Meet the South County News reporters and photographers. Our writers cover meetings, conduct research, arrange interviews and write it all up by our monthly deadlines. They work hard to keep our communities informed. Many thanks to this talented team!
Mark Blentlinger is a Schoolcraft resident and regular contributor. Mark covers Schoolcraft sports and has been involved in school sports and the community since 2001. He has held various positions over the years, including president of the Schoolcraft Little League, 8th grade football coach, and firefighter for South Kalamazoo Fire Authority. He currently coaches the Schoolcraft bowling team.
Stephanie Blentlinger, who graduated from Schoolcraft High School, is a professional photographer (www.lingeringmemoriesphotography.com) and frequently contributes her work to the South County News. When she was five, she started photography with her first Polaroid camera, and she’s been hooked ever since. After the loss of her eighteen-year-old daughter in 2010, Stephanie’s hobby turned into therapy. At the encouragement of family and friends, she turned her photography skills into a business. She has been photographing high school sports for eleven years, primarily for Schoolcraft Community Schools.
Jeanne Church, a featured columnist, is a retired special education teacher whose photography hobby began in earnest seven years ago with the gift of a decent camera. Several camera upgrades later, Jeanne regularly shoots the nature preserves, sanctuaries and trails in the area with a Nikon D500 camera and a Sigma 150-600 zoom lens. Follow Jeanne on her blog: picturewalks.org.
Jake DeMink is a Vicksburg local who loves capturing powerful moments through sports photography. Seeing the excitement on players’ faces when they see the captured moment of themselves, doing what they love brings him immense joy. Jake has experience photographing club and high school sports primarily in the greater Kalamazoo Region, focusing on Vicksburg.
Kathy DeMott, a regular feature writer, is a certified Flourishing Life coach, writer, speaker, and part of Women’s Global Speaker Collective. After 18 years in corporate sales, she retired early to pursue her passion to encourage others to find their voice and purpose. With a diverse background working with teens, prison ministry and the homeless, she wishes to inspire others by sharing her own journey as a single mother on welfare. Now married to Yancy and residing in Vicksburg, the couple enjoy their nine grandchildren, kayaking and fishing.
Danna Downing, a regular columnist and resident of South County since 1975, is the mother of adult sons Matt Downing of Golden, Colo. and Jason (Kristi) Downing of Fairbanks, and the grandmother of Lily and Reilly Downing. She worked as a teacher, health educator, and director of South County Community Services. She served as a commissioner at the Kalamazoo County Road Commission, worked on the 1979 Keep Good Schools for Kids committee and was a member of the Vicksburg Foundation board. She represents South County on the Older Adults Advisory Board and the Michigan State Advisory Council on Aging.
Steve Ellis grew up in Pontiac. He moved to Kalamazoo to attend WMU, graduated and never left the area. He spent 23 years working for the Kalamazoo Gazette, leaving in 2012 to start the local Spark Magazine. While growing up, his family loved to travel and camp. Steve carried on this tradition with his two children. While still working, Steve continues to spend much of his spare time traveling all over Michigan and its surrounding states, searching for interesting and out of the ordinary destinations. Many of these adventures will be chronicled in upcoming editions of the South County News.
Marilyn Jones contributes a poem for publication each month. She is a graduate of Sturgis High School, attended Western Michigan College (now known as WMU) and is a longtime Schoolcraft resident. She retired after 31 years of service to Kalamazoo County State Bank and remains active in community organizations.
Alex Lee lives on Indian Lake in Vicksburg being as retired as interesting projects allow. Lee served in the U.S. Navy in Tokyo, Japan as a morning radio announcer, Lee spent more than two decades as the Executive Director of Communications at Kalamazoo Public Schools. One of Lee’s retirement projects was temporarily serving as Director of Community Engagement in the Village of Vicksburg.
Alyssa McMillan is a junior at Schoolcraft High School and is working towards an English degree. She has been writing for SCN for about a year, happily informing and honoring members of the community. She hopes to use what she learns at school and SCN to further her writing career.
Mike Phillips and his spouse fixed up an old house in the village and moved to Vicksburg in 2021. He likes to write letters, essays, and songs. He has gigged and recorded, and has produced three albums of original music. He is also a columnist for The Lawton Free Reader.
Jef Rietsma has been a contributor to South County News since a happenstance meeting with Sue Moore in 2013. He has been assigned the Vicksburg village and school beats since June 2020. Rietsma, a Jackson County native, lives in Vicksburg and is a teacher at Centreville Elementary School. He also covers St. Joseph County government as a freelance writer for the Sturgis Journal. Rietsma is the father of Jessie, a 2023 Hope College graduate. Rietsma has visited 48 of the 50 states … Delaware and South Dakota are the exceptions.
Phyllis Rose began freelancing while teaching English at Comstock High School. She wrote various articles for the Kalamazoo Gazette including a popular day trip column. She has been published in regional and national magazines. She currently edits the Comstock Public Schools’ Communicator and Comstock Community Center’s Center Point.
David Schriemer grew up in Western Michigan. He met Paula in medical school, trained at University of Virginia, then moved to Vicksburg in 1989. They have three children, their spouses, and one granddaughter. David practiced family medicine in Vicksburg for 35 years which taught him that everyone has a story.
Leeanne Seaver, a wordsmith who’s usually got a camera around her neck, spent 25 years in broadcasting before shifting to writing full-time (www.seavercreative.com). Her passion for local journalism led to her recent book about the history of the newspaper industry, This Writer (with former Associated Press board director Dolph Simons). A VHS alum, Seaver lived and worked in Colorado, Missouri, Virginia, Illinois, and briefly in New Zealand before returning to her Michigan roots in 2012. She studied at the Iowa Writer’s Workshop and has a master’s in Mass Communications from the University of Denver, Colorado.
Travis Smola is a graduate of Western Michigan University and a full-time freelance outdoor journalist. He covers hunting, fishing, and camping primarily. His byline has appeared in Field & Stream, Outdoor Life, Gear Junkie, U.S. News & World Report, Knife Informer, Wide Open Spaces, and Fish Insider. He covers mostly sports for the South County News.
Steve Waldron lives in Schoolcraft with his wife, Kathleen. They have two grown sons, Sam and Jack. Upon graduating from WMU, Steve entered banking and ended his career as a management consultant, retiring from Hewlett Packard. In retirement, he has involved himself in various activities; working with WMed students to improve their communication skills, working with local non-profits, and writing for the South County News.
