Just What I Heard

Eddie Money rocks Jackson County Fair with patriotic tunes, old favorites

2011-08-09T08:43:00.000-07:00

Eddie Money serenaded the Jackson County Fair crowd with a blaring harmonica and fancy two-step Monday night, but he also reminded fans he has plenty of American soul left in his classic rock ’n’ roll.

People of all ages swayed back and forth harmoniously, many with hands on their hearts, as the singer-songwriter performed his contemporary single “One More Soldier Coming Home” midway through an energetic set at the grandstand.

“It’s 117 degrees in Baghdad last I checked — and this song is for our servicemen and (service)women in Afghanistan, Iraq and everywhere,” the 62-year-old rocker said.

The remainder of his set was a timewarp back to the 1980s when Money performed at the fair in 1987.

Top-40 hits such as “Walk on Water” and “Take Me Home Tonight” had 40somethings in the half-capacity crowd high-fiving and reminiscing of years gone by.

Kevin Lashley, 43, of Jackson remembers seeing Money play at the Jackson County Fair when he was in high school.

“My favorite has got to be ‘Two Tickets to Paradise,’ ” he said. “I still enjoy it. … Today’s rock, you can’t even understand the lyrics.” Money wasn’t just high on patriotism Monday, he had plenty of energy to rile up the crowd with his shirt half unbuttoned and his vocals blaring with youthfulness.

“Is it a party or what? I never did this for the money, I do it for you guys,” Money yelled. “That’s not totally true, I’ve got five kids at home so I’ll do whatever it takes to get out of the house.”

Bruce Todd, 59, of Jackson said he has yet to find a better musical experience than Money.

He said he has seen him perform live in Toledo, Detroit and Chicago, as well as in Jackson. He also owns every one of his CDs.

“I like Eddie Money because he’s really a good person with a heart of gold, and of course he knows how to sing,” Todd said.

Starship featuring Mickey Thomas opened for Money, drawing a standing ovation for a booming rendition of “We Built This City on Rock and Roll” to close their set.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on Aug. 9, 2011

Wildcat Garden has taken root with students in Albion

2011-08-04T08:46:00.000-07:00

Seeds planted by an Albion College professor and student have blossomed into a community of young women who aren’t afraid to get a little dirty or try new foods.

Behind Albion High School sits the Wildcat Garden, the brainchild of Albion College professor Trisha Franzen and senior sociology major Rachel Keener. The quarter-acre lot is home to more than 20 fruits and vegetables, as well as herbs and flowers

A hand-painted old headboard welcomes visitors into the landscape where fresh watermelons are almost ripe, several rows of corn are sprouting up and imaginations can run rampant under the hot summer sun.

What Franzen started with the help of Sandra Langston in 2006 — when she formed the Albion Girls Club to introduce her students to young Albion Public Schools girls — has grown into something that continues to get bigger and better with each passing year.

In 2010, Keener started a nutrition-based summer program through funds provided by the college’s Foundation for Undergraduate Research Scholarship. This summer, FURSCA has paid for her to stay in Albion and transform the garden.

“It’s been really amazing, and it helps that Trisha is a really good gardener and we started with a small garden last fall,” she said. “It’s a lot of work, but I’ve loved getting to know people in Albion better and spending the summer here.”

Keener said she has always enjoyed gardening, but she never envisioned she would spend 40-plus hours a week pulling weeds and cultivating community relationships.

“We like to joke because on Thursdays after we are done out here we have to go to faculty meetings for the research program, and we always come covered in dirt and everyone else has nice clothes on,” she said.

The Albion Community Foundation is an active donor to the cause, helping fund raised beds that run upward of $100 each, as well as seeds and compost soil.

The plot also has created a setting where it’s chic to talk about nutrition and local food sources.

Keener said about two-thirds of students in Albion receive free or reduced-cost lunches, meaning many have limited access to fresh fruits and vegetables.

Sinking her teeth into a tiny, bright red strawberry full of seeds last week, Albion High School senior Sharla Rider said eating homegrown fruits and vegetables has greater appeal over commercialized products.

“The store-bought were hard and not as sweet, just not as juicy when we compared them,” she said of the homegrown strawberries.

Several Albion Public Schools administrators have made frequent visits to the garden, and Keener encourages people to join in the project with “open sessions” from 7 to 8:30 p.m. every Tuesday.

Franzen said it will be tough to replace Keener’s dedication to the cause once she graduates, but her goal is to sell fresh produce at the Albion farmers market and even high school football games in the future.

“I think overall people are really thrilled that we’re doing this,” she said
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on Aug. 4, 2011

Village of Concord may offer to fill residents' pools for a price -- after village president was chastised for filling his pool without permission

2011-07-29T08:22:00.000-07:00

Filling pools with local fire hydrants in Concord should no longer invoke strong public retribution if one fire board member has his way.

Kevin Lovitt said filling pools could instead be a way for firefighters to get much-needed hands-on training with the hoses and potentially profit the village.

“I’d like to see our village adopt (a new policy) and say we’re not going to tell anybody they can’t do this, but we’re going to set up parameters and you’re going to pay for the services and the village would make out on it,” he said.

Lovitt said he plans to bring up the idea at the Aug. 17 fire board meeting.

His brother, Village President Mike Lovitt, filled his pool with village water without permission in June — later paying $68.82 for the water.

“Was he wrong? Yes. I stood right there and said, ‘Don’t do this, it’s going to blow up in your face,” Kevin Lovitt said.

“What pisses me off is all these people have turned on my brother,” Kevin Lovitt said. “And he and (former village president) Paul (Colburn) and some of those board members have worked hard to clean a lot of things up in the village of Concord. My brother never broke a law or violated an ordinance.”

Colburn objected to Lovitt’s use of a fire hydrant, having paid $660 for his pool to be filled just a week earlier. He said the past two years the Concord fire chief and public works supervisor told him residents cannot use hydrants for personal use.

On Tuesday he called for Mike Lovitt and other involved councilmembers to step down. Wednesday, he said he’d be satisfied with a “fair” monetary agreement and the creation of a new policy.

“What I would like to see is I’d like to see (Lovitt) pay the amount I paid — that’s all I want,” he said. “If I was to get the money from it, I would donate it to some charity in town because all I want is justice, not money.”

He said a new policy should specifically outline what local fire hydrants can and cannot be used for by residents and what the penalty for violating the policy would be.

“To be honest with you I think it’s something our community could make some money off of and we don’t have to charge the fees that other (pool servicers) do,” Colburn said.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on July 28, 2011

Concord village president in hot water after using fire hydrant to fill swimming pool

2011-07-27T06:08:00.000-07:00

The Concord village president is contrite for improperly filling his pool with a village fire hydrant, but said Tuesday he won’t resign from his seat.

Village president Mike Lovitt filled his pool at his home on Hanover Street in June. Three other village council members and three Concord Fire Department board members were present.

Former village president Paul Colburn said the pool was filled with a fire hose from the Pulaski Township Fire Department, where two Concord Fire Department board members are employed.

Colburn said Lovitt “should step down because that’s what anybody with any integrity would do.”

“If you didn’t think it was illegal, why would you drive seven or eight miles to Pulaski to get a hose when you’ve got one sitting here in the village office and several down at the firehouse?” Colburn said.

Lovitt apologized at the June 28 council meeting and said Tuesday it was a “spur-of-the-moment” decision he regretted. Still, he insisted it was not illegal.

After being approached by Police Chief Steve Sinden, Lovitt paid $68.82 for using village water.

“I admitted to making a bad decision. I violated a policy, and I made a public apology for that bad decision,” Lovitt said.

Roughly a week before Lovitt filled his pool, Colburn paid $660 to have his pool at his home filled. He said the Concord fire chief and public works supervisor told him residents cannot use hydrants for personal use.

On Tuesday, Colburn said he was considering seeking $660 from the village.

“I can set up a pool-filling business in this town now as long as I have a fireman to hook up and (unhook) for me,” he said. “There’s no fine, so I can drain off that fire hydrant anytime I want without any retribution.”

Lynn Roberts, wife of Concord police Sgt. Larry Roberts, said Colburn should be reimbursed for filling his pool and Lovittt and all of the council members who were at Lovitt’s house — Kelly Gretz, Craig Adams and Ashley Meeks — should step down.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on July 27, 2011

Consumers Energy powers the community through intern program

2011-07-26T06:16:00.000-07:00

It’s no secret Consumers Energy has been powering Jackson through the hottest month of the year, but some of its most vital energy sources might be a surprise.

Frosting, sprinkles and hot fudge, to name a few.

The sweet favorites were staples Monday evening at a dessert and movie gathering hosted by Consumers interns at the Jackson Interfaith Shelter as part of the company’s Summer Intern Challenge.

Adults enjoyed ice cream sundaes and popcorn, while kids indulged in a “create your own cupcake” station. The grown-ups and teenagers watched “The Blind Side,” and youngsters viewed “Tangled.”

“The people are nice, and just being able to put what I want on my cupcake is my favorite thing,” said 8-year-old Malina Triplett of Jackson, who was showing off her creation with her twin sister, Malia.

For the fifth straight summer, a majority of Consumers’ interns are using July to give back to the community by partnering with organizations such as the Salvation Army, American Red Cross and Habitat for Humanity.

“A big part of Consumers Energy is we’re a very giving culture, so having interns participate and be able to be a part of that gives them a real valuable experience of what it would be like to be part of our company on a full-time basis,” said Carolyn Bloodworth, the company’s director of corporate giving.

She said 14 teams of volunteers are doing everything from hosting book drives to repairing houses.
Jackson High School graduate Suzanne McCloskey, a graphic design intern, said it is rewarding to donate time to the community where she grew up.

“I’ve worked in the Interfaith Shelter … and I just thought it would be beneficial to help out,” the 26-year-old Baker College student said. “I know it’s been a tough year.”

Her team of seven interns provided the shelter with more than tasty food. They are finishing a toiletries drive at Consumers, partnered with local businesses to offer massages and manicures Monday and are helping the shelter establish its identity online.

“We helped create a Facebook page, and my teammates are putting PayPal on there so the shelter will now be able to accept online donations,” McCloskey said.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on July 26, 2011

Albion School Board withdraws offer, re-extends it to interim superintendent in span of five minutes

2011-07-23T10:54:00.000-07:00

Amidst a sea of passionate debate amongst locals the Albion School Board has decided to enter contract negotiations with Bobbi Morehead to become it’s interim superintendent for a second time.

But the former principal is not yet publicly addressing several issues that have created apprehension among several board members and a section of community members that remain adamant that Albion native Maurice Ware is a better candidate.

“(Morehead) texted me back earlier today and informed me she is not making any comments until she has signed a contract to be our interim superintendent,” school board President Dan Skean said. “She is excited and enthusiastic about working with us but she has decided to wait to speak until she signs on the line.”

In the span of five minutes Tuesday the school board withdrew the offer of the interim superintendent job they extended to the former W.K. Kellogg Middle School principal last week and then elected to offer it to her again via the same 4-3 vote that took place July 12.

The board re-visited its initial vote after board members Shawnette Spicer and Sonya Brown suggested Skean had not adequately provided them with all of the necessary information to make “an educated and concerned decision” in the selection process.

Spicer, Brown and board member Ruth Valdes also voiced concern about how Morehead handled a particular alleged sexual assault of a former teacher-aide that occurred in the summer of 2010 at W.K. Kellogg Middle School when she was principal.

Seth Graves, a detective with the Emmett Township Department of Public Safety investigating the alleged sexual assault, said he had no evidence Morehead knew of, and didn’t report, the alleged relationship between the employee and student, according to a report in the Battle Creek Enquirer.

Morehead did not return repeated calls and e-mails Wednesday after indicating through a text message she would answer questions via e-mail.

Skean said the incident dissolved with Morehead receiving the “only verbal reprimand on her record” by her superintendent and if board members had asked he would have shared with them more information on the candidates.

Brown said Ware had no reprimands in his personnel file and she believes he would be better at harvesting community relationships.

“The people out there tonight have voiced their choice (in supporting Ware), now it’s time for us to listen,” Brown said before the board re-selected Morehead.

Albion resident Joe Jackson said the board missed an opportunity to “right a wrong” by selecting Ware as its interim superintendent. Once the vote was taken in support of Morehead, a majority of the more than 60 people present groaned collectively and exited the boardroom.

“Your community is not happy about who was elected as the temporary superintendent — I don’t know if you’ve discovered that or not,” Jackson said.

Board member Al Pheley said he knows some people doubt Morehead but he’s heard a lot of positive feedback from people in the community “that it was a tough choice to make, but it was the right one for their situation.”

She had a strong record of achieving Adequate Yearly Progress standards at W.K. Kellogg and has been described by former co-workers as a “change agent.”

Board member Ruth Valdes, who supported Ware, said more than 40 years of teaching experience lead her to believe that Morehead has an uphill battle ahead of her.

“From talking with teachers at the high school, while I can’t speak for them, I can say they would have voted for him…and they know he has a special gift with people — children as well as adults.” she said. “Dr. Morehead is walking into a situation where a lot of people are very heart broken and that cannot be denied.”
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An update to the story published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on July 20, 2011

Two Jackson County school districts pledge to explore merging services, possibly share superintendents

2011-07-19T07:33:00.000-07:00

The Michigan Center and Vandercook Lake school boards agreed Monday to work toward sharing services and employees — up to and possibly including the superintendent.

They also left the door open for future collaboration with other districts.

The agreement, which was unanimously approved at separate board meetings, formalizes discussions that have already been occurring. Further board approval would be needed to commit the districts to actually sharing any services.

Both districts will maintain their identities, officials said. “Cardinals are still going to be Cardinals and Jayhawks are still going to be Jayhawks,” Vandercook Lake board President Delinda Woods said of the districts’ nicknames.

School officials said sharing services can save money and provide more effective programs.

Services that will be under consideration for sharing include transportation, maintenance, business office functions and state and federal reporting, said Michigan Center board President Gerald Holda and Vandercook Lake Superintendent Tony Hollow.

Positions would be eliminated by not replacing retirees rather than by laying off employees, Hollow said.

The two districts will lay the groundwork for collaboration of services during the 2011-12 school year. Holda said he expects to see fruits of the agreement soon.

Hollow said the agreement with Michigan Center does not mean the two school districts will combine into one.

“We’re creating a plan so that doesn’t happen,” Hollow said.

State lawmakers have provided financial incentives for school districts to cooperate. The Jackson County Intermediate School District already has worked with districts to provide joint services in areas such as technology and accounting. Jonesville and Reading schools in Hillsdale County are among districts already sharing a superintendent.

The agreement strongly corresponds with the Service Consolidation Plan portion of the “best practices” incentive approved by the Michigan Legislature and Gov. Rick Snyder. Districts that meet four of five best practices identified by the state get an additional $100 per student in state aid.

Michigan Center Superintendent Scott Koziol — who once worked under Hollow as an administrative assistant and curriculum director — said the agreement includes the possibility of one day sharing superintendent services because “we feel that it’s important to include every position that the districts have — we’re talking about teachers as well.”

Hollow said he plans to stick around as Vandercook Lake superintendent at least through the end of a three-year contract extension recently approved by the board.

“How fair is it of us to say, ‘Hey, we may share our custodial department, but don’t you dare think the superintendency is the ivory tower position that cannot be explored later on?’ ” Hollow said.

Koziol said the agreement is worded to encourage future partnerships with other districts within the county because the boards wanted to leave “no stone unturned in providing students with the best education possible.”

“We feel like it’s important to get the ball rolling with our two districts, but by no means is it exclusive of any of the other county school districts,” he said.

East Jackson school officials publicly acknowledged they were open to exploring sharing superintendent services, but Koziol said the timing is purely coincidental.

“This here started back in March and we felt like a July board meeting motion would set us up well in regards to the kind of the timeline Tony and I have moving forward,” Koziol said. “It doesn’t have anything to do with East Jackson, but East Jackson is a great district and if there are opportunities for collaborations or shared services with them, we’ve included that in the motion we passed.”

East Jackson officials could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon.

Lyman Robertson, president of the Vandercook Lake Education Association that represents the district’s teachers, said he has no concerns about the shared services talks. He said he trusts that the deal won’t lead to layoffs.

“I think it’s proactive that they’re looking to keep the costs down with the current economy and the situation at the state level,” Robertson said.

Michigan Center has about 1,390 students and Vandercook Lake has about 1,300.

Citizen Patriot education reporter Bob Wheaton contributed to this report
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on July 19, 2011

Two councilmen at the heart of divide in city of Albion

2011-07-18T09:00:00.000-07:00

As the Albion City Council tries to resurrect a municipality that is home to a shrinking school district and floundering downtown business district, there is a distinct divide down the middle of Eaton Street that continues to manifest itself at the heart of public debates.

On one side sits Councilman Andrew French of Precinct 6.

The Albion College chemistry professor is usually calm and collected, but when helping allocate city funds he is terse and unafraid to fight for his vision of a rejuvenated downtown that includes new businesses and family fun for locals.

He is a member of the board of directors for Kids ‘N’ Stuff Children’s Museum in Albion and openly admits he is “trying to please as many people as possible” as a first-time councilman.

Across from French sits Councilman Maurice Barnes Jr., a representative for residents of Precinct 1, who works part time at the Albion Inn and has an abundance of family members living in Albion.

Barnes’ priorities include complete transparency from the city and 100 percent equality for all people, taxpayers and nontaxpayers alike.

He has questioned spending city money on projects such as the restoration of the historic Bohm Theatre and represents those he feels are overlooked, including the nonprofit Double Vision Center on Superior Street.

“Anytime I try to represent people who don’t have access to privilege and power, it’s almost like I’m the bad guy. I’m a black man; I know what it’s like to go without,” Barnes said at the June 6 council meeting. “We’ve got kids walking the street … and it’s almost like we just want to look over them every time, just like with the Bohm.”

French admits Albion has significant sections of poverty, but he said it’s about more than race.

“I think Albion as a city has this undercurrent of haves and have-nots, and councilman Barnes brings that up on a regular basis,” French said. “Clearly his constituents for the most part are African-American, and so he tries to make it a race issue, but I’m trying to make it a haves and have-nots (issue).”

The basis of many of their heated arguments is not immaterial.

The 2010 U.S. Census shows that Barnes’ precinct has a black population of 55 percent, while 90 percent of French’s constituents are white. Almost 18 percent of housing units in Precinct 1 are unoccupied, compared to 12 percent in Precinct 6.

Such numbers fueled Barnes’ irritation when the council voted to put $8,000 of its Reader’s Digest We Hear You America prize money toward reclamation of the Bohm Theatre.

He believes the city has more pressing needs to address.

“You want to give all the money to the Bohm … be fair, people, you have people not with the socioeconomic status you have,” Barnes said June 6. “Not all of them have a mother and father in their home. They need extra help, and a couple of thousand dollars is not going to break your backs.”
French said he understands Barnes’ frustration, but he tries to maintain a delicate balance that accommodates people of varying socioeconomic status.

He said it’s not easy trying to serve those who are paying taxes and those who are in rental units or subsidized housing and lack the same access to resources or power.

“How do you meet their needs without always giving to them without them having to work for it?” he asked.

Mayor Joe Domingo said there are pros and cons to the perpetual debate.

“Sometimes I think it does interfere because some of those things I think could be taken care of on a personal level if they get that far,” he said. “But if it’s a topic that is brought up and those two have their different opinions, I’d like those opinions shared for everybody to hear so they know we don’t all think and feel the same way.”

French showed good will toward Barnes at the June 20 council meeting when he proposed to gift the Double Vision Center $700 instead of $500 and reduce the Kids ‘N’ Stuff Children’s Museum’s allotment from $500 to $300 when awarding the remaining $2,000 in prize money from Readers Digest.

