by BETH ALTENA

The loss of a Main Street home is the gain of a valuable resource in practice that local firefighters hope they will never need to use.

Rockford City Council voted in January to accept a quit-claim deed for the unoccupied home at 138 North Main Street owned by Pederson Funeral Home. The home is currently deeded to the city and is being used by the Rockford Fire Department, other fire departments and local law enforcement agencies for valuable training. The temporary change of ownership is for liability reasons and the structure will be deeded back to the owner when demolition is scheduled.

According to Rockford Fire Chief Mike Reus, the use of the property allows the department an opportunity for priceless training that could save a life. “The fire department is running in when everyone else is running out,” he stated. Firefighters, although trained in a vast variety of practices and skills, are traditionally the ones offering, rather than receiving assistance. “When one of us runs into trouble, it’s hard to ask for help,” Reus said.

The first practice in the home took place on Wednesday, January 28 with a “Mayday” scenario to build skills in what to do when things go wrong. The firemen faced a variety of scenarios in the unheated, unlighted home. Working from three stations one at a time, they practiced procedure for collapse of a ceiling, becoming trapped in a room and becoming tangled in debris. In each case firefighters had to gauge how long to try to free themselves before calling for help. According to Reus, this is a vital distinction and one of the harder concepts to realize in a dangerous situation,

Firefighters carry in Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) with 30 minutes of air. If a rescue worker becomes panicked and starts to breath heavily, the air is used much more quickly. “The clock starts ticking at the door before they go in,” Reus notes. If a disaster happens after 15 minutes in a structure, a rescue needs to start quickly in order to get the trapped or injured firefighter out before the last 15 minutes worth of air is gone.

According to Reus, the techniques and procedures his personnel are practicing on Main Street, Rockford, were developed in response to disasters that cost real lives across the country. The scenario that simulated being trapped in wires was based on an accident in a building where a fireman’s SCBA became tangled in telephone wires and computer cables fallen from a fire ravaged and waterlogged ceiling. That firefighter was unable to free himself and called for help too late to be rescued. “He used his last breath trying to get out of trouble,” Reus said.

Department members will also practice what to do in an open space when visibility is bad. Reus said that plan was devised after a fireman died in a mall after a group became disoriented in a Macy’s in New York and couldn’t find their way to the exit. One team member headed out in a different direction from the rest and died.

Another practice will be a lift maneuver called the Denver Exercise that allows even a small person to lift a much larger one to safety. It is technique developed when a Denver, Colorado firefighter was trapped in the upstairs of a burning building. Others on his team were able to reach him through a window, but were unable to lift him out the window to safety.

Although the firefighter in danger was an average size person, even two others were unable to leverage him up and over a narrow window opening to safety. His body was later recovered going through a stairwell of the home. Reus said the technique uses moves and positioning to allow a small person to leverage the weight much larger person. The Rockford Fire Department now has two staging areas to re-create the scene for practice within the Rockford home.

In each of the scenarios, firefighters practice following an acronym developed to speed rescue and offer the best chance of a successful outcome. LUNAR reminds them to report Location, Unit Number, Name, Assignment/Air Level and Resources Needed. It is a flexible tool that can be modified to suit individual department needs but is standard in the fire fighting community.

“These aren’t just Rockford problems,” Reus said of the practices he has scheduled for his team. “They are problems faced by firefighters across the country and developed after tragedies. Hopefully we will never have to use them.” Although Rockford has never had a situation where a firefighter lost their life, having the chance to practice these responses in an actual home is a priceless gift that might someday make a life-or-death difference.

In addition to specific actions to take personally in a injury or rescue, the department also needs to be prepared how to act as a unit if a Mayday disaster strikes. Reus noted that standards of action call for a department to switch to a dedicated channel while working a life-threatening situation. Without a Mayday clear channel, trying to communicate with the trapped individual could be “chaos.”

In all fire departments, members consider themselves a family. “In this training tonight, we have a father and two sons,” Reus said. He noted how hard it could be for actual family members, much less the fire department “family” not to race in if one of their own is down and in danger.

“In fact, that’s the worst thing you could do,” Reus said. “If your son or brother or father is in there, you can’t drop what you are supposed to be doing to try to help.” He pointed out that leaving an assigned duty could end up being the action that causes the rescue to fail.

Firemen and women have a significant amount of training initially and continue training throughout their careers. In Rockford firefighters have had practices in automobile rescue at CarStar. They were able to practice in the former water treatment plant (where the Promenade is now located), the former Northland Pontiac building and on local water towers. Reus said on-going training includes annual water rescue training, structural and non-structural practice, material safety, hazardous material and medical.

