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.

Herman Kamphuis

A Nelson Township man that drove to Ohio to have sex with two pre-teen girls pled guilty last week in a plea deal.

Herman Kamphuis, 43, pled guilty in the Federal Southern District Court of Ohio to coercion or enticement of a female over the Internet.

Kamphuis began talking to an undercover officer in a “parenting” Internet chatroom on February 2. The undercover agent was posing as the father of two girls, ages 6 and 11. The suspect allegedly turned the chat sexual, and asked about the features of the two girls. When the detective asked him what he was looking for, the suspect said he was looking to make a 25-year fantasy come true by having sex with the girls.

When Kamphuis arrived in Ohio on March 9 to have sex with the girls, he was arrested by the detective and the Franklin County, Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children task force. He had brought his computer with him, which had over 100 files of pornography involving children under 13.

Kamphuis could potentially receive up to life in prison for the crime.

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.

Post photo by J. Reed.

This curious little guy took a break from chewing on wood at the entrance to the Post Monday to peek through the window and see what we were doing. He and two of his littermates have taken a sudden liking to the strip of wood that runs along the bottom of the doorframe. According to several Internet websites, it’s not unusual for squirrels to chew on wood around your home. Do you have a non-toxic remedy to keep squirrels from chewing around your woodwork? Email us at news@cedarspringspost.com. Or, if you have any wildlife photos you’d like to send us, email them to the same address, and we’ll try to run them as space allows.

Andrew T. Bouwkamp

Air Force Airman Andrew T. Bouwkamp graduated from basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas.

The airman completed an intensive, eight-week program that included training in military discipline and studies, Air Force core values, physical fitness, and basic warfare principles and skills.

Airmen who complete basic training earn four credits toward an associate in applied science degree through the Community College of the Air Force.

Bouwkamp is the son of Bruce Bouwkamp and Michelle Farrell, both of Sand Lake.

He is a 2010 graduate of Grant High School.

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.

The Cedar Springs Public Library recently purchased four new computers and two laptops with a federal grant they received from the Broadband Stimulus Grant Program. The laptops can be checked out, but must be used onsite at the library.

With the addition of these six new computers, that means that 11 of the 15 computers available for the public to use are less than a year old. Go in and check them out! The library is located at the corner of Cherry and Second Street in Cedar Springs.

Kent County voters sent Grand Rapids Community College the same message Tuesday that they’ve sent three times since 2007: NO NEW TAXES.

The college had asked for a $98 million bond proposal to upgrade facilities, and it was soundly defeated by a vote of 26,417 (no) to 19,856 (yes). While Grandville, Northview and Lowell also had millages on the ballot, most communities had nothing else on the ballot, which led to low voter turn out.

Voters in Grandville nixed a $22.85 million bond proposal by a narrow margin—only 38 votes. There were 2,508 no votes, to 2,470 yes votes.

Lowell renewed their operating millage, and Northview passed an $11.9 million bond proposal.

In Montcalm County, Pierson Village President Karl VanHaren survived a recall election by three votes—24 to 21. He has filed a recall petition against three of the trustees involved in the recall against him: Rebecca Starr, Duane Grifes, and Verna Smigiel. That vote will take place in August.

Two men were interrupted Monday morning when they tried to commit a breaking and entering, and then crashed their car while trying to get away.

The Kent County Sheriff Department responded to a property damage crash near the address of 12810 Lincoln Lake Ave NE about 6:30 a.m. May 7, near Lincoln Lake and Macclain, in Gowen. Their investigation found that two subjects were committing a breaking and entering at Rees’ Country Corner Store when the crime was disrupted. The subjects attempted to flee in their vehicle when the driver crashed into a curb, causing the vehicle to be inoperable. The driver was taken into custody while the second subject was caught a short time later.

Both subjects were lodged at the Kent County Jail on charges of Breaking and Entering of a Building with Intent.

A Cedar Springs School bus was hit by a pickup truck driver Wednesday afternoon. No students were hurt in the accident. Post photo by J. Reed.

Seven students escaped injury this afternoon when an intoxicated driver hit a Cedar Springs Public Schools bus.

The accident happened shortly before 3 p.m. at the corner of 18 Mile and Main Street in Cedar Springs.

According to Cedar Springs Police Chief Roger Parent, a pickup truck, driven by a 48-year-old Cedar Springs man, was heading north on Main Street, and attempted to turn right on to 18 Mile, where he crossed over the center line, and hit a school bus waiting at the stop sign to turn left on Main Street. He hit the bus in the left rear wheel area.

Parent said the pickup driver’s door could have been open, because the bus driver reported that the driver was falling out as he passed her window. He didn’t actually fall out, however.

Police believe alcohol was involved. Parent said the driver did admit to recently drinking and was arrested. He is expected to be arraigned Thursday. Neither the driver nor his 60-year-old passenger were injured.

Parent said the bus driver reported minor shoulder pain, consistent with wearing a seatbelt.

According to Assistant Cedar Springs Superintendent David Cairy, the students on the bus were middle school to high school age. He said each student was checked out individually to be sure they were uninjured. They were then put on another bus to finish the route.

“Overall it was a good result to an unfortunate accident,” said Parent.