We’re out here to respect people, to be kind to people’
Seth Berry • May 30, 2022
Calhoun County Sheriff Steve Hinkley and Undersheriff Tim Hurtt dive into several topics pertaining to law enforcement
Calhoun County Sheriff Steve Hinkley’s inspiration to get into law enforcement circles back to when he was attending Sunday school as a young boy.
Hinkley’s Sunday school teacher also happened to be a police chief and by the time Hinkley turned 16 years of age, he would usually spend one day a week doing ride alongs with the chief.
“Back then, we’re talking like 1986, you could jump into the back of a police car and ride with them,” said Hinkley. “I was 16 years old and I would spend about one weekend day a week riding with the police. My parents had to sign all the forms, but it was a little different times back then.”
After high school, Hinkley graduated from the police academy at Lansing Community College. In 1992, Hinkley landed at the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office, where he has been ever since.
Before being appointed to sheriff in 2020 after the departure of Matt Saxton as his term ended, Hinkley was a detective/sergeant and oversaw multiple sheriff’s office units, such as the major crimes task force.
Thinking back to his school days, Hinkley said he enjoyed physics and math, which are skills that are essential in police work when it comes to things such as analyzing car crashes and what caused them.
“I spent 19 years in traffic. My primary job was issuing traffic tickets, investigating traffic complaints and traffic crashes, including fatal accidents,” said Hinkley. “So I went through Michigan State, I spent time at Northwestern, I did heavy truck reconstruction training, pedestrian, bicycle—just everything I could get. Then, I got transferred into the detective bureau and they kind of combined me—I still did fatal crashes, but now I was doing violent crimes and homicides. I did all of those and I was promoted to supervision, then low and behold I was appointed (sheriff).”
Hinkley also put into perspective how much he appreciated being appointed sheriff and stressed that he really enjoys his job despite some challenges.
“Was this my goal? In a way it was,” Hinkley said. “I just had so many things—visions and dreams and things that I wanted to accomplish. So, when I had the opportunity to do this, it was perfect for me. I mean, I love my job. Law enforcement has changed so much over the years. I love coming to work every day. We’re having so many different struggles, but it is so good to be a policeman. And the interesting thing about being a sheriff, is a sheriff is the only position (in law enforcement) elected by the people. I get hired or fired every four years.”
Timothy Hurtt is the undersheriff who works alongside Hinkley in the department.
Hurtt is a native of Kalamazoo, Mich. and began his career in law enforcement in June of 1984 as a special deputy sheriff for the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Department before being hired as a police officer in Battle Creek in March of 1985.
In 1990, Hurtt was promoted to detective in the Battle Creek Police Department. After 12 years of working in violent crimes for the city, he was promoted to inspector in July of 2002 until 2010.
In 2011, Hurtt became the first ever police chief for the Kellogg Community College Department of Public Safety and played an integral role in setting the foundation for the department.
After almost two years as the police chief at KCC, Saxton was running for sheriff and approached Hurtt at the time and asked if he would be his undersheriff when Saxton was elected, which is how Hurtt ended up at the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Department.
Hurtt is also a graduate of Lansing Community College’s police academy while also graduating from Kalamazoo Valley Community College, Western Michigan University and the Center for Public Safety, School of Police Staff and Command at Northwestern University.
Hurtt also thought back to his childhood when thinking about when he gained his first interest in law enforcement.
“I always had an interest in law enforcement, it was always exciting when I saw the police,” Hurtt said. “I was kind of like a geek, a technology geek. I remember my dad bought me these walkie talkies that had these huge antennas. I said ‘man it would really be nice one day to have one of those radios like the police.’ So I just always had an interest.”
Before becoming fully involved in law enforcement, Hurtt worked security at Borgess Hospital in Kalamazoo and got to know a lot of the police officers in the area through that job.
“That drew me even closer to wanting to be a police officer,” said Hurtt. “You’d meet some deputies that would come in and they would start talking about the reserve program and being a volunteer deputy after going through training. So I signed up and I was accepted into that in January of ‘84. I went through the school—it was about three or four hours a week, one night a week until the end where they had some accelerated (classes) toward the end. Then I graduated in June and was sworn in as special deputy sheriff for Kalamazoo County.”
