Month: September 2019 | Page 15

EJ May be Top Team in Jackson

September 12, 2019

East Jackson High School girls’ golf coach Ray Hill works with senior Reagan Rudd during a practice on Thursday. Photo by Jeff Steers, JTV Sports. By Jeff Steers JTV Sports The East Jackson High School girls’ golf team may be in an unfamiliar position next Friday at the Jackson County Golf Outing at Cascades Golf Course. The Lady Trojans may be the team to beat. So far, so good for East Jackson. The Lady Trojans have won all of the Cascades Conference jamborees, won invitationals, and have been the highest finishing school at several events. But it has been a long time coming for the Lady Trojans. East Jackson teacher Ray Hill took over the program more than a dozen years ago with three simple rules – having fun, improving every year, and being competitive with a chance to win. Hill has taken on a number of projects in those years, with payoffs a few years down the road. “I start recruiting kids in middle school and look for softball players,” Hill said. “It doesn’t matter if they haven’t played golf … they spend the first year learning and figuring out which end of the club to hold.” Senior team…

Events of September 13, 14, and 15, 2019

September 12, 2019

September 13 Red Cross Blood Drive. 9/13/2019: 12 p.m. - 5:45 p.m., Blackman Township Hall, 1990 W. Parnall Road, Jackson. September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and the American Red Cross encourages eligible donors to give blood to support kids, teens and young adults battling cancer, as well as others in need of transfusions. Grand River Farmers Market. Grand River Farmers Market features farms and vendors with fresh and local products, candles and soaps, and much more! 9 am - 2 pm. We accept cash, credit, checks, double up food bucks, wic project fresh, senior project fresh, and bridge cards. See you at the market. Along the Grand River, corner of Glick and Mechanic. Live Music at Jackson Coffee Company. Popular local and regional acts take the 2nd floor stage every Friday evening. 7 PM to 10 PM. Free. Jackson Coffee Company, Mechanic and Cortland, Downtown Jackson. Late Night Music at Sandhill Crane Vineyards. 6 PM to 10 PM. Join us every Friday night May-October for late nights at Sandhill! Weekend specials start on Friday, so you will find things like sandwich/soup/salads options, in addition to our regular menu. Wine by the glass or bottle, flights, tastings, sangria, &…

Brad Flory: Fixing Roads by Bold Action

September 12, 2019

JCDOT crew working on a Spring Arbor Township road project. Courtesy photo. By Brad Flory JTV Never did I imagine living long enough to see what is happening at the agency formerly called the Jackson County Road Commission. Suffice to say, no one ever described the old road commission as a breeding ground for bold innovation. But suddenly the revised version of the agency – now called the Jackson County Department of Transportation – has become so bold that county leaders may soon look like either forward-thinking geniuses or reckless fools. In case you haven't noticed, the Department of Transportation has borrowed a whopping $53.2 million since 2016. Another proposal is now on the table to borrow $20.8 million more. If the old appointed road commissioners ever went $74 million into debt in four years, the elected Jackson County Board of Commissioners would have almost certainly assumed they lost their minds. But six years ago county commissioners eliminated the entire road commission system and started making road decisions themselves. They appear reasonably certain that they have not lost their own minds. Borrowed money has been used to buy equipment, fund construction projects, and to embrace road-building technologies used almost nowhere…