in his field. According to one story, Glasser…
