County Information

The St. Joseph County Farm Bureau staged its annual meeting last week at Sturges~ Young Auditorium. Several awards were presented and recognition given to a number of people. Taya Bower of Colon and David Miller of White Pigeon were recognized for attending the Michigan Farm Bureau Young People’s Citizenship Seminar. Mariah Schlabach of Sturgis received the St. Joseph County Farm …

ServPro of St. Joseph and Cass counties earlier this month conducted its second annual Smoke Detector giveaway, joining up with the Three Rivers Fire Department as part of the promotion. After handing out 75 detectors at last year’s event, the drive pushed past 350 detectors given out in a two-hour span. The giveaway coincided with Fire Prevention Week. ServPro owner …

Nominations are being accepted for the 2014-15 John E. Oster Award for outstanding teaching and exemplary community service by a Sturgis Public Schools teacher. The award is in honor of the late John E. Oster, a Sturgis attorney, who placed high value on education and community service. The award has been presented annually since the 1981-82 school year. In addition …

Sturgis Bank & Trust has developed a long-term lease for the 32-space parking lot behind its property, between South Nottawa and south Monroe streets, in Sturgis. The lease with the city of Sturgis has an initial term of 20 years that began Oct. 1, with the option to renew for three succeeding periods of 20 years. Rent will be $1 …

A Sturgis dentist is offering to buy Halloween candy kids receive Friday night from trick-or-treating. Jamie Bartman has joined the movement to reduce gingivitis and anti-decay by giving away dollars and toothbrushes in exchange for Halloween candy. Candy will be collected 2 to 6 p.m. Wednesday at Bartman’s office, 905 E. Chicago Road. Each child is eligible to receive $1 …

As part of the ongoing development of a master plan for a proposed river trail in St. Joseph County, five areas for immediate river-access improvements have been identified. The locations are: Portage River at Carpenter Road in Lockport Township, Prairie River at Hoshel Park in Lockport Township, Fawn River at East Fawn River Road in Fawn River Township, and St. …

The Three Rivers DDA/Main Street program has announced the release of its new image for downtown Three Rivers. Brian Persky, executive director of the Three Rivers DDA/Main Street, said the procedure is a first step in the DDA’s image-building campaign to help raise awareness of the goods and services offered downtown. The new image presents the Three Rivers community as …

Monday’s annual Celebrity Waiter Night at Curly’s in Colon drew a full house, creating a busy night for the United Way volunteers serving as wait staff. Kelly Hostetler, St. Joseph County United Way director, said Curly’s co-owner Kathy Earl is a former board of directors member for six years and was in charge of the special-events committee. As a result, …

A ribbon-cutting ceremony takes place at 4 o’clock this afternoon for the Children’s Trauma Assessment Group of St. Joseph County. Located next to the county’s United Way headquarters in Centreville, the CTAG provides a 24-hour, comfortable environment where children can talk to law-enforcement officials in conducting sensitive cases. The only area location available for such an assessment is at Western …

A father and son were arrested at a Florence Township residence last week on a charge of felony possession of stolen property. State police said the incident dates to September, when a four-wheel ATV was stolen from a residence in the 17000 block of Banker Street in Florence Township. On Oct. 20, the victim and a friend posed as prospective …