By Staff
It was another positive week in the City of Niles.
Cheers to those children and adults who braved the thunderstorms last Friday evening and braved their way to the Niles District Library and Majerek's to celebrate the release of the sixth Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. There were many happy muggle children who, likely spent much of Saturday catching up on the adventures of Harry, Ron, Hermonie and the rest of the Hogwarts gang.
Last week the business community of Niles grew larger yet with the grand opening celebrations of Joyce's Scrubs and Gifts in downtown Niles and Progressive Land Title on South 11th Street. The Progressive Land Title celebration had something extra to offer with the appearance of NASCAR Busch Series driver and South Bend, Ind. native David Stremme.
Congratulations to the Selge and Rifenberg softball teams as they captured the championship titles for their age brackets in the Niles-Brandywine Girls Softball Association league.
Congratulations are also in order for the Howard Township nine year old all-star team who wo the championship at a tournament at home in Niles and the seven-year-old all-star team who won the championship at a tournament in Hartford.
Give a round of applause to the 13-year-old Babe Ruth All-Star team for capturing the state championship for their age division last weekend in Grosse Pointe.
Also congratulations to the Howard Township 10-year-old All-Stars who won their own tournament and got second at Hartford.
A big round of praise should go out to those in Buchanan who are organizing an emergency blood drive for 11-year-old Buchanan native, Kyle Zelmer, who is the son of David and Amy Zelmer.
Kyle contracted a viral heart infection and is in need of blood transfusions to make him well. The blood drive is taking place Wednesday, July 27, from noon to 6 p.m. at the American Legion in Buchanan.
Also many thanks go out to Niles Township Police Officer Dan Nelson, who saved William Klasner from choking last weekend.
Thank you to Michigan State Police Trooper Rob Herbstreith and others for giving local high school students the chance to see what it's like to be a real crime scene investigator, through a junior detective program.
Thank you to the Niles High School, Class of 1953, for donating a swing bench to be installed at the Riverfront Park.
We wish the best of luck to Niles resident, Carl (C.J.) Hawkins, and the rest of his Western Michigan University Sun Seeker team as they compete in a solar car race, in the United States and Canada.
Thanks to the Niles City Council for adopting a resolution to send a nomination of three wishes, which would benefit the community to casting directors for the new NBC show, to help get Niles on the show.
Thanks to all those who let us feature their beautiful gardens in the recently published Homescapes special section.
And finally Michigan lawmakers and Governor Jennifer Granholm deserve a round of praise as they have passed and signed a piece of legislation making it even more difficult for people in Michigan to purchase over the counter drugs to manufacture methamphetamine.