Shivering in the freezing, crisp morning air, with a blanket wrapped tightly around his body and wearing a bright green hat, the one item he was able to recover from his home, Scotty Foote closed his eyes and listened as gun shells continued to pop and echo throughout the surrounding woods as the fire that had just destroyed his home burned away at the last remaining ammunition shells from his room closet.

In celebration of the freedom to have choice in choosing a school for a child’s education, students and faculty at Threshold Academy in Orleans celebrated National School Choice Week Thursday.

An early morning altercation today between a male suspect and a Belding police officer led to a shootout between the man and two police officers, resulting in the man’s death.

As DTE Energy Regional Manger Roger Royer held a giant check in the amount of $10,000 to be given to the Belding Skate Park Committee, he reflected on the importance of helping to bring the skate park to downtown Belding at Central Riverside Park.

In the spring of 1972, the final touches of construction were finished on a restaurant-cocktail lounge with 25 adjoining hotel units on M-91 in the far northwest corner of the Belding city limits.
Now, more than 40 years later, that restaurant and adjoining hotel has flourished into an 18-hole golf course and resort on 255-acres of wooded land.

In its current state, the parking lot adjacent to Central Riverside Park in Belding is in severe disrepair, and has been for some time. The future of that parking lot, used by parents driving children to soccer games, families meeting in the park for reunions and other various activities throughout the park, may very well be determined by a potential grant that was discussed in heavy detail during a work session at Tuesday night’s city council meeting.

The first 10 minutes of a middle school physical education class, a time set aside for stretching and preparing for activities, are not always the most exciting, but at Belding Middle School students now eagerly wait to see what warm-up routine is coming their way. Consisting of stretching, balancing, running, jumping and other exercises to loosen up one’s muscles, warming up can be considered an annoyance or a chore when a basket of balls is waiting for you on the other side of the gym. But thanks to the Hopsports Mini Training System recently implemented at Belding Middle School, students now start their class by following along with a virtual instructor to as many as 50 different warm-up routines.

A 16-year-old Belding cross county student was stuck by a SUV on M-44 late Thursday afternoon. According to Belding Police Chief Dale Nelson, the male runner was part of a group of Belding cross country runners practicing around 4:18 p.m. Thursday afternoon. The teen runner was heading west on the south side of M-44 and attempted to cross M-44 at Ionia Street.

For nearly two and half years, Denny Craycraft and other members of the Belding community have been working to bring back the Freedom Wall that was decommissioned more than 63 years ago in 1948. On Wednesday, the first evidence of several years worth of work and fundraising was on display as trucks brought in sand and a bulldozer leveled that sand to prepare for the foundation of the memorial site that will be directly adjacent to the west of the Pere Marquette Depot in downtown Belding.

After three fires in the span of one week at her residence, Belding resident Deb Souza is now wondering if she can leave her home without having to worry about a fourth fire occurring on her property. At approximately 4 a.m. Aug. 2, firefighters were called to 1308 Oakwood St. in Belding to the scene of a small fire of a mobile car port in Souza’s driveway after a neighbor spotted the fire.