He said compromise is one way to prove he’s interested in the community as a whole, not just a particular section of it.

Barnes said he’s willing to compromise when the vast majority of Albion residents disagree with him, but his primary mission will continue to be making life better for Precinct 1 residents.

“All I want is for everybody to be treated fairly … and we have a council with different ideologies and different demographics and different upbringings and values,” he said.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on July 18, 2011

Albion Public Schools selects one-year interim superintendent following impassioned debate

2011-07-13T06:08:00.000-07:00

Albion Public Schools has chosen a candidate to become its one-year interim superintendent, turning down a homegrown product in the process.

Bobbi Morehead, former principal of W.K. Kellogg Middle School in Battle Creek, has been offered the job after a contentious 4-3 vote gave her an edge over Maurice Ware, the executive director of student support services for Battle Creek Public Schools.

“When I saw the set of challenges presented at Albion I said, ‘This is what I love to do, this is where I like to be and I know I have the right skill set and passion to go into Albion Public Schools and together with the school board, teachers, and community, make the changes we need to make in a quick amount of time,’” said Morehead, 43.

While many Albion residents showed strong support for Ware, an Albion High School graduate with administrative experience, through a letter-writing campaign and strong verbal affirmations, the board determined Morehead’s success with Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) scores addressed a more immediate need.

“She has taken a school which is 600 students, two-thirds the size of our school system, and the school hadn’t made AYP for four years and when she took it over it made AYP for seven straight years,” said Board President Dan Skean, who added that Ware had the best interview of the three finalists. “If we don’t achieve AYP, no amount of marketing, no amount of feel-good community nature can save our high school.”

The high school has failed to meet AYP for five consecutive years and the district was forced to submit a comprehensive redesign plan to the state earlier this year.

Board member Shawnette Spicer, who voted for Ware, said Morehead and Ware were both good candidates, but Ware has shown a propensity for connecting with the community and he had the potential to get a diverse range of students enthused about school again.

“You can have the smartest person in the world take this job — they might meet AYP all day — but if they can’t connect with the families, if they can’t connect with the children, if they can’t connect with the community and excite us about what we need to do, what’s the point?” she said. “We just spent about $80,000 on a specialist on curriculum (Coordinator of Differentiated Instruction), so why do we need a superintendent who’s an expert on that?”

Former Albion teacher and board member Ruth Valdes, who voted for Ware, said curriculum is just a buzzword “for layers of other stuff.”

“I think curriculum can be just a cover for what the problem really is,” she said. “The problem is very basic — it’s about relationships between teachers and students, students and each other, parents, teachers, administrators.”

Board member Don Phillips said he believes Ware would be a good choice as a possible long-term solution for the district, but immediate success is required to curtail some of the low test scores and declining enrollment.

“We have a plan we have sent to the state for three years that (brings in) $900,000 a year and we’re going to have to work that plan to have success,“ he said.

Albion resident Temple Stovall, who has four children in the district, said the community was excited about someone like Ware being able to relate to their experiences.

“I wanted to come to see if the citizens would get what they wanted,” she said. “I just hope it works for the community and for our school system because we let someone like Mr. Ware get away.”
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on July 13, 2011

Husband and wife grow together with their feet in the sand and hands in the air

2011-07-13T05:45:00.000-07:00

An evening of “fun in the sun” for Jackson couple Jerry and Jackie Guynn usually consists of blaring whistles, sweaty palms full of sand and plenty of competitive fun-loving camaraderie that would never have been feasible seven years ago.

But with patience, Jackie, a high school volleyball player at Hanover-Horton High School until 2000, taught her husband the tricks of a game he had never played. Nowadays, the duo spends much of their summer playing and refereeing volleyball in the 4-on-4 sand volleyball leagues at Hudson’s Classic Grill.

One of the two co-ed squads they partner on lost in the semifinals of the spring session playoffs on Monday, but their other co-ed squad and Jackie’s women’s team are still in the hunt for titles. The spring session playoffs are this week, with the summer league session getting under way Sunday.

On Tuesday, the couple stood roughly 50 feet apart, donning sunglasses and shorts, as they refereed contests in other divisions.

“We pretty much just know that when May gets here this is where our life goes for summer,” Jackie said. “It’s just something we’ve come to look forward to … we get to get outside, we get to get some fresh air and it’s like you’re in a whole different place.”

They are also looking forward to the nine-week summer session of leagues Sundays through Thursdays — with a new men’s “king of the beach” league on Fridays — under the guidance of volleyball coordinator Bill Barone.

Barone said a league-record 105 teams participated in the spring and people like the Guynns are a big reason why he’s been passionate about the league since its inception in 2000.

“This is one sport people can intermingle together, men and women, and make it good,” he said. “It’s what it’s all about out there. They’ve developed their relationship a lot out here.”

For Jerry and Jackie, there were several obstacles to clear in learning they could enjoy the sport together.

For one, Jackie grew up playing the sport and Jerry was a football and basketball player.

After watching Jackie every week during their first year of marriage, Jerry decided he wanted in on the fun.

“I was a little hesitant at first because it’s a little intimidating — I had never played volleyball, for one, and honestly it’s a lot harder than it looks,” he said. “After a couple of years of pain you catch on, and watching other players play helps a lot. Once you get it down, it’s a lot of fun.”

He said getting the timing down has been the most difficult part, but the Hudson’s leagues have been perfect because he’s been able to work his way up through divisions of increasing skill levels.

“At first it was a little tough (when we played co-ed) together because I’m really competitive,” Jackie said.

But Jerry said his wife tutored him on the finer points of “setting, passing and hitting” in the backyard during the “painful early years” of his development and he encourages others to stick with the sport if they are getting up to speed.

“It’s really cool to see people grow over a couple years, and I’ve had people come up to me and say,‘You’ve gotten a lot better,’” he said.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on July 13, 2011

Michigan Center Schools not planning to lay off any full-time teachers but board does approve eliminating four positions

2011-07-12T06:31:00.000-07:00

THE ISSUE: Michigan Center Public Schools is not planning to lay off any full-time teachers for the 2011-12 school year, but several paraprofessionals and a custodian are losing their jobs. The district will also no longer offer transportation to weekend events to help trim the budget.

WHAT HAPPENED MONDAY: The school board approved the reduction of three paraprofessional positions and one custodian position, while acknowledging another custodian could possibly be laid off before the beginning of the school year. Superintendent Scott Koziol said there could be additional minimal staffing reductions announced at the August board meeting. The board also approved eliminating district-funded transportation to athletic events and other activities on weekends. Koziol said district leadership believed the cuts would have less of an impact on parents and extracurricular programs than cutting transportation during the week or having “one-way drop-offs.”

THE VOTE: 6-0.

THE QUOTE: “None of these cuts are easy, but we feel we’ve been very responsible the last several years as a board and a district.” — Superintendent Scott Koziol

WHAT IT WILL COST: Koziol said the reductions would save the district roughly $700,000 and they were figured into the $10.8 million budget passed June 28.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on July 12, 2011

Albion City Council approves creation of unofficial city dog park

2011-07-07T12:08:00.000-07:00

THE ISSUE: Albion City Council approved the creation of an unofficial city dog park on a portion of the city-owned property of the old Union Steel complex on Berrien Street.

WHAT HAPPENED TUESDAY: Council agreed to the installation of necessary components for a dog park to be implemented on the northern part of property that has been used for recreational purposes the last several years. People have already been using the property to walk their dogs, but it was technically not allowed under city ordinances. City Manager Mike Herman said council will determine suggested rules of operation for the dog park in the near future, but it will not be deemed an “official city park” so changes can be more easily made.

THE VOTE: 6-0.

THE QUOTE: “It was a matter of when we got complaints were we going to take up enforcement, and (Director of Public Services) Kevin Markovich said, ‘Well, it’s being used a lot, maybe we should create a dog park.’ ” — City Manager Mike Herman

WHAT IT WILL COST: Herman said it would cost roughly $2,000 for the city to install a 275-foot fence that will separate the dog park from the rest of the property. He said the city would presumably also install waste receptacles.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on July 7, 2011

The unofficial dog park in Albion will be located at the old Union Steel site, on N. Berrien St. / Google Maps

Jackson County newcomer starts next chapter of his life in All-American fashion at Firecracker Run

2011-07-05T11:52:00.000-07:00

Alex Ralston’s first weekend as a Jackson County resident was the perfect all-American anecdote for the Fourth of July holiday.

On Friday, the 2011 Hillsdale College graduate relocated to Jackson for a job with Alro Steel.

On Monday, he used a swift dash to the finish to capture $100 in prize money and a homemade pie with a first place finish in the annual 5-mile Firecracker Run /Walk in Hanover.

“I was looking for a race that could keep shoes on my feet — gotta keep that prize money flowing,” Ralston said with a grin. “Either new shoes or going to the bar.”

Passing runner-up Kyle Mena on the final straightaway, Ralston crossed the finish line on the revamped Firecracker course that was a time warp back to the 1970s.

This marked the first time in more than three decades that the event wasn’t a point-to-point race from the Horton Fire Station to the Hanover Fire Station. Instead it was a circular route that began and ended at the Hanover station, almost identical to the course used by runners more than a generation ago.

“It was challenging, very hilly,” Ralston said. “Kyle annihilated me, but then I was like, ‘It’s 100 bucks’, those last 100 yards.”

Mena, a 2009 Eastern Michigan University graduate who ran for the Eagles, said he thought he had a good chance to hold off Ralston, but fatigue got the best of him.

“Those hills in the last mile took it out of me — I pushed pretty hard up them and it just got me at the end,” he said.

Lauren Quaintance, 21, won the women's 5k in 30 minutes, 7.8 seconds.

Meegan Freeland, a 2009 Western High School graduate who runs for Michigan State University, finished second in 30:34.1.

Freeland was a past winner of the event but was forced to sit out last year’s run because of an injury.

“I think I had control of the race the whole time until the last half mile when I slowed a bit,” she said. “It was different than running from town to town and the last mile was a little more difficult.”

Race director Jeff Heath said he decided to change the course from its traditional route to the retro loop because it made sense for the long-term health of the race.

“Every 10 years you need your course re-certified, and with all the budget cuts with the school, I couldn’t expect free buses forever, so I decided it would be better to change it on my own terms instead of them at their June meeting saying I don’t have buses,” he said.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on July 5, 2011

Albion School Board approves stripped-down budget; district still would be $700,000 in the red next year

2011-06-29T07:54:00.000-07:00

Cuts to athletics and transportation are inescapable for Albion Public Schools after the school board passed a budget for the 2011-12 school year tonight that will run a deficit.

Even with proposed cuts that essentially trim the athletic department budget in half and reduce transportation costs by $250,000, the district will fall almost $1.2 million short of expected expenditures. That would leave the district with a negative fund balance projected at greater than $700,000 by next July.

“We can come very close to balancing a budget if we eliminate all transportation, if we eliminate all athletics, if we eliminate all non-Michigan Merit course activities. said school board President Dan Skean. “But I still don’t think we’re going to strike a balanced budget,”

“Any stakeholder should have a great concern because this says a lot about the financial health of our district.”

The approved budget does not take into account potential savings the district could realize from a new teachers contract that is still being negotiated.

Accounting supervisor John Waugh said the “heavy lifting” has only begun in balancing a budget that is trying to account for a $1.1 million decline in state funding compared to the 2010-11 school year.

The school board, with the help of the incoming interim superintendent, will help Waugh submit a deficit elimination plan to the state later this year.

The approved budget includes shrinking the athletics budget from $227,000 to $111,000.

Athletic Director Brad Shedd said he’s not sure how gate receipts or his salary (which is partially funded by the general fund) figure into those numbers, but cuts are unavoidable.

“At this moment right now, just having these numbers presented to me, I don’t see how it will work without some cuts of something,” he said. “Start with like any freshmen programs we have, like freshmen boys basketball, and start working your way through things and see how the numbers look.“

Skean said the board would not “micromanage” the athletics departments by deciding what programs should be cut, but the district’s “qualified professionals” will be forced to operate under the new budget constraints.

Waugh said the district is working with Dean Transportation to determine the most feasible way to cut $250,000 from that division of expenditures.

“We’ve looked at other options like eliminating all regular education transportation. We’ve looked at transportation just outside of Albion’s city limits. We’ve looked at running buses for the months November through March,” Skean said.

“These are scary things to families to have to consider, but more and more school districts are considering them.”
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on June 29, 2011

Michigan Center Schools pass budget with help from rainy-day fund and minimal cuts coming in July

2011-06-29T07:50:00.000-07:00

THE ISSUE: A $10.8 million budget for the 2011-12 school year, which included instructional cuts to be announced in July.

WHAT HAPPENED MONDAY: The board approved a budget that is roughly $1 million below final expenditures for the 2010-11 school year. The 2011-12 budget currently has an estimated deficit of $927,761 — with expenditures estimated at more than $11.7 million. The district’s fund balance is expected to be reduced from $3.4 million to $2.5 million by July 2012.

THE VOTE: 6-0.

THE QUOTE: “There will be instructional cuts made and positions terminated within the district, but no student programming will be cut. The teachers and administrative staff have worked hard to make that possible and (Business Manager) Judy Johnson has really helped carry out a vision for this district.” — Michigan Center Superintendent Scott Koziol

WHAT IT WILL COST: Administrators and teachers have altered their health insurance plans. As of July 1 the district’s administrative staff and secretaries will be enrolled in Priority Health plans that will save the district roughly $65,000 next year. In January teachers agreed to raise their co-pays from 1 percent to 1.25 percent and their deductibles from $100 per individual or $200 per family to $200 and $400.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on June 29, 2011

Albion City Council goes deep into the night for recent meetings, and no one's happy about it

2011-06-27T21:29:00.001-07:00

More and more people are walking out of Albion City Council meetings before they adjourn, but it’s not because they don’t care about their city.

It’s probably because it’s past their bedtime.

With the last three council meetings running an average of 3 hours, 32 minutes one councilmember is openly questioning how meetings can be streamlined and some residents are growing restless with agendas that have included as many as 19 items in recent months.

“Some of the meetings have been running so late that by the time we get up there I feel like you guys are ready to get out of here and all that happens is we make statements and no one gives any answers or feedback,” said Albion resident Don Cornell during citizen’s comment at 10:45 p.m. on Monday.

Councilman Garrett Brown said Cornell’s gripe mirrors what he’s been hearing from some of his constituents in Precinct 3.

“In the past I think meetings were done pretty quickly — people showed up, the council voted ‘yes’, ‘yes’, ‘yes’ and you were pretty much done,” he said. “Now there is a little bit more deliberation on issues that in the past might not have been as thoroughly examined.”

While Brown is seeking input from City Manager Mike Herman on ways to speed meetings up he has thrown out two of his own ideas for people to chew on.

He said the city could look into purchasing some sort of timing devices to more effectively limit citizen’s comment and the city could provide council members with their meeting packets earlier than the Thursday prior to Monday meetings.

Brown said it would be ideal to receive the packets — which contain information and city recommendations on agenda items — a week before a meeting at the latest.

He said that would give council members ample time to ask questions and query experts on crucial resolutions, in turn cutting down the digressions from council members to clarify and analyze relatively unexplored issues.

Herman said sending out packets a week early would “make his life a lot easier” but would inevitably cause for last-minute agenda amendments that council members would still feel ill informed on.

“I have the ability under the charter to adjust the agenda up to noon on the day of the meeting, but the question isn’t so much about amending the agenda as it is (about) getting stuff out if it’s something they really need to look at ahead of time,” he said. “I don’t know that them getting their packets sooner is going to make the discussion any shorter.”

Brown said in the case of emergencies he would be fine with council amending the agenda last minute, even if it meant exhaustive discussions that might dissuade the public.

Herman said the city could also look into a “green light, yellow light, red light” timing device Brown said he has seen on C-SPAN, but it could only be used to confirm that citizen’s comments do not exceed the allotted five minutes.

“I don’t know if we need something that sophisticated or if it’s just a matter of the mayor paying attention to the time,” he said.
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Published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on June 27, 2011

Triathlons gaining momentum with athletes and everyday people in Jackson County

2011-06-27T17:18:00.000-07:00

It wouldn’t be out of order to call triathlons “try-athlons” given how many newcomers have given the sport a shot since the running, swimming and biking competition earned mainstream status as an Olympic sport in 2000.

Women dive into Clark Lake during the Clark Lake Triathlon. Triathlon officials are noticing a growing interest in the sport.

USA Triathlon, the sport’s national governing body, has exploded to almost 140,000 members nationwide — seven times the average membership in the mid-90s.

There’s something contagious about the fervent competition and varied conditioning of triathlons that has caused the sport to spread like wildfire across the country — and Jackson County is no exception.

Last year, there were 29 USA Triathlon-sanctioned events scheduled in Michigan from May through August, including the Clark Lake and Waterloo triathlons, as well as a trio of events in Grass Lake.

One reason the sport has surged in popularity locally, according to personal trainer Jeff Beagle — who has participated in nine Ironman triathlons across the globe during more than 25 years of competing — is because events have become shorter and more accessible.

The 50-year-old Hanover resident says he has had clients who couldn’t run a mile when he first started working with them, but by identifying their strengths and building stamina, many of them have completed sprint triathlons. Most local and regional events are classified as sprint triathlons, which involve almost a half-mile swim, 12-mile biking portion and 5K run — approximately half of the standard Olympic distances.

“More and more people are taking it up; more and more people don’t see it as something they can’t do,” Beagle says.

Beagle stumbled across the sport in the mid-80s when he picked up a copy of Triathlete Magazine and decided to see what it was about because he was dealing with recurring running injuries in his pursuit of running long-distance events.

The sport was obscure back then, he says, with the Clark Lake Triathlon attracting 200-250 competitors, compared to the more than 600 who now register annually.

Jim Donaldson, a triathlete from Sylvania, Ohio, has managed the Clark Lake Triathlon and Duathlon (running and biking only) through Elite Endeavors, LLC, for more than a decade, and he has been involved in the governing body of the sport for almost 30 years.

The sport’s popularity skyrocketed when it became an Olympic sport because “people finally realized that not every event was like the Ironman competitions and it wasn’t just for elite athletes,” he says.

Donaldson has remained competitive for so long in part because of the sustained health benefits he has experienced from being a triathlete.

“It’s a great sport for physical fitness because you’re doing three different things,” he says. “You don’t have to do the same thing day after day after day, and I think most people enjoy a little biking and swimming already anyway.”

He became involved in hosting endurance events with his wife Joyce because they saw the sport’s potential to expand and wanted to be part of the triathlon community.

“The Clark Lake Triathlon is kind of a community, family-type of triathlon with lots of local residents coming out to watch and cheer the athletes on, with the bike course out by the cottages,” he says. “It’s a nice lake, lots of people there, and a good starting and ending place.”

Elite Endeavors also hosts the Waterloo Triathlon and Duathlon, another area race with a longstanding tradition.

“The Waterloo one is one of the best-kept secrets in the state of Michigan — that state park is just beautiful,” Donaldson says.

Ann Arbor resident Karen McKeachie is also in the business of hosting events, with Epic Races, LLC. Epic Races puts on several female-only triathlons in Grass Lake, as well as the grueling 42-mile Battle of Waterloo survival event.

The variety of trails and abundance of lakes makes lower Michigan a prime location for triathlons, she says, but the sport is still somewhat restricted to a distinct demographic because of the costs of equipment and accessories.

“The bikes have changed and the wetsuits and all the technical parts of the equipment have changed the most since I started all those years ago,” she says, noting entry fees also have doubled and tripled.

Regardless of cost and a competitor’s age, Beagle believes that triathlons are a tough bug to kick once somebody commits to the sport.

