Collegian Week in Review: September 10, 2026

0:00Now you want to run the story? You've got five hours until 8 o'clock. Go get the story. No, hey, do your job. Hey, do your job. Extra, extra. Here all about it is the Collegiate Weekend Review. Not bad. Not bad at all. We're going to run this on page 1. I'm Section H2. Ripped from the pages of Michigan's oldest college newspaper, written by Hillsdale College students. You've got a cup of, and what? You know, they talked you right. We print. Now, here are your hosts, Alessia Sandela, Megan Lee, and Francesca Sella on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. Woo-hoo, depth of pressure! Welcome to Collegiate Weekend Review, where we give you an inside look into Michigan's oldest college newspaper. We're your hosts, Megan Lee, Alessia Sandela, and Francesca Sella. And today we'll be talking with Gemma Flores

1:00about a county judge who passed away and about the first mayoral debate in Hillsdale. We'll also talk with Alessia Sandela about a bridge renovation and I'll be talking about a baseball player who is recruited by two other Hillsdale players and about Ethan's donuts going for sale in Hillsdale. I'm Alessia, and today I'm talking with City News Editor, Gemma Flores. Gemma, you wrote about the circuit court judge who just passed away. Can you tell us a little bit more about her? Yes, her name was Sarah Lysney. She passed away age 62, and she had served as... She'd served the Hillsdale County since 2014, first as a district judge, and then she ran for circuit court judge in 2021. And you spoke to some people who knew her. How are they remembering her? One of the big things that Judge Lysney is remembered for is her Salmonal work in starting Hillsdale's first drug treatment court, which is one of the first specialty courts in Hillsdale.

2:01It's kind of an alternative to prison time or jail time for either felonies or misdemeanors related to drug use. And it keeps families together, makes people the healthiest versions of themselves. One thing that's been really great to see is how the community has really rallied around Judge Lysney's memory, and there are several local businesses which are donating a portion of their profits this September to the Hillsdale County drug court, in an effort to keep her work going. She also worked with other local organizations? Yes, she was a volunteer at the Senior Center through the Meals on Wheels program. She also worked for the Hillsdale County Community Foundation and on the Hillsdale County Hospice Board for several years. She also taught Sunday School at St. Paul's Lutheran Church here in Hillsdale, and she offered them legal counsel when they were opening their cemetery, which is adjacent to the church building a couple years back,

3:01which has been really helpful there. And according to their pastor, she will definitely be missed. Her memorial service will be this Friday at that church. Gemma, you also talked to the Manchu Ran Against for District Court a number of years ago, correct? Yes, I did. He's now the Deputy Council at Hillsdale College. His name is Neil Brady. And he admired her work a lot, especially with the drug court in the community. He called her a tough yet fair judge, and he was also a personal friend of hers, which was really great to hear the way that he described her and her family, especially. He knew her family well, and he said that even though they were competitors in the District Court ship, that she was still always kind and fair and good to him. And then you also spoke to the Circuit Court administrator, Chelsea Lambray. What did she have to say? How is she remembering Dutch Elizabeth?

4:02Yes, she says that she really remembers her for her kindness and for her compassion for those in the community who were really struggling and had found, had fallen on hard times. Her exact quote was, she was one of a kind, it'll be greatly missed. Now you also wrote on the mayoral debate between Matt Bentley and Bob Flynn. Can you tell us a little bit about each candidate? Yes, of course. So both are Councilmen currently. They have both served since I believe 2024. Bob Flynn was the, quote, voice of Hillsdale on WCSR for, I believe 46 years. And Matt Bentley worked in securities before eventually moving to Hillsdale and working on City Council. Matt Bentley ran in the special election last year against Scott Sessions and now he will be running again against Bob Flynn. What were some of the major issues discussed at the debate?

5:03Well, the quote only issue in Hillsdale is roads. So one of the big issues that Flynn and Bentley actually disagree on is what to do with the Michigan Department of Transportation's road diet, which will slim Broad Street in downtown Hillsdale from four lanes to two with bike lanes on either side. Bob Flynn thinks that this is a good idea in principle and that it will help facilitate business downtown make it more pedestrian-friendly. And that Bentley thinks it's a waste of money and who needs bike lanes. So they definitely butted heads on that a little bit. But when it came to SADs, they kind of reached an agreement that the use of special assessment districts, as we knew it, to fund road repair in Hillsdale is kind of over. The question that kind of looms though is how the next mayor and administration in Hillsdale will deal with funding roads. So they also discuss the upcoming vacancy for the city manager position.

