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No. 1
NEWS YOU CAN USE, NEWS YOU CAN TRUST
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January 2 – 8, 2014
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
Five Wayne Police officers
were honored recently during
a regular meeting of the
Wayne City Council members
for heroic actions in the line of
duty during the past year.
See page 2.
Nearly half of the members
of the Romulus High School
chapter of the National Honor
Society helped kindergartners
during the annual Santa Shop
at Romulus Elementary
School lastmonth.
See page 5.
The Plymouth Community
Arts Council has scheduled
auditions for The Plymouth
Uptown Players Youth
Theatre Winter/Spring 2014
season from1-3 p.m. Jan. 12.
See page 4.
Aisin, an automotive parts
manufacturer, will move oper-
ations from Plymouth
Township to Northville
Township following approval
of an 8-year tax abatement.
See page 4.
Members of the Van Buren
Township Board of Trustees
will be meeting with Belleville
and Sumpter officials in an
effort to increase funding for
theBellevilleAreaMuseum.
See page 5.
Vol. 128, No. 1
Vol. 66, No. 1
Vol. 66, No. 1
Vol. 13, No. 1
Vol. 128, No. 1
Vol. 66, No. 1
Vol. 66, No. 1
For home delivery of The Eagle call 734-467-1900.
NerdWallet, a consumer
advocacy website, recently
conducted a study to find the
best places for job seekers in
Michigan and Westland was in
the top 10.
See page 2.
It was an unhappy
Christmas Eve for two Canton
Township residents involved
in a traffic accident on Cherry
Hill Road which knocked out
power tohomes.
See page 3.
Vol. 13, No. 1
The
plan
to
bring
Thoroughbred and mixed-breed
track racing to Northville Downs
has been scratched at the post by
members of the Michigan Gaming
Control Board.
Last month, members of the
board ruled against the request,
stating that Northville Downs
“failed to demonstrate a definitive,
specific, and detailed plan” that
could be approved according to
state law.
The dates application submit-
ted to the state board was amend-
ed byNorthvilleDowns inOctober
to include Thoroughbred and
mixed-breed licenses in addition
to the current harness license. The
agreement would have allowed
Northville to run 10 harness dates
during the spring, then begin con-
struction inMay to become perma-
nent Thoroughbred raceway.
Northville would have hosted
16 days of Thoroughbred racing in
2014 fromOct. 12 toNov. 16, contin-
gent on adequate funding and the
readiness of the racing surface.
Northville Downs Operations
Manager Mike Carlo estimated a
cost of about $200,000 to convert
the four-furlong track to
Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse
racing.
The reliance on factors such as
pending wagering legislation in
the state Legislature to host the
meet was of particular concern to
the board members, who cited “no
assurance” of sufficient simulcast
purse pool money, funding for
track conversion, or the safety of
the racing surface as reasons for
denying the request. The board
also stated that Northville failed to
supply a convincing plan to assure
a sufficient horse population for
the proposed racing schedule. In
December, Northville reached an
agreement with the Michigan
Horsemen’s Benevolent and
Protective Association to convert
to a full-time Thoroughbred track
beginning in October 2014, pend-
ing state approval.
Additionally, the order called
the request “untimely,” noting that
the track’s originally approved
race dates begin in January, which
does not allow for a complete vet-
ting of the application. Northville
was originally allocated 26 har-
ness dates fromJan. 31 toApril 26.
“The submitted plan does not
appear to be in the best interest of
horse racing in the state of
Michigan for 2014,” the order read.
Joel Dumman, 44, of Wayne,
was arraigned last week on
charges related to trafficking in
childpornography.
Dumman was arrested Dec. 15
after a Canton Township man to
whom he sent explicit images
reported the incident to the
Canton Police Department. The
Canton resident said that while he
was outside shoveling snow, a text
message from Dumman that con-
tained seven images that police
determined were child pornogra-
phywas sent to his phone.
According to Canton police
reports, officers obtained a war-
rant to search Dumman's Wayne
home, which they found vacant.
During the search, however,
police found evidence of illegal
child pornography, according to
police reports.
During the search, police offi-
cers canvassed the area and locat-
edDumman at another apartment
building. Police said that
Dumman admitted having the
explicitmaterial onhis phone and
to sending it as a text message.