Hinkley and Hurtt have a unique connection away from their jobs, as they both attend Victory Life Church in Battle Creek and are invested in their faith as Christians.
They believe being paired together as work partners is no coincidence, with their faith being a backbone to their relationship.
“We’re teaming up. We’ve got a job to do and there are things that need to be done,” said Hurtt. “We truly believe it’s a calling that we’re together and we’re going to answer to God. And there’s some things he needs us to do before our law enforcement careers end.”
Added Hinkley: “I think the best part is we’re both Christians. We both go to Victory Life and we both trust in God. We trust in God for the decisions that we make in the morning. For me, I’ll tell you when I get into the office, I have my mother’s Bible at the corner of my desk. It says her name on it, she’s passed away. I read one page every morning—let’s face it, we all struggle, I’m definitely not perfect at all, I’m definitely going to make mistakes. But there’s a lot more out there for all of us and it’s comforting having that.”
As far as the weekly tasks the two perform and overall updates as it relates to the sheriff’s department, Hinkley said every two weeks they hold an executive leadership meeting. The department has 178 employees while the sheriff handles both law enforcement and correction services.
On top of that, the department also handles civil court orders, evictions, community corrections, among many other tasks.
Hinkley also said the department is doing some long term budget planning when it comes to gaining access to new equipment and some other long term items the department will be purchasing or have purchased already.
“We have all new in-car cameras for all the patrol cars,” Hinkley said. “All new body cameras plus 10 body cameras for the jail—all brand new and just put into service last week. You can watch the deputy live in a patrol car on a traffic stop. We have three body cams assigned to our K-9’s, you can watch them live when they’re tracking through the woods and you can also GPS locate them. New jail cameras all the way through. Some of the cameras are getting older, the jail is 26 years old.”
Hinkley added the department will also be switching uniforms soon and will go away from the traditional brown uniforms and purchase new ones that Hinkley described as a breathable polo type of shirt. He explained there will be no more gun belts for the officers and that all of the weight will go onto a pullover vest and have all of the weight on their shoulders.
Hurtt said between himself, Hinkley and Chief Deputy David Tendziegloski, the three are constantly in communication.
When it comes to managing the Calhoun County Jail, Hurtt placed a big emphasis on the rehabilitation process that is provided when people do go to jail. He said a goal they have as a department is to make sure a person who is convicted of a crime changes when they are done with their sentence so they can be productive members of society.
“What happens to society if that person just serves the time and doesn’t change? A lot of services we provide inside the jail—we’re trying to get some trades training (through KCC) in there, we’re helping people finish their GEDs,” Hurtt said. “So what we’re doing, it’s not just people serving their time, but we’re trying to help rehabilitate people so they can become productive citizens. Sheriff Saxton always said, ‘jails aren’t full of bad people. They’re full of good people that made mistakes.’”
One of the biggest challenges that the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Department has recently faced has been a lack of personnel.
Hinkley said a good amount of their time has been spent in finding ways to recruit new employees and retain the ones they already have.
“We contract specifically law enforcement services for the city of Springfield, Pennfield Township, Convis, Homer—so out of those, we have about 50 deputies assigned to law enforcement and the remaining are assigned to corrections,” Hinkley said. “So when we’re trying to fill some of these gaps, like I said before, when I started, you’d walk into a room and there’s 500 people looking for a job and there’s only three jobs (available). Now there’s three people looking for a job and 500 jobs (available), it is completely backwards. We have struggled so much on filling these positions, but it’s a nationwide problem.”
While Hinkley and Hurtt both acknowledged the difficulties in bringing people in to fill some of the jobs, they both acknowledged that it’s hard to put a finger on exactly why there has been a big dip in individuals pursuing a law enforcement career as of late.
On a national scale, the two pointed out that there are some individuals who have represented law enforcement poorly. These situations usually garner national attention that the two said can shine a negative light on the industry as a whole.
But Hurtt and Hinkley stressed that the individuals who do represent law enforcement poorly make just a small fraction of police officers. They said oftentimes, people tend to focus on the negative things that happen instead of the positive influence members of law enforcement can have in their communities.