“It’s all about setting goals and going after them … when somebody asks me why I’m biking 100 miles three weekends out of a month, they don’t wonder why,” he says. “It justifies my whole world.”
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on June 27, 2011

Kyle Stacks wins Concord Classic 5k; Lindsey Burdette wins second straight race

2011-06-26T15:15:00.000-07:00

Although he was donning Central Michigan University shorts Kyle Stacks was right at home Saturday, winning the Concord Classic 5k on a course he’s been running since third-grade.

With familiar faces cheering him on, the 2010 Concord High School graduate ran the fastest road race of his life — 15 minutes, 27 seconds — 18 seconds ahead of runner-up Brendan Martin.

“It feels pretty good, it’s kind of like a homecoming for me since I haven’t raced anywhere close to home for a while,” said Stacks who ran for CMU as a freshman during the 2010-11 season. “I’ve never won it and I was hoping I could come and do it.”

Stack was part of Concord state championship teams in cross county in 2009 and track and field in 2010.

He said because he had run the course so many times he knew where to kick it into high gear, right around the two-mile marker where he distanced himself from the pack.

Stacks’ high school coach and race director David Jordon thought the course record of 14:49 might be in jeopardy with the ideal conditions Saturday, but Stacks said that might be a task for another year.

“I think someone like me or Josh McAlary from Lumen Christi (who now runs for Michigan State University) could definitely do that, but I think I need someone pushing me, like in front of me, in order to do that,” he said.

Martin, a sophomore at Jackson Community College, was pleased that he cut 40 seconds off his time from the 2010 Concord Classic.

“I had no idea what I could run today,” he said. “I figured it would be between me and Kyle and I wasn’t sure what he was capable of, but he got me that last mile.”

In the women’s 5k run Lindsey Burdette of Hanover-Horton won her second straight Citizen Patriot Run/Walk Series race by finishing in a time of 18 minutes, 46 seconds.

She had a healthy lead over runner-up Cayla Nousain of Concord (19:00) throughout the race.
Burdette said a win was “nice” but she entered mainly to figure out where she was at the beginning of a long summer of training.

She runs 50-65 miles a week and is currently focused more on pacing than trying to set personal records.

She said running with a field of fast young guys did provide a little motivation though.

“If I see some guys ahead of me I try to stay up with them and just pace off of them,” she said.

David Swarts of Jackson repeated as the winner of the men’s 5k walk with a time of 25 minutes, 31 seconds and Janet Scott of Horton was victorious in the women’s walk with a time of 33 minutes, 59 seconds.

For complete results click here.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on June 26, 2011

Albion's closed Bohm Theatre to receive $250,000 grant to restore facade

2011-06-25T15:04:00.000-07:00

A $250,000 grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. is offering fresh hope that Albion’s Bohm Theatre can be restored to its once-proud glory.

The grant, which requires an $80,000 match from the nonprofit organization Friends of the Bohm Theatre, is earmarked for facade renovations.

The Albion Downtown Development Authority announced the grant this week.

“The grant will not cover roof work, which is another priority to be repaired/replaced, but we can pay for that work to be done out of our matching funds,” said Nidia Wolf, the DDA’s executive director and co-chair of Friends of the Bohm. “The facade also includes the windows, doors and marquee on the front of the building, as well as egress doors on all sides of the building.”

Wolf said she expects construction to begin on the building, 201 S. Superior St., shortly so the project can be completed “before the snow flies.”

Wolf said community support to re-open a building that closed in 2008 appears to be getting stronger.
More than $65,000 in matching funds has been collected from various grants. Another $8,000 in prize money came from the Reader’s Digest We Hear You America Sweepstakes.

“I'm constantly astonished at the number of people who come up to me and tell me they want to donate in a major way,” she said. “We're being judicious as we know we'll need more later for the interior restoration, but I feel we're doing quite well so far.”

The Friends of the Bohm will have sole ownership of the 82-year-old theater once its purchase from the Calhoun County Land Bank is completed.

Future renovation projects include mechanical work, plumbing and electrical upgrades, and reconstruction of the interior floor plan, Wolf said.

The Friends of the Bohm Theatre hopes the theater can showcase first-run movies by sometime in 2013.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on June 25, 2011

Families bond at Grandparents College at Albion College

2011-06-24T23:52:00.000-07:00

In the midst of sharing stories about his experience as an Albion College student more than 40 years ago, David Keefer had the opportunity this week to get a glimpse of what his grandson's future on a college campus might look like.

Building a bat house with his 11-year-old grandson, Garrett Snyder, the 70-year-old Class of 1963 graduate tightly gripped a large screw to help make the youngster’s first experience with power tools a successful one.

Those kinds of camaraderie-building moments were frequent at the second annual Grandparents College.

The three-day gathering focused on hands-on activities for 51 participants ages 8 to 80.
Running makeshift lemonade stands or learning the basics of cheerleading, family members were making memories while developing new friendships.

“We had a ‘get to know you’ activity right away, and everybody kind of made friends,” said event coordinator Mark Baczewski, the college’s director of alumni engagement. “Now they all want to sit by each other, and they’re exchanging emails and addresses, and it is just great.”

Albion resident Joyce Spicer — who did not attend Albion College but is active in the community — said the program allowed her to connect on more personal levels with grandchildren Cydny and Jayden Williams of Canton.

“I’ve enjoyed it all. But I don’t dance, and we had a hoedown (Wednesday) night, and my goodness we had a super, super ball,” she said. “And today I got to record (a song), ‘Grandparents Rock.’ We wrote our own songs and were doing a little doo-wop.”

Cydny Williams said her grandmother did an admirable job singing, but she was also fired up about a performance of her own.

In the class “Lights, Camera, Makeup!” a woman who has worked as a professional background makeup producer quickly transformed Williams into a terrifying vampire.

“There was this syrup — it was chocolate syrup, red food dye and corn syrup — and they mixed it and put it as blood on my face, and it was really good,” she said, with Spicer laughing in the background.

For Albion resident Vicki Konkle and granddaughter Kailey Konkle, the inaugural Grandparents College last year was so satisfying that they came back for more.

“It’s really cool to just be one on one in the dorm at night, a sleepover sort of thing,” said Vicki Konkle, who admitted it was a little past her bedtime when she finally turned out the lights at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Kailey Konkle said she loved the variety of classes, especially a course where she got to make pottery.
Vicki Konkle said Grandparents College is more than just something fun to put on the schedule.

“Last year when we left she said, ‘Grandma, I never thought about going to a small college before,’ because face it, small colleges aren’t promoted as much,” she said. “It gave her a different view of a college.”
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on June 24, 2011

City of Albion passes no-idling policy for vehicles city owns, rents or leases

2011-06-21T15:45:00.000-07:00

The city of Albion is no longer standing idle on city vehicles blowing unnecessary dollars out of their exhaust pipes.

On Monday, city council unanimously passed a no-idling policy for its fleet in an effort to preserve the environment and possibly put some money back into the city’s budget.

The policy states that drivers of vehicles owned, rented or leased by the city shall turn off vehicle engines when it is anticipated they will be stopped for more than 60 seconds, except when in traffic.

Exceptions to the rule include extreme weather conditions, when lift equipment is being used or other equipment is necessary to accommodate individuals with disabilities and when emergency situations arise.

“The (Energy and Sustainability) Committee feels it’s the first step in trying to improve the city of Albion’s air quality as well as to help save gallons of gas,” said Councilman Andrew French. “Now cost savings — it’s up in the air with gasoline and diesel fuel prices increasing continuously — we may not see a savings of dollars, but from an environmental point of view, gallons are just as great.”

In 2010, the city used more than 43,600 gallons of gas in its vehicles, totaling more than $101,000. That is nearly double the cost from 2000 when the city used more than 52,000 gallons of fuel at the cost of roughly $55,000.

French said council will assess the number of gallons of fuel the city uses during the next six months to determine tangible energy reductions.

Chief of Public Safety Eric Miller and Director of Public Services Kevin Markovich helped draft the policy, but enforcement of it will be a personal responsibility of city employees.

“It’s pretty much self policing, you’ve got to be the person to realize you’re just sitting there idling,” Mayor Joe Domingo said. “It’s not like somebody’s going to be there writing you a ticket for idling your vehicle.”
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on June 21, 2011

Officials say cuts are coming, but Jackson Community College's flight school will not be grounded

2011-06-16T09:44:00.000-07:00

Jackson Community College’s fight school at the Jackson County Airport will see reductions, but officials say the program is not being grounded.

JCC President Dan Phelan said this week that school officials will cut the flight program’s budget by reducing staff.

The flight school spent $35,000 more on operations than it took in for the 2010-11 school year, according to Thomas Vainner, vice president of administrative operations at JCC.

“We’ll evaluate based on the number of students that are enrolled and ultimately the number of hours they are flying,” Phelan said.

The flight school has 30 to 40 students, down from 138 in 2003-04 and 92 in 2007-08.

Phelan said he believes there’s “an efficiency that can be realized” by cutting maintenance expenses. As enrollment has declined, there are fewer flight hours on the school-owned aircraft.

Mike Bartholomew, a full-time aviation mechanic at the school, said he has always been proud of the college’s commitment to aviation excellence, but senses JCC’s devotion is waning.

“This commitment must be wearing thin when flight center positions are (possibly) being eliminated,” he said. “One can only hope this current board and administration will not be remembered for the inevitable closure of this important historic program.”

Jeff Fisher, the flight school’s director of aviation technology, said contracting someone part-time to perform maintenance on the school’s five aircraft would compromise the safety of airplanes and students because often Bartholomew spends “eight hours in one day doing maintenance.”

“A lot of these airports (students fly into) don’t have mechanics at them, so we’re compromising safety. We are compromising for our students,” he said.

Phelan vowed that “quality and maintenance will not be compromised” as the college makes cuts in the next several months.

It’s not the first-time the flight school’s future has been cloudy. In 2005, a $200,000 gift from the Weatherwax Foundation ensured the school would stay afloat.

Without the flight school, the airport could encounter troubles of its own. The airport’s tower receives money based on the number of flights.

“It helps keep the number of landings and takeoffs at optimal levels because that all relates to funding for our air traffic control tower and indirectly for the priority we get for bigger projects,” said Airport Manager Kent Maurer, who noted he does not get involved with JCC’s administrative decisions.

In 2010 more than $500,000 in county funds were spent on airport operations. Maurer said that number would have to increase if federal funding declined.

Maurer said the airport would “be much less safe” if it were to ever lose its air traffic control tower, because of low visibility on the runways due to building obstructions and terrain.

He said another less-direct impact is that business people might then land at other airports due to safety concerns, further decreasing the airport’s traffic.

Phelan said he has had preliminary conversations with Lansing Community College about developing a relationship with students from its aviation flight program, which ended in May. He also said he is looking for grant money to keep JCC’s flight school viable.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on June 16, 2011

Albion School District gets donation, 'sizable contribution' to help it hire full-time nurse

2011-06-16T03:32:00.000-07:00

Facing the possibility of limited or no health care in its schools most of next year, the Albion School Board received a timely donation from a local health-care organization this week.

Thanks to a gift of $12,500 from the Albion Health Care Alliance and $5,000 the board agreed to put forth from its general fund, the district might be able to support a full-time nurse next year.

The district is facing the closure of the Wildcat Wellness Center at the high school Oct. 1 due to the denial of state grant money from the Michigan Department of Community Health.

The board considered hiring a part-time nurse for $12,500 through a new school nursing program run by the Calhoun County Health Department when Joyce Spicer, executive director of the Alliance, shook things up Monday night.

“Education is important, but the kids can’t learn if they’re not healthy,” Spicer said.

Spicer offered the board $12,500 from the alliance in the hopes that the district would supplement the rest of its share of $25,000 for a full-time nurse.

Through the program, the district would pay 40 percent of the $62,500 that will be needed for salary and supply costs, while the other 60 percent would be funded from grants from Calhoun County Health Department partners such as the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Board president Dan Skean said he would make appeals to the community and local nonprofits to help subsidize the remaining $7,500 needed for a full-time nurse.

Albion Health Care Alliance President Linda Armstrong said that process had already begun at Monday’s meeting, when “someone in the audience came forward with a sizable contribution.”

Rutherford said the nurse would be “extremely mobile and portable compared to what you might have had in the past” and the district can decide where the nurse should be placed.

The nurse will provide basic and emergency care services, administer medication when necessary and will be available to speak in classrooms about issues such as pregnancy, diabetes, obesity and bullying.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on June 16, 2011

Two candidates withdraw from Albion interim superintendent search

2011-06-15T08:38:00.000-07:00

The search for an interim superintendent in Albion is thinning out but will take a few weeks longer than planned.

On Monday, school board President Dan Skean announced Paula Steele and Daniel Heckman had removed themselves as candidates for the one-year position for personal reasons.

Skean said Heckman, a retired superintendent from Plainwell Community Schools, emailed him Sunday to inform him he would not be interviewing Thursday.

Steele, the principal at East Lansing High School, emailed and called Skean on Monday afternoon — the same day she was scheduled to interview.

“I understand that in these tight economic times people are keeping their options open and there is flexibility at both ends,” Skean said. “I would have appreciated a longer notice.”

The three remaining finalists include: Richard Ames, a retired superintendent of Hillsdale Community Schools and Springport Public Schools; Maurice Ware, the executive director of Educational Support Services for Battle Creek Public Schools; and Bobbi Morehead, most recently the principal at W.K. Kellogg Middle School in Battle Creek.

On Tuesday, the board decided to move the special meeting to select its superintendent from next Monday to July 1.

The rationale was to allow newly elected school board members Shawnette Spicer and Sonya Brown to be sworn in and vote on the hire.

“I feel like I want everyone on the board to say, ‘We made this decision together’ … and to not be able to opt out of this process,” said board member Don Phillips.

That meeting will take place at noon in the boardroom at Crowell School.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on June 15, 2011

Slow start spells end to record-setting season for Springport softball

2011-06-12T08:31:00.000-07:00

Taylor Heisler’s bomb over the left field fence with two outs in the seventh inning Saturday afternoon was an exclamation point on a season full of them for the young Springport High School softball team.

But it was one of the few high notes the Spartans hit in the Division 3 regional final as veteran-laden Bath dismantled Springport 5-1.

Bath had seven seniors on its roster, while Springport started six underclassmen.

“Seniors matter,” Springport coach Jo Dee Johnston said after the Spartans closed a school record-setting 34-6 season. “It’s do or die with them, because you don’t get to come back and play again.”

Springport scored single runs in the fifth and sixth innings to beat Grandville Calvin Christian 2-1 in the semifinals.

Bath (31-6) knocked in two runs in the first inning, and Springport was forced to play catch-up the rest of the contest.

Bath added two more runs in the third inning and one in the fifth — more than enough for Bath senior Taylor Toune, who pitched a three-hitter and drove in three runs.

Johnston said she wasn’t concerned about Bath taking an early lead because she figured her team’s offense would spring to life.

“To be honest, I wasn’t worried about the two, I wasn’t worried about the five, because we can come back anytime,” she said. “However, we didn’t really show up to hit.”

Toune retired 10 straight batters to start the game, and singles by Hannah Baum and Becca Watson were the only hits until Heisler’s home run.

Johnston gave freshman Sam Bates credit for fighting hard on the mound and said she didn’t tell her ace anything other than, “It’s just a game, come out and do your thing,” prior to handing her the ball.

Bates struck out six and had two 1-2-3 innings. Bath had nine hits.

Johnston said the loss ultimately was an opportunity to grow and reflect on a superb season.

“We broke so many records and came home with so many trophies — and with a young team. Basically all of them are going to be back,” she said. “We’re going to be better. We’re going to be back with vengeance.”
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on June 12, 2011

Familiar names cross the finish line first at 41st annual Rose Run

2011-06-12T08:22:00.000-07:00

Four entrants in Saturday’s Rose Run at Jackson Community College enjoyed winning the 2010 event so much they decided to do it again.

In the 41st running of one of the state’s longest standing races, Chris Kelly of Twinsburg, Ohio took charge of the men’s 5k at around the two-mile marker and never relinquished his lead to win with a time of 16 minutes, 51 seconds — 10 seconds better than last year’s top time.

“Two guys were pushing me really good compared to last year where I was by myself the last mile,” he said.

Hanover-Horton sophomore Bryce Stroede was the runner-up, seven seconds behind Kelly.

The race held a special significance for the 20-year-old Kelly because his grandparents, who live in the Jackson area, were there to cheer him on.

While Kelly had to outlast some stiff competition to defend his title, Taylor Heath simply had to stay on course to win his second consecutive 5-mile hybrid run title.

The Hanover-Horton graduate who recently completed his first year of college at Lake Superior State University blew the competition and last year’s winning time out of the water.

He completed the off-road/road course mixed competition in a time of 29 minutes, 8 seconds — 3 minutes, 21 seconds better than in 2010.

“Well the difference between this year and last year was I didn’t get lost,” he said with a grin. “Other than that, one year of college certainly helps.”

Lindsey Burdette, of Hanover-Horton, also garnered her second consecutive 5-mile hybrid run title, with a time of 38 minutes, 12 seconds.

“I liked the weather this year because I think it’s better when it’s a little rainy stuff and today it was kind of misty,” she said.

Janet Scott, Horton, was also a repeat winner, triumphing in the 5k walk with a time of 35 minutes, 37 seconds.

New to victory lane at the Rose Run was Julie Bloomfield of Jackson in the women’s 5k run (21 minutes, 47 seconds) and Ray Drysdale of Albion in the men’s 5k walk (34 minutes, 32 seconds).

One runner who was more distracted by what came after the run than her finishing time was 25-year-old Jenny Phelan — who was to become Jenny Murphy roughly eight hours after completing the race.
Phelan was scheduled to marry Matt Murphy at First Congregational Church in Jackson at 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

The Hanover-Horton graduate had bridesmaid Becca Rudy by her side for the 5k run, snapping photos and providing her with some verbal motivation.

“My time certainly wasn’t one of my fastest, but I grew up racing and it was kind of sentimental to run one last time with my last name,” Phelan said.

Proceeds from the run benefited the JCC cross country program.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on June 12, 2011

Concord Community Schools celebrates 175 years as a school district

2011-06-11T08:14:00.000-07:00

Concord Community Schools is not only proud to have survived its first 175 years, the people in it are excited to be part of one of the county’s oldest districts.

Capped off with a grandiose display of fireworks Friday night, the 175th anniversary celebration at the high school and middle school included local artists, musicians, business, classic cars, games and a barbecue dinner.

Cheryl Price, the district’s curriculum coordinator and the head of the Concord Marketing Committee, said the event was the final leg of a yearlong celebration that included a parade and tailgate party during the fall and a free Christmas concert and “dessert spectacular” in December.

“We’re lunatics basically,” she said with grin. “We actually think big and we are extremely excited about Concord and we want to market Concord, so we decided to market Concord to us and get us re-ignited in our excitement for what we do out here and the kind of people we have.”

Details on the location of Concord's first one-room schoolhouse are sketchy. According to "Reflections In the Pond," a 1976 book published by the Concord Heritage Association, the school was in a "lean-to" that was built onto a log cabin that was either on N. Albion Road just outside the village or between S. Main and Union streets at Monroe Street.

The current school facility on Main Street was completed in 1953, according to Citizen Patriot archives, a decade after the old Maple Street school building was destroyed by fire.

When Carol and Linda Franssen moved from Nebraska to Concord in 1977, the schools were the primary factor.

“There was no graffiti on the walls, no wild, crazy dressing and there didn’t seem to be any other clandestine activities going on…a good place to raise kids,” he said.

Five of Franssen’s children graduated from Concord High School and he said, “they speak for the community more than we do.”

