No. 23
NEWS YOU CAN USE, NEWS YOU CAN TRUST
75¢
June 8 – 14, 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
Downtown Wayne will be
the site of Downtown Days
July 13 through 15 when
shops and organizations will
host numerous family-friend-
ly activities throughout the
weekend.
See page 3.
The names of the veterans
buried at Thayer Cemetery
are now memorialized on a
special marker dedicated
last week in a ceremony
attended by local officials
and relatives.
See page 4.
Vol. 132, No. 23
Vol. 70, No. 23
Vol. 70, No. 23
Vol. 17, No. 23
The Save a Life Tour
recently paid a visit to
Romulus High School and
provided tips to students
about staying safewhile driv-
ing including use of state-of-
the-art simulators.
See page 5.
Vol. 132, No. 23
Vol. 70, No. 23
Vol. 70, No. 23
For home delivery of The Eagle call 734-467-1900.
Mayor William R. Wild
has appointed Melissa
DeLuka as a newmember of
the Westland Historical
Commission.
See page 3.
Canton Liberty Fest will
return celebrating its 26th
anniversary with three
action-packed fun-filled days
from Thursday, June 15
through Saturday, June 17 in
HeritagePark.
See page 2.
Vol. 17, No. 23
State and county legisla-
tors will host a Coffee Hour
in Inkster from noon until 1
p.m. June 12 at the Leanna
Hicks Library.
See page 2.
Construction growth in
Plymouth and Plymouth
Township is booming with
new single-family homes
under construction or newly-
built throughout the commu-
nity.
See page 4.
Members of the Belleville
Rotary Club, along with a
few helpful friends, spent an
evening last week refreshing
and cleaning up the gazebo
inVictoryPark.
See page 5.
Roksana Sikorski, the
Plymouth Township teen sen-
tenced to 10-20 years in prison
for a murderous attack on her
family in October of 2014, has
withdrawnher latest legal plea.
Sikorski, through her appel-
late attorney, filed a motion with
the court to withdraw her guilty
plea to a single charge of assault
with intent to murder, claiming
she did not fully understand the
consequences of the plea
arrangement and did not
receive adequate legal repre-
sentation in the initial court pro-
ceedings.
She and her boyfriend,
Michael Rivera, then 22, were
originally charged with seven
felonies in a plot to murder her
parents and two siblings. Hewas
convicted by a jury on all seven
counts and is now serving a life
sentence in themurder plot.
Sikorski and Rivera were
exchanging explicit text mes-
sages during the Oct. 17, 2014
attack when she went into her
12-year-old brother's room and
deeply sliced his throat. His
screams awakened her parents
and younger sister, whom she
also attempted to stab. Police
were called to the home as the
couple fled to Rivera's Detroit
apartment where they were
arrested the next morning.
Prosecutors said that Sikorski,
15, at the time, was following
instructions on how to kill her
family sent to her phone by
Rivera, including an anatomical
diagram showing her how to slit
their throats.
She accepted the plea deal
arrangement with prosecutors
last February in exchange for
them dropping the six other
felony charges, including four
counts of conspiracy to commit
murder, using a computer to
commit a crime and assault with
a dangerous weapon. She was
sentenced in March, 2016 to 10-
20 years in prison and has been
incarcerated at the Huron
Valley Correctional Facility for
Women inYpsilanti.
Her parents, Jeff and
Laurene Sikorski, adopted all
three children from Poland,
nearly 13 years ago. They have
continued to defend her actions
and claim that she was manipu-
lated by Rivera into the murder
plot in response to sexual mis-
conduct charges they filed
against him. Rivera eventually
pleaded guilty to third-degree
criminal sexual conduct as a
result of his relationship with
the 15-year-old.
Sikorski's parents said that
they had opposed the plea deal
from the beginning and had
threatened to file a grievance
against her attorney, claiming
that he coerced the teen into
accepting the plea deal. The
couple agreed that they wanted
a jury trial for their daughter,
preserving her right to appeal
any verdict. Their involvement
with her defense was limited by
law as they were among the vic-
tims of the crime.
Circuit Court Judge James
Callahan, who originally
presided over the trial and even-
tually sentencedSikorski, issued
a gag order in the case, prevent-
ing the attorneys from making
any comment on the proceed-
ings.
Canton Liberty Fest will again
host the 6th Annual Canton
Liberty Run, which will include
5K, 10K, and One Mile events on
Saturday, June 17.
The runs are organized in col-
laborationwithRFEvents of Ann
Arbor.