“Nationally, there are certainly a few individuals who have not represented law enforcement well,” said Hinkley. “Those individuals are like .01%, it’s such a small (minority). But sometimes we forget that 99.9% of these police officers, they come in every single day and do an excellent job, they’re a part of our communities, they do everything right. But sometimes we get focused on the wrong and we spend too much time looking at the wrong. We (law enforcement) are knitted into our community. If the community fails, we fail. If we fail, the community fails.”
Added Hurtt: “One of the things that has never changed with law enforcement, even though the times have changed and the way people view us, is it’s a position of trust. We have a position of high trust within the community. And there’s certain positions in our community—our teachers, ministers, our doctors are all on the same level of trust. And when you get a small percentage that breaks that trust, it affects us all across the nation. And we really would hope that people would look at us as individuals as opposed to one great, big force when something goes wrong. I’d like to encourage the citizens to look at you police department, look at locally what they’re doing and the relationships they have, the communication they have (with citizens) and I think that helps us get through these incidents that have come and unfortunately likely will continue, but hopefully to a lesser degree throughout the future.”
Despite the numerous challenges, there are many aspects of law enforcement that makes the career fulfilling for both Hinkley and Hurtt.
For Hinkley, knowing there are many people in the world who make mistakes but who are also deserving of a second chance helps motivate him to impact the community in a positive way by trying to make a difference in those people’s lives.
“There are so many people out there that deserve a second chance,” Hinkley said. “And some of my dearest friends and some of the dearest people are people that I’ve arrested back in the early 90’s. I’ve arrested (people) for things who I still know, I still talk to, I see them at the store—that are some of the kindest, nicest people and some of my dearest friends. Because there are so many people out there that make that mistake but they deserve a second chance. To be able to be a humble servant and understand that that’s the position you’re in as a police officer. You are here to protect people, you are here to protect justice—no ifs, ands or buts about it. When it comes to public safety, that is your job. But there are so many opportunities to certainly make an impact on someone’s life.”
For Hurtt, he has dealt with a lot of families who have had to deal with tragedy where Hurtt is the one who had to deliver bad news to them. While it’s nearly impossible to make a tragic situation better, Hurtt said he knew he was going to handle those situations in the right fashion and give families all of the information and give them as many answers as he possibly could.
“The good thing about it is that I knew I was going to do it right, I was going to give them the answer and if anybody had to deliver news to me like that, this is how I would want it to be done,” Hurtt said. “I always let that be my model and my goal. And even though sometimes you couldn’t make the situation better because they had lost a loved one, you could bring them as many answers as you possibly could and help them maybe restore and get some peace and even some justice.”
On the flip side, Hurtt says he knows people who have committed violent crimes but were found not guilty in court for one reason or another and therefore were let back into society as free individuals.
He said those are tough situations, but his reaction to them as a member of law enforcement can make a difference as well.
“I had one guy who was found not guilty—he killed two people and shot a third and was found not guilty,” said Hurtt. “And when you see those people again in society, your reaction can make or break them. For instance, with the guy who killed two people and shot a third—and he had confessed, but the jury under circumstances—a jury nullification is what it was, it came back and said not guilty. When I saw him again in public and I see him in the department store, I went up and I talked to him, and he’s embarrassed. But what I do is I tell him—he said he’s doing good and trying to get his life together. But I said ‘I want to tell you something. You’re better than the worst thing you’ve ever done.’ I said ‘just put it behind you and let’s move on. You’ve paid your price, you’ve done due process.’ And I went on shopping and when I got done he was still waiting for the bus and I ended up giving him a ride home.”
Hinkley and Hurtt have also been longtime instructors at Kellogg Community College. Being able to reach young people, especially during a time when recruitment is important due to the lack of overall numbers in law enforcement, is another rewarding element for each of them.
