County Information

A grass fire Sunday afternoon was the seventh within a week in the county. Crews from the Fabius-Park Townships Fire Department were quickly able to extinguish the weekend blaze, which covered a small area near North Fisher Lake Road. During the Fourth of July period last week, grass fires were extinguished by the department. Agency officials said fireworks were responsible …

Members of the Sturgis Public Works Department spent three hours clearing animal debris from two U.S. 12 intersections last week. City officials said some of the contents of a semi truck were spilled around 7 a.m. Thursday at Centerville Road and further east at Clay Street. The animal parts were loaded two days earlier and sat all day in 100-degree …

Three Jones residents were arrested on drug-related offenses and a child placed into protective custody following an incident Tuesday afternoon. The Cass County Drug Enforcement Team executed a search warrant at a residence in the 61000 block of High Street. Upon entry into the residence, investigators found used meth labs and components to manufacture methamphetamine. A handgun, methamphetamine and marijuana …

St. Joseph County’s Board of Commissioners has set a deadline of Thursday for citizen-interest forms from anyone in District 2 wishing to join the commission through the end of the year. Commissioners decided last week to set the deadline, as they have less than three weeks to fill the seat vacated by 20-year Commissioner Gerald Loudenslager, who resigned to take …

A 3 year-old child suffered minor cuts from shattered glass after the passenger’s side of a van was hit by a train engine in White Pigeon Township Friday afternoon. The St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department said the crash, which occurred around 2:45 p.m. on Elkhart Street, just outside the village limits, took place when the driver of the van, Dominic …

One person was airlifted to Borgess Medical Center after a crash around 7 p.m. last Wednesday in Nottawa Township. St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department deputies said Centreville resident Carol Ann Walls was driving north on Nottawa Road when she failed to stop at the intersection of M-86. Walls’ vehicle struck a car headed east on M-86. Occupants of the second vehicle, Brian …

Investigators are still looking into the cause of a house fire reported around 5 p.m. Wednesday in Sherman Township. The blaze heavily damaged the residence, in the 64000 block of Shimmel Road. There were no injuries reported, though personnel from the Tri-Township Fire Department sought frequent rehabilitation from heat near 100 degrees by utilizing an emergency-response trailer brought to the …

An employee of the Marcellus Fire Department has pled guilty to embezzlement. Cass County Prosecutor Victor Fitz said Nicole Olsen, 33, of Marcellus, pled guilty as charged to embezzlement over $1,000 on Monday. The victim in this matter is the Marcellus Fire Department, Fitz said. The plea requires Olsen to make restitution of more than $17,000 and includes a provision …

May unemployment in St. Joseph County increased by four-tenths of a percent from April, according to the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget Analysis. The county’s May unemployment rate was 8.1 percent. Despite the increase from April, the May figure is still less than the county’s 9.9 percent unemployment rate in May 2011. One other positive note: St. Joseph …

The St. Joseph County Road Commission spent more than $5 million on road maintenance last year, down from $6.5 million in 2010, according to the agency’s manager, Louis Csokasy. During his annual report to the St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners last month, Csokasy said the agency did manage to complete 90 miles of road upgrades through chip-and-seal work in …