His children include two dentists, a dental hygienist, a high school teacher and a Marine who works at the Pentagon.

“They didn’t get that way by just stumbling around,” he said. “It comes back to their grass roots and their education and we feel very confident that because of the athletic program and scholastic program we have very well adjusted kids who speak well for the community.”
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on June 11, 2011

Albion partnering with Community Action Agency to make available interest-free loans for home renovations

2011-06-09T14:44:00.000-07:00

The city of Albion is putting to use almost $350,000 earmarked for housing rehabilitation projects that has been sitting in a city bank account since 2000.

A contract agreement finalized Monday between the city and the Community Action Agency of South Central Michigan will allow Albion residents who meet income restrictions to apply for up to a $35,000 interest-free, deferred loan to renovate and bring their homes up to current building code.

The money is left from a Community Development Block Grant awarded more than a decade ago. City Manager Mike Herman said the city has not been able to use the money because a planning department no longer exists to administer the necessary legwork for rehabilitation projects.

The city will pay CAA 18 percent of the sum of the loans it helps distribute within the Albion community.

“It’s a fantastic partnership, and our ability to better the housing stock in Albion is huge,” said Amy Rose Wallace-Robinson, senior manager of housing rehabilitation at CAA.

Herman said the initial money being put into the program would focus on helping eight to 12 homeowners in a 121-house radius in the northwest region of the city.

“In order to cluster the spending and have the most impact in a neighborhood … we are planning on canvassing that neighborhood with Community Action Agency fliers saying we are now going to be working in the area with those who need major home repairs,” Wallace-Robinson said.

Applicants can make no more than 80 percent of the current median area income annually — $42,100 for a family of four — but Wallace-Robinson said CAA will “likely be helping people below 60 percent of the current median income.”

Herman said the program has the potential to open up a plethora of new funding avenues for the city.

“Community Action Agency has access to the countywide program so they can do areas outside of here, plus they have access to other programs, like home weatherization and some other things,” he said.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on June 9, 2011

Sharp Park Academy students deliver presentations on hot topics as part of International Baccalaureate requirement

2011-06-08T17:19:00.000-07:00

Mike O’Reilly should not be surprised if his daughter snatches a cookie out of his hand and replaces it with an apple.

That’s just the kind of educated, informed student he’s come to expect of Austen because of her enrollment at Sharp Park Academy.

Austen O’Reilly was one of four fifth-grade students giving a presentation on childhood obesity Tuesday night as part of the first Fifth Grade Exhibition at the International Baccalaureate school.

“The definition of (binge eating) is saying you’re not going to eat cookies and then you eat more cookies after that,” said O’Reilly’s classmate Jada Wilson.

The group shared a survey of third- to fifth-grade students at the school that showed 39 percent didn’t know what obesity was, 52 percent did not think schools should cut flavored milks from their menus and 31 percent drink pop every day.

The presentation concluded with the audience pledging to eat healthier and eat less and the students beat boxing and dancing to a song about fitness.

“They get the idea of finding their own answers instead of spoon-feeding them answers,” Mike O’Reilly said with a proud smile. “They actually have to do research on their own and help obtain the answers needed to do their research, and they come up with some of their own conclusions.”

Julie Garrison, the school’s International Baccalaureate coordinator, said this type of exhibition is a requirement for the exiting grade of any IB-certified school.

“This is where they take a hot topic that is global that they have been learning about through the years and they do an independent study, they do research, they do interviews, they write a persuasive essay and they present to classmates,” she said.

The other presentations Tuesday included research findings about the importance of vaccinations, steroids in sports, bullying and oil spills.

Fifth-grader Marcus Higgins said unearthing new facts about a relevant topic affected him.

“Did you know that dolphins, fish, birds, turtles, crabs, sharks and even jellyfish are affected because of the big, nasty, stupid BP Oil spill?” he asked. “The British Petroleum Company should pay.”
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on June 8, 2011

Albion High School makes plans for $2.7 million influx from school improvement grants

2011-06-07T20:59:00.000-07:00

Longer school days, new programs and more differentiated instruction are coming to Albion High School thanks to almost $2.7 million in federal school improvement funds the district was recently awarded.

The high school and 23 other Michigan schools that are considered to be the state’s lowest-achieving schools were granted the money based on detailed redesign plans they submitted to the state earlier this year.

The grant will be dispersed in annual installments of roughly $890,000 for three years.

“It’s given us a big boost — and when I say us I’m talking about the school, the teachers, the students, the parents and also the Albion community as a whole,” said Albion High School Principal Derrick Crum.

Crum said the grant will help the high school increase its allotted time for learning each day, a requirement of the transformation model redesign plan.

“We will have a seven-period day (instead of six), and right now it’s still in the works because it’s a negotiating thing in terms of the time,” he said. “What we’re looking to do is maybe start 30 minutes earlier and keep the kids 30 minutes longer.”

The grant cannot be used to call back any teachers who are laid off for the 2011-12 school year, but it will support several new positions within the district.

The redesign plan states the high school will hire two outreach workers to “support the students, parents and school in ensuring academic success for the students.” The district has one outreach worker.

The funding will also provide assistance for the district’s new Coordinator of Differentiated Instruction, a nongrant-funded position. Crum said the district was interviewing candidates Tuesday for a position that will help develop more targeted curriculum, assessments and instructional methods for classrooms.

“Within the grant there is support for that person to bring people like college students in to be in the classroom and be able to help them differentiate instruction by working with small groups of kids,” he said.

Crum said he would go into more detail about new programs and class offerings the grant is supporting at a public meeting from 6-7 p.m. Thursday in the high school cafeteria.

School board President Dan Skean said the funding is a “testimony to the hard work of our administration and staff and to the strong support we have received from the CISD.”
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on June 7, 2011

Middle School at Parkside students join fight against cancer with first-ever Mini Relay for Life

2011-06-05T18:34:00.000-07:00

Taylor Lawrence’s face lit up when she hit Middle School at Parkside Principal William Patterson in the face with a shaving cream pie Friday morning, but it wasn’t just because she had made the head honcho look silly in front of her friends.

It also was because the seventh-grader was in the process of helping stomp out cancer.

At the first Mini Relay for Life at Parkside — part of a larger countywide school initiative that began last year — hundreds of students were walking around the track while reveling in throwing water balloons at friends and teachers and dancing to music spun by a local DJ.

Students paid 50 cents per balloon or plate full of shaving cream as a final opportunity to raise money for American Cancer Society research, education and prevention in the Great Lakes region.

“I didn’t really know much about (cancer) until now, so it’s been a good learning experience,” Taylor said. “I asked a lot of my family members for money. Some of them have had cancer, so they were really supportive about donating because they know how much it impacts lives.”

Last year, schools such as Frost and Dibble elementary schools and others raised almost $10,000 through Mini Relay for Life events, said Josie Gauthier, a seventh-grade English teacher at Parkside.

Friday was particularly moving for Gauthier because she is a survivor of breast cancer.

Diagnosed in October 2006, she has used her fight as a way to inform and inspire students.

“I made PowerPoints and I took my camera into the operating room when they were inserting into my pores and when I was having (chemotherapy) so I could educate them,” Gauthier said. “My main focus was to say that because of cancer research people live, people survive, people go on. And my kids needed that back then because they would cry and they would call me up on the phone.”

Seventh-grader Olivia York, one of Gauthier’s students, said her teacher’s testimony has been transformational.

“This has all been a really powerful experience, and it was great to hear her story,” Olivia said. “She was gone a long time and to see all the things she’s been through and knowing it was rough for her … she’s very strong.”

Gauthier said the event is “teacher led, but student driven.”

“We have so many students who think twice at the lunch line about buying that bag of chips and they’ll put (that money) in the Relay buckets. They just really get psyched about helping,” she said.

She said the countywide Relay for Life event in August is expected to raise as much as $275,000 for the American Cancer Society.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on June 5, 2011

Five are finalists to be Albion's interim superintendent

2011-06-03T05:26:00.000-07:00

The Albion School Board will choose between experience and potential when hiring a superintendent for a one-year interim stint later this month.

Two retired superintendents and three administrators aspiring to new roles will be interviewed to replace departing superintendent Frederick Clarke.

A field of 15 applicants was narrowed down Thursday to Richard Ames, Daniel Heckman, Paula Steele, Maurice Ware and Bobbi Morehead.

“It’s a difficult job to do because you have to think about having someone who is tried and tested as a superintendent so you have a solid foundation during this sort of transition period,” board president Dan Skean said. “But you might see some people who are clear leaders that might be capable of not only providing interim leadership, but applying for the (long-term) position when it’s available.”

Ames and Heckman are retired.

Ames served as the superintendent for Springport Public Schools and Hillsdale Community Schools, and he currently resides in Albion.

Heckman was the superintendent for Plainwell Community Schools for 10 years before retiring in 2006.

He also served as an interim superintendent in the Morrice Area Schools during the 2009-10 school year.

Steele is the principal at East Lansing High School, a school that has earned the U.S. News & World Report “silver medal” designation the past three years for being rated one of the top 3 percent of schools nationwide.

Ware is the executive director of student support services for Battle Creek Public Schools, and he has previous experience as a secondary school administrator and director of alternative education in the district.

Morehead was the principal at WK Kellogg Middle School in Battle Creek through the 2009-10 school year.

Skean said the goal is to have someone hired by July 1 “at the very latest.”
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on June 3, 2011

Albion College students teach Albion Public Schools students lessons 'beyond the walls of the classrooms'

2011-05-30T18:26:00.000-07:00

On May 7, Melissa Shaw turned her tassel at Albion College’s graduation ceremony.

By May 9, she played “fitness bingo” and taught second-graders at Harrington Elementary School how to use pedometers as part of the Maymester Boundary Crossing program.

As one of 30 Albion College students who implemented interdisciplinary lessons as full-time interns with Albion Public Schools throughout May, the Northwest High School graduated received valuable hands-on experience while giving back to a school district low on resources.

“One day we did a walking tour around Albion where they got to use pedometers, which the kids were all excited about,” she said. “We just did a lot of fun things.”

In addition to taking students on field trips to the museum, library and park, Shaw taught students about nutrition through card games like “Go Healthy” — a spinoff of the classic game Go Fish — and the children made collages that focused on specific food groups.

Shaw took part Thursday night in the fifth annual Maymester Showcase of Learning at the College.

The theme for Maymester 2011 was “Sustainability: Connecting beyond the walls of the classrooms.”

Displays showed lessons that taught students everything from the history of Albion to ways to be environmentally conscious to the history of civil rights in the United States.

“Even though Albion is struggling and there are economic problems in all schools, there are a lot of local resources they can use that are beneficial to them,” said Mae Ola Dunkin, the director of the college’s Fritz Shurmur Center for Teacher Development. “It’s really just a win-win situation for Albion Public Schools, as well as Albion College, because we need a place to train our teachers.”

Albion College senior Ashley VanValkenburgh worked with high school students on lessons that integrated art, English and the environment.

Near the end of Maymester, students created pottery at the Schuler Arts studio in Albion, an opportunity that VanValkenburgh called “very exciting” for the teens.

“What we did for our pottery was we went outside and collected items like leaves, flowers, pinecones, all kinds of things to imprint in our pottery,” she said. “Then after they made the pottery we had the students choose a word to describe the relationship to the environment and how they felt about it — something that would signify their artwork.”

The intensive three-week field experience is funded with the help of community partners such as Albion Philanthropic Women and Kryst Farms.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on May 27

District official says closing Albion High School would net savings of only $116,000 per year

2011-05-25T18:19:00.000-07:00

Albion Public Schools is in danger of becoming a deficit district by 2012, but even a measure as drastic as closing the high school would not result in much savings, the district’s accounting supervisor said.

At a school board work session Tuesday, John Waugh said closing the high school would result in a net savings of roughly $116,000 a year after taking into account unemployment benefits paid out, the loss of per-pupil funding, a reduction in Title funding and other variables.

“I wanted to show this first so people that think this is our magic bullet, that this is going to save the day on the budget, realize I don’t see that happening,” he said. “We’ve looked at it, and it doesn’t make any sense at all and this district is worth fighting for.”

The next set of numbers he revealed showed the fight is getting tougher.

By June 30, the district is expected to have just over $440,000 remaining in its fund balance, nearly $1 million less than in 2010. That balance is in jeopardy if significant cuts are not made, Superintendent Frederick Clarke said.

Waugh is predicting a budget shortfall of $1.7 million next year.

In a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis, Waugh laid out discussion points for the board to consider as the July 1 budget deadline approaches.

Among biggest cost-cutting measures being considered are: cutting band and choir ($172,000); cutting art ($186,000); eliminating athletics ($236,000); adding a 20 percent insurance co-pay for employees ($168,000); providing busing only November through May ($178,000); and reducing wages by 7.5 percent for all district employees ($273,383).

“Obviously, these savings would be offset by the students we lose,” said Letitia Kotas, a second-grade teacher at Harrington Elementary School. “If you’re going to cut transportation, there are many kids who barely get to school as is.”

All those cost-savings options, including closing Caldwell Elementary School by 2012-13, would still leave the district with a projected deficit of $255,000.

President Dan Skean said the board would schedule input meetings with teachers and the community to gather opinions in the coming weeks.

“Hard decisions will be made, people will be unhappy,” he said. “We have to exercise choice-making that minimizes negative impacts to the students directly.”
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on May 25, 2011

College Positive Community program making ripple in Calhoun County schools

2011-05-21T08:32:00.000-07:00

Albion College is trying to create a college-bound culture in Calhoun County through its new Albion College Positive Community program.

With $12,000 in grant money from a state coalition called the Michigan Campus Compact, the college has partnered with the Greater Albion College Access Network of the Albion Community Foundation to start getting local middle school and high school students on campus and excited about the prospect of furthering their education.

With the guidance of Albion College associate professor of education Kyle Shanton, juniors Josiah Fallot and John Faulkner have taken the administrative reins of the program and recently welcomed in groups of students from Albion High School and Mar Lee School in Marshall.

On April 14 Albion High School students had the opportunity to attend the Elkin Issac Student Research Symposium, an exhibition of various independent studies Albion College students were undertaking.

“Students presented everything from a chapter of a novel they were writing to poetry reading to vocal performances to a presentation from the sciences that had lots of charts and graphs,” Shanton said. “From my point of view it was an academic event but the point was for high school and middle school students to see that academics in college isn’t simply sitting a classroom.”

Students were also given a short tour of campus and had the opportunity to ask College Positive Volunteers questions about the academic and social truths of college.

Fallot, an English education major who graduated from Morenci High School, said part of his job is simply debunking common myths about college.

“There’s kind of this constant question every time I talk to a student or at least every boy I talk to, where they always say, ‘So, do you play any sports?’ because there’s this perception that everybody in college plays a sport and we’re all here on some sort of athletic scholarship,” he said. “I guess it’s what you see on ESPN.”

When the fourth- and fifth-grade students from Mar Lee visited campus several weeks later they were greeted with an array of fun inflatables and picnic lunch, followed by plenty of lively conversations about what lies beyond the 12th grade.

Fallot said the questions were basic — like “How many classes do you have?” and “How much homework do you do?” — but the bonding was substantial.

“I’ve learned there’s this kind of misconception that there’s a huge gap between college students and kids in elementary or high school or kids from a different background or area,” he said. “Honestly once you get talking with them about basic things like where you’re from and what you like to do and in about a minute-and-a-half to two minutes that gap can be bridged significantly.”

Shanton said surveys the students filled out revealed talking with the College

Positive Volunteers was their favorite activity, indicating “that at this point, this strategy matters.”
Community Foundation Executive Director Elizabeth Schultheiss said the partnership is vital to building peer-to-peer relationship in Albion and teaching young students about topics like financial aid and skill development.

“The core of this vision is you want to create a college-going culture in your community, especially in a community where you may have kids coming from families where nobody has been to college before,” she said.” It’s about showing them that them going to college can happen and there are people and resources that can help.”

She said with the early success of the initiative, the foundation is applying for an annual grant of $20,000 that would be recurring for the next five years.

Shanton said the Concord, Homer and Springport school districts have shown interest in joining the program for the 2011-12 school year.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot

Albion city manager keeps job despite pressure, while city attorney's contract is terminated

2011-05-17T12:43:00.000-07:00

Albion City Manager Mike Herman survived with his job intact following an hour-and-a-half executive session discussing his possible dismissal Monday night.

The city attorney did not.

Council voted 4-3 to terminate the services provided by Robison Law Office — which has served the city for more than 30 years — after discussing the attorney’s evaluation behind closed doors.

The contract will be terminated 90 days after Herman issues a written statement and the council will consider requests for proposals for attorney services at its June 6 meeting.

“Based on the evaluation I hold in my hand, the numbers are physical and tangible right here …this comes with well-reasoned thought, and if we were allowed I would love to give copies of (the evaluation) to each citizen,” said councilman Maurice Barnes Jr. who initiated the motion. “This is what my research and homework has shown from me.”

Herman said Charles Robison and his colleagues have always “given him advice when asked and maintained a good working relationship” and he would not have recommended for council to discontinue the firm’s contract.

Cheryl Krause, Andrew French and Andy Zblewski voted against the motion.

French said he was concerned about problems that could be incurred with “active city cases.”
Zblewski said the method of evaluating Robison was fair, but he is perplexed about the process council chose to find a replacement.

“I’m kind of worried we have fired our city attorney with really no set guidelines of how we’re going to replace him,” he said. “It would have been nice to have something in place before hand because now we no longer have a city attorney after 90 days.”

With respect to Herman, council gave him an affirmative vote of confidence, 7-0, to continue his current contract as originally negotiated.

The council chambers were standing-room only once word got out that Mayor Joe Domingo had requested an executive session to evaluate Herman’s personnel decisions and consider “the dismissal, suspension or disciplining of” the city manager.

Sixteen people spoke on Herman’s possible removal during the citizen’s comment section — 12 in favor of Herman’s retention, two in favor of his removal and two who were neutral.

“We had a long, lengthy discussion in executive session, we always do, and at this point they’ve decided apparently they’re not ready to make a change,” Herman said. “I think what we agreed to tonight is to improve communication and maybe change the issues that are raised so they’re not raised in a negative way, but raised in a positive way. Whether or not that will happen, I don’t know.”

Herman admitted its difficult to “carry out a new vision” in the city, as people often prod him to, when the last “eight or nine years” has been focused on trying to maintain public service levels and city employees.

Albion resident Marcus Trammel said he was confused recently to see Albion didn’t participate in a community development grant called the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, which provided Kalamazoo with nearly $15 million and Battle Creek with roughly $9 million.

“I thought it was the perfect opportunity for Albion to participate in the program and get funding, several million dollars perhaps,” he said. “When I approached the city administration about why we didn’t participate, they stated, ‘too much paperwork.’”

Herman said the grant had “a lot of strings attached” that would have been difficult to navigate without a city Planning Department, and the city was partnering with Community Action to apply for similar grants.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on May 17, 2011

Waterloo Needlework Club celebrates 100 years of camaraderie, community outreach

2011-05-16T08:12:00.000-07:00

What started as eight women sewing for a widower in 1911 has turned into a century of sowing friendships and alliances with needles and thimbles as the primary instruments.

On Thursday, the Waterloo Needlework Club celebrated 100 years of handiwork and companionship at a luncheon at the Hankerd Inn Bed and Breakfast in Pleasant Lake.

More than 50 women shared songs, poetry and skits that attempted to re-enact the rich history of a club that has persisted through both world wars, the Great Depression and the turn of the millennium.
Marge Perkins of Stockbridge, who was asked by a friend to join the club 10 years ago, said it has survived because of its invitational, inclusive nature.

