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No. 2
NEWS YOU CAN USE, NEWS YOU CAN TRUST
75¢
January 2 – 7, 2015
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
Members of the Wayne-
Westland board of education
recently approved the pro-
motions of two veteran
employees of the district.
See page 5.
A driver crashed into a
Romulus Fire Department
rescue truck while it was on
call at the scene of a rollover
hit and run accident in the
earlymorning of Jan. 1.
See page 4.
About 3,000 Plymouth res-
identswill be receiving a late
holiday gift during the next
few weeks from Republic
Services, the trash hauler
who serves the community.
See page 3.
Joel Stone, senior curator
for the Detroit Historical
Society,will speak at the next
meeting of the Northville
Genealogical Society.
See page 2.
Officials inBelleville have
agreed to proceed with
upgrades to Horizon Park, a
project first proposed in
October of 2012 and prepare
bids for the planned
improvements.
See page 3.
Vol. 130, No. 2
Vol. 68, No. 2
Vol. 68, No. 2
Vol. 15, No. 2
Vol. 130, No. 2
Vol. 68, No. 2
Vol. 68, No. 2
For home delivery of The Eagle call 734-467-1900.
Mayor William R. Wild
has reformed the benefit
package offered to his staff
tomore closelymatch that of
union employees who
recently agreed to conces-
sions in contracts.
See page 5.
Their barking dog alerted
a Canton Township family to
a fire in their home on New
Years Day and may have
saved their lives.
See page 3
.
Vol. 15, No. 2
The women accused of
attacking a 30-year-old
Inkster resident with a gun
and a chain both entered
guilty pleas Dec. 12 to the
charges against them.
See page 5.
A man and woman accused
in the shooting death of a
Plymouth Township senior citi-
zen will face murder charges in
Wayne County Circuit Court
March 2.
The pair, Andrew J. Nutt, 22,
of Westland, and Miriah N.
Pisarski, 20, of Wayne, were
ordered to stand trial by 35th
District Court Judge James
Plakas during their preliminary
hearing on the charges in
November.
They were arrested two days
after Kenneth LaBita, 76, was
found shot to death Oct. 27 in
his home on Gilbert Street in
Plymouth Township. LaBita
had lived in his home for more
than 40 years and was well
known in the community. He
lived alone following the death
of his wife and, later, his daugh-
ter, according to reports from
neighbors. His neighbors called
police when his garage door
was left open and his dog out-
side for two days, an unusual
occurrence, they said.
Responding
Plymouth
Township Police officers dis-
covered LaBita in his living
room, shot once in the back of
the head, according to police
reports.
Nutt and Pisarski are
accused of going to LaBita's
home to buy guns hewas selling
along with other items in a
planned move. During the five-
hour preliminary hearing, 11
witnesses, including Nutt's
father and brother, testified.
Nutt's father said his son told
him he shot LaBita when the
gun purchase “went bad,”
according to court records.
More than $4,000 was found in
Nutt's home by investigators at
the time of his arrest, money
prosecutors allege he took from
LaBita's home after shooting
him.
Nutt is charged with pre-
meditated murder, felony mur-
der, larceny and using a gun
during a felony. Plakas dropped
the premeditated murder and
felony firearm charges against
Pisarski after evidence submit-
ted during the preliminary
hearing. She now faces felony
murder and larceny charges.
The pair remains in the
Wayne County Jail awaiting
trial before Wayne County
Circuit Court Judge Mark
Slavens, now scheduled for
March 2.
The newest step into the future
of doing-it-yourself has taken a
lesson from the past in Northville
where three entrepreneurs are
almost ready to open The Village
Workshop, where equipment of
just about every type and size is
available for public use. The
newest and latest in futuristic
tools will be housed in a recently
renovated 26,000 square-foot
building originally built in 1875.
Power saws that will cut huge
sheets of wood or lathes that can
complete the most delicate of
micro-miniature wood carving?
No problem. Want to experience
the capabilities of a $50,000 3-D
printer or need a hoist to do car
repairs?Welcome.
