Grand Haven Tribune

12:30 PM Aug 23, 2011

Gentex Corp. to hold job fair Thursday in Holland

An Ottawa County company will begin looking for new workers this week to fill more than 1,000 new jobs. Last week, Gentex Corp. announced a $160 million expansion for its operations in Zeeland. The company has established market dominance in mirrors and glass that automatically dim to reduce glare. It also manufactures rear-view camera displays for vehicle mirrors. Gentex will hold a job fair in Holland from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday to fill 300 of the jobs created by the expansion. It will take place at the Double Tree Hotel on East 24th St. in Holland.

12:00 PM Aug 23, 2011

Confirmed: House fire sparked by lightning

The investigation into a fire that destroyed a Crockery Township home on Saturday helped officials determine that lightning was the cause, Fire Chief Gary Dreyer said this morning. Dreyer returned to the scene on Monday with insurance investigators. All of the witness statements and weather reports added to that confirmation, he said. The fire appeared to start in the roof area of the house at 9878 Taft Road, Dreyer said. "We did not see any signs of an electrical issue in our examination,' he said. The house is owned by Bob and Theresa Kary.

11:30 AM Aug 23, 2011

Cornfields trashed for kicks, irking Mich. farmers

Authorities in southwestern Michigan said they're getting more reports of cornfields being trashed by drivers - apparently for kicks. The Kalamazoo Gazette reported that last week neighbors chased down a sport utility vehicle full of teens and cornered them with their own vehicles until deputies could arrest them. Kalamazoo County Undersheriff Pali Matyas said there's been a "rash of this' recently. In another case, an off-road vehicle was driven through a corn field.

10:49 AM Aug 23, 2011

Smoking boat engine cuts family’s fishing trip short

Emergency crews from Coast Guard Station Grand Haven and the Grand Haven Department of Public Safety were called to the Grand River channel shortly before 6:30 this morning when a charter fishing boat was reported on fire. Nobody was injured and the customers safely evacuated when the boat pulled over at Escanaba Park near the Coast Guard station. Kathy Johnson of Whitmore Lake said it was a scary way to start her first charter fishing trip.

10:46 AM Aug 23, 2011

Village’s Safe Routes to School project to be done before school starts

The Safe Routes to School construction project in the village is scheduled to wrap up next week - just in time for the 2011-12 school year. The intersections of Prospect and Exchange streets and Williams and Exchange streets are scheduled for repaving on Thursday, according to Village Manager Ryan Cotton. But Exchange Street likely won't be open to traffic until a crosswalk grid pattern is completed early next week. Cotton said, if the weather holds, he expects Exchange Street to be open on Aug. 31.

10:43 AM Aug 23, 2011

GH Twp. approves bike path snow removal equipment

New equipment to plow snow from 22 miles of bike paths in Grand Haven Township is expected to arrive in about eight weeks, according to Mark VerBerkmoes, the township's public works director. The Grand Haven Township Board on Monday unanimously approved the purchase of a 5600 Turbo ToolCat F-series work machine from Carleton Equipment for $63,860. The price tag includes a 22.7-percent municipal discount.

10:39 AM Aug 23, 2011

Blueberry market owners hope to expand fields

The owners of the Crossroads Blueberry Market in Robinson Township are requesting nearly 40 acres in Grand Haven Township to be rezoned and used for blueberry fields.

10:36 AM Aug 23, 2011

Free airplane rides offered for kids on Saturday

Free airplane rides are being offered to children ages 8-17 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at the Grand Haven Municipal Airport. The Experimental Aircraft Association launched the Young Eagles program in 1992 to give interested young people an opportunity to go flying. The children will ride with a licensed pilot, learn how a pilot does a pre-flight inspection of the airplane and see how the controls work. No appointment is required, but children must have a permission slip signed by a parent. The forms will be provided at the airport.

