On ice
Yes, climate change students have shown average Great Lakes water temperatures rising continously. Along the Lake Michigan shore, including at Saugatuck’s Oval Beach, picturesque (if dangerous to walk on or near) offshore icebergs began forming soon after the new year.…
Township, first-year manager part ways
By Scott SullivanEditorSaugatuck Township is once again seeking a new manager after the board and Joe Frey agreed mutually to part ways.The move was announced by the board as “personnel matter” on its Jan. 12 meeting agenda, almost a year…
Former plant demo ‘blocked’
Demolition of the former Haworth plant at 200 Blue Star Hwy. continues, as shown, but the pace has slowed reports city manager Rich LaBombard, while Douglas awaits U.S. Enivronmental Protection Agency approval for a plan to manage cement block material…
Blue Star event center eyes June opening
BY SCOTT SULLIVAN EDITOR Owners of Holland’s Port 393 plan this June to open a new Ivy House event center on the 7-acre former Bloomin’ on Blue Star garden center at 3291 Blue Star Hwy. “Ivy House,” said Candice Grant,…
White named Saugatuck project manager
BY SCOTT SULLIVAN EDITOR Deputy Clerk Kate White has a new job in Saugatuck City Hall: Project Manager. White, who started there as a graduate student and summer intern June 14, 2021, never left, advancing to deputy clerk responsible for,…
Longtime Butler Owner Had Vivid Life
BY SCOTT SULLIVAN EDITOR Patti Beery is blessed and cursed with the legacy of her father Verse White, who died Dec. 10 at age 90 after owning The Butler restaurant … well, forever. Blessed because his story is rich, cursed…
Obituary: Phyllis Cassady
Phyllis Cassady, 94 Phyllis Evelyn Cassady (Haraburda) of Douglas passed away Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022 in Holland Hospital. She was born Feb, 14, 1927 (Valentine’s Day) in Grand Rapids, Michigan to Stanley and Marie (Anuskiewicz) Haraburda. Mom graduated from Sacred…
Crash Corner
Are Blue Star lights warranted? BY SCOTT SULLIVAN EDITOR A traffic analysis conducted by Allegan County Road Commission consultants shows traffic volumes may warrant signal lights at corners of Blue Star Highway and Old Allegan Road, aka “Crash Corner,” and…
Year in review: 2021 one last time
By Scott SullivanEditorJust because we’re a week into 2022 doesn’t mean our need to fill space as result of the news-starved holiday season is quite over.Last week’s “2021 Rear in Your View” extended into mid-July, i.e. wait, there’s more. Let’s…
Gerrymandering lives, county chair complains
By Scott SullivanEditorAllegan County Commission chair Jim Storey (R-Holland) is not impressed by redistricting that divvies the county among three U.S. Congressional districts and places Saugatuck-Douglas in a state House district that truly resembles a salamander.The latter (see map) slithers…
Fennville to seek public safety millage
Fennville will seek a 4-mill levy for public safety in a special May election to cover rising police, fire and ambulance costs, Commercial Record correspondent Jim Hayden reports on his Bicycle Base Fennville blog.The city commission, of which he is…
Township weighs dog park upgrades
By Scott SullivanEditorSaugatuck Township Manager Joe Frey was scheduled Wednesday to pitch the parks commission on a plan to expand services and trail access at its 6-acre Tails ‘n’ Trails Dog Park, 6359 134th Ave.Opened in 2004 thanks to a…
Obituary: Jeffrey Richards, 75
Dr. Jeffrey E. Richards of St. Joseph passed away at 75 from COVID complications on Friday, Dec. 31, 2021.He was born on May 17, 1946 to Donna (nee Finnegan) and Edward Joseph Richards in Plymouth. He attended a one-room school…
Maggie’s Pantry
By Maggie ConklinMakin’ BaconMy dear husband has annual health checkups with local boy/now man done good, Dr. Jason Meyers,They were perusing my husband’s current blood work when Dr. Meyers noticed the total cholesterol scores. “Gee, your cholesterol has always been…
Require politicians to first work in private sector
By Mike WilcoxPublisherHere’s a novel suggestion: require persons running for Congressional seats to spend a few years in the private sector.This idea was presented to me a few weeks ago, and the more I thought about it the more it…
Township OKs $358K in 2022 road work
By Scott SullivanEditorThere will be a whole lotta crack sealing going on this summer with the Saugatuck Township Board last month approving work orders for an estimated $358,000 worth of road improvements in 2022.The Allegan County Road Commission will seek…
Life as Performance Art
By G.C. StoppelI read Mike Wilcox’s father’s reflections on small town life with delight.I grew up in a city of some 30,000. After ordination I moved to a church in a hamlet of 92 people, with one gas station, one…
Thanks for column on gratitude
To the editor,Bravo and congratulations to columnist G.C. Stoppel for daring to share your thoughts/observations on the topic of expressing gratitude!It seems like this “old-fashioned” courtesy has simply been discarded by the younger generation(s). “Just give me whatever, because I…
Letter to the Editor: More guns piece made no sense
To the editor,It seems that a day can no longer go by that I don’t get angry about the “More Guns” opinion piece (by publisher’s son and IT support person Jordan Wilcox) that ran in The Commercial Record recently.Oxford shows…
Blue Star
By Scott SullivanEditorSpace JunkAstronomers, reports The Daily Beast, can’t agree whether the “GN-z11 flash” was a gamma-ray burst from the universe’s infancy or reflected light off junk orbiting the earth.Last year a Chinese team working in Hawaii glimpsed something in…
