The Red Hawk team after winning their conference championship

The Cedar Springs Red Hawk girls track team won their first conference championship in school history, on Friday May 11, at Belding. The team scored 128 points to finish ahead of West Catholic, who scored 112. The victory in the conference meet, combined with an undefeated league dual record, gives the team the outright OK Blue Championship. Congratulations to all the athletes and coaches on an excellent season! For all the details on the win, click here.

Students show support for anti-bullying campaign

Cedar Springs Middle School students had a “white out” last Friday, May 12, and was one of several schools that participated in a helicopter flyover as part of the be nice. campaign (against bullying). Photo by Joe Corriveau.

By Autumn Fish

Students at Cedar Springs Middle School wore white last Friday to signal solidarity against bullying and participate in a helicopter flyover.

For the past couple of weeks, students at Cedar Springs Middle School have been learning about bullying and working out ways to get rid of it completely. A group of GVSU students and the West Michigan Mental Health Foundation visited CSMS last week as a part of the be nice. campaign, which encourages kindness and civility among all students.

To take the campaign to the next step, the Mental Health Foundation teamed up with Amway and Fox 17 News to fly a helicopter over participating schools. Students from middle schools and high schools across west Michigan were involved in this campaign. At CSMS, students gathered in the field on the west side of the school to form the words “be nice.” The helicopter then flew over the students to take aerial pictures of the words they created. Other schools involved included Grandville Middle School, Grandville High School, Grandview Elementary School, Century Park Learning Center, Forest Hills Central Middle School, West Catholic High School and Timberland Charter Academy in Muskegon Township.

Students also came together by having a school-wide white out in which all students and staff wore white in order to discourage bullying.

Following the flyover, teachers were able to bring their students to an assembly in the large group room of the middle school. Students from Cedar Springs High School directed the assembly. They presented a few skits and talked to students about bullying and other difficulties they may face as they enter high school. The skits exhibited troubles faced in high school such as bullying, drinking, smoking, depression, peer pressure, suicide, and more. CSHS students stressed the importance of keeping an open mind when students are in high school; to realize that they will eventually have to make choices that will change their lives. CSMS students were able to hear first hand about things that really do happen in high school by students that are currently going through those situations. Over 350 students and staff members attended the assembly put on by the high school students.

CSHS students can only hope that their presentation helped students of the middle school prepare for high school, to help them understand what to expect. What middle school teachers have been telling their students all along is true: They really are going to go through these troubles in high school.

To learn more about the be nice. campaign, visit www.themhf.org/index.php/education/be_nice1/

Autumn Fish is a junior at Cedar Springs High School.

By Judy Reed

If you’ve been thinking about hosting an exchange student, and would like to try it out on a short-term basis (four weeks), this summer might be the time to try it. If you do, you will not only get to help a teen from another culture, you will also be helping some members of the Cedar Springs boys soccer team fund a trip to Brazil.

According to the Red Hawk boys soccer coach Kyle Avink, he and JV coach Josh Hause are taking the three Varsity captains, Robert Klein, Aaron Dault, and Trevor Rose, who will be seniors next year, to Niteroi, Brazil. They are leaving on June 15, and they will stay for two weeks. While there they will train for 30 hours per week with a semi-professional soccer club, attend a game, and do some sightseeing.

“Every year I take the captains somewhere for leadership training,” explained Avink. “This year I wanted it to be big, because this is the first group I’ve had all four years. I joked about taking them to Brazil, and somehow it worked out.”

Avink hopes that the boys will bring back something they can share with the whole team about what they’ve learned—whether it’s another way of playing or something else. He also said that in the future he’d like to take all the seniors.

Avink partnered with the Counsel for Educational Travel, USA (CETUSA), who is looking for host families for a four-week commitment during July 21-August 18.  For every Cedar Springs area family that hosts an exchange student during that time, CETUSA will fund the soccer trip $200. “We are looking for a bout 25 host families,” said Avink. “We want to keep costs down as much as possible.”

They are also looking at doing some other fundraising also, such as a 50/50 raffle at the girls soccer game on May 21, a popcorn drive, and other things. But they will also accept direct donations.

If you are interested in hosting an exchange student to help the soccer team, or would like to make a direct donation, you can contact Coach Avink at kyleavink@gmail.com.

The Lady Red Hawks Varsity softball team went three for three on Saturday, May 12, 2012 at the Larry Cantu Invitational in Fruitport. They posted wins over Kent City, Fruitport, and Orchard View to wrap up another very successful weekend.

