(Taken from the archives at the Then & Now Historical Library in downtown Dorr)
25 Years Ago — June 14, 1999
Wayland Township Planning Commission Chairman Jim Rybicki made comments very critical of Township Supervisor Jose Blanco for delays in making appointments to boards and commissions.
The Globe published a front page photo of heavy equipment harvesting some 750,000 tires to put in trucks for them to be hauled away.
Portions of Moline and Dorr are expected to welcome a water system, according to entrepreneur Dick Baxter.
The Wayland baseball and softball teams captured district championships. The Lady Wildcats improved to 37-1 overall on the season and the guys are 24-7.
Samples taken of water at the Cuddy Drain show low levels of contamination.
Editor Nila Aamoth took the State of Michigan to task in her Soapbox for designating M-179 or Chief Noonday Road as a historic highway, but then doing nothing with the road since.
Claire Kipen penned a letter to the editor insisting collecting donations for a worthy cause is good for small communities like Dorr, even if they look like panhandling near the main intersection of town.
Christopher McColl of Watson Township was sentenced to five to 15 years in prison in the death of a 17-month-old child, who died of severe neck and brain injuries.
The Michigan Department of Transportation has announced there will be one-way traffic on 135th Avenue near the U.S.-131 expressway to accommodate a project to widen the overpass.
Craig Allen, 17, of Dorr, will face two counts of homicide charges and driving under the influence in connection with the traffic deaths of James Anthony Henry and Robert Wayne Stoffers, both in their teens from Hopkins.
Martin Township Fire & Rescue welcomed a new grass fire truck to their department, with Ron VandenBerg, Everett Gilson, Jodi Gilson and Josh Cole proudly posing with the vehicle.
The Martin Township Board has decided to discontinue financial support for the recycling station at Weick’s Foodtown near Gun Lake. Martin and Wayland township split the costs of keeping stations at Gun Lake and the Wayland Township Hall.
Gun Lake Sewer Authority Manager Tom Rook is negotiating the service’s first union contract with employees.
Hopkins’ Fran Sage took second place in the open 400-meter run at the Class C state meet and broke the school record in the event, clocking in at 58.63 seconds.
The 1600-meter relay team of Troy Schrock, Kevin Glupker, Paul Stein and Ed Perez was sixth and broke the Hopkins school record at 3:32.07. Martin’s Rick Mena was fifth in the pole vault in Class D.
Dalee and Denae Hermenitt-Allman both earned all-state honors in a church-sponsored contest and will compete in the Fine Arts Festival in Orlando, Fla.
The Hopkins Athletic Boosters held an auction fund-raiser for the new Hopkins football and track, taking in about $25,000.
50 Years Ago — June 11, 1974
Hopkins voters approved an eight-mill, two-year tax levy and Board President Burrell Stein and Trustee Raymond Sebright both were re-elected. Martin’s millage request won 217-144 for 16 mills. Newcomers Ted Nicolai and Ernest Sumnerville were elected to the school board.
Wayland Township Supervisor Clayton Jackson has announced his retirement after serving for 10 years and he will be succeeded by Donald Culver. He was first elected as a trustee in 1926 and retired in 1936, only to return in 1956.
Richard Akers has resigned as head baseball coach in accordance with his agreement that he would take the helm for one year, succeeding Jon Carroll. The Wildcats went 14-9 for the season under his guidance.
Donnie Lee Hunter, 16, of Dorr, was killed when the tractor he was driving overturned and pinned him. A passenger on the vehicle, Tim Miklusicak, survived the crash.
The Wayland High School Class of 1974 held commencement, the last to attend school at what is now known as Pine Street Elementary. The Class of ’75 would graduate a year later at the new Wayland High School site on East Superior.
Donna and Willard Benedict wrote a letter to the editor exhorting the City Council to find a viable way to dispose of trash, noting the town dump is being closed soon and suggesting industries may not want to locate here if that problem is not handled.
The barbershop quartet the Harmony Hounds will perform as special guests of the Moline Community Fair Saturday evening, June 15.
The Allegan Health Department and Pipp Community Hospital are co-sponsoring the next blood bank at the Plainwell Spring Festival. Free blood pressure screenings also are being offered.
The Wayland Christian Reformed Church will have two outdoor films at dusk on consecutive Sundays, sponsored by the Young People Society, in attempts to curb drug abuse among teens.
Five members of the Wayland baseball team, Jim Longstreet, Rick and Randy Mauchmar, Jon Johnson and David Koperski, have been selected to the O-K Blue all-star team that will play in the annual Jon Bos game in Grand Rapids.
Rumor has it that the Ogres will take on the Wayland Jaycees in Wayland in a special baseball contest.
