State Roundup

Grand Rapids
Montcalm County sheriff ends 24-hour patrols
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — Montcalm County Sheriff officials say significant budget cuts have caused the west Michigan department to end around-the-clock patrols.
Sheriff William Barnwell says Monday the cuts mark the first time in his 38 years with the department that deputies have not staffed 24-hour shifts.
The county faces a $733,000 deficit and is cutting $345,000 from the Sheriff’s Department’s budget. The cuts took effect Monday.
Barnewell tells MLive.com he is “very concerned” about the impact the cuts will have on public safety.
Barnwell says he will work with local and state police to cover gaps, but it is becoming much more difficult with fewer police officers on duty.
A 0.6-mill proposal that would generate about $971,000 a year for two years is on the Nov. 6 ballot.

Detroit
Monroe County father, son face prison in pot case
DETROIT (AP) — Federal prosecutors are seeking many years in prison for a Monroe County father and his son who were convicted of growing marijuana in greenhouses.
Gerald Duval Jr. and son Jeremy Duval are returning Monday to Detroit federal court. The government says they “shamelessly exploited” Michigan’s medical marijuana law to try to get around a federal ban on pot.
Prosecutors are recommending nearly 16 years in prison for the elder Duval and 14 years for his son. The greenhouses on Ida Center Road in Monroe County were approximately 100 feet long and 50 feet wide.
The Duvals admit they were growing marijuana but insist it was for medicinal use under Michigan law. Jeremy Duval says he thought the large operation was protected.

Monroe
Ohio prisoner charged in 3 1972 Michigan killings
MONROE, Mich. (AP) — An Ohio prison inmate has been charged with three counts of murder for a 1992 killing spree in southeastern Michigan.
The Monroe Evening News reports that 68-year-old Laurence F. Lamont is accused with another man of abducting three men at stores in Michigan and Ohio and killing them in Monroe County, Mich.
Lamont has been in prison in Ohio for other crimes in the same crime spree. He came up for parole consideration but was denied release last month after pressure from the victims’ families.
The new charges involve the abduction and killings of 36-year-old Frank Welzbacher of Sylvania, Ohio; Earl R. Ludlow of Temperance, Mich.; and 23-year-old Joseph Satcher of Toledo, Ohio.
Another suspect in the killings died in prison without being charged.