No. 2
NEWS YOU CAN USE, NEWS YOU CAN TRUST
75¢
Jan. 12 – 18, 2017
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
Albert Damitio and Ali
Sayed have officially been
named as champions by
Beaumont Health for their
outstanding efforts to pro-
motehealthy living.
See page 4.
The Northville Art House
will host an exhibit this
month of printmaking featur-
ing works by Associate
Professor of Art at Penn
State University Robin
Gibson.
See page 2.
Vol. 132, No. 2
Vol. 70, No. 2
Vol. 70, No. 2
Vol. 17, No. 2
Tickets are now on sale
for the fourth annual Mayors'
Ball hosted by Belleville
Mayor Kerreen Conley and
Romulus Mayor LeRoy D.
Burcroff.
See page 5.
Vol. 132, No. 2
Vol. 70, No. 2
Vol. 70, No. 2
For home delivery of The Eagle call 734-467-1900.
A Westland woman has
been sentenced to serve 2 ½
to 20 years in prison for
stealing nearly $2 million
froma veterans' credit union
based in the city.
See page 4.
An evening of gospel
music sung by Larry
Callahan & Selected of God
will be presented at 7 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 21 at The
Village Theater at Cherry
Hill.
See page 2.
Vol. 17, No. 2
A free nine-week parent-
ing class is planned at the
Western Wayne Family
Health Center in Inkster,
designed to assist parents of
newborns to 18-year-olds.
See page 4.
The termination of a part-
time employee in Plymouth
Township has called the
employment practices of the
former township administra-
tion into question.
See page 3.
Pay raises for some elect-
ed officials prompted three
of the seven members of the
Van Buren Township Board
of Trustees to vote no on the
2017 budget.
See page 2.
Top officials in Plymouth
Township and Westland are
viewing the closings of major
retail stores in their respective
communities as opportunities,
rather thanbadnews.
“We were very fortunate to
have been given a one-year
heads up” said Plymouth
Township Supervisor Kurt
Heise about theKmart store on
Ann Arbor Road that will close
as part of a major reorganiza-
tion by parent company, Sears
Holdings.
“The store is now being
redeveloped by Grand Sakwa
under a plan approved by the
previous board members,”
Heise, who took office in
November, said.
The plan is for the existing
building to be subdivided into
two or three smaller retail
stores and for two restaurants
with drive-through windows to
be constructed on the outlots in
the parking lot of the location,
he added. Sears announced
the closing of 78 Kmart stores
last week.
“We aremuch further ahead
than many of our neighboring
communities,”Heise said.
“Sakwa is actively market-
ing the property and along with
the township and the chamber
we are all doing our best to
market the site. It's not a shock.
We've known for a year,” he
added.
“It is a high volume location
and I'm confident that we'll see
the site redeveloped very
quickly,” he said.
The closing of the Kmart
location on Wayne Road in
Westland was a shock to offi-
cials, however, who were not
informed in advance, accord-
ing toMayorWilliamWild.
Wild said that city officials
See
Closings,
page 6
Northville Township offi-
cials have confirmed the $8.5
million sale of the former Scott
Correctional Facility site at the
northwest corner of Five Mile
andBeck roads.
The 53-acres of land was
sole Dec. 29 to Bloomfield
Hills-based Northville Five
LLC for the development of
residential and retail construc-
tion, according to a prepared
release from the township
offices.
Conceptual plans recently
approved by the Northville
Township
Planning
Commission and members of
the board of trustees include a
mixed-use development. The
uses include single family,
townhouse and loft style resi-
dential
together
with
retail/restaurant uses. The
project is “branded” as the
Village at Northville and will
target upscale retailers,
according to the statement.
The focal point of the proj-
ect is a community-oriented
central park andpublic gather-
ing area. The project design
reflects a very deliberate effort
to create a walkable
streetscape through and
around the central park area
while linking restaurants and
shops to the residential areas
and Township Community
Park located north and west of
the project, according to
Township Supervisor Robert
Nix II.