“I think the biggest impact is these police academies, from my view, is that (the instructor) sets the standard on what type of cadet and what type of police officers they are going to be,” Hinkley said. “As an instructor, I want to make sure, number one—I tell these kids all the time, that we’re out here to serve the public, we’re out here to respect people, to be kind to people. There are people out there where you may be the only person that they get to talk to in a day that they receive a kind word to. There are some people out there that legitimately need help, they need somebody to be kind to them, courteous to them, respectful to them—and I keep telling these kids, ‘you may be that one person. You may be sent there for a reason and you may have an opportunity to make a significant difference and make an impact on somebody’s life just by the words that you use.’”
Hurtt echoed a lot of the same sentiments of what Hinkley had to say when it comes to what the message he preaches to students, but also touched on the level of honesty and real conversations he has with his students.
“Regardless of the situation, regardless of the outcome, it’s always about the truth,” Hurtt said. “One thing I found out about the truth, is that when you tell the truth, it can never be changed. That’s what I always drive home to the kids, and that’s why I tell them stories about the guy who killed two and shot a third and he was found not guilty. Because it can happen. But if nobody tells you about it and nobody tells you how they dealt with it and how they continued to go on, that’s something that can discourage you and stop you from going on.”
Get to know MPS Superintendent Becky Jones as she looks ahead to the new school year Marshall Public Schools Superintendent Becky Jones said she has always had a passion for wanting to work in education. Even though her master’s degree is in business from Spring Arbor University, Jones originally went to school at Eastern Michigan University to be a special education teacher when she was an undergraduate before making the switch to the business field. “I always wanted to work in some sort of line in education and be a part of the school system,” Jones said. “My aunt was a special education teacher in an early childhood role and she worked for Jackson ISD. That was part of the reason why I wanted to go to school to be a special education teacher when I started. I ended up changing and I’m not 100% sure why I changed, but it’s interesting that I ended up into the system in the career path of doing that.” After Jones graduated from EMU, she landed a job in Jackson as a business manager for a construction company before being hired at Jackson County Intermediate School District in business operations. Jones has been in the school system ever since her time at Jackson County ISD before coming over to Marshall Public Schools, where she served as the director of business operations for the district for eight years. Jones said the relationships she built over the eight years in that role has helped her transition into the superintendent role. “I think with how I am as a leader and how I am as a person, I like to build a lot of personal relationships,” said Jones. “So I think that’s just something that has come natural for me over the eight years, I’ve just always built really good relationships with the people that I work with. I care about the people, I care about families, I care about our students. It didn’t seem unnatural for me to fill into the role of interim, because it was something I wanted to do.” Jones was appointed interim superintendent in May 2021 after the departure of former Superintendent Randy Davis. After eight months, the Marshall Public Schools Board of Education unanimously agreed to hire Jones into the permanent role. When reflecting on when she officially was hired into the permanent role, Jones commended the many who have supported her during the process and said she feels honored to now be serving in the role. “I think that educating people’s children and educating our youth is a very important role,” said Jones. “It’s an honor and a blessing in how I look at it.” Jones added that she is driven and inspired by being able to serve two communities, being students and families in both Marshall and Albion. “When I look at the district as a whole, I look at it as serving two communities,” Jones said. “Obviously we have an interesting history as a school system with bringing Albion into the system and serving both Albion and Marshall. That to me alone, just having the two communities that we get to serve, is a wonderful thing. Both communities have a lot to offer when you look at it. There are a lot of great people, leaders and businesses that are really supportive of the school system and really supportive of our kids. That’s one of the many benefits of this role.” Jones added she is also inspired by being able to serve the students as a whole and being able to interact with them and the teachers who are involved in their learning development. “Also the kids and the interaction with the kids. We get to go out to buildings and interact with the kids and interact with the teachers,” Jones added. “We have a wonderful staff in the district. When I look at the role, I don’t look at it as a superintendent role, I look at it as ‘I get to work with these amazing people who work for Marshall Public Schools and I get to meet