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November 26 – December 2, 2020                          NEWS YOU CAN USE, NEWS YOU CAN TRUST                                                  75¢



























         No. 48                                                                                    www .associatednewspapers.net




               THE BELLEVILLE          Wayne property taxes hiked by 13 mills
          ENTERPRISE
          ENTERPRISE

               Vol. 135, No. 48           Property owners in the City  against the City of Wayne which
            Retiring      Sumpter      of Wayne are going to receive an  is currently $4,753,409 in arrears                   ”
          Township Supervisor John     unpleasant surprise when their  in payments into the retirement           Currently, the city is reportedly
          Morgan was thanked and       winter tax bills arrive in a few  fund and is facing an additional  facing a projected budget deficit of about
          lauded by several members    weeks.                        7.2 million contribution in 2022.
          of the board of trustees at     A tax increase of 13.1399 mills  Municipal contributions to the    $4.3 million for fiscal year 2020-2021.
          one of his final meetings.   will be included on the Dec. 1  pension fund are required by
                          See page 5.  property tax bills which are due  state law. In March, the city
                                       no later than Feb. 15. The aver-  made the bare minimum pay-  Officials have continually  addressed to “Wayne Citizens
                                       age home in Wayne, valued at  ments into MERS, remitting    blamed the failure to make the  and Businesses” on city letter-
                  THE CANTON           $118,000 according to Zillow,  only the contributions made by  MERS payments on the actions  head, three situations are cited
             EAGLE                     with a State Equalized Value  current city employees and    of previous administrations and  as responsible for the current
             EAGLE
               Vol. 73, No. 48         (SEV) of $59,000 will see an  sending nothing from the gener-  have stressed that this is a prob-  financial levy facing property
                                       increase of $787. The hefty addi-  al fund budget toward the  lem created by decisions made  owners.
            Three dangerous build-     tion to the current property tax  arrears.                  in response to the national     “At the peak of the 2008
          ings will be demolished in   rate was agreed to by a consent  City officials said at a meeting  recession in 2008. Currently, the  national recession, city employ-
          Canton Township, within 60   judgment filed Nov. 12 between  last week that while they have  city is reportedly facing a pro-  ees were offered a higher pen-
          days of the Nov. 17 unani-   the city and the Municipal    voted to add the tax rate to the  jected budget deficit of about  sion if they retired early. Due to
          mous vote of the Canton      Employees Retirement System   current budget, the additional  $4.3 million for fiscal year 2020-  the influx of new retirees into
          Board of Trustees.           (MERS) which manages pen-     funds will be dedicated to the  2021. The city has been in a  the system, long-term invest-
                          See page 4.  sions due retired city employ-  delinquent MERS pension pay-  deficit spending situation for  ment returns being less than
                                       ees.                          ments as agreed in the settle-  more than a decade.
                                          MERS had filed suit Aug. 7  ment.                          In an unsigned letter                    See Tax, page 2
                THE INKSTER
          LEDGER STAR
          LEDGER STAR
               Vol. 73, No. 48            Success stories

