Laketown considers options for new beach stairs, including EZ Steps from local inventor
Laketown Township is examining multiple options for replacing a set of stairs leading to Lake Michigan, which were closed and later removed earlier this year.
The municipality's Parks and Recreation Commission, according to meeting minutes from Wednesday, May 21, instructed staff to seek cost estimates for either new wooden stairs or adjustable aluminum stairs called EZ Beach Steps.
EZ Beach Steps are adjustable and adaptable steps made of aluminum and PVC coating. They can be easily moved or adjusted to respond to changes in water levels or erosion along the water.
They were invented by Lisa Spaugh of West Olive, who was inspired after seeing the stairs and deck at her Lake Michigan home destroyed during a storm. In her efforts to regain access to the water, Spaugh wanted something that would last.
More: West Olive woman nets award for erosion-friendly EZ Beach Steps
The steps earned Spaugh the title of 2023 Lakeshore Innovator of the Year from Grand Valley State University's Muskegon Innovation Hub.
The Parks and Recreation Commission also asked staff on Wednesday to install fencing to protect dune grass along the path to the beach, according to a post on the township website.
A set of stairs leading from the parking lot at Laketown Beach to the top of the dune remain. Volunteers from EagleEye Performance Vision of Zeeland recently helped clear those stairs of sand on Community Impact Day, according to the township.
Without the other set of stairs, beach access is still possible, but more difficult. The township recommends taking the stairs up from the parking lot, then following the marked path down the bowl — a steep drop with a flat bottom amid the dune — staying on the trail and off the edges to avoid disturbing the dune and dune grass.
Once at the bottom of the bowl, go over the small hill and to the lake, heeding no trespassing signs. To get back to the parking lot, visitors must walk back up through the bowl. The township advises this is 'a difficult walk' in the soft sand and there is no handrail or other assistance.
The Parks and Recreation Commission is next scheduled to meet Wednesday, June 18.
— Contact reporter Mitchell Boatman at mboatman@hollandsentinel.com.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Laketown Township considers options for replacing removed beach stairs
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Laketown considers options for new beach stairs, including EZ Steps from local inventor
Laketown Township is examining multiple options for replacing a set of stairs leading to Lake Michigan, which were closed and later removed earlier this year. The municipality's Parks and Recreation Commission, according to meeting minutes from Wednesday, May 21, instructed staff to seek cost estimates for either new wooden stairs or adjustable aluminum stairs called EZ Beach Steps. EZ Beach Steps are adjustable and adaptable steps made of aluminum and PVC coating. They can be easily moved or adjusted to respond to changes in water levels or erosion along the water. They were invented by Lisa Spaugh of West Olive, who was inspired after seeing the stairs and deck at her Lake Michigan home destroyed during a storm. In her efforts to regain access to the water, Spaugh wanted something that would last. More: West Olive woman nets award for erosion-friendly EZ Beach Steps The steps earned Spaugh the title of 2023 Lakeshore Innovator of the Year from Grand Valley State University's Muskegon Innovation Hub. The Parks and Recreation Commission also asked staff on Wednesday to install fencing to protect dune grass along the path to the beach, according to a post on the township website. A set of stairs leading from the parking lot at Laketown Beach to the top of the dune remain. Volunteers from EagleEye Performance Vision of Zeeland recently helped clear those stairs of sand on Community Impact Day, according to the township. Without the other set of stairs, beach access is still possible, but more difficult. The township recommends taking the stairs up from the parking lot, then following the marked path down the bowl — a steep drop with a flat bottom amid the dune — staying on the trail and off the edges to avoid disturbing the dune and dune grass. Once at the bottom of the bowl, go over the small hill and to the lake, heeding no trespassing signs. To get back to the parking lot, visitors must walk back up through the bowl. The township advises this is 'a difficult walk' in the soft sand and there is no handrail or other assistance. The Parks and Recreation Commission is next scheduled to meet Wednesday, June 18. — Contact reporter Mitchell Boatman at mboatman@ This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Laketown Township considers options for replacing removed beach stairs
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Yahoo
Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary likely to be renamed Wakan Tipi
St. Paul's Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary could soon sport a name both ancient and new — Wakan Tipi, which means 'dwelling place of the sacred' in the Dakota language. Indian Mounds Regional Park, the only known burial mounds within the urban Twin Cities, may soon be rechristened Wic̣aḣapi, or 'cemetery.' Both name changes have been recommended by the state's tribal historic preservation officers and have won the support of St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter and the city's Parks and Recreation Commission. They'll be taken up by resolution of the St. Paul City Council on Wednesday, the penultimate step before landing on the mayor's desk to become official, though the mayor planned a 3 p.m. press conference Wednesday, shortly in advance of the council vote, to announce the dual re-namings. Located east of downtown, the 27-acre sanctuary is home to spring-fed wetlands, 450 million-year-old limestone and sandstone bluffs and other natural attractions. It's also home to the Wakan Tipi cave — known to generations of Dayton's Bluff residents as Carver's Cave — which holds a special place in Dakota lore as an ancient gathering place for native nations to negotiate peaceful alliances. The sanctuary is also soon to welcome the Wakan Tipi Center, a $14.3 million cultural and