News

Michigan State Police graduated its 136th class last week. The group of more than 70 completed a 25-week training at the Lansing-based academy. The training involved firearms, water safety, defensive tactics, patrol techniques, report writing, ethics, cultural diversity, decision, making, first aid, leadership, criminal law, crime-scene processing and precision driving. The recruits also participated in two community-outreach projects. Agency officials …

The Youth Advisory Council of the Sturgis Area Community Foundation is giving back this holiday season through its annual Christmas Service Project. The project benefits the Salvation Army, which provides Christmas gifts for local families in need. Group members recently gathered to shop for this year’s project, which focuses on providing gifts for area teens, considered an age group that …

St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners this week approved three exceptions to its hiring freeze. Tuesday’s votes resulted in authorization to hire an emergency services coordinator, a $75,000-a-year position that will become vacant effective Jan. 31. It was sought by undersheriff Mark Lillywhite. In a separate request, Lillywhite also was granted permission to hire a clerk/typist for the sheriff’s department. …

Ellen Eisele has been chosen as the 2019 recipient of the John E. Oster Award for Teacher Recognition. She was honored Monday at a luncheon hosted by Sturgis Rotary Club. Eisele, who came to Sturgis in 1990, was instrumental in piloting the Connected Mathematics Program, ensuring access to some of the finest teaching materials and professional development on the market. …

The Centreville Village Council voted Monday to have its lawyer develop a joint-ownership agreement for the Old Centreville Cemetery, under which the village and Nottawa Township would each own it equally. Nottawa Township had presented the village with an agreement under which the village and township would form the Old Centreville Cemetery Committee, consisting of one representative each from the …

The annual Shop With a Hero event was held last weekend in Sturgis. Twenty-seven students from Wall, Congress, Wenzel and Eastwood schools were selected by Sturgis Public School staff to participate in the event. The participants went shopping at Walmart with local heroes from the community. Each student received $ 90 to spend on presents, according to Sam Watson, Sturgis …

A Burr Oak man died Tuesday night following a single-vehicle accident in Burr Oak Township. Sheriff’s officials said the incident occurred at 9:18 p.m. on Middle Colon Road at Kibolski Road. According to a department media release, deputies were called to the scene and found that the vehicle was traveling north on Middle Colon Road. It left the east side …

Officials with the Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Health Department said work is progressing in Mendon to contact and test the water of a dozen homeowners who have wells with possible PFAs at dangerous levels. Paul Andriacchi, director of environmental health, said when a contamination site was first discovered a number of years ago, the village constructed a municipal water system. About a …

St. Joseph County commissioners this week OK’d a number of reappointments, starting with Kristina Eaton, Ruth Perry and a sheriff’s department representative to the Animal Control Advisory Board. The positions are for three-year terms. Meanwhile, Sturgis-area residents Warren Atkins and Douglas Pagels, along with White Pigeon-area resident Mark Ripplinger, were reappointed to the county’s planning commission. Those posts, too, are …

A four-wheeler was stolen from a residence this week in Flowerfield Township. State troopers are investigating the incident, which involves a 2010 Honda 4 Trax four-wheeler. It was taken late Monday or early Tuesday from a residence in the 52000 block of Lewis Lake Road. The four-wheeler has a toolbox on its back with a dent from being struck by …