Kim Smith of Kimberly’s Boutique, Be Nice organizer Kristen Bloem and Candy Lancioni of Aunt Candy’s Toy Company are excited to bring the Be Nice campaign to Rockford.

During the month of February, Rockford local businesses will be partnering with the Mental Health Foundation of West Michigan (MHF) to spread the message of be nice. within the Rockford community. The be nice. campaign was initiated by the MHF in 2011 to create awareness surrounding the issues of bullying in schools, workplaces, and community-wide. Rockford community member, Kristen Bloem, became aware of the be nice. initiative when she attended an event for the Mental Health Foundation. Bloem states, “Just two simple words, I felt inspired to help and bring this Rockford.” With her help, Rockford businesses are jumping on the be nice. bandwagon by selling be nice. t-shirts, bumper stickers, and wristbands in their stores. First to jump on board are Kimberly’s Boutique and Aunt Candy’s Toy Company.  All proceeds from be nice. merchandise sold by Rockford local businesses will go toward bringing the be nice. Campaign as well as the Live Laugh Love Mental Health Education Program to Rockford schools.

Christy Buck, Executive Director, of the MHF started the Live Laugh Love Mental Health Education Program six years ago to combat the overwhelming statistic of high school students becoming victims of suicide in West Michigan. Buck reports that suicide is the second leading cause of death among high school students in Kent County. The Live Laugh Love curriculum is designed to educate adolescents about mental health illness, focusing on the themes of mental health stigma, the effects of bullying, recognizing signs of depression and anxiety, recognizing signs of suicide, and knowing how friends can help friends find help. Over the past six years the MHF has educated over 10,000 adolescents about mental health.

In its newest endeavor, the MHF is bringing the community together to increase awareness of treating people with civility community-wide by partnering with Rockford, Grandville, Grand Rapids, and East Grand Rapids to proclaim February 24 as be nice. day. Be nice. is more than just saying “don’t bully,” it is a strengths-based perspective and a positive way to minimize bullying in our schools and communities. It is also a proactive way to encourage kindness among kids, parents, coworkers, and community members.

By supporting the be nice. campaign, Rockford local businesses are showing their community how much they care about the growth and well-being of Rockford youth as well as their community as a whole. Community members can show their support of be nice. and their commitment to “being nice” by wearing a be nice. t-shirt or wristband and spreading awareness of the be nice. message.

Buck states, “It is important to be good role models in our communities by exemplifying behaviors that encourage kindness, respect, mindfulness, and civility so that our schools and communities are both safe and nurturing environments.” Whatever you call these positive behaviors, they all add up to being nice. The MHF is challenging Rockford schools, businesses, and residents to be nice. and support an initiative that will strengthen Rockford’s community.

Members of the Rockford Community Childrens Choir practice with Sounds of Sinatra’s Mark Randisi. Randisi and his big band with play at the Rockford High School Fine Arts Auditorium supported by the local talent of the Children’s Choir, the High School Jazz Band and more. Proceeds from the concert support the new Rockford Area Museum. See more information about the concert inside this week’s Squire.

Rockford Business Center professionals Neil Blakeslee of Blakeslee Rop, PLC; Ryan DeVries of White Insurance Agency, Lynda Nance, Rick Hansen, Lisa Hansen of HS&C Wealth Management and Tim Caywood of Ameriprise Financial Inc. Photo by ASHLEY CLONAN

A year ago the restructure of the law firm which is now Blakeslee Rop PLC at 240 Northland Drive resulted in additional space. Today the building is brimming with business professionals who are able to offer a wide variety of services from under one local roof.

“Jim Scales put me in touch with Tim Caywood, and the others came with him,” Blakeslee described.

In the financial offices in Rockford’s “east side” are Caywood’s Ameriprise financial planning and wealth growth expertise, White Insurance, and H&S Companies, three interrelated companies that work together.

Ashely Clonan, marketing coordinator for H&S Companies, said her firm saw a move into Rockford as a natural fit.

H&S Companies, CPAs and Business Consultants, has other offices in addition to the new Rockford branch. They are providers of services such as tax and accounting, business strategy, marketing, payroll services, auditing, restaurant and brewery specialists, fraud examiners, human resource consultation, and pension administration.

The White Insurance Agency was established in 1873—not much different than The Rockford Squire’s start at the Rockford Weekly Register in 1871—and is thrilled to open with their Rockford location their fourth branch. The White Insurance Agency has been providing quality products, excellent service and competitive prices to Western Michigan through their main branch in Fremont and offices in Grant and Twin Lake.

