The bipartisan Michigan Association of County Clerks is calling for an end to conspiracy theories regarding the 2020 presidential election. The organization is
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Sturgis Journal
Seedling sale orders due April 15
Officials from the St. Joseph County Conservation District said the period to make an order through its annual spring seedling tree sale ends next week.
Carolyn Grace, director of the agency, said orders will be taken through April 15.
Pick-up date for fruit trees is April 23. All others will become available in May.
Grace said there will be a drive-through pick-up format at the county fairgrounds. The pick-up event coincides with”Yards, Barns and Brews,” 2-8 p.m. May 7 and 8 a.m.-3 p.m. May 8.
The annual sale features conifers, conifer and deciduous trees, shrubs and fruit trees.
Special the Journal
Constantine Village Council on April 5 discussed how to protect the village in a lawsuit filed by The Dude Abides, a medical/recreational marijuana provisioning center.
Village manager Mark Honeysett said the provisioning center seeks a preliminary injunction to effectively cancel a May 4 referendum election.
The referendum prohibits recreational marijuana sales in the village.
Named in the lawsuit are St. Joseph county clerk Lindsay Oswald, township clerk Ed Strobel and village clerk Cindy LaFluer.
The lawsuit does not seek any penalty or monetary compensation.
Honeysett said neither LaFluer nor the village should be named in a lawsuit, as they played no part in the referendum or election process.
By Jef Rietsma
Journal Correspondent
Concealed pistol license applications to the county clerk’s office were at an eight-year high in 2020.
St. Joseph County clerk Lindsay Oswald shared various statistics with commissioners Wednesday during their executive committee meeting, as she presented her annual report, for the period covering 2019 and 2020.
The number of CPL applications stands out. In 2020, Oswald’s office fielded nearly 1,500 applications. The previous high within an eight-year period shown in her graphic was in 2016, when nearly 1,200 applications were filed.
Oswald said she wouldn’t be surprised if the 2020 figure marked an all-time high for St. Joseph County.
“There seems to be a trend, every presidential-election year we have an uptick,” she said, adding that the state in 2020 also made it easier to renew licenses online. “We still process them, even though they didn’t come into the office to start the process, we still do all the paperwork for it. S