Three Rivers City Clerk Melissa Bliss told Watershed Voice Wednesday she has taken a deputy clerk position in St. Joseph County’s General Clerks Division. Bliss’ resignation as city clerk was announced during Tuesday’s city commission meeting. Her last day will fall on January 8, 2021.
Centreville
The St. Joseph County Grange Fair Board of Directors announced Tuesday that country music group Diamond Rio and special guest Cash O’Riley will perform on September 25, 2021 at the fairgrounds in Centreville.
Glen Oaks Community College reached out to media organizations Friday evening to announce this project is “back on hold.” The college had received word in early December from the state budget office that it was recommitting and recommending approval of capital outlay requests for several Michigan colleges including a $7.3 million Glen Oaks project. The plan calls for the total renovation of the north side of campus including the library, technical labs, art studio, business classrooms, restrooms, and replacement of the bowed exterior walls.
In a resentencing hearing held in St. Joseph County Circuit Court Thursday, Judge Paul Stutesman reduced the minimum sentence of 41-year-old Douglas S. Shuman, who was originally sentenced to two concurrent terms of life in prison and two additional years for a felony firearm conviction, after he shot and killed his parents James and Arunee Shuman in Three Rivers in 1997.
The St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners honored County Treasurer Judie Ratering, who is retiring on Dec. 31, and adopted their 2021-22 FY budget following a public hearing Tuesday.
The St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners and the Three Rivers City Commission will both hold regular meetings as planned this evening, Tuesday, December 1, 2020.
Three Rivers and the surrounding area has a large community of current and former military service members. In honor of Veterans Day 2020, Watershed Voice reached out to find out about some of their lives and service careers. Staff spoke to three veterans representing three branches of the U.S. military, and who served during three different times. These are their stories.
At least 160 public schools and 32 colleges and universities are reporting Monday new or ongoing COVID-19 outbreaks, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) data.
An old-time harvest event doesn’t necessarily happen every year at the Hochstetler farm, but it does when a need arises. For a harvest event this past Saturday, family members and friends mobilized to organize a breakfast fundraiser, convene the necessary people and equipment to do the threshing, and get the word out. Several hundred people from the nearby community turned out to eat a home-cooked breakfast of eggs, pancakes, homemade sausage, biscuits and gravy, and fresh doughnuts, and to watch as volunteers operated a variety of antique equipment.
A Household Hazardous Waste Collection event takes place this Saturday, October 17 at the St. Joseph County Fairground in Centreville. The annual event provides county residents an opportunity to safely and responsibly dispose of items that cannot be discarded through residential trash collection or recycling programs.
An event in Centreville will feature a home-cooked breakfast, live demonstrations of antique farm and sawmill equipment, and wagon rides this weekend. The Old-Fashioned Fall Harvest event will take place Friday evening and for the entire day Saturday on the farm of Melvin and Orpha Hochstetler. It will serve as a medical benefit fundraiser for Mr. Hochstetler.
At an Executive Committee meeting Wednesday morning, St. Joseph County Commissioners decided to defer conversations about hiring and pay decisions until planning talks begin over the 2021 Fiscal Year budget.
Neighbors are organizing in opposition to a proposed propane business on Highway M-60 near Fisher Lake. Nottawa Gas, which is currently located between Nottawa and Colon, is considering purchase of a 14-acre parcel of land on the west side of the highway between North Fisher Lake Road and Wilson Boulevard. Neighbors fear the development will negatively impact their property values and quality of life.
At a regular meeting of the St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners Tuesday, commissioners approved the hire of two new employees for the Sheriff’s Department, making an exception to a current hiring freeze. They include a position in road patrol and one in the corrections department that is responsible for courthouse security.
Rod Detweiler, a candidate for the School Board governing Centreville Public Schools, filled out our candidate questionnaire. These are his answers.
Keith Whitford grows pumpkins, but not just any pumpkins. In a garden along U.S-131 on the northwest edge of Three Rivers, Whitford grows oversized pumpkins. Beth Hubbard, whose family owns Corey Lake Orchards, has provided the use of an antique flatbed truck that once belonged to her father to display three of them at the entrance to her farm stand.
At a County Executive Committee meeting Wednesday, Covered Bridge Healthcare Director Rick Shaffer requested a new arrangement for a recent land purchase. Shaffer proposed converting a three-year land contract for the agency’s building into an outright purchase, which would resolve zoning issues related to proposed expansion work.
The St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners weighed Wednesday whether to send a letter to Governor Gretchen Whitmer regarding Prosecutor John McDonough’s status. McDonough has been on paid leave since being arrested in a May drunk driving incident for which he will soon stand trial.