Ottawa County Republicans' Newsletter
January 8, 2024 6:1
Editor's Preamble: Welcome to 2024 and the Ottawa County Republicans’ Newsletter! We have a lot of Party news to share with you, including our year-end recap of accomplishments as we also look ahead into the promise of this new political year. We have news on the new Commissioner for District 6, as well as local announcements for candidates running for office.
Also, please pay special attention to our Kids Kolumn which shares a scholarship opportunity through the VFW for high school students, as well as our Culture section which shares helpful information to help Christian parents guide their students through navigating a college choice in the new year. And don’t miss our Volunteer Highlight or our Featured Business, as we always want you to know about the talented people involved with our Party, as well as like-minded businesses in Ottawa County.
We open with a beautiful sunrise for the New Year taken near the Grand River in Grand Haven Township and hope it encourages you as it does us. Happy New Year Republicans! It looks to be a great one!
Please consider a $5-donation per month to help us stop the left from infiltrating our sacred freedoms here in Ottawa County.
Thank you and enjoy!
New Year Sunrise of the Grand River in Grand Haven Township
OCRP NEWS
The OCRP Recaps 2023 and Anticipates Productive 2024...
Kendra Wenzel of Hudsonvile Appointed as Commissioner of District 6...
The OCRP Hosts Voter Education for the AxeMITax Ballot Initiative...
The headline links you to our Facebook coverage. If you don't have FB, click here to see a portion of this post.
OCRP Celebrates Christmas at Brand New Office...
The above link takes you to the coverage on our Facebook Page. If you don't have Facebook, you can see the coverage right here instead.
Attorney Greg Todd Announces Candidacy for Ottawa County Prosecutor...
Attorney Greg Todd Writes Supplementary Article for His Candidacy as Ottawa County Prosecutor...
We encourage you to read this piece by Attorney Greg Todd who is running for Ottawa County Prosecutor. He makes some excellent points and additionally asks a thought-provoking question at the end. Who do we want prosecuting crime in Ottawa County? What do we want Ottawa County to look like four years from now? See the article on our website here.
Area News
Clerk Justin Roebuck releases statement on the Lucy Ebel Signature Challenge. There will be a 'special election' on May 7 for recall. See his statement below⬇️
In the statement above, Clerk Roebuck insists he must call a special election to recall duly-elected Lucy Ebel on May 7, 2023. There are three things you can do to help:
- Help Lucy campaign in order to hold her seat. The force is not only against Commissioner Ebel. *It is against our strong majority on the BOC in total. As challengers looked at all the races, they determined Lucy's district was small enough whereby they felt they could flip enough votes there, in order to flip the seat to a Democrat. We CANNOT let this happen. -If conservatives lose the majority on the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners, it could mean a return to lockdowns and masking and other tyrannical policies and activities. If you are willing to help Lucy campaign and keep her rightful seat on the Board of Commissioners, please contact us at [email protected], or call 616-396-3791 and we will put you in touch with Lucy's campaign.
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*Do you know anyone who lives in District 2? Please take a look at this County map to see if you potentially know someone who resides in Lucy's district. If you think you do, we ask that you encourage them to vote for Commissioner Lucy Ebel on May 7, 2024.
- Give to help her campaign. You can do so below⬇️
Donate to Commissioner Ebel's campaign here. Thank you!
ARPA: How was the $57 million spent?
ARPA stands for American Rescue Plan Act. Many people wonder why the current Board of Commissioners seems so determined to go at the pace they do. Some have criticized this pace as controversial, as the changes made have seemed sweeping in nature. The pace infuriates the left because as they're coming down from adjusting to one thing (such as changing the logo or Ottawa County becoming a "Constitutional County,") the BOC sweeps through with a another big change. Therefore, given the media attention the left has garnered in their outrage, many people, even on the right, have questions like, "Yeh..why the crazy pace of all of this?"
