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ADRIAN — Shirley Constance “Connie” Farver, age 81, of Adrian, died Monday, October 10, 2011, at Lenawee Medical Care Facility. 

Another River Raisin Festival is part of history. The 28th annual event was deemed a success by committee president Joyce Fetzer.  She has gotten a lot of positive feedback on this year’s event.  

Blissfield Village Council chooses Randy Kelley over Jae Guetschow and Gary Sullivan to fill vacant council position during the Jan. 10 regular meeting.

Mike Gunter has defeated incumbent Jae Guetschow to become the President of Blissfield Village Council.

Gunter collected 630 votes to Guetschow's 434.

Village voters re-elected the three incumbent trustees. Mark Burgermeister (778 votes), Art Weeber (699 votes) and A. Ray Jones (594 votes) were elected to four year terms. Challenger Andrea Cueto finished with 544 votes. She indicated she would continue to serve the village on its Parks and Recreation Board.

For county-wide election results, visit the county website by clicking here. For state-wide election results, click here.

This week, we asked the village council candidates questions about Downtown Blissfield, the DDA, Michigan Main Street and the local retail and services economy. Presidential candidates Jae Guetschow and Mike Gunter, and Trustee candidates A. Ray Jones, Mark Burgermeister, Art Weeber and Andrea Cueto all took time from their schedules to answer these questions.

Blissfield Village Council candidates answer questions about the Home Canning development and the village's role in developing property. Running for President are incumbent Jae Guetschow and challenger Mike Gunter, who is the longest continuously serving member of council. There are three trustee seats open and four candidates. Incumbents Mark Burgermeister, A. Ray Jones and Art Weeber are being challenged by Andrea Cueto, who is active in the Main Street Program and a member of the Parks and Rec board.

At the first meeting of the Britton Deerfield Schools Board of Education meeting Supt. Charles Pelham called the meeting to order Monday night, as no officers of the board had been elected at that point.

The special meeting had been convened to form the body that would govern the newly consolidated Britton Deerfield Schools, which had come into existence through the overwhelming consent of voters in the Aug. 3 ballot initiative, whereby the independent Britton-Macon Area Schools and the Deerfield Public Schools were consolidated.

At the beginning of the organizational meeting, the new district did not even have an official name.

Pelham opened the meeting with recognition of the historical significance of the night’s proceedings.

“Welcome to the first meeting of the Britton Deerfield Board of Education,” he said. “This is an historic event and we want to thank everyone who contributed to making it happen, including the members of both boards.”

Blissfield Village President Jae Guetschow will face a challenge from Trustee Mike Gunter in the November election.

Guetschow, who was elected to the position in 2008 after two years away from the office, and Gunter, who has is currently the longest continually serving member of council.

They are running for a two-year term.

Win or lose, Gunter would remain on council, as his current term expires in 2012.

Four people have filed to run for the three open seats on Blissfield Village Council, including incumbents Art Weeber, Mark Burgermeister and A. Ray Jones. Andrea Cueto has also filed to run for one of the four-year seats on council.

Clerk Laura Neuman and Treasurer Margaret "Peggy" Nieman are unopposed.

Mary Gregg and Lauri Reinhardt were the only people to file for the four library board seats up for election. Gregg is currently chair of the library board and Reinhardt is also an incumbent. Rob Holman is the other library board member whose term is expiring. He did not file for re-election.

For more on the village election ballot, see the Aug. 18 edition of The Advance.

The grades are in and Jim Wonacott made the dean’s list. Wonacott, in his 16h year as village administrator, scored high grades in the annual evaluation conducted by members of Blissfield Village Council and tabulated by Blissfield Village President Jae Guetschow.

Using a five-point scale, with one being unsatisfactory and five being outstanding, each council member was asked to grade Wonacott in nine areas, ranging from profession skills to residential relations. When all the votes were tabulated, Wonacott received an average score of 4.6, which puts him a little closer to outstanding (a five rating) than above average (a four rating).

Wonacott’s top rating came in fiscal management, where he scored a 4.8 rating.
“(Wonacott) makes the best possible use of available funds (and he is) conscious of the need to operate the village efficiently and effectively,” wrote one of the council members, in the evaluation.

Saturday at the Blissfield River Raisin Festival opened with small town tradition and closed with a sci-fi light show.

The day began with the annual River Raisin Festival Parade through downtown Blissfield. In all, the 45-minute parade was one of the longest in history, featuring hundreds of entrants. The parade was so long that floats at the beginning of the parade completed the entire parade route and arrived back at the school before many had even begun the parade.

Former Village President Pat Hinde, owner of Frosty Boy, Home Run Pizza, Hinde Accounting and other businesses, was named the first-ever Grand Marshal of the parade. Over the years, Hinde has played a big role in Blissfield’s annual party. He ran the softball tournament and car show for years. Even today, Hinde allows the festival to use his property for the ever-popular beverage tent. Consumption of alcohol in the parks is prohibited.