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No. 22
NEWS YOU CAN USE, NEWS YOU CAN TRUST
75¢
May 31 - June 6, 2012
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 Wayne City Council is
set to approve a budget for the
2012-2013 fiscal year that will
bolster the fund balance, but
they'll require more money
fromresidents to do it.
See page 5.
Greater Romulus Chamber
of Commerce selected
Johnston Lithograph, Inc. as
the chamber Member of the
Month forMay.
See page 4.
Nationally renowned artist
Tony R?K?, a Plymouth resi-
dent, will be exhibiting his
work at a Birmingham gallery
next week, but this time he
had a little help in the creative
process.
See page 3.
Dancing Eye Gallery will be
showcasing local fabric artist
Melinda Curtis during the Art
Walk beginning at 6:30 tomor-
row evening in downtown
Northville.
See page 3.
Belleville
Downtown
Development Authority mem-
bers have unanimously agreed
to spend $65,090 for the instal-
lation of 146 replacement light
fixtures in the downtown area.
See page 4.
Vol. 127, No. 22
Vol. 65, No. 22
Vol. 65, No. 22
Vol. 12, No. 22
Vol. 12, No. 22
Vol. 127, No. 22
Vol. 65, No. 22
Vol. 65, No. 22
Both the Inkster and
Garden City district courts
have been sued by a former
court administrator who
claims she was fired for as a
result of charges against her
boss.
See page 5.
For home delivery of The Eagle call 734-467-1900.
A lawsuit filed by the
Teamsters Union seeking
more than $80,000 from a
Westland retiree was recently
dismissed in Wayne County
Circuit Court.
See page 5.
Plymouth Township fire fighters faced some
extraordinary obstacles during an early-morning
house fire last week as equipment failures
plagued their efforts.
The fire started in the basement of a home on
Dogwood Court in the Lake Pointe subdivision.
Homeowner David Mills said a telephone call
from his home alarm company woke him from a
sound sleep and alertedhimto the danger.
Mills said he and his wife were sleeping
upstairs when the call came from his alarm com-
pany at about 3 a.m. informing him that the fire
department had been notified and advising him
to get out of the home. The alarm company had
received a signal from his basement smoke
alarm, Mills said, although he never heard any
warning.
Mills, his wife, Cathleen, and family dog were
able to get outside, but another family dog who
wasn't allowed upstairs could not be found. The
911 dispatcher who called the Mills home after
being notified by the alarm company repeatedly
advised them to leave the house immediately
without the pet, which was later found and res-
cuedby a fireman at the scene.
With only four firefighters on duty at the two
remaining open stations in Plymouth Township,
fire personnel immediately notified the
Northville Township Fire Department and
requested help. Both Plymouth Township sta-
tions are several miles from the Lake Pointe sub-
division where the fire station was recently
closed as a cost-cuttingmeasure.
En route from the Beck Road station, the
brakes on one 20-year-old Plymouth Township
fire engine failed, making the drive to the fire
scene treacherous. JohnWerth, director of public
safety for Northville Township, said seven of his
firefighters were dispatched to supplement the
three Plymouth Township firefighters who were
already at the scene immediately after they were
notified of the situation.
Werth, who had received a report from his
lieutenant that the delay of the second Plymouth
Township engine was due to a brake failure, said
it was several minutes after his units arrived that
This year area runners will
attempt to set a for the largest
assembly of runners to dress
like the Statue of Liberty in
one locationduring theCanton
LibertyFestival.
See page 4.
See
Fire,
page 2
En route from the Beck Road station,
the brakes on one 20-year-old
Plymouth Township fire engine failed,
making the drive to the
fire scene treacherous.
”
Breakdowns, staffing hamper fire response
Cathy Lynn (Stromme) Horste,
66, of Van Buren Township died
May 21, 2012 following a coura-
geous battle with multiple ill-
nesses.
Mrs. Horste was well-known
throughout the area as a histori-
an, author and active member of
the community.
She was born May 6, 1946 in
Wayne, the daughter of the late
RuthMartha andMelvinEdward
Stromme.