“Women invite people for their personality and their talent because they think they would be a good fit,” she said. “This is a community of history, and I think young people in the area need to know these kinds of things are going on.”

Dozens of colorful quilts made by members, friends and family members were on display Thursday.
Carol Brown, a member of the club for three years, brought a purple and white quilt decorated with ornate flowers that her mother had sewn for her own wedding in 1938.

“I enjoy quilting, but it’s just the camaraderie that is so great,” she said. “We can get silly and we can get serious.”

The club started out as the Neighborhood Sewing Circle in 1911, when eight women took it upon themselves to sew for William Huttenlocher, who was left to raise six children on his own after his wife Mary died.

Meeting at people’s houses, the group became quite patriotic during World War I, donating much of its work to the Red Cross.

A historic record book indicates the group sent out 988 articles and 56 Refugee garments in 1917 and 1918.

Over the years the club has sold its crafts and given money to local charities and families.

That holds true today, as the club meets regularly in the “Old Katz School” in Munith.

Club secretary Lenore Rogers said she didn’t quite know what she was getting into 46 years ago when she was invited to a meeting, but the “biggest blessing has just been meeting so many wonderful women she wouldn’t have otherwise met.”

“When I first joined, I was young and I was the one threading needles for women who had trouble seeing,” she said. “And well, now, I’m one of the ones who needs a little help.”

Club President Janice Powell said the club will bury a time capsule at the Waterloo Farm Museum on Saturday.

The capsule will have old needles and thimbles, articles about the club, a historic “housewife” kit made during the war and a quilt square signed by all of the current club members.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on May 13, 2011

Michigan BPW to be headed by Albion member for first time

2011-05-13T08:20:00.000-07:00

For the first time in the history of the Business and Professional Women of Michigan an Albion woman will be the state president.

Mary Lenardson, a chemist at the City of Jackson Wastewater Treatment Plant the past 21 years, will be installed as president on May 14 at the 2011 BPW State Convention in Saginaw.

The 47-year-old said the position is a “great opportunity to show young women you can come from a small town and achieve success” and she looks forward to being a champion for an organization that focuses on pay equity, health care and other equal rights issues.

One person she’s chomping at the bit to talk to is Governor Rick Snyder.

“I think we have a lot in common as far as wanting success for women — there are women in his life striving for success so I know I could appeal to his interests in that regard as well as how to help legislation be more positive in the state of Michigan,” she said.

Lenardson’s state president predecessor Susan Murphy, the deputy city attorney for the City of Jackson, said she is an ideal leader of the BPW.

“I believe Mary's strongest strength is her long-term commitment to BPW Michigan and state activities,” Murphy said in an e-mail. “Her commitment to BPW tied with this in-depth knowledge of our process will help her move forward to provide direction to our membership to continue to legislate, advocate, and inform on issues facing our women and families.”

Lenardson has long been a community servant, working with the Jackson United Way, the Albion Festival of Forks and Girl Scouts of the USA.

She has been a member of the Albion BPW since 1997 and worked her way up to the elected office of state vice president last year.

She said she would not be in a position to earn such a title without a family full of strong women and a bevy of mentors to guide her.

“My mother was a strong women and she held national and state offices as well,” Lenardson said. “And my grandmother was very involved in women’s rights, she marched in Lansing for women’s right to vote in 1920 so we have a long history of women striving to help women.”

She said successful Jackson-area women and BPW pundits like Murphy, Ila Smith, Roni Weaver and Shirley Zeller recruited her for the position.

Lenardson will be honored locally at an open house on May 23 from 7-9 p.m. at Sheridan Township Hall.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on May 13, 2011

For sale: Historic Washington Gardner School building in Albion

2011-05-11T19:16:00.000-07:00

The Washington Gardner School building in Albion is officially for sale.

The Albion School Board voted Tuesday to solicit bids on the vacant, 104-year old building with hopes of awarding a contract to the highest bidder by Aug. 9.

The school board closed the school on Michigan Avenue in December 2009, and several parties have recently inquired about buying it, including investors who are interested in turning it into low- to moderate-income housing, as well as a group from the Narconon Freedom Center drug and alcohol treatment facility.

Superintendent Frederick Clarke said at a meeting last month that the property was appraised for approximately $750,000 two years ago and would be appraised again.

He estimates the building costs the district $60,000 a year to keep up and that annual costs would be up to $135,000 if the district kept it for programming and/or public access.

District Accounting Supervisor Jon Waugh said 10 years and more than $4.6 million remain on a bond that helped fund renovations of the 120,000 square-foot building.

School board President Dan Skean said there is not a minimum starting bid price for the property, but there are other bidder requirements such as a background check and the ability to obtain financing.

The deed will also not be granted to a bidder who facilitates “preschool through grade 12 instructional programs which can compete with” the Albion school system.

“Bidders are asked to submit proper paperwork to Albion Public Schools by Aug. 1, and we then hope to evaluate the proposals and select the one that best meets the needs of the school district and community,” Skean said.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on May 11, 2011

Stray dog rescued after roaming for at least a week around Jackson's Ella Sharp Park

2011-05-11T10:09:00.000-07:00

After spending weeks and possibly months roaming Ella Sharp Park, a stray dog was captured last Friday, thanks to a weeklong rescue effort by a group of animal lovers.

Initially, the male boxer “looked like an adolescent because it was so thin, but it’s probably roughly a year old,” said Jackson resident Joanne Lazarz, a member of the Michigan Boxer Club and a boxer breeder.

Last week, U.S. postal worker Judy Hartzog of Parma called her husband, Larry, when she noticed the timid dog wandering around the park during her route.

After talking with animal control officers, Larry Hartzog tried to entice the dog.

“I went and got burgers from McDonald’s and tried to lure it in,” he said. “I got it to come toward me, but it wouldn’t let me get near it. It was too timid.”

That night, Larry Hartzog, who owns an 11-week-old boxer, called Lazarz after finding her name online through a site for boxer owners and breeders.

Lazarz said that one day she and her husband spent “14 or 15 hours” trying to capture the dog. The dog would come up and eat out of her hand, but it would bolt when she tried to touch it.

Larry Hartzog said he and others showed up at the park every day last week, taking the dog bones and other goodies.

“We began asking different people who were walking their dogs in the park to take notice,” he said. “And consequently one of the other dog-walking people in the park was the one who captured it.”

A woman was able to coax the boxer into her vehicle after offering some food.

The dog has been in a shelter since and is set to be adopted today.

Lazarz said “it’s obvious at some point somebody loved this dog” because it has a name tattooed on its right ear, a common form of identification.

Lazarz can be contacted at theboxerlodge@yahoo.com.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on May 6, 2011

Muslim Student Association member at Albion College shares feelings after death of Osama bin Laden

2011-05-11T10:04:00.000-07:00

Ifrah Majeed has reacted with the same hope and relief as many young Americans following the death of Osama bin Laden.

Only the Albion College junior is a practicing Muslim American.

“When I first heard the news, I was really glad we finally got him and it was basically a period of reflection for me,” said Majeed, the executive board member of Albion’s Muslim Student Association. “As a Muslim American we welcome the justice for 9/11 and we hope this will bring some sort of relief for the families.”

She said there “was a lot of ignorance” regarding the Islamic faith in the U.S. when the World Trade Center towers fell, but she believes most American’s understand bin Laden’s ideologies were “completely incompatible” with the religion.

“Basically I was just talking with all my friends from every walk of faith today and it doesn’t matter what religion we are, we all feel we should feel happy about this because a terrorist is gone,” said Majeed, who was a sixth-grader when the attacks took place.

Albion College Chaplain Dan McQuown said bin Laden’s death is essentially a bookend to a chapter in the lives of many students he works with.

“Osama bin Laden has played a very big role for them, but I think they have grown accustomed to the world and America not being 100 percent safe and this doesn’t automatically now make us safe,” he said. “It just provides closure for a really sad story they had to live through when they were in second-grade, third-grade, whatever grade.”

Albion’s interfaith community is planning a commemorative prayer service in September for the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks with a keynote address from former student Ahmed Chaudhry, a Muslim who was born in Pakistan and moved to Michigan in 1994.

“Even if we don’t agree sometimes, we respect each other and Albion is a great place to be,” Majeed said.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on May 4, 2011

Friends of late Albion High School graduate say they'll remember his 'California' style and humor

2011-05-11T07:09:00.000-07:00

Moises Pigg’s close friends say the 2010 Albion High School graduate will be fondly remembered for his unique “California” style and candid humor.

The 18-year-old University of Michigan student was killed in a car crash early Saturday morning in Sacramento, Calif.

He was ejected from a Toyota Avalon when the vehicle hit a tree, according to reports in the Sacramento Bee.

Police told the Sacramento newspaper the vehicle was in four pieces with fire around the engine block. Pigg was pronounced dead at the scene.

Pigg graduated ninth in his class at Albion High School and played soccer for the Wildcats.
Tim Hemenway, a 2009 Albion High School graduate, said it will be impossible to replace a friend like him.

“Moises was kind of, I don’t want to say crazy, but he was just really an entertaining person to be around,” he said. “He was always cracking jokes all the time, pretty much just always having a good time hanging out with friends.”

Hemenway said Pigg had sort of an “advanced humor that was funnier than most” and he had a distinct personality rooted in the dialect and fashions of California, where he grew up.

Melvin Guzman, a 2007 Albion High School graduate, said he had a tight bond with Pigg when he played soccer with him his senior year.

“Me and him got along really good because he spoke Spanish and I speak Spanish, too, and he was like the only person I could talk to in my own language in high school,” he said. “We were always playing around and we were really close back then, and used to joke and were really good friends.”

A Facebook group titled “R.I.P. Moises Pigg” had nearly 200 members as of Monday evening. That didn’t surprise Hemenway at all.

“I know a lot of people say this, but he really was extremely unique and outgoing and the kind of person a lot of people will remember. … Everybody remembers Moises,” Hemenway said.

A community memorial service is scheduled for noon Saturday at Victory Park in Albion.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on May 9, 2011

Albion Public Schools decides to go interim superintendent route to fill void temporarily

2011-05-10T19:17:00.000-07:00

Albion Public Schools is hoping to hire an interim superintendent to a one-year appointment by July 1 to replace outgoing Superintendent Frederick Clarke.

The school board voted 5-0 tonight to accept applications through May 31 from candidates who can bridge the gap while the board determines a permanent approach for the 2012-13 school year.

“The board has had plenty of input from the community on what they’d like to see in a leader, and they were leaning toward an interim from the feedback I’ve gotten,” board president Dan Skean said.

“An interim superintendent gives us maximum flexibility in respect to future administrative structure.”
Skean said the board will still consider and investigate possibilities of partnering with the Calhoun Intermediate School District or a neighboring school district that were mentioned at public meetings last month.

Skean said an Albion interview committee will evaluate the interim superintendent candidates. No public interviews or meetings are scheduled.

School Board Pres. Dan Skean

The board also has not yet discussed a salary range for the incoming superintendent, but Skean said the job requirements are a bit different from a long-term hire.

“The requirements of the interim position wouldn’t include the same sort of visionary, instigator of change long-term requirements,” he said.

Skean said several people have already shown interest in the position, and whoever is appointed is “certainly not excluded from applying for the job long-term.”
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on May 10, 2011

Jackson-area Cub Scout receives Heroism Award for saving girl (with WLNS video)

2011-05-10T18:51:00.000-07:00

Paragon Charter Academy didn’t have to look any further than one of its third-grade classrooms to celebrate a true hero at a schoolwide assembly Monday morning.

Nine-year-old Kendal Wadsworth was in awe and even became a little choked up in front of more than 600 of his classmates as he received a Heroism Award from Boy Scouts of America for rescuing a 3-year-old girl from drowning in November 2009.

While staying at a hotel just southwest of Chicago, Kendal, then 7, saw a young girl slip out of her life vest in the deep end of the swimming pool.

His father, Michael, said the pool area was congested, so he yelled out to his son, who swam right over and brought her to safety.

“I went after her, and I thought she was going to drown,” Kendal said, pausing several times to collect himself, “but I grabbed her and took her to the shallow end, where her dad came and got her.”

Michael Wadsworth said at the time Kendal was still a “little scared of the deep end,” but he reacted like he was trained to respond, something that still amazes the Summit Township father.

Michael Wadsworth was overcome by emotions Monday as Kendal shared his story with other students.

“I used to be in scouting — I was a Cub Scout, too — so it was really kind of déjà vu again and reminded me of myself when I was little,” he said. “We talk about stuff like it all the time in classes and with Cub Scouts — kind of the, ‘What would you do if…?’ — and we just had that situation come up and he was prepared for it.”

On Monday, Michael Wadsworth experienced the joy of pinning the Heroism Award medal to his son’s Cub Scout uniform — a distinguished honor that only 149 scouts received in 2010.

Kendal also was awarded a certificate and a red and white square knot he can wear on his uniform if he becomes a scout leader.

“The Heroism Award may be awarded to a youth member or adult leader who has demonstrated heroism and skill in saving or attempting to save life at minimum risk to self,” said award presenter Mike Whitner, the district advancement chairman for Chief Lenape Trails.

Several of Kendal’s family members, as well as leaders from his Cub Scout group, Pack 440, celebrated his efforts.

“(I’ve learned) that your life isn’t the only thing in the world that matters, and you can save others,” Kendal said.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on May 10, 2011

Eco-friendly flooring makes its way into many Jackson homes

2011-05-08T19:07:00.000-07:00

Twenty years ago, green flooring was likely a reference to musty old carpet in an outdated motel room or bathroom tiles left over from the ’50s.

Now, that phrase is something that gets flooring industry experts enthused because there are more environmentally friendly, or green, flooring choices than ever before.

And while green flooring options are still only a small percentage of the market in Jackson, it’s a trend that is growing rapidly locally and nationally.

“Sure, only five to 10 percent of customers come in here asking for green flooring right off the bat,” says Dan Griswold, president of Griswold and Dalton Carpet One Floor and Home, 2001 Lansing Ave., “but once they see there are materials that are more eco-friendly and will last longer, they start to think about that part of the equation.”

Griswold says, “there’s hardly a difference in the green product appearance or cost,” but “green” is a relative term because it’s important for consumers to be mindful of how long a floor will last when they buy it.

“If it’s been in your house 40 years before it hits a landfill, that’s probably going to be greener than a product that lasts five years and ends up there right away,” he says.

Ted Christoff, co-owner of Christoff and Sons Floor Covering, 109 S. Elm Ave., says eco-friendly flooring made from bamboo, cork and a bevy of recycled materials isn’t just en vogue on HGTV and in home-design magazines, it’s what he installs in his own house and recommends to customers.

Eco-friendly carpeting
Ask Christoff about green carpet options and two things will likely happen: His eyes will light up, and then he will proceed to showcase and explain hundreds of different eco-friendly style combinations that have become mainstream in the past five to six years.

There are a variety of recycled carpets made of 100 percent P.E.T. chips, which are essentially ground-up plastic pop bottles. But Christoff says the “crème’ de la crème” of green carpeting is SmartStrand Carpet by Mohawk Flooring.

SmartStrand Carpet is made with Sorona, a renewably sourced polymer created by Dupont more than 10 years ago. Almost 40 percent of Sorona comes from corn instead of plastic bottles. “From the field to the floor we say,” Christoff says.

Production of Sorona requires 30 percent less energy and emits 63 percent less greenhouse gases in comparison to creating the same amount of nylon, the industry’s standard, according to Mohawk’s website.

Carpet has traditionally been made from a high-concentration of oil, so the environmentally conscious Sorona production process helps control the costs as oil prices increase, Christoff says.

The product is not just better for the planet, by his estimation, it’s better for the consumer, too.

“An amazing thing they found out when they started making this is it’s 100-percent stainproof. Dog urine, bleach, food, ketchup, mustard, iodine — you can’t stain it,” he says. “That’s probably why 80 percent of our carpet sales come from this product.”
It’s also more durable and softer than nylon.

Griswold’s store also carries the SmartStrand product, as well as other products that have “10- to- 15 percent” of actual recycled carpet in them.

He expects to see more products with higher volumes of recycled carpet in the near future.

Eco-friendly hard surfaces
Bamboo and cork have become two of the most popular trends in the eco-friendly flooring movement. Just turn on a television — or better yet, check out local flooring stores where racks with dozens of styles of the regenerative natural product line the walls.

What’s unique about cork is it can be harvested every nine years from the same tree — a much faster rate of renewal than waiting for a tree to grow to full maturity. And bamboo is 13 percent harder than maple and 27 percent harder than northern red oak, so it lasts longer and can withstand more use than conventional hardwood floors.

“The trend is to create an eco-floor to fit the American desire,” Christoff says. “We don’t want oriental floors, we want a good old-fashioned hardwood (look and feel).”

The result is a wide range of cork and bamboo products that vary in thickness, color and design.

Cork of many different patterns is now being produced, including planks that mimic hardwood floors. Cork also wears down slowly and is soundproof.

Although the cost of bamboo and cork products are slightly more expensive — comparable to mid-level exotic wood flooring — the environmental perks often trump the dollar sign for many customers. For example, both cork and bamboo produce little off gassing, or the release of potentially harmful gases caused by flooring adhesives or some surfaces, Griswold says.

Another chic finish that is good for the environment, according to HGTV.com, is reclaimed wood floor.

The wood for the remanufactured plank floors was harvested anywhere from 100 to 300 years ago and was used to build railroad trestles, old barns, industrial warehouses and other structures.

“For all of this stuff, there are really higher-end and lower-end options depending on someone’s budget,” Christoff says. “We believe we have something to fit every style and every budget, while keeping it environmentally friendly with today’s selection.”
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on May 7, 2011

Albion residents voice aggravation and concern with the city’s department of public safety

2011-05-04T19:22:00.000-07:00

Albion residents voiced aggravation and concern with the city’s department of public safety at Monday’s City Council meeting, but the head of the department said the complaints come down to a lack of information and resources.

Lonnie Brewer, president of the nonprofit Double Vision Center at 115 S. Superior St., said his organization is being threatened and intimidated by a city police officer when it holds late-night fundraising cabarets.

Brewer said on April 30 an officer showed a hostile attitude to pedestrians and vehicles in the nearby health center parking lot. Brewer said the officer has threatened to take him and/or his guests to jail without just cause for an arrest.

Chief of Public Safety Eric Miller said it was the first he’s heard of the complaint, and he was “surprised” considering the positive relationship his department has with Double Vision.

Miller said he takes residents’ complaints “very seriously and will look into it,” but it’s not uncommon for officers to keep an eye on large groups of people in the business district.

“We’ve had in the past organizations or people renting halls that will have a DJ or rap parties and … we’ve had problems with fights and trash in the street and we’ve even had shots fired in the area,” he said.

Brewer said Double Vision does not condone “violence or illegal activities,” and the cabarets involve music and games to help raise money for the community center.

Mitchell Galant, a 26-year-old Albion native, said public safety needs more on-site officers to respond to emergencies. Galant said no one has been at the department headquarters the past few times he’s rushed there for assistance.

“There needs to be people around here that if someone is in fear of their life they can run into the police office right then and there because that’s your first instincts,” he said.

Miller said he understands Gallant’s concern and he wishes the department had a larger budget and more resources to serve the public.

“We at least have a lobby open, you push the button and it’s an automatic connection to dispatch,” he said.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on May 2, 2011

Albion High School participating in program through which students can earn scholarship money to attend University of Toledo

2011-05-03T19:25:00.000-07:00

The value of an “A” has never been higher at Albion High School.

Albion students can now earn up to $10,000 toward a college education at the University of Toledo and look forward to “in-state tuition rates” to the Ohio school through a partnership with the university’s Scholarly Savings Account.

