The Lakers' varsity baseball team has an uncanny amount of confidence when ace pitcher Nick Keller takes the mound, and for good reason. Spring Lake is 7-0 in Keller's seven starts this spring, including Tuesday's 6-0 win over visiting Grant in the Division 2 pre-district round of the state tournament. The victory pushes the Lakers into Saturday's district semifinal round against Whitehall.

The Grand Haven area showed off its love for the red, white and blue on Monday. As small American flags lined streets, and larger ones flew in front of businesses and homes, several parades and ceremonies helped marked Memorial Day 2011. "North Ottawa is probably one of the most patriotic parts of the state of Michigan, if not of the United States,' said George Bennett, a U.S. Army veteran who served as grand marshal of the Memorial Day parade in Grand Haven. "... This is a day the Lord has made - let us be glad and rejoice in it.'

Grand Rapids' Victor Ramirez ran a sizzling time of 16 minutes, 6 seconds to win Saturday's Snug Harbor Kick Off to Summer 5K Run. Ramirez, 22, ran a time that was 100 seconds faster than his closest competitor, Spring Lake's Ryan Fedewa, 19, who came across the finish line in 17:44. Third was Grand Haven's Luke Giroux, 19, who clocked a time of 18:03. Grand Haven's Todd Anthes, 41, was fourth at 18:09.

Giving back comes "naturally' to Betty Kinney. "When they ask for volunteers, you just kind of go, ‘No one's raising their hand,'' Kinney said. "You go, ‘OK, I'll do it.' That's what you do.' Kinney, a Fruitport community member for about 30 years, is this year's Old Fashioned Days queen. She was nominated for the title for her involvement with the community through the school board, her church and many community service organizations.

Two teams stood at midfield holding aloft the Lakes Eight Conference girls soccer championship trophy on Monday evening. The girls in the visiting blue uniforms, representing the Fruitport Trojans, had smiles spread across their faces, while white-clad Lakers of Spring Lake dejectedly posed for a few photos before shuffling back to their bench. Both teams finished with a share of the Lakes Eight title, but the Lakers, who had won the regular-season league championship, weren't in a sharing mood.

Suzanne Piasecki spends most of her days hunkered safe inside her Village Green mobile home. The world outside is overwhelming for the woman who said she is bi-polar and also suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder. When a recent inspection of her home revealed a list of repairs needed to be done within 30 days, Piasecki said she started to panic. "I live on $668 a month and lot rent is $385,' said the 51-year-old resident as she cuddled her dog, Scruffy. Once she pays off the rest of her bills, Piasecki said she is left with about $2.

Spring Lake High School students were swelling with school spirit Saturday when they produced their first-ever lip dub. More than 85 students danced and dubbed to K'Naan's "Wavin' Flag' - an uptempo tune that backdropped the drama in the school's hallways, classrooms and gymnasium.

The waves weren't as high as usual and there was no rip current, but cool air and water temperatures still made it difficult to find the "body' in the water during a training session for Grand Haven Department of Public Safety officers Thursday afternoon at Grand Haven State Park. Sgt. Clint Holt took the officers through the annual session, heading into the 42-degree Lake Michigan water - along with about eight other GHDPS personnel, who made note that the dry suits they wore didn't keep all of the cold water out.