All races will start at the clock
tower corner of VeteransWay and
Civic Center Boulevard, located
adjacent to the north end of the
Canton Public Library parking
lot. Participants are encouraged
to run, walk or stroll the courses
through neighborhood streets
and the scenic Lower Rouge
Trail. Race distances include a
5K race to begin at 8 a.m.; a 10K
race to begin at 8:30 a.m.; and a
One Mile Fun Run to begin at
10:15 a.m. 5K and 10K races will
be timed with a “RFID” Timing
Systems using a disposable tag
attached to the runner's bib. Race
results will be posted at the race
site, and following the event the
official results will be posted
online
at
.
There is no chip timing for the
OneMileFunRun.
Runners and walkers partici-
pating in the Liberty Run are
encouraged to wear Stars,
Stripes, and Sparkles for a
chance to win a prize. Theme
awards will be presented to the
top three winners in categories
including Best Red, White and
Blue outfit and Best Salute to
Sparkles outfit. A Glittering
See
Run,
page 2
Teen drops petition to withdraw guilty plea
On the run
Liberty Run leads off Canton festival
A long and winding dispute
between neighbors sharing an
access road to their respective
properties led to Plymouth
Township Hall and the meeting
of the board of trustees last
week.
PatrickKelley, a life-long res-
ident of the township, told the
board members that he has
maintained the 1,800 foot
access road that leads to his
home for decades. The private
driveway is considered an
egress easement for Kelley and
three other homeowners, one of
whom has prohibited Kelley
from continuing his efforts to
keep the driveway free of plant
growth, overhanging tree limbs
and refuse.
Attorney Patrick Guentner
spoke to the trustees onKelley's
behalf and explained that his
client, who has lived on the
property for more than 60
years, is frustrated by the fail-
ure of township Ordinance Ofc.
Kathy Pumphrey and Chief
Building Official Mark Lewis to
address the noxious weed viola-
tions and overhead tree branch-
es that could restrict emergency
access to his home. Kelley's 87-
year-old mother lives in the
home and unrestricted access
for emergency vehicles such as
fire trucks or an ambulance is a
serious concern for the home-
owners, Guentner said.
Guentner added that
Pumphrey and Lewis have
failed to address violations of
township ordinances regarding
the weeds and branches.
Guentner told board members
he and Kelley were seeking a
resolution and found it dis-
heartening that the ordinance
violations were not addressed
and questioned the failure of
anyone from the township to
respond to his inquiries regard-
ing the situation.
“Any type of response would
have been better than no
response All I'm asking is that
someone address the viola-
tions,”Guentner said.
Trustee Chuck Curmi
responded asking the attorney
if the matter involved “a dis-
pute between two long-time
Private access road dispute leads to township hall
See
Dispute,
page 6
Roksana Sikorski
Canton Township was recent-
ly awarded a $50,000 Recycling
Infrastructure Grant from the
Michigan Department of
Environmental Quality (MDEQ).
The funds will go toward the
purchase of new 64-gallon auto-
mated recycling carts for town-
ship residents' use.
The grant is part of Gov. Rick
Snyder's Residential Recycling
Plan of Action which aims to
increase the residential recy-
cling rate to 30 percent within
two years. Last year, Canton
recycled 6,803 tons which is
16.75 percent of the total resi-
dential waste stream. By provid-
ing the 64-gallon carts, Canton
officials hope to increase that
rate to 21.5 percent. When com-
bined with the residential yard
waste collected, Canton will
exceed the state recycling goal
of 30 percent.
Canton Trustee Anne Marie
Graham-Hudak, identified the
grant which made approximate-
ly $250,000 available to commu-
nities. Canton was one of five
communities in Michigan to
receive grant money and the
only community to be awarded
the maximum amount of
$50,000.
In comparison, the City of
Houghton was awarded $7,904,
Village of Bingham Farms was
awarded $15,750, Grosse Pointe
was awarded $28,350 and
Detroit was awarded $34,132.72.
“This grant helps our com-
munity move toward sustain-
ability andmaking Canton a bet-
ter place for our residents,” said
Graham-Hudak.
Delivery of the new carts is
under way and crews will deliv-
er carts to the end of each resi-
dent's driveway - residents do
not need to be present to receive
the cart. Residents may begin
using the new cart as soon as
they receive it, however it will
take about three weeks to deliv-
er all 27,500 carts. Residents
should continue using the 18-
gallon green bins until the new
cart is delivered to their home.
For more information visit
or call at
(844) 464-3587.
This grant helps our community
move toward sustainability and making
Canton a better place for our residents.
”
Canton awarded $50,000 state recycling grant
Don Howard
Staff Writer
