The following was submitted by The View staff reporter Jerry LaVaute:

You never really know where the next interesting story assignment may appear.

In some cases, standard recurring meeting-type assignments may turn out to be fascinating: the introduction of the medical marijuana issue to Van Buren Township where I live, for example, or the recent $55,000 settlement with the Frankling family regarding a long-standing lawsuit against the township.

Or a story that breaks suddenly after months in gestation, like the $457,500 legal settlement between the township and former VBT Public Safety Director Jerry Champagne.

I learned early on a Friday afternoon that the document that I had FOIA’ed had become available, and morphed from running errands with my wife to picking up the data at the township, getting it home, reading it, and turning it around into a story that was posted online within about two hours of my learning that the document was available.

But the story assignments that continue to provide the most personal satisfaction are the feature stories about people in my community. And I’ve got a couple good ones coming up:

Later today, I will interview a retired Van Buren Public Schools teacher who has raised and sold Old English sheepdogs from her home in Ypsilanti Township for over a decade.

On her website, she says that the adults and puppies live with her in her home. “This breed,” she says, “wants to be with you all the time.” She goes on to tell an amusing story about the dogs joining her in her van for an errand to the bank.

Suffice to say that my visit to her home later today will be interesting. I wonder if I should have worn my old clothes. I expect to see some happy, lively dogs. Not that I’m a stranger to this – I have three dogs of my own.

The other feature story assignment that I’m looking forward to is an interview with Kyle Oberdorf, a Belleville High School alumnus. Currently, I’m planning to sit down to talk with him tomorrow.

Kyle is attending college, and as I understand it, he’s majoring in construction. He was fortunate to get a position as a summer intern with the contractor who is rebuilding much of Belleville High School.

I’ve developed a bunch of questions for him, and I look forward to sharing his story with you.