6:07Yeah. So our city manager, David Mackie, announced recently that as of May 20, he will only be the director of the Board of Public Utilities and no longer will also serve as the city manager, which has left council kind of in a state of wondering who the next city manager will be, how they'll find it. So they did discuss kind of how proactively they should be. Flynn really stressed that as soon as this December, they really want to start looking at new candidates really take their time and go through the process. And for Bentley, what he really emphasized is about transparency. And he did not want to repeat of what he saw with the hiring of the police and fire chief Christopher Jaws, we asked, where council didn't meet him until he was basically hired. Who hosted this first debate? He was hosted by Hillsdale Conservatives, a local political organization, and they wanted to facilitate a mayoral debate

7:07as in the special election we weren't able to have one. Great. Thanks for coming on, Jummer. Yeah, thanks for having me. This is the Collegion Weekend Review. I'm Francesca and I'm talking with Alessia Sandala, our managing editor and co-host. Alessia, you wrote an article about a bridge in Hillsdale that recently got a $7 million grant. Can you tell us about that? Yeah, so on Tuesday, the city council approved a resolution allowing the city manager to work with M.Dot to basically reconstruct this entire bridge because it has a low clearance level of just nine feet, eight inches and there have been accidents here in the past several years. There has been a... I think the last one was 2023. You went a garbage truck, hit the bridge, and the driver was injured, and there was damage, and the bridge actually ended up having to be closed for two weeks

8:07so that it could be repaired. So the $7.3 million renovation would increase the clearance to 12 feet, nine inches, and would prevent further accidents and allow more traffic to go through that area. You spoke with Sam Fry, the assistant city manager, and he mentioned a particular reason why he wanted this bridge raised. So, Fry told the collegiate that they are hoping to raise the bridge so that emergency vehicles can get through, and city vehicles also, construction vehicles, and they don't have to go around because to go around is just a long process, and it would be much shorter and faster if they can get to houses just by going under the bridge. So with the raised clearance, they all emergency vehicles and city vehicles should be able to get through. And when will they start working on this bridge? So currently, MDOT is hoping to start on the bridge in late spring, early summer of 2027.

9:10So, next year, they expect the railroad portion to only take two weeks because it's costing money for the railroad to be shut down. But they expect the total bridge road work to take almost the entire summer. Have they ever tried to fix the bridge before in the past? Yes. So, actually about 10 years ago now, they had come up, MDOT had approached and wondered if they could try to work on this bridge, get the height raised, and it didn't really work out because they couldn't get a bid for this bridge. And so, it just ended up not happening. And then, now 10 years later, they're finally back to it and have all of the approvals and bids figured out. And what do people think about $7 million going into a bridge? Is this worth it? What are people saying? For a lot of people, this is a public safety issue because obviously there's been accidents in the past and then also getting emergency vehicles through is highly important.

10:11And also, it has economic benefit because the rail line is very important to the area and the bridges used to bring things through and connect with other cities around here. So, it's just important that it's kept up to date and even for just on the ground vehicles, like we don't want any accidents to happen. Right. Well, I'm glad they're getting this done. I look forward to seeing it next year. Yeah, it's very exciting. Great. Thank you, Alessia. Thank you. The Collegiate Weekend Review continues. I'm Megan and I'm here with Francesca Sella, our opinions editor to talk about Ethan's donuts. What's our new update about this much beloved location here in Hillsdale? At the beginning of June, the owners of Ethan's donuts factory listed it for sale. They listed the business for sale, not the building itself.

11:11They're looking for someone to take over. And this was sort of in the plan when they opened the business. They were hoping to find someone who could run the place for them, but that the owners would still own both the business and the building. They haven't found anyone over the past two years since they opened in 2024. And Wayne Babcock, one of the co-owners, spoke with me and said that since they hadn't found a manager to run the place for them, they thought they would try listing it for sale to see if that would be another way to find someone else to run it for them instead. What did the owners say they're looking for in the future owner of Ethan's donuts? Babcock said that this is a little bit of a challenging business. You have to have a passion for working in a bakery shop or a donut shop, especially. It takes a lot of time. You have to get up early in the morning. And so he said it's not just anybody who can come and run the business for them, or that's not what they're looking for at least. He wants, he and the other co-owners want to find someone who has a passion for baking, because not only will that mean they will really care

