A look back: Favorite stories of the year recalled

By Ryan Lewis
Staff Writer

Caleb Nickerson is all smiles as he is passed over the fence to his mother’s waiting arms by former Relay For Life chairperson Jeff Lautenschleger. Nickerson was honored with the Courtney Grauman Memorial Award during closing ceremonies of the 2007 Relay. His mother is Cheryl Nickerson. (Photo by Ryan Lewis)

The year 2007 was all about perspective, for me.

I’m in my sixth year of working for The Allegan County News. The news cycle in Allegan County has a repetitive nature. Each year we have to find a way to cover the same, important events in new and innovative ways—to adjust our perspective, as it were.

Yes, there was a ton of new news in 2007.

So it was with pleasure that I was able to cover several stories that were vibrant spots of new news.

So that’s what my look back on 2007 is about. It’s just a few of my favorite stories—the ones that really made me proud to be a journalist in this county.

Martin Township Library

Now seated in its new old building—across the street in the same building with the dentist—the Martin Township Library has a new home.

This story began for me in July, when the Martin Library Board voted to terminate then library director Shirley Moore (effective Sept. 1), in favor of starting the search for a new director.

Though the action was painful—I can’t imagine it was easy for anyone on that board to fire the woman who’d served her position dutifully for 36 years—the board’s intentions were to start anew with fresh blood, fresh ideas, and a new location.

Board members chose the library’s former aide, Alicia Kershaw, as the new director in August. In September, plans gathered steam to transfer books down the block. While the dentist still occupies the center of the building the township purchased, library board members gutted the other two sections to make way for new carpet and shelves in November.

They had books on the new shelves starting the weekend after Thanksgiving—a “red letter day” as one board member told me.

After attending an Easter-time Storytime activity earlier in the year, I found it wonderful that—following many years of discussion and wrangling—a newer, bigger library in Martin was becoming a reality. I can’t wait to see what the floor plan looks like when the dentist’s office moves out and the library has access to the whole space.

Joshua, 8, gathers balloons in the kitchen of his new home in Pullman at a dedication ceremony Nov. 17, 2007. His caretaker and grandmother, Susie Harrison (center), put more than 400 hours of “sweat equity” into the seventh Allegan County Habitat For Humanity home. (Photo by Ryan Lewis)

Relay and Habitat

Two stories really blossomed into heartwarming experiences this year.

In August, Allegan County Relay For Life—the annual fundraiser for the American Cancer Society—raised more money than in any other year.

The Relay is one of those regular events the paper covers now, but this year was special.

As part of the closing ceremonies, the organizers and the crowd honored Caleb Nickerson of Plainwell with the Courtney Grauman Memorial Award.

Grauman was an Allegan High School cheerleader and was 14 years old when diagnosed with brain cancer. She died Aug. 3, 2004.

Nickerson, 6, was diagnosed in 2006 with brain cancer. He had surgery to remove the tumor and was carried out to receive his award by outgoing Relay chairperson Jeff Lautenschleger.

Nickerson was clearly elated with the attention and was all smiles. I found I was, too.

I found myself smiling in November, as well, when interviewing Susie Harrison at the dedication of her new home in Pullman, built by Habitat For Humanity.

I first met her while the project was still underway in September. Habitat volunteers were installing siding on the east wall in a brisk morning chill. They completed it by Thanksgiving; the dedication of the Allegan County chapter of Habitat really shone through.

It was a big project, requiring big help. Harrison’s husband needed handicapped access to the house, and there were four bedrooms in the ranch-style home to accommodate family Harrison took care of: two young grandchildren and one daughter.

Lions Clubs throughout the county came together to help raise about half of the roughly $60,000 for the project.

The joy these volunteers helped bring to that family was infectious. As I wandered around the completed house at the dedication, I felt safe. There was a promise there of some respite from the difficulties the family had faced living in their trailer on the same lot.

Harrison, who invested 479 hours of what Habitat calls sweat equity, said at the dedication “This has been an exciting day.”

I felt it, too.

PaleoJoe

Speaking of excitement: Easily my favorite assignment of the year happened right at the end.

All 27 students in Janet Johnson’s class at Pine Street Elementary School in Wayland will head to Wyoming in June to try their hand at digging for dinosaur bones. I was in the classroom when Johnson and her class were surprised with the news Dec. 7.

Pandemonium best describes the fifth-graders’ reactions as PaleoJoe, a paleontologist and co-writer of a series of children’s books, burst into the classroom and said, “You’re going to dig for dinos!”

The class won a contest sponsored by PaleoJoe’s publisher, the Mackinac Island Press, and FOX2 Detroit.

It was an honor to be there to document the students’ excitement. (If Santa can grant any midsummer wishes, I’ll accompany the class to Wyoming, though I guess that’s a long shot.)

At the very least, I’ll be able to keep up with the students in the months leading up to their trip, as PaleoJoe—who looks like a sort of Santa Claus dressed like Indiana Jones—returns to the class to teach several techniques students will use at the dig.

Last year had its ups and downs. It was difficult to follow the friction between Safe Harbor Children’s Advocacy Center in Allegan and several of its volunteers—which continues even today. I’m glad to cover all of it, the tough stories and the exciting moments. Even though 2007 now seems almost a blur, it went by so fast, my perspective on it remains positive.