In the first game of the day, the Red Hawks faced Kent City and were down early. After the top of the first inning they trailed 4-0. Cedar Springs came back firing, quickly extinguishing Kent City’s lead and posting 4 runs of their own. The Red Hawks controlled the rest of the game until the 6^th inning, when Kent City took the 9-8 lead. Cedar Springs entered the bottom of the 6^th inning down by one run. The winning rally started when junior Abby Olszewski got a base hit with already 2 outs. Freshman Aubree Mouthaan came to the plate next, for Cedar Springs, with Olszewski on first, and hit a double. With runners on second and third for Cedar Springs, sophomore Brittany Robinson hit a line drive to score the two runs, which put Cedar Springs in the winning column on this walk off hit. Senior pitcher Taylor Nielsen picked up the win for the Red Hawks and also went 3 for 4 with a double, plus scoring three times. Abby Olszewski went 2 for 3 scoring twice. Aubree Mouthaan went 3 for 3 with 2 doubles, 3 RBIs, and scoring 3 times, while Brittany Robinson went 3 for 3 with 1 RBI. The Red Hawks beat Kent City in game one, 10-9.

Game 2 was a great team effort for Cedar Springs as multiple players got on base against a very strong Fruitport team. Taylor Nielsen was the winning pitcher and also went 2 for 2 with a double and RBI. Junior Nicki Luevano went 2 for 3 in this game as well. Cedar Springs defeated Fruitport in game two, 7-2.

For game 3, Cedar Springs was back in the championship game for the third straight year. Standing in the Red Hawks’ way was one of Muskegon County’s most dominant teams, the Cardinals of Orchard View. Cedar Springs jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead and led most of the game. In the 6^th inning, Orchard View rallied to tie the game at 4 apiece. In the bottom of the 7^th, Nielsen started out with a single and Olszewski moved her to second on a SAC hit. With one out, the Cardinals now elected to load the bases. Mouthaan and Robinson were both walked and bases remained loaded. Sophomore Brittany Todd had the winning hit to centerfield for Cedar Springs and Nielsen scored the winning run on another walk off hit. Nielsen went 2 for 2 and scored 3 runs while Mouthaan went 2 for 3 with 2 RBI’s. Freshman Allison Arnold pitched her way to the victory for Cedar Springs.

Congrats to the Cedar Springs Varsity Softball team, the 2012 Larry Cantu Invitational Champions.

Put away birdfeeders, trash cans

Each spring as hibernating bears leave their winter dens and resume daily activity, wildlife officials in northern Michigan receive many calls about bears hanging around and even destroying man-made food sources such as birdfeeders, trash cans and grills. This year has been no exception, according to the Department of Natural Resources.

A bear was also recently seen in downtown Greenville, Lowell, and near the Ford Airport in Grand Rapids.

“At this time of year, bears are on the move and are looking for food,” said DNR bear specialist Adam Bump. “They are hungry after spending months hibernating, and will often resort to finding food in unnatural places, such as residential backyards.”

Bird seed is especially attractive to bears because it is a high-energy food and relatively easy to find. Once birdfeeders are discovered, bears will keep coming back until the seed is gone or the feeders have been removed.

“The majority of complaints we receive about nuisance bears this time of year involve a food source. The easiest thing people can do to avoid creating a problem is to temporarily take in their birdfeeders and store other attractants, like grills, trash cans and pet food, in a garage or storage shed,” Bump said. “Once the woods green up, bears tend to move on to find more natural sources of food, as long as they haven’t become habituated to the bird seed or garbage cans.”

Bears can become habituated to man-made food sources, which can create an unsafe situation for the bear, and a nuisance situation for landowners if they have a bear continuously visiting their yard during the day and repeatedly destroying private property in search of food.

DNR Wildlife Division staff members are unable to respond directly to each nuisance bear complaint, and instead ask that landowners do their part to help reduce potential food sources in their yards first before calling for further assistance. The trapping of nuisance bears is only authorized by DNR wildlife officials in cases of significant property damage or threats to human safety.

Anyone experiencing problems with nuisance bears (who has taken the appropriate action to remove food sources for a period of two to three weeks but has not seen results) should contact the nearest DNR office and speak with a wildlife biologist or technician for further assistance.

Jason Cameron, licensed contractor and TV host, says that color plays an important role in boosting your home’s curb appeal.

