A
SSOCIATED
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EWSPAPERS OF
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ICHIGAN
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AGE
2
August 13, 2015
Newcomer leads vote
totals in city election
Red Shield race planned
Plymouth Community United Way offers Elder Law series
P
LYMOUTH
Voters in the City of Plymouth
reduced the field of candidates
for city commission from nine to
eight last week during the pri-
mary election.
In her first bid for elected
office, Suzanne Deal received
the top number of votes in the
Aug. 4 balloting. Deal's 524 votes
will ensure her spot on the Nov.
3 general election ballot when
voters in will choose four mem-
bers of the city commission from
the top candidates voters select-
ed.
Incumbent commissioners
took the second, third and fourth
highest vote totals. The second
highest vote total of 476 was
received
by
incumbent
Commissioner Mike Wright who
is seeking his third term.
Incumbent Commissioner
Colleen Pobur, who was appoint-
ed last year to fill a vacancy on
the commission and who also
previously served two elected
terms, garnered a total of 461
votes and incumbent Daniel
Dalton collected 397 votes.
Challengers took the remain-
ing four spots on the ballot. Ed
Krol received 235 votes, Robert
Jablonski received 228 votes,
Charlie Gabeart received 212
votes and Jack Wilson collected
196 votes which will place their
names before City of Plymouth
voters inNovember.
Eliminated from contention
by only three votes was Thomas
Guina who received a total of
193 votes.
The top three vote getters in
November will serve 4-year
terms and the candidate with
the fourth highest total will be
elected to a 2-year term. They
will serve alongside current
Commissioners Dan Dwyer,
Diane Bogenrieder and Oliver
Wolcott who won election to 4-
year terms in 2013.
Only 860, or 11.5 percent, of
the 7,481 registered voters in the
city cast ballots last week.
Get out your hogs, put on
your helmets and get ready to
ride in The Salvation Army
“Ride for the Red Shield”
motorcycle fundraiser on
Saturday, Aug. 22 starting at The
Salvation Army of Plymouth,
9451 South Main St. in
Plymouth.
Registration begins at 9:30
a.m. with a continental break-
fast for all riders and their pas-
sengers.
Registered riders will depart
fromPlymouth at 11 a.m. escort-
ed by the Wayne County Sheriff
MotorcycleUnit.
Attendeeswill take a break at
the Dearborn Public Schools
Career Center in Dearborn
Heights before continuing the
ride to Wyandotte. A barbeque
lunch will be provided in
ExchangePark.
The event is $25 for motorcy-
clists and $15 for passengers.
Each rider and passenger will
receive an event t-shirt. “Ride
for theRedShield”
For more information, or to
register, contact Sandy
Kollinger at (734) 453-5464 ext.
24 or Janice Quick at (734) 282-
0930 ext. 100.
ing, said Schaefer was ordered
to answer questions during an
Aug. 8, 2013 meeting with attor-
neys representing the township
in a wrongful termination law-
suit. During that meeting,
Schaefer candidly responded to
questions and stated that
Tiderington's decision to extend
the probationary period of Ofc.
Brittany DeFrain was contrary
to established Field Training
Officer procedures. Schaefer
was DeFrain's Field Training
Officer and she reported to him.
DeFrain resigned from the
department rather than accept
the extended probation, and
claimed in a discrimination law-
suit that the extended probation
was based solely on her admit-
ted sexual relationship with
another married officer in the
department.
Schaefer was never formally
deposed in the DeFrain case,
and according to court filings,
did not receive any direction
from Tiderington or the town-
ship attorneys regarding any-
thing he should or should not do
in connectionwith the lawsuit in
which DeFrain alleged that sex-
ual liaisons within the depart-
ment were commonplace and
accepted by supervisors and
that no male officers involved in
such relations were disciplined.
Township attorneys reached a
reported $50,000 out-of-court
cash settlement with DeFrain in
her suit.
Stefani, in a legal brief which
contains salacious details of
multiple sexual liaisons and
claims of police officers sleep-
ing, reading, going home or
doing errands while on duty, is
critical of what is described as,
“the relaxed culture of the
police department under
Tiderington.”
Calling the investigation of
Schaefer's conduct a “witch-
hunt” in light of the widespread
and accepted violations of
departmental rules, the brief
claims Schaefer's termination
was not due to misconduct and
neglect of duty as the township
alleges, but because of the con-
versation he had with attorneys
representing the township in the
DeFrain case. It reads, “Despite
the frequent, and sometimes
blatant, rules violations occur-
ring under his command,
Tiderington rarely investigated
or disciplined officers.”
“The Chief's treatment of
Schaefer became immediately
accusatory and hostile after he
was advised about Schaefer's
comments (regarding extending
DeFrain's probation).”
“Schaefer, who was in charge
of the field training program,
was asked whether her
(DeFrain's) probation should
have been extended and he said
'No',” Stefani said.
“He was asked whether other
members of the department had
been involved in romantic rela-
tionships and he named three
others, all who were not disci-
plined…. One couple who were
named by Schaefer are now
married to each other,” Stefani
added.
Laura Amtsbuechler of
Johnson Rosati Schultz and
Joppich was the attorney repre-
senting the township in the
DeFrain case. In her deposition
in the Schaefer case, she said
she “can't remember” where
she was, which “phone she was
on” or anything else about her
conversation with Tiderington
after talking to Schaefer but can
distinctly and positively remem-
ber she didn't tell him what
Schaefer said.
Stefani remarked that he
thought the statements in the
township court filings for a sum-
mary disposition describing
Schaefer's conversation with
Amtsbuechler as “a brief,
insignificant conversation,” was
“pure bull.”
Township attorneys cited
numerous
instances
of
Schaefer's leaving duty to go to
his Livonia home or to his fit-
ness center to work while on
duty. They claimed in their fil-
ings that he had repeatedly
admitted multiple violations of
departmental rules during his
deposition and that the town-
ship was, therefore, within the
law to terminate his employ-
ment.
“Yes, Schaefer violated some
department rules to care for his
sick wife but his termination
didn't fit the violations cited,”
Stefani said.
“Tiderington was in a retire-
ment mode, he overlooked a lot
of things.”
Suit
FROM PAGE 1
A four-week elder law series
presented by attorney Gary Allen
is being offered by the Plymouth
Community United Way and the
Plymouth Community Council on
Aging. The four part series
includes: Tuesday, Sept. 1, Estate
Planning; Tuesday, Sept. 8,
Outliving your Assets; Tuesday,
Sept. 22, Retirement Accounts
(IRA, 401k, 403b, etc.) and
Tuesday, Sept. 29, Taxes
Each topic will be presented at
10:30 a.m. until noon and from
6:30- 8 p.m. at PlymouthTownship
Hall, 9955N. HaggertyRoad.
Reserve space now by calling
(734) 453-6879, ext. 7.
