County Information

The St. Joseph County United Way is beginning its annual Donut Drive this week. United Way volunteers will be in St. Joseph County’s eight communities over the next week, starting in Centreville today. The agency is not asking for donations, rather it is thanking St. Joseph County residents for their continued support. The Centreville-based agency helps more than 40 local …

The Michigan Department of Education is reminding the public that its “Meet Up and Eat Up” Summer Food Service Program is ongoing through the month of August. The free meal is offered to any child 18 years of age and younger. Locally, meal sites are at Barrows and Huss school sites, and Hoppin and Andrews elementary schools; Constantine High School …

Constantine’s Farmers Market will have a special visitor today. One of the 50 Michigan State Police squad cars painted black and gold to commemorate the agency’s 100-year anniversary in 2017 will be at the market 3 to 5 p.m. Also during the same time span, the company Child Print will offer free ID kits. The kits allow parents to have …

St. Joseph County employees are expected to adhere to a series of customer-service standards following action last week by county commissioners. Introduced by human resources director Teresa Doehring, the resolution to adopt customer-service standards provides four ideals to follow when dealing with the public: *Smile and greet people warmly. *Take ownership of any customer concern. *Assist without being asked. *Respect …

The largest Homes For Our Troops fundraiser in the eight-year history hosted by Jim and Peggy Fassett bodes well for a Grand Rapids-area man and his family. Though it’s not unusual for more money to trickle in a week or two afterward, Saturday’s event at the Fassett’s Park Township farmstead generated nearly $12,000. The figure marks about $2,000 less than …

Two 18-year-old women were arrested over the weekend after police discovered they were in possession of stolen property. According to a media release from the Sturgis Police Department, officers pulled over a car at 4 a.m. Sunday in the 400 block of Marian Street after the department received a report of someone going through parked, unlocked vehicles. Officers noticed what …

Cass County deputies responded last week to a single-vehicle accident in Porter Township. Sheriff Richard Behnke said agency officials were called at 11 p.m. Saturday to Tharp Lake Road, north of Chapel Hill Road. The driver, 48-year-old Cassopolis resident Benjamin Burnham was driving north on Tharp Lake and lost control of his vehicle. The vehicle drove off the roadway and overturned …

WWMT television is reporting that a 6-year-old girl was sexually assaulted on a Colon Community Schools bus in April. The incidents allegedly involved a 15-year-old boy who is no longer a student at the district but still faces up to seven charges of sexual assault, the station reported. St. Joseph County Prosecutor John McDonough said charges of failure to report …

The St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department is investigating an act of vandalism at Centreville High School last week. Sometime between 11 p.m. Thursday and 7 a.m. Friday, someone engaged a front-end loader and drove it into a wall at the northwest corner of the junior high/high school building. The collision caused a wall to collapse inward, resulting in damage that …

A pregnant Angus/Herford cow was stolen last month from a pasture in Flowerfield Township. The St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department issued a media release over the weekend, indicating the cow was taken July 10 from a location in the 11000 block of Floating Bridge Road. Because of the size and weight of the 1,300-pound cow, special equipment and a large …