Family Features

When it’s time to sell your home, you want to do everything you can to make it enticing to potential buyers. One of the most important things you can do is boost your home’s curb appeal.

In fact, the National Association of Realtors says that curb appeal sells 49 percent of all homes. To help you build curb appeal from the ground up, TruGreen and Jason Cameron, licensed contractor and TV host, have teamed up to give you some simple, doable tips to improve your lawn and landscape.

Water Right

Improper watering can be a big drain on curb appeal. Check the working condition of sprinkler heads and water lines to make sure they’re working properly. To ensure your manual or automated watering system covers the landscape efficiently, set a one-inch deep empty food can in the middle of your lawn so you can measure the depth of water collected each watering cycle. In addition:

• Don’t over water. Watering too much can result in shallow plant roots, weed growth, storm water runoff, and the possibility of disease and fungus development. Give your lawn a slow, steady watering about once a week. Adjust your watering schedule depending on rainfall, as well as your grass and soil type. Trees and shrubs need longer, less frequent watering than plants with shallower roots.

• The best time to water is early morning, between 4 and 7 a.m. This helps reduce evaporation, since the sun is low, winds are usually calmer and temperatures cooler. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says that you can lose as much as 30 percent of water to evaporation by watering midday. Always be mindful of local water restrictions.

• Take advantage of rain. Let nature water your landscape as much as possible. Rain barrels are a great way to harvest rain for watering your plants later on – and it saves you money on your water bill, too.

Complement With Color

Create an instant pop of color to help your home’s curb appeal bloom this spring. Consider your home’s exterior when selecting flowering plant combinations for plant beds, window boxes or front porch planters. With a white house, any color combination will work well. With a yellow house, red or pink blooms tend to complement best.

Here are some other colorful tips to keep in mind:

• For a calming effect, use cooler colors like blue, green and purple. They blend into the landscape for a peaceful look.

• Bold colors add excitement to the landscape. Warm yellows, oranges and reds make the garden lively. Yellow reflects more light than other colors, so yellow flowers will get noticed first.

• To brighten up a dark or shady corner, use pale colors, like pastel pinks and yellows.

• Not all color needs to come from flowers. Foliage can be a great landscape enhancer, so look for colorful grasses and plants like silvery lamb’s ear, variegated hostas, and Japanese painted ferns.

Grass vs. Weeds

Weeds are plants growing where you do not want them to grow. They can be unsightly in both your lawn and landscape beds.

Grassy weeds can be subdivided into annual and perennial grasses. Annual grassy weeds, such as crabgrass and annual bluegrass, are generally easier to control than perennial grassy weeds like dallisgrass and bentgrass. Left uncontrolled from seed, crabgrass alone can choke out desired turfgrasses and develop ugly seed heads in the summer and fall that lay the groundwork for next season’s crop.

No matter what your weed problems are, a lawn care approach that works in one region of the country doesn’t necessarily work the same in another area.

According to Ben Hamza, Ph.D., TruGreen expert and director of technical operations, TruGreen will design a custom plan to provide your yard exactly what it needs to give your lawn the right start.

“We offer customized lawn care designed specifically to meet your lawn’s needs throughout the year based on climate, grass type, soil condition and usage. And we back it up with our Healthy Lawn Guarantee,” Hamza said.

To get more tips, and to watch Jason Cameron in seasonal webisodes on curb appeal on behalf of TruGreen, visit www.TruGreen.com.

3 Ways to Boost Curb Appeal for Under $100

Want to add curb appeal, but don’t have much money to spend? Here are some simple things you can do for under $100.

• Clean up the yard. Put away unused items, like lawn furniture. Clear leaves and branches out from under shrubs, other plants, and the house foundation. Make sure the lawn is free from debris and that grass clippings are not left on the driveway or sidewalk. Borrow or rent a power washer to clean off the driveway, steps, sidewalk and porch.

• Trim, prune and divide. Overgrown plants can block light from getting inside the house, and they make the house and yard look unkempt. Trim shrubs, making sure to remove dead branches. Get rid of dead or diseased plants in the landscape. If you have perennial plants that have gotten too big, divide them and plant them in other places around the landscape.

• Add new mulch. Mulch not only helps your plants, but it gives garden beds a neat and tidy finish. Wood mulch comes in different colors, but to showcase your plants the most, consider a dark brown mulch – it resembles fresh, healthy soil, so your eyes are drawn toward the plant and not the mulch itself.

Reese Rickards and Candy the cow.

