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Thunder rolled into Belleville
last month with the annual
Memorial Day services accompa-
nied by a charity motorcycle ride.
There were parades in several com-
munities throughout the area, mark-
ing the day of remembrance.
Soon, believe it or not, the
Strawberry Festival will be under
way in Belleville, the Liberty Fest
will begin in Canton Township,
Fourth of July parades will step off
inNorthville andPlymouth followed
by the Art in the Park city-wide
event in Plymouth, Arts and Acts in
Northville and festivals throughout
the area.
While these festivals and events
each attract various-sized crowds,
one as many to 50,000 visitors from
across the state, they have one thing
in common. The community volun-
teers who work so diligently behind
the scenes, organizing, clerking, pub-
licizing and doing the uncountable
and never-ending tasks associated
with bringing events like this into a
community.
Visitors flock to the events, taking
for granted there will be seating
where it is needed, trash cans, clean
streets, a police and security pres-
ence on the streets, that booths will
be where they are supposed to be,
traffic correctly flowing to protect
exhibitors and visitors alike, guides
with information available, parade
floats lined up and all the other
intangibles that make the event
seem organized and enjoyable
rather than a scene of chaos.
Many of these volunteers have
worked the same events for years,
some for decades, and they take on
the three or four days of having their
lives and schedules disrupted in
stride. They have fun, they say, par-
ticipating in whichever event or fes-
tival they work with, but the fact
remains that these people are volun-
teers. They don't get paid for taking
on some pretty serious and strenu-
ous jobs and responsibilities.
A
SSOCIATED
N
EWSPAPERS OF
M
ICHIGAN
P
AGE
6
June 7, 2012
Some guys just can't catch a
break.
Poor Mitt Romney, now Donald
Trump has endorsed him for presi-
dent.
As if poor Mitt didn't have
enough trouble with his image,
now he's got this to worry about.
Let's face it, an endorsement of
anything from Trump is usually
met with an eyeroll and a shrug by
anyone with an IQ that exceeds
their age.
Along with his endorsement,
Trump has also reanimated the
Frankenstein-like corpse of his big
political conspiracy issue of where
our current president was born.
Yep, he's attempting to pump life
back into that dead horse after
making statements about how
“proud” of himself he was for final-
ly getting that issue settled several
months ago. Now, just for giggles
and because the poor hat rack can't
find a legitimate issue to bloviate
about, he's back to beating this for-
mer drum which he already said,
publicly and on the record, had
been proved false. Thanks to him,
of course.
Poor guy. We can only hope the
doctors get his dosage leveled out
quickly so he stops embarrassing
himself, andus.
I mean, I am really starting to
worry about him. It isn't often one
sees such a case of egomentia
devolve in the public eye like this.
The hair should have been a clue, I
guess.
Mitt does have my sympathy,
though. Here he is, desperately in
need of whatever funds he can find
to continue his campaign, so he has
to put up with this doofus and
smile. Otherwise he might have to
use more of the interest on his own
money to pay for all those anti-
socialism ads. Shows you just how
insincere and disingenuous poli-
tics can be, eh? There is even a
rumor that Trumptydumpty wants
to be vice president, but I discount
that. His ego wouldn't fit in the
Naval Observatory where the VP
resides in D.C. and even if it did,
he'd want to coat the place in gold
gilt which, as we have all seen from
his former decorating excesses, is
just tacky. And nobody wants to see
70-foot high neon letters spelling
out his name on the top of the
Washington monument. Well,
nobody but him, anyway.
But Trump's
endorsement of
Mitt will proba-
bly play well
with other multi-billionaires who
may have been undecided about
voting for Romney. Perhaps that's
the real angle Mitt was going for,
attempting to lure that key demo-
graphic into his camp. Now that
Trump, who purports to be among
their infinitesimal number, has
showered his attention and sup-
port on Mitt, well, the other six or
eight of them are sure to follow
along. Maybe they will even chip in
to buy him some of that special
Mormon underwear that protects
these true believers from the devil.
(Hey, I'm not kidding. They wear it,
they believe in it, look it up.)
Closer to home, I'm also worried
about everybody's favorite
Republican
Congressman
ThaddeusMcCotter.
Last month, throughout the area, police officers and fire
fighters were honored in several communities as Officers of
theYear.
The stories of the actions of many of thesemen could have
been lifted from the pages of movie scripts. These men and
women exude heroism while remaining down to earth and
unassuming about what they do. “It's the job, that's what we
do,” they almost all repeat like a mantra when asked about
their actions saving lives and putting their own safety directly
inharmsway.
