141 Design Company welcomes Christmas fun at Ho Ho Ho Workshop

Beginning Nov. 7 and going through the month of December, 141 Design Company in Williamston is spreading the Christmas cheer with crafty customers from all over Michigan with the Ho Ho Ho Christmas Workshop. 

The decorative piece, made of wood crafted at the in-building woodshop by co-owner Brian Deimling, interchanges seasonal colors on Santa’s greeting. With the O’s customized to look like his jolly outfit, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and a snowman resembling Frosty. Though this workshop is the first Christmas-themed one of the season, 141 Design Company has been holding other workshops all year, with customers painting designs like clocks, welcome signs and magnetic boards; all made by Deimling in his woodshop. 

141 Design Company’s Ho Ho Ho Christmas Workshop features this wood design crafted by owner and woodworker, Brian Deimling. Photo by Claire Heise.

Williamston City Council hears update on microplastic reduction

Williamston City Council held its bi-monthly meeting on Oct. 14 to discuss management of microplastic pollution in local water, absentee ballots being on the rise in Williamston, and its search to fill the vacant spot on the board. 

When reached the audience participation portion of the agenda, executive director of the Ingham Conservation District, Michelle Beloskur, approached the podium. In the effort to reduce microplastics in the water, Beloskur is working with Smart Management of Microplastic Pollution in the Great Lakes to provide mesh laundry bags to Williamston residents and inform community officials on the effects of microplastic pollution. 

The community is a year into the three-year project and a new prototype of a sensor has just been created. The sensor will exist in the pipes and can detect how much microplastic and what kind is in the water. The goal is to have four sensors stationed in the city by next year, making Williamston one of the main hubs of the study.

What does the passage of Prop 1 mean for small communities?

It’s been five weeks since Michigan votes decided to legalize recreational marijuana, but Williamston City Manager Corey Schmidt said he does not expect a huge change for community residents. “To the extent that is, if it’s occurring in public, there could be some ramifications there,” said Schmidt. “But as of right now, when I talked to our police chiefs and whatnot, we just don’t expect a huge change.”

With the passing of Proposal 1, all communities who are against it still have the opportunity to opt-out of dispensaries within their city limits. Communities had this ability to opt-out when medical marijuana was legalized in Michigan. The Williamston City Council has been debating this issue for months.

A printing press love story continues in Williamston

In the center of downtown Williamston, is a small printing business owned and operated by Wendy Shaft and Don Bixler named Limner Press. Shaft and Bixler both come from printing families – one in Missouri and one in Michigan. For Bixler, it started with his grandfather who started his own publishing house in 1892 and even printed a newspaper called The Center Colorado Dispatch. His father followed in his footsteps and then with Bixler in tow. The two met while working different jobs in Anchorage, Alaska, and Bixler ran into Shaft at her work.

City Council discusses road improvements, fire codes

At the Oct. 8 Williamston City Council meeting, the cost of keeping the city running safely and efficiently was the focus of the evening. The theme of the night was the costs of replacements. The first item on the agenda for approval was a new 2018 Factor 2100i Frontliner chassis for a street-cleaning Vactor truck with the price of $390,981.86. Vactor trucks are used for sewage and excavation but also helps clear out clogs in sewers which can damage homes and back up into basements.

Williamston couple’s charity helps children locally, in Haiti

Tucked into one of Williamston’s neighborhoods, the Monette house greets you with a large chalk drawing on the driveway and a wall of paint tubes in the garage. Barbara and Dean Monette said they have always loved children, whether it be teaching or simply helping the neighbor kids with painting which started with their own children. To channel that love, the couple created The Monette Children’s Enrichment Fund. The fund became an official 501(c)(3) nonprofit about a year ago but the Monette’s have been raising money for about four years. The fund is for promoting Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) programs in local schools as well as in Haiti.

Willamston’s school board gets down to business despite rising election tensions

Despite rising tensions around a re-vote of Williamston school board over a trans-inclusive bathroom rule, the Oct. 1 meeting was business as usual. The board focused on working to get a passenger van, approve the construction of a dividing wall to separate a section of the gym for the wrestling team and review the goals of the board and its respective progress. The decision between whether to vote for new board members or re-vote for the same members over a rule passed by the current school board which attempted to be more inclusive for transgender students in the district. The rule wanted to lay out a rule that would allow students who identify as transgender to use the appropriate school facilities during the school day according to their gender identiry, which has become a divisive topic at previous school board meetings overshadowing other work being done at the meetings.

Building a community with Matt Mulford’s ‘artists of Keller’s upstairs’

Williamston has all the markings of an American small town: historic buildings comprising its downtown section, local family owned restaurants, a bridal shop, a glass blowing studio and the local hardware store. Nestled above the affairs of the main Williamston strip on Grand River is a somewhat unknown plaza that even local Williamston residents may pass by: Keller’s Plaza, home to “Williamston’s hidden gem” as nearly all of the Plaza’s shop owners called their little hideaway. Keller’s Plaza is home to a small candle shop Mud Country Candles, a small party store, a glass engravings shop called the Glass Fox, a dance studio, and Peculiar Perspective’s. Matt Mulford runs Peculiar Perspectives, a studio and art gallery at the top of the landing on the second floor of the plaza, along with Tony Steele. Mulford and Steele’s friendship and passion for art goes back years Mulford says.