No. 33
NEWS YOU CAN USE, NEWS YOU CAN TRUST
75¢
August 16 – 22, 2018
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
Wayne voters were strong-
ly in favor of their local com-
munity library last week,
casting 1,907 votes in favor of
a 10-year, 1-mill tax to sup-
port the facility.
See page 2.
Members
of
the
Northville
Board
of
Education have unanimous-
ly approved the promotion of
Deagon M. Jewett as new
principal at Thornton Creek
elementary School.
See page 4.
Vol. 133, No. 33
Vol. 71, No. 33
Vol. 71, No. 33
Vol. 18, No. 33
A deceased Medal of
Honor recipient will finally
get his deserved recognition
at a special ceremony at 6
p.m. Aug. 23 at the Romulus
Memorial Cemetery.
See page 3.
Vol. 133, No. 33
Vol. 71, No. 33
Vol. 71, No. 33
For home delivery of The Eagle call 734-467-1900.
Uber Eats, the online
food ordering and delivery
platform launched by Uber
in 2014, is now available in
Westland.
See page 2.
The Michigan Shake-
speare Festival at The
Village Theatre at Cherry
Hill will continue for only
another twoweeks.
See page 5.
Vol. 18, No. 16
Adventist Community
Services will present a
health fair from noon until 6
p.m. Sunday, Aug. 19 at
American International
Academy, 27100 Avondale St.
in Inkster.
See page 3.
Mary Beth Leininger,
DVM, a veterinarian for
more than five decades and
the first woman president of
the American Veterinary
Medical Association (AVMA)
has been named as the sev-
enth
#Germinder20
#PowerofPinkHonoree.
See page 5.
A 19-year-old Belleville
man is facing criminal
charges in a hit and run acci-
dent that injured a Detroit
Police officer onAug. 4.
See page 4.
Canton Township Supervisor
Pat Williams is pleased voters
spoke Aug. 7 on a 1.45-mill road
tax to upgrade roads within his
township.
“I'm happy that the residents
of Canton gave us clear direction
to move forward,” Williams said
the morning following primary
Election Day. “I'm happy our
direction is clear.”
The millage for road
upgrades was OK'd by 56.05 per-
cent (11,799) yes votes to 43.95
percent (9,252) against. Williams
is pleased both with record
turnout, seen throughout
Michigan in the Aug. 7 primary,
andwith hardwork done to edu-
cate local voters.
He credited the factual, infor-
mational approach township
officials took and said it helped
a great deal.
“Absolutely. It was crucial to
the success. The Canton
Township team, they really
stepped up. They worked togeth-
er on many different levels. I
think that contributed to the
record turnout.”
Williams also noted the short
span of time available to edu-
cate Canton voters about the
issue.
Williams cautioned that road
improvement planning is under
way in Canton, and has been for
years, but “These things are not
going to happen overnight. We
are going to be successful but it's
not going to be overnight. This is
truly a 20-year plan.”
He noted ongoing planning,
including the need to acquire
rights of way to widen roads and
make them safer. Canton
Township has had ongoing
efforts in particular to make
heavily traveled Ford Road
safer, looking into a boulevard
design to reduce speeds and
crashes.
Canton Municipal Services
and finance/budget directors are
sitting with Williams now on
plans, with a Board of Trustees
study session on tap in the next
fewmonths.
Williams noted Ford Road
Boulevard plans have a three-to
We are going to be successful
but it's not going to be overnight.
This is truly a 20-year plan.
”
See
Millage,
page 5
AnneMannisto has found a career that suits
her life long enthusiasm.
Mannisto is the director at the Northville
District Library, a job she says suits her per-
fectly.
“I got a job in a library and I fell in love with
being in a library,” said Mannisto from her
office at the library on Cady Street south of
Main indowntownNorthville.
She started at what was then the Northville
Public Library as the director when it was
smaller and not yet in “district library” gover-
nance. She was later a department head at the
Southfield Public Library, and came back as
Northville District Library assistant director in
1997.
Mannisto, a Northville resident who likes
her short commute, is now director as an inter-
im following Julie (Herrin) LaLiberte's retire-
ment as the Northville library director.
Mannisto's said she plans to stay until January
2019 andwill then retire.
“It's a time of great change,” Mannisto said,
noting a construction project close to comple-
tion. “To have some continuity (and not) have
the top two people leave” during the construc-
tionphasewas advised.
“We're just changing awhole lot,” she said of
the addition that includes a new conference
room, two study rooms and a redo of the staff
work room. “It's a time of great flux.”
She holds amaster of library science degree
from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
along with a bachelor's degree in English from
theUniversity of Pennsylvania inPhiladelphia.