environmental center under construction in the area beneath the Kellogg Boulevard/Third Street bridge. The six burial mounds are located at 10 Mounds Boulevard, overlooking the Mississippi River from the blufftop, and hold historical significance to a number of native tribes, from the Upper Sioux Community to the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska. On Wednesday afternoon, the city council is scheduled to discuss the possible renaming of both the mounds and the sanctuary, which takes its name from U.S. Rep. Bruce Vento, a teacher and East Sider who served in Congress from 1977 until his death in 2000. The nature sanctuary was named for him in 2005, when it opened. A reporter's call to Vento's family was not immediately returned Tuesday. The Parks and Rec Commission voted 8-0 in support of the dual re-namings on May 8. The council resolution is sponsored by Council Member Cheniqua Johnson, who represents Dayton's Bluff and a large section of the East Side. The renaming was recommended by the Minnesota Tribal Historic Preservation Officers 'and reflects nearly a decade of community engagement led by St. Paul Parks and Recreation's division of Design and Construction,' said the mayor's office, in a written statement. Carter planned to meet with media Wednesday to announce the renaming alongside Johnson, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, Metropolitan Council member Toni Carter, Parks and Rec Director Andy Rodriguez and Maggie Lorenz, executive director of the nonprofit Waḳaƞ Ṭípi Awanyankapi, which has led the way around planning for the Wakan Tipi Center. Letters: Preventing landlords from screening tenants is a one-sided view of our housing problem Ben Shardlow: The soon-to-close recycling plant and environs are places we should love, or learn to St. Paul: At Highland Bridge, Weidner Homes, Ryan Cos. win concessions St. Paul: Breakaway Music Festival approved for gradual volume increase What's changing with St. Paul's new rent control policy and tenant protections
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Yahoo
Universities in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union thought giving in to government demands would save their independence
Many American universities, widely seen globally as beacons of academic integrity and free speech, are giving in to demands from the Trump administration, which has been targeting academia since it took office. In one of his first acts, President Donald Trump branded diversity, equity and inclusion programs as discriminatory. His administration also launched federal investigations into more than 50 universities, from smaller regional schools such as Grand Valley State University in Michigan and the New England College of Optometry in Massachusetts to elite private universities such as Harvard and Yale. Trump ramped up the pressure by threatening university research funding and targeting specific schools. In one example, the Trump administration revoked US$400 million in grants to Columbia University over its alleged failures to curb antisemitic harassment on campus. The school later agreed to most of Trump's demands, from tightening student protest policies to placing an entire academic department under administrative oversight – though the funding remains frozen. Cornell, Northwestern, Princeton, Brown and the University of Pennsylvania have also recently had grants frozen. Harvard was sent a list of demands in order to keep $9 billion in federal funding. Now, across the United States, many universities are trying to avoid being Trump's next target. Administrators are dismantling DEI initiatives – closing and rebranding offices, eliminating positions, revising training programs and sanitizing diversity statements – while professors are preemptively self-censoring. Not all institutions are complying. Some schools, such as Wesleyan, have refused to abandon their diversity principles. And organizations including the American Association of University Professors have filed lawsuits challenging Trump's executive orders, arguing they violate academic freedom and the First Amendment. But these remain exceptions, as the broader trend leans toward institutional caution and retreat. As a scholar of comparative and international education, I study how academic institutions respond to authoritarian pressure – across political systems, cultural contexts and historical moments. While some universities may believe that compliance with the administration will protect their funding and independence, a few historical parallels suggest otherwise. In the 1975 book 'The Abuse of Learning: The Failure of German Universities,' historian Frederic Lilge chronicles how German universities, which entered the 20th century in a golden age of global intellectual influence, did not resist the Nazi regime but instead adapted to it. Even before seizing national power in 1933, the Nazi Party was closely monitoring German universities through nationalist student groups and sympathetic faculty, flagging professors deemed politically unreliable – particularly Jews, Marxists, liberals and pacifists. After Hitler took office in 1933, his regime moved swiftly to purge academic institutions of Jews and political opponents. The 1933 Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service mandated the firing of Jewish and other 'non-Aryan' professors and members of the faculty deemed politically suspect. Soon after, professors were required to swear loyalty to Hitler, curricula were overhauled to emphasize 'national defense' and 'racial science' – a pseudoscientific framework used to justify antisemitism and Aryan supremacy – and entire departments were restructured to serve Nazi ideology. Some institutions, such as the Technische Hochschule Stuttgart, even rushed to honor Hitler with an honorary doctorate within weeks of his rise to power. He declined the offer, though the gesture signaled the university's eagerness to align with the regime. Professional associations, such as the Association of German Universities, stayed silent, ignoring key opportunities to resist before universities lost their autonomy and became subservient to the Nazi state. As linguist Max Weinreich wrote in his 1999 book 'Hitler's Professors,' many academics didn't just comply, they enabled the regime by reshaping their