all of these wonderful community members.’” In a March article from the Battle Creek Enquirer, former Board President Richard Lindsey acknowledged Jones played a key role in the annexation of the Albion School District and Marshall Public Schools in 2016. Jones further explained how she was involved in that process. “I walked alongside Dr. Davis when annexation happened,” she said. “I sat in all the meetings, went through all the financials and worked on all those things and what it would look like. So I was right alongside working through the annexation piece of it. Through annexation, there were a lot of people that care about both communities and about wanting to make sure that all of our kids have equal opportunity and equal access to good education. To me, in my eyes, that’s the one thing that matters, is equal access to kids for education.” As superintendent, there are both challenges ahead for Jones along with some things that she is excited about in terms of plans the district is implementing going into the school year. “I’m really excited about our strategic plan,” Jones said. “I think it’s really important for organizations to have a vision for what they are working towards. And I think that we’ve clearly written out what our vision is as an organization. I’m really looking forward to putting that in place.” As far as challenges go, Jones brought up being able to educate students in a post-pandemic world and focusing on providing support for students and families on what they need to further their education in light of all the disruptions that took place in schools during the past two years. “I think we still have a lot of challenges post pandemic when we’re looking at children and we’re looking at education,” Jones said. “We as a district need to sit down and focus on where our kids are at and where we need our kids to be in terms of education. So, I think for this year it’s really going to be a huge focus on what support we can give our families and the things we can do to really get our kids educated and where they need to be in a post pandemic world.” Another challenge in Jones’ eyes is how to put a new bond on the table and how to get community members to support one this time around. Last November, a $45.6 million bond was voted down by a 2 to 1 margin. She also mentioned the school’s sinking fund millage that she said will be on the ballot for voters this November. “We have $75 million worth of needs,” said Jones. “We obviously had a failed bond attempt and those needs haven’t gone away. So we’re going to have to go back out to the community in looking at a bond and (figure out) what we need to do. We need to sit down and talk about where we’re at with that. Another thing is with our sinking fund millage. That is set to expire and we’re going to be putting a renewal on the November ballot. It is a renewal but it’s not going to be worded as a renewal, because we’re going to add in security and technology services for that. So we’re really going to have to get out there and communicate effectively with the communities about that.” When Jones’ time is done at MPS, whenever that may be, she said she just hopes for both communities to look at the school district and be proud of what it represents. “I want both communities to be proud of their school system,” she said. “I want Marshall Public Schools serving both Marshall and Albion communities and for it to be a choice district for those communities. I want them to be proud of the work we do here and how we educate their kids.”
Get to know MPS Superintendent Becky Jones as she looks ahead to the new school year Marshall Public Schools Superintendent Becky Jones said she has always had a passion for wanting to work in education. Even though her master’s degree is in business from Spring Arbor University, Jones originally went to school at Eastern Michigan University to be a special education teacher when she was an undergraduate before making the switch to the business field. “I always wanted to work in some sort of line in education and be a part of the school system,” Jones said. “My aunt was a special education teacher in an early childhood role and she worked for Jackson ISD. That was part of the reason why I wanted to go to school to be a special education teacher when I started. I ended up changing and I’m not 100% sure why I changed, but it’s interesting that I ended up into the system in the career path of doing that.” After Jones graduated from EMU, she landed a job in Jackson as a business manager for a construction company before being hired at Jackson County Intermediate School District in business operations. Jones has been in the school system ever since her time at Jackson County ISD before coming over to Marshall Public Schools, where she served as the director of business operations for the district for eight years. Jones said the relationships she built over the eight years in that role has helped her transition into the superintendent role. “I think with how I am as a leader and how I am as a person, I like to build a lot of personal relationships,” said Jones. “So I think that’s just something that has come natural for me over the eight years, I’ve just always built really good relationships with the people that I work with. I care about the people, I care about families, I care about our students. It didn’t seem unnatural for me to fill into the role of interim, because