Athens News

You can't sell yourself out of a hole. That's the dictum Randy Davis has asserted at least the last six years he's led Athens Area Schools.

Here's our staff's picks for you best bet for fun this week Fourth of July celebration WHEN: 10 a.m. Saturday.

Firefighters and public safety officers will hold a Bucket Brigade fundraiser today to raise money for Calhoun County Fire Prevention Week.

Athens Area Schools has balanced its 2009-10 budget with two librarian layoffs. The Board of Education voted 6-to-0, with Secretary Dan Loew absent, to lay off the paraprofessional who runs the libraries-multimedia centers at the middle school and high school and one who runs the same at East Leroy Elementary.

It is spiritual, but not religious. It is traditional, but not exclusive. Full of symbolism and honor, it is sometimes somber, but mostly fun.

A Semi-pro football team out of Battle Creek held a cancer awareness game tonight .

Already $400,000 slimmer for 2009-10 than it was for 2008-09, Athens Area Schools still has to find $153,000 to pass a balanced budget by June 30.

WHAT: Athens Battle of the Bands for Homecoming Festival WHEN: 3 p.m. June 27 WHERE: Memorial Park, on the corner of Capital Avenue and Burr Oak Street, Athens COST: Free INFO: Young bands of any genre compete for a chance to perform in the 9 p.m. slot July 25 during the village's Homecoming Festival and $200 for performing.

Three Athens High School students have been chosen to attend the YMCA Conference on National Affairs.

FireKeepers Casino has announced it will open in early August. Leaders at the 107,000-square-foot, 2,680-slot-machine facility have long said it will open in summer 2009; this announcement is the most firm timeline for its opening so far.

June 19, 2009, has been set as the date of the first Farmers' Market in Athens. The Market will run every Friday afternoon until October 30 from 2 P.M. to 6 P.M. in Wilson Park, by the river in Athens.

FireKeepers Casino has announced that it will open in early August. Leaders at the 107,000-square-foot, 2,680-slot-machine facility have long said it will open in summer 2009; this announcement is the firmest timeline for opening to date.

In one of his last meetings as superintendent, Randy Davis recommended Athens schools lay off two elementary teachers to help fill a $280,000 budget hole.

James Pamel, a metro Detroit business leader and community philanthropist, proved that hard work and determination are key elements in the realization of the American dream.

An autopsy is scheduled today on the body of a man shot and killed Sunday by a Calhoun County Sheriff deputy.

Five board of education candidates said Athens Area Schools' dwindling finances is the district's top challenge.

Talk of who can inspect plumbing for environmental and health hazards clogged up the Village Council meeting here Tuesday.

Athens Township has signed an agreement with the local Potawatomi for fire and medical protection at Pine Creek Reservation.

Jenae Bosher, then 9 , keeps her wits about her, puts on a couple good moves and leads the thundering herd down the hill at Begg Park during the big Easter Egg Hunt in 2007.

Local school officials could see a big chunk of federal stimulus money hit district accounts by the end of the month.