Starting with the 2010-11 class of Albion freshmen, students are eligible for a $2,000 savings account toward enrollment at Toledo. For each successive semester a student achieves a 3.0 grade-point average and meets other basic requirements, another $1,000 will be added to their scholarship.

Willie Lewis, the district’s director of achievement and accountability, said a colleague brought the program to his attention and he made a few calls to Toledo’s admissions office to get the ball rolling.

“We recognize that a lot of our students, or just young people in general, don’t necessarily have a delayed sense of gratification — things are more instant — and we’re trying to tap into that by incentivizing what you do now by offering up this guaranteed money,” he said.

When the partnership was finalized at the beginning of the school year, Albion was the northern-most school district participating in the program. Since then several other Michigan school districts have partnered with Toledo, including Manchester and Onsted.

The savings account requires students to graduate with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher. If a student gets off track for a semester and earns less than a 3.0, he or she is not disqualified but does miss out on $1,000 for that semester.

Students must enroll at Toledo the fall after they graduate and the scholarship is awarded over four years. Students cannot add to their financial reward if they transfer to a high school that is not a participating institution.

Lewis said the program’s early impact is obvious in the words he’s heard in the hallways from upperclassmen who are not eligible for the financial reward.

“These older kids are at a place where they understand the role of education in their futures, and they are telling the younger students, ‘You need to do what you need to do in class so you can take part in this program,’ ” he said.

If an Albion student finishes with a grade-point average of 3.0 or higher for their high school career and scores at least a 21 on the ACT test, Toledo will also automatically consider him or her for up to $12,000 of scholarship money through the Tower Scholar Award for out-of-state students.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on May 2, 2011

Putting research into practice: Jackson cardiologist keeps hearts pumping

2011-05-02T20:14:00.000-07:00

To say Dr. Rajendra Mehta, M.D., will travel the globe to maintain his reputation as one of the top interventional cardiologist researchers in the world is to put it lightly.

Not only does the head of Jackson Cardiology Associates split his weeks between his practice across from Allegiance Health and the Duke Clinical Research Institute in Durham, N.C., he has trips lined up to Brazil, Paris and India this year for fieldwork that will attempt to improve patient care in a branch of cardiology that focuses specifically on catheter-based treatment of structural heart diseases.

As Mehta, puts it, interventional cardiology “started with fixing blockages, like a plumbing job, but now it has moved onto much more advanced practices” where doctors are inserting valves and closing holes in the heart.

One of the ways more advanced practices are being developed is through the clinical trials of doctors like Mehta, who has been published regularly in some of the classiest medical journals in his field since he joined Duke’s research team six-and-a-half years ago.

He has been published in the New England Journal and has had a number of papers printed in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) — the gold standards in the medical peer-journal landscape, according to Mehta — and his research often appears in cardiology-specific publications like Circulation and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

He has gone from humble beginnings of growing up in the small town of Gujarat, India to being on speed-dial for cardiologists across the planet, but Christopher B. Granger, M.D. — a colleague at Duke Clinical Research Institute — said one of Mehta’s greatest assets in research is his ability to be a team player and downplay his own individual success.

“One of the great characteristics of Raj and his research is he is very generous and although he’s passionate, some researchers want to control everything and want to do things on their own and Raj is a team player,” he said. “He wants to support the group at all times.”

His research in layman’s terms
Mehta specializes in research that aim to answer very specific cardiology questions that arise during the patient care process but have not been adequately probed into for one reason or another.

He said the first step is to search literature and “huge international databases” he has access to at Duke. If no satisfactory answer appears for the distinct situation he has encountered then he starts hypothesizing and tossing around ideas with peers.

“If we don’t have any of the information we are looking for we prospectively study people with (a specific) disease. So we gather with other investigators and say, ‘Look, this is a disease thing and what we should do is kind of design a common followed protocol and collect information in a systematic way on these people and go down this path,’” he said.

A recent study he conducted focused on the correlation between a patient’s level of education and his or her outcomes following a heart attack.

“Essentially, I wanted to see if education level is associated with good or bad outcomes,” Mehta said. “My hypothesis was if you are less educated you’re more likely to not follow up, to not pay attention to secondary prevention measures like quitting smoking and how to take your drugs properly. Other things which are often missed, you know, are people who are less educated have less money, less or no insurance — and all of those things go hand in hand.”

In an article that was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology in January, Mehta and colleagues reported that in a survey of more than 11,000 victims of a serious type of heart attack classified as a STEMI, educational levels were vital to longevity of life following the heart attack.

Mehta found patients with less than eight years of schooling were four to 13 times more likely to die or suffer a nonfatal stroke within 30 days after their heart attack, compared to those with more than 16 years of education.

Mehta admits getting published, “takes a stroke of luck” but more often that not it takes a willingness to recognize holes that exist in past research and working with peers to fine-tune a study as it develops.

Granger, who has co-authored over 20 research articles with Mehta, said very few doctors reach the level of validation that Mehta has.

“These are the cream of the crop, the very highest level of journals that Raj gets in and they only take a very small percent of the studies that are submitted to them,” Granger said. “There are a few key elements to being successful that Raj personifies. Those include passion, energy, intellectual capacity and insight and teamwork.”

A passion for the people
Mehta admits it is rewarding to collaborate on cutting-edge research with other top cardiologists around the world and it is a dream come true for a doctor “who simply wanted to improve patient practices” and save lives.

“I wanted to join full-time private practice and just say hell with research and all, but Duke felt that basically I had invested too much in research and I would do much better,” he said. “Now I have done this for almost six-and-a-half years and it’s gone very well as far as I’m concerned.”

He went to medical school at the University of Bombay in India and became more interested in becoming a heart specialist when he trained at the Cleveland Clinic, which has an established heart center.

His focus on hearts took him to the University of Michigan, where he trained and eventually worked from 1998-2004.

He said Duke offered him full-time work when he finished training there in 2004, but he still wanted to do hands-on work in addition to clinical studies.

Not far from his home in Ann Arbor, and with an opportunity to collaborate with doctors at Allegiance Health, Jackson Cardiology Associates was an ideal spot for him.

“This dichotomy where I focus on clinical medicine here one week allows me to do all kinds of procedures without any limitations in the sense I can decide what I can do and can’t do,” he said. “But the research is also unbelievable. Patient care is absolutely important and that’s what many of us went into medicine for.”

Granger said Mehta’s enthusiasm for dealing with one-on-one cases, while also conducting research, is considered wise practice in the profession.

“Most of us believe to be the most successful at clinical research you also need to be a clinician, you need to be taking care of patients,” he said. “That gives you both the insight as well as the credibility when you are addressing questions about improving patient care.”
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As published in the May issue of Jackson Magazine

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo talks about his frustration with the NCAA, Mateen Cleaves and trading texts with the Cavs owner

2011-04-16T20:38:00.000-07:00

Tom Izzo would hire Mateen Cleaves as an assistant coach in a heartbeat, he has a bit of a distaste for what the NCAA has come to stand for, and there was more to him turning down the Cleveland Cavaliers job last summer than national media outlets reported.

Just ask him.

Without a barrage of microphones and cameras in his face at Thursday night’s MSU Alumni Club of Jackson dinner a the Country Club of Jackson, the Michigan State basketball coach was candid about topics and stories he doesn’t always have time to delve into at five-minute post-game press conferences.

For one, he would gladly hire former Spartans star Mateen Cleaves to sit by him on the bench, even if he’s become a little “soft” in his former coach’s eyes.

“He’s turned wimpy — he’s gone into this TV and now he’s in it Fox with the Pistons (as a studio analyst), he’s out at ESPN, he was with CBS. He’s actually getting decent at it too,” Izzo said with a grin. “I tell him he’s getting soft, but if Mateen Cleaves ever wanted to come, you know, he’d be a guy I’d take in a heartbeat.”

His remarks came following a question about whether Cleaves would ever be a considered for a Spartan’s coaching vacancy, which Izzo has right now with the departure of assistant Mark Montgomery to Northern Illinois.

“Actually, tonight I’m meeting up with a potential candidate for that position at a hotel and I’ll interview him some more tomorrow morning,” Izzo said.

One constant for Michigan State the last 16 years has been Izzo as the head coach, but last June he took a hard look at jumping to the NBA to coach the Cleveland Cavaliers.
ESPN reported Michigan State alum and Cavs owner Dan Gilbert offered him in the ballpark of six million dollars a year to leave East Lansing— a sum that Izzo jokes could have changed his life in ways far removed from basketball.

“It was only a tough decision because as you know, I love the (Upper Peninsula), I really do and it’s my home, it’s where I’m from. And this guy offered me enough (money) I could have bought the whole damn thing,” he said. “So I had to make that decision — I could either own the U.P. or coach at Michigan State. Given the economic value of the U.P., I decided to coach Michigan State.”

Izzo said truthfully the support of the Michigan State athletic department and administration, along with the opportunity to continue “building a program and not just a team” made his decision fairly easy.

Gilbert and Izzo still stay in contact though, including a revealing text message Izzo shared with the crowd Thursday.

“When we had got beat and were on like a 4-game losing streak (this season) I got this text from him,” Izzo said. “He said, ‘Tom, hang in there, things are going to get better right around the corner. It could be worse, we’re going for a record-setting (losing) streak.’”

The Cavaliers ended up losing an NBA-record 26 consecutive contests.

Izzo was good-natured all evening, but he became more sober when someone asked him his feelings on how the NCAA was handling big-time college sports rules violations, like that of Jim Tressell with Ohio State football or Jim Calhoun with University of Connecticut basketball.

“The NCAA is a tough organization. I’m not a big fan of the NCAA — and I say that respectfully, I really do — but they are trying to put their arms around a cloud and it’s very hard to do that,” Izzo said.

He said his main quibble is rules are always changing and the NCAA “over-regulates, but we’ve done that a lot in society.

“The (NCAA handbook) is 478 pages and we get tested on it and all the testing you do — you can call the NCAA for an interpretation of a rule and get five different agents that give you five different answers,” he said.

Izzo said everything he’s learned from coaching major college basketball is ultimately a reflection of life itself — tough lessons to grow from and experiences that offer perspective.

He said one of the ultimate experiences his job has afforded him is the opportunity to visit military troops in Kuwait through the Hoops for the Troops program.

Twice Izzo has taken weeklong trips overseas to sleep in barracks with troops, work out with armed service men and women and coach them on occasion.

He said when he flew back to Detroit following his first visit he made a late-night call to his assistant coaches to arrange a special 2:30 a.m. meeting with his players.

“I pulled in and they were there…I told them they don’t ever even think about not appreciating what they get after what I had just seen and been through,” he said. “I wouldn’t stand for it, and it was really a life-changing moment for me.”
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on April 15, 2011

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo garners money and laughs in visit to Jackson

2011-04-16T20:17:00.000-07:00

Michigan State University men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo can add master fundraiser and stand-up comic to his résumé after Thursday night’s MSU Alumni Club of Jackson dinner at the Country Club of Jackson.

A few unexpected gestures from the longtime coach of the Spartans helped fully endow the Alumni Club’s Jackson County student scholarship fund for years to come.

When a basketball autographed by Izzo was put up for bid, the longtime MSU coach decided to sweeten the pot by throwing in a pair of tickets to any 2011-12 home game, with access to the pre-game shoot-around, the locker room and the postgame news conference.

Bidding was fierce between two tables, with one ultimately putting up $2,700 for the package.

When Izzo took the podium to speak he offered up an identical package for the same price to the losing bidder, who gladly accepted his offer.

“Well, we found an easy way to make money around here,” Izzo joked. “I’m coming back to Jackson, that’s for sure. I’ve got shoes, I’ve got tickets — whatever the hell you want.”

Katie Rausch | Jackson Citizen PatriotCITIZEN PATRIOT • KATIE RAUSCH Tom Izzo, head basketball coach at Michigan State, right, greets attendants of Thursday evening's MSU Alumni Club of Jackson County's annual spring dinner at the County Club of Jackson. Proceeds from the evening, which included a silent auction of MSU memorabilia, went to benefit the association's scholarship fund.04-14-2011 MSU Alumni Club of Jackson's Annual Spring Dinner gallery (5 photos)

Steve Nason, president of the alumni club’s local branch, said the $5,400 raised in less than five minutes would put the club’s fund at over $30,000 —enough to generate a $1,000 endowment each year to provide a scholarship to a Jackson County high school student.

Valerie Doane of Jackson, a 1989 alumna of Michigan State, was one of the winning bidders.

She said she loves that Izzo is “so down-to-earth, so open to coming to a small community like Jackson and enjoying his time here.” She also knew her husband and 10-year-old old son would be thrilled about the opportunity to spend some intimate moments with green-and-white basketball program.

Izzo said Jackson has a “great alumni club” and interacting with fans and alumni is his way of saying “thank you” to people who have supported Michigan State and attended games for many years.

After giving hugs and handshakes and signing just about everything from photos to coasters, he quipped about “the monster of expectations he’s created” by making six Final Four appearances in 12 years and the lessons he learned in an up-and-down 2010-11 season.

“It was a challenging year, but I’ve said that in a good way, in a masochistic way — I’ve learned three or four big words since I’ve been down below the bridge — I enjoyed it,” Izzo said about Michigan State’s 19-15 campaign that included a trip to the NCAA tournament. “I enjoyed learning about not being quite as successful, and believe it or not we did deal with it pretty well to survive it. I think I will be a better coach and a better father for what I went through.”

He joked that fans have come up to him after the season and started to say, “Great job coach,” because they are so used to it, but they seem stuck on what to say next.

“They would say, ‘Great job coach, well I mean… ’ and I would say, ‘It’s OK,’ because it wasn’t to our standards but we survived,” Izzo said.

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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on April 14, 2011

Michigan Center School Board approves plans for new roofs at elementary schools

2011-04-13T12:52:00.000-07:00

The issue: The Michigan Center School Board approved the construction of new roofs for Keicher Elementary School and Arnold Elementary School, to be completed by the beginning of 2011-12 school year. The board also entered initial discussions about replacing the heating main at Keicher.

The background: The board has been planning for the construction of roofs for several years by setting aside money in the capital projects fund. Recently the board decided to add the roof of the Arnold gymnasium to the project. Board President Gerald Holda said Michigan Center maintenance workers discovered problems with the heating main at Keicher since the March board meeting, as “tiles started popping up off the floor in classrooms, hallways, almost everywhere” due to blockages. Holda said the heating system is completely underground and is estimated to be almost 80 years old.

The vote: 6-0 on the roof replacement projects; there was no vote on the heating main.

What it will cost: The roofing projects were approved not to exceed $328,000; Holda said the heating main could cost $100,000 in a worst-case scenario, but the board is estimating $20,000 until professionals have inspected the system. Funds for repairs and/or replacements will come out of a portion of the capital projects fund set aside as “rainy day money.”

What’s next: Brighton-based Bloom Roof Systems Inc. will begin construction on the roofs after school recesses in June. Holda said the board hopes to have a new overhead heating system installed in Keicher this summer.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on April 12, 2011

2011 Citizen Patriot Running/Walking Series kicks off Saturday with Orthopaedic Rehab 8k/5k

2011-04-13T12:51:00.000-07:00

A steady diet of chips is not normally a winning recipe for running and walking, but several race directors in the Citizen Patriot Running/Walking series are aiming to innovate with new electronic chip timing technology in 2011.

For the first time in series history, runners will have identification bibs with electronic chips embedded, at the Orthopaedic Rehab 8k/5k races Saturday.

When participants cross the pad at the finish line, the chips will register their time and streamline the result-posting process.

“A lot of the bigger races have gone to that chip timing, and our sponsor in particular wanted to be on the cutting edge of technology,” race director Bob Gilmore said. “There’s no pull tags involved and a lot less staff needed at the finish line.”

The race marks the kick-off of an eight-race series schedule that will wrap up Sept. 10 with the Allegiance Race to Health.

Event information

• 2011 Citizen Patriot Running/Walking Series schedule

• What: Orthopaedic Rehab 8k run, 5k run/walk, Kids Fun Run, first event in Citizen Patriot Running/Walking Series

• When: The 8k run starts at 8 a.m., the 5k run/walk at 8:15 a.m. and the Kids Fun Run at 9:30 a.m.

• Cost: $25 per person or $35 per couple, Kids Fun Run costs $5 per child.

• Register: Online atwww.orsmi.com or by visiting Orthopaedic Rehab Specialists at 206 Page Ave.

The next race on April 30 is the Family Services and Children’s Aid 5k Run/Walk, which will also feature the new chip technology, followed by the Advance Packaging 5,000 5k Run/Walk on May 13.

A complete schedule of events is available atwww.fitnesscouncil.org.

Orthopaedic Rehab is contracting chip-timing services from Lansing-based Michigan Running Foundation Inc. Proceeds generated from the foundation hosting or timing road races benefit youth track clubs and cross country and track scholarships.

Gilmore said racing fanatics in Jackson County consider the new technology cutting edge, but it doesn’t come without a price.

“I think it’s going to be a matter of how much that additional cost is and how different races can absorb it, either with another sponsor or increasing the entry fees,” he said.

The entry fees for the Orthopaedic Rehab event remain unchanged from 2010.

The new electronic devices are one of many features for the 20th annual run downtown.

“One of the biggest highlights for the runners that we’ve found year after year is we invest money on our end to get high-quality running shirts, so (participants) will get 20th anniversary special edition ones this year,” said Karyn Clow, the business development director for Orthopaedic Rehab Specialists.

The race has also been dubbed the “marrowthon” in the past because portions of registration fees are donated to the American Cancer Society and local charities.

Clow estimates nearly $3,000 was raised last year.

Gilmore said he expects at least three or four other events will utilize the electronic chip timing, while the Hanover-Horton Firecracker Run has an innovation all its own to tout.

“We’ve been talking about how our races have been keeping up with the times, but the Hanover-Horton Firecracker Run is going back and using the old course from the 1970s,” Gilmore said. “So they’re going retro … just something to be different and maybe a little more challenging course.”

As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on April 12, 2011

Bringing New York to Jackson for the sake of saving

2011-03-25T04:12:00.000-07:00

The color red is often associated with affliction or distress, but Thursday the hue represented the passion of the Jackson community coming together to help others.

The who’s who of Jackson and people of all ages walked across a red carpet entrance, were guided around by mimes with red crosses on their lips and drank specially crafted red drinks at the Old Masonic Temple for VIP Night of the RED Pop-up Art Gallery to benefit the Red Cross.

Shelly Hendrick, executive director of the South Central Michigan Chapter of the Red Cross, said the evening of art and entertainment was expected to raise at least $25,000 that will directly affect Jackson-area families.

“This event is entirely volunteer driven, and it’s wildly popular because there’s very little like it around here,” she said. “But what it’s all about is the Red Cross and how we are there in times of emergency to give blood, to do rescue work and to assist those in need.”

Tickets for the event were $25 in advance and $35 at the door, but most of the proceeds will be made from the artwork, jewelry and photography that were on display and on sale from local artists.

Artists take home 40 percent of the sales, while the Red Cross is granted 60 percent.

The three-story party also included a makeup station, body painting, a photo booth, live DJ and dancing and the opportunity to see a local tattoo artist in action.

Food prepared by personal chef Lisa Spampinato included everything from eye-popping tarts to specialty dips and hors d’oeuvres to a “mashtini bar,” which served mashed potatoes in martini glasses with many traditional fixings for garnishment.

“I absolutely love all the performance arts and the food is just amazing,” said Suzanne Walz, one of the artists on display. “I don’t think there’s anything similar to this even in Ann Arbor.

“It’s cutting edge, and it’s exciting to see in Jackson.”

The gallery located at 157 W. Cortland St. will be open to the public from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday through Sunday. There is no cost to visit.

