Belding resident Denny Craycraft discusses the matter of the Veterans Memorial with Belding City Council members, from left, Joe Feuerstein, Mike Scheid, Andrea Belding and Ron Gunderson, during the public comment period at Tuesday night’s Belding City Council meeting. — Daily News/Cory Smith

BELDING — After months of comparing sites, viewing designs, creating a sub-committee and receiving much input from members of the community in Belding, the new Veterans Memorial finally has a home.

Members of the Belding City Council voted 4-0 during Tuesday night’s meeting to approve the area to the west of the Pere Marquette Depot building on Gibson Street as the future home of a Veterans Memorial in Belding.

“The Downtown Development Association (DDA) Board, Recreation Advisory Board and the Planning Commission have all weighed in on this issue,” City Manager Randy DeBruine said. “The DDA Board and Recreation Advisory Board support that the property to the west of the Depot be used for a Veterans Memorial. The Planning Commission previously passed a motion to have the memorial located in a current park.”
The depot location lies adjacent to Central Riverside Park.

DeBruine said the DDA in particular believed that there is future commercial development potential at the Breimayer site, located on the corner of Congress and Bridge streets across from City Hall. Belding resident and veteran Denny Craycraft had hoped that the empty lot would be the location chosen for the Memorial.

“I fought the battle for the citizens of the city because they wanted that (Breimayer) lot,” said Craycraft, who spearheaded the Veterans Memorial project. “Granted, it didn’t get done that way, but at this other site we now have the potential to receive grant money, something we couldn’t have received at the Breimayer lot.”

The property located west of the Pere Marquette Depot on Gibson Street in Belding was approved by Belding City Council Tuesday night as the official location for a Veterans Memorial in Belding. — File photo

Craycraft went as far as submitting nearly 1,000 signatures on a petition from Belding residents to the City Council stating a desire to have the Veterans Memorial located at the Breimeyer site.

“I want the community to know that I was still disappointed the city didn’t go with the Breimayer lot, because that location was the will of the people,” he said. “But I’m going to get more cooperation with the city now with the Depot location and sometimes you just have to step back and let it happen.”

According to Craycraft, the first portion of construction will be the Freedom Wall, which will be built west of the Depot as well. His goal is to have the wall built before Memorial Day.

Craycraft hopes to begin construction as “soon as possible” which can happen after official architectural designs are submitted to the city, a process Craycraft expects to take a week.

“Once we have the Freedom Wall built, we can piece the rest of the memorial area together in stages,” he said. “Our main focus first is to get that wall up, because we are losing time every day that we don’t start construction.”

The memorial isn’t expected to cost the city anything. Craycraft said he and his supporters will build the project through donations, which he expects to come in more readily now that a location for the memorial has been chosen.

Councilman Mike Scheid, who originally favored the Breimayer location, said he now feels the location west of the Depot will make for a better option.

“I’m excited about this,” he said. “With the rails to trails (River Valley Rail-Trail) going through there, I keep looking at this and there’s just so much potential here, I think it’s going to be a great site.”

Scheid described the Veterans Memorial as a “living project,” with a focus that should first be on the Freedom Wall.

“Let’s get the wall up and then once that is up we can start working on the rest of the memorial,” he said. “I think it’s a good project to have for Belding. I think it’s going to compliment the downtown area very well, I think it will be very visible to the project and it was something that needed to be done.”

After months of discussion, Councilwoman Andrea Belding said she is glad to see the issue come to a close.
“I’m glad we’re at this point where we can finally allow Denny and his group the chance to start working on the memorial,” she said. “I truly hope they meet their goal (of building the wall) before Memorial Day.”

In other news, the council approved to accept the community recreation plan with a 4-0 vote. According to DeBruine, the recreation plan is designed to create a long-range vision for park and recreation needs, aid development of recreation programs and facilities and provide a guide for the city from 2012 to 2016.

U.S. Navy Seebee Rachael Vestergaard gets her photo on the jumbotron at Joe Louis Arena during the Detroit Red Wings game on Feb. 8. — Courtesy photo

Red Wings defenseman Ian White, left, poses with Vestergaard on Feb. 8 following the Wings’ 4-2 win over Edmonton.

STANTON — One of the things Rachael Vestergaard wanted to do on her return trip home from Afghanistan was to attend a Detroit Red Wings game.