Well, Reader, it is your lucky day! You are about to find out one of the reasons why the Board of Commissioners have felt so compelled to make sweeping changes as fast as they could in 2023. A lot of it has to do with unscrupulous actions by the previous Board and how they spent the County's [taxpayer's] money on their way out the door last December of 2022. Restore Ottawa tells you the entire story⬆️
However, if you already know what ARPA is and are interested in more of a summary, the piece below from Simply American does a good job of summarizing⬇️.
In March of 2021, Ottawa County found out it would be receiving $56.6 million in funding...
More Area News
State House Representative Nancy DeBoer appeared on the Talk of the Town radio program with Gary Stevens. Representative DeBoer discusses the problems in the State Legislature and why it is currently shut down going into the New Year, as well as the current problems with initiatives for electric vehicles and energy in Michigan.
Fact+Opinion
Looking Behind the Headlines...
Former Mayor of Grand Haven, Geri McCaleb, shares an interesting perspective on the idea of facts versus headlines in this piece she wrote for the Grand Haven Tribune a few weeks ago. In it, she gets into the weeds about what the Public is "told" about municipal decisions versus what the outcome actually turns out to be.
*When we went to publish, it appeared the GH Tribune may have put this article back behind a paywall. In case you have trouble accessing it, we've included this screenshot of the article.
Truth Vs. Insanity
Truth vs Insanity is a nifty little column that points out media lies and contrasts them with facts. Ahhhhhh, "Facts!" Aren't facts such lovely things? It is difficult to imagine that it requires deep digging simply to find the actual facts of the Area News, but since most media outlets will not do this for the public--simply provide them the facts--we take a moment here to point out the level to which we feel the media misleads and underserves the Public. We break down for you below, what is TRUE and what is Insanely reported regarding the recent Ottawa County Treasurer appointment, as the long-standing Treasurer, Amanda Price, recently resigned.
VS.
The Ottawa County Republican Party
Local Insanity: ...A Finalist Endorsed by the Ottawa Impact-Controlled County GOP...
Here, the Holland Sentinel is reporting the following article as "fact" on their News page, [as opposed to running it instead on their opinion page]. Admittedly, some of the article is fact-based, as it does, in fact, announce the name of the newly-appointed Treasurer, and shares some quoted material from her. However, it then goes on to mislead the Public in its description of the OCRP in relationship to Benjamin Genser, a Republican candidate who also interviewed for the position.
Take a look at this screenshot below, describing the Ottawa County Republican Party.
Insanity: There are several mistruths in this one half sentence. The Sentinel is claiming AS FACT, that the OCRP is "'controlled' by Ottawa Impact," which is BLATANTLY false. While the Party as a corporation shares many of the same views and values with this particular PAC, the OCRP is a separate entity. The PAC doesn't clear their decisions with us necessarily, and we don't clear ours with them.
*We think this a good time to remind people that politics is a spectrum. This is why groups in the various Parties have "wings" and caucus groups. Some examples from the United States House would be, the Freedom Caucus, the Republican Study Committee and so on. Although Republicans unite under the shared cause of conservatism, vetted Republicans are free-thinkers who have their own minds and strong opinions on a variety of issues. Healthy Republicans believe in lively debate over how to solve issues within the confines of our shared cause. Therefore, the OCRP is not controlled by this one PAC.
TRUTH: The OCRP is in fact controlled by:
The will of the Republican Precinct Delegates who were elected by the PEOPLE in their various precincts, for the People and by the People.
As such, anytime Precinct Delegates behave in a political manner that their neighbors from their particular precinct don't agree with, the People can vote them out in the next election and elect new representatives who will represent them as they wish to be. *This is an inconvenient, yet civil democratic function and fact of local government that the Sentinel may not want the Public to know.
MORE TRUTH: It would be smart for the Sentinel to look at these facts and realize that facts in journalism matter to the integrity of what can be represented as ..."News." *Misleading the Public about who controls the Party is a disservice to the Public.
