Vicksburg News

Depicting President Barack Obama with a Pinocchio nose and the features of a vampire, Rusty Keller had one of the more dramatic signs at the Southwest Michigan Tea Party Patriots gathering at Bronson Park Saturday evening.

The event features four world-class corps, representing the Drum Corps International World, and four Open Class corps, including Legends from Portage Central High School.

BALLOONS TAKE FLIGHT: The Battle Creek Field of Flight Air Show and Balloon Festival takes off Wednesday and continues through Sunday at the W.K. Kellogg Regional Airport in Battle Creek.

Here are the births, deaths and marriages for Tuesday, June 30: Births BRONSON METHODIST HOSPITAL Jamie Bigby, of Kalamazoo, a son.

Anna Polasek, a 2004 Vicksburg High School graduate, has been awarded a prestigious 2009 Knowles Science Teaching Fellowship.

$10. 649-5807, www.southcountyplayers.com. ``Bad Henry'' -- Full-length play by award-winning playwright and WMU graduate student Kristopher Frithjof Peterson, part of WMU's New Play Project, 9 p.m. June 23, York Arena Theatre, Gilmore Theatre Complex, WMU.

Hands that were always ready to help and were particularly skilled at fixing things are how Minnie Burkett thinks of her 20-year-old ``fun-loving'' son, Ben.

A Mendon man injured along with three other people in a crash of two pickup trucks this morning in southern Kalamazoo County has died.

An 18-year-old Schoolcraft man remained hospitalized in fair condition Monday following a single-car crash Sunday that injured four.

Server Randi Jones hands Doug Sheldon of Kalamazoo his order as Shay Evans, 14, of Kalamazoo, Brooke Keller, 15 of Vicksburg and Sheldon's son Ryan, 2, watch during lunch at the Country Maid Bakery/El Dorado Cafe on Portage Road.

If you are living in the dark in Southwest Michigan, you can expect to have the lights back on by Saturday night at the very latest.

Historical program in Kalamazoo The Kalamazoo YWCA, 353 E. Michigan Ave., is hosting "When Freedom Came." The event features the dramatized documentary "Reconstruction: The Second Civil War," which portrays some of the first recorded experiences of newly freed slaves and the upheavals of this time of transition in the nation.

Here are the vital statistics for June 15, 2009. Births BRONSON METHODIST HOSPITAL Kelly and Wiliam Brown, of Kalamazoo, a daughter.

Historical program in Vicksburg A talk about the history of Bronson Vicksburg Hospital and the former Franklin Memorial Hospital is being presented at the hospital, 13326 N. Boulevard Ave.

A tractor pulling a 3,000-gallon tank of liquid manure overturned Wednesday east of Vicksburg, spilling some its load, authorities said.

Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land today announced that the Mobile Branch Office will be in Plainwell and at the Vicksburg Old Car Festival to serve customers on June 12, 13, 17 and 18.

There were the survivors such as Ann Feldmeier, of Vicksburg, and there were many women still fighting -- Susan Artis, of Otsego.

Auction in Lawrence The Lawrence Garden Club is holding its annual plant auction at the Van Buren Conference Center, 490 S. Paw Paw St., Lawrence.

Dustin Young, a member of Boy Scout Troop 253, recently attained the rank of Eagle Scout.

Center Stage Theatre -- ``Beauty and the Beast,'' 3 p.m. May 3 for youths age 12 and younger, all others at 6:30 p.m. May 3 or 7 p.m. May 4, Comstock Northeast Middle School, 1423 N. 28th St.