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No. 11
NEWS YOU CAN USE, NEWS YOU CAN TRUST
75¢
March 15 - 21, 2012
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
The Keeping Kids Safe
Project will visit Jack Demmer
Ford in Wayne this month and
offer a free digital fingerprint
and photo program for chil-
dren.
See page 4.
Patrolman Matthew Reese,
a three-year veteran, is the
first recipient of the City of
Romulus Police Department
Officer of theYear Award.
See page 7.
The annual Mad Hatter Tea
is planned from 2-4 p.m. April
15 at the Plymouth Historical
Museum. The event attracts
women in hats of all sizes and
colors every year.
See page 3.
Northville
Township
Trustee Marjorie Banner testi-
fied inLansing recently in sup-
port of legislation introduced
to protect large townships
fromannexation attempts.
See page 5.
Van Buren Township Police
are still seeking information
about a shooting and home
invasion at the Hidden Cove
Apartments that left a Detroit
manhospitalized last week.
See page 2.
Vol. 127, No. 11
Vol. 65, No. 11
Vol. 65, No. 11
Vol. 12, No. 11
Vol. 12, No. 11
Vol. 127, No. 11
Vol. 65, No. 11
Vol. 65, No. 11
Jumanne Sledge, 40,
resigned his position as with
the Inkster Public Schools last
week, one day before he was
indicted on charges of money
laundering and program
fraud.
See page 6.
For home delivery of The Eagle call 734-467-1900.
Moody's Investors Service
has upgraded the bond rating
in Westland and assigned a
positive outlook to the city
water and sewer system rev-
enue debt.
See page 4.
No injuries were reported in a
fire Friday at the Cinnamon
Pointe apartments in Canton
Township.
At about 7:30 p.m., last Friday,
March 9, the Canton Public
Safety dispatch center received a
call reporting an apartment fire
with flames visible in the 40400
block of Cinnamon Circle, off
Lotz Road, north of Cherry Hill
Road.
Canton police officers were
first to arrive on scene and
reported flames coming through
the roof of one of the apartment
units. Firefighters arrived and
found an eight-unit, two-story
apartment building with flames
coming from the second floor,
rear of the structure. Firefighters
immediately began a search and
rescue effort, according to fire
department reports of the inci-
dent, and used a 2-1/2-inch hose
line. Additional crews began
evacuating the remainder of the
building occupants.
While extinguishing the blaze,
firefighters discovered the fire
had extended into the attic.
Additional crews entered the
apartment to the north and extin-
guished the attic fire, preventing
it from spreading further, offi-
cials said.
Firefighters used positive
pressure ventilation to remove
the smoke from the building and
extinguished the fire using multi-
ple hose lines. Fire damage was
confined to two of the second
floor apartments and the attic
above them. Firefighters covered
the belongings of tenants in the
units below those involved in the
fire using salvage covers to pre-
vent water damage. The two
units below the apartment where
the fire originated were dam-
aged by both water and smoke
while the four units on the north
end of the building only received
minor smoke damage, official
reports said.
Several of the apartments
were occupied at the time of the
fire, however no one was home
in the unit where the fire began.
No injurieswere reported.
The Canton Fire Investigation
Unit was at the scene and deter-
mined the fire was caused by lit
cigarettes that were discarded
into a container that was located
on the apartment unit deck.
The fire has been ruled acci-
dental.
Dozens of families, care-
givers, cancer survivors,
schools, local organizations
and individuals attended the
rally that launched the
American Cancer Society
RelayFor Life inCanton .
See page 3.
Apartment fire rousts residents
Good ‘Knight’
Local resident is
top rated jouster
Imagine balancing astride a gal-
loping horse charging headlong at
a man wearing armor and bran-
dishing a broadsword or 11-foot
long pike aimed directly at your
head.
Sound like
fun?
Andre Lee
Renier of Van
Buren Township
thinks so and he's
living proof that
the sport of joust-
ing didn't die in
the Middle Ages
but lives on with
both national
and international
competitions.
Renier, a lifelong resident of
Van Buren Township and 1987
graduate of Belleville High
School, was named the top ranked
Knight in the United States last
year by the International Jousting
League. He is part of a team of
modern day jousters called the
Knights of Iron, just one of hun-
dreds of individuals who compete
internationally.
Renier and teammate L.Dale
Walter were ranked first and sec-
ond respectively in competition
against nearly 300 international
jousters
or
knights. They
were both rated
in the top 10
jousters in the
western hemi-
sphere for 2010-
2011.
Renier and
his horse, Rilius
“ R i l e y ”
Maximus, com-
peted in jousting
t ournamen t s
across North
America last year. They won gold
with the International Team in
Niagara Falls, Ontario and took
third place overall at Lysts on the
Lake in Austin, TX in the largest
jousting tournament in the west-
ernhemisphere.
“For me, the sport is about
teamwork. It is about me and
Riley working together to do the
best we can,” said Renier. “I have
many to thank, my good friend
Riley, my teammates inKnights of
Iron, my family, andmost of all, my
wife, MaryAnne.”
Renier's interest in jousting
Gov. Rick Snyder has officially
approved the Consent Agreement
between the State of Michigan
and the City of Inkster, endorsing
city leaders' ability to manage the
fiscal challenges and deficits
which now exist in the city budg-
et.
The Consent Agreement avoids
the appointment of an emergency
financial manager and prescribes
a framework by which Inkster
elected and appointed leaders
will partner with state officials - in
particular
the
Michigan
Department of Treasury - to
develop themunicipal budget and
strategically grow the city, accord-
ing toMayorHilliardHampton.
“It (the Consent Agreement)
essentially preserves democracy
in our beloved city and is a testa-
ment to our capacity to run our
own affairs,” Hampton said. “We
have always balanced our books.
We will continue to do so in the
future.”
A seven-member financial
review team Snyder appointed in
December examined the city
finances and procedures, leading
to the agreement, which the team
also approved.
Inkster officials must now pro-
vide the state with detailed plans
for realistic spending reductions
or revenue increases and report
monthly on accounts payable.
Failure could result in the State
appointment of a financial man-
ager. The city also must pursue
service delivery alternatives,
including consolidation with
neighboring communities.
Recent actions of the Plymouth
Township Board of Trustees were
questioned by a resident with 27
years in the public safety field dur-
ing the regular meeting last
Tuesday.
John Werth, a township resi-
dent and the current Northville
Public Safety Director, asked to
speak to the boardmembers at the
March 7 meeting. This was the
first regular board meeting follow-
ing the layoff of six more firefight-
ers March 1, reducing the current
force to 15 full-time firefighters to
serve 28,000 residents.
Werth told the board members
that he lives in the township and
that his family lives in the town-
ship.
“Eight people I love live in the
township and your actions have
me concerned for their safety,” he
told the board members. Werth
went on to tell the boardmembers
that he agreed with their position
that it was their responsibility to
set the level of service in the town-
ship, “but once you do, you have to
own it.”
“I can operate a fire depart-
ment with one firefighter if I have
to,” Werth said, “but is it safe? Is it
the right thing to do?No.”
Werth cautioned the board that
the ongoing situation with the fire-
fighters union was a matter of
management and union contract
negotiations, which had apparent-
ly beenunsuccessful.
Eight people I love live in the township and your actions
have me concerned for their safety.
”
Inkster avoids emergency financial manager
Northville safety director chides Plymouth board
See
Joust,
page 10
See
Meeting,
page 5
It's like standing
on the back
of a moving
four-wheeler trying
to throw a baseball
to somebody, but,
you get used to it.
”
Andre Lee Renier, Van Buren Township resident, has been named the
top ranked knight (jouster) in the United States.