With their new location, they are excited to share their wealth of knowledge, experience and customer service with the Rockford community. The new Rockford office represents many well-known and respected insurance companies and can meet all your home, auto, life, health or business insurance needs.

Ryan DeVries, the insurance agent at the Rockford branch, has been with The White Insurance Agency for nine years. He resides in Rockford with his wife and daughter and is eager to share his know-how and expertise with the community of Rockford.

Blakeslee is pleased with the new opportunities provided by the grouping of business men and women in the building constructed in 2000. Blakeslee is a lifelong Rockford resident, long-term member of Rockford City Council and former mayor of Rockford. He began practicing in 1981 with his first office, located on Main Street.

“I’ve seen more stability than change in Rockford,” Blakeslee said of the progress of the town since he first began his work here. “There has been a continued economic stability, and there are many businesses that have been around as long as me or longer.”

Blakeslee said one change he has noted over two decades is Rockford’s restaurant presence. “We’ve gone from a shortage of restaurants to many,” he commented.

The Rockford Planning Commission is to be recognized for their foresight in preparing the Northland Drive corridor for business growth.

“The planning commission’s work has allowed this area to be more vibrant,” said Blakeslee.

“We are very happy,” Blakeslee said of the professional services working together. “It’s a good relationship with a lot of referrals available, especially to business clients.”

Tim Warwick, director of innovation for Byrne Electrical Specialists, shows off one of the products that is the result of employee innovation and idea brainstorming. He said developing new products is part of the company’s strengths. Byrne launches six to seven brand-new products each year and currently holds 140 patents.

Byrne Electrical Specialists began in 1970 in the home basement of Norm and Rosemary Byrne, and now, with Byrne Tool and Die, is a venerable business employing 250 people in addition to staff at Wee Folk, a child daycare center started for convenience of employees.

On January 16, the family company celebrated an open house of a newly designed planning center, a state-of-the-art facility for product innovation and client collaboration. A company tagline that states, “Our products may come out of a box, but our thinking doesn’t,” has never been more true given the super-tech and beautiful facility at 320 Industrial Drive.

In an upstairs space that was formerly more of a break room than a place to break out new ideas, before and after pictures barely do the space justice. According to Tim Warwick, director of innovation for Byrne Electrical Specialists, the company has grown every year and been profitable every year, continuing to reinvest in equipment and keep and increase employees.

The Byrne company is proud of its heritage as an example of starting small and dreaming big. First as Byrne Electrical Specialists, the company acquired the tool and die portion of the business in 1997 and kept the employees in place. Today the two companies work closely and will share the design center.

In addition to the four full-time designers on staff, the space is available as a think-tank setting, for training and as a showcase for product available from the two Byrne companies. It also will be used for product development, a culture of innovation that Byrne encourages.

The design center has a flexible design that can be arranged for larger training groups, or arranged in relaxed, intimate settings.

“It’s comfortable, it’s not rigid,” Warwick said. “I think people think better when they are comfortable.”

The space includes examples of options available from Byrne, such as raised floors, which are a great option for retrofitting an older building for a new use.

Warwick said the company encourages employees to submit ideas for new products and from the 100-plus submitted annually, a half dozen are usually chosen to refine and redesign to a successful, brand-new product. He said six or seven are submitted to the United States Patent Office each year, and currently the company holds 130 patents.

Warwick said coming up with great ideas and making them become a reality faster is a trademark of Byrne Electrical Specialists and Byrne Tool and Die. He said last year the company was recognized as best in the nation in lead time for mold making.

The design center is important to the two companies, Warwick said, because design is a vital part of the companies’ success. He said merging form and function is so important to a successful product.

“The whole company is built on innovation,” Warwick said. “Some people have design sensibilities, others can conceive the function but not the design.”

Warwick said knowing how to merge the two into one plan for a product—without waste—is what Byrne can offer. “If you have a problem, send it to Byrne and we’ll help you out.”

Photos by TOM SCOTT

Fred Meijer New Year’s Day Resolution Walk 2012 participants gathered in front of the beautifully renovated downtown Rockford Rotary Pavilion. Front and center behind the yellow Friends of the White Pine Trail sign are: (l to r) A newly slimmed-down, Dave Heyboer, chairman of the Friends of the White Pine Trail, and past Rockford Mayor and current City Councilman Rich Moll. Heyboer, a.k.a. “sheepdog,” kicked off the New Year 125 pounds lighter than he was last New Year’s Day morning 2011! Photo by CLIFF HILL

Falling all over each other, in hoping to usher in the New Year with a “sky-is-falling” weather forecast, the weather teams of West Michigan’s TV news outlets forecast a dire New Year’s Day.

