Government

Deputies from the St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department Deputies are investigating a hit-and-run crasj that occurred last weekend in Florence Township. According to a department media release, the crash occurred Saturday evening in the 65000 block of Lutz Road, where a passenger car was making a right-hand turn into a driveway. Investigators said a 1980s model Chevrolet pickup struck the car. The …

St. Joseph County Emergency Services Coordinator Jim Barnes has passed along information relevant to agriculture-related businesses that have suffered financially from this summer’s drought. Barnes noted that the U.S. Small Business Administration is making available federal economic-disaster loans to small businesses, agricultural cooperatives and other agriculture-related businesses in Michigan. St. Joseph County is one of 10 drought-stricken counties in the …

The St Joseph County Sheriff’s Department is investigating a breaking-and-entering incident in the 63000 block of Youngs Prairie Road in Constantine Township. Sheriff’s officials said a pole barn was burglarized sometime between 9 p.m. Monday and 6 a.m. Tuesday. Tools and hunting equipment were reported stolen.

Personnel from fire departments in Sturgis and across the county are in mourning after learning Monday about the weekend passing of Ladd Carpenter, Sturgis assistant fire chief. A 45-person search for Carpenter’s body was staged Sunday morning after the 55-year-old Sturgis Fire Department veteran failed to show up for an early shift Sunday. Undersheriff Mark Lillywhite said searchers focused their …

A 74-year-old Elkhart County man was charged with arson following an incident Friday evening in White Pigeon Township. According to the Michigan State Police, the man allegedly set fire to a rental unit in which he was residing, in the 71000 block of Aldrich Lake Road. There were no injuries and no other adjacent structures were damaged by fire, heat, …

Members of the St. Joseph County Conservation District said perfect weather and sufficient water depth Saturday combined for a successful cleanup of the Rocky River. Twelve volunteers participated in the daylong effort, which started at Null Road and concluded just past U.S. 131. An estimated 250 pounds of debris was collected from the river, including a bale of wire fencing, …

Twenty-year-old Three Rivers native Marco Drayton, who had been missing since July 22, has reportedly made contact with his family and is safe.  A variety of news reports stated Drayton left the area without informing his family, whose members reported him missing after he failed to show up at a friend’s house a short distance from his residence.  Drayton reportedly …

South Bend police are investigating the weekend death of a Michigan man killed when his dune buggy crashed during a “mud bog” race at the St. Joseph County 4-H Fairgrounds.  Forty-eight-year-old Steven DeLeeuw of West Olive, Mich., was pronounced dead Saturday night at a South Bend hospital after his vehicle flipped several times and crashed into a concrete barrier and …

Divers from the Michigan State Police recovery unit had no success in a search Thursday for locating the remains of Venus Stewart. Acting on a tip, divers spent the morning searching a stretch of the St. Joseph River in Colon Township, adjacent to her parents’ residence on Driftwood Drive. A cadaver K-9 helped pinpoint an area to search, but divers …

Organizers of the fourth annual Burr Oak Heritage Festival said the three-day event, which concluded Sunday, was the village’s most successful community celebration yet. Barb Wittlock, village clerk and a member of the Heritage Festival Committee, said Friday’s old-fashioned baseball game between the Burr Oak Bandits and Sturgis Biscuits drew more than 200 spectators, Saturday’s parade featured 60-plus entries, the …