Smiles bright at Harvest Ride
By Scott SullivanEditorSaturday’s 11th annual Lakeshore Harvest Ride drew some 600 riders to raise $40,000 for the planned 20-mile Blue Star Trail from Saugatuck to South Haven.From Douglas’s Schultz Park bikers took Riverside southeast to 62nd Street west, a 126th…
Douglas Hall in scrape
Maintaining historic structures isn’t cheap. Douglas’s century-plus-old former Dutcher’s Lodge/now City Hall last week received sanding and power washing on its south (facing Center Street) and east (facing Union) walls in preparation for a council-OK’d fresh paint coat, which given…
Saugatuck boys cross places fourth at Holly Invite
By Jason WesseldykSports EditorHOLLY—Four members of the Saugatuck boys cross country team earned medals at the Holly Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 17, by placing in the top 35.Those solid individual efforts helped the Trailblazers place fourth in the 19-team field…
Life as Performance Art
Not too long ago some wise guy or girl came up with the nutty idea that there ought to be age limits on politicians. Just as here in Michigan and a few other states elected officials can be “termed out,” after…
Mike’s Musings: If only dreams of space flight were true
Watching a rocket launch into space never gets old for me. Last week I had the opportunity to view three nighttime launches, thanks to Space X’s aggressive launch schedule to send Starlink satellites in to space. Living on the Space…
Blue Star
By Scott Sullivan Editor New Home Muskegon. Last pancake house on Apple Avenue aka M-46. East-west cars streaming, tears, too much packing, 13 years here. The paper pulpit I’d helped start died largely of my doing. I’d picked up part-time…
Pet lovers seek to save Wishbone House
By Scott SullivanEditorWishbone House isn’t the fanciest place in Douglas. It fills an ex-video store at 165 Blue Star Hwy. selling thrift donations and, oh yes, 27 discarded cats seeking homes and love.Success for three staff who draw minimal pay…
Life as Performance Art
We were in Canada when the news came that Queen Elizabeth II had died. A friend and fellow Anglophile texted so I would know about it.A few hours later when Madame Dewey and I got back to our room and turned…
Mike’s Musings-Signs that keep us guessing
My son can attest to one of my biggest pet peaves- road signs that don’t make any sense. We drive a lot of miles together, and occasionally we find useless signs placed along roadways at taxpayers’ expense. I would be…
Life as Performance Art
King Charles I of England detested coffee, and especially coffee houses. If he had had his way, coffee would be forbidden in his realm, and coffee houses would slither into the recesses of history. It had nothing to do with the smell…
Mike’s Musings: Is this really you?
Believe it or not, one of the most requested additions readers seek in our newspapers is horoscopes. Unfortunately we just don’t have the space to publish a regular Horoscope column. However I came across this rather humorous (some would say…
Two Ryans at Saugatuck City Hall
BY SCOTT SULLIVAN EDITOR Saugatuck residents now have two Ryans in city hall. New planning, zoning and project management director Ryan Cummins has joined city manager Ryan Heise there. The job was listed paying $87,500 yearly. The city has also…
Arm legs for Blue Star Bridge Walk
Arm your legs for the 24th annual Labor Day Blue Star Bridge Walk Monday, Sept. 5, gathering in Douglas at 9 a.m. and ambling north to Saugatuck at 9:30. The not-so-grueling 0.19-kilometer (623-foot) stroll offers finisher’s certificates you can cherish…
Obituary: Helen Corlett Higgins, 97
Helen Corlett Higgins died peacefully on Aug. 22, 2022, at age 97.She and her husband Charles Wheaton Higgins (deceased 2015) raised four children, Charlie (Abby Huntoon), Beth (Rick Ramsson), Tom (Lucy) and Cathy (Tom Kamm). She was Nana to Sarah,…
Obituary: Robert Deets, 69
Robert “Bob” Deets, 69, of Fennville, MI passed away peacefully, surrounded by family on Aug. 5, 2022.Born Aug. 17, 1962, Bob had a gift of engaging in meaningful conversation; thoughtful, precise and caring. A loving man, he was always there…
Blue Star
By Scott SullivanEditorEnergyTwenty-four hours is a long time to stay alert riding tandem bike loops around Belle Isle. Sights, other bikers, spinning wheels, meal stops, varied becomes familiar. My friends’ crash convinced them this day and night’s ride was over.Mitchell,…
Music of the streets
Frank Banko, who claims he grew up in Cleveland near “Polka King Frankie Yankovic,” loves busking near Saugatuck’s downtown Butler Street Rose Gaden, offering accordion polka standards, French tunes evoking the Left Bank of Paris and more. He plied his…
Douglas developers step up
By Scott SullivanEditorLocal developer Dave Barker, scheduled for arraignment Sept. 8 on three felony allegations, is proposing a 90-unit Forest Gate condominiums on 13 acres at 485 Ferry St. west of the former Haworth plant and north of Northern Lights…
Saugatuck football falls to Buchanan
By Jason WesseldykSports Editor BUCHANAN—Junior Will Doucette had an impressive opening game for the Saugatuck football team.Carrying the ball 13 times, Doucette racked up 181 rushing yards—an average of 13.9 yards per carry—and three touchdowns against host Buchanan on Thursday,…
Life as Performance Art
JM Barrie, the author of Peter Pan, also wrote the script for a play, and later a movie, he called The Old Lady Shows her Medals. It is set right after World War One in London. The plot is disarmingly simple: an…