TAKEAWAY QUESTION: As this Newsletter is edited by publishing industry professionals, we find this "type" of journalism sloppy at best and intentionally misleading at worst. Again, we are wondering why Hope College has nominated a chief editor at the Sentinel for a Pulitzer Prize in light of common journalistic errors such as the one highlighted here, when their own English Department would fail a student's assignment if it were turned in with intentional false statements and/or it alleged specific elements as facts that were not.
What Does All of This Mean?
It means that we need to be actively digging for truth...every single day. Every time we read a newspaper article, it unfortunately means we could be misled. Part of patriotism is taking the time to become informed. We love our way of life as conservatives, don't we? Unfortunately, however, the left exploits our preference to be independent and therefore, "left alone." While we are distracted and living our lives, they quietly, yet successfully, infiltrate our school-boards and city councils in nonpartisan elections, and also run Democrats "as Republicans" for elected offices. If our local News sources won't tell us this, we find out the hard way, when this type of leadership transforms our communities. *Please take the time to find out the truth. Develop relationships with entities that will tell you the truth. We understand that this is inconvenient in our fast-paced world, and it's easier to consume headlines on social media or online. But if we don't make time, we won't get the truth.
Local, Sane News Sources in Ottawa County
Culture
Navigating College as a Christian: Advice for Students and Parents...
We ran this piece by Dr. Tim Penning of Ottawa County in our December Newsletter because we understand the general concerns that conservative parents have when making educated decisions about college along with their children. Many are worried their children will become swallowed and indoctrinated by wokeism. After witnessing Representative Elise Stefanik of New York question Ivy-League college presidents on Capital Hill in early December, we recognize the importance of running Dr. Penning's piece again. In case you missed it, here are two clips of Representative Stefanik questioning the Presidents of Harvard, MIT and U of Penn under oath in a public hearing, on the topic of racism on their college campuses. If you didn't know why Dr. Penning's knowledge is important for conservative parents, this will give you a taste.
Rep. Stefanik Questions University Presidents on Antisemitism
Rep. Stefanik Questions Harvard University President Who Refuses To Answer Basic Questions
Clearly, these University Presidents live in an echo chamber. We’ve learned that since these interviews, the Presidents of MIT and U of Penn have had to resign as a result of the their arrogance and complete disconnectedness to the racism displayed on their campuses, along with the insensitivities displayed in these interviews towards their Jewish students. However, just because one person is moved out of a school, doesn't necessarily change the culture of that school. Therefore we direct parents and students considering college to this wonderful article by Dr. Tim Penning, PhD of Advertising and Public Relations at Grand Valley State University. He's a fantastic professor and a conservative Christian. *There are many students and parents seeking 4-year college certifications in spite of the woke problems in colleges. Dr. Penning can help you separate the wheat from the chaff.
Navigating College as a Christian: Advice for Students and Parents...
Dr. Tim Penning is a Professor of Advertising and Public Relations at Grand Valley State University. He is a Christian professor on a secular college campus, and therefore has good insights on how to diligently approach the process of selecting a college. He is another example why America needs Ottawa County.
Culture-Facts-Opinion
Public Health & Democrat Activist Lawfare...
Not-So-Old News
Dr. Robert Malone, Founder of Original MrNA Technology, Shocking Testimonial on the Covid Shot, and What You can Do If You Regret It Like He Does...
Dr. Robert Malone, Founder of MrNA Technology, an Unlikely Victim, but a Victim Nonetheless.
Interestingly, we have heard from a lot of people who got the Covid shot in 2021 and 2022. They say that if they'd known then what they've learned now, they would not have gotten the shot. Additionally, many of those who live with the regret also live with fear of the unknown wondering about possible, longterm side effects. Given that many are waking up to the truth of Covid "vaccines," we find this News from January 13, 2022, Not-so-old and an important public service.