“Nothing was online then,” she recalled of
her early career. “I put the first computers in
the (Northville) library.”
She extols the “wonderful information” now
online while also acknowledging the need for
printed books. “I personally prefer to read
from a book,” said Mannisto, who prints out
longer articles fromher computer to read.
“We are still a center of learning for all
kinds of people. We know people don't stop
needing to learnwhen they get their degrees.”
She and other librarians read a July 2018
Forbes.comopinion piece by an academic who
said closing public librarieswould save govern-
mentsmoney and those services could be filled
by businesses,
“That got so much pushback” that Forbes
took it down online, Mannisto said. “The fact
that there was such a public outcry made me
feel good.”
She agrees her library and others help
adults with things like Gale courses on finan-
cial software and more, as well as learning
hobbies such as digital photography. Consumer
and business reference resources can be
accessed, including fromhomes using a library
card.
Her community includesmany college grad-
uates, althoughMannisto notes somemay need
to learn a new language or other skill. She
agrees books help to bridge cultures.
“This is the importance of reading nonfic-
tion in particular. It makes us I think more
open-minded and empathetic. You're entering
into someone else'smind andway of thinking.”
A foreign filmseries inNorthville, most with
subtitles, also bridges cultures and is popular
withpatrons, she added.
The building project, budgets, work with the
seven-person elected library board and per-
sonnel fills her days, she said. Mannisto likes to
The third timewas the charm
for Romulus Community
Schools last week when voters
approved the sinking fund mill-
age on the ballot.
Yes votes on the question
totaled 2,515 while there were
2,074 no votes on the sinking
fund question, which is a limited
property tax that can only be
used to fund major repairs and
renovations to school buildings.
District officials had twice
before asked voters to approve
the 3 mills for the next 10 years
to make needed repairs to
school buildings. School officials
have said that the funding will
allow the repair and renovation
of every building in the district.
Affected residents will now
pay an additional $3 per every
$1,000 of assessed taxable valua-
tion, usually half the market
value of the property. Average
taxable value of Romulus
homes, according to real estate
websites, is listed at $37,508 or a
little more than $112 annually.
Officials estimate the sinking
fund will generate about $2.3
million in tax revenue for the
schools. The district will not
realize any of the funding until
the sinking fund is placed on
winter tax bills.
The revenue from the sinking
fund cannot be used for salaries,
benefits, pensions or other
school operating expenses but is
strictly designated for repairs to
buildings. Officials said that
many of the 50-year-old school
buildings are in dire need of
roofing, that boilers and heating
units need replacement, that
parking lots are in serious need
of repair, that building security
must be upgraded and that
many buildings need utilities as
basic as lighting for student
areas and classrooms.
Taste Fest
tickets go
on sale
Final chapter?
Northville librarian looks
ahead to future retirement
Members of the Plymouth-
Canton Civitans Club are
already preparing for their par-
ticipation in the Plymouth Fall
Festival this year.
The club members do double
duty during the festival each
year with their booth outside
Kellogg Park taking digital pho-
tos and putting them on buttons,
magnets, Christmas ornaments,
and round or square key chains.
Club members have been doing
this for “as long as anybody can
remember” and have families
who have visited the booth for
years and have collected a visual
record of their family.
The Civitans also sponsor the
annual Taste Fest in Plymouth
Old Village from 6-8 p.m. on
Friday, Sept. 7. The event, as has
become a tradition, will take
place at Station 885 where a
gigantic 40 by 120-foot tent will
be erected and there will be live
music, a cash bar, fantastic food
and refreshments. Ticket hold-
ers will enjoy treats from:
Participants include: Anna's
House, Applebee's Grill & Bar,
Bahama
Breeze,
b.d.'s
Mongolian Grill, Beyond
Borders-Latin Street Food,
Dave's Jump'n Jambalaya Sauce,
Edible Arrangements, Grand
Traverse Pie Co., Granite City
Food & Brewery, Jimmy John's
Gourmet Sandwiches, J.B.'s
Smokehouse, LaBistecca Italian
Grille, Leo's Coney Island,
Scramblers, Station 885, The
Cupcake Station, The Polish
Pantry, Vintner's Canton Winery,
Westborn Market, Zoup!-
Northville.
In addition to thewine tasting
included in the admission,
GraniteCitywill be offering beer
samples.
Romulus schools Sinking Fund approved
Anne Mannisto, Northville District Library direc-
tor, likes to read both fiction and nonfiction,
generally one of each simultaneously.
See
Library,
page 4
Julie Brown
Staff Writer
Julie Brown
Staff Writer
Voters OK road millage in Canton
See
Tickets,
page 6
