Eaton Rapids
ERMC, focused on protection, urges community to take COVID-19 seriously
By Carla Bumstead Editor Eaton Rapids Medical Center (ERMC) made the decision to approach the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak with directness, honesty and transparency. “Our Incident Command Team (ICT) went into action weeks ago,” said ERMC spokesperson Lindsay...
ERMC’s Tim Johnson offers important COVID-19 info — two cases confirmed Saturday
March 28, 2020 As your community hospital, it is important that we share with you what we are doing to respond to the rapidly evolving COVID-19 situation here in Eaton Rapids. To date, we have had two confirmed positive COVID-19 cases at Eaton Rapids Medical Center...
Area makers producing hundreds of face masks
By Carla Bumstead Editor Over the past two weeks, sewists from around the area have been putting their sewing machines into overdrive to help supplement the need for face masks by area health care workers and the many “essential workers” who need to be out in public...
Economic fallout from COVID-19 forces newspapers to move online only
By Carla Bumstead Editor — Cindy Gaedert-Gearhart, owner and publisher of The County Journal and Flashes Advertising and News announced this morning that the weekly editions of both newspapers will temporarily move to online-only publication until the current COVID-19...
Abie’s owner learns to expect the unexpected
Deb Malewski Contributing Writer — A year ago, Natalie Steward snipped the grand-opening ribbon outside of Abie’s Bar and marked the changing ownership of the landmark business from Fred Wager to herself. Steward was familiar with her new responsibilities, having...
Summit: Project-based learning at ERPS
By Deb Malewski Contributing Writer — Summit, a project-based learning method, is in its second year at Eaton Rapids’ Greyhound Intermediate School (GIS). Summit is geared towards helping students connect the skills they are learning in class with what they want to...
Greyhounds’ Blake Blanchard scores
By Carla Bumstead Editor — Blake Blanchard is one of the biggest Greyhound fans around. But during senior night on March 5, it was his turn to bask in the glory of hearing hundreds of fans cheering for him. Blake is a special education student in an Eaton RESA program...
Smith-Kitsmiller Insurance committed to community
By Deb Malewski Contributing Writer — The insurance business has a long history in downtown Eaton Rapids, starting in 1958 with Walter Bearman. In 1990, Bearman sold his business to the Terry and Cindy Smith family, and it became the Smith-Bearman Agency. In...
Local businesses step forward to help feed students
By Deb Malewski Contributing Writer Food for area students is available in front of Laura DeLong Realty in downtown Eaton Rapids. It is there to help families with children that usually eat breakfast and lunch at school and are now out of school for at least several...
Self-quarantined ERPS teacher asymptomatic for COVID-19 as of March 12
UPDATE as of 1 p.m., Friday, March 13: Late on the evening of Thursday, March 12, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced that all K-12 school buildings were to close from Monday, March 16 to Sunday, April 5 in order to slow the spread of COVID-19. In a letter to...