12:11about doing the business well, but it also means that they'll probably try to expand in the future because they'll really love what they're doing and they'll be happy to spend time in the big shop. Babcock also mentioned that if they find somebody like this who has the passion to be an entrepreneur, he and all the other owners would be more than willing to lend their talents and what they've learned about the business over the past couple of years to help get this off the ground. And is there something about a donut shop specifically with all the varieties and options that donuts can have that makes this business more challenging than your average? Business. I spoke with Susan Peterson, who's an employee at Ethens, and also a part-time Hillsdale College student, and she said from her experience in working there over the last couple of years that the variety of running a donut shop makes it hard to run the business, especially for the employees. It's very convenient, especially in a small town to have a shop that's very willing to work with what the customers are looking for.

13:11It's not a big chain store, so they don't have harsh rules about how they do everything and they're more than happy to do what their customers want. However, that's a lot of time into changing the donuts depending on what the customer wants. She said, people will come in with an order and they'll say, can you just change it like this? And that they also, even without that, they have to keep a variety of donuts ready all the time. But then when you add that factor in, it's really a lot of time and effort goes really into making each donut. Wayne Babcock has had quite the experience in owning businesses. Can you tell us about some of the other places he's owned? Babcock opened Chicago Water Girl, Olivia's shophouse, and Saucy Dogs Barbecue in Jonesville, and all of them, he opened himself, and he ran them for a while, and then he sold them. So this is a business model that he tends to work with, which he's also applying to Ethan's donuts. And all of the other business owners have ran their own businesses in the past

14:12or they're currently running them as well. Where did Ethan's donuts kind of fit into these various restaurants that he's had? Babcock said that all of the owners are from Hillsdale, and most of them went to Hillsdale High School. So they know the town well, they know what the town needs, and they noticed there wasn't really a sweet shop here. So they wanted to start a business that would fill a gap that wasn't currently being filled. And so they decided to start a sweet shop that sold donuts and ice cream. But part of the reason that they ended up choosing those who's sweet and particular to sell is because Babcock had made a promise to his son that he would name a business after him, because Olivia's shop house is named after his daughter, Olivia. His son, Ethan, when he was four said, could you please name a business after me? When he was opening up the business, he told the other co-owners, like, guys, I'm sorry,

15:12we have to name it after my son, because I told him we would do this. And so that kind of fit in with their decision to run a sweet shop, and they ended up also choosing Ethan's two favorite foods in the world, which are apparently also donuts and ice cream. That's such a sweet story. And you also talked to Derek Spattery, the owner of Handmade, the sandwich shop here in Hillsdale, and what did he have to say about his experience operating a small business, and why he encourages it for places like Ethan's donuts? He said that it's small businesses and home owners in small town America that keep our freedom. He said, this is what gives us our independence, the fact that most of the businesses in places like Hillsdale are run by people who live here, by people who really care about their community, and not by a big chain restaurant or a chain company, although those also can contribute. But in a particular way, these small companies are able to preserve American culture and freedom. And he also said that on a more practical level, it just makes your town beautiful.

16:13It's different. It's not like you can go to any other town in the world and find an Ethan's donut factory. But it pulls people into the city and makes them want to move there. It boosts the economy. So from a lot of different perspectives, he just thinks it's really important, despite the work that goes into these businesses, that their owners try to retain them and help them flourish, so that it makes the city a better place for everyone else as well. And what is another piece of entrepreneurial advice that Babcock gave to the future owner of Ethan's donuts? He said that if they expanded the sweet shop first of all, in any capacity, it would probably succeed. It would probably really help the business. But he said if someone would bake sourdough bread, they could own this market. So he was just laughing about how this has become really popular and it would take a lot of work to do a sourdough bread company, but because of the mother and everything that you need to let it rise for a certain amount of days. But people are doing this at home themselves

17:13and people will spend money to save time. So this was his tip for the future owners that if they want to get creative and help Ethan's really take off that they would start a sourdough expansion. That's awesome. I know I would definitely spend money on sourdough. I have not yet tried to make some of my own, but if Ethan's ever did that, I would be there first in line. Thank you so much Francesca. Thank you for having me. Transitioning to another story of yours, Francesca, about a Hillsdale College baseball player that was recently scouted this summer by two other baseball players. Francesca, can you tell us about this story? Yeah, we almost sent some undercover scouts unintentionally to the Oak Island Loggerheads, which is a team in the Old North State League. It's a wooden bat league in North Carolina. They just went to play. Both of these guys, senior Rocco Tnuta and junior Will Laman, head played before. So they were returning back because they had a great summer. They stayed with some host families, and overall had a great experience.