The 2007 Central Montcalm graduate got her wish and made the trip on Feb. 8 to see the Red Wings host the Edmonton Oilers. Thanks to Red Wings’ defenseman Ian White, the trip meant so much more.

Builder Constructionman (BUCN) Vestergaard’s trip home was her first since being deployed to Afghanistan for six months. Vestergaard serves in the United States Navy and is stationed at Gulfport, Miss., as a Seebee.

White — in his first year as a Red Wing — started a program last season while with the Calgary Flames called “White’s Heroes.” That program purchased two tickets for individuals from the Canadian Forces to each Flames home game throughout the season.

After joining the Red Wings, White changed the name to “White’s Warriors” to honor both U.S. and Canadian military personnel. White still purchases two tickets to every Red Wings home game and meets with his guests after each game, as well.

Vestergaard’s mother, Mary Thomas, set the wheels in motion for her to be chosen as a guest of White.

“I wanted to go to a Red Wings game when I came home because they are my favorite hockey team,” Vestergaard said. “My mom was trying to figure out a way to put my name on the Jumbotron for a welcome back.

“The people she talked to mentioned the Ian White thing and I got picked for a game,” she added.

Vestergaard found out shortly after returning home from Afghanistan about the selection.

“I bragged to everyone about being selected,” she said. “The seats were great. They were in the lower bowl on the corner.”

Vestergaard’s mother, stepfather Erik and sister Erika all attended the game with her. Mary Thomas is already a 10-game season ticket holder for the Red Wings.

In addition to the game, they were treated to a meal, were pictured on the Jumbotron, sat on the Red Wings bench and were able to not only meet White, but other Red Wings too.

“Normally, you’re not allowed to meet anyone else. They ended up letting me go to where the players leave,” Vestergaard said. “I got to get a few other pictures with (Johan) Franzen and (Jiri) Hudler.”

As for White, Vestergaard said he was very nice.

“He was real nice. I like to joke around a lot and so did he,” Vestergaard said. “His wife was there and she was real nice. She said I could put his hockey glove on. They were all sweaty and gross.”

Vestergaard appreciates what White does for military members.

“It’s pretty awesome. I really appreciate it,” she said. “They were great seats, we got to eat for free and meet players. We even got to sit on the Red Wings bench and go back into the lockerroom. That’s stuff you don’t ever get to see and he does all that for you.”

Seebees were created during World War II. Their motto is “We build, we fight.” Seebees build camps, bases, roadways and airstrips among many other projects and have done so across the world.

Vestergaard has been in the Navy since March 2010.

“I went in the Navy to help me figure out what I wanted to do in life and to earn money for school,” Vestergard said.

With three years of active duty remaining, she isn’t sure if she will reenlist or head to college.

“It’s getting harder to stay in (Navy),” Vestergaard said. “They are cutting back. They are taking away two of regiments, three battlions and cutting 3,000 sailors this year.”

The Red Wings fan — also a Detroit Tigers and Ferris State hockey fan — ended her return home with a family trip to Las Vegas.

The Red Wings won the game 4-2, which was their 18th straight home win at the time. The Red Wings are in the midst of an NHL record 23-game home winning streak. They host Vancouver on Thursday.

The event is from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is open to eighth-grade and high school students and their parents.

The goal of the fair is to encourage higher education and provide jobs for local students. The event will include information about colleges, jobs, sports, military branches and various clubs and groups.

The fair is organized by the National Honor Society of Tri County High School. Call the high school at (231) 937-4338 for more information.

The Big Rapids Cardinals jumped to an 18-0 first quarter lead and went on to defeat the Wildcats 59-37 at home on Tuesday night.

“The kids have to motivate themselves. I told them that in the lockerroom at halftime,” Lakeview coach Corey Kohler said. “It was very disappointing. We knew we could play with that team and we showed it in the second half.

“But you can’t wait until the third quarter to start playing against a decent team,” he added.

The Cardinals’ offense was just as spectacular, as their defense, as they came out and hit four first quarter three-pointers.

“Our press was pretty effective, which kind of scrambles things up,” Big Rapids coach Jessica Haist said. “(Cameron) Baumunk and (Alex) Folkema were huge at the beginning. They hit some big shots and got us off to the quick start.”