Mrs. Horste had a sense of
civic activism demonstrated by
the great number of projects,
clubs, and volunteer activities in
which she participated. During
the 1970s, she served on the gov-
erning body of The Number, a
telephone crisis line with
emphasis on teenage problems.
She held offices with theGeneral
Federation of Womens Clubs
(GFWC),including serving as
president of the GFWCBelleville
Junior Study Club, the GFWC
Belleville Intermediate Study
Club, and the Southeast District
President of the Michigan
GFWC. As a project for the local
GFWC club, she organized more
than one candidates night for
local Van Buren Township elec-
tions, and spearheaded the club's
efforts for three historical mark-
ers, which are still located in the
area. In 1983, she and Diane
Wilson wrote “Joining Together, a
History of the Michigan
Federation of Junior Women's
Clubs”.
Mrs. Horste had a great inter-
est in local history, and she and
Diane Wilson also wrote “Water
Under the Bridge - A History of
Van Buren Township”. After
which she was officially named
Van Buren Township Historian.
Mrs. Horste was the organizing
president of the first Belleville
Area Historical Society. At one
time, she was cemetery sexton
for Van Buren Township. At the
time of her demise, she was
chairperson for the Van Buren
Township Cemetery Advisory
Committee. She wrote three his-
torical presentations for tours of
cemeteries in Van Buren and
Sumpter townships and two have
already beenperformed.
Mrs. Horste was the last per-
son elected as Constable of Van
Buren Township. She also broke
ground by becoming the first
woman police officer for Van
Buren Township. She retired
from a proud career as a Senior
U.S. Customs inspector which
served as background for her
book about the history of customs
offices in Michigan titled
“Collector of Customs, Port of
Detroit - The First Two Hundred
Years”. She was also known for
her love of roses and she had
more than 120 bushes, and for
her love of animals, including the
six adopted cats she leaves
behind.
Her parents preceded her in
death, as did her first husband,
Robert JosephHorste. She is sur-
vived by her husband, David
Horste; her only child, Angelle
Madelaine Horste, and her sister,
ChristineKurtz.
Interment was at the Otisville
Cemetery following funeral serv-
ices at David C. Brown Funeral
Home inBelleville last Saturday.
Memorial contributions may
be given to either The Trevor
Project or the Michigan Humane
Society.
Area mourns death of Cathy Horste, 66
Students help restore historic cemetery, Romulus
Cathy Horste
Some of the oldest headstones
in historic Romulus Memorial
Cemetery received a good clean-
ing thanks to the efforts of volun-
teers fromoutside the city.
Representatives of the Sacred
Spaces Gravestone Restoration
company inRomeo offered to help
after seeing a newspaper article
about the efforts of the Romulus
Memorial Cemetery Board of
Trustees tomake improvements at
the cemetery.
They met cemetery and city
representatives at the cemetery
recently along with 25 eighth-
graders, two teachers and a parent
from Norup International School
from the Berkley School District.
The young people volunteered for
the assignment as part of their
annual Legacy Day in which they
give back to the community.
With guidance from Sacred
Spaces owners and sisters Andrea
Klinken and Laura Ghedotte, the
young volunteers, working in small
groups, poured a mixture of
ammonia and water onto historic
and military headstones - some of
which were hardly readable - and
used brushes to remove decades
of aging. Many of the headstones
needed extra care because they
were “fragile and delicate,”
Ghedotte said.
The clean-up took about three
hours. The results were impres-
sive, according to Jan Lemmon,
chairwoman of the cemetery
board, who took before and after
photos of theheadstones.
“They did a wonderful job,”
Lemmon said. “They worked their
hearts out. The difference is night
andday.”
Klinken said she and her sister
were “honored” to participate in
the restoration project. She said
Romulus has a “beautiful ceme-
tery with a lot of history,” adding
that the restoration process helps
maintain respect for the persons
buried in the cemetery, including
manymilitary veterans.
“Every single time we do this,
it's an honor,” she said. “That's
what drives us.”
Ghedotte said Sacred Spaces
See
Cemetery,
page 2
Mrs. Horste
was the
organizing
president
of the first
Belleville Area
Historical Society.
”
Eighth-grade students from Norup International School in the Berkley School District and other volunteers
scrub headstones in the Romulus Memorial Cemetery in a clean-up effort.