Bobcats drop openers

OTTAWA LAKE POST OFFICE MEETING

The Postal Service will hold a meeting at Zion Lutheran Church, 8307 Memorial Highway, Ottawa Lake, MI on March 21, 2013 at 4:30 pm to share results of a survey you should be receiving in the mail, answer questions and solicit input regarding the time of day the Post Office will be open.

Although survey results will be know and shared, the Postal Service will not make a final decision regarding this office until after the public meeting. This will enable the Postal Service to obtain all community input and opinions, from both the surveys and the meeting, before making a final decision.

 

Siena Heights tourney: Madison loses late lead to LCS

The championship game of the boys Siena Heights High School Holiday Tournament will be between Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central and Lenawee Christian after those teams came out on top in semifinal games Thursday.

Lenawee Christian handed Madison its first loss of the season, 47-42, while SMCC dominated Hudson, 62-30.

The consolation game between Madison and Hudson will be at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Siena Heights Fieldhouse.

SMCC will take on Lenawee Christian after that game.

Madison led 32-23 entering the fourth quarter, but the Cougars’ Bobby Walter nailed four consecutive three-pointers to open the quarter and Brad Harrah’s basked with 4:47 left gave Lenawee Christian its first lead since the first quarter, 37-36. A three-pointer by Alex Nichols gave the Cougars a 40-38 lead with 4:19 left – a lead they would never relinquish.

Madison shut down Cougar All-Stater Jalen Porter, holding him to a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to close the first half and a field goal near the end of the third quarter.

Madison’s Justin Webster was held to 9 points on one field goal and teammate Collin Slates scored just 7 points. Zach Mellon led Madison with 17 points.

Walters had a dunk, his four three-pointers and two free throws to give him 16 points.

The Trojans held leads of 17-10, 20-12, 22-16 and 32-21 but couldn’t hold the margin, especially when Walters got hot, scoring his four triples in the first 2:34 of the final quarter.

In the nightcap, Hudson fell behind 17-1 after the first quarter, then watched SMCC run off 16 straight points to start the second quarter and build a big lead. SMCC held a 38 point lead at the end of the third quarter, but the Tigers held off the running clock by outscoring the Falcons, 13-7, in the fourth quarter.

Hudson was without leading rebounder Justin Boies (6-foot-6) and was dominated on the boards.

“I was pretty happy with the first quarter, but obviously being outscored 20-2 in the second quarter didn’t help,” Hudson coach Wayne Perry said.

Madison will be a tough matchup, Perry said.

“They are a good defensive team and it will be tough,” he said. “They are good basketball team.”

Township board news

Some of the business conducted by the Whiteford Township Board Tuesday:

- Jim Crouch was re-appointed to the Zoning Board of Appeals.

- Bob Schnipke, Brad Beck and Doug Cassada were re-appointed to the Board of Appeals.

- Jason Sahloff was appointed to the Health Board and is Whiteford’s 911 Medical Representative.

- Larraine Dressel, Darrell Rush and Marisha Hileman were appointed to the Compensation Board.

- Carol Ruhl was appointed Freedom of Information Act coordinator. The township will discuss setting a fee schedule for FOIA requests at an upcoming meeting.

- The board voted to spent about $2,000 to purchase software to load all of the township’s cemetery records into a database.

- The board voted 5-0 to purchase a picnic table and park bench from a vendor with funds being paid for through a grant from the Monroe County Environmental Health Fund.

Deputies may fill in township hall hours

By DOUG DONNELLY

OTTAWA LAKE — The three deputies employed by Whiteford Township may be asked to work more to help fill the schedule at the Whiteford Township offices.

“We’re trying to maintain hours in this office,” Supervisor Walt Ruhl said. “To me, it makes more sense to do this than to hire someone else and train them for how the office works.”

Last month, Ruhl appointed his wife, Carol, deputy supervisor, but the board did not set her salary. Tuesday, they set that at $393 a month which is line with the deputy clerk and deputy treasurer.

Ruhl Tuesday said that salary amounts to about 32 hours a month. He proposed that if a deputy works beyond the 32 hours a month, they be paid at the hourly rate of $10 an hour and the board agreed.

Trustee Don Sahloff said that if the township doesn’t pay the deputies more money for working beyond their regular time, they wouldn’t remain on the job.

“We’re going to have to set up an office budget,” he said. “That’s what we are going to have to do.”