Baumunk and Folkema each hit two three-pointers in the first quarter.

The Wildcats got on the board with a layup by senior Alex King to make the score 19-2. Big Rapids outscored the Wildcats 11-7 in the second quarter for a 29-7 advantage at the half.

Lakeview came out of the half a different team. With the expected energy the Wildcats outscored Big Rapids 23-12 to get back into the game. They trailed 41-30 after three quarters.

“We didn’t change anything Xs and Os wise, we just played harder,” Kohler said. “We had players not ready to go tonight. I was proud of them for playing hard in the second half. We made it a game.”

For Big Rapids, they found it tough to keep up the first half intensity.

“We have a hard time doing that,” Haist said of the intensity. “We talk a lot about staying consistent despite what the score is. We have to do the same things, but we have a hard time hanging on to the intensity.”

Lakeview trimmed the lead to 10 points, but the Cardinals went on a 10-0 run to put the game out of reach.

“It seemed like we went cold and they hit shots right away,” Kohler said. “I thought Jessica (Haist) did a nice job of changing defenses late in the game and that threw us off a little bit offensively.”

Baumunk finished with a game-high 18 points while Folkema had 12 points.

King led the Wildcats with 14 points. Megan Leach added 13 points for Lakeview.

“We are still young yet and learning,” Kohler said. “Hopefully, we don’t do this in the tournament or we go home.”

Big Rapids improved to 15-3 overall and will host Cadillac today.

The Wildcats fell to 13-6 overall.

Lakeview will travel to Reed City to wrap up the regular season. They face Chippewa Hills at Tri County on Monday to start the district basketball tournament.

BLANCHARD — Montabella’s girls basketball team has put themselves in the record books.

The Mustangs tied a school record for wins in a season when they knocked off the Newaygo Lions 44-36 in the final regular-season game.

Montabella ended the regular season with 15 wins, which ties a record set in 1992.

“We can think of at least five different games where we could have owned the record but at least we got a share of it,” Montabella coach Terry Larsen said.

The Mustangs (15-5) had an easy time of getting the lead on the Lions (2-16). Montabella led at the half 21-8.

“Both teams wanted to run and that’s exactly what we did,” Larsen said. “We hit some shots and we got some better looks on our fast break than they did on theirs.”

Larsen also credited his team’s defense for the early lead.

“Our press was what got us off to a fast start,” he said.

But Larsen didn’t want Montabella to rest on that.

“They (Newaygo) have had a lot of close games where they lost by four or five points,” Larsen said. “What we told them at halftime was Newaygo is a team that won’t go away. They’re record is not indicative of how they play.”

After an 11-9 third quarter for the Mustangs, the Lions made it somewhat close, getting to within five in the fourth quarter.

“We had them (Newaygo) in hand and they almost snuck back in. We couldn’t put them away,” Larsen said.

However the three-pointer bailed out Montabella, Larsen said.

“Korte and Irani, they hit three three-pointers that I don’t wan to say broke their (Newaygo’s) back but it sure helped,” he said.

Sarah Miller had 16 points and eight rebounds to lead Montabella. Cora Okkema had 14 rebounds in the win.

The Mustangs will have a long break before they will play again. They are off until Feb. 29 when they play the winner of Vestaburg and St. Louis in the Vestaburg district.

“We’ve got a lot of the teams in our district play a zone defense,” Larsen said. “We have to get better against the zone defense, and we have to get a lot of practice shots up. We have a tough district. Anything can happen when you get into the districts.”

One of the 19 school buses parked at the Belding Area Schools bus garage, two new school buses are expected to replace two older buses, which require maintenance, next fall. — Daily News/Cory Smith

BELDING — Belding Area Schools (BAS) will be welcoming two new school buses next fall.

The school board approved a motion during Monday night’s monthly meeting to purchase buses using bond funds.

Going through the Michigan School Business Officials (MSBO) Bus Purchasing Program, the board voted to purchase the buses for $80,137 each from Capital City Bus Sales, the lowest of three bids provided to the board.

“It has been past practice of the district to replace two buses each year,” Board President Tom Humphreys said. “We have 19 buses in our fleet, which translates into keeping a bus for a little over 10 years.”

