By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
CASSOPOLIS -- Cass County's $1.2 million E-911 Central Dispatch Facility dedicated Monday afternoon has already inspired its first gospel song.
Former commissioners Wendy Elsey and Richard J. Accoe also attended the dedication.
The facility will also be the home for Emergency Management-Homeland Security Coordinator Bernadette Williamson and Sgt. Doug Westrick, who will direct the E-911 Central Dispatch Facility for the Sheriff's Office.
Behnke, who headed up 911 for the Sheriff's Office before becoming undersheriff, also introduced retired predecessor Ron Cruzan.
From the Legislature came state Sen. Ron Jelinek, R-Three Oaks, and state Rep. Rick Shaffer, R-Three Rivers.
The Dispatch Authority board started in 1987 with the mission of bringing central dispatch 911 operation to Cass County, which took five years. "In June of 1992, we took our first call," Behnke said.
LandMark Design Group of Grand Rapids designed the 8,000-square-foot project, which was built and managed by Miller-Davis Co. of Kalamazoo.
Laing, a close friend of U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, who was scheduled to speak before being dispatched to lead a five-day fact-finding mission to Iraq, joked that he sent the congressman after beating him at euchre.
On a more serious note, Board of Commissioners Chairman Johnie Rodebush of Niles said, "I know Fred would like to be here today. We should all keep him and the representatives traveling with him in our prayers because, as you know, all of our military men and women and our congressman -- every American who goes to Iraq and many of the other foreign countries -- are in grave danger. I thank everybody who had a part in this. I want to personally thank Carl Higley and Jim Guse for one or the other of them attending every one of the Building Authority meetings. Taxpayers of Cass County can look around at the building projects going on and be very proud of what we are doing. Let's stick together and make it work."
Laing noted that not only was the E-911 Central Dispatch Facility financed with a loan from USDA Rural Development without increasing taxes, but it's coming in "a couple of hundred thousand dollars under budget."
Gore said, "This has been a fun project and we did it in parallel with the Law and Courts Building," dedicated in July. "It was quite a challenge for the Building Authority. I thank you and my colleagues thank you for an opportunity to provide service at this time. We've got another leg yet to go. That involves refitting the historic (1899) courthouse for another 50 years or so of service to Cass County. Hang on. Stay tuned. We'll try to be imaginative about the financing. I know we'll be realistic about what's required and we will do it. Things take longer than you think. Bruce (Laing) and I were members of the Building Authority when we opened the new jail in May 1990. We knew very well that we hadn't begun to give enough space to radio communications, and it's taken us this long" to remedy. "Please stick with us for this next phase. I think you're going to find it interesting."
Sherwin became USDA Rural Development state director on April 24, 2003. Originally from Davison, he was appointed by the Bush administration to a mission area that provided more than $322 million in grant and loan assistance to rural Michigan in fiscal year 2002.
Prior to his appointment, Sherwin had retired from the state Department of Agriculture as the agency's director of agriculture policies. He pursued his strong interest in value-added farming by serving on a national governors' ethanol coalition and a member of the corn growers' ethanol advisory committee.
Sherwin previously served with the USDA during the Nixon and Ford administrations, including chief legislative liaison to former secretary Earl Butz. He spent more over a decade working with the American Farm Bureau Federation and Michigan Farm Bureau. At one time he operated a dairy, laying hen, cattle and general field crop farm in Genesee County.
Sherwin earned his bachelor's degree in animal husbandry from Michigan State University.
Sherwin said, "The Lord's given us a beautiful day today. Normally, I bring a check to these kind of events. I'm not sure we can make one big enough for $1,272,000."
Instead, "I've been practicing a million-dollar smile, but it doesn't broaden far enough to make $1,272,000," Sherwin said. "That's a lot of money, but the important thing is it's for a great purpose. The county is to be congratulated for all of these people cooperating together. We're just delighted and thankful to be a partner. One of the missions of Rural Development is to make sure we have opportunity to provide services in the rural areas of Michigan. People don't realize how precarious our economy is in rural Michigan. It's my charge to do everything possible to enhance that and to have fundamental things like water, sewer and 911."
Pinch-hitting for Upton was his deputy chief of staff and district director, John M. Proos of Berrien County. He earned his bachelor's degree from Marquette University and his master's degree from Michigan State University. He joined Upton's staff in 1994 and became deputy chief of staff in 1999.
Proos said Upton "is somewhere over the Atlantic right now on his way to Iraq. I received an e-mail from him, 'This is cool. I'm in the cockpit of Air Force Two.' But certainly it is not going to be fun and games. This is very serious business. The President's request of $87 billion is significant and one that we need to think long and hard about what we do. If we're going to do the job, we must do it right the first time. It's not something you can go back and try to do again. Our military has done a tremendous job. His first and foremost task is not to ask about $87 billion, but to make sure that our troops are taken care of as best as they can possibly be. I hope that you all agree that while this is an excellent opportunity and a great thrill for the citizens of Cass County, this request of the President to understand how we're doing with our troops supersedes that."
Proos said opening a facility such as this calls to mind four words -- awareness, preparation, coordination and cooperation.
Sept. 11 "saw a complete dissolution of our communications ability. Think no further than cell phones. Completely jammed and unable to handle it. Had we not prepared in New York City for Y2K potential problems, we wouldn't have had the redundancy that brought our markets back and communications abilities back within five days," Proos said.