In forecasting an “over-the-top” winter blast to arrive New Year’s Day morning the intrepid meteorologists had cast a pall on expected attendance at the newly renamed Fred Meijer New Year’s Day resolution Walk, the 11th walk hosted annually by the Friends of the White Pine Trail (FWPT).

Known in previous years as the Friends of the White Pine Trail Resolution Walk, the walk was renamed “to honor the memory of a man without whom the White Pine Trail would not be what it is today,” said Dave Heybour, Chairman of the FWPT.

Yearly, playing upon a theme of sensationalizing weather forecasts, area weather prognosticators had predicted high winds, freezing cold temps, and 3” to 10” of snow to arrive late New Year’s Day morning, the morning of the Resolution Walk. (It’s easy to be right when the range of snowfall could vary by 7 inches, right?)

As is often the case, the weather predictions weren’t even close. In Rockford at 8:00 a.m. New Year’s Day morning, the temperature was an unseasonable 40 degrees F., the wind was calm, and there was a sporadic mist in the air. As we were writing this article Monday evening, Rockford had received a scant 1-inch of snow covering paved surfaces. Nevertheless, the harm had been done. Because of the ratings driven forecast, attendance at the10 a.m. start of this year’s Resolution Walk was slightly more than half of what was expected.

Following welcoming speeches by both Heyboer and past Rockford Mayor and current City Councilman Rich Moll, the Walk stepped off northward to a turn-around at 12-Mile Rd. then returned to the Walk’s conclusion at the Rotary Pavilion. Moll was the first City official, in the 11-year history of the Walk, to give an official Rockford welcome to event attendees.

Those that showed up that morning, some who had “talked the talk” of a resolution to lose weight and others to simply step into the new year in fellowship with lovers of the Trail and the great outdoors, reaped the added reward of a hearty and bountiful Friends-hosted cook-out at the Walk’s conclusion by simply “walking the walk”.

Expecting to reward and feed 350 Trail supporters the Friends had enough brats and hot dogs, with all the trimmings and toppings including chili and sauerkraut, to more than satisfy the appetites of the 225 attendees and their leashed “best friends” that morning. Also available on the serving line were cookies, granola bars, and dog biscuits along with coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. Food offerings were made available through the support and generosity of D&W Fresh Markets and Gordon Food Service.

Thanks “Friends” for all you do to maintain and promote the State of Michigan’s longest linear State Park (93 miles) – the Fred Meijer White Pine Trail. More importantly, thank-you “Fred” for all you’ve meant to the trail systems of West Michigan.

Closing this article gives your reporters the perfect opportunity to “vent their spleens” and expose the folly of long-range weather forecasting. Readers may recall that the Chief Meteorologists of West Michigan’s TV outlets and the Grand Rapids National Weather Service Office all predicted a ballpark total figure of 80” of snow for the current winter season. They also safely predicted that temperatures could go either way of average.

The “Henny Penny” school of weather forecasting dictates that meteorologists sensationalize each and every weather event to the extreme in order to pander to their listening audiences addiction to weather forecasts. Forecasting extreme weather is good business. It hooks listeners to their TV’s and adds to the bottom line revenue of the local TV network outlets. Two stations of the four local stations do a better job than the other two. If only they ALL could be more accurate!

So in closing, let us throw our hats in the ring. Since November and December were virtually snow free and unseasonably warm, we’d also like to make a belated prediction. Instead of the 80-inches of predicted snow, we predict something in the order of 50 – 60 inches of snow for this winter season. Temperatures should remain overall unseasonably warm. Also, we promise not to predict upcoming weather events in such a manner that will cause businesses and schools to over react and close their doors in anticipation of a storm that may not be severe, or ever materialize at all.

You can hold our predictions accountable with those of the degreed professionals in April.

Fisherman Jeffrey Kelly happened to read the ad and gave Modders a call. It was his pole and he was beyond grateful to stop by and pick it up. How nice it can be to live in a small town where people are basically honest, for the most part, and a neighbor will go out of the way to make sure lost property finds its way home.

Kelly added another twist to the tale. “When I saw Bill, I told him he looked familiar,” said Kelly.

It turns out that Modders, before retiring, worked for years in his own business repairing TVs and VCRs. Kelly had been a regular customer of Modders’, whose business, Phillips and Rowe, was located on Fulton Street.

“It’s really a testament to the people of Rockford,” said Modders of the lost-and-found pole story. “That rod sat there for three days and three nights and no one took it. The people of Rockford didn’t touch it because it wasn’t theirs.”

Thanks to Modders and Kelly for sharing the story, and for a follow-up, Kelly provided the accompanying pictures of fish he caught since the return of his “lucky fishing pole.”