10:35 AM Aug 23, 2011

Yard sale to benefit A-T Children’s Project

A-T Children's Project will host a benefit yard sale this week at 42 S. Third St. in Fruitport. A-T Children's Project is a nonprofit organization that raises funds to support and coordinate biomedical research projects, scientific conferences and a clinical center aimed at finding a cure for ataxia-telangiectasia. A-T is a lethal genetic disease that attacks children - causing progressive loss of muscle control, cancer and immune system problems.

10:27 AM Aug 23, 2011

Michigan voters remain disenchanted with governor

Michigan voters remain disenchanted with the job being done by Gov. Rick Snyder and the direction the state is heading, according to a poll released Monday. In the survey by Lansing-based EPIC-MRA, 33 percent gave the GOP governor a positive job rating, while 62 percent gave him a negative rating and 5 percent were undecided. The results were virtually unchanged from EPIC-MRA's July poll. Forty-two percent of those polled last week said they have a favorable opinion of the governor, while the same percentage have an unfavorable opinion.

10:26 AM Aug 23, 2011

Missing person found in water behind his boat

The body of a 51-year-old Coopersville man was recovered from the Grand River after a friend reported him missing late Saturday afternoon. Emergency personnel were called to the Village Cove Marina, 900 W. Savidge St. in Spring Lake, at 5:36 p.m. on a report of a missing person, Spring Lake/Ferrysburg Police Chief Roger DeYoung said. Village Cove Harbormaster James Cunningham called police to report that Michael Kirby, who had a 41.5-foot Sea Ray at slip No. 19, was missing and that one of his sandals was found floating in the water.

10:25 AM Aug 23, 2011

Teen charged in grandmother’s stabbing blames meth

A 17-year-old charged in the stabbing of his 55-year-old grandmother at her southwest Michigan home said he was high on meth when he attacked her, and that he hopes she can forgive him. Michael Loerch told WWMT-TV from the St. Joseph County Jail on Monday that he smoked methamphetamine the day before the Aug. 18 attack and that he lost control after arguing with Georgeanna Sparks at her Burr Oak Township home.

10:18 AM Aug 23, 2011

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Sidewalks are for pedestrians

7:07 AM Aug 23, 2011

Today's forecast

Today: A 30-percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2 pm. Increasing clouds, with a high near 78. South-southwest wind 6 to 9 mph increasing to 15 to 18 mph. Winds could gust as high as 26 mph. Tonight: Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly between 8 pm and 2 am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 70. South-southwest wind at around 17 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70 percent. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.

5:23 PM Aug 22, 2011

Fire destroys Crockery Twp. home

A lightning strike may have started a fire which destroyed a Crockery Township home early Saturday afternoon. "It is appearing, with the weather data, highly likely it is lightning,' Crockery Township Fire Chief Gary Dreyer said. Firefighters from eight area departments responded to a rural home at 9878 Taft Road at 1:45 p.m. when neighbors saw smoke in the area after the storm passed through. Dreyer said a meteorologist told him there were between 20 and 30 lightning strikes in the area when the storm went through between 1:15 and 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

4:00 PM Aug 22, 2011

USDA food to be distributed Aug. 26 in Ottawa County

The following USDA commodities will be distributed to low-income families in Ottawa County on Friday, Aug. 26: apple juice, applesauce, apricots, low-fat bakery mix, beef stew, corn, creamed corn, egg noodles, macaroni and peaches. The commodity distribution, coordinated by the Ottawa County Community Action Agency, will take place at the following sites at the times listed below: - St. Patrick's Catholic Church, 920 Fulton St. in Grand Haven 10 a.m. to noon. - VFW Post 5598, 511 N. 68th Ave. in Coopersville, 10 a.m. to noon.

2:00 PM Aug 22, 2011

K'zoo police report rash of copper pipe thefts from vacant homes

Police in Kalamazoo have reported a string of burglaries in vacant homes in which the thieves seem to have been mainly interested in stealing copper pipes. Lt. Dave Ostrander said that "there have been 15 burglaries of vacant homes in which the property taken is primarily copper piping from the basements' since June 1.