Plainwell News

Memorial Day Parades followed by graveside ceremonies are planned in many West Michigan Communities this morning.In two communities...Bangor at 8:30 and Otsego at 9, they plan to begin with ceremonies in local cemeteries followed by parades.

Here are the most-read Kalamazoo news stories posted this week on mlive.com: 1. Alexandra Burgett, WMU senior killed in crash, remembered for caring heart, independent spirit 2. Classmates learn of Plainwell senior's death as they assemble for annual awards 3. Prostitution sting in Kalamazoo nets 3 arrests 4. New Kalamazoo Farmers' Market rules ... (more)

Garrett McCormick, 12, left, Craig, his father, and Karen, his mother, stand together as the crowd observes a moment of silence for Patrick McCormick.

Plainwell High School graduating seniors Megan Schreider, left, and Abby Meert get a bandanna ribbon to pin on their graduation gown to memorialize classmate Patrick McCormick, who died Tuesday.

High school graduation season is getting under way in earnest. Students at Hackett Catholic Central graduated Sunday; Portage Central and Plainwell are holding their ceremonies tonight, and then Mattawan and Portage Northern seniors get their diplomas Friday.

Here are crime reports for May 23, 2012, as provided by the Portage Department of Public Safety .

Otsego was able to hold off Vicksburg to claim the 2012 league championship. The Bulldogs, who finished second in the conference tournament, edged Vicksburg 26-25 to take the title.

Bridge construction putting up a roadblock for a couple of Memorial Day parades, but for more than two dozen other communities parades and ceremonies are lined up for Monday.

Plainwell student remembered: Patrick McCormick, a Plainwell High School graduating senior who died in a motorcycle crash Tuesday , is remembered as a quiet, hard-working student with mechanical problem-solving skills.

Agencies across the state are working to make everyone's Memorial Day weekend travel as stress-free as possible, but Mother Nature might not be as cooperative.

Patrick McCormick was a quiet, hard-working student with a flair for mechanical problem-solving and for playing his mother's acoustic guitar, his mother, Karen Bump McCormick, said Wednesday.

Plainwell High School seniors were lining up for their pre-graduation awards ceremony Tuesday night when word came that one of their classmates, Patrick McCormick, 17, had been killed in a motorcycle crash earlier in the evening.

A 17-year-old boy identified on Facebook pages and at a school gathering Tuesday night as a student at Plainwell High School was killed Tuesday when the 2008 Kawasaki Vulcan motorcycle he was riding northbound on Norris Road left the roadway.

A The Dowagiac track team finished fifth at the Wolverine Conference Track & Field Championships in both boys and girls Tuesday.

Arlene's Island Cafe, which sits on Main Street in the heart of Plainwell's downtown, has been reduced to a garage sale since road construction began nearby.

The event will feature original visual and performing art pieces displayed inside and outside the city's businesses and public places from July 6 through August 17.

The M-89 bridge in Plainwell closed today and will remain closed until completion of an $11 million project that will rebuild a 2-mile stretch of M-89 The eastbound M-89 detour will be south on Church Street to west on Bridge Street.

Karelyn Colyer never thought she'd see her son Dustan graduate from high school .

The M-89 bridge in Plainwell will be closed beginning Monday for a reconstruction project.

A group of anonymous donors has given the Borgess Foundation $2 million, Borgess announced May 17.