By Tom Noreen

The Cedar Springs Rotary Club’s May 5th Cow Plop fundraiser raised over $3,500 for its scholarship fund, thanks to the community’s support of the event. Mike McDermed won the $1,000 grand prize. Bob Woodward took home the $350 second prize and Marva Zeldenrust held the winning third place ticket for $150.

Candy, the cow, was “Queen for a Day” as she paraded around her orange snow fence paddock. She serenaded the onlookers with moos and bellows, leading one of our Cow Plop volunteers, Michele Warner to say, “Candy’s all moo and no poo!” As Michele indicated, Candy took her sweet time before making her marks on the field, with the first plop taking an hour to occur. When she did produce, Plop Official and Club President Denise Gates was there to mark the spot.

It was fun to observe families as they watched Candy’s antics. There was no doubt that she enjoyed the attention! After completing her official duties, Candy’s owner Jeff Spicer, brought Candy out to meet her fans. Halter broken, she enjoyed getting her ears scratched!

Since it was Cinco de Mayo, the club invited Two Hot Tamales to vend their delicious, homemade Mexican fare. Their tamales and quesadillas were a big hit! Owners Ruben and Rita Rodriquez donated a portion of their proceeds to Rotary’s Polio Plus campaign. Three generations of their family helped feed the hungry crowd.

Denise Gates gives Candy the cow the rules.

White Creek Lumber hosted the event, and Country Fresh Dairy’s “Ruthie the Cow” greeted people as they drove up. Diana Merritt dressed as a clown and provided two small bounce houses, lawn games and face painting, all of which were big hits with the kids. Later in the evening, the band Madhouse provided an excellent selection of music. Howard Christensen Nature Center’s Lily the Frog and Cindy Perski entertained kids with wildlife items. B-93’s Reese Rickards was emcee for the event.

Check out the photos on the Cedar Springs Rotary Club’s Facebook page and give them a “like” while you are there.

James Zeits

The man that drove into a Cedar Springs Public School bus last week pled not guilty to charges of operating while intoxicated and driving on a suspended license.

According to Cedar Springs Police Roger Parent, James Robert Zeits, 48, of Cedar Springs, was making a right turn off N. Main Street on to 18 Mile Road in his pickup truck last Wednesday, May 2, and ran into a Cedar Springs School bus that was waiting at the stop sign on 18 Mile to turn left on to N. Main. The pickup truck struck the bus near the rear tire on the driver’s side. No one was injured in the accident.

Zeits was arrested for drinking and driving, and was arraigned on Thursday, May 8. Bond was set at $10,000 cash or surety bond on the OWI offense, and at $5,000 on the driving while license was suspended charge. He was still in custody Wednesday.

A pretrial date was set for May 15 at 11 a.m., and a jury selection for July 19, at 8:15 a.m.

By Autumn Fish 

Students at Cedar Springs Middle School received a wake-up call Tuesday, May 8, when a group from the Kent County Mental Health Foundation visited their school to present an assembly for a campaign known as be nice. The goal is to open the eyes of young students in communities across Michigan to help them realize how large of a problem bullying is.

The presentation started out by showing a video created by the State of Michigan Surgeon General. The video, created using only text, pictures, and music, showed many teens across Michigan who had taken their lives because of bullying.

According to Christy Buck, Executive Director of the Mental Health Foundation, suicide is the second highest cause of death among teens and college students in Kent County. Buck said that statistic is higher than both the national and state statistic, where it’s the third leading cause of death. Bullying is often a precipitating factor to suicide.

“Talking about it helps prevent it, and students need to recognize the factors that contribute to it. We wanted to take a proactive approach and operate on the model that everybody needs to be nice, rather than anti-bullying, or saying don’t do this or that,” she explained. “We target the 80 percent that are good kids and give them the tools and ammunition to make it work.”

Together, students had brainstorm sessions during the assembly to think of ways that they can keep making a difference in their school. Students were able to think of different events and activities that they could do at school to help eliminate bullying.

This Friday, May 11, CSMS students will be wearing white in memory of those who have been bullied or to those who may have taken their lives because of bullying. At a designated time, the students will all conglomerate in the field next to the middle school as a helicopter does a flyover and take aerial pictures. The helicopter flyover is also a part of the be nice. campaign and will also be traveling to other schools across west Michigan the same day.

