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No. 23
NEWS YOU CAN USE, NEWS YOU CAN TRUST
75¢
June 7 - 13, 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
For the second time in his
18-year career with the fire
department, Lt./ Paramedic
Fred Gilstorff has been hon-
ored as the 2011 Fire Fighter
of theYear inWayne.
See page 4.
Romulus City Council mem-
bers heard a proposal Monday
night from Lee Steel, Inc. to
donate 90 acres of land to the
city as it develops a new
200,000-square foot facility.
See page 4.
The next distribution of
emergency food by Plymouth
Community United Way is
scheduled for June 21 at St.
Kenneth Catholic Church in
Plymouth.
See page 5.
Meads Mill Middle School
students collected $400 to
adopt the two yaks, Prince and
Kewpie Doll, now living at
MayburyFarminNorthville.
See page 5.
The
Wayne
County
Community College District
has increased tuition. The 11
percent increase raises the
tuition rate to $99 per credit
hour this fall.
See page 5.
Vol. 127, No. 23
Vol. 65, No. 23
Vol. 65, No. 23
Vol. 12, No. 23
Vol. 12, No. 23
Vol. 127, No. 23
Vol. 65, No. 23
Vol. 65, No. 23
Wayne County will host a
second 2012 Healthy New Me
Health Expo for the unin-
sured, from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.,
Thursday, June 14, at the
InksterRecreationCenter.
See page 4
.
For home delivery of The Eagle call 734-467-1900.
The Police Officers
Association of Michigan
(POAM) has chosen three offi-
cers from Westland as recipi-
ents of the 2012 POAM Police
Officers of theYear awards.
See page 4.
The 21st Annual Liberty Fest will return to
Heritage Park June 15 and 16 with a special car-
nival preview from 5-10 p.m. Thursday, June 14.
Canton Leisure Services will host the event at
the parkwhich is located adjacent to theCanton
Administration Building, west of Canton Center
Road between Cherry Hill Road and Summit
Parkway.
Sponsors for this year include: Atchinson
Ford; Red Holman Buick GMC; Gordon
Chevrolet; Canton Waste Recycling;
Community Financial Credit Union; West Side
Beer Distributing; The Goddard School of Early
Childhood Development and The Village
Dentist.
Therewill be an expanded lineup of carnival
rides, games and special attractions, including a
Family Zone. This year, visitors can purchase a
single-day armband which allows access onto
all the carnival rides online at www.cantonliber-
tyfest.combefore noon June 14.
Mega Bands which allow for unlimited rides
for all three days are $50 and can also be pur-
chased online or onsite. All sales are final. For
more information, call (734) 394-5460.
A free Thursday Night Concert Series at the
Canton Live! Stage from 7:30-10:30 p.m., featur-
ing the classic rock sounds of Fifty Amp Fuse.
From 7:30 - -9 p.m. Thursday, celebrate another
year of Zumba in Canton with a special party at
theHeritageParkAmphitheater.
During Liberty Fest, the Canton Rotary Club
will be hosting the Adult Beverage Tent, which
is sponsored by West Side Beer Distributing,
from 5-10 p.m. Thursday, from 1-10 p.m. Friday
and from 11 a.m. until 10:30 p.m. Saturday.
Festival-goers must be 21 years or older to enter
the tent.
Take a Walk on the Wild Side both Friday
and Saturday and enjoy a Petting Farm, camel
rides, exotic animal exhibits, plus a bird
encounter.
Other events and activities are planned for
Friday with two stages featuring a variety of live
entertainment. Highlights include Deep Fried
Pickle Project, with a Frankenstonian array of
homemade monster instruments. These Jug
Band performers will lead two eco-friendly
The Canton Historical
Society currently has openings
for a volunteer Development
Officer and a Volunteer
Coordinator.
See page 5.
See
Festival,
page 3
There will be an expanded lineup of
carnival rides, games and special
attractions, including a Family Zone.
”
Liberty Fest begins in Canton next week
Plymouth Community Fire
Department responded to an
emergency medical call on
Thornridge Drive in the Lake
Pointe subdivision early Monday
morning when a 50-year-old roof-
ing contractor was seriously
injured. The unnamed male
worker, employed by Richard's
Roofing of Troy, required emer-
gency care and rescue from a
rooftop after falling through
weak and rottedboards.
Plymouth Township para-
medics administered medical
care and intravenous medication
to the victim on top of the one-
story home but were forced to
call for mutual aid from
Northville Township when they
did not have sufficient manpower
or a big enough ladder to extri-
cate the patient safely from the
roof of the ranchhome.
