No. 5
NEWS YOU CAN USE, NEWS YOU CAN TRUST
75¢
February 2 – 8, 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
Residents can obtain a
radon testing kit at no charge
by visiting the Wayne County
Health Administration
Building, 33030 Van Born
Road,Wayne.
See page 5.
Northville parents who
have a child who will be 5
years of age on or before
Sept. 1, should schedule a
school enrollment appoint-
ment at
schools.org.
See page 4.
Vol. 132, No. 5
Vol. 70, No. 5
Vol. 70, No. 5
Vol. 17, No. 5
Romulus will host a pub-
lic hearing on its first major
development of the year, a
project with an estimated
cost of more than $14 million
that will bring 153 new jobs
to the city.
See page 3.
Vol. 132, No. 5
Vol. 70, No. 5
Vol. 70, No. 5
For home delivery of The Eagle call 734-467-1900.
Auditors from Plante
Moran issued an unmodified
opinion, the highest avail-
able, stating that the June 30,
2016 Westland financial
statements are accurate.
See page 5.
The Cashore Marionettes
will come to life under the
hand of master puppeteer
Joseph Cashore at perform-
ances planned for 2 and 7
p.m. this Saturday, Feb. 4 at
TheVillageTheater.
See page 2.
Vol. 17, No. 5
Wayne
County
Commissioner Glenn S.
Anderson will be hosting a
Coffee Hour at noon Feb. 13
in Inkster with elected offi-
cials from the State of
Michigan.
See page 3.
A Burroughs Corp. execu-
tive charged with a two-
count felony before 35th
District Judge Michael J.
Gerou could be facing up to
four years inprison.
See page 4.
Needles are flying
throughout the area as quil-
ters prepare their entries for
the 21st Annual Quilt Show
at the Belleville Are
Museum.
See page 2.
Former Inkster Police Ofc.
William Melendez was released
from prison last Tuesday after
serving 14 months for the beat-
ing of a motorist during a traffic
stop. He was granted parole last
October contingent upon com-
pletion of a behavioral therapy
program.
Melendez, now 48, spent one
month more behind bars than
the minimum sentence for his
conviction on charges of miscon-
duct in office and assault with
intent to do great bodily harm.
He was acquitted on a third
charge of assault by strangula-
tion.
Hewas remanded to the state
prison system Nov. 19, 2015
immediately following the jury
verdict and was released from
Bellamy Creek Correctional
Facility in Ionia.
During his trial, jurors were
shown a videotape of his hold-
ing motorist Floyd Dent on the
ground with one arm and strik-
ing him about the head with his
closed fist 16 times during a traf-
fic stop in January of 2015. The
tape showed Melendez finding
what he claimed were drugs in
the rear of Dent's car following
the beating.
Dent was subsequently hospi-
talized for the injuries he
receivedduring the incident.
Charges of resisting arrest
were immediately dropped by
22nd District Court Judge
Sabrina Johnson when she
viewed the patrol car videotape
of the arrest. Wayne County
Prosecutor Kym Worthy
dropped the drug possession
charges against Dent when the
tape was provided to her office.
Worthy said at the time that the
charges issued against Dent by
her officewere authorizedwhen
Inkster police sent the request
without the videotape of the
arrest. That videotape was aired
on several national and local
news stations due to the vio-
lence of the assault.
Worthy expressed her opposi-
tion to parole for Melendez in a
letter to the parole board chair-
man last October. She stated in
her letter that Melendez had
“demonstrated an absolute
betrayal of the trust and authori-
ty placed in him to protect the
community and uphold the laws
of this state.”
A parole board spokesman
said that Worthy's letter was
taken into consideration but had
no impact on when Melendez
wouldbe released.
During his sentencing,
Circuit Court Judge Vonda
Evans called the beating “dis-
gusting” and told Melendez,
“The dashcam that was
designed to protect you ended
upbeingwhat convicted you.”
Two other Inkster officers
were disciplined as a result of
the videotape evidence and for-
mer Police Chief Vicki Yost
resigned immediately following
the incident. The city manager
fired Melendez the day the tape
was made public and Dent sub-
sequently reached a $1.3 million
out-of-court financial settlement
with the city.
There is a change of name, a change of
logo and a change of the distinctive t-shirts,
but the goal of the newly-renamed John
Glenn Scholars program remains exactly the
same: Better student grades and a life lesson
in the rewards of hardwork.
Formerly calledChampions of JohnGlenn,
the program was launched last year to help
promote better learning and classroom suc-
cess for students. Students sign up, choose a
mentor and agree to improve their grade
point average by at least .5 point during a
semester. If they make their individual goal,
they receive a check for $200, no questions
asked and no limitations on what they can do
with the funds.