Earlier this year, Cedar Springs High School also had a presentation similar to the be nice. campaign. Speaker Laurie Stewart, from LA Stewart Presentations, in Kalamazoo, came to talk to students about being the difference in their school. This assembly seemed to really open the eyes of many students at CSHS. Following Laurie’s presentation, a climate group was created. This group consists of about 20 students from different cliques in the high school. The idea of this group is to keep students from forgetting about what they learned during the assembly; to keep students from losing their motivation to change the climate of the school.

Students can make the difference as long as they are willing to work for it; one step at a time, students can be the change they want to see.

Autumn Fish is a junior at Cedar Springs High School. Post Editor Judy Reed also contributed to this story.

Jeanette Sukstas in shotput

Taylor Vanlangen in long jump

Tuesday May 1 the Girls track team traveled to Comstock Park and defeated the Sparta 83 to 54 and Comstock Park 111.5 to 20.5. The team finishes in first place in the OK Blue with a 6 and 0 record is 9 and 1 overall. This is the first time in school history the Girls track team has finished the conference dual season in first place.  Katie Weiler set a new OK Blue record in the 1600 meter run with a time of 5:06.6.

The team competes for the outright conference championship on Thursday May 10 and Friday May 11 at Belding.

Placing and scoring points for the Red Hawks in the meet was:

First place: Kenzie Weiler 400, 3200 meter runs; Rieley Hondalus in the high jump; Katie Weiler 800 and 1600 meter runs; Aly Hamilton 100 and 200 meter dashes; Marissa Oakes 100 and 300 hurdles; Abby VanDusen long jump and pole vault; Jeanette Sukstas shot put and discus;3200-meter relay team of Sommer VanDyke, Maddie Pekrul, Katie Weiler, and Kenzie Weiler; 1600 meter relay team of Rieley Hondalus, Aly Hamilton, Katie Weiler, and Sommer VanDyke;

400-meter relay team of Rieley Hondalus, Marissa Oakes, Abby VanDusen, and Aly Hamilton.

Second place: Marissa Oakes long jump; Maddie Pekrul 1600 and 3200-meter runs; Emily Shaft 400-meter dash; Briana Person high jump and pole vault; Kayla Bohy discus; Fenessa Cotton 300-meter hurdles; Sommer VanDyke 800-meter run.

Third place: Sommer VanDyke 1600-meter run; Abby VanDusen 300-meter hurdles; Sayge Wight 200-meter dash; Rieley Hondalus long jump; Shaelyn Fasel shot put.

Girls track team takes fourth in home invitational

Saturday, May 5, the Cedar Springs girls track team hosted the Red Hawk Team invitational and scored 650.5 points to place fourth behind three division 1 teams. Rockford was first with 778 points, followed by Jenison 747.5 and Greenville 723.

Kenzie Weiler took first in the 3200-meter run with a new meet and Red Hawk Stadium record with a time of 10:58.70.

Also placing first was the 3200-meter relay team of Sommer VanDyke, Maddie Pekrul, Katie Weiler and Kenzie Weiler.

The team is leading the OK Blue conference and are preparing for the conference finals on Thursday May 10 and Friday May 11 at Belding. Thursday events start at 4:00 and Friday starts at 6:00.

Placing in the top 6 was:

Second Place: Rieley Hondalus long jump; Kenzie Weiler 1600 meter run; the 400-meter relay team of Marissa Oakes, Sayge Wight, Abby VanDusen, and Aly Hamilton.

Third Place: Abby VanDusen long jump; Aly Hamilton 100 and 400 meter dash; Katie Weiler 800 and 1600-meter run; 1600-meter relay team of Emily Shaft, Sommer VanDyke, Rieley Hondalus, and Katie Weiler.

Sixth Place: Maddie Pekrul 3200-meter run

Girls take fifth at JV invitational in Lakeview

On Monday, May 7, a small number of Girls track team members traveled to Lakeview for a JV Invite. The team scored 43 points and placed 5th in the meet.

Placing in the top 6 was:

First Place: Emily Shaft 400-meter dash;

Third Place: Shanye Mann 3200-meter run; 800-meter relay team of Kellie Spahr, Sayge Wight, Mara Ellison, and Olivia Finch.

Fourth Place: Taylor Vanlangen long jump; Emily Shaft 200-meter dash.

Fifth Place: Emily Shaft 100-meter dash; Shanye Mann 1600-meter run; Charlene King 3200-meter run.

Sixth Place: Kayla Bohy Shot put; Caitlin McCurken 800 and 1600-meter runs.