Need a welding tank to com-
plete your art project or repair a
fender on your 1963 Triumph?No
problem.
Need to replicate that out-of-
date, no longer made part for one
of your favorite devices? Use the
3-D printer and in two hours,
you'll be good to go.
Brian Donovan, Chris
McDonald and Dennis Engerer,
all of Northville, have taken a step
into the future with an eye to the
way things were done in the past
when repairs and prototypes for
start-up businesses were usually
configured in the family garage or
basement. They have renovated
the historic Belanger building on
Cady Street and are installing
more than $1 million in machin-
ery, tools and equipment
designed to meet the require-
ments of just about any project or
See
Workshop,
page 2
”
During the five-hour preliminary hearing,
11 witnesses, including Nutt's
father and brother, testified.
Back to the future
$2 million historic renovation includes tools of tomorrow
Pair face murder charges in shooting
Cutting edge
College carving team set
for ice festival competition
When the Henry Ford
Community College IceCarving
team takes to the competition
area inKellogg Park onSunday,
audiences may be in for some
surprises.
While each of the Ice
Carving teammembers is a stu-
dent at Henry Ford, not all of
them may be students in the
hospitality or food service cur-
riculum.
Instructor Jeff Lao said
there is no requirement for the
students to be in any particular
discipline at the college, only
that they are interested in ice
carving and that they are very,
very skilled in their art.
He explained that the Ice
Carving class is an actual elec-
tive at the college that is open
to everyone, no matter what
they may be studying as a
future career.
“We've had people from
nursing on the team and from
many other classes,” noted Lao,
who leads the competitive ice
carving team.
To enter the competition
team level, however, students
must take advanced ice carving
classes to learn how to perfect
their skill.
“To get to this competition
level, the student has to submit
a design and have it approved
by me. The design has to be
executed and they have to do
this three times, then they can
begin to enter competition
carving,” he said.
Lao, who learned his craft at
Henry Ford, graduated from
Michigan State University and
was pursuing a career in adver-
tising when he realized that
what he really wanted was a
career in cooking. He changed
his career plan at the urging of
family and friends who praised
his cooking skills, enrolled in
culinary classes at Henry Ford
where he became interested in
the art of ice carving.
“It was something I fell into.
I had no idea what it was,” he
said, “but 6 years later, I'm
instructing the team.”
Two weeks after the
Plymouth Ice Festival, that
team, Robert Speeks, 25, of
Detroit, Steve McCormick, 41,
of Flat Rock, Mark Tempakes,
31, of Canton Township and
Green Bell, 36, of Detroit, will
travel to Frankenmuth for the
National
Collegiate
Championships where Lao
expects theywill do verywell.
“By the time the students get
to this level of competition, to
appear in Plymouth, they have
been traveling and competitive
carving every weekend since
November. They travel all over
Michigan, Ohio and even
Canada,” Lao said.
Lao, 28, of Dearborn, spends
his summers when classes are
not is session working at his
dream job of cooking with a
catering operation and restau-
rant.
“It keepsme sharp,” he said.
This year, he said, the Henry
Ford students would carve
some tongue-in-cheek sculp-
tures at the Ice Festival, most
titled as a play onwords.
“The turtledove is just that,
half turtle, half dove,” he said.
“The same with the dragonfly,
half dragon, half fly and a rat
king, wearing a crown,” he said.
He added that the team is also
planning a flying fish sculpture
andperhaps some surprises.
He's not too worried about
the weather, he said, although
warm temperatures can make
forcing the huge blocks of ice
together for large sculptures lit-
tle more difficult on the
carvers.
“They know what they're
doing, though,” he said, “this
team is well trained. They
knowhow to handle it.”
(The official guide to the
Plymouth Ice Festival is
included in this week's editions
of
TheEagle
.)
The championship carving team from Henry Ford Community
College will return to the Plymouth Ice Festival this weekend.
Northville residents Brian Donovan, Dennis Engerer and Chris
McDonald will open the Village Workshop this month.
Photo by Sean
Rhaesa