Newlyweds Mr. and Mrs. Michael Zalewski presented a selection of films on Ogre baseball to an uproarious and appreciate crowd.
Sgt. John Graham is retiring at the Wayland post of the Michigan State Police. Newest member is Sgt. Joseph Geshel, coming from the New Baltimore post.
Bo Donaldson & the Heywoods captured the No. 1 slot among the nation’s tunes with “Billy, Don’y Be a Hero.”
75 Years Ago — June 17, 1949
Editor-Publisher Rollo G. Mosher reported that advisor Edwin St. John and the FFA boys sprayed the grounds effectively downtown for the first of the weekly Wednesday night entertainment programs to keep the mosquitoes at bay.
Wayland Village Assessor Ernie Martin has reported that Allegan County does not rank first in the state as a dairy county, but does so in poultry.
The Knights of the Cowbells, comprised of about 60 local merchants, kicked off the Wednesday entertainment series with a milk pail parade. Walter Gurney and Merle Rairigh are co-chairs of the 1949 Cowbell Carnival.
“Trade in Wayland, the Cow Town of Michigan, offering you more for less.”
The Congregational Church’s potluck family dinner this year is an alternative to mother-daughter and father-son combinations for sponsorships.
The general theme in this summer’s cooperative Vacation Bible School of the Methodist and Congregational Churches is “God in the Universe,” under the leadership of Mrs. Payson Chrisman and Mrs. Olga Thede.
Miss Carol Oetman and Miss Virginia Benson will attend the State Leadership Training Camp of Future Homemakers of America near Battle Creek.
The Gun Lake baseball team defeated the Grand Rapids Blackhawks 5-1 with a battery of Lapekes and Moore.
Local businesswoman Mrs. Steve Gulch has caught a four-pound pickerel of 24 inches in length, but has not revealed where she nabbed it.
C.N. Wicks of Martin, was re-elected to another six-year term on the Allegan County Board of Education. Walter Runkel of Monterey is a board member.
Merle Rairigh and Don Chestnut won the prize given by Zumbrink & Cook for executing the best landing at the Dawn Patrol on the local group’s aerial trip to Clare.
Now showing at the Wayland Theatre:
• Adrian Booth and Lloyd Bridges in “Hideout.”
• Gene Autry in “The Big Sombrero.”
• Frank Sinatra, Esther Williams and Gene Kelly in “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”
• Wallace Beery, Richard Conte and Majorie Main in “Big Jack.”
100 Years Ago — June 13, 1924
Wayland community pioneer William Stockdale, died at the home of his daughter in Grand Rapids, He was 80.
Eighth-graders in Leighton Township will have commencement, sponsored by Leighton Community Club, at the Methodist Episcopal Church June 17. A total of 17 students will be presented with diplomas. A potluck supper also is planned.
The Henika Library proudly has the Popular Mechanics article about a car that got 50 miles on a gallon of gasoline, treated by a compound, Ethyl gas.
Now showing at the Regent Theatre downtown: Charles (Buck) Jones in “Second Hand Love.” Alberta Vaughn and Gertrude Short in “The Telephone Girl.” Wilfred Lytell in “The Fair Cheat.”
Editor-Publisher Rollo G. Mosher wrote in an editorial, “Has the investigating mania become part of campaign propaganda carried on at public expense?” The year 1924 was plagued by many probes into scandals such as the Teapot Dome.
Dr. I.L. Slater has reported one case of diphtheria two miles west of town, but the water in the village is safe.
Metta Huffman, formerly of Wayland, one of the triplets born in Grand Rapids in 1893, died in Detroit June 5. Her funeral took place in Bradley.
Jane A. Beaumont, born in England in 1842 before coming to America at age 5, died at the home of her son, Fred Newton, in Wayland. She was 85.
The Wayland Independents will open their baseball season on the home field against Metal Office Furniture of Grand Rapids.
The Wayland chapter of Order of Eastern Star and James Fenton Lodge gave a farewell party for Mrs. Barbara Pierson, whose husband is taking a job with Pet Milk in Iola, Kansas.
The Wayland band boys will have a chicken supper at the new Wayland Hotel at 6 p.m. next Wednesday. A free band concert will be presented on the street afterward.
Wayland High School graduation exercises were held at the Church of Christ, with 11 graduates presented with diplomas. Dr. Ernest Burnham of Kalamazoo Normal “gave a splendid address to a packed house.”
Miss Lucille Franz, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bert Franz, died of typhoid fever at the old Borgess Hospital in Kalamazoo. She would have graduated this month from Western State Normal. Her funeral will be at Bradley Methodist Episcopal Church.