it was something I wanted to do.” Jones was appointed interim superintendent in May 2021 after the departure of former Superintendent Randy Davis. After eight months, the Marshall Public Schools Board of Education unanimously agreed to hire Jones into the permanent role. When reflecting on when she officially was hired into the permanent role, Jones commended the many who have supported her during the process and said she feels honored to now be serving in the role. “I think that educating people’s children and educating our youth is a very important role,” said Jones. “It’s an honor and a blessing in how I look at it.” Jones added that she is driven and inspired by being able to serve two communities, being students and families in both Marshall and Albion. “When I look at the district as a whole, I look at it as serving two communities,” Jones said. “Obviously we have an interesting history as a school system with bringing Albion into the system and serving both Albion and Marshall. That to me alone, just having the two communities that we get to serve, is a wonderful thing. Both communities have a lot to offer when you look at it. There are a lot of great people, leaders and businesses that are really supportive of the school system and really supportive of our kids. That’s one of the many benefits of this role.” Jones added she is also inspired by being able to serve the students as a whole and being able to interact with them and the teachers who are involved in their learning development. “Also the kids and the interaction with the kids. We get to go out to buildings and interact with the kids and interact with the teachers,” Jones added. “We have a wonderful staff in the district. When I look at the role, I don’t look at it as a superintendent role, I look at it as ‘I get to work with these amazing people who work for Marshall Public Schools and I get to meet all of these wonderful community members.’” In a March article from the Battle Creek Enquirer, former Board President Richard Lindsey acknowledged Jones played a key role in the annexation of the Albion School District and Marshall Public Schools in 2016. Jones further explained how she was involved in that process. “I walked alongside Dr. Davis when annexation happened,” she said. “I sat in all the meetings, went through all the financials and worked on all those things and what it would look like. So I was right alongside working through the annexation piece of it. Through annexation, there were a lot of people that care about both communities and about wanting to make sure that all of our kids have equal opportunity and equal access to good education. To me, in my eyes, that’s the one thing that matters, is equal access to kids for education.” As superintendent, there are both challenges ahead for Jones along with some things that she is excited about in terms of plans the district is implementing going into the school year. “I’m really excited about our strategic plan,” Jones said. “I think it’s really important for organizations to have a vision for what they are working towards. And I think that we’ve clearly written out what our vision is as an organization. I’m really looking forward to putting that in place.” As far as challenges go, Jones brought up being able to educate students in a post-pandemic world and focusing on providing support for students and families on what they need to further their education in light of all the disruptions that took place in schools during the past two years. “I think we still have a lot of challenges post pandemic when we’re looking at children and we’re looking at education,” Jones said. “We as a district need to sit down and focus on where our kids are at and where we need our kids to be in terms of education. So, I think for this year it’s really going to be a huge focus on what support we can give our families and the things we can do to really get our kids educated and where they need to be in a post pandemic world.” Another challenge in Jones’ eyes is how to put a new bond on the table and how to get community members to support one this time around. Last November, a $45.6 million bond was voted down by a 2 to 1 margin. She also mentioned the school’s sinking fund millage that she said will be on the ballot for voters this November. “We have $75 million worth of needs,” said Jones. “We obviously had a failed bond attempt and those needs haven’t gone away. So we’re going to have to go back out to the community in looking at a bond and (figure out) what we need to do. We need to sit down and talk about where we’re at with that. Another thing is with our sinking fund millage. That is set to expire and we’re going to be putting a renewal on the November ballot. It is a renewal but it’s not going to be worded as a renewal, because we’re going to add in security and technology services for that. So we’re really going to have to get out there and communicate effectively with the communities about that.” When Jones’ time is done at MPS, whenever that may be, she said she just hopes for both communities to look at the school district and be proud of what it represents. “I want both communities to be proud of their school system,” she said. “I want Marshall Public Schools serving both Marshall and Albion communities and for it to be a choice district for those communities. I want them to be proud of the work we do here and how we educate their kids.”
