No. 8
NEWS YOU CAN USE, NEWS YOU CAN TRUST
75¢
February 23 – March 1, 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
Tamera Kiger has been
named as the new executive
director of The Senior
Alliance which serves more
than 190,000 older adults and
their caregivers.
See page 3.
The State of Michigan has
granted Arbor Hills Landfill
a permit to burn off methane
gas emissions which could
produce 20-foot flames at the
site.
See page 5.
Vol. 132, No. 8
Vol. 70, No. 8
Vol. 70, No. 8
Vol. 17, No. 8
The Library of Michigan
has awarded the Romulus
Public Library a certificate
for meeting the Essential
Level requirements of the
Quality Services Audit.
See page 5.
Vol. 132, No. 8
Vol. 70, No. 8
Vol. 70, No. 8
For home delivery of The Eagle call 734-467-1900.
Westland will begin the
fifth year of the "Buddy Up"
program at city hall where
Buddy Shuh, a former con-
testant on The Biggest Loser,
will speak about the pro-
gram.
See page 3.
Canton Leisure Services'
Lead #LikeAGirl program
for area young women was
honored with an Innovative
Recreation Programming
Award earlier thismonth.
See page 2.
Vol. 17, No. 8
Inkster police have arrest-
ed one man and are seeking
another suspect in a double
shooting that took place Feb.
11 at a local party store.
See page 3.
Members of the Plymouth
Township Board of Trustees
have agreed to a forensic
financial audit of the losses
atHilltopGolf Course.
See page 4.
After 23 years with the
Van Buren Township Fire
Department, Chief Daniel
Besson has announced his
resignation.
See page 2.
Plymouth Township Clerk
Jerry Vorva says that the bar-
rage of Freedom of Information
Act (FOIA) requests his office
has received in the last two
weeks is part of a scripted polit-
ical ambush aimed to harass
the newadministration.
Vorva, who took office Nov.
20, 2016 replacing defeated
incumbent Nancy Conzelman,
said the purpose of the FOIA is
to help people understand the
workings of government, not a
means of retaliation against a
political opponent. He said the
multiple requests by Thomas
Parelly, a failed candidate for
trustee, and Conzelman are at
the direction of former
Township Supervisor Shannon
Price, also defeated by voters
last year.
Vorva said that a Feb. 3
email written by Price,
addressed to Parelly and
Conzelman, was sent to
Conzelman's prior official town-
ship email, which is now his.
The subject line reads, “FOIA.”
The first line says, “Items to
FOIA,” and lists eight topics
ending with, “Did I miss any-
thing?”
Vorva said because of the
official email to the clerk's
address and the subject line, he
opened and read the email,
believing it was official town-
ship business within his desig-
nated responsibilities.
He added that within a few
hours of receipt of Price's
email, the clerk's staff began to
receive FOIA requests from
Parelly asking for employee
payroll records.
The actions by the recently
defeated officials riled Vova
and other board members who
criticized them at a recent pub-
lic meeting, calling the tactics
“childishantics.”
“I question Mr. Parelly's
motives. He's not doing this in
the spirit and intent of the
FOIA, which is to aid in the
understanding of government.
His continued requests are
aimed at seeking employee pay-
roll information on township
employees,” Vorva said.
Trustee Bob Doroshewitz in
a social media post said he
found the actions of the defeat-
ed board members strange and
puzzling.
“What I find puzzling is that
many of these documents (list-
ed on the email) don't
exist…they know they don't
See
Antics,
page 4
Former officials’ antics plague new board
Plymouth
Township
Supervisor Kurt Heise is
weighing the benefits of the 4th
of July picnic and fireworks dis-
play, a long tradition in the
township.
Heise told members of the
board of trustees at their regu-
lar meeting last week that he
felt the elaborate event includ-
ing the picnic, fireworks and a
private VIP party “is not the
proper role of government.” He
said the past administration
spent an enormous amount of
man-hours on the event.
“It's expensive and burden-
some, taxing on manpower and
causes unnecessary overtime,”
Heise said of the event.
