Memorial Day holiday, May 31, city offices closed

Beckwith Park
summer concerts

The 12-week summer concert series in Beckwith Park is about to begin!
Thursday, May 27, is the first concert and it will feature the Dowagiac High School Chamber Choir and its Women’s Chorale.
Sponsored by the Dowagiac Downtown Development Authority (DDA) and co-hosted by the Chamber of Commerce, the summer fine arts series will bring a variety of music genres that span everything from authentic Irish and Celtic to folk, Americana, swing, bluegrass, urban jazz and soul, Tex-Mex Americana, country and southern rock, R&B and funky boogaloo, plus a special two-hour Rock, Rhythm and Blues Revue at festival time in July.
Vickie Phillipson reports that this year we’ve extended each of the performances by another 15 minutes, with music presented from 7:30 to 8:45 p.m.
During Summer in the City, evening performances will get underway at 6:30 pm.

Holiday seat
belt enforcement

The Police Department is joining forces with law enforcement agencies across the state by focusing on unbuckled motorists as part of the national Click It Or Ticket mobilization, May 24-June 6.
Officers will be partnering with area agencies to conduct seat belt enforcement zones within the city.
Safety belt enforcement zones are conducted on roadways where crash problems are prevalent or belt use is low.
Portable “safety belt enforcement zone” signs alert motorists they are entering an enforcement area.
One officer serves as a spotter, radioing unbelted motorist information to other officers, who pull over offending motorists.
In 2009, about 50 percent of the 871 people who died in traffic crashes in Michigan were not wearing seat belts.
“Wearing a seat belt is a motorist’s best defense in a crash, but some people still won’t wear one,” said Officer Stacey Bazan. “That’s why officers from the Dowagiac Police Department will be out enforcing the law. We hope the $65 price tag on a seat belt ticket will convince them to buckle up.”
The Click It or Ticket campaign will be supported by paid radio, television, cable and Web site advertising.
The campaign is funded by federal traffic safety dollars.
Michigan law requires all drivers, front seat passengers and passengers 15 and younger in any position in the vehicle to be buckled up.
Children must be in a car seat or booster seat until they are 8 years old or 4’9″ tall. Children must be in a seat until they reach the age requirement or the height requirement, whichever comes first.
In addition, children younger than age 4 must ride in the back seat if the vehicle has a back seat, or unless all rear seating positions are filled with children younger than age 4.

CSI Academy

The CSI (Crime Scene Investigators) Academy is a week long program running from June 14-18 and on the SMC campus and in Family Court in Cassopolis.
The program is designed to be both educational and entertaining for seventh and eighth grade students.
Students are given an overview of the criminal justice system where they will see first hand how a crime is handled from the time it is reported until it is adjudicated in the court system.
Students learn how to take fingerprints, photos and castings of footprints.
They do interviews and work with attorneys in preparing a case for court.
The week ends when the student will have an opportunity to try a case in Family Court before a real judge and jury.
Sixty young people have applied for the program; unfortunately, there is only room for 30. Students who applied are from the Dowagiac, Cass, Marcellus, Edwardsburg and  Brandywine school districts.
The program is sponsored by the Dowagiac Police Department, Southwestern Michigan College, Educational Talent Search, Cass County Sheriff’s Office, Cass County Family Court, Cass County Prosecutor’s Office, and the Cass County Council on Aging.

Drug team
first quarter

We received the first quarterly report from the Cass County Drug Enforcement Team for 2010.
There were 41 arrests and 91 charges, of which 61 were felonies.
Arrests were made by the following ZIP Codes:
• Cassopolis, seven
• Marcellus, one
• Decatur, none
• Dowagiac, 27
• Edwardsburg, five
• Jones, none
• Niles, none
• Union, none
• Vandalia, one
• Three Rivers, none
– Kevin P. Anderson
City Manager