It was a fizzle of a year for tomatoes, as most of my neighbors agree, and now in the waning days of September I am pulling the vines to add to the pile of yard waste waiting for the city…

BY SCOTT SULLIVAN EDITOR Douglas City Council Monday approved a $21,127.02 separation agreement with Aug. 15-fired zoning and planning administrator Nick Wikar. Members braced, perhaps not coincidentally, for a 272-page planning commission agenda involving four public hearings two nights later.…

The Saugatuck Dunes Coastal Alliance will host a town hall meeting Tuesday, Sept. 27, at the Saugatuck Center for the Arts at 6:30 p.m. to update residents on its efforts to stop developer NorthShore of Saugatuck from creating a private…

BY SCOTT SULLIVAN EDITOR City council elections Nov. 8 stand to be lively with seven candidates in Saugatuck and five in Douglas seeking four open 2-year seats in each. In Saugatuck Township, a parks millage request will be on the…

BY SCOTT SULLIVAN EDITOR Douglas Police Chief Steve Kent updates city council monthly on department calls answered. During August 180 were in city limits, three not. Noteworthy incidents, the Chief listed: • At 9:55 Friday, Aug. 12, I (Kent) was…

Jim Tamblyn surrendered life peacefully on Sept. 15 at age 69, due to complications of pancreatic cancer, in his home in Douglas.He was born in 1953 in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and raised in Green Bay and Milwaukee, Wisc. From a…

By Scott SullivanEditorNew WaysI was a child of the ‘burbs. Backyard patios, bug zappers, crabgrass … Who knew one of my Penasee Globe roles would be agriculture editor?Paul, who’d proceeded me at that Wayland newspaper, could write. The son of…

By Scott SullivanEditorSaturday’s 11th annual Lakeshore Harvest Ride drew some 600 riders to raise $40,000 for the planned 20-mile Blue Star Trail from Saugatuck to South Haven.From Douglas’s Schultz Park bikers took Riverside southeast to 62nd Street west, a 126th…

Maintaining historic structures isn’t cheap. Douglas’s century-plus-old former Dutcher’s Lodge/now City Hall last week received sanding and power washing on its south (facing Center Street) and east (facing Union) walls in preparation for a council-OK’d fresh paint coat, which given…

By Jason WesseldykSports EditorHOLLY—Four members of the Saugatuck boys cross country team earned medals at the Holly Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 17, by placing in the top 35.Those solid individual efforts helped the Trailblazers place fourth in the 19-team field…

      Not too long ago some wise guy or girl came up with the nutty idea that there ought to be age limits on politicians.  Just as here in Michigan and a few other states elected officials can be “termed out,” after…

Watching a rocket launch into space never gets old for me. Last week I had the opportunity to view three nighttime launches, thanks to Space X’s aggressive launch schedule to send Starlink satellites in to space. Living on the Space…

By Scott Sullivan Editor New Home Muskegon. Last pancake house on Apple Avenue aka M-46. East-west cars streaming, tears, too much packing, 13 years here. The paper pulpit I’d helped start died largely of my doing. I’d picked up part-time…

By Scott SullivanEditorWishbone House isn’t the fanciest place in Douglas. It fills an ex-video store at 165 Blue Star Hwy. selling thrift donations and, oh yes, 27 discarded cats seeking homes and love.Success for three staff who draw minimal pay…

We were in Canada when the news came that Queen Elizabeth II had died. A friend and fellow Anglophile texted so I would know about it.A few hours later when Madame Dewey and I got back to our room and turned…

My son can attest to one of my biggest pet peaves- road signs that don’t make any sense. We drive a lot of miles together, and occasionally we find useless signs placed along roadways at taxpayers’ expense. I would be…

    King Charles I of England detested coffee, and especially coffee houses.  If he had had his way, coffee would be forbidden in his realm, and coffee houses would slither into the recesses of history.    It had nothing to do with the smell…

Believe it or not, one of the most requested additions readers seek in our newspapers is horoscopes. Unfortunately we just don’t have the space to publish a regular Horoscope column. However I came across this rather humorous (some would say…

BY SCOTT SULLIVAN EDITOR Saugatuck residents now have two Ryans in city hall. New planning, zoning and project management director Ryan Cummins has joined city manager Ryan Heise there. The job was listed paying $87,500 yearly. The city has also…

Arm your legs for the 24th annual Labor Day Blue Star Bridge Walk Monday, Sept. 5, gathering in Douglas at 9 a.m. and ambling north to Saugatuck at 9:30. The not-so-grueling 0.19-kilometer (623-foot) stroll offers finisher’s certificates you can cherish…