The township moved into its office space at the former Dana headquarters in the extreme southwest part of Whiteford Township more than a year ago. The township rents enough space for each elected official, some storage and a meeting location.

With the multiple projects going on, collection of taxes and other duties, the township has gone from having elected officials work exclusively out of their homes to keeping the office open. Clerk Angie Christensen said a schedule is now being developed in order to make sure the someone is in the township throughout the work week so township residents have a place they can come to conduct business.

The discussion briefly turned into a salary debate. Trustee Bernice Heidelberg – a former township clerk and supervisor – said the board needs to take a look at the salaries deputies are paid and suggested that maybe the township’s compensation board could come up with a suggestion.

Bob Schnipke, a former longtime supervisor and now the roads supervisor, said the duty of setting salaries of the deputies should exclusively be up to the board because only the elected officials know what the deputies do, not a panel.

Sewer – and now water – projects move forward

By DOUG DONNELLY

OTTAWA LAKE — Whiteford Township already has one multi-million public utility improvement project going on. If township officials — and the United States Department of Agriculture – has its way, there might be two.

Supervisor Walter Ruhl told the township board and those in attendance that the sewer project continues to move forward and is “on track.” The nearly $2 million project – including a large grant from the USDA – has been in the works for months. The township has been busy with the engineering and legal aspects of the project and is working toward getting a sanitary sewer system in place from to Sylvania to the unincorporated village of Ottawa Lake.

But, while that tedious process continues, the township is starting to turn its attention to making water improvements in the same area.

Mr. Ruhl and the board went into closed session Tuesday for nearly 30 minutes and came out and agreed to begin negotiating a “purchase option” on property in or near the Whiteford Valley Golf Course where the township could ultimately dig wells and create a municipal water system.

The township has looked at such a water project in the past, as well as investigate the costs of joining the South County Water System via a connection in Bedford Township or joining the Toledo water system through Toledo.

Mr. Ruhl said Tuesday he thinks the wells is the best option of the three.

“I would prefer wells,” he said.

The township is seeking an additional grant from the USDA to pay for a large portion of the water project and because it was eligible for the sewer project, township officials believe the township has a good chance to score a large water grant.

After the closed session, the board set no timetable for the purchase option negotiations. It did, however, set the parameters for the negotiations.

Lake passes 800 in 74-47 win

OTTAWA LAKE — If you blinked during Tuesday’s Whiteford basketball win over Emmanuel Christian, you might have missed Colin Lake’s 34 points.

Lake scored quickly and in bunches Tuesday during an impressive, 23-point first half, leading the Bobcats to the win and a 4-1 season record. It was a non-league matchup.

The Bobcats started fast and coasted to the win.

Austin Gardner controlled the offensive boards early scoring 5 early points as the Bobcats jumped out to a 7-0 lead.  With the score 11-6, Lake went on his first scoring spree, starting with a 3-pointer with 3:28 left in the opening stanza. By the end of the quarter, Lake had 15 points.

Any hopes that Emmanuel Christian had of getting back into the game vanished in the second quarter as Zach Perry broke free for two long layups, then piled up four assists in the quarter as Lake scored six points in the last minute to extend Whiteford’s halftime lead to 43-21.

The Bobcats coasted in the second half.

Perry finished with 12 points and Chris Sims 8 in the win.

Lake now has 819 points in has 42 career games and is averaging 27.8 points a game this season.

Whiteford hosts Britton-Deerfield Friday in a varsity doubleheader. The boys game starts at 5:30 p.m.

The box score:

EMMANUEL CHRISTIAN (47)

Jason Regnier 1 0-0 3, Bobby Behan 3 0-0 8, Leland Snyder 3 0-0 7, Adam Regnier 1 0-0 3, Ryan Creech 7 2-4 16, Trent Groenhout 2 0-0 4, Nate Creech 0 0-2 0, Joe Taylor 3 0-0 6. Totals 20 2-6 47. Three-point field goals: Jason Regnier, Behan 2, Snyder, Adam Regnier. Score by quarters: 10-11-18-8.

WHITEFORD (74)

Chris Sims 4 0-0 8, Colin Lake 13 6-6 34, Zach Perry 6 0-0 12, Tyler Lee 2 0-0 5, Troy Diller 2 1-2 6, Austin Gardner 2 1-2 5, Austin Morris 2 0-0 4. Totals 31 8-10 74. Three-point field goals: Lake 2, Lee, Diller. Score by quarters: 26-17-19-12.