In February of 1921, while what would eventually become the Marshall Country Club was being organized, 70 acres on the south shore of Lyon Lake was purchased for the golf course. That summer was spent by members raking stones, tearing down fences and leveling off and cleaning land while Harold C. Brooks, the club’s first president, hired golf architect Tom Bendelow of Chicago to help design the course. The following year, Brooks erected the club house that was planned by his architect friend Howard Young of Kalamazoo. A breezeway connected the club house with a pro shop and the country club was up and running. There have been a few changes made to Marshall Country Club over time, including the course being renovated into an 18-hole course from a nine-hole course in 1972. But 100 years later, the country club is still serving area golfers, with numerous events on tap as MCC celebrates its centennial year. Director of Communications Nancy Card said she believes Marshall Country Club’s ability to adapt over time has allowed the golf course to stay open even during ever-changing times. “It (country clubs) used to be much more formal,” said Card. “It used to be the ‘good ol' boys club.’ It used to be a high stakes kind of a thing. And now, through the evolution of all of these years, it’s interesting to me to see how creative we’ve had to become in order to continue to operate in the new world. It’s so different and we can’t operate like we used to back then. Just watching the changes and the evolution and how things have made us who we are today, that’s very important. And it’s so exciting to see how people are consumed with this. They really love our country club.” According to a 2019 article from Business Insider , country club memberships dropped 20% from 1990 to 2014. The number of clubs are also diminishing, as there were over 5,000 member-owned full-service golf and country clubs in the U.S., according to the article. By 2017, that number had fallen to about 3,900. MCC used to be a strictly private country club, but over time has morphed into a quasi-private, quasi-public course, with a restaurant, Lyon Lake Grill, that is open to the public. Feef Dillon, a member of the centennial celebration committee, said offering a warm environment has been one of the main keys to making the country club a successful operation. “I think we have to have a welcoming environment that welcomes all walks of life,” said Dillon. “Female, low and high income, we have to make it affordable for people to want to be here and make it worth their while and offer activities that are appealing to people. Long gone are the days where you could write off your country club membership. It used to be that companies would foot the bill. That’s no longer the case. Now we have to find ways (to gain members) and the relationships make it happen.” Tom Duffey, an MCC Board member and past club president, added it’s not only the friendships that are created, but the community environment that has made the country club a special place for him and many others. “This is a great place for family activities,” Duffey said. “We have both Marshall golf teams here, Homer golf teams, Albion College, Olivet College. I brought my kids out to play and now I’m bringing my grandkids out to play. It’s just a friendly, nice place to bring kids. You’ll see a bunch of kids out here hitting balls. It’s just a nice place to come out to.” The COVID-19 pandemic brought tough times to many businesses across the country, and MCC was no exception. House Manager Sarah Coco has been at MCC for four years and said while there have been some difficult times to get through, she did not ever want to leave because of her passion for the country club and seeing how much it matters to so many people she interacts with. “This is my first time working at a country club and it is different than any other restaurant, bar or hospitality place that I’ve ever worked at,” said Coco. “It was pretty challenging during COVID in that situation to get creative with how to be open, how to serve the members. It was a struggle, a huge struggle. You kind of step back and think ‘why am I doing this? You could go anywhere right now and get a job.’ But for me, I can’t do that because this place just means so much to so many people that it becomes special to you.” Vicki Knickerbocker, another member of the centennial celebration committee and MCC member said the country club is special to her in many ways, from building friendships to simply giving her and her husband a hobby. “I think it’s very important for both myself and my husband because it gives us something to do,” Knickerbocker said. “We could be working in our yard or doing something (else), but we’re outside and it’s beautiful out here. My husband is out here (frequently). I’m here maybe a couple days a week, but if it wasn't here where (would we be)?” To date, MCC has held monthly celebrations to honor its centennial year. On Aug. 13, two golf tournaments and a dinner will be held at the country club. The first tournament of the day is for current and past members only and will begin at 8:30 a.m., while the second tournament—a four-person scramble, is open to anyone and is set for an approximate 1:30 p.m. start time. Both tournaments have limited spots available. The centennial dinner is open to the public and tickets are currently on sale. Anyone interested in purchasing tickets can contact MCC. There will also be a raffle drawing that event organizers hope will be held that night, where ticket holders will have a chance to win a variety of prizes, with the top prize being a free membership to the country club. MCC will conclude its celebrations on Oct. 1 with “100 years of fun” and standup comedian Dave Dyer, an event that will also be open to the public. “We want people to know that we are celebrating, why we are celebrating and that we invite them to come and celebrate with us,” Card said.
