Local News Archives

South Haven Area Emergency Services will hold a pancake breakfast on Sunday at its station at 90 Blue Star Highway. The event will raise money to repair the firefighter memorial in downtown South Haven and help pay for the purchase of instructional videos for ALS airway procedures. The memorial was placed at the city’s downtown entrance in 2000 and stands eight-feet tall with an 800-pound fire service emblem handcrafted from black granite on top. The breakfast costs $10 for adults, $5 for kids between 4 and 14, and is free for anyone 3 and younger.... [Read Full Story]

One of South Haven’s largest employers is getting an Industrial Facilities Tax Exemption for an expansion. Assistant City Manager Griffin Graham told the city council of the plans by WR Grace.... [Read Full Story]

The Arc of Allegan County will hold its annual fundraiser next month at Third Coast Community Church in Saugatuck. The Arc advocates in Allegan County for the inclusion and dignity of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and has a mission to help people with IDDs live, learn, work, and play with respect, dignity, and meaningful involvement in their communities. The money raised on September 21 will be used to support advocacy, employment, learning, and recreational opportunities for people with IDDs.... [Read Full Story]

The South Haven City Council continues to discuss and debate short term rentals. At Monday night’s meeting, City Manager Kate Hosier asked them for ideas of what they want the city to focus on going forward. Most wanted a fixed cap on the number of STRs instead of the current floating cap of 497 with one in every four homes being allowed.... [Read Full Story]

The “Rock The Boat” fundraising concert is returning to the Michigan Maritime Museum in South Haven on Friday, August 25. The museum’s director of education and administration Ashley Deming says tickets sold very well last year and they have added more for 2023.... [Read Full Story]

A 23-year-old man has been killed after he was hit by a vehicle on 26th Street near 108th Avenue in Allegan County’s Trowbridge Township Sunday night. The victim was walking in the middle of the road and was hit by a Chevrolet Equinox that was heading south on 26th Street. The man was pronounced dead at the scene after emergency crews arrived. The Allegan County Crash Reconstruction Team is still investigating. No names have been released as yet. The crash happened at 9:54 pm.... [Read Full Story]

The National Blueberry Festival is underway in South Haven. Jennifer Sistrunk is the director of the South Haven Convention and Visitors Bureau and says the area will be very busy.... [Read Full Story]

The Van Buren ISD is holding its 15th annual Van Buren County Backpack Giveaway from 3 to 6 pm today. It will be at Van Buren Tech at 250 South Street in Lawrence as part of their Back To School Bonanza 2023. Superintendent Dave Manson says it is for all students in the county. We asked if staff members or volunteers stuffed the backpacks or it they bought them already full.... [Read Full Story]

There will be no varsity football played by Hartford High School this fall. The school district says it only had six juniors and seniors at practice and say “it was not feasible or responsible to expect a young team to safely compete at a varsity level.” Junior varsity will be played, but without the seniors.... [Read Full Story]

Lake Michigan College officials have given the South Haven City Council an update on today’s millage renewal. Associate Dean of the South Haven LMC Campus and Select Academic Programs Jeremy Burleson talked to them about how much money it saves students.... [Read Full Story]

Three candidates for South Haven mayor will be on the ballot Tuesday in South Haven. City Councilmember Joe Reeser, former Mayor Robert Burr, and former South Haven Public School Board of Education president Annie Brown are all running to succeed Mayor Scott Smith, who chose not to seek reelection. The top two vote getters will face each other in the November general election.... [Read Full Story]

A woman who worked for Four Winds Hartford Casino is charged with embezzling $700,000 from the casino on July 30. An officer told the judge about what she is accused of doing.... [Read Full Story]

State Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt of Van Buren County is ripping Governor Whitmer’s upcoming “What’s Next Address” set for August 30. Nesbitt says Whitmer “has spoken about helping Michigan’s small businesses but has led an effort to give big union bosses unprecedented power and pour millions of taxpayer dollars into multi-national corporations.”... [Read Full Story]

A 25-year-old man from Mexico has drowned in a pond in Van Buren County. The sheriff’s office says he was with other people when they fell out of a boat into the water in the pond in the 65-thousand block of 48th Avenue in Bangor Township Sunday around 6:30 p.m. and could not swim. He was found by the sheriff’s office dive team in about ten feet of murky water with no visibility and life saving efforts on shore were not successful.... [Read Full Story]

Two South Haven Area Emergency Services officers had to swim 50 yards in Lake Michigan to help a boater who was having health issues last week. The boater was then taken to Bronson South Haven Hospital to be treated. SHAES says it happened off the Oak Street beach on Thursday. It was their second water-related rescue of the week.... [Read Full Story]

South Haven police are looking for information on the man who abandoned 11 puppies behind the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses on Blue Star Highway last week. Surveillance video from the church has been released showing the man taking the dogs from the bed of a tan Chevrolet pickup and putting the crate in the shrubs of the church. The Al-Van Humane Society has take five of the 11 dogs, and Rover’s Retreat took the other six. Three taken by Rover’s Retreat have found their forever homes. The Al-Van Humane Society says the puppies have been cleaned and are getting vaccines and anti-worm medicine.... [Read Full Story]