According to Humphreys, there was $500,000 in the bond earmarked for the purchase of new buses. He said last year $164,432 was spent on two new buses.

Superintendent Leslie Mount said the district was able to acquire the new buses for just more than $4,000 less of what was spent on two buses last year.

“It’s rare to be able to find lower prices from year to year,” she said. “We are very fortunate we didn’t have to spend more. This hopefully will give us the opportunity to buy one, if not two more buses next year.”

Director of Transportation Richard Brondsema said that age, number of miles and collective rust accounted for reasons to purchase new buses for the school system.

“Mechanically, all of our buses are fairly sound,” he said. “But our oldest buses are 12 to 15 years old and the cost to keep them maintained only adds up as the years go by.”

The two oldest buses will be auctioned off this summer. The two new buses are expected to join the fleet beginning in the fall of this year.

Ron Farrell

EDMORE — Ron Farrell has spent almost half a century in education.

The longtime Montabella Community Schools administrator recently announced his retirement, which will be effective June 30. He’s worked in the Montabella school district for more than four decades, the same district where he grew up and attended school.

Farrell, 68, attended Central Michigan University and Michigan State University before taking a teaching job at Fulton schools in Middleton.

Six years later Farrell took the job of principal at Blanchard Elementary School and Montabella Junior High in 1971. He remained in that position until 2005 when Scott Crosby stepped down as superintendent after serving as administrator since 2001.

Farrell recalls he was picking sweet corn in his garden when the then-school board president, the late Linda Binkley, called and asked if he was interested in taking on superintendent duties. Farrell accepted, albeit reluctantly. Seven years later, he’s happy he took on the challenge.

“The community’s been really good to me,” Farrell said. “I’ve had just great boards and great staff to work with. I just feel blessed. It’s a hard move to make, leaving. I’d just like to go out when things are good.”

Board of Education Secretary Emily Longnecker has worked closely alongside Farrell during his seven years as superintendent. Longnecker’s children had Farrell as a principal years ago when they attended Montabella schools.

“You couldn’t find anyone more dedicated to this school system than Mr. Farrell,” said Longnecker. “He’s a very Christian person. He’s been super to work with. The changes he has made have been good changes.”

As a parting gift to his school district, Farrell and his wife, Sharron, are donating $10,000 to Montabella to start a scholarship foundation.

“I wanted to do something simply as a small act of appreciation for this district and this community because they have been so good to me,” Farrell said.

When he retires this summer, Farrell hopes to travel to Ireland to visit his Irish-Catholic heritage.
“I”ll hopefully have to time to think about the things I want to think about instead of the things I have to think about,” he said of retirement.

Montabella Community Schools superintendents over the years:
• 2005-2012: Ron Farrell
• 2001-2005: Scott Crosby
• 1997-2001: Dave Marston
• 1995-1997: Randy Bos
• 1992-1994: Dian Shaw
• 1976-1992: Jon Whan
• ????-1976: Morley Webb

Eileen Perry — 11 a.m., St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, Saranac. (Lake Funeral Home, Saranac)
Herman Seif — 11 a.m., Oakwood Christian Reformed Church, Belding. (Johnson-Feuerstein Funeral Home, Belding)

Friday

Donald Pieper — 11:30 a.m., Faith Baptist Church, Greenville. (Hurst Funeral Home, Greenville)

Sunday

Alicia Drake — 6 p.m., Sheridan Assembly of God Church. (Christiansen Funeral Home & Cremation Center, Greenville)

Alicia I. Drake, 95

GREENVILLE — Alicia I. Drake, 95, of Sheridan, formerly of Santa Ana, Calif., died Thursday evening. Memorial services will be 6 p.m. Sunday at Sheridan Assembly of God Church. (Christiansen Funeral Home & Cremation Center, Greenville)

Albert Heimbecker, 96

GREENVILLE — Albert Heimbecker, 96, died Tuesday evening at Spectrum Health United Hospital, Greenville. Funeral arrangements are pending at Hurst Funeral Home, Greenville.

Donald Theodore Pieper, 91

GREENVILLE — Donald Theodore Pieper, 91, of Greenville, died Tuesday morning. Funeral services will be 11:30 a.m. Friday at Faith Baptist Church, Greenville. Visitation will precede the service from 10 to 11:30 a.m. (Hurst Funeral Home, Greenville)