research. This legitimized state doctrine, helping build the intellectual framework of the regime. A few academics resisted and were dismissed, exiled or executed. Most did not. The transformation of German academia was not a slow drift but a swift and systemic overhaul. But what made Hitler's orders stick was the eagerness of many academic leaders to comply, justify and normalize the new order. Each decision – each erased name, each revised syllabus, each closed program and department – was framed as necessary, even patriotic. Within a few years, German universities no longer served knowledge – they served power. It would take more than a decade after the war, through denazification, reinvestment and international reintegration, for West German universities to begin regaining their intellectual standing and academic credibility. Other countries that have fallen under authoritarian regimes followed similar trajectories. In fascist Italy, the shift began not with violence but with a signature. In 1931, the Mussolini regime required all university professors to swear an oath of loyalty to the state. Out of more than 1,200, only 12 refused. Many justified their compliance by insisting the oath had no bearing on their teaching or research. But by publicly affirming loyalty and offering no organized resistance, the academic community signaled its willingness to accommodate the regime. This lack of opposition allowed the fascist government to tighten control over universities and use them to advance its ideological agenda. In the Soviet Union, this control was not limited to symbolic gestures – it reshaped the entire academic system. After the Russian Revolution in 1917, the Bolsheviks oscillated between wanting to abolish universities as 'feudal relics' and repurposing them to serve a socialist state, as historians John Connelly and Michael Grüttner explain in their book 'Universities Under Dictatorship.' Ultimately, they chose the latter, remaking universities as instruments of ideological education and technical training, tightly aligned with Marxist-Leninist goals. Under Josef Stalin, academic survival depended less on scholarly merit than on conformity to official doctrine. Dissenting scholars were purged or exiled, history was rewritten to glorify the Communist Party, and entire disciplines such as genetics were reshaped to fit political orthodoxy. This model was exported across Eastern and Central Europe during the Cold War. In East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Poland, ministries dictated curricula, Marxism-Leninism became mandatory across disciplines, and admissions were reengineered to favor students from loyalist backgrounds. In some contexts, adherents to older intellectual traditions pushed back, especially in Poland, where resistance slowed though could not prevent the imposition of ideological control. By the early 1950s, universities across the region had become what Connelly calls 'captive institutions,' stripped of independence and recast to serve the state. A more recent example is Turkey, where, following the failed 2016 coup, more than 6,000 academics were dismissed, universities were shuttered and research deemed 'subversive' was banned. The Trump administration's early and direct intervention into higher education governance echoes historical attempts to bring universities under state influence or control. The administration says it is doing so to eradicate 'discrimatory' DEI policies and fight what it sees as antisemitism on college campuses. But by withholding federal funding, the administration is also trying to force universities into ideological conformity – by dictating whose knowledge counts but also whose presence and perspectives are permissible on campus. Columbia's reaction to Trump's demands sent a clear message: Resistance is risky, but compliance may be rewarded – though the $400 million has yet to be restored. The speed and scope of its concessions set a precedent, signaling to other universities that avoiding political fallout now may mean rewriting policies, reshaping departments and retreating from controversy, perhaps before anyone even asks. The Trump administration has already moved on to other universities, including the University of Pennsylvania over its transgender policies, Princeton for its climate programs and Harvard over alleged antisemitism. The question is which school is next. The Department of Education has launched investigations into over 50 institutions, accusing them of using 'racial preferences and stereotypes in education programs and activities.' How these institutions choose to respond may determine whether higher education remains a space for open inquiry. The pressure to conform is not just financial – it is also cultural. Faculty at some institutions are being advised not to use 'DEI' in emails and public communication, with warnings to not be a target. Academics are removing pronouns from their email signatures and asking their students to comply, too. I've been on the receiving end of those warnings, and so have my counterparts at other institutions. And students on visas are being warned not to travel outside the U.S. after several were deported or denied reentry due to alleged involvement in protests. Meanwhile, people inside and outside academia are combing websites, syllabi, presentations and public writing in search of what they consider ideological infractions. This type of peer surveillance can reward silence, incentivize erasure and turn institutions against their own. When universities start regulating not just what they say but what they teach, support and stand for – driven by fear rather than principle – they are no longer just reacting to political threats, they are internalizing them. And as history has shown, that may mark the beginning of the end of their academic independence. This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Iveta Silova, Arizona State University Read more: It started with Nazis: Concerns over foreign agents not just a Trump-era phenomenon Unknown Holocaust photos – found in attics and archives – are helping researchers recover lost stories and providing a tool against denial Nazis pressed ham radio hobbyists to serve the Third Reich – but surviving came at a price This article does not represent the views of Arizona State University.