Last semester, according to Glenn Shaw
who, along with his family, originally founded
and helped fund the program, 565 students
signed up last semester and 95 percent
improved their grade point averages. The
program has seen this kind of success since
the first semester it was implemented in 2016.
“That shows just unprecedented success
for these kids,” Shaw said. “We hoped for suc-
cess, we thought this would work, but the suc-
cess has been overwhelming.”
The name change, Shaw said, will help
separate the John Glenn program from the
Champions program which has been ongoing
at Wayne Memorial High School for several
years.
“They do a great job inWayne,” Shaw said,
“but we want our students who have seen so
much success to have an identity of their
own.”
To that end, Tony Fry, owner of Fantastic
Sam's in Westland, has donated $3,000 to pur-
chase the new t-shirts for the students for
next semester and the navy blue shirts will be
imprinted with a newly-designed white logo
which includes laurel leaves and a book,
which, Shaw said, seems to more adequately
represent the program.
Superintendent of Wayne Westland
Schools Michele Harmala said she was
thrilled with the name change and success of
the program.
“John GlennworkedwithWayneMemorial
for a year to implement the programand now
I am thrilled it is working so well. The name
change personalizes the program for the John
Glenn students,” she said.
“We wanted to stress the importance of
learning with the new name and logo,” Shaw
said, “so we are talking more about scholar-
ship and education. We want students to be
able to really identify with the purpose of the
program.”
Shaw said the new name was chosen care-
fully and doesn't mean the students are all
earningAgrades.
“What it means is that our students have
done so well, they deserve to be called schol-
ars. They may be a D student who has
improved to a C. We wanted a name which
helped represent the effort and work these
kids put into the program,” Shawsaid.
Westland Mayor William Wild, who acted
as a mentor in the program, said he, too, was
pleasedwith the name change.
“The new name is more fitting for this
incredible program. Students are showing
knowledge, learning and devotion to academ-
ic pursuits, which is the very definition of
'scholarly,' and with a 95 percent GPA
improvement rate, I could not be more proud
to be a part of these efforts,”Wild said.
The new logo and namewill be announced
at the banquet hosted for the students and
their parents each semester when checks are
awarded to those who have made their goal.
This year, the banquet, along with the bands,
balloons, confetti, mentors, parents, cheer-
leaders and general celebration will take
placeFeb. 8 at theHellenicCultural Center.
More than 595 John Glenn students will
become 'scholars' next semester as the pro-
gram continues to grow in popularity among
students, Shawsaid.
Scholars are
celebrated
Success prompts name
change of school program
Students traveled through a barrage of confetti to be congratulated by their mentors during
the celebration of their success last year.
Plymouth
Township
Supervisor Kurt Heise is deter-
mined to keep a campaign
promise “…to involve residents
in the future of our community.”
To that end, he announced
his plans for a Citizens'
Advisory Council during the
regularmeeting of the township
board of trustees last week.
Heise said the council is an
effort “to restore public confi-
dence, establish a new and bet-
ter connection with residents
and surrounding communities,
including theCity of Plymouth.
“Formation of the Council
was a campaign promise of
mine, but more importantly it's
a way to involve our residents
in the future of our community,”
Heise said. “Plymouth
Township is fortunate to have
many outstanding citizens who
are eager to offer their experi-
ence and education to the bet-
terment of our community.”
The voluntary group will
comprise a group of township
residents divided into five sub-
committees, Public Safety,
Economic
Development,
Environmental Stewardship,
Arts-Recreation and Heritage
and Government Accountabi-
lity.
The first organizational
meeting is scheduled for 7-9
p.m. Feb. 22 at township hall.
Heise said he and several mem-
bers of the board of trustees
have volunteered to serve on at
least one of the committees.
Current plans are to assemble
the council as a whole twice a
year, and the sub-committees
will meet a minimum of four
times a year, Heise said.
In addition to the establish-
ment of the advisory council,
board members voted unani-
mously to dismiss a lawsuit
filed against the City of
Plymouth regarding fire depart-
ment legacy costs. The suit was
filed by the previous township
administration just before the
2016 general election.
The board members also
voted unanimously to approve a
Tolling Agreement recently
approved by the Plymouth City
Commission in an effort to set-
tle the legacy cost issue. The
dissolution of the lawsuit does
not settle the communities'
counter-claims regarding the
payment of post health care
and medical benefit retirement
related costs.
The lawsuit was dismissed
without prejudice.
Residents with questions
regarding the new commission,
can call Heise directly at (734)
354-3201 or email him at
William Melendez
Convicted officer released from prison
Don Howard
Staff Writer
Plymouth supervisor plans citizen advisory group
