“This past weekend marked a particularly significant moment for the East Alley Project, and that is the installation of the archway and sign. It now displays its name, and as much as we have used the name previously, it’s now for all to see. No single step of this project has done more in the way of placemaking than installing the sign. It really feels different now that it is in place.”

Watershed Voice’s Michael Hogoboom writes about his late friend Spencer Minor, who he shared a birthday with and a decades long friendship. Tragically Minor died in a motorcycle accident in 2019, and at the time of his passing, Minor and Hogoboom were collaborating on an art project for downtown Three Rivers. The project quickly evolved into a tribute for Minor, the final form of which was unveiled earlier this month in downtown’s East Alley.

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.