‘Suffering shall come into our life, but we shall not lose…?

Groveland Twp.- Father Shafique Hadyat will celebrate Christmas this year at Mt. Thabor Monastery here in the township. He will be part of the majority in the United States this year in celebrating the holiday. Usually, he is among the minority? in his homeland of Pakistan, 98 percent of his countrymen are Muslim. Christians, he […]

Clean Ortonville audit, healthy fund balance

Ortonville- The village has received a ‘clean? audit. Steven Kidd, an auditor from Lewis & Knopf, addressed the council during its Nov. 28 meeting, saying that all village funds have positive balances. ‘The records coming in are good,? said Kidd. ‘You planned to break even (on revenues and expenditures), but you are positive $39,602. All […]

No changes to weapon ordinance, bow hunting

Ortonville- Bow hunting will continue to be permitted within the village. During the Nov. 28 village council meeting, Council President Wayne Wills read a decree stating that following a poll of council members, it was decided that the weapons ordinance will remain unchanged. The current ordinance forbids the discharge of firearms within the village limits, […]

‘Eric’s War?

Brandon Twp.- Ken Bliss mixes supernatural elements in the future along with the age-old battle of good versus evil in his debut novel. The former Ortonville resident and 1984 Goodrich High School graduate will sign copies of his book, ‘Eric’s War: The Cougar and the Lamb? from noon-3 p.m., Dec. 10, at the township library, […]

Brighter holiday: Adopt-a-Family

Kathleen Russell’s philosophy on holiday charity is disarmingly simple. ‘If we can do Christmas for our family, we can do Christmas for someone else’s family,? says the Groveland Township resident, who is married to Jim and has three children, Shana DeVoe, 20, Noah DeVoe, 19, and Reeves DeVoe, 15. ‘We’re in a fortunate situation. Christmas […]

Locals join Occupy Detroit

Heidi Barckholtz did what she thought she was supposed to do. She bought a house. She faithfully made her mortgage payments. Now the Ortonville resident and working mother of two children is underwater on her house by $100,000. ‘I have to sell it and I am taking the credit hit, all because of the bad […]

Brandon Schools fund balance below 7 percent

Brandon Twp.- Down. Up. Up. Down. Since June, the school district’s fund balance has experienced ups and downs, but the bottom line is that right now the fund balance is nearly the same as what was approved in the budget five months ago. ‘The operating deficit is slightly higher? $262,000 more than we thought, but […]

District outsources tech support services

Brandon Twp.- Eric Lott openly admits he was ready to play spoilsport when asked to be on a committee to examine outsourcing technology support services for the school district. The Brandon High School computer teacher joined several administrators for a trip to Ohio to see how VARtek, a company based in Dayton, has assisted a […]

Former reserve cop, guilty of reckless firearm discharge

A man who fired a gun through a wall of his Brandon Township home while discussing with his wife their pending divorce has been found guilty of reckless use/discharge of a firearm. A jury deliberated less than an hour Nov. 21 before delivering the guilty verdict for Zonnie Jay Fritsche, a former reserve police officer […]

Heads up

Atlas Twp.- This Thursday, millions of Americans will celebrate Thanksgiving with a traditional turkey dinner. On as many as 154 local tables will be turkeys that township farmer Steve Spratt raised. Spratt, who co-owns Spratt Farms, 11418 Hill Road, with wife Arlene, has been raising turkeys (as well as chickens and vegetables) for 30 years. […]