Hannah’s Legacy
Dear Editor,
The Hannah’s Legacy Foundation would like to thank everyone that attended and/or contributed to our 3rd annual golf outing that took place on August 3rd at the Davison Country Club.
The generosity of the sponsors, golfers and the community raised over $15,000. We also would like to mention the volunteers that helped out with registration and at the prize holes.
The money raised will fund scholarships for deserving Goodrich students.
Our goal is to carry on all the good Hannah did in her life and through the foundation, we will!!
We hope to see all of you again next year! Thank you VERY MUCH!
Jeff Dawley
Appleton memorial
Dear Editor,
This is a follow up to my last letter, published in July, regarding our charity gold outing. The Brandon Firefighters Foundation and the Ortonville Lions Club worked together to raise money for our individual causes. The Brandon Firefighters Annual Golf outing was combined with the 28th annual Larry Appleton Memorial Golf outing at the Goodrich Country Club on August 22, 2020; the event was a huge success.
I would like to take this opportunity to send my heartfelt gratitude to all that were involved, ‘You know who you are!’ This includes the Brandon Firefighters, the Ortonville Lions, the many volunteers, the staff at the Goodrich Country Club, and all of our generous sponsors and golfers. This effort allows the Brandon Firefighters to continue sponsoring juvenile burn victims at the U of M Burn Camp and allows the ORtonville Lions Club to continue our support of our local community and the many worldwide initiatives of Lions Clubs International as well.
In closing, I would like to add that the Ortonville Lions Club is committed to helping wherever there is a need. If you have any fresh ideas or feel the need to volunteer, we would love to hear from you; your input is important to us!
Sincerely, Lonnie Dew, president
We can do better
Dear Editor,
We need civility, professionalism and respect restored to our Village Council. There is a lack of support and timely attention to our employees, businesses, citizens, Planning Commission and DDA. The in-fighting and 4-3 filibustering for the past two years has resulted in a lack of improvements in our village.
It’s unfortunate that this particular council can no longer work together as a team. I do not know the answers to why this has happened nor do I want to sound unthankful for those that have served the community. I know from having served on Village Council for several years that being a public servant is difficult and thankless at times. I do appreciate all the residents that have served or volunteered their services.
However, when I look back at my time spent on council I can honestly say I learned a lot, found it very interesting and truly enjoyed my time. We worked as a team amongst council, village employees, Planning Commission and DDA. No doubt, we had faults, but we also had many accomplishments.
If we want to see changes with our community, then we need to change the profile of our council. That truly is the only answer. The businesses need support now more than ever, residents need to be heard and council members need to get along in order to make any progress.
WE CAN DO BETTER.
Melanie Nivelt, candidate for village trustee, planning commissioner and past council member.

Seek the truth
Dear Editor,
Our village residents cannot afford tax increases. There are village council trustees on council protecting your tax dollars. These trustees are all up for re-election this year. Budget decisions are not always easy. It’s easy for someone to say they want something if they’re not thinking about what is needed. Council made a decision to finally fix the flooding at Crossman Park. This project will eliminate the flooding and protect our adjacent residence homes, picnic goers and fit with business owners plan for their new septic system.
Another very important project is the Mill Street resurfacing project; This project starts just East of N. Church Street at the base of Mill Street hill and ends where blacktop meets gravel. This project will fix the water runoff problems causing Mill Street to erode prematurely and will eliminate the growing safety concern of water pooling at the base of the hill.
We are a small community with a small budget. Yes, we moved sidewalk money to roads and drains budgets to get these projects done. Sidewalk concrete has nearly doubled since the start of this project, Tax dollars have been spent for engineering work for sidewalks so when the need-based projects are completed, we can focus on sidewalk repairs and installations again. I know our residents are very smart, they want their tax dollars protected. They do not solely make judgement from reading Viewpoints, Facebook postings or even harsh hearsay words. They seek the truth and the rest of the story. This year is a big year for elections, from our country to small villages. Please continue to seek out the truth behind the words you read or hear.
Voting is your right as an American citizen, get out and vote. Regards Dan Eschmann
(In response to, Fraud, larceny alert in Brandon Township, The Citizen, Sept. 5, page 2)
Census workers
Dear Editor,
We are here, and will be until at least the end of September, this is not a scam. If you failed to complete your census, someone will be knocking on your door, NOT peeking in your windows. Political and health crises aside, getting people to respond was already difficult and reading that it is a scam is not going to make the job any safer or easier. Remember, the census is meant to bring money into our community for schools, roads, hospitals and more. It also determines our representation in Congress and only takes a few minutes of your time.
To those of you who have completed your census, who have answered your doors and our questions, THANK YOU.
Kimberly Kay, a Census NRFU Enumerator

Ron Sutton
Dear Editor,
When my father, Ron Sutton, approached me and asked me if I thought he was crazy to run for the Ortonville Village Council this year, my first reaction was “Why do you want to put yourself through that aggravation?”
But, after I thought about it some, I decided that if he felt he needed to run, why not? Time for some good old common sense on what direction the community should go. There is nobody in the town that loves Ortonville more than he does.
Born and raised here, he has seen the good and the bed. But just loving this town isn’t enough to run for council or ask for your vote. He has a history of stepping up when Ortonville needed it. He served seven years on the Brandon Board of Education. During that period there were some very tough financial times for the school district after a millage proposal had been defeated. As President of the Board when he gave the graduation remarks, he stated that year that, unless the millage passed, it would be the last graduating class from Brandon Schools. Many in attendance felt that remark was not appropriate during the ceremony, but it was the truth and he always speaks the truth, even when it’s not popular.
Our home phone rang off the hook for days and some of the calls were not very nice. But the second millage vote passed and a new high school was built, which later became Brandon Fletcher. Again, he faced criticism that the school was being built on swamp land and it was going to sink, but as you know, it’s still standing.
He was part of the Fire Department when it was all volunteer and served as the Captain, Assistant Chief and Co-Chief and later as the department grew, he was a trustee on the Brandon Township Fire Board for two terms.
He has also been on the Village Council before, serving as trustee and President Pro Tem. During his time on the council he chaired the Streets committee and the council oversaw the project of extending Church Street to where it now comes out to Mill Street. All of a sudden, Ortonville had a North and South Church Street.
He’s been on the Brandon Township Board, Brandon Township Board of Review, and the Brandon Township Elections Board. He also chaired the committee that organized and built the Brandon Girls Varsity Softball field at the present-day high school.
As an avid walker, he also was on the Blackhawk trail committee and he just chaired the committee of the Ortonville Historical Society that built the blacksmith shop. So there’s what he has accomplished, but what is more important now is what he will do.
He is around the village seven days a week, walking and talking. But mostly, he is listening to you, the village residents. What are your wishes? Where do you see problems that need attention? He wants to represent tax-payers. He wants to protect and yet grow the village. A healthy downtown business district will not only enhance our village but increase the values of our homes. Yes, it’s time for some good old common sense that only someone that’s been around 91 years can have. And Ronald Sutton would have my vote, even if he wasn’t my dad.
Luann Sutton Mann