Year in Review: 2007

By Scott Sullivan
Editor

Retiring Saugatuck-Douglas Police Chief Bill Giles (right) pins his badge on his successor and brother, Ken Giles. (Photo by Scott Sullivan)

Is 2007 really over? Was it a dream? Our review of the year resumes with this warning: the past is prolog.

Here’s how the stage was set for another—gulp—brave new year.

July

The Elbo Room restaurant, closed by a kitchen fire, reopens with “Smokin’ Hot Specials.”

Teens shooting fireworks from a campsite north of Saugatuck Dunes State Park spark a windswept fire that torches 50 acres and three lakefront homes.

Saugatuck hires Bangor city treasurer Peter Stanislawsky as new treasurer. In the meantime it pays the accounting firm Vredeveld Haefner $125 an hour for a month to catch up with books left by Daniel Flanigan, who abruptly resigned in May.

Saugatuck OKs embarking on a five-year capital-improvement plan to fix streets. The big-ticket item, which may generate a bond request, is a projected $2.67 million in road, water-main and sewer repairs on Mason, Holland and Allegan streets in 2008-09.

Douglas taps two companies—Williams & Works and Michigan Township Services—to replace P.G. Walter, interim zoning administrator since John Wallace resigned from the permanent post in March.

Douglas, concerned about Center Street cracking up, will have an independent firm conduct asphalt test borings of its newly-repaved main street.

Rhoda Carr of Douglas celebrates her 100th birthday with recognition from President Bush, Gov. Granholm, state Sen. Patty Birkholz and city council. She worked 30 years for Sears Roebuck in Chicago and once danced with the Prince of Wales.

New Saugatuck-Douglas Police Chief Ken Giles replaces his brother and 20-year Chief Bill Giles, who replaced both men’s father, Embrit Giles, chief for 13 years.

Saugatuck Township approves the fifth draft of a civil-rights ordinance meant to ban housing, employment and public-accommodation discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Divers and searchers combed Douglas beach waters for hours July 19 hoping to find and rescue Luke Laudolff, 10. The boy’s body was recovered by a Coast Guard patrol early the next day. (Photos provided)

The community loses a friend when retired teacher-landscaper-adventurer Mike Battaglia, 54, dies of a heart attack.

Parents running frantically up and down Douglas Beach seeking their lost son, Luke Laudolff, 10, have the nightmares realized when his body is found in Lake Michigan, carried three miles south by riptides, the next day.

The Hoopdee Scootee legs are reported missing from their second-floor window above the Saugatuck novelty/bling-bling store. The mannequin limbs were last seen wearing black heels, fishnet stockings and a multi-hued sequined skirt.

Saugatuck hires its third city auditor, Rehman Robson, in three years.

Douglas Congregational United Church of Christ celebrates its 125th anniversary as a congregation that welcomes all.

Saugatuck animal lovers launch a trap-neuter-return effort aimed to help feral cats.

The newly-formed Saugatuck Dunes Coastal Alliance draws close to 200 people to a “Keep the Denison Wild” rally at Oval Beach.

August

Michigan Land Use Institute founder and New York Times journalist Keith Schneider tells Douglas Elementary School gymnasium crowd the Denison can be saved. (Photo by Scott Sullivan)

The green light given by Douglas for Paul Wicks to build 132 condominiums at West Shore Golf Course may have been premature. New city staff discovers two versions of the zoning code that apply to his PUD request.

The Saugatuck Township Board votes 3-2 not to cancel a work order to rebuild Bradley Road, despite a petition opposing the reconstruction signed by 13 of 23 landowners on the street.

Incumbents Catherine Simon, Jeff Spangler and Henry VanSingel join challengers Bill Hess and John Breen filing to run for three open two-year seats on the Saugatuck City Council.

Former Gov. William Milliken writes to endorse efforts by the Saugatuck Dunes Coastal Alliance to preserve the Denison Land.

Douglas gallery owner/artist Scott Luoma, 45, is killed when his car collides head-on with a semi hauling 21 tons of carrots.

Some neighbors of West Shore Golf Course wonder if “goose bumps”—protuberances in the chests of local geese—might be caused by groundwater polluted with TCE.

Jeffery Riedner admits stabbing roommate Steven Bradford to death with a cane sword after both men had “had a little to drink. He came toward me, made contact with the sword and as a result died,” Riedner says.

Saugatuck Public Schools will ask voters Nov. 6 for permission to borrow $12 million for building improvements. The board, twice denied millage hikes for facility improvements in the last two years, plans to pay this time without raising millage, taking advantage of rising property values and folding new debt into payoff of current debts.