Jerry Sacharski was a recreation league director in Albion who pioneered T-ball as an organized youth sport in 1956 because he couldn’t stand to turn away young children with the desire to play baseball. Sacharski passed away in February of 2009, but his memory has lived on, which was apparent on June 25 when well over 100 community members came together at Tee-Ball Garden in Albion, where a new T-ball statue and historic plaque was unveiled under the leadership of the Restore Our Coke Sign: Bring Art and History Downtown campaign team. Many of Sacharski’s former players and their families were present to celebrate the event, along with members of the Sacharski family, including Jerry’s three sons—David, Michael and William. Following the ceremony, current T-ball players played a short game in Victory Park near Hannah Street, which was followed by an “Old-Timers” game. John Sims, one of Sacharski’s former players who spoke at the ceremony, expressed appreciation for his former coach and the impact he left on him and many others who played for him growing up. “I go down to that field and I can see him (Sacharski),” Sims said. “I think everyone who played “pee-wee” ball with him remembers him. We have very few people in our lives as young people who make a mark like that. I’m 70 years old and I still remember that guy with very great kindness. He was good to us.” Sims also cited a 1960 T-ball exhibition game, when Sacharski took him and other pee wee players to Michigan State University to put the sport on display in front of a TV audience as the game was videotaped by a local television station. In 2000, the video was accepted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, N.Y. Sacharski was also a teacher with Albion Public Schools for nearly three decades. His son David said his father was great at teaching the fundamentals of the game and brought his teaching qualities to the baseball field. “My dad wanted the kids to learn the fundamentals of baseball while playing T-ball, which was sometimes called pee wee ball,” said David. “Notice the word ‘fun’ in fundamentals. He wanted the kids to have fun and at the same time, learn basic skills. Being a teacher, he made T-ball a classroom activity on grass.” William, another of the three Sacharski sons, said he was one of the original 60 T-ball players in Albion. He remembers the summer of 1956 when “everything changed” in terms of how the game of baseball was played when he was a young boy. “The whole game that we played changed,” said William. “As a 7-year-old kid, we actually got to go up to bat and we actually got to hit the ball (instead of getting walked or striking out). You could take a stance and that ball was sitting there on the tee and you could just kind of drive through it. There were no free passes, there were no strikeouts. Every play, something happened. Just like Dave said, after a while, your fundamentals and your skills (improve) because you’re not standing around.” Michael is the oldest of the Sacharski boys and said he was an umpire during the first T-ball game in June of 1956. He thanked everyone who showed up to the event and commended all who helped his father make the sport successful. He told a story about his father after Jerry retired from school teaching when he was in Hawaii that embodied the type of person and coach Jerry was. “I think the second spring he was there, he ambled up to the park that was near our home, because they were staying in our home,” Michael said. “And he ambled up in the park, and in Hawaii they have springtime youth baseball. He was sitting around on a picnic table watching how teams were practicing on the various fields and he did that a few times. Finally, one of the coaches of one of the teams—the players would have been T-ball players here, but they had (the pitcher) throw the ball, they don’t hit it off the tee—the coach said ‘I’ve seen you here, do you know anything about baseball? Would you like to help coach?’ And he said ‘yes, I will do that.’ The name of the team was the Padres, and they were already 0-3 and by the end of the season, they were I think about 12-3 and took the championship. He never told anybody who he was or where he came from. And to this day, the coaches, the players, the parents—have no idea who this guy was.” Janet Domingo and Linda Kolmodin lead the Coca-Cola team and led the effort for the new plaque and statue at the Tee-Ball Garden. The garden is a cooperative venture with the Calhoun County Land Bank and Albion Community Foundation. Money was raised for these art installations and additional landscape improvements through a matching Patronicity campaign through the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, according to a press release that ran in the ad-visor in the June 25 edition. Donated funds were held by an Albion Community Foundation. Other completed projects included the iconic Coca-Cola sign restoration and the new Malleable Mural celebrating Albion’s long foundry history. “This is the completion of our three (main) projects,” said Domingo. “Many years ago, when I was working at the hospital, I made a video about Albion. I named it, ‘Small Town, Big Heart.’ Well, the town’s a bit smaller (now), but it hasn’t changed. As a result of a very successful campaign, we were able to continue with our goal to bring art and history downtown. We’re not quite done yet. We have a couple other small projects in the works. Thanks again to everyone and to everyone who supported us.”
