06-08-2017 Watervliet Fire Fighters present Brews in the Park on Saturday; Keeler Township works on

WHS 60 YEAR CLASS REUNION… last fall at the home of Bobbi Guertel in St. Joseph. In attendance were (from the left): Front row – Ka-ren Kniebes Rosenbaum, Icie Brewer Richardson, Lydia Bar-nek Dearing; Middle row – Bobbi Knight Guertel, Nancy Warren Bowers, Art Loomis, Donna Kay Collins Hayes; Back row – Frank Pflugradt, Lyndy Smith, Vince Pratt, Morris Burford, Wayne Gay and Preston Sanders Jr.

Watervliet Fire Fighters present Brews in the Park on Saturday

 On Saturday, June 10 the Watervliet Fire Fighters Association is holding Brews in the Park fund-raiser event sponsored by Hartford Speedway. It takes place from 3 – 7 p.m. in Flaherty Park, 309 Butternut Street in Watervliet.

The fire fighters association invites the community to support this event. There will be live music, 12 breweries represented and food available for purchase. Thanks to David Coyle and Ed Nash from Arclight Brewing Company for going above and beyond to make this event happen.

The cost to attend is $40 in advance, $50 at the door that includes 10 tasting tickets. There are also 50 VIP tickets available for $60 each that includes 10 tasting tickets, two food tickets and a special brew sampling. Tickets are available online at http://m.bpt.me/event/2934612.

Proceeds go to many charitable events, scholarships for Watervliet students, Adopt a Family and much more.

For more information, contact Bill Whitney at 269-757-4293 or bwhitney2187@yahoo.com.

COLOMA HIGH SCHOOL BAND SENIORS… were recently presented personalized blankets or framed certificates in honor of their years of participation in the Coloma Band Program. Pictured (from the left) Front row: James Jones, Ariel DeLaTorre, Zack Heater, Bailey O’Neal, Destiny Motton, Jennabeth Thomas, Adam Batey, Hannah Strunk, Ben Ball; Back row: Naomi Cottrell, Brad Kelley, Abigail Tuttle, Hannah Mort, Abby Blevins, Brenden Ferry, Cassidy Fickett, Jacob Sharpe, Jenna Walter, Clayton Burgess, Jake Kelley, Nathene Wendzel, and band director Mrs. Cheryl Thomas.

Keeler Township works on ordinance violators

By Annette Christie

Keeler Township officials continue to work on ridding their township of blight.  At their Tuesday, June 6 meeting Supervisor Bill Kays gave a legal update for several residences that they are working on.

The longstanding battle to clean up the old Sister Lakes Playhouse property is nearing victory.  Kays said the demolition bid has been awarded and they are only waiting on the asbestos report.  There was some discussion over leaving a pole building on the property which could provide some value in the efforts to sell the property. An interested resident said that the pole barn could be rehabbed with a roof replacement, good power wash job, and some extensive effort.

Kays explained that for over 15 years the township has been battling this owner, been to court four times, over all these years the court would do the bare minimum. Kays said “We took a lot of criticism for not demolishing it.” Kays said their attorney has advised them that if they avert from the demolition order by leaving the one building, that the judge might not be so willing to listen the next time they ask for an order to demolish.  Clerk Carl Davis added, “The demolition order is in and we need to take them down, clean it up and make it look nice.”  With no action made to change the order of demolition, the resident said he understood their point.

In other efforts to clean up the township, the township attorney will be seeking legal action for a property at 60476 Territorial Road for being unsafe.  The homeowner of 66970 Lakeshore Drive has agreed to work with the township to have their unsafe structure demolished.

Two property owners that are not cooperating with the township in removing their semitrailers being used for storage will be receiving official communication from the township’s attorney. Kays noted that the number of residents using semitrailers for accessory buildings has increased but is against the ordinance.  They will continue to get them removed throughout the township.

Eleanor Serocki from the Van Buren County Conservation District introduced herself and gave a little overview of what they do.  One of the main areas currently is working with a grant funded program to deal with any invasive species issues that residents may be dealing with that are causing problems.  The Conservation District can help identify the species such as plants or bugs and how to deal with them and keep them from spreading.

“We want to stop the introduction of these before they spread,” Serocki said.   She specifically focused on Japanese Knotweed which can cause damage to infrastructures and things like sewer / septic systems.  She said they need to find out where it is and then effectively treat it. “One small fragment can root itself,” Serocki said.

Serocki said they also work with lakes struggling with aquatic invasive problems.

The Sister Lakes Fire Department had 10 runs in May, two of which were in Keeler Township.

The Keeler Fire Department had 12 calls including a two car accident on 84th and an assist to Hartford on a structure fire on Rush Lake.

Pride Care reported that for the month of April they responded to six Priority 1 calls with an average time of 6.53 minutes.  In May, they responded to six Priority 1 calls with an average time of 4.17 minutes.

Van Buren County Sheriff’s Deputy Ray Hochsprung reported that he had 10 ordinance violation investigations in May, several of them being blight and junk vehicles.  He said that many have been brought to compliance. He has been doing radar patrols on various streets that have been having speed problems.   In all, for the month of May he investigated 24 complaints; seven non-criminal, four criminal, and three domestic situations.  He made 24 traffic stops, wrote two citations and gave 24 warnings.

The township board approved setting a public hearing at their next board meeting being held on July 11.  Burnette Foods is asking for an Industrial Facilities Exemption certificate in connection with their next planned $2.5 million expansion.  There last expansion was at a cost of $4 million.  With the expansion, Burnette will be adding 20 or more employees.  The public hearing will be held at 8:00 p.m.