It is rare to have the opportunity to train in a home and be able to have realistic practices. “By the time we’re through, there will be a hole in every wall in this building,” Reus noted. He said he is always looking, as are other local departments, for a property that is scheduled for demolition and the chance to use it for practice.

Reus said the city will maintain ownership of the property until it is scheduled for demolition and will practice as much as they can. Other fire departments and law enforcement have also been using the home for training, including Michigan State Police K-9 practice and the Algoma Township Fire Department. The structure will not be burned because of its proximity to other homes.

According to City Manager Michael Young, there has been no request for rezoning the property. It has been reported that Dave Pederson considered using the lot, which is adjacent to the funeral home parking and garage, for green space or for to build a structure to have funeral-related gatherings or luncheons. It is currently zoned residential.

Pederson himself said he wasn’t sure he had any plans for the lot. He said the home is in poor shape, with a leaking roof, bad furnace and little interior value. He is happy to have donated use of the building for practice and noted that he is a former Emergency Medical Service provider. “Once an EMS, always an EMS,” he said.

No good deed goes unpunished and for annual Splash announcer and radio personality Gene Parker, the saying was certainly true Saturday.

Parker, who kindly donates his time and talent to many Rockford events, was cheerfully doing a great job Saturday during the 14th annual Sweetheart Splash at the Rockford dam when Rotarian Rick Ehinger decided to ratchet up the crowd’s incentive to donate.

He said he’d pitch in $200 to see Parker take the plunge into the Rogue. Parker waffled, saying he wasn’t prepared for a dip in the drink and John Decker and Sandy Waite both upped the ante by another hundred each.

With $400 on the line in the fundraiser for the North Kent Service Center, local businesses, Splash jumpers and members of the crowd began throwing in the dough to total an impressive $1,035 guaranteeing Parker’s plunge (and probably the end of donating his time for Splash).

With 30 jumpers and an air temperature of 30 degrees, the event went smoothly and was well attended. Rockford Quick Lube team again stole the show with their group jump. Without the Jaycees, who disbanded this year on what would have been the group’s 50th anniversary, competition was low. The Quick Lubies made it up to the crowd with a great limbo routine and challenging other local businesses to up the ante next year with more team groups.

Connie Taylor of the Rockford Community Federal Credit Union called the jump very successful with over $2,000 raised for NKSC. Past good hauls included the year Herman’s Boy’s Floyd Havemeier went in at age 65, raising $5,000 from the many people who paid to see him go under.

Since Wolverine World Wide’s (WWW) recent announcement that it is closing its downtown tannery facility, the City of Rockford has been working to identify all of the issues related to this decision and its ultimate impact on our residents and ratepayers.

As you can imagine, the issues are numerous and complex and include analyzing financial implications on the sewer fund, an analysis of lost tax revenue, engineering issues related to the decommissioning of the treatment plant, and planning and zoning issues related to the eventual redevelopment of the tannery property. We have stayed in very close communication with WWW and are working to identify a time frame to address all of these issues.

As I have interacted with residents and ratepayers, I have been comforted but not surprised by the community’s response to this announcement. Rockford has always been an example of a community that pulls together during tough times to work toward a positive solution. Thank you to those who have taken the time to provide your support and input. I have also received a handful of questions regarding the impact of the tannery’s closing on sewer rates and the new PARCC Side Wastewater Treatment Plant and since others may have similar questions, I would like to answer them publicly.

The short answer to this question is simple. The City’s share of financing and operting the new treatment plant today is $90,000 less per year than the cost of signing the new City of Grand Rapids Wastewater Treatment Plant contract. In addition, the City has saved $2.4 million over the last ten (10) years by not signing the proposed new Grand Rapids contract when it was presented in the winter of 1998.

This savings over the last ten (10) years has allowed us to keep our sewer rates stable. That said, as I wrote in an earlier article, the tannery closing will impact rates likely resulting in an increase of approximately $10 per month for the average residential customer. While we understand that this is a difficult time for a rate increase, the tannery closing would have increased rates even higher if Rockford had signed the Grand Rapids contract ten (10) years ago and not built the PARCC Side Wastewater Treatment Plant.

One of the main reasons for this is that the five (5) constituent communities of the North Kent Sewer Authority entered into a new cost-sharing model in 2005. This cost sharing model dramatically changed the way costs are allocated between the constituent communities of the Authority. The model treats much of the collection system (sewer pipes) as a true Authority, whereby specific pipes are jointly owned by the Authority and costs are shared accordingly. This change in the model alone saved the City $200,000. The model itself is admittedly complicated but the results are simple – Rockford residents save money now and in the future as a result of building the new treatment plant. Much of our costs associated with the collection system and wastewater treatment plant are fixed principal and interest costs associated with financing. The cost model changes the relative percentage of principal and interest that each community is responsible for.

