News

A St. Joseph County resident avoided being the victim of a telephone-solicitation scam Tuesday. The resident received on their home phone a call from someone claiming to represent a company called YHG. The suspect indicated they would be sending new Medicare cards and just needed the potential victim’s name, address and account number off of a checking account belonging to …

Organizers of the 2013 Three Rivers Water Festival are promoting a new addition to the annual event. A backyard barbecue competition, sponsored by Kackies Que and Century Bank and Trust, will take place 2 to 9 p.m. June 14 in the Community Tent area at the back of Scidmore Park. An entry fee of $55 will include fees, awards, prize …

Nine custodial jobs with Sturgis Public Schools will be outsourced to a Holland-based company, following action by the district’s board of education Monday. The nine employees will have an opportunity to join Enviro-Clean, which will cost the district about $500,000 next year. The current contract with district-employed custodians is in excess of $700,000, district officials said. The new contract, which …

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office and three other law-enforcement agencies have agreed to look into the unsolved homicide of Ada Haradine, an Elkhart resident. Haradine disappeared from her home in May 1985 and was reported missing by her family that day and investigated by Elkhart Police. Her remains were found three years later in the Cass County community of Union. …

A White Pigeon woman was ticketed for being unable to stop within an assured distance following a two-vehicle accident Monday in Sturgis Township. The St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department said Tambra Bryant, 48, was cited after she swerved to avoid striking the rear of a car that had slowed on westbound U.S. 12 in front of Lake Area Veterinary Clinic. …

Thirty chickens and a duck were reported stolen from a Mendon Township residence earlier this week. St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department deputies were called Monday to the 23000 block of Portage Lake Road, where the victim told police the animals were taken late Sunday or early Monday. The animals were about two months old and different varieties.

Members of the White Pigeon Fire Department recently took delivery of a new truck. The 2013 Rosenbauer pumper and rescue will be in service by early June. The truck must first be outfitted with rescue and firefighting equipment, Township Supervisor Don Gloy said. The truck holds 1,000 gallons of water, but has the capability to pump 1,500 gallons of water …

Police say a pickup truck driver ran down several Canada Goose babies that were attempting to cross a suburban Detroit roadway. The police department in Oakland County’s Waterford Township says about six adult geese and five goslings were seen trying to cross the roadway Sunday night. Police say two goslings are believed to have died. The witness told police the …

A federal appeals court ruled last week that a jury should decide whether the rights of a Sturgis resident were violated by officers from the Sturgis Police Department. A three-judge panel from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Friday rendered its opinion regarding the 2010 incident involving then-20-year-old Charles Smith over the theft of a phone charger from Walgreens …

For the second time in less than 10 days, a 75-year-old Constantine man was forcibly restrained while his residence was burglarized. Constantine Police Chief Jim Bedell said three men in the early morning hours of May 6 forced their way into a residence in the Whispering Pines neighborhood and tortured the man with second-degree burns on his legs and back. …