Saugatuck City Council approves resolutions of intent to sell sewer capacity to former Flying J truck stop proponent Dick Darby via Laketown Township, but fellow Kalamazoo Lake Sewer and Water Authority owner Douglas is not so sure.

The collapse of a Minneapolis bridge rekindles concern about the state of the Blue Star Highway bridge, classified as “structurally deficient” with a Federal Sufficiency Rating of 22 out of 100. Douglas and Saugatuck share responsibility for the structure, whose estimated repair cost is close to $4 million.

Ron and Bonnie Wilkins, owner of Saugatuck’s hardware store for the last 22 of its 143 years downtown, announce plans to retire and close.

Douglas City Council votes 4-3 to rebuild the downtown corner of Water and Center streets, making use of a $233,500 state safety grant. Opponents claim the city’s cost share has risen too high and work will in fact make the streets less safe.

Singapore Book Store owner Judy Hallisy crews in her 36th Chicago-to-Mackinac sailboat race, more than any other woman.

Former Saugatuck City Manager Gordon Gallagher is returning to west Michigan as Spring Lake Township’s first professional manager.

Douglas issues two stop-work orders on a home being built by Chad Kalkman at 93 Water Street. Even though Kalkman has zoning and building permits, city staff feels the former ZA lacked authority to issue them.

“Mr. Butler,” a feral-cat beneficiary of Saugatuck’s volunteer trap-neuter-return effort, has become friendly, tame and “the cat’s meow” at Santa Fe Trading Co.

Saugatuck City Council, after months of sometimes-heated debate, is all harmony in passing a nondiscrimination ordinance by a 7-0 vote.

After 21 years in the same location, dentist Christopher Wiley has moved into his new office at 6415 Blue Star Hwy.

September

The annual Labor Day Blue Star Bridge Walk draws bagpipers, sign-carrying “SHOUT” cast members, dog walkers, politicians and more.

Michigan Land Use Institute founder and New York Times journalist Keith Schneider tells a gym full of listeners that preserving the former Dension land will involve, among other things, heeding a Woody Allen axiom: “Eighty percent of success is just showing up.”

Saugatuck City Hall—for a time down to two staff after clerk and treasurer resignations—returns to full strength when former Holland city clerk’s staffer Monica Looman starts as new clerk here.

John Breen, citing family health concerns, withdraws from the Saugatuck City Council race just as news stories are released describing events surrounding his 1982 recall as Gahanna, Ohio, mayor.

Judge George Corsiglia cites Jeffery Riedner’s history of drunken, violent incidents in sentencing the confessed sword-stabber to 12 years in prison.

Douglas business owners Sam and Barbara Phillippe celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary with a 1950s-style sock hop.

National ballroom-dancing sensation Jo Ann Gallas dies at age 97.

Saugatuck Township Fire District staff are instructed to to cover their sign advertising Fire Prevention Week because it violates new Blue Star Highway right-of-ways.

Woodsmen will not spare Saugatuck trees—including the Wicks Park willow and a more-than-300-year-old white oak—deemed dying by tree board members.

Allegan County commissioners approve placing a long-discussed new county jail at the county-owned Dumont Lake complex. Now all they need are funds.

The new stoplight installed at 64th Street and Blue Star Highway makes Saugatuck-Douglas-Saugatuck Township a four-light “town.”

Saugatuck Mayor Tony Vettori’s proposal to move community recreation-sponsored ice-skating to his town’s basketball court from Douglas wins little support in Douglas.

Mark Nichols, 18, of Saugatuck, sets fire to and vandalizes Saugatuck Dune Rides, claiming the reason was he was bored.

October

New Douglas City Manager David Kowal and professional planner Larry Nix question whether the under-construction Douglas Harbor Village retail/condominium building, which towers above the historic Old School House next door, achieved its height legally.

Four days of sweltering, high-80s heat brings throngs to unstaffed (because it’s post-Labor Day) Oval Beach.

Tower Marine owner R.J. Peterson carries his call for Kalamazoo Harbor dredging to Saugatuck City Council. Members don’t want the project to “sit on the shelf,” they say.

“Candy is dandy but liquor is quicker,” Ogden Nash said, but Douglas is not sure the latter solves everything. Council opts not to pursue establishing downtown as a “Redevelopment Project Area” which would allow as many as five new Class C licenses. “How much is enough?” Police Chief Ken Giles asks.

Douglas requires developers of proposed Swing Bridge and West Shore Cottages condominiums to undergo second public hearings, since both proposals have changed significantly since hearings last year.

