First news stories in Advance News on MLive.com

by Zinta Aistars
Published in Advance Newspapers (online at MLive.com)
October 6, 2012

 New security measures keeping Byron Center students safe

Tom Trout, principal at Nickels Intermediate School

When parents send their children to school, they expect their children to get an education. They also expect their children to be safe.

“When fifth- and sixth-graders come to school, they are thinking about their friends, their classes, not about security,” said Tom Trout, principal at Nickels Intermediate School in Byron Center. “But they know it’s there.”

New security vestibules, installed in August at Byron Center High School, Countryside Elementary, West Middle, and Nickels Intermediate schools, are keeping those who belong in school inside, and those who don’t belong in school, outside. New procedures were also put in place at the beginning of the year.

“We’ve gotten positive feedback from parents,” Trout said. “People understand security in schools is a sign of the times, a necessary part of protecting our kids.”

Funded by a millage levy extension approved by voters in November 2011, $435,800 was slated for safety and security upgrades in schools. For most of the public schools in Byron Center, that meant....

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Byron-Gaines Utility Authority crew leader wins national honor

Barry Korhorn

Few of us think about water. We turn on the faucet, and there it is. Barry Korhorn, however, thinks about water every day, and his job is to make sure that when residents of Byron and Gaines Townships turn on their faucets, there won’t be any surprises.

Korhorn has been employed with the Byron-Gaines Utility Authority at 1381 84th St. SE since 1999. He started as a meter reader but quickly climbed the ranks to operator-in-charge and crew leader. Recently, Korhorn was awarded the Meritorious Service Award by the American Water Works Association. (AWWA). The AWWA is an international nonprofit educational association, founded in 1881, dedicated to safe water.

“Barry has been a dedicated team player to this industry and an example for many of us to follow,” says Dan Van Dyke, Byron-Gaines Utility Authority manager, who nominated Korhorn for the national award. “This award is in recognition of...

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