            All city offices in Inkster
          have been closed and will       Former Westland mayor is
          reopen when the latest          bestselling Amazon author
          orders have been lifted by
          the Michigan Department of        Thousands of eager fans begin to get
          Health.                         a bit edgy at the end of every month,
                          See page 6.     awaiting the next adventure of their
                                          favorite Western hero, Jess Williams.
                  THE NORTHVILLE            They haven't been disappointed in
             EAGLE
             EAGLE                        five years as former Westland Mayor
                                          Robert J. Thomas releases one more
               Vol. 20, No. 48            200-page epic tale of the late 19th centu-
                                          ry bounty hunter who lives by his own,
            Four new members were
          welcomed to the board of        distinct moral code. This month marked
                                          the publication of the 100th book in the
          trustees in Northville          series, a milestone achievement for any
          Township last week as they      author in any genre.
          were officially sworn into        If that weren't accomplishment
          office.                         enough, Thomas is the number-one
                          See page 3.
                                          bestselling author in Westerns on
                                          Amazon Kindle and his series about the
                  THE PLYMOUTH            nomadic bounty hunter with a mysteri-  Bestselling Amazon author Robert Thomas, a former Westland mayor, relaxes at his
             EAGLE                        ous, futuristic firearm has inspired the  home state of Mississippi as he prepares for another day of writing his popular Western
             EAGLE
                                          devotion of a multitude fans across the
               Vol. 20, No. 48            country.                              series.
            The Plymouth District           Thomas said he writes every day,    Westland in 1970 after graduating from  which adds a supernatural element to
          Library Board of Trustees       without fail. He said he hasn't taken a  Wayne Memorial High School. He still  the series. Williams practices relentless-
          has closed the building in      real break from his writing in the past  remembers every elementary school he  ly until he becomes unbeatable on the
          light of the newly-issued pan-  several years as the character and the  attended along with his time at Adams  draw, Thomas said. He leaves home
          demic warnings from the         stories consume him and his imagina-  Junior High School.                   transformed from a boy to a highly-
          State    of     Michigan        tion just as they do his legions of follow-  He worked on his first book, How To  skilled shooter with no reason to live
          Department of Health.           ers.                                  Run For Local Office, from 1993 until it  except to hunt down and kill each of the
                          See page 4.       Thomas, who served as mayor of      was published in 1997 and he admits, it  three men responsible for the murder of
                                          Westland from 1990 until he retired in  wasn't the success he enjoys with his  his family members, using the mysteri-
                                          2002, now writes from his home office,  current characters. He tried writing in  ous pistol and holster that no one has
                   THE ROMULUS            where he enjoys a view of the Gulf of  the adventure-terrorism genre too, but  ever seen before---and won't again for
             ROMAN                        Mexico. He and his wife, Jill, moved to  that character “just didn't take off,” he  almost 100 years. He grows into a profes-
             ROMAN
               Vol. 135, No. 48           their Mississippi home in 2012 and    said.                                 sional bounty hunter, traveling the coun-
                                          eventually began their own publishing
                                                                                                                      try pursuing “the worst of the worst,”
                                                                                  The first book in the Western series
            The City of Romulus is        company which she manages.            introduces main character Jess        Thomas said.
          adhering to state and local       “Now, I work for her. She writes me a  Williams as a young boy whose entire  Thomas' work included a great deal
          health guidelines and all       paycheck,” he said. His first books were  family is brutally murdered. The boy  of research regarding specialized
          essential city buildings are    printed in hard copy, but Thomas said  vows to avenge his family's death and  firearms and fast-draw competitions to
          staffed and able to provide     his wife urged him to put the novels on  begins to teach himself marksmanship  add credibility to the anachronistic
          residents access to critical    Amazon where the popularity of the    and fast-draw with his dead father's gun.  weapon that Williams' brandishes.
          city transactions.              series soared to the top of the bestseller  Then, destiny brings him a futuristic pis-  These fast-draw competitions are still
                          See page 5.     lists.                                tol and holster, although such a weapon
                                            Thomas, now 70, began his career in  won't be developed for about a century,               See Thomas, page 6
                  THE WAYNE
             EAGLE
             EAGLE                     Romulus clerk dispels election ‘false narrative’

               Vol. 73, No. 48
            A house on Winifred Street                                  Romulus City Clerk Ellen                              ”
          in Wayne is attracting the                                 Craig-Bragg took time during a             I want to assure all our residents
                                                                     recent city council meeting to
          attention of neighbors with an                             assure all Romulus voters that   that every ballot was counted and handled properly.
          elaborate Christmas light dis-                             their ballots were counted and
          play, as unique at the one at                              handled properly.                               Every ballot counted.
          Halloween.                                                    “Despite that false narrative
                          See page 2.
                                                                     out there, and it is a false narra-  ing board the AV (absentee bal-  door and all the way to the
                                                                     tive, I want to assure all our resi-  lot) counting board, they hung in  library.”
                  THE WESTLAND                                       dents that every ballot was   here until 4:30 in the morning to  She said that because of the
             EAGLE                                                   counted and handled properly.  make sure that every ballot was  massive voter turnout, her staff
             EAGLE
               Vol. 73, No. 48                                       Every ballot counted,” she said.  counted. Kudos to them,” Craig-  and the election workers were
                                                                        Craig-Bragg also formally
                                                                                                   Bragg said.
                                                                                                                                 constantly busy handing out bal-
            The     seven-member                                     thanked all the volunteers and   She thanked her department  lots and checking identifications
          Diversity,  Equity   and                                   workers who helped during the  workers who had been training  and that other department
          Inclusion Commissioners in                                 election which saw 12,740 regis-  and preparing for the election  employees and heads stepped in
          the City of Westland were                                  tered voters in Romulus partici-  since Sept. 14.           to handle the door and provide
          recently named by Mayor                                    pate Nov. 3.                     “This was a baptism by fire,”  whatever help they could to the
          William Wild.                                                 “Our election inspectors,  she said. “Many of you may not
                          See page 2.              Ellen Craig-Bragg    workers from all over, the receiv-  know, but we had lines out the  See Clerk, page 5


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