Since Rockford is a smaller and more densely developed community than our partner townships, it is expected that our relative percentage of ongoing costs will also decrease simply because the townships will grow at a faster pace than the City.

While PARCC Side Wastewater Treatment Plant has and will continue to save Rockford money, it does not change the reality that rates will increase once the tannery is fully decommissioned.

Discussions regarding rate increases is very preliminary and we will continue to work with WWW and our partners in the North Kent Sewer Authority to explore to minimize any rate increase. I would like to again thank everyone for your support and input as we work through this transition.

The suspect entered a storage garage on the property and removed eight kegs of beer and two ladders. The suspect left then returned a short time later to steal returnable cans and a power washer.

Detectives have no leads except for surveillance video. They released photographs from the surveillance video to the media hoping that the public can help identify the suspect.

Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Ben Cammenga at (616) 632-6125 or Silent Observer at (616) 774-2345.

The current economic environment is, to say the least, unpredictable. One thing is constant, however – nature. The changing seasons, day and night, and flowing rivers are unwavering. Knowing this keeps us grounded in an ever changing economic environment.

The Rogue River provides its communities many economic benefits. Data provided by West Michigan Trout Unlimited and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality shows that in 2004, 17,239 angling trips were made to the river and fisherman spent an average of $35 per fishing trip to the Rogue River Watershed. That’s a yearly total of $603,365.

What would we do if an area business failed and left the local economy with a $603,365 void?

The Rogue River has been a source of food, water, and transportation for humans and animals for thousands of years. The river and its surrounding watershed were formed by glaciers around 12,000 years ago. Today the Rogue River has the distinction of being one of Michigan’s southern-most trout streams. It is known throughout the state and mid-west for being a clean trout stream located within 15 minutes of an urban center. Here it is quite possible to toss fishing gear into the car, dash out of work at 5:00 and have a line in the water by 5:30.

When we protect and preserve the Rogue River, we generate income for our local economy by providing a clean and healthy river. Bait shops, canoe liveries, gas stations, and restaurants, just to name a few, benefit from people using the Rogue River.

The social benefits are harder to measure yet just as valuable, and intermingle with the economic benefits. A stroll on the boardwalk along the river in Rockford, spying deer at the Rogue’s banks while canoeing in the quiet of early morning, kids splashing and catching minnows in the river on a bright summer day or steam rising from the ice-crusted river on a zero degree morning; these are only a few of the social benefits the Rogue River provides.

Protecting and preserving the river doesn’t necessarily mean pumping money into initiatives. Rather it can mean doing something as obvious as not littering. Or, if you own property along the river, choosing to let the banks of the river “go natural” rather than running a mowed and chemically treated lawn up to the river’s edge. (A natural shoreline prevents bank erosion, filters sediment and runoff, provides habitat for riparian creatures and deters nuisance geese).

We can be more mindful about what runs off our streets and into storm drains because these flow directly to local waterways such as the Rogue. We can choose to leave a tree canopy over the river to keep its temperature cool and steady for the sensitive trout. We could cut back, or just not use, pesticides so insects can provide food for fish and reptiles.

There are many things we can do as individuals and business owners to protect and preserve the Rogue River. Its economic benefits help support the local economy. The social benefits are – well, take a stroll along the river with a loved one this summer, or watch a family of turtles sun themselves on a log and you’ll see.

The Rogue River Watershed Council is dedicated to the long-term protection and restoration of the Rogue River and its tributaries through community stewardship, education and watershed-based planning.

If you would like more information log onto www.gvsu.edu/wri/isc and click on Rogue River Watershed Project and choose Rogue River Watershed Council. You can become a member of the Rogue River Watershed Council by calling Andy Bowman at (616) 776-3876.

PROTECTING OUR ENVIRONMENT – The Rogue River Watershed Council is a local organization founded in 2004, with the goal promoting education and preservation of the RRW. They meet monthly in Rockford and would love to have members, guests or input.

It hardly went noticed in the hustle and bustle of activities that surround the international nonprofit charitable organization SowHope, but the growing organization celebrated its third birthday Saturday, January 31.

