Saugatuck/Douglas Commercial Record

Douglas Beach closure questioned

Douglas Beach closure questioned

Editorial StaffFeb 23, 20223 min read

BY SCOTT SULLIVAN EDITOR Why are Douglas Beach gates locked? Some neighbors are asking Douglas City Council. The city last year spent $164,754.98 to rebuild high water-damaged stairs and stabilized the bluff leading down to Lake Michigan, yet citing nearby…

Drunk who rammed Douglas cruiser charged

Editorial StaffFeb 23, 20223 min read

BY SCOTT SULLIVAN EDITOR A South Haven man reported driving recklessly in Saugatuck who then struck a speed limit sign, rammed a Douglas police car, crashed into another vehicle, then was found hiding in a nearby field saw a sorry…

Blue Star

Blue Star

Editorial StaffFeb 23, 20224 min read

By Scott SullivanEditorGlamour“Know your audience” is a communications axiom. Say you want to sell lawncare products. What better way than send out mass emails peddling “2022’s Most Glamorous Cities in the U.S.”?“Many of us dream of a ‘Real Housewives’ lifestyle,”…

Neighbors question Wicks Park plan

Neighbors question Wicks Park plan

Editorial StaffFeb 23, 20225 min read

By Scott SullivanEditorA Wicks Park Bar & Grill request to expand operations behind its downtown Saugatuck restaurant into a speakeasy with backyard patio ran into neighbor objections during a Saugatuck City Planning Commission public hearing Feb. 17.Christine Murphy Pierce wants…

On ice

On ice

Editorial StaffFeb 23, 20221 min read

Saugatuck boys avenge earlier loss to Clippers on hardwood

Editorial StaffFeb 23, 20222 min read

By Jason WesseldykSports Editor SAUGATUCK—A win over visiting Martin on Tuesday, Feb. 15, would not only give the Saugatuck boys basketball team a measure of revenge for an earlier loss to the Clippers, but it was also mark the Trailblazers’…

Mike’s Musings: High cost of energy fuels inflation

Mike’s Musings: High cost of energy fuels inflation

Editorial StaffFeb 23, 20223 min read

Inflation is at a 40-year high in the United States. Prices that were stable a year have taken a 7.5% jump. Going to the grocery store has put a strain on most of our pocketbooks. Used cars are 41 percent…

Life as Performance Art

Life as Performance Art

Editorial StaffFeb 23, 20225 min read

Marinell Barretta of north-ern Italy died at age 70. That part, with the mortality rate holding steady at 100 per-cent, was not surprising. What followed was.Local authorities found her mummified remains Feb. 4 some two and a half years after…

City dead-ends proposed park temp road

City dead-ends proposed park temp road

Editorial StaffFeb 16, 20224 min read

BY SCOTT SULLIVAN EDITOR A proposed temporary construction road through Cook Park won a cool reception from Saugatuck City Council at its Feb. 9 workshop. Members at their regular meeting five days later OK’d a shorter access largely through Butler…

Douglas OKs $20K for public murals

Douglas OKs $20K for public murals

Editorial StaffFeb 16, 20222 min read

BY SCOTT SULLIVAN EDITOR Look for murals on the north and west walls of the Lake Vista SuperValu grocery store and under the Blue Star Bridge after Douglas City Council Feb. 7 agreed to share $20,000 worth of costs with…

Blue Star

Blue Star

Editorial StaffFeb 16, 20224 min read

By WinkKittenFinal FrontierThink you have free-floating angst? The idea of black holes roaming interstellar space has me almost as anxious as my black kitten lying atop my computer keyboard.An international team of researchers say they’ve confirmed that a possible microlensing…

Life as Performance Art

Life as Performance Art

Editorial StaffFeb 16, 20225 min read

It’s the time of year when aspiring writers get out pens and big legal pads of lined yellow paper. Others find their grandparents’ manual Underwood or Royal type-writer, spray WD-40 on the ribbon to refresh it after dec-ades in the…

Mike’s Musings: Release Assange now, he has endured enough punishment

Mike’s Musings: Release Assange now, he has endured enough punishment

Editorial StaffFeb 16, 20223 min read

There are so many innocent people jailed for crimes they haven’t committed. I worked for a time, helping to expose some that were incarcerated, yet innocent. One of those, a man I truly admire is Julian Assange, and I hope…

Saugatuck girls drop close game

Editorial StaffFeb 16, 20222 min read

By Jason WesseldykSports Editor SAUGATUCK—Playing for the third time in four nights, the Saugatuck girls basketball team dropped a 40-37 decision to visiting Galesburg-Augusta on Friday, Feb. 11.Down 30-26 after three quarters, the Trailblazers had the opportunity to tie the…

Let it Snow!

Let it Snow!

Editorial StaffFeb 16, 20221 min read

Pause global warming and enjoy while we can what comes naturally during Michigan Februaries. The Brown family did as much exploring and sliding on Mt. Baldhead Park/Oval Beach dunes last week. (Photo by Scott Sullivan)

Fifth Blue Star pot shop planned

Fifth Blue Star pot shop planned

Editorial StaffFeb 16, 20223 min read

By Scott SullivanEditorSoon there may be five marijuana providers near each other on Blue Star Highway.The Saugatuck Township Planning Commission Jan. 24 approved a special land use application from Be Positive, Best Buds to create a new dispensary on 4.86…

Douglas seeks to clear PCB block holdup

Douglas seeks to clear PCB block holdup

Editorial StaffFeb 9, 20225 min read

BY SCOTT SULLIVAN EDITOR Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall” has nothing on the ex-Douglas Haworth Plant. Melching Demolition, which in December began razing the 150,300 square-foot ex-factory and two utility buildings above ground at 200 Blue Star Hwy.,…

Township Defranco operations coordinator

Township Defranco operations coordinator

Editorial StaffFeb 9, 20222 min read

BY SCOTT SULLIVAN EDITOR Resident and planning commission member Daniel DeFranco has been hired by the Saugatuck Township Board as operations coordinator on a month-to-month basis to fill the staffing gap left when members parted ways suddenly with ex-manager Joe…

Township weighs multi-color brand

Editorial StaffFeb 9, 20222 min read

BY SCOTT SULLIVAN EDITOR Could the above be Saugatuck Township’s new logo? The board, after close to six months of deliberating, was slated Wednesday, Feb. 9 — too late for this week’s Commercial Record print deadline — to decide. The…

City ranks Felkers, Main projects tops

Editorial StaffFeb 9, 20224 min read

BY SCOTT SULLIVAN EDITOR So little money, so many needs. Douglas City Council, not alone facing said situation, has prioritized a Main Street water main and Felkers water, road and sewer issues tops amongeight projects members  have discussed addressing in…