No. 13
NEWS YOU CAN USE, NEWS YOU CAN TRUST
75¢
March 26 – April 1, 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
Current elected officials
in Wayne were evenly divid-
ed on the question of voting
by precinct or ward for each
council seat, a charter
amendment voters approved
last year.
See page 5.
The final stage of
Goddard Road construction
in Romulus will resume next
month at the intersection of
Wayne andGoddard roads.
See page 4.
Earlier this month, eight
students at the Plymouth
Canton Community Schools
radio station were honored
by the Michigan Association
of BroadcastersFoundation.
See page 2.
Senator Patrick Colbeck
will host a public healthcare
forum featuring some of the
most prominent healthcare
March 30 at the Northville
TownshipHall.
See page 3.
It is not too late for mem-
bers of the class of 2015 to
apply for the Senior Art
Scholarship awarded by the
Belleville Area Council for
theArts.
See page 4.
Vol. 130, No. 13
Vol. 68, No. 13
Vol. 68, No. 13
Vol. 15, No. 13
Vol. 130, No. 13
Vol. 68, No. 13
Vol. 68, No. 13
For home delivery of The Eagle call 734-467-1900.
Recently, members of the
Westland, Inkster and
Garden City police depart-
ment were honored for their
heroics during a fire at
Westland Presbyterian
Village in January.
See page 3
.
The man accused of
breaking and entering sever-
al garages in a Canton
Township subdivision has
been arrested and charged.
See page 2.
Vol. 15, No. 13
One of the Michigan State
Police officers patrolling the
streets in Inkster will be a lot
safer thanks to an anony-
mous donor who paid for a
bullet and stabproof vest.
See page 5.
Residents of Plymouth
Township willing to become the
municipal supervisor have until
7 p.m. tomorrow to notify the
board of trustees of their inter-
est in the job vacated byRichard
Reaume last week.
Candidates need only be a
township resident and a regis-
tered voter, according to a legal
opinion rendered to the board
of trustees. Included with a let-
ter of interest should be a
resume and any other qualifica-
tion documentation appropriate
to the position.
Reaume, who sent a formal
letter of resignation to the board
and Township Clerk Nancy
Conzelman from one of his
Florida homes last Sunday, will
officially retire April 6. State law
allows the board of trustees 45
days from that date to fill the
vacancy by appointment. After
that time, the Wayne County
Clerk would call a special elec-
tion to fill the top job in the
township.
Following township charter
procedures, the board met in a
special session last Saturday
and unanimously elected first-
term clerk Conzelman as the
interimpresident pro-temof the
board. In that capacity, she
chaired the standing-room-only
meeting and facilitated the dis-
cussion of the procedures and
process to name a new township
superintendent, which was
somewhat contentious.
Kurt Heise, the current
Republican state representative
has publicly declared his inter-
est in the job, while former
township and city police chief
and Republican Party activist
Carl Berry told the 11th
Republican District representa-
tives at a meeting last week that
he “would be willing to serve”
and said he has had “many
phone calls” urging him to take
the job. Heise has said that the
township “is in crisis” and needs
leadership. Berry told his party
Voters in the Northville Public Schools
district will be asked to renew a 0.9978 mill-
age at the pollsMay 5.
The school district is asking voters to
renew the Building Site and Sinking Fund
millage originally approved in 2011 and
used to make repairs across the 10 district
school buildings and other facilities. The
0.9978-mill request is a renewal and will not
result in a tax increase for school district
homeowners, a district spokesperson
stressed.
If approved, themillage renewal will pro-
vide the district with about $2.5 million for
each of the next five years from 2016
through 2020 - the current sinking fund mill-
age, also for five years, which will expire on
Dec. 31.
“Strong schools are the foundation of a
strong community and maintaining optimal
learning facilities is a key piece of the puzzle
inpreparing our students to live andwork in
the 21st century world,” said Northville
Superintendent Mary Kay Gallagher. “We
are grateful for the incredible support of our
school families and community members
who recognize the relationship between
exemplary schools and strong property val-
ues, and who make the education of our
young people a toppriority.”
