Jamie, with her son, Jason Lingle, Lance Cpl U.S. Marine Corps 08.MAY.08 In honor of Mother's Day, the Benton Spirit is pleased to offer this letter from Jason Lingle, written as a tribute to the sacrifices that his mother made on behalf of himself and his brother. [read MORE]

Samella, mother of Princella By Princella Tobias Publisher/Benton Spirit Most, if not all, of us will proclaim that our mother is the best mother in the world. And, we are all right! I am pleased to tell you about my special mother, Samella. First, I must apologize to her, because she will be livid that I am putting her picture and talking about her in the paper, she has always been against this. I won’t say the devil made me do it, but my strong love for you made me do it. So, please accept my apology, mother. As the first child, and a baby girl, my family too thought I was their little princess. Accordingly, they took the name “princess” and joined it with my mother’s name “Samella” and hence, Princella. My mother is such a creative little genius. [read MORE]

“The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight, but has no vision.”--Helen Keller

Second Annual Youth-in-Government Benefit Banquet
“Fulfilling the Vision”

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Sammie Smith Investment Center, 301 Martin Luther King Drive
Benton Harbor, Michigan

The following are reasons why you should attend this banquet:

“One thing I like about Youth-In-Government is that it gave youth the opportunity to voice their opinions and let our adults in the community know that we are more than just young people, but people with dreams and hopes, and more importantly, their future. All it takes, is an opportunity, such as the one that youth-in-government provides, to let them know we are here and we are ready and willing to prepare the pathway for the future of our community." --Ricardo Moore, Youth-in-Government member

"My hope is that the Youth in Government program will teach our High School students to participate and learn to lead in their community. They can set goals for themselves and strive to reach those goals while helping fellow students do the same. They can do this by interacting with peers, adults, community leaders and elected officials.

Hopefully the students will attend local and state government meetings and learn to participate in the process by volunteering in any number of ways and eventually growing into elected leaders themselves.
--State Senator Ron Jelinek (MI-R)


Click here to read more about the "Fulfulling the Vision" Banquet.