Neither the picnic, the fire-
works or the VIP party generat-
ed revenue for the township.
Former Treasurer Ron
Edwards spearheaded and
organized the celebration
which included a public fire-
works display and picnic along
with a far more upscale invita-
tion-only celebration open only
to those who donated or con-
tributed to funding the event
andhis other invited guests.
Edwards would send solici-
tation letters requesting dona-
tion checks made payable to
Plymouth Township, suggesting
that the contributions were
public funds. In reality, the VIP
party was a private function
hosted by Edwards and restrict-
ed to about 700 invited-only
guests at HilltopGolf Course. In
addition to the contributors and
friends the guest list included
prominent community officials
andpolitical advocates.
Heise, who has long been
critical of the VIP party, told
board members last week he
had already made the decision
to discontinue the private VIP
event.
Heise indicated that dona-
tion solicitations written on
Don Howard
Staff Writer
It's expensive and burdensome,
taxing on manpower
and causes unnecessary overtime.
”
Fireworks celebration could be cancelled
See
Fireworks,
page 4
Ka-ching
Students celebrate
improved grades,
receive cash reward
There are about 300 high
school students in the Wayne-
Westland area who have some
extra spending money this
month.
They are among the
Champions of both Wayne
Memorial and John Glenn high
schools where the scholastic
rewards program presents stu-
dents who achieve a .5
increase in their grade point
average a check for $200. The
students sign a contract agree-
ing tomake the goal, alongwith
their parents and a mentor of
their choice. Superintendent of
the
Wayne
Westland
Community Schools Michele
Harmala is a mentor along
with Westland Mayor William
Wild and several police offi-
cers, teachers and other volun-
teers in the community.
This year, each school cele-
brated the accomplishments of
the students with a banquet
and award presentation Feb. 8.
John Glenn students were
feted at the Hellenic Center
while the students fromWayne
Memorial were honored at
WayneTreeManor.
The Wayne program began
in 2009 as an effort to encour-
age students to achieve higher
grades and experience the real
benefits of learning. It is fund-
ed by Wayne Memorial High
School graduate Richard
Helppie.
The John Glenn program
began in 2015 and is modeled
on the Wayne program. It was
initiated by Glenn and Patty
Shaw, and their family, all grad-
uates of John Glenn was com-
mitted funding to the program,
also funded by the Westland
CommunityFoundation,
Next semester, more than
1,000 students between the two
high schools have signed onto
the program which has some
incredible success statistics.
According to school offi-
cials, 25-33 percent of
Champions students make
their semester goals. Sixty-five
percent of those who sign up
increase their grades.
Ninety-five percent of staff
members at the schools are
mentors, which is strictly a vol-
unteer effort for which they
receive no monetary compen-
sation.
Officials said that the state
testing scores have increased
by 9.8 since the program began
at Wayne Memorial and four
students in theChampions pro-
gram have earned the Gates
Millennium Scholarship in the
past three years at the school.
Next semester, the John
Glenn programwill change the
name from Champions to
Scholars to provide the stu-
dents with a unique identity,
according toShaw.
“The program is more about
education and grades, so the
new Scholars name seemed
appropriate,” Glenn said. “We
had 98 percent of our students
enrolled this year improve
their grades. We are just
thrilled for all of them.”
No public or tax money is
used to fund the program at
either school, officials stressed.
For more information about
the programs, contact Wayne
Memorial High School pro-
gram director Sean Galvin at
or Louis
Przybylski, John Glenn High
School Scholars program, at
.
Champions of
John Glenn stu-
dents line up to
receive their
$200 reward
checks during a
celebration of
their success at
the Hellenic
Center.
Photo by
David J. Willett
Celebrating with the Wayne Memorial Champions were Sean Galvin, executive
director for Champions of Wayne, left, Napier Bryant, Keri Horton, Kayla Powell,
Kameron Climie, Hannah Gottman, and Kevin English, director of academics for
Champions of Wayne.
Photo by Douglas Willett
Don Howard
Staff Writer