Nix said he expects the
Northville OKs new $8.5 million project
It is a high volume location
and I'm confident
that we'll see the site
redeveloped very quickly.
”
Officials optimistic about store closings
Next Monday, area commu-
nities will mark the legacy of
Dr. Martin Luther King with
tributes while most municipal
offices and banks will be
closed in a gesture of respect
for the man at the forefront of
the fight for racial equality in
America.
Dr. King was born Jan. 15,
1929 in Atlanta, GA and while
a Baptist church minister, led
the movement for the
advancement of civil rights
using nonviolent civil disobe-
dience based on his Christian
beliefs.
In the 11-year period
between 1957 and 1968, Dr.
King traveledmore than 6mil-
lion miles and spoke more
than twenty-five hundred
times, appearing wherever
there was injustice, protest,
and action, while writing five
books as well as numerous
articles. In these years, he led
a massive protest in
Birmingham, Alabama, that
caught the attention of the
entire world, providing what
he called a coalition of con-
science. and inspiring his
“Letter from a Birmingham
Jail”.
He planned the drives in
Alabama for the registration of
Black voters; he directed the
peaceful
march
on
Washington, D.C., of 250,000
people to whom he delivered
his address, “l Have aDream”,
he conferred with President
John F. Kennedy and cam-
paigned for President Lyndon
B. Johnson.
Dr. King was arrested
upwards of 20 times and
assaulted at least four times;
he was awarded five honorary
degrees; was named Man of
the Year by Time magazine in
1963 and became not only the
symbolic leader of American
Blacks but also aworld figure.
At the age of 35, Martin
Luther King, Jr., was the
youngest man to have
received the Nobel Peace
Prize. When notified of his
selection, he announced that
he would turn over the prize
money of $54,123 to the fur-
therance of the civil rights
movement.
On the evening of April 4,
1968, while standing on the
balcony of his motel room in
Memphis, TN, where he was
to lead a protest march in sym-
pathy with striking garbage
workers of that city, he was
assassinated.
In 1983, President Ronald
Reagan signed legislation
making the third Monday of
January an official day of
recognition of Dr. King's mem-
ory and legacy. The day
became an official holiday in
1986.
INCANTONTOWNSHIP
Canton Township will once
again honor the memory and
legacy of Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. with a special tribute,
“Canton Celebrates Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.” Monday, Jan.
16 at The Village Theater at
Cherry Hill, located at 50400
CherryHill Road.
A punch and cookie recep-
tion will begin at the Village
Theater at 6 p.m., followed by
the main program at 6:30 p.m.
This annual event is present-
ed by the Canton Commission
for Culture, Arts, and
Heritage, members of the Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Sub-
Committee, and Canton
Township.
The keynote address this
year, ‘Be the Difference’ will
be presented by Plymouth-
Canton Community Schools
Superintendent Monica L.
Merritt. Merritt, who hails
from Alexandria, VA, has
extensive experience as a
teacher, principal and admin-
istrator and resides in
Plymouth Township with her
family. She is the daughter of
Carol and Herman Boone,
who received great attention
and accolades for his time as
football coach of the TC
Williams High School, as por-
trayed in the Disney movie,
“Remember theTitans” (2000).
The program will also fea-
ture music by the Workman
Elementary School Choir
under the direction of Keri L.
Mueller, additional music will
be provided by the Interfaith
Community Outreach (ICO)
Choir directed by Inderjeet
Talwar, along with a presenta-
tion by spoken word artist,
KhadegaMohammed.
Tickets to the program are
available at the door at $2 per
person or $5 per family; exact
cash appreciated. The recep-
tion is sponsored annually by
Darian and Ralynda Moore of
Dream
lives on
Legacy of Dr.
Martin Luther
King celebrated
Civil Rights activists lead the March on Washington on August 28, 1963.
See
Land,
page 2
See
March,
page 6
