(Taken from the archives at the Then & Now Historical Library in downtown Dorr)

25 Years Ago — Aug. 23, 1999

A neighborhood along 8th Street in Wayland Township has been experiencing vandalism that includes racial overtones and swastikas.The Wayland High School girls’ basketball team is expecting solid prospects for a quality season. Three big reasons for the optimism are returning starters Kara Potter, Nicki Merchant and Jessie Merchant.

Jeanine Gilder at Hopkins and Julie Ross at Martin lead bright prospects for the girls’ basketball squads at those schools this fall.

Yankee Springs Township has received what has been said to be the last offer for a fire contract with Thornapple Township Emergency Services (TTES).

Area residents are being reminded not to scrape gypsy moth eggs, but instead leave them to enable a count.

The Wayland Township Board and Supervisor Jose Blanco continue to be at odds over appointments and stamps.

The Globe published a front-page photo of the expansion of stamping presses recently arrived at Midway Die & Engineering on the Barry-Allegan County line at Patterson Avenue and Bass Road.

Nicole Scheidel of Plainwell has been selected Miss Allegan County at the pageant held at the Wayland High School auditorium.

Bill and Rita Martin, owner of R & R Excavation at 710 W. Cherry St., won a variance from the City Zoning Board of Appeals to construct an addition to the building at that site.

Folk musician Wanda Degen was scheduled to be the guest artist at the City Park concert Friday, Aug. 27.

Ernesto Gonzales was sentenced to three months in jail, $42,557 in restitution and court costs after pleading guilty in Allegan County Circuit Court to charges of embezzlement at Harding’s Market in Wayland.

Danielle and Melanie Quisenberry return to coach Tammy Benjamin’s Middleville Thornapple Kellogg girls’ cross-country team, which later that fall would capture the state Division 2 championship.

John P. Kerber of Hopkins and Monterey Township, a World War II veteran, and longtime member of the Hopkins United Methodist Church, died at Allegan General Hospital. He was 85.

Dr. David Long has had the Dorr Family Dentistry facility double in size to accommodate more patients.

Tim and Susan Mervau have taken over ownership of Harrison Marine, Gun Lake.

50 Years Ago — Aug. 20, 1974

The Wayland City Council was told the tree spraying project was a huge success this year in the war against insect attacks.

A representative from TAB Inc., a cable television firm from Kalamazoo, presented the city council with copies of a proposed ordinance to establish such a service in Wayland,

Allegan County Sheriff’s authorities gave special recognition to Mr. And Mrs. William Binger, Mrs. Jennie Hunderman and their three children for their life-saving efforts for five Hopkins area people whose boat was capsized on Miner Lake. However, Herbert Caswell, 65, of Hopkins was drowned in the incident.

Randy Coonrood, 9, of Selkirk Lake, was rushed to St. Mary’s Hospital after accidentally consuming (sniffing) contents of a bottle of drain cleaner.

Harold J. and Georgann Lenhart wrote a letter to the editor noting the proliferation of U.S. military weapons and recalled President Eisenhouwer’s military industrial complex speech, maintaining more public tax dollars should be spent more wisely.

New local resident P.A. Johnson penned a letter opposing burning of garbage in the Wayland city limits on environmental grounds.

Pat Sowle, a Central Michigan University graduate who joined the Wayland staff at the junior high in the fall of 1971, has succeeded retiring Pat Rowley as varsity girls’ basketball coach.

The adult recreation softball championship game between the VFW and Miller’s Sand & Gravel will be held Saturday. It will be a best two of three series.

Phillip Lenhart represented the Hopkins FFA at the Poultry Congress in New Orleans.

The Martin Township Board has decided to use a federal revenue check for $8,246 for public safety, according to a legal; advertisement published in the Globe. Hopkins Township will use its $11,398 for public transportation.

Paul Anka made it back to No. 1 among the nation’s top 40 tunes list after a long hiatus with “(You’re) Having My Baby.”

75 Years Ago — Aug. 26, 1949

A fifth case of polio in Allegan County this year has been reported. The latest victim is a 2-year-old Fennville girl, who is now a patient at Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids.

Johnny Reynolds, 10, was killed when he ran into the path of car while chasing a ball near Allegan.

John McElwee, 14, was taken to a hospital in Ypsilanti after being struck by a car while crossing the street. He had accompanied other Wayland area lads to go to a ballgame in Detroit. He suffered cuts and bruises and a cracked pelvis.

Joe Chitwood’s stunt men will perform two nights at the Allegan County Fair, both on Monday, Sept. 12. Also appearing will be Errol Flynn’s stunt double and the newfangled comedy of Hap Hazzard.

The annual St. Stanislaus Church chicken dinner and festival will be at the Parish Hall Sunday, Sept. 4.

The proposed Tallenaar drain in Leighton Township is in Judge Raymond’s court after a petition from John James and Leon Watkins. Rights of way have been refused and a hearing will be held to determine necessity for establishing a drainage district.

Irving J. Tucker, chairman of the Allegan County chapter of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, declared that no victim of the polio disease should go without proper medical care because of a lack of funds.

Now showing at the Wayland Theatre:

• Nat King Cole Trio, Frankie Laine, Kay Starr, Jimmy Dorsey, Gene Krupa in “Make Believe Ballroom.”
• “The Gun Smugglers” a western thriller.
• Dan Dailey and Anne Baxter in “You’re My Everything.”
• Glenn Ford, Ida Lupino and Gig Young in “Lust for Gold.”

100 Years Ago — Aug. 22, 1924

Another supply of war salvage blasting caps for use with agricultural explosives will be provided free of charge to farmers.

Now showing at the Regent Theatre downtown: William Russell in “Alias the Night Wind.” The continuing series “The Telephone Girl.” Lupino Lane in “The Love Pirate.” “Alias the Night Wind” is believed to be the first motion picture that doesn’t show a single daylight shot.

Someone fired six shots through the windows of the Free Methodist Church. No one was in the building at the time. The miscreants have not been apprehended.

Editor-Publisher Rollo G. Mosher insists that a “reactionary” is one who believes that government was created for the people and not the people for the government and preservation of the tried and true rather than the exploitation of fads. “A progressive is one who takes up with every fad and without thought of consequences…”

Able Sooy and Ray Clark traded houses and lots and each have moved into their new homes.

Thomas Stora had the misfortune to be horned by a large bullhead while fishing at Gun Lake. At first, he thought nothing of it, but the next day his hand was swollen.

A Ford car with three Kalamazoo young men was struck on Superior Street at the Interurban crossing. The lads were shook up, but only one needed treatment, a fractured rib handled by Dr. Ira Slater.

The Health Care Car of the Michigan Tuberculosis Association and Ervin J. Brenner will be an added feature at this year’s Allegan County Fair.

The annual Farmers Picnic will be Saturday, Aug. 30 at Streeter’s Landing, Gun Lake. The Wayland band will furnish music. There will be food, drink, speakers, a ball game and dancing in the afternoon and evening.

The Village Council has awarded the bid for paving on Superior Street to Saurs & Morgan of Allegan for $8,366.16. Work is expected to be completed by Nov. 1.