A house that is home to five Montcalm Township residents is still standing today thanks to fortunate timing and a closed door that prevented a bedroom fire from spreading.

The issue of possible pay raises for some village employees was an unexpected entry under the “new business” portion of Sheridan’s village council meeting Tuesday evening. Although some employees received 2 percent raises earlier this year, Councilman Pete Gehoski contends those raises — when considered in tandem with increased insurance premiums — actually constituted a pay cut. Gehoski said he has contacted several other area municipalities and all of them pay their Department of Public Works employees significantly higher wages than does the village of Sheridan.

Shannan Kooistra and her husband, Josh, can’t help thinking of their 3-year-old son, Zade, as their “miracle” child. The rambunctious tyke, paralyzed from the hips down as a result of being born with myelomeningocele spina bifida, had undergone eight major surgeries before his second birthday. A shunt embedded in his brain carries excess spinal fluid from his head to his abdomen. And of course, he cannot walk. But these days, thanks to a coordinated effort by several area Lions Clubs, Zade zips around the Kooistra home with an ease he never could manage in a traditional wheelchair.

With freezing temperatures and a light snow falling from the sky Tuesday evening, there was little indication that spring is on the horizon in Montcalm County. But for those who stepped into the Montcalm Area Career Center (MACC) in Sidney for the fifth annual All Things Green event, plants, gardens and landscaping products were found in abundance as more than 20 vendors gathered to promote local agriculture.

An electrical fire that is believed to have begun in the bedroom of a woman’s home was successfully extinguished Thursday before the fire could spread throughout the rest of the residence.

Road crews in Montcalm County have been working diligently last night and again early this morning, plowing and salting roads in attempt to open them up after heavy snow landed overnight throughout the area.

New faces were in new chairs at Wednesday’s Montcalm County Board of Commissioners annual organizational meeting. Ron Blanding of Greenville, Ron Braman of Vestaburg and Steve DeWitt of Coral are the newest faces on the board, having been elected last year. Patrick Q. Carr of Lakeview was re-appointed by his colleagues as longtime chairman of the board, with Ron Retzloff of Crystal appointed vice chairman.

There’s no doubt firefighting can be a dangerous, difficult job. The men and women who put in the time and effort needed to protect the rest of us deserve the best training and equipment possible.

About 60 percent of your body is water, Your brain is 70 percent water, your lungs 90 percent. Every day, you must replace about 2.4 liters of water through drinking and the foods you eat. That’s something residents of Stanton can do with a little more confidence now, thanks to a host of recent improvements to the water system there.

A body was located inside a building after a barn fire early this morning just south of the village of Sheridan. The Sheridan Community Fire Department responded to the fire at 2:34 a.m. to 6681 S. Sheridan Road (M-66) north of Sessions Road.