How Bad Is My Batch?
Here is a quick link to the "batch" service Dr. Malone discusses in his above testimonial⬆️
Health
Jay Bhattacharya: Lockdowns Brought Us Back to the Dark Ages, Can We Come Back From It?
An interview with Stanford M.D., Jay Bhattacharya
Upcoming Events
January 25, 2024 Executive Committee Meeting--6:30 pm. Location is TBA, so please stay tuned.
February 27, 2024 Presidential Primary Election *Make sure to make arrangements to Vote!
March 21, 2024 Save the date for the Lincoln Day Dinner! --More information to come!
Volunteer Highlight
OCRP Deputy Treasurer, Stephanie Lelo
Stephanie Lelo is the Deputy-Treasurer for the OCRP, Inc. She is an agricultural accountant, an editor and a pastry chef. She is an asset to our organization and we are blessed to have her faithful service to our Party. She has many additional talents and skills, which is why we are so fortunate here at the OCRP to have Stephanie's service in an official capacity. Without Stephanie's dedication to the Party over the past year, we wouldn't have accomplished the goals you read about above, nor would we be on track to achieve our goals in 2024. We are thrilled for you to get to know her!
What do you love most about living in Ottawa County?
I love the people here. The people are genuine and kind. Second, I enjoy the proximity to the lakeshore. We don't make it there as much as I'd like to, but it's nice in the summer to just take a drive and see the sunset when we feel like it. Third, I love living in the most diverse agricultural county in the state. Agriculture is a big part of my life and I love being able to drive around and see all of the different crops growing. I also like that these crops are readily available to purchase locally for any items I don't grow in my own garden.
Why did you get involved in politics?
The short answer is because my husband was getting involved. He signed up to run as a precinct delegate. There was an additional seat open in our precinct. so I decided I would join him although I had no idea then how busy I would become! It was a little later that I filled out a survey that included my expertise in the accounting area, which led to my being asked to run for the Executive Committee and serve as Deputy Treasurer. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but as challenging as it's been at times, it has also been very rewarding.
Please tell us about your work outside of the Party.
I work for MSU in the TelFarm Center and the MSU Income Tax School. I work from home and help farmers around the state who participate in our program, with their farm accounting. The bulk of my role is to answer questions on how to record particular transactions and review records to try to catch mistakes. There are a lot of other responsibilities and roles, yet this is the main part of my job.
We understand that you went to culinary school and are a certified pastry chef! Tell us about that!
I went to GRCC and completed a certificate program in Baking & Pastry Arts. I don't work in that area now, but God did bless me with both cooking and baking skills. I like to host people at my home and cook/bake for them as a way to bless them with my skills.
What changes do you hope to implement by being involved in Ottawa County Politics?
I think the movement in our county takes all types of skillsets and talents. Although I don't see myself ever running for an office besides precinct delegate, I can and have used my administrative skills and other experiences to contribute to the movement taking place here. I'm a good behind-the-scenes worker and we need a lot more people who are willing to do that, as much as we need people willing to run for office. It's going to take all of us using our talents to keep the freedom we have in Ottawa County.
Do you have any personal goals for the New Year or a Resolution of sorts?
I’ve never really liked the idea of “New Years’ Resolutions.” Yet, about this time two years ago, God laid it on my heart to read the Bible in a year, as my New Years’ Resolution. A friend of mine had told me about the Bible Recap podcast/reading plan. I committed to doing that and stuck with it for the whole year. It was by far the most rewarding thing that I had never imagined being able to accomplish. Now, two years later, I have just finished my second, complete trip through the Bible and intend to continue doing this, year in and year out. The process has deepened my relationship with the Lord and has taught me so many things about His character. The Bible is full of misfits and broken people. Reading their stories has given me hope that God can use anyone to accomplish great things, even me.
Anything else you'd like to share?
