MISS WATERVLIET 2017 CONTESTANTS… Here’s a look at the 10 contestants vying for the Miss Watervliet 2017 title. They are (from the left): Front row – Nicole Trux, Taylor Zehner, Kylie Tyler, and Mercede Daugherty; and Back row – Kacie Shaffer, Zoey Howard, Kaylee Chapin, Katie Schultz, Emily Fellows and Maggie Lynch.

10 young women vie for the title of Miss Watervliet 2017

 On Saturday, January 14, 2017 at the Watervliet High School auditorium, Miss Watervliet 2016, Karlee Liles, will hand off the crown to a new Miss Watervliet, who will be chosen from this group of ten young women from our community.

The winner of the Miss Watervliet 2017 title will compete at the Miss Blossomtime pageant in March. Miss Blossomtime Pageant & Showcase of Queens is an event that spans two days where more than 20 community queens vie for the title of Miss Blossomtime. They are judged on poise, interviewing skills, community service, & communications as well as stage presence & personality. The first runner up to Miss Watervliet 2017 may choose to compete in the Miss Spirit of Blossomtime pageant. The Miss Spirit of Blossomtime pageant is open to all first runner-ups of community pageants. The winner of the Miss Spirit pageant will go on to participate in the Miss Blossomtime pageant though she is not eligible to win Miss Blossomtime, First Runner-Up, or Second Runner-Up. She is able to win awards for modeling, communication, photogenic, community service, and Miss Congeniality. She will also take part in all Blossomtime events with the other community queens.

For more information on purchasing tickets to the event or becoming a supporter of the 2017 pageant, please contact the Watervliet Pageant Organization through their Facebook Page named: WPO, or call WPO Chairman Angela Widdis at 269-449-0790.

Local clerks prepare for election recount even as courts consider appeals

By Annette Christie

While legal efforts to stop a state-wide, hand counted recount of the November election ballots has not halted, clerks are preparing to do the recount following a ruling by a U.S. District Judge.    Presidential Green Party candidate Jill Stein filed for the recount in not only Michigan, but other states as well.

Under current law, any candidate on the ballot can file for a recount and while it does not come close to covering the actual cost of such a task, the candidate making the request does have to pay a small fee, $125 per precinct.  Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson estimates that the actual cost could top $2 million.

Republican candidate Donald Trump won in Michigan’s presidential election over Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton by 10,704 votes.  Stein did not come close, only receiving 1.07 percent of the total vote.

What this means for local clerks is that all ballots are taken to a specific location where volunteers gather to hand count the ballots.  Keeler Township Clerk Carl Davis will be taking the township’s ballot boxes to Antwerp Township Hall for a Saturday recount of all Van Buren County ballots.  Davis said he is volunteering for the county-wide recount.

Hartford City Clerk Roxann Rodney-Isbrecht will also be volunteering to help out with the recount. Rodney-Isbrecht said it is costing the local jurisdictions time and money.  “There will be travel time and tireless hours invested in counting the ballots,” she said.  While Rodney-Isbrecht feels that the recount is an unnecessary task and a waste of time and resources she adds, “It will not change the outcome of the election. It will prove that the process of Michigan’s elections can be held to the highest integrity.”

Published reports state that the Berrien County re-count will begin Wednesday, December 7 at the South County building.  Clerk Sharon Tyler reported that there are approximately 72,000 ballots to be counted.

Counties state-wide are federally required to submit their recount efforts by a December 13 deadline.  Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette and President-elect Donald Trump have sued in state court to stop the recount.  Results of those hearings were not available.