18:14They were going back to the same family they were with at the end of their previous stay. And I don't know that they expected going in, that they were going to be acting as scouts, but I think that they couldn't help themselves when they saw what a good player, a sophomore Evan Courtney was. Rocco Tnuta has penned said by some to be the best player on Hillsdale's baseball team. And he himself said that he was watching Evan play, and he knew that he was in the transfer portal. And he was watching him pitch, and he thought, he said, he's pretty good. He's probably not going to be in that portal for that long. And by the end of the summer, it still had happened that Courtney hadn't gotten picked by any college. And Tnuta really wanted him to come play for Hillsdale. He thought that he'd be a great fit for the team. And so he texted his coach videos of Courtney playing in his coach said, bring him here. How did Evan spend his time with Rocco and Will this summer? The baseball players were together a lot just with their team.

19:15It sounded like they spent every day together, but especially these three guys, when they played seven games a week, most of most weeks, when they weren't practicing, they were playing. And then on the weekends, they'd go to the beach together. So they really got to know each other pretty well, not only as players and on the field, but they also spent time just hanging out at the beach. And actually Evan Courtney told me that the first weekend of Hillsdale, he was here doing orientation. And Rocco asked him to go play golf on the weekend with Lehman and Rocco. So the three of them have also spent time together outside of baseball. Now that Evan's here on campus, and I guess they went golfing together last weekend. What did the process of getting Evan to Hillsdale look like in terms of getting him connected to the coach? And had he applied to Hillsdale before this connection was made? So Courtney had not applied to Hillsdale. He said he had thought about coming, but then I think we had a coaching change.

20:15And I think that Courtney sort of fell through in the process. But he was at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington first semester of the school year last year. And then in the second semester, he was at Savannah State. So he's been transferring a lot. He said that he really had a hard time finding a place that felt like a fit. That felt like he fit there. And it was really giving him the experience that he wanted. And so I think Hillsdale was maybe in the back of his mind, especially as he was hanging out with Tanuda and Lehman this summer. But it really, he said that he seemed like he wouldn't have come to Hillsdale if it hadn't been for those two guys. Because they were the ones who really pushed him to reach out to their coach. I think that once he fell through the cracks with the coaching transfer, he just didn't really think about it again. But Tanuda on his own had texted the head coach Tom Vasella and said, this is a great player. This is a great pitcher. I would love to see him play. And I guess he gave Courtney the coach Vasella's number after a really,

21:15a game that Courtney pitched super well. And he said, you should reach out to coach. He wants to talk to you. So after that, after they'd been texting a bit, Courtney came to visit Hillsdale and he committed in the second week of August. So it was a little bit of a late in the game decision to come here. It's really close to the end of the summer in the beginning of the next school year when he would have either returned to Savannah State or possibly transferred somewhere else. So we're lucky that we got him. That's great. And you said, this is Courtney's third school in two years. What convinced him that Hillsdale was the place he wanted to stay at? Was it something about the baseball culture, academic life? What was it about Hillsdale? He said that he wants to go somewhere where he's not just playing for baseball. He wanted to flourish in every aspect of his life, he said, because I think he's realized after playing baseball for most of his life that it's not healthy when your identity is only based around your sport. And he thought that Hillsdale would provide him the culture and the support where he could be an excellent baseball player, but that he could also have a very well balanced life with everything else that he does.

22:16And I think he saw this particularly in the two Hillsdale guys he played with this summer. Because he said that both of them could have definitely transferred out after playing here for two seasons and gone to a higher level of baseball. They're both great players for our team. So we're lucky that we have them. He recognized if they wanted to go on somewhere else they could have. And they stayed not because this is the highest level of baseball they could be playing, but because it's great baseball and there's a lot more that's keeping them here. They said it's a great team. And he really admired that they care enough about this school and about their team here that they would stay. And maybe sacrifice a little bit of their athletic career for the sake of the other people that they're playing with. That's such a cool story Francesca. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. You've been listening to the Collegiate Weekend Review on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm Megan Lee. I'm Alessia Sandella. And I'm Francesca Sella. You can find the Collegiate Weekend Review online at CWIR.transistor.fm.

23:21You can find more news at HillsdaleCollegiate.com or on Instagram at Hillsdale Collegiate. Thanks for tuning in to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.