The
entire
Plymouth
Community Fire Department
staff, consisting of the four on
duty firefighter/paramedics, a
lieutenant and Fire Chief Mark
Wendel, arrived on scene of the
accident within 8 minutes of the
911 call. Wendel indicated at the
scene that he did not advocate
operating with such a small staff
which does not meet minimum
national standards for fire
department rescue.
The initial dispatch at about
10 a.m. called out the rescue
ambulance from Haggerty Road
Station One and a pumper from
Beck Road Station Three. Huron
Valley Ambulance was also dis-
patched along with the depart-
ment utility truck. The equip-
ment available and dispatched
was not adequate for the rescue
of the victim, necessitating a call
to Northville Township for aid,
according to reports of the inci-
dent.
Northville Township fire and
rescue units were not on a run
and available sowere able to pro-
vide back-up units in about 10
minutes of the call for assistance
from Plymouth. Northville
Township dispatched seven fire-
fighters, a lieutenant, the needed
ladder truck and an engine to the
scene of the accident.
The nearby Lake Pointe fire
station which housed the needed
tower-ladder truck was closed
earlier this year and the truck
returned to the City of Plymouth
when the joint operating agree-
ment between the township and
city ended Jan. 1.
Wendel said if they had called
the City of Plymouth, which now
has a working agreement with
the City of Northville for fire and
rescue services, Northville would
have had to dispatch volunteers
to drive from their homes to the
Plymouth fire station to man the
ladder vehicle and then drive it
to the scene in Lake Pointe, an
unacceptable risk in a medical
emergency situation like this one.
This was the second incident
in the Lake Pointe area in two
weeks requiring Plymouth
Township fire fighters to call for
aid from Northville. In the previ-
ous instance, a house fire left
Plymouth fire fighters unable to
perform rescue operations in a
burning home because they did
not have enough fire fighters on
staff. Only four fire fighters were
on duty at two stations when the
fire was reported by an alarm
company at about 3 a.m. Brakes
on the 20-year-old fire truck from
the Beck Road station failed en
route to the scene delaying
See
Rescue,
page 3
Worker rescued as home roof collapses
Following challenges to the
nominating petitions submitted
on his behalf, incumbent U. S.
Rep. Thaddeus McCotter
announced that he will withdraw
from the primary race for the 11th
District seat. He had previously
said that he would run as a write-
in candidate for re-election on the
Republican ticket but he now said
he will not seek election to any
office, now or in the future,
according to a spokesman from
his office.
Petitions submitted for
McCotter were found by workers
in theWayne County Clerk's Office
to have duplicate and erroneous
signatures. When duplicate signa-
tures are found, the entire peti-
tion is ruled invalid, making
McCotter's submissions insuffi-
cient for the campaign. Only 244 of
the nearly 1500 signatures submit-
ted for McCotter were ruled valid.
McCotter said he was urging a
continued investigation by the
Secretary of State and Attorney
General into the irregularities
that kept him off the ballot. The
Attorney General is now investi-
gating the petitions which had
obviously falsified datelines and
other serious inconsistencies.
Petitions on the nominating
petitions of candidates for the
13th Congressional District have
also been challenged, claiming
that there are invalid or insuffi-
cient signatures on the documents
submitted to the Wayne County
Clerk'sOffice.
Candidates must submit
between 1,000-2,000 signatures of
registered voters within the dis-
trict on nominating petitions to be
qualified for the electionballot.
State Sen. Glenn Anderson's
(D-Westland) petition was chal-
lenged by Robert Davis of
Highland Park. Davis, a school
board member in that community,
also challenged the signatures on
the petitions of Democrats Bert
Johnson, State Rep. Shanelle
Jackson and Detroit lawyer
GodfreyDillard.
Johnson, a state senator, filed
challenges of the signatures on
petitions from Jackson and
Dillard.
Ron Graunstadt of Westland
has challenged the signatures on
the petitions submitted by
Democrat John Goci, a Wayne-
Westland school board member.
Goci was adamant that his signa-
tures are accurate and will with-
stand any challenge.
“I am the only candidate who
personally secured the signatures
required to be placed on the
Democratic primary ballot. Over
1600 citizens, fed up with politics
See
Race,
page 3
I am the only candidate
who personally secured the signatures required
to be placed on the Democratic primary ballot.
— John Goci
”
Incumbent leaves race, other petitions challenged
Firefighter paramedics attend to the worker injured Monday when he
fell through a house roof in Plymouth. Plymouth Township fire fighters
had to use the Northville Township ladder truck to move the victim.