During the past decade, severe cuts in
state funding for public schools has forced
the school district to delay necessary repairs
to school buildings in order to protect the
learning that takes place in the classroom,
she added. Since the 2008-09 school year, the
district per-pupil allocation from the state -
which is the primary source of funding for
ongoing operations - has been reduced from
$8,538 to $8,099, a $3 million loss in annual
revenues.
“If approved, the sinking fund renewal
funds will help preserve general fund dol-
lars to accomplish the district's core mission
of instruction and student learning; enable
students to learn in a safe, secure and
healthy environment; protect the communi-
ty's investment in our school district build-
ings; and maintain appropriate learning
facilities that make Northville a place that
families want to live, work and have their
children go to school,” Gallagher said. “And,
it will keep Northville taxpayer dollars in
Northville!”
All but three Northville school buildings
are 40 or more years old, and like residen-
tial and commercial structures reaching this
age, major building system and site repairs
are needed to maintain the district's facili-
ties, she added.
“These projects that would be paid for
through the sinking fund renewal represent
the same sorts of regular repairs and
improvements we do around our homes in
order to protect our investment and keep
our families safe and healthy,” said
Northville Board of Education President
Cyndy Jankowski. “Our community has
invested a great deal in our school district
and theMay 5 sinking fund renewal election
is an opportunity for the community to pro-
tect that investment.”
AFacility Condition Assessment was con-
See
Supervisor,
page 2
Memories
Alumni hope to
preserve high
school artifacts
The large brick structure stands empty
on Michigan Avenue, soon to be razed to
the ground like so many other empty
buildings in the area. Unlikemany others,
however, this is a special building to many
residents who walked the halls, attended
classes, cheered their sports heroes and
walked across the stage to receive their
diplomas fromInksterHighSchool.
The hallways at the school are filled
with memories even though most all the
fixtures and furniture was sold off at auc-
tion last year. The school was closed, along
with the others in the Inkster School
District, by the State of Michigan in 2013,
due to the dire financial condition of the
district. The 940 students at the high
school were assigned to neighboring dis-
tricts along with the buildings and proper-
ty. Inkster High School has become the
responsibility of the Wayne County
Regional Educational Service (RESA).
“They can destroy the building but they
can't kill the spirit,” said Dee Richardson,
a former member of the Inkster District
Board of Education and the Inkster City
Council.
Richardson, along with a group of
about 25 alumni of the school, is working
to establish an Inkster High School muse-
um to preserve the memorabilia and arti-
facts from the school, built originally in
1952, according to 40-year district veteran
and former Superintendent of Schools
and CEO Manuel Wilson. Richardson and
her husband, James, who was also on the
Inkster board of education formany years,
Wilson and Norma McDaniel are leading
the new Inkster High School Viking
Alumni Foundation, a 501 c 3 organiza-
tion, working to preserve the history of
InksterHighSchool.
Richardson said she was unclear as to
when the high school would come down
but knew that attempts to sell the building
had been futile. Most of the equipment
and furnishings went up for auction last
May in a sale orderedbyRESAofficials.
“We're told the high school and the
other school buildings are coming down,”
Richardson said.
The new group is hoping to find a suit-
able building to house the artifacts and
memorabilia along with funding to contin-
ue the preservation of the items from the
school that have already been collected.
“It is so disheartening to see the
schools coming down,” Richardson said.
“We want people to remember that we
had a school district. We had a good school
district at one time and a lot of famous
people from Inkster graduated from that
high school.”
Richardson said the group is now look-
ing for alumni of the high school to help
establish themuseum.
“We're reaching out to representatives
of each graduating class,” she said, “hop-
ing to get theminterested inhelping.”
Richardson said the destruction of the
high school building will be another loss
to the community.
For more information or to help with
the effort, contact Richardson at (734) 595-
6593, McDaniel at (734) 658-7363 or Wilson
.
Inkster High School, built in 1952, will be demolished by order of the Wayne County
Regional Educational Service Agency.
See
Millage,
page 3
Don Howard
Staff Writer
Supervisor to be named on Tuesday
State Rep. Kurt Heise, who has announced his interest in the super-
visor's post, listens to the discussion at the meeting Saturday.
Photo
by Don Howard
”
Strong schools are
the foundation of
a strong community.
Northville schools to ask for millage renewal
