No. 6
NEWS YOU CAN USE, NEWS YOU CAN TRUST
75¢
February 9 – 15, 2017
w w w . a s s o c i a t e d n e w s p a p e r s . n e t
The intergovernmental
agreement between the
Wayne and Westland fire
departments ended Feb. 1,
four months ahead of the
contractual expirationdate.
See page 4.
A large group of parents is
expected to descend on
Northville High School this
Saturday to hear a panel of
admission representatives
from colleges and universi-
ties.
See page 5
.
Vol. 132, No. 6
Vol. 70, No. 6
Vol. 70, No. 6
Vol. 17, No. 6
More than 200 residents
filled the Romulus Athletic
Center Jan. 19 to hear Mayor
LeRoy D. Burcroff present
his annual State of the City
address.
See page 3.
Vol. 132, No. 6
Vol. 70, No. 6
Vol. 70, No. 6
For home delivery of The Eagle call 734-467-1900.
The Westland Ordinance
Department has been
renamed the Department of
Neighborhood Services and
will be nowbe led byHassan
Saab.
See page 4.
The B.L.O.C.K. Youth &
Teen Center now has a fully-
functional computer lab
available to teens at the facil-
ity thanks to a donation from
theCanton library.
See page 2.
Vol. 17, No. 6
Inkster Mayor Byron
Nolen presented his annual
State of the City address last
Thursday before a capacity
crowd at the Booker Dozier
RecreationCenter.
See page 3.
Abraham Lincoln and his
wife, MaryToddLincoln, will
celebrate the former presi-
dent's birthday with a lunch
at the Plymouth Historical
Museumthis Sunday.
See page 5.
Belleville officials will
have no lack of approved
candidates for the one full-
time and two part-time posi-
tions open on the police
department.
See page 2.
Candidates for the Canton
Township Board of Review and
the Building Board of Appeals
are currently being sought by
officials.
Recently, members of the
board of trustees failed to
approve the appointments of
Supervisor Pat Williams for the
two boards, commenting that a
wider selection of candidates for
the positionswas needed.
The board members who
voted against approving
Williams' nominated appointees
said that they were not question-
ing the abilities of those nomi-
nated, but rather wanted to
choose from a larger field of
candidates fromthe community.
Board members failed to
approve the reappointment of
Carol Richardson, Anthony
Rosati and James Malinowski to
2-year terms on the Canton
Board of Review by a 5-2 vote.
Trustees Steven Sneideman,
Sommer Foster and Anne Marie
Graham-Hudak, Treasurer Dian
Slavens and Clerk Michael
Siegrist voted against the
appointment, while Trustee
John Anthony and Williams cast
the yes votes.
The same 5-2 vote rejected
the appointment of Darian
Moore, who was unsuccessful in
his bid for a term on the board
last November. Moore was sug-
gested by Williams as an alter-
nate to theBoard of Review.
The trustees also rejected the
appointment of Gianfranco
"John" Palazzolo to a 2-year term
on the Building Board of
Appeals. Williams, Anthony and
Sneideman were in favor of the
appointment while Siegrist,
Slavens, Foster and Graham-
Hudak cast no votes.
The appointment of Sue
Dodson to the Commission for
Culture, Arts and Heritage was
approved with Sneideman and
Graham-Hudak casting no votes.
The only unanimous vote on
suggested appointments came
in favor of naming Foster as the
township representative to the
Commission for Culture, Arts
andHeritage.
Williams suggested that if the
board members were not in
favor of his chosen candidates
for the appointments, they
shouldhelp find others to fill the
vacancies. Williams suggested
that the rejection of the candi-
dates whom he referred to as
"excellent" would require imme-
diate board action as the Board
of Review which hears appeals
of property tax assessments
beginswork nextmonth.
The divided voting appeared
to coincide along political party
lines withWilliams and Anthony
the only remaining Republicans
on the board which has a
Democratic majority since the
November election.
Township residents willing or
interested in serving on the
boards are asked to send a
resume to Amy Hughesdon at
Funeral services took place
last week for well-known, long-
time local businessman John
E. “Jack”Demmer.
Mr. Demmer, 93, died peace-
fully in his home surrounded
by his loved ones Jan. 31, 2017
after a year-long battle with
lymphoma. Mr. Demmer was
the founder and Chief
Executive Officer of the
Demmer Automotive Group,
which includes the iconic Ford
dealership in Wayne, located
on Michigan Avenue West,
almost directly across from the
Ford manufacturing facility.
The automotive group also
includes a Lincoln dealership
and collision shop in
Dearborn.
Mr. Demmer's sons, Bill and
Jim, followed him into the
automotive sales business, as
he followed his own father,
Charles Joseph Demmer. Mr.