Three officers in Westland were recently chosen for hon-
ors from the state for their life saving actions during a house
fire. These three entered a smoke-filledhousewithno visibil-
ity to help a bedridden woman in her 80s escape. The acrid,
black smokewas so thick, the three officers, who did not have
breathing apparatus, had to leave the home so they could
clear their heads and lungs before they turned around and
went back into the toxic smoke and carried thewoman out.
She thinks they areheroes.
In Plymouth, two police officers went into a smoking
three-story condominium building last year, without equip-
ment, and fought their way down smoke-filled hallways, feel-
ing along the floor and walls for doorways to warn residents
of a 3 a.m. blaze in the building. They had to physically break
down doors to get to sleeping residents, many of whom were
senior citizens, tohelp themout of the building.
One woman who was carried to safety from a second-floor
balcony by Plymouth Township Fire Fighters wrote to say
that she knows these men saved her life. In a letter to
PlymouthTownshipFire ChiefMarkWendel shewrote about
the horror of the experience and her gratitude to the men
who broke down her door and carried her down a ladder
fromher balcony to safety.
“I am very appreciative and pray for your safety always,”
she wrote in her letter thanking the Plymouth Township fire
fighterswho savedher life.
There are stories like this almost every day from nearly
every community. These police and fire officers pull people
from car crashes, they tend to medical emergencies includ-
ing falls, accidents, drug overdoses, seizures…they've seen it
all. And invariably, they provided help to the victim, to the
family, to onlookers by the very nature of their presence at
the scene.
These fire fighters and police officers put themselves
between citizens and danger every day. These men and
women don't know when a routine traffic stop will turn into
an assassination attempt. They don't know when a fire call
will require them to put their own lives on the line to save
others.
These people have to fear theworst in every situation they
encounter, no matter how innocent the call may seem,
because the price of carelessness is often injury or death.
We think, too often, the hero worship lauded on actors,
sports stars, pseudo-wrestlers anddrugged out rock singers is
misplaced.
The real heroes are at the local police and fire stations.
When crisis strikes and you or your family need them, you'll
agree.
Volunteers
deserve
our thanks
”
Neighborhood heroes have earned honors
These people have to fear the worst in every
situation they encounter, no matter how innocent
the call may seem, because the price of
carelessness is often injury or death.
See
Trump,
page 7
See
Volunteers,
page 7
Poor guy. We can only hope the
doctors get his dosage leveled
out quickly so he stops
embarrassing himself, and us.
”
The Democrats simply can’t ‘Trump’ this
Letters
War anniversary marked
To the editor:
Unemployedworkers take to the
streets and unite with students in a
teeming capital city. Through sheer
numbers they overthrow a corrupt
dictator with relatively little blood-
shed. But organizing a functioning
democracy proves impossible,
when a committed cadre seizes the
momentum of revolution. Terror
reigns as old scores are settled and
the once powerless extract their
bloody revenge. Out of this chaos a
leader emerges who turns the
nation from civil war with a prom-
ise of world domination.
Awakening a slumbering national-
ism, he will plunge Western civi-
lization into a generation of war.
This is neither a vision of Arab
Spring gone wrong, nor the birth of
Soviet communism. Rather it's the
opening chapter of a conflict that
will ensnare the United States, a
struggling republic thousands of
miles fromthe epicenter of war.
The War of 1812, as we call our
chapter of the Napoleonic Wars,
had no such dramatic beginning.
Instead, Americans endured two
decades of insults from the Old
World powers. On the high seas,
American ships were stopped, car-
goes pirated, and sailors abducted
into the service of foreign navies.
West of the Appalachians, the
British maintained a frontier pres-
ence despite treaty promises at the
end of theAmericanRevolution.
The patience that was borne out
of a realistic assessment of
Americanweaknesswas eventually
overtaken by a surge of national
pride. Many of her earliest immi-
grants had sought a religious
haven, and later generations
lookedupon theirmoral andmone-
tary success as evidence of a spe-
cial destiny. Others came seeking
opportunity, which always lay over
the horizon. Eventually, this imper-
ative would be called Manifest
Destiny. But by 1812, this vision
was hindered by a British alliance
with Native American nations
inhabiting lands the settlers sought.
Michigan would be the first bat-
tleground of this "forgotten" war.
On Sunday, June 24, Mill Race
Village will be one of the sites com-
See
Letters,
page 7