Eleven puppies have been rescued after being found abandoned in a cage behind the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in South Haven this week. Rover’s Retreat kennels and daycare manager James Johnson says they had no food or water and his organization took six of them. The other five are being cared for by Al-Van Humane Society, where marketing and development coordinator Penny Lach says they will be available for adoption in a few months. Three puppies from Rover’s Retreat have found new homes.... [Read Full Story]

A 43-year-old Illinois man has been arrested for a drunk boating crash in Van Buren County Saturday evening. He was piloting a jet ski on Silver Lake in Columbia Township and pulling someone on an inner tube when the tube crashed into a wooden floating dock. Two people on the dock were hurt, with a 15-year-old being treated on the scene and a 21-year-old hospitalized for non-life-threatening injuries.... [Read Full Story]

A 50-acre brush fire in Allegan County took several fire departments to put out yesterday afternoon. The fire was on a farm in Leighton Township and crews were called to the scene around 5:15 p.m. The Leighton Township Fire Department called for backup immediately as winds were gusting to 20 miles-an-hour. Crews protected the barns from the flames, no one was hurt, and investigators are searching for the cause.... [Read Full Story]

The Friends of The Kal-Haven Trail will say goodbye on Sunday, July 9 to the Nichols Family Covered Bridge in South Haven. The bridge will be torn down by the Department of Natural Resources as part of its repaving project on the trail from South Haven to Bloomingdale. It has become an icon in the community and has been part of the trail for nearly 30 years. The Friends are trying to convince the DNR to replace the bridge over the Black River with another covered bridge with better and longer-lasting materials as the 150-year-old trestle it is on needs to be replaced. They say their efforts have not yet been successful, but they continue to have hope. There will be a short ceremony at the trailhead pavilion in South Haven at noon followed by a walk and bike ride to the bridge.... [Read Full Story]

The South Haven city council has decided to not proceed with proposed amendment changes to measure heights of homes to 35-feet instead of two stories and 35-feet. Councilman Joe Reeser outlined his opposition to the change last night.... [Read Full Story]

One child is hospitalized at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids after a firework cake was mistakenly shot into the crowd at Allegan’s July 3rd fireworks show. Amy Cummings of Fennville says it happened quickly and “was like fireballs coming at us.” It happened at 10:34 p.m. and people complained on social media about the mistake. Wolverine Fireworks Display conducted the show and the Allegan Fire Department was on the scene for emergencies.... [Read Full Story]

A 28-year-old man from the Grand Rapids suburb of Wyoming is in the Allegan County Jail on several child sex related charges. Gary Carlson was arrested by the Allegan County Sheriff’s Office with help from Wyoming police and the FBI last Friday, June 23. He was arraigned in 57th District Court in Allegan County on nine charges of first degree criminal sexual conduct, eight charges of aggravated child sexual abusive materials, eight charges of using a computer for a crime, and one charge of accosting children for immoral purposes. Deputies say Carlson had been hired through an online child care provider to supervise a 14-year-old girl and a two-year-old girl. The sheriff’s office is asking that if Carlson has been hired by anyone else to care for children that they call the office at 269-673-0500.... [Read Full Story]

State Representative Joey Andrews, economic development officials, and local leaders are continuing to push for the Palisades nuclear power plant to be reopened. Andrews spoke at the plant.... [Read Full Story]

The dredging of the South Haven Harbor shoreline will start on Monday by the US Army Corps of Engineers. They will dredge 57,300 cubic yards from the Black River Federal Channel and place it on the South Beach from the pier south by 1,900 feet. A similar project last August placed around 18,000 cubic yards of sand on the beach. The King Company of Holland will do the work, which is scheduled to wrap up July 10, depending on the weather. That firm is currently dredging the harbor in St. Joseph. The Corps of Engineers says the South Haven work is the first community-directed funding project they have received “in some time” and say there is “lots of excitement to do this one right.”... [Read Full Story]

The South Haven City Council is looking at possibly changing the ordinance on the height of a home to measure it in only feet and eliminate stories. At last night’s meeting, Assistant City Manager Griffin Graham presented the idea after the Planning Commission spent a lot of time on it at the City Council’s request.... [Read Full Story]

Those planning to enjoy the Kal-Haven Trail State Park this summer will likely have to detour their plans.... [Read Full Story]

A crash early Sunday morning on M-43 near South Haven has sent a passenger in the car to the hospital with serious injuries. South Haven Area Emergency Services says they were called to M-43 near 69th Street in Geneva Township around 1:30 a.m. for the crash. The driver left the road and hit a tree. That driver was treated at the scene. What caused the wreck has not been released.... [Read Full Story]

The Michigan Department of Transportation will start working on Interstate 94 in southwest Michigan today. MDOT will have single-lane closures on east and westbound I-94 from Hartford in Van Buren County to Coloma in Berrien County. The $484,000 project will last until June 26. The lane closures will be at night from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.... [Read Full Story]

South Haven’s Harborfest is set for Friday and Saturday. Rides, games, the Beer Garden, Food Fest and Craft Show all open at noon Friday, with live music at 5:30 pm from John Rush and 8 pm with the JR Clark Band. Deb Myers is the festival director and we asked how excited she was for the event to return.... [Read Full Story]