Demmer's granddaughter,
Jackie Demmer, now manages
the Dearborn Lincoln dealer-
ship.
Mr. Demmer's dealerships
are among the largest automo-
tive sellers in the nation and
until just a few weeks before
his death, he was on site, work-
ing, according tohis family.
Mr. Demmer sold his first
car at the age of 16 working on
his father's used car lot on
Livernois in Detroit. His father
opened the car lot in 1938 after
selling used cars fromthe fami-
ly home on 14th Street for sev-
eral years. While at that fledg-
ling enterprise, the Demmers,
father and son, woulddrain the
radiators of the cars for sale
beginning in October because
there was so little business
during thewintermonths.
When his father opened the
Livernois lot, Mr. Demmer, an
only child, would work there
after attending school, having
been working with cars since
he was 13. He did whatever
jobs needed to be done around
the lot, and often said he was
proud to be able to change a
set of tires between two cars,
and lube the cars in under a
half hour, without power tools
or ahoist.
He sold his first car fromhis
father's lot, a 1935 Ford Coupe,
for $135 which resulted in a
profit of $7.50.
For some time, Mr. Demmer
and the bookkeeper were the
only salespeople at the lot and
one of his strongest memories
came on Feb. 14, 1939, when
the lot actually sold out of cars.
Mr. Demmer enlisted in the
United States Navy during
World War II. When he
returned frommilitary service,
he resumed his career at his
father's used car lot while he
attended Wayne State
University.
While in college, Mr.
Demmer met his future wife,
Margaret, whom he married in
1948. In 1951, the couple
Area mourns death of Jack Demmer
John E. “Jack” Demmer
See
Demmer,
page 4
Williams suggested that if the board members
were not in favor of his chosen
candidates for the appointments, they
should help find others to fill the vacancies.
”
Trustees reject supervisor’s appointments
Taking the LEAD
Romulus team participates
in national business workshop
Nia Pittman joined an elite
group of students last summer
and came away with some
pretty specialized information.
Pittman, a senior at
Romulus High School, partici-
pated
in
the
LEAD
(LEADership, Education and
Development) business classes
at Fuqua School of Business at
Duke University in Durham,
NC. Pittman was among the
highly selective class of 30 11th
grade students from 14 states
selected to participate in the
program. Pittman was the only
student from Michigan select-
ed.
The LEAD program has
partnered with leading U.S.
corporations, universities and
government agencies to men-
tor and influence high-poten-
tial students fromdiverse back-
grounds to pursue careers in
business since 1980. To date,
more than 10,000 scholars have
participated in summer pro-
grams at universities across
the country including the
University of Michigan,
Northwestern, University of
Pennsylvania, Duke University,
Emory University, New York
University and Lehigh
University.
During the 2-3 week pro-
gram, students receive hands-
on instruction in business and
have an opportunity to interact
with executives at top corpora-
tions. Pittman was immersed
in campus life during the class-
es and was able to participate
in a variety of cultural activi-
ties.
Highlights for Pittman, she
said, included meeting world-
renowned Duke University
basketball coach, “Coach K”,
Mike Krzyzewski, at Cameron
Indoor Stadiumand participat-
ing in a business competition
during which her team tied for
first place, for their business
plan to launch new product,
“Last Resort”, wearable tech-
nology in the form of a safety
bracelet, watch and necklace
for teens. She said the team-
building at Triangle Training
Center in Pittsboro, NC was
also a favorite activity.
“What I liked themost about
LEAD was the experience
itself, the diversity, and the
relationships. I went to LEAD
expecting to stay to myself for
three weeks but I made friend-
ships that I know will last for
the rest ofmy life.
“I learned so much about
business and entrepreneur-
ship. We got the chance to lis-
ten to many different speakers
who gave us very valuable
information that I can take and
use for the rest of my career,”
Pittman said.
Pittman said she was proud
of her business team's winning
business idea and successful
presentation.
“I learned what it was like
to really work with a team on a
plan where everyone had dif-
ferent ideas, positions and
roles but we had to come
together to finish our plan and
be successful,” she said.
As for meeting the famous
basketball coach?
“It was very nice to meet
Coach K. He gave us advice on
what it's like to work as a team
and how during one particular
season the team was at its low-
est point and was able to over-
come and take the victory. He
was able to tie that back into
real life and what we were
going to face working as a team
whilewewere at LEAD.”
Pittman learned about
LEAD from Linda Denham,
Romulus High School liaison
for Junior Achievement of
Southeastern Michigan and
See
Student,
page 6
Romulus senior Nia Pittman displays her LEAD trophy, awarded
for her participation in a national business workshop for stu-
dents.