A fast-growing international organization started by women for women in 2006, it is dedicated to inspiring and supporting women around the world through wellness, education, and economic opportunities. The organization’s “method of operation” is unique and really works. SowHope is one of the only international organizations specifically focused on addressing the basic needs of women internationally by partnering with local leaders, using local solutions to solve local problems. These leaders already have the reputation for helping women. SowHope collaborates with their partners by funding measurable, time-limited, and outcome-based projects that match SowHope’s three program areas.

“It has been amazing to realize our dream of helping women in the Third World,” shares SowHope’s president and founder, Mary Dailey Brown. “During of first three years, we have had the privilege of impacting over 6000 women through AIDS care and prevention, literacy classes, and micro loans.”

Dr. Diana Sharp, associate vice president, Harper College, Batavia, IL, says she became involved “because Mary asked her” and is now president of the SowHope Board. Having known Mary for 30-plus years, she said from the beginning SowHope’s mission was very compelling, and she believed in the cause of helping the most oppressed women of the world, facilitated locally by those working side-by-side with these women.

“However, I stayed involved with SowHope,” stated Dr. Sharp, “Because I continue to be impressed with the documented progress of the women in our programs and to be in awe when I hear about the progress continuing to be made and the care and concern that goes into decision making and goal setting for our organization.”

Ainur Nutai, Khazikstan Grand Valley State University International MPA student and SowHope Board Member agrees. Graduating this spring, Ainur will be going back to her county, but will stay involved in SowHope.

“I have seen the needs of women first hand,” says Ainur, “and I want to continue to do my part to support this local thinking and global acting organization”.

The Honorable State Representative Tom Pearce is another SowHope Board member with strong convictions to the SowHope mission. “It has been exciting to see the impact that this new international organization is already having around the world,” shared Pearce. “The purpose and mission of SowHope is desperately needed in so many places and I pray regularly for its growth and continued success.”

Brown explains that the wellness, educational, and economic programs of SowHope are basic to meeting the most pressing needs of women in the developing world. SowHope seeks to form alliances with like-minded providers to match funds and share responsibility for projects that provide promise for women all over the world.

“Together we can sow the seeds of hope – for when women, who are the primary caregivers, are cared for, everyone benefits.”

For more information about SowHope, their projects, partners and continued growth, please go online to www.sowhope.org.
REASON TO CELEBRATE – SowHope’s third birthday is celebrated by board members, volunteers and staff. Left to right, front row: Craig Conley, Bonnie Conley, Doug Brown, Mary Dailey Brown, Ainur Nutai. Back row: Doreen Mangrum, Chandy Colley, Dave Crawford. Missing: Dr. Diana Sharp, Jean Graham, Dr. Virginia Hodgkinson, Dr. Pamela Ogor, Honorable Thomas Pearce, and Midge Stamas.

Filled with the traditional prune or with less “Old World” but more popular cherry, raspberry, custard cream cheese or blueberry, paczki is a taste of Poland that has in many ways been Americanized.

Bostwick Lake Bakery owner Mike Moyer believes that the popularity of paczki would radically increase if people tasted those made at bakeries, where authentic dough is used and a variety of fillings are offered. His bakery was formerly owned by a polish man who, ironically, didn’t make paczki. In the last ten years Moyer has sold paczki prior and during Fat Tuesday, the Tuesday before the Catholic tradition of Lent. This year Fat Tuesday is February 24.

Fat Tuesday is the day of feast before Lent, a time when Catholics give up sweets for 40 days before Easter. Paczki is a Polish tradition with a strong American following. Traditionally prune-filled, the treat features a dough heavier and richer than a bizmark, and is filled now with many fruit or even custard or cheese filling.

Moyer said his bakery often offered paczki for a month prior to Fat Tuesday, but now sells them for about a week. The annual treat will be available at the bakery now. With a traditional, religious and flavorful reason to try this taste of Poland, there is no excuse not to enjoy this annual pastry.

The trees purchased through the sale also serve a valuable purpose. They are used in reforestation efforts and other conservation plantings throughout the county. For residential purposes trees beatify the home, raise property values and provide habitat for native wildlife. Trees also provide for many environmental benefits including soil stabilization and storm water control.

This year’s sale boasts our largest selection ever, with nearly forty species of conifers (evergreens), hardwoods and wildlife shrubs. We have also added native wildflower seed mixes, backyard composters, rain barrels and much more to our catalog. We can accommodate plantings from 10 to 10,000 seedlings. We also have options to fit anyone’s budget as well with ten seedlings starting at only $10 and 1,000 seedlings starting at only $225. The catalog and order forms are available online at: www.kentconservation.org. For more information please contact the KCD office at administrator@kentconservation.org or by calling (616) 942-4111 ext 100.