The number of historical markers in Zeeland recognized by the State of Michigan is about to double from two to four.

Starting a business may not sound like the best recipe for creating more time with family, but Dr. Meredith Smedley thinks she’s got it figured out.

Former New Groningen Elementary School principal Jim Schoettle was named president of the Zeeland Chamber of Commerce in June. He recently took time to answer some questions about his experience, his job and the future of the Zeeland chamber.

According to Forbes magazine’s list of America’s Best Colleges in 2010, Grand Valley State University makes the cut.

The board approved 16 new teacher and administration positions, two of which were just developed due to a projected increase in student enrollment. The two new positions are at Zeeland West High School. Meleah VanderZand will teach Spanish and Kevin Towne, social studies.

For the second year in a row, Michigan’s Agriculture Exporter of the Year comes from Zeeland.

Zeeland Farm Services has been named the 2009 Agriculture Exporter of the Year by the Michigan Department of Agriculture, one year after Walters Gardens won the same award.

Zeeland Farm Services, which has been exporting its soybean based products since 2001, was chosen from among six firms that applied for the prestigious award. Department of Agriculture Director Don Koivisto said the local company has everything the selection committee was looking for.

A 10-year-old girl whose death was ruled suspicious last week may have endured physical and sexual abuse and was once removed from her mother’s home, according to allegations in family court documents.

Kimberly Butt of Zeeland Township, suffered head injuries after she pulled her compact car in front of a semitrailer at 6:40 p.m. Friday in Holland Township.

Two stories that emerged last week involving Spectrum Health have raised some community leaders’ concern about the possible merger of West Michigan’s largest health care organization with Zeeland Community Hospital.

On July 26, Petoskey-based Northern Michigan Regional Health System announced it was ending integration talks with Spectrum over issues concerning local control, and the next day it was alleged that Spectrum had used unsavory tactics in trying to negotiate a merger agreement with Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in Grand Rapids.

Neither sat well with Gordon VanWylen, president emeritus of Hope College and part of a group of local leaders calling for the integration of Holland and Zeeland Community hospitals.

Pete Hoekstra’s gubernatorial campaign is making a big push today from its Holland headquarters.

The Zeeland Chamber of Commerce will honor its retiring president Ann Query tonight, July 27, at a concert in the Lawrence Park Bowl.

Grand Valley State University will offer its first completely online program in the fall — a master’s in educational technology through the College of Education.

After the position sat vacant for more than a year, the city of Zeeland has found a new general manager for its Board of Public Works.

The Zummerfest Show & Shine Car Show cruised into Zeeland for its 17th year, living up to its name on a bright Saturday on Main Street.

As a high school science teacher for 20 years, Bob Tift was in the business of changing young lives.

But he didn’t know until this week how much a simple gesture has impacted the journey of one of his former students.

Jon Beltman was a young student at Zeeland High School in 1972 when Tift, who had recently purchased a blueberry farm north of Holland, gave him a broken-down, 30-year-old John Deere tractor that had been left behind by the farm’s previous owner.
The gift carried one caveat. “If you can get it running, you can keep it,” Beltman said Tift told him at the time.

Zeeland educator Laurie Poll has been named the new principal of New Groningen Elementary School in Zeeland.

Some members of the American Legion Post No. 33 in Zeeland say the city has a moral obligation to fulfill a promise it made to the legion perhaps as long as 40 years ago.

City officials say they have no record of the promise the Legion alleges, and claim the city has done all that is required of it since selling for a handsome profit in 1998 a piece of property the Legion once owned.

Jim Schoettle’s retirement won’t last long.

Schoettle, who is to officially retire today after 24 years as principal at Zeeland’s New Groningen Elementary School, was named president of the Zeeland Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday.
He’ll start his new job July 12, and will work with outgoing Chamber President Ann Query at least through the summer and likely through Pumpkinfest in October.

“Part of my reason for retiring is that I wanted to do something with Zeeland, something in the area and something different. I figured at this point, I had a contribution to make yet,” said Schoettle, 61. “I also bring a network of people that I know. This is exciting for me because a lot of the people that I care so much about, I’ll be able to work with.”

The board approved the district’s budget for the 2010-2011 school year. The general fund budget is $50,225,214, up from last year’s budget of $48,402,750 and beyond the estimated revenues of $48,467,312, creating a $1.75 million shortfall.
 

Consumers Energy is backing off a proposed tunnel as a solution to alleviate the fogging problems caused by the cooling towers at its power plant along Washington Avenue on Zeeland’s northeast side.

The Jackson-based utility is instead returning to a modified version of an already-proposed solution that involves closing Washington between Fairview Road and 84th Avenue and directing traffic north toward Riley Road and south toward downtown Zeeland via Main Avenue.

The revised plan, unveiled at Monday’s city council work study session, was described as a more practical, permanent solution to the fog problem than the tunnel.