“Our goal is to put together something someone has never seen before and to make it an unforgettable event people will want to come back to,” said RED Committee Chairman Debbie Crownover.

As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on March 25, 2011

Katie Rausch | Jackson Citizen PatriotCITIZEN PATRIOT ??? KATIE RAUSCH Silent performance artists man the door between gallery rooms Thursday evening during this year's RED Pop-Up Art Gallery at the Old Masonic Temple in Jackson. The second annual event was held as a benefit for the South Central Michigan Chapter of the Red Cross. Though Thursday evening's opening was a ticketed event, the gallery will be open to the public, for free, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday through Sunday.03-24-2011 RED Pop-Up Art Gallery gallery (10 photos)

Thriving in Jackson: The Chelsea TreeHouse on a successful path

2011-03-05T19:49:00.000-08:00

Don’t try telling Michele Balaka she’s a success.

She is the owner of Nickelodeon’s “Parents’ Pick Best Indoor Play Place/Space” award for Michigan in 2008. She hosts dozens of parties each week at the Chelsea TreeHouse.

Balaka also opened the Chicago TreeHouse in Lake Zurich, Ill., in 2009. She is primed to move her Chelsea play café to a much larger location close to I-94.

She might smile at the thought of how her “expensive hobby” has transformed since her first location opened in 2006, but she’s waiting for the day when she can open new TreeHouses all over the country to call her journey a triumph.

FYI

• What: The Chelsea TreeHouse

• Where: 320 N. Main St., Chelsea; Lake Zurich, Ill.

• Years in business: Five

• Employees: More than 40 at both locations

• What it does:
Indoor playground for children

• Why it made the list: A popular hangout for parents and children for a birthday party or a few hours of high-energy play. The Chelsea site will be moving to a larger location this fall.

Balaka notes she once worked 377 straight days and is constantly reinventing her business to make a profit. She has yet to give herself a paycheck in four years because she’s always planning for potential failure.

Some might call Balaka borderline crazy for throwing money at steel play structures and banking on gourmet sandwiches, soups and coffees to put her business over the top, while others might revere her as a visionary.

Still, satisfaction has yet to find its place in the business plan for the mother of two.

“You go to work everyday and expect a paycheck and vacations and days off — who doesn’t?” she said. “When you decide to take this type of money from the bank and do something like this, you can bail, like everybody does, or you can see the vision and follow through.”

Overcoming adversity

The Chelsea TreeHouse opened in 2006. The next year was full of surprises.

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer left Ann Arbor and several Jackson-based manufacturing plants shut down. Balaka said many young professionals were suddenly out of work, leaving the state for new jobs. With them went the children.

Things started well in 2008, but the bank crisis made it difficult for her to secure the loan she needed to fund the Illinois location. In September when the banks were finally cooperating, it got worse.

“At 8:30 in the morning on a Monday — a super, sunny fabulous day — my brother (Jack Middlebrook) was driving a vehicle that weighed, like, 2,000 pounds that he and my husband had made into, like, this four-wheel drive tinker toy,” she said. “A lady pulled in front of him … and he was almost killed.”

He was in critical condition for days before being released from the hospital with brain damage that caused him to have to relearn how to read, write, walk, drive and feed himself.

A natural landing spot for Balaka’s younger brother was her house.

“It was round-the-clock care between my mom and I. And guess what else I did that month?” she said. “I signed everything for my Chicago location and started my build-out.”

A silver lining in the calamity was Middlebrook’s newfound knowledge of his sister’s business. Today, he lives in Lake Zurich, running the day-to-day operations of the Chicago TreeHouse.

With her brother rehabilitated and the money for her new location secured, Balaka had one more hurdle to clear. In the midst of frequent four-and-a-half hour trips to Lake Zurich, putting the finishing touches on her new location, she thought she was going to die.

In August 2009, Balaka found a “golf ball-sized lump” in the side of her breast. Her first reaction? “I am too busy for something like that to happen.”

She called a University of Michigan doctor on Monday and made the trip from Lake Zurich to Ann Arbor for testing the next day. “I felt like oh my gosh, I’m dying — I’m dying because seriously, who gets an appointment the next day?”

On Sept. 19 — the day she opened the doors to her new location — she learned her fate.

“So an hour before I’m opening the doors in Chicago I get a call from a nurse at UM,” Balaka said. “She said, ‘The biopsy came back and I’m going to give you the news, and I had to call you before I left.

“It came back negative, you’re totally fine.’ ”

Doing things her way

Balaka calls herself a “control freak” and says she doesn’t need caffeine to keep energized.

She earned an economics degree from the University of Michigan, but she laughs at the thought that her business acumen is “by the book.”

She has two requirements for employees: They must be independent and inspiring.

“I’ll do something myself before hiring somebody that doesn’t make my customers feel amazing,” she said.

Even though most of her employees are high school students earning minimum wage, she has high expectations and isn’t afraid to fire someone on the spot.

Chelsea High School senior Claire Myers said she gets excited about work, but the job is not right for everybody.

“It’s kind of something you have to fit. We’ve had a lot of kids come in and try and it just doesn’t work out … Michele has a certain way of working set in her mind and either you get it or you don’t,” Myers said.

Balaka said employees such as Myers are great at taking charge and adapting on the fly, qualities she’s prided herself in maintaining over the years.

“My favorite quote is, ‘Overnight successes take 10 years,’ ” she said. “Everybody thinks they are Google or Facebook, they really do. You know how it really works? It takes a lot of very hard work.”

It also doesn’t hurt to be frugal.

The steel play structure at the Chelsea TreeHouse cost $175,000, so saving money in other areas is imperative.

Balaka said she looks for recently closed businesses to buy necessities for “pennies on the dollar.”

Buying $70 chairs for $2 is standard for Balaka. She said she bought her “$15,000 espresso machine” for $1,200.

Balaka’s husband, Jeff, has owned a moving company for 18 years. She is able to buy things at auctions and have them hauled away to storage until she needs them.

“There’s nobody, other than an architect, that I could be married to that could help my business more,” she joked, noting she can attend an auction, make a phone call and a truck is on its way. “It’s like magic. I could never do it without my husband.”

What’s next?

The new Chelsea location, set to open in October, will be just off of I-94 and will use every inch of its 9,000 square feet.

Building on her success of serving Zingerman’s coffee drinks, homemade panini sandwiches, soups and several organic offerings, Balaka plans on adding bakery services to the TreeHouse’s repertoire.

She said products will be completely nut-free and she will not even cook with partially hydrogenated soybean oil, to steer clear of any possible allergy complications.

Myers said that attention to detail is not lost on Balaka’s loyal customer base.

“Even when I’m just walking around cleaning I hear people saying, ‘Wow, this place is fantastic and the service and quality of everything is so great,’” she said. “(People) love that we have healthy choices for food, things you wouldn’t get at another kind of kids play place.”

Balaka doesn’t see herself as “just another kids place.” She has plans to open one more location in Michigan and “four or five more” outside of Chicago.

“I was staying at home raising my kids for five years when I said there is no way I’m sitting on a folding chair with nasty carpet, eating concession stand food every time I go to a kid’s place,” she said.

“It’s going to be upscale and I’m going to change the way the whole entire country looks at the consumer as a stay-at-home mom with kids. They count still.”

As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on March 5, 2011

Jackson-area tax-preparation experts cast doubt on do-it-yourself Internet services

2011-01-31T19:44:00.000-08:00

Nothing is certain but death and taxes, the saying goes, but can you be certain you are filing your tax returns correctly?

That’s the question from local tax preparers and accountants, who cast doubt on do-it-yourself approaches like online tax return services.

Pam Zahrt, chief operating officer of the local Jackson Hewitt Tax Service offices, puts it this way: Mess up and the onus is on you.

“It’s not really something you want to rush through. If there’s a mistake, you’re responsible for it,” Zahrt said. “And also — if for some reason you don’t claim a credit — I can probably count on one finger the times the IRS came back and said, ‘We owe you money.’”

Jackson Hewitt offers online services, as do many nationwide companies like Turbo Tax and H&R Block, but Zahrt said, “a knowledge of computers and the Internet” does not equate to an understanding of constantly changing tax code.

Michael Bannasch of Willis and Jurasek, 2545 Spring Arbor Road, said online services are great for people to cut costs and even have their filings checked for errors, but he’s not so sure Internet programs are the best at giving advice.

Bannasch, a certified public accountant, said that when he was first studying accounting and taxation in college he “thought taxes were all black and white” but he quickly learned, “That’s so far from the truth — there’s maybe 20 percent on either end that is black or white, but 60 percent in the middle is gray.”

Tax preparers have good reason to tout the value of their services: Online filing by individuals keeps growing. Nearly 35 million people prepared and filed their own tax returns last year, up 8 percent from 2009.

Money is one explanation why. Online services for filing 1040EZ forms and standard W-2 forms range in cost from nothing to about $100. A “basic individual return” costs around $350 to $400 at Willis and Jurasek. The hourly rate for many accountants is more than $100 per hour.

But at places like Jackson Hewitt, there is no cost for someone who is doing their own taxes or filing online to have their return reviewed by a professional.

“If it’s incorrect, we don’t really tell (a person) what they didn’t do correctly, but we will show them what we got and what the difference is and then they can pay if they want to use our service,” Zahrt said. “And very rarely when you tell somebody you can get them more money do they walk away.”

Places like Jackson Hewitt also provide services to help people amend previous year returns in the case errors were made.

Zahrt said it’s pretty normal to find “hundreds or thousands of dollars people are missing out on.”

Bannasch said working with small business returns reveals the value of communicating with a tax professional even more.

“We’ve got some businesses where we can pretty easily save them $20,000,” he said. “That’s a business that has revenues of a million or a million and a half a year and we’re coming in and saving them $20,000 in real dollars. We’ve just paid for our services many times over.”

He said part of the reason companies like Willis and Jurasek are able to help get clients larger returns is because they stay in contact with individuals year-round, offering advice on purchase transactions and financial decisions that have an effect on year-end taxes.

For example, Bannasch said 2011 is a great year for small businesses to buy equipment because

Congress is trying to stimulate the economy by offering write-offs on business expenses.

Zahrt said there are some people “who do great” filing their own taxes and using online services, but she believes paying for one-on-one interaction with a tax professional has more pros than cons.

“It gives you an actual sense of security,” she said. “We just want to just be sure people get the largest amount of refunds, because it’s really a big part of their incomes.”

Tax tips
Federal tax returns are due April 18 this year. The Internal Revenue Service offers information online at www.irs.gov, or individuals can call 800-829-1040.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on Jan. 31, 2011

More of What I Heard: Notes from Albion's win over Hillsdale Friday

2011-01-29T10:05:00.000-08:00

• Prior to Friday night's loss to SMAA foe Albion, Hillsdale head coach Brad Felix said at the beginning of the season he predicted a .500 or so finish for the now 8-3 Hornets. They had exceeded the expectations of fans and the coaching staff up until Friday, but in the raucous Albion gym their lack of "big-game" experience showed up early and often. In the last two weeks point guard Cameron Holroyd has been a prime example of the team's inconsistency, as he's been all over the map. On Jan. 24 he went off for 20 points in a rout of Homer, before scoring eight in a let-down loss to Harper Creek the following night. Friday he put in nine points, five from the charity stripe, but he had six turnovers and he was like watching a hot muscle car with engine problems. He would rev things up on the fastbreak and make a beautiful read one possession, only to be out-of-control and stall his team out on the next with a momentum-killing turnover. Felix called Holroyd "wildly inconsistent" and the kind of player he just doesn't know what to do with sometimes.

• Albion guard Darius Crum is the type of dead-ring shooter who can go for 20 points on any given night. Friday he was just 1-of-7 from the field for seven points, but he still was a major cog in the Wildcat offense. Hillsdale spent much of their energy forcing the ball out of his hands and Crum made them pay with four assists and countless other passes that ended up being one pass away from made field goals. By halftime Crum knew what his role was, and he didn't even attempt a field goal in the second half, yet he had a big impact on the outcome of the contest. Not too many high school stars always have the best interest of the team in mind when it means sacrificing their own stat line.

• From the stands it seemed like Hillsdale was most effective when it got the ball in the hands of big men Dan Vear and Brian Edwards on the block, but too often the Hornets settled for the first-open shot it saw, instead of running true sets. Felix echoed those sentiments, saying, "Did you see the first-possession of the second half" We got down the court, got set, ran a play and had an easy layup. It was the best possession we had all night and it was simply doing what we practice." Discipline was a major factor in what separated the Wildcats from the Hornets.

• Diante Taylor was kind of an unsung stud for Albion. He tallied only five points, but he added eight rebounds, a couple of assists, two steals — and most importantly he handled the rock well when Hillsdale forced the ball out of Crum's hands. “He’s a pretty heady guy and definitely has some athleticism," Albion head coach Durant Crum said. "He played big tonight on defense and handles the ball pretty well with Hillsdale trying to take the ball out of Darius’s hands.”

A matter of execution: Albion makes Hillsdale pay just like it planned in SMAA hoops tilt

2011-01-28T20:55:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it’s as simple as which team executes its game plan better.

On Friday, the Albion High School boys basketball team controlled the tempo and locked down Hillsdale’s guards like it schemed, while the Hornets did not rebound or take advantage of their transition game like coach Brad Felix had planned.

The result was a 52-39 win by the Wildcats (7-4, 4-1 Southern Michigan Activities Association), keeping them tied atop the conference with Western and Columbia Central and pushing the Hornets (8-3, 3-2) a game back.

Albion prevailed 52-39 Friday night.

Albion held Hillsdale to just 12 first-half points, and the Hornets had 18 turnovers against 13 field goals for the night.

Albion coach Durant Crum said he wanted to stall his offense at times to keep Hillsdale from getting into a rhythm and his players pulled it off.

“We’re an up-and-down team, and we know Hillsdale likes to play up-tempo as well, so we just felt like we’d be good if we could control the tempo and kind of pick our times to run and slow down things a little bit and throw them off balance,” he said. “And our guys were able to do that.”

Felix said he thought his team had plenty of chances to dictate tempo to Albion, but too often his players made errant decisions that played right into the Wildcats’ hands.

“We’re just searching right now for a playmaker on offense,” Felix said. “I thought we missed a lot of opportunities in the first half, we got out-run … instead of making plays we turned it over, we got balls tipped, we ran some good sets and couldn’t make shots.”

He was especially unhappy that his team was outrebounded 30-27, in part because of a 15-point, 10-rebound effort from Albion’s Terrace Welch.

Andrew Nicholson added 10 points and Darius Crum tallied seven points and four assists.

The Wildcats filled up the stat sheet at the foul line in a 24-point fourth quarter.

Dan Vear led the Hornets with 12 points and eight rebounds, while Cameron Holroyd added nine points.

Hillsdale pulled within 26-23 early in the third quarter, thanks to several effective full-court traps, but ultimately Albion picked them apart and an 8-1 run broke the contest open for the Wildcats.

“You fall behind to them and they just pull it out. They know you can’t guard them, they just know it, so what are you going to do?” Felix said. “Sit in a zone (defense) down by 10 or are you going to come out and try to make plays, when then they might layup you to death?”

Crum said he was pleased with the win, but his team still has “plenty to figure out” if it wants to compete for an SMAA title.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on Jan. 29, 2011

MDOT officials discuss M-52 project with Chelsea residents

2011-01-26T19:41:00.000-08:00

Details are getting fleshed out for a major road-construction project on M-52 in Chelsea this summer, despite public concern about the possible effects on local businesses.

A $3.1 million Michigan Department of Transportation project is set to resurface M-52 from I-94 to Old U.S. 12. Ramp reconstruction also will be done a the I-94/M-52 interchange.

Lynne Kirby, a cost and scheduling engineer for the state transportation department, said at a public meeting Wednesday that construction is expected to start shortly after the July 4 weekend and run through late November.

The project will include curb and gutter replacement, sidewalk upgrades and water main relocation and upgrades.

She said the work will take place in stages to reduce the inconvenience to motorists, residents and business owners.

Residents on Wednesday voiced the most concerns with traffic on M-52 from Brown Drive to Old U.S. 12 — part of Chelsea’s main business stretch — that will have three lanes open during the day and nighttime traffic shifts and lane closures.

Robert Khzouz, the owner of the Big Boy restaurant at 1610 S. Main St., said he wishes business owners would have had a say in the timetable because business is going to be hurt during some of his largest-grossing months.

“I think this is the first time that we’ve had a chance to say something,” he said. “I heard about it about a month ago when it came through the chamber of commerce e-mail news. Still, that’s not enough time to prepare for a really bad summer.”

MDOT development engineer Larry Dropiewski said crews will do a lot of the work from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. to cut down on inconveniences to businesses.

Other residents were concerned about trying to turn left at Commerce Drive and asked state officials to consider a temporary traffic signal, while some were concerned about the impact on special events.

Kirby said there will be work restrictions for the Chelsea Community Fair in late August and for race weekends at Michigan International Speedway.

Construction on M-52 will be done in separate 30-day periods.

When construction is being done on the west side of M-52, a temporary traffic signal south of the interchange will maintain two-way traffic in alternating directions.

When work is being done on the east side of M-52, northbound traffic will be detoured to eastbound I-94 to the Fletcher Road interchange.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot at Jan. 26

Okemos boys basketball guard tandem helps put end to Jackson's three-game winning streak

2011-01-25T20:10:00.000-08:00

The Okemos High School boys basketball team’s one-two punch of Chris Harrison-Docks and Mack McKearney delivered a few too many blows for a stagnant Jackson offense to contend with in a 64-52 Okemos victory Tuesday.

Harrison-Docks buried five 3-pointers en route to a game-high 25 points and McKearney tallied 17 points, seven rebounds and four assists to help Okemos (8-2 overall, 3-1 Capital Area Activities Conference Blue Division) halt Jackson’s winning streak at three games.

“I think with Chris and Mack … I’ve really got two point guards on the floor and that’s really an advantage for us,” Okemos coach Dan Stolz said. “(Mack) is just so strong and Chris is elusive and quick and a good ball handler so that helps us against aggressive trapping teams. Chris and Mack are just terrific every night really — they average over 40 points a game together and that’s always there.”

In the second half, the tandem made a majority of the key plays for the Chiefs.

After Jackson (4-6, 2-3) had pulled within three by halftime, Harrison-Docks hit three 3-pointers in a 3:30 span to give Okemos an eight-point lead.

Down the stretch, McKearney was almost automatic at the free-throw line, making 10 of 12 shots.

Jackson coach Ramsey Nichols said his team’s defense wasn’t the trouble though — he was actually pleased they held the Chieftains below 70 points.

It was the offense that disappointed him.

“It was just getting stagnant on offense. The ball wasn’t moving … and we just need to be a little faster on our feet,” he said.

John White scored 10 of his 12 points in the first half, but Okemos went with a zone defense in the second half, making Jackson look elsewhere for shots.

Jeremy Williamson finished with a team-high 13 points, including a pair of late 3-pointers.

Still, Jackson got no closer than 10 points in the final quarter.

White added 10 rebounds to tally another double-double, something Nichols said he is becoming accustomed to.

“John is undersized for a big man, but he just goes out and gives it his all every game,” he said. “He uses his quickness, athleticism and toughness to get by, and he just continues to work hard.”

Stolz said Jackson is a well-coached, scrappy squad that is “a really good team to beat on their home court.”

He said going to a zone defense in the second half seemed to slow down the game and work in his team’s favor.

“It did change the tempo for a while, and we got a couple of turnovers out of it,” Stolz said.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on Jan. 26, 2011

Albion College professors receive $121,000 research grant from NASA Astrobiology Institute

2011-01-24T19:31:00.000-08:00

While examining how asteroids and comets might have played a role in the origin of life, Albion College professors Nicolle Zellner and Vanessa McCaffery caught the attention of NASA officials.

