By Wendi Reardon Price
Clarkston News Staff Writer
 As we turn the calendar to 2024, we take a look back at some the top stories from the first four months of 2023 from the pages of The Clarkston News.
January 11
Dellinger kicks off 2023 at MSU: Cole Dellinger, a 2023 Clarkston High School graduate, finished his high school career early and left for East Lansing to begin his student-athlete career at Michigan State University and play football for the Spartans.
January 18
Clarkston schools on board with local’s anti-bullying initiative: Clarkston resident Jeff Chamberlain’s book, “The Dog with the Crooked Tail” released in 2022, was going to be part of a new initiative for Clarkston Community Schools first graders called the Milo Project. He described the Milo Project as a positive, self-confidence and anti-bullying program created for children entering elementary school.
Community care part of farm’s 2022 success: Another year had come and gone, and the Clarkston Family Farm experienced more positivity and success in 2022 and expected more on the way in 2023. Chelsea O’Brien, executive director, shared it was all due to community involvement.

January 25
Clarkston Scouts’ food drive a success: Scouts from the Clarkston area helped make the 2022 Scouting for Food drive, held across southeastern Michigan between November and December, a success with over 46,000 pounds of food collected for charities in Oakland County alone.
Team, individual success in victory over Oxford: It was a big night for Clarkston Varsity Wrestling as they celebrated their six seniors and claimed the OAA Red League title with wins over Bloomfield Hills and Oxford, Jan. 18. Auggie Anderson had two wins and his pin over Oxford put him at his 100th victory.

February 8
From Clarkston to Hollywood: Brett Kline was recently back in his hometown of Clarkston visiting family and decided to go see “I Wanna Dance with Somebody,” a Whitney Houston biopic, with his parents Jane and Mitch Kline. Brett had a role in the movie as an extra with a noticeable line of dialogue. “I live in Los Angeles now and was working as an extra through Central Casting,” he said. “We shot at the Beverly Hilton. I was one of the 10 or 11 ‘paparazzi’ extras working that day.”
‘Oklahoma!’ returning to CHS stage: The Clarkston High School Drama Club was preparing to bring to the CHS Performing Arts Center stage Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II’s “Oklahoma!” for the fourth time.
Wolves shut down Knights in overtime win: For the second time in one week, the Clarkston Boys Varsity Basketball team faced OAA Red League foes in overtime. The second time they finished with a 51-48 win over Oak Park at home. “We competed a lot better from start to finish against a really good team,” said Tim Wasilk, head coach.

February 15
Finding the way to Carnegie Hall: There’s an age-old question asking, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” The answer – practice. Jorja Fuller, a Clarkston High School senior at the time, found all that to be true when the talented trombone player was accepted to play in the New York City venue’s Honors Performance Series Wind Ensemble series.
Wolves pin down success in district rounds on mats: Champions was one word to describe how the week went for Clarkston Varsity Wrestling for their first week in the post season – winning the team district championship and having ten qualify during the individual district meet.

February 22
Student numbers down 1% in Clarkston: Numbers were down from 2021 to 2022 for student count for Clarkston Community Schools. The fall count from Oct. 2022 was 6,752 FTEs (full-time enrollees), a decrease of 68 students from Oct. 2021. “The decrease in students for the 2022-23 school year was anticipated,” said CCS Superintendent Dr. Shawn Ryan.
Clarkston Girls Ski rules regional races for fifth year in a row: It was a monumental day for the Wolves at Mount Holly as the Clarkston Girls and Boys Varsity Ski teams qualified for the state finals. The girls team won their fifth consecutive regional title, it was the fourth for seniors in the MHSAA Division 1, Regional 2 event. The boys team qualified for the state finals with third place with a total of 132 points.

March 8
Upgrades for seniors: Upgrades and improvements would soon be coming to the Independence Township Senior Community Center and Brady Lodge, thanks to the township applying for and being approved for grant money from the American Rescue Plan Act. Local county leaders joined Oakland County Executive Dave Coulter March 2 in Madison Heights to announce $5 million in grants for 29 senior centers across Oakland County. The act would fund the grants, which range from $25,000 to $250,000.
March 15
Reign on the lanes: Katie Stephens changed Clarkston High School history on her first trip to the MHSAA Division 1 Girls Singles Bowling State Championship at Thunderbowl Lanes, March 4. Stephens finished the round with a 411 against Flushing’s Hannah Reid’s 307 to win Clarkston’s first girls bowling state championship. Stephens’ sister, Abby, also qualified for the state finals and finished with 891 in the qualifying block.

March 29
Library director celebrates 25 years: Julie Meredith blinked and 25 years went by. The director of the Clarkston Independence District Library, Meredith celebrated her 17th year in director role and her 25th total working for CIDL. Meredith, a Clarkston native, was the CIDL’s teen services librarian from 1998-2004 before taking a job with the Library of Michigan in Lansing from 2004-06. She was hired again as the CIDL director in 2006.

April 5
Piano-playing prodigy: Ten-year-old Clarkston resident Margaret Aviya Whitelaw was one of the winners of the Royal Conservatory of Music’s first-ever Music Lights the Way Piano Festival, a North American festival. Whitelaw took home the top prize of Level 5 of the Youth Division, awarded a Yamaha b1 Acoustic upright piano, a prize worth over $6,500.

April 12
Township considering four-day work week: At the April 4 Independence Township Board of Trustees meeting, a presentation and subsequent discussion focused on township employees possibly going to a four-day work week while still working 40 hours. A survey was sent to township employees and department leaders, with 57 individuals responding and out of those 82.46 percent were in favor of the four-day work week.
April 19
Going to the dogs: Independence Township Deputy Alex Knopp introduced police therapy dog Indy to Bailey Lake Girl Scout Troop 77774 members during the troop’s meeting last week.

April 26
Construction gold: Clarkston Construction Trades program students represented the Clarkston community at the 2023 state championships in Grand Rapids, April 14-16. Six Clarkston students battled their way through local and regional competitions to earn their place at the state finals in the categories of individual carpentry, team works carpentry, and individual masonry, with Brendan Verbeke brought home a gold medal in individual carpentry.
Forever home: Christian Chambers’ Clarkston home was in jeopardy of being sold by his mother Doreen’s guardian, a situation that the family said was being done unlawfully in 2022. After going through legal proceedings over the last several months, Chambers’ home had been saved.
Promotion to captain: The Independence Township Fire Department had a new shift captain, and it was a familiar face in Lt. Derek Moscovic. Moscovic’s promotion was made official with a swearing-in ceremony at the April 18 Independence Township Board of Trustees regular meeting.
Our Year in Review continues in the January 3, 2024 edition.

  year in review, year in review 2023