I'm really thankful for the opportunity to have met so many great people through getting involved in the Ottawa County Republican Party. I moved to Ottawa when I got married six years ago. Because I work from home, the only friends I had made prior to now had been through church. I have met and become friends with so many new people because of this opportunity, and am grateful for these new relationships.
*One thing is for sure: we know God has used Stephanie for the betterment of Ottawa County, our movement and the OCRP. We literally don’t know what we’d do without her. And it’s true, she makes beautiful baked goods!
Here's a pic we grabbed demonstrating Stephanie's culinary talent at our recent Christmas Party. Thanks for everything Stephanie Lelo. We LOVE you!
Local Business Feature
It was a pleasure to speak to Thomas Lawrence, owner of Patriot Roofing of Georgetown Township. They caught our eye due to the testimonials on their website, specifically their business' name and also the Scripture verses displayed on their website. When we asked Thomas about why his business is publicly represented with obvious patriotism and also with Biblical truth, he shared his company’s love for America, the Constitution and specifically the freedom of the 1st amendment. He expressed his desire to create a business culture that respects the free speech of his employees. He shared that industry professionals are often concerned about their ability to remain verbally expressive in the workplace and he never wants his employees to experience fear of cancellation due to their personal views.
We thought this was super cool and recommend Patriot Roofing!
--Patriot Roofing, LLC--
2685 Edward St Suite A, Georgetown Twp, MI 49428
[email protected]
616-826-4656
Big Kids Kolumn
The VFW Auxiliary is offering a Scholarship Program for 9-12 graders to earn large scholarship awards...
This month, we are focusing on bigger kids, specifically 9--12th graders, and sharing this area opportunity offered by the Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary. Check out this awesome Young Americans Scholarship Patriotic Art Program! Last years' first place winner won $15,000 for their original patriotic piece.
For visuals and information on last year's winners and top-ten finishers, click here.
Entrants must follow specific directions [...there are a lot of nuances, so we recommend a parent help guide their student. For scholarship directions, click here: ]
Why we love this: *In order for an Art-entry to be official, it must be "entered" in person by taking the art submission down to your local VFW Auxiliary's office. They in turn complete the filing for you! It's a neat way to perhaps enter to win a scholarship and interact with your local VFW at the same time.
List of VFW Halls/ Auxiliary Locations throughout Ottawa County
Elephant Fare
Janet VanRhee's Indian Carrot Salad
Indian Carrot Salad
Salad Ingredients
4-5 C. shredded and/or matchstick carrots
1/2 C. golden raisins
4 green onions, chopped
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1/2 C. cashews
Dressing Ingredients
Zest and juice of 2 limes
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tsp. minced (or jarred) ginger
2 Tbsps honey
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/4 C. olive oil
Whisk all dressing ingredients together. Pour over salad mixture and toss. This salad is excellent stuffed in pitas or a side to grilled chicken.
Janet's Notes: My Aunt has written two cookbooks. Her name is Joyce Klynstra and she was born in Ottawa County. I'm happy to share this yummy recipe from one of her books. I just made it again recently!
SHOP
Please help us support the Party. The truth: We need to raise a lot of money because of the upcoming big election season. The money pays for the expenses of running strong conservative candidates for all County, Region and State area races. Funds pay for rental spaces to distribute literature, mailers and events. Please consider purchasing a t-shirt or a sticker, or BOTH! Thank you!
Die Cut, Waterproof and UVA protected Sticker! Visit our Shop page to get yours now! Measures 4 x 3.48
These stickers look great on your stuff! Purchase one for $5.00, shipping included!
New Years' Sunset in West Olive
If you've enjoyed any portion of this Newsletter, please consider a donation. We need help preserving liberty in Ottawa County, especially as we prepare for the 2024 election. If you are willing to contribute, a donation of any size can be made here. Thank you!
©Original Content published by the OCRP, Inc, is the property of the OCRP, Inc. All rights reserved.