Police said that during interviews
with investigators, Dumman said
he sent the text to the Canton resi-
dent by accident and that he was
attempting to send it to another
phone.
Police also indicated that
Dumman told investigators that
he had become addicted to child
porn while viewing internet sites
to ensure that his own daughter
was not a victimof a sexual preda-
tor or seen in the sexually explicit
material available.
Dunnam was arraigned on
three counts of possession of child
sexually abusive material and
three counts of using a computer
to commit a crime. His prelimi-
nary hearing on the charges will
be before 35th District Court
JudgeMichael Gerou.
An early-morning fire
destroyed an entire section of
the Cherry Hill Chateau
Apartments Saturday, displacing
the occupants of at least 11
apartments in the building.
According the Inkster Fire
Chief Mark Hubanks, the call
came into the dispatch center at
about 4 a.m. Saturday and when
the engine crew arrived at the
complex, located at Cherry Hill
Trail and Cherry Hill Road in
Inkster, flames were already visi-
ble throughwindows on all three
floors of the structure and the
fire had already got through the
roof of the building.
“The fire was pretty intense,”
Hubanks said. “When our guys
got there, people were already
out on balconies. Some of them
jumped and others had to be res-
cued.” He said that the depart-
ment immediately began rescue
efforts and called for extra help
due to the intensity of the blaze.
“We had Garden City, Wayne-
Wetland, Dearborn Heights and
even Metro Airport on site. At
one time we had more than 30
guys out there trying to protect
the other structures,” Hubanks
said.
Hubanks said that three peo-
ple were taken to the hospital
with non-life threatening
injuries, two from the leaps from
the burning building and one
with chest pains. He indicated
that all threewould recover from
those injuries.
The submitted plan does not appear
to be in the best interest of horse racing
in the state of Michigan for 2014.
”
See
Fire,
page 2
State denies Northville Thoroughbred race permit
Wayne man faces child pornography charges
Early-morning blaze destroys Inkster apartment building
Chilling out
Ice Festival organizer, area
prepare for 32nd annual event
The weather, according to
advance predictions, is going to
provide nearly ideal conditions
for the 32nd Annual Ice Festival
in downtown Plymouth next
weekend, Jan. 10, 11 and 12.
Organizer James Geitzen,
owner of JAG Entertainment,
has his fingers crossed that
those predictions are correct
because he has just about every-
thing else under control. This
will be Geitzen's first year at the
helm of the event and while
things went very smoothly, he
admits that fund raising was an
aspect that proved a bit daunt-
ing.
Obviously, he needn't have
been too nervous because, as he
confided, “As of now, we should
reach 110 percent of our goal.”
“It is going to be a great
event, it really is,” Geitzen said.
He added that the warming tent
at The Gathering would have
hot chocolate and face painting
for the younger set. Sun and
Snow will again be offering the
free cross country skiing lessons
and demonstrations in the cor-
ner of Kellogg Park opposite
theirMainStreet shop.
“They are even bringing in a
snow machine to make sure
there is deep enough snow for
the skiers,” Geitzen said. That
event, open to all ages, will take
place during festival hours. The
majority of the ice carvings will
be in Kellogg Park in the center
of downtown, but merchants on
Forest Street have some surpris-
es for visitors, too.
“The Lincoln, Cadillac and
Mustang displays should really
be something to see,” Geitzen
said. Along with the new 2014
model cars, there will be a 2015
Mustang, marking the 50th
anniversary of the iconic auto-
mobile.
The college carving champi-
onships will also be taking place
from 9 a.m. until noon on
Saturday and Sunday. The culi-
nary teams compete on
Saturday and the individual
carvers onSunday, Geitzen said.
The Fire and Ice Towers will
be set ablaze both Friday and
Saturday nights at about 7:30, an
attraction Geitzen said is not to
bemissed.
“The flames burn inside the
ice blocks stacked up. It's pretty
amazing,” he said.
There are many, many more
attractions to be enjoyed at the
festival this year, he added, with
a concentration on seeing some
really terrific ice sculptures.
Amore complete guide to the
Ice Festival is inside this edition
of
TheEagle
.
James Geitzen
An open house event towel-
come new Leanna Hicks
Inkster Public Library
Director Denise Bearre is
planned for Jan. 8.
See page 2.