Impressed with the duo’s creativity and Zellner’s devotion to a pilot study of shock chemistry, the NASA Astrobiology Institute granted them $121,000 to continue research into understanding how organic molecules in objects such as asteroids can survive and even morph during impact events.

Zellner learned about the grant from her membership in NASA’s Astrobiology Institute (NAI), but she didn’t expect to attract NASA’s attention so quickly when she submitted an application.

“(It was in) shock. Even though it was a small pool of applicants limited to the scientists in the NAI program, we’re a small potato, we’re Albion College,” she said. “It feels pretty cool … especially to be specifically commended by the (NASA) board for the creativity of the work.”

Zellner and McCaffery will team up on the multi-disciplinary project with a collaborator from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab and also include students in their research and analysis.

“In making selections this year we placed a priority on new, innovative work that went beyond the originally proposed research of the NAI teams,” the grant allocation letter from NASA said.

At the end of February the duo will head out to NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., to do several days of simulations on a highly acclaimed vertical gun — one of less than a dozen in operation around the world, Zellner said.

It took them several months to reserve time on the gun and they will run simulations and tests to see how molecules hold up and/or change in samples of different materials.

They hope it will help them better understand what occurs when asteroids and comets collide with planets or other matter in the solar system.

“The (gun’s) chamber itself is roughly 10 stories tall and it’s probably 10 feet across. A projectile is launched from the top of the gun and slams down to the base of the chamber where the sample is sitting,” Zellner said. “There are probably three or four portholes on the outside of the chamber so you can see what’s going on, and they also have video cameras that are aimed at the impact area.”

The velocity of the impacts is several kilometers per hour, according to NASA’s website.
Shock chemistry is a field that doesn’t lack for interested researchers and inquisitive minds, but the tools needed to conduct experiments “are often done in the name of national defense, so you need security clearance to use special instruments,” Zellner said.

She said shock chemistry’s application to origin of life is fairly recent, but renowned astrophysicist Carl Sagan started proposing theories regarding it in the 1970s.

“What we do know is that these types of sugars have been found in extraterrestrial materials and that these sugars can become more complex to form some of the major molecules required for life,” Zellner said. “What we want to figure out is if the impact delivery of these molecules is the mechanism that allows them to become more complex or, if not, is it another mechanism that’s yet to be discovered?”

McCaffery, who became interested in shock chemistry through collaboration with Zellner at the college, said she’s thrilled to “work hand-in-hand with the next generation of scientists” on a project like this, including her students.

“It’s really just exciting to be able to bring in students on this project and share the results with them and have them be part of the analysis,” she said. “For me, that’s really important, and that’s one of the reasons why I chose Albion College — just being able to connect with students on these really important scientific issues.”

The professors hope to schedule time for further experiments on the vertical gun later this year.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on Jan. 24, 2011

Committee will be given job of improving city of Albion's website

2011-01-24T19:25:00.000-08:00

In an effort to attract more business to the city of Albion, city officials have decided to establish a new committee tasked with improving Albion’s website and other areas of technology.

A more comprehensive website and expanded use of Albion’s public access television could play a role in drawing businesses to the community and boosting the local economy, said Councilman Maurice Barnes Jr.

The committee will be first nominated by Mayor Joe Domingo and then approved by the City Council.

Barnes said he thinks Albion would be better served by one all-encompassing website as an umbrella for all city entities. He also said the city should use its two public access television channels to broadcast replays of council meetings, public hearings, Economic Development Committee meetings and more on a weekly basis.

Barnes said he realizes there may be costs associated with both projects, but that shouldn’t be the council’s main concern as it tries to rebrand and revitalize itself.

“At some point, we have to invest and take some bumps and bruises to catch up with the rest of the state and country,” he said, noting that the city’s current websites are unappealing and sometimes difficult to navigate. “At some time we have to stop crying ‘poor,’ and spend a little money to bring people here.”

City Manager Mike Herman said a new website is a welcome idea, but directives would have to be in place about how the city would maintain the site and council would have to determine how much it was willing to spend.

Barnes suggested tapping into student resources at Albion College and Albion High School to possibly provide “for-credit” volunteer work.

Calhoun County Road Commission Chairman Scott Brown, an Albion resident who recently built the commission’s new website, said the perception that websites “are expensive and take a lot of time” are not true. He said he helped build www.calhouncountyroads.com with free open source software for less than $200.

Albion resident Maggie LaNoue, the creator and operator of www.albionmich.com, said she is also interested in redesigning the city website.

“It might want to be something (the council) wants to consider quickly because this Reader’s Digest (“We Hear You America”) competition ends quickly and the city of Albion will be getting national attention within the next two weeks.”

Albion currently sits in third place in the contest, which would garner it a $10,000 award and a spot in a future issue of the magazine.

The council agreed to also look into the cost of equipment it would need to broadcast events of public interest on Public Access Television at regularly scheduled times.
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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on Jan. 24, 2011

City of Albion learns $375,000 grant from MDOT for Irwin Street work has been rescinded

2011-01-19T19:21:00.000-08:00

Two weeks ago, a contingent of Albion residents expressed concern that the city was set to receive matching grant money for a project on Irwin Avenue.

They believed there were greater repair concerns in the city.

Turns out it was a whole lot of commotion about nothing.

On Tuesday, City Manager Mike Herman announced the $375,000 that was to be awarded for the Irwin Avenue project in 2013, through the Michigan Department of Transportation’s Small Urban Program, was being rescinded and reallocated to a Calhoun County Road Commission project because of a misunderstanding between the city and the state.

“MDOT decided they had no money for 2012, they funded all our money for 2013 and they used our 2013 priorities and ignored the 2012 priorities,” Herman said. “MDOT now is going to be sending out a re-do of their schedule (and) they will be using the 2012 priorities.”

Calhoun County’s urban area committee for the Small Urban Program — which consists of Albion, Marshall and the county road commission — was awarded two projects for the grant that covers proposals for 2012-14.

Albion was left out.

“Marshall’s project is first, the road commission’s (on 29 Mile Road in Albion) is second and W. Erie Street was third and they only had enough money to fund two projects — so we don’t get any money for 2013,” Herman said. “We will get money next in 2015. They giveth and they taketh away.”

Herman said W. Erie Street and Maple Street were high-priority projects for the city, but Irwin Avenue was initially funded because it was the city’s proposal for 2013, the year MDOT originally based its decision on.

MDOT Transportation Planner Brandon Wilcox said he reviews the priorities of urban area committees and then has them approved by the statewide planning commission.

He said MDOT wants the projects to “reflect the local needs and priorities for their transportation system” and local entities don’t always provide the most comprehensible plans to evaluate.

“The way locals prioritized the projects could lead to a bit of confusion,” he said. “The locals should identify projects for every particular year in the call … some areas might just have a (list of) prioritized projects for the span of those three years, instead of the individual years, and those different methodologies contribute to a lack of communication about what the top priorities really are.”

Herman said the city of Marshall and the county road commission were also unhappy MDOT did not follow its stated priorities at first and MDOT is essentially just correcting its own mistake.

“None of us knew why MDOT chose 2013 and after talking with them we understood what they did — it just didn’t make any sense to us,” he said. “It’s just a matter of the rotation … and somebody is the loser in this every three years if everyone submits a project.”

The grants are Federal Service Transportation Program dollars reserved for Michigan municipalities of 5,000 to 49,999 residents.

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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on Jan. 19, 2011

Albion College swimming coach and his sons honored for saving two lives while on vacation in Hawaii

2011-01-17T08:00:00.000-08:00

Albion College swimming and diving coach Keith Havens taught his boys that someone else’s bad fortune was always a terrific opportunity to make a difference in their lives.

Over the years that has meant stopping on the side of the road to assist drivers or administering CPR to unlucky swimmers who desperately needed attention.

But on June 18, 2008 — in the midst of a family vacation in Kilauea, Hawaii — that meant risking their lives to save a young couple who got caught in a rip current while snorkeling.

“We looked out, and there’s this couple waving and hollering out there quite a bit from shore,” Havens said. “I said to my wife, ‘Sue, we should go out and swim where they’re doing it. It looks like they’re having a good time. They’re hootin’ and hollerin’.”

“She said, ‘Keith, they’re calling for help.’”

Keith Havens jumped into action, and his sons Zaak, 23, and Zane, 20, who were taking a walk down the beach, weren’t far behind.

Havens told them he would go for the young woman, Brittany Sorensen, who was about 300 feet from shore, and he instructed his sons to help out her husband, Jason, who was roughly 100 feet farther out.

Grappling with an intense riptide that had developed underneath the coral, Havens used coral towers to help slowly pull him toward shore while taking a beating from the sharp underwater structures.

“There were times when I was swimming back when I would look down and I was not making any progress at all, in fact I was getting washed backwards, and that’s when I had to try to find a coral tower to hang on to,” he said.

But within 12 to 15 minutes, he said he had Brittany in standing water, where Sue met him with a rescue tube a stranger had pulled from a nearby tree.

Meanwhile, Zaak and Zane had stabilized Jason by grabbing onto coral reef also. With the help of their father, it took roughly another 15 minutes of vigorous paddling to bring him in.

The Sorensens suffered no life-threatening injuries — they were just water logged, exhausted and thankful all at once.

For Zaak, it was half an hour unlike anything he’d ever experienced before.

“I was really running out there thinking that I might die trying to get these people. I wasn’t sure about the riptide we were running out to; both my brother and I admitted later we thought it might be a shark attack or something crazy,” he said.

“I was going out there thinking I am literally risking my life for these people who, you know, if I save them I’ll meet them I guess. They could be whoever — but it’s not about judging the people you are saving, whether it’s your friends or a stranger — it’s more about if you have the training and you think you have the ability, you might as well at least try.”

The risk produced great reward. The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission awarded the Havens family with certificates, medals and a special grant Dec. 22, 2010. They also received a Certificate of Merit from the Red Cross in December 2009.

For Havens, though, his family’s effort wasn’t heroic, it was just a prime example of the importance of good rescue training and swimming instruction. He has coached at the college for 25 years and is the director for the college’s Dean Aquatic Center.

“I always encourage my students, if they are swimmers, to take lifeguarding so they can help people, and everybody should take first aid and CPR,” he said. “Look at that situation out there right now in Arizona … the people who jumped in and risked their lives without a second thought to try and protect other people. That’s really what is so important.”

Keith said the rescue effort in Hawaii made him think he and his wife “have done something right with the way we’ve raised our sons.”

Zaak said his father is right about that.

“My dad has always just trained us to help people. We are just trained to be first responders,” he said. “It seems like we’re bad luck to people because when something bad happens it seems like we’re always around. But I think it’s more that we’re just the first ones to do something about.”

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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on Jan. 16, 2011

Napoleon boys basketball wins Cascades Conference showdown with rival Hanover-Horton

2011-01-14T19:14:00.000-08:00

In a battle for Cascades Conference supremacy, the Napoleon High School boys basketball team put Hanover-Horton in an early headlock the Comets couldn’t quite wiggle out of Thursday night.

The Pirates pulled out to a double-digit lead early in the second half, and Hanover-Horton could not find its trademark offensive power as Napoleon won 56-48 in an early showdown of unbeatens.

Napoleon (6-0, 3-0) remained tied with East Jackson for the Cascades Conference lead, and Hanover-Horton (6-1, 2-1) dropped a game back.

Hanover-Horton came in averaging 71 points a game, but Napoleon rarely missed a defensive assignment or switch, and Hanover-Horton grew increasingly frustrated as a number of shots simply rolled off the rim.

Senior guard Keith Wood controlled the tempo for the Pirates with 13 points and five assists, but he said it was forwards Heath Sullivan and Dalton Bycraft holding their own with the Comets big men all night and smart perimeter defense that paid off.

“Our defense was great, Wood said. “We are so satisfied with our defense. They didn’t score that much, and we kept the game slow a lot of the time. I’m just so proud of all our guys and how they played.”

The Comets showed life early on, jumping to a 12-11 lead after one quarter. But the Pirates continued to clog the lanes and make life difficult for the Comets.

A series of big defensive stops turned into a 13-2 run, and a five-minute scoring drought had Hanover-Horton coach Chad Mortimer shaking his head with his team down 24-16 at halftime.

“I don’t know what to say, to be honest,” Mortimer said afterward. “This is a rivalry game, this is with a league title up for grabs, and we came out like that? I just don’t have any answers.”

Hanover-Horton’s Sam Spink led all scorers with 17 points. Tyler Hull added 11 points and Dylan Schuette had eight returning to action after missing a game with an injury.

“They bought into (our defense),” Napoleon coach Jim Dutton said. “And I think boxing out was really a key. We missed a few assignments, but we did a better job than we have been, and we were making a lot of contact.”

Offensively it was a team effort as well, with the Pirates doling out 16 assists and three players scoring in double figures.

Sullivan tallied 16 points and eight rebounds, while Tyler Piotrowski pitched in 11 points.

Dutton said he was pleased with how well his team moved the basketball and waited for the “right shot,” and he believes great team chemistry is what has the Pirates firing on all cylinders right now.

Not much went right for the Comets after the first quarter, but they made Napoleon fans sweat in the final minutes.

Trailing by 12 with 1:47 remaining, Hanover-Horton trimmed the lead to just four with 48.9 seconds left following 3-pointers by Spink and Hull.

It wasn’t enough, though, and Mortimer said Napoleon deserved credit because “they came out ready for a big game and we didn’t.”

“We didn’t defend well, they beat us on the boards pretty good … it was a goofy game, and we couldn’t hang onto the ball, we couldn’t make shots.”

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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on Jan. 14, 2011

Albion learns state erred when reviewing high school's Reform and Redesign Plan

2011-01-12T19:41:00.000-08:00

The Michigan Department of Education made several errors when reviewing Albion High School’s Reform and Redesign Plan late last year, but district has been assured things are back on track.

On Dec. 13, 2010, the district received notice from the state that it needed to change four items associated with three different core areas of its plan in order for it to be reconsidered for approval.

However, Calhoun County Intermediate School District officials and the Albion administration discovered that two of the four items that needed amended received dual ratings of “yes” and “no” in the MDE’s evaluation of the plan.

State Officer for School Reform and Design Mary Alice Galloway admitted “multiple reader errors were made.” She said the district could disregard changes mandated in the section titled “Develop and Increase School Leader and Teacher Effectiveness” and only minor changes were required in “Comprehensive Instructional Reform Strategies” and “Increasing Learning Time and Mechanism for Community Oriented Schools.”

Superintendent Fred Clarke said Galloway and the MDE are helping them make the necessary revisions prior to the Jan. 21 deadline. Still, he said it was frustrating to discover errors were made reviewing a plan the district spent so many hours on, especially when he looked at the MDE website and found other district plans that were approved with similar language.

“We did go through and look at several of the Phase I approved plans and our plans were comparable with some of those and the language we used was similar to ones that were approved then, but now this time it wasn’t approved — so it is what it is,” he said.

Galloway said the plans get looked at by a wide variety of reviewers from “educators to MDE employees to people from universities” who are familiar with the school improvement processes.

“We give all of our reviewers what the requirements are ahead of time; in other words (we tell them) if a plan has to replace a principal, if a plan has to put in a teacher evaluation model and we have a document that lists what all those requirements are,” she said.

Galloway said the MDE has been working on reviewing 92 plans this year, one for each district that was identified as one of the state’s Persistently Lowest Achieving.

Once the plan is approved the administration’s focus will turn to the state’s Feb. 25 deadline for school improvement grants, which are funded by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.

Clarke said there are about 67 schools competing for $28 million in funding that will likely be awarded to five to nine schools.

“We have a very good product, and we just need to find more grants and money to help fund this plan,” he said.

Quick fixes for a more energy efficient, cost effective home

2011-01-11T19:33:00.000-08:00

Most people realize it costs less in the long run to maintain an energy-efficient home.

But you don’t have to drain your bank account all at once to turn your home “green.” Making the right changes to your home can mean less energy use, which means you’ll save money over time.

First, assess your home and determine how to make it more energy efficient. Jackson-based Consumers Energy’s website,www.consumersenergy.com, includes the Home Energy Analyzer, which evaluates your energy bill and usage and gives you tips on how to save.

“We try to inform consumers the best we can and find them ways to save extra money in places that will ultimately benefit them and their home,” spokesman Terry DeDoes says.

Another resource is an in-home estimate. Dr. Energy Saver, a sister company of Ayers Basement Systems that operates out of Lansing, will inspect your home at no charge and help you determine how to make it more energy efficient.

The nationwide enterprise uses infrared guns to pinpoint heat leakage, blower doors to test airtightness, and dust and gas testers to create an in-depth analysis of the home and map a one- to five-year energy-efficiency plan for consumers.

“We utilize 10 different categories or areas of the home, and we actually put it on a report card for the customer, so they know whether (their home is) getting an ‘A’ or an ‘F,’ ” says George Clark, general manager of the Lansing branch.

Once you determine how you can save energy, follow through with some do-it-yourself projects and work toward your long-term goals.

Quick fixes

Clark says a big misconception is that windows and insulation will save people the most money the quickest. Rather, these fixes are the most expensive and should be considered as part of a long-term plan.

Instead, start by buying compact fluorescent lamp lightbulbs. Each CFL lightbulb saves users almost $30 during the life of the bulb, according to Consumers Energy, which has teamed up with area retailers such as Sam’s Club, Home Depot and the two Jackson Meijer stores to offer the bulbs at a reduced cost.

Lower your heating cost by turning down the thermostat, DeDoes says. That can save people “1 to 3 percent for every degree it’s dialed down,” he says, and changing or cleaning furnace filters regularly helps a furnace breathe more efficiently.

“You may want to also check your registers and make sure you’re keeping drapes and that sort of stuff away from the registers, so that the heat is coming into the room,” DeDoes says. “Make sure your furniture and drapes aren’t blocking them.”

Other tips include opening curtains and drapes when the sun is out, and painting rooms with lighter colors to increase the light that bounces off the walls.

Plan for long term

What was once high-priced and limited, appliances marked with the Energy Star label, which meets strict efficiency guidelines set by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency, are now more affordable and available.

“Five years ago, (Energy Star appliances) might have been two or two-and-a-half times the price of a traditional (appliance), but today it’s 15 to 20 percent. And the payback is typically one to two years,” Clark says.

An Energy Star washer, for example, can save you more than $135 per year. An Energy Star refrigerator can save you between $100 to $200 per year. There are rebates available for many energy-efficient products. Through March 31, Consumers Energy is offering $10 to $50 rebates on certain washers, air conditioners, thermostats and more.

Aside from purchasing energy-efficient appliances, you’ll save a large sum by sealing and insulating your home by targeting its outer walls, ceiling, windows, doors and floors. A homeowner can save up to 20 percent on heating and cooling costs by sealing and insulating, according to Energy Star.

“Ceiling duct work, insulating and sealing the rim joist around the house, and sealing the house penetrations are probably three of the top things one can do,” Clark says.

Even longer

Aside from insulation and sealing overhauls, the larger, longer-life appliances need to be considered when evaluating the energy-efficiency future of a home.

“Water heaters, furnaces, HRPs, which are Heat Ventilation Regulators that control the fresh air supply coming in and pre-conditioning of the air, is another category of items people want to look at,” Clark says.

An Energy Star water heater can help save more than $100 per year. That’s a $1,000 savings for the expected life of the water heater, according to Energy Star. And an Energy Star furnace is 15 percent more efficient than a standard model. When large items such as these burn out, consider buying one with the Energy Star label.

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As published in the Jackson Citizen Patriot