Saugatuck businessman Scott Eilbes is seriously injured in a robbery/shooting after leaving a downtown bar late at night with suspect Aaron Summitt. Police Chief Giles arrests Summitt after spotting the suspect’s car fleeing past Giles’ home.

The Commercial Record wins Michigan Press Association Better Newspaper Contest honors for its Halloween picture story “Fear No Evil.”

The 162-year-old, 60-ton Mokma farmhouse is hauled seven miles south to its new Ganges Township home.

November

“Who is Responsible Here?”—the Patrick McKearnan sculpture banned from the Saugatuck City Hall lawn, then unbanned by city council—wins Art ’Round Town’s 2007 People’s Choice Award.

Challenger Bill Hess is top vote-getter in the Saugatuck City Council election. Also elected are incumbents Jeff Spangler and Catherine Simon, the latter by one vote (upheld in a recount) over Henry VanSingel.

The Saugatuck Public Schools’ $12-million bond request passes, 708 yes votes to 660 no.

Three Laketown Township teens charged with setting July’s fireworks-kindled blaze face jail, probation and a possible $6.6-million restitution.

Aaron Summitt, charged with robbing and shooting Scott Eilbes, and Mark Nichols, charged with arson and destruction of Saugatuck Dune Rides, will be tested for mental competency to stand trial.

The Saugatuck High School boys cross country team, led by record-setting junior Christian Birky and all-state classmate Tyler Slentz, finishes fourth in the Division 4 state meet.

Landowner Howard Bouwens Jr., claiming Saugatuck Township violated his rights in rescinding a special allowance use, undergoes a heated exchange with the township board.

Ann Arbor planning and engineering firm JJR delivers a 138-page technical report on Kalamazoo Harbor issues, noting dredging may cost up to $45 million.

Dick Waskin, a realtor who has questioned the fairness of Douglas’s recent, stricter reading of zoning codes—resigns from the city’s Downtown Development Authority.

The City of Saugatuck agrees to sell up to 30,000 gallons per day of its unused sewer capacity to former Flying J truck stop proponent Dick Darby and the Belvedere Inn via Laketown Township, despite objections by neighbor Douglas. “This has been a fine example of cooperation among our communities,” Mayor Tony Vettori says.

The City of Saugatuck dumps curbside recycling, citing a council-conducted survey during which members counted only 18 of 900 city households using the service.

Douglas approves a police union contract granting three-percent wage hikes the next three years in return for benefit concessions and more-defined work hours. Council member Martha Hoexter praises labor attorney Doug Callander for his work, noting, “Last time (2005 contract negotiations) was a circus.”

Volunteers rebuild the 80-year-old bell tower at Douglas Lakeshore Chapel.

December

Business Week magazine names Douglas 23rd on its 2007 list of Best Places to Raise Your Kids.

Douglas City Manager David Kowal and attorney Andrew Mulder urge the Tri-Communities to define a role and budget for a proposed harbor study committee before naming members to said board.

Saugatuck Public Schools Superintendent Tim Wood is the Michigan Association of School Administrators Region 3 Superintendent of the Year.

With a packed house of citizens and lawyers disputing a Saugatuck Township-Denison landowner settlement agreement, no one present can settle or agree.

The City of Saugatuck wins state grants to help rebuild the Mt. Baldhead steps and Spear Street launch ramp, but learns it and Douglas’s $3.3-million request for Blue Star Bridge repairs has been nixed for another year.

If Saugatuck is in fiscal distress, you’d not know it from a state treasury department assessment in which the city misses a perfect score by one point.

Saugatuck’s Waterfront Film Festival is ranked SAGIndie’s third-best such event worldwide.

Saugatuck City Council votes 6-0 not to send a letter, already drafted, urging Saugatuck Township to uphold R-4 zoning on the Denison land after a representative for new landowner Aubrey McClendon explains his stance.

Douglas City Council votes 6-0 to contest the City of Saugatuck’s plan to sell unused sewer capacity to former Flying J backer Dick Darby and Laketown Township.

Nine-year Saugatuck-Douglas policeman Mark Zerbe is suspended 30 days without pay for falsely filling out a time sheet.

Construction of a new Coghlin Park gazebo—delayed by the state approval process, soft underlying soil and, at last, a snafu receiving parts—is underway.

The Saugatuck Township Board—faced with close to 300 residents, TV cameras and more lawyers than you can shake a sand-filled shoe at—gives itself two more weeks to debate a consent agreement proposed for the Denison land.

The old, rotting Wicks Park willow is felled with a final snap.