No. 26
NEWS YOU CAN USE, NEWS YOU CAN TRUST
75¢
June 29 – July 5, 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
Residents of the Wayne
area can learn about their
risk for cardiovascular dis-
ease, osteoporosis, diabetes,
and other conditions with
Lifeline screenings Aug. 10.
See page 5.
Members of the Country
Garden Club of Northville
have selected six area gar-
dens for the Annual Garden
Walk planned for July 12.
See page 4.
Vol. 132, No. 26
Vol. 70, No. 26
Vol. 70, No. 26
Vol. 17, No. 26
Members of the Romulus
City Council approved a
request to vacate two unused
roadways and sell bonds to
finance the Project Mercury
development.
See page 2.
Vol. 132, No. 26
Vol. 70, No. 26
Vol. 70, No. 26
For home delivery of The Eagle call 734-467-1900.
The winner of the
Norwayne anniversary raf-
fle will be in the passenger
seat of the B-25 bomber dur-
ing a flyover of the area dur-
ing the celebration next
month.
See page 5.
A special fundraiser for
the Wounded Warrior
Project is planned in Canton
Township next month with
the return of Yoga in the
ParkwithDanNevins.
See page 3.
Vol. 17, No. 26
Kathy Washington, a
breast cancer survivor from
Inkster, joinedmore than 135
fellow five-year cancer sur-
vivors for the 29th Annual
Celebrate Life® event
recently.
See page 4.
The
39th
Annual
Concours d'Elegance of
America will take place July
28-30 at the Inn at St. John's
in Plymouth and tickets are
nowon sale for the event.
See page 3.
The Rotary Club of
Belleville installed new offi-
cers and boardmembers last
week including the 80th
president of the club, Philip
Miller.
See page 2.
An audit of the financial
records of Hilltop Golf Course
has discovered multiple irregu-
larities, according to a report
presented to members of the
Plymouth Township Board of
Trustees last week.
The forensic audit, per-
formed by township outside
auditing firm Plante Moran, was
presented to the trustees during
a scheduled study session. The
findings included what appear
to be duplicate billings, fictitious
invoices, questionable purchase
orders and the potential manip-
ulation of address data, accord-
ing to the report.
“The former treasurermanip-
ulated the BS&A (accounting
software system) in a way only
he could understand,” said
Township Supervisor Kurt
Heise after listening to two
Plante Moran audit presenta-
tions.
Using a process called
“Geocoding” to compare the golf
course vendor addresses with
golf course employee addresses,
auditors discovered various
anomalies within the collected
data. One audit finding identi-
fied three unique addresses
shared by six Hilltop vendors
and three township employees.
One shared address was 47000
Powell Road, the address of the
Hilltop Golf Course. Auditors
said there were four vendors in
the master vendor file that used
the address. They also said they
found a number of township
vendors in the master file which
didnot have vendor names.
Plante Moran auditors sug-
gested the township investigate
Areas
celebrate
4th of July
Clerk accused of mishandling ballots
The former treasurer manipulated
the BS&A (accounting software system)
in a way only he could understand.
”
See
Audit,
page 3
Golf course audit prompts questions
Wayne County Circuit Court
Chief Judge Robert Columbo
has accusedWestland City Clerk
Richard LeBlanc of improperly
storing and securing voters' bal-
lots.
LeBlanc said that he was
completely surprised by the
judge's statements and was not
contacted or notified by anyone
that there was any problemwith
the ballot storage procedures
presently in effect.
“We never talked to anybody
about this,” LeBlanc said.
The statements from
Columbo came during a lawsuit
claiming erroneous results in
the Taylor School District Board
of Education election. Ronald
Miller claimed in the suit that
the Wayne County Board of
Canvassers improperly counted
the ballots.
In his court filings, Miller
cited an e-mail froma state elec-
tions official who claimed that
the certified results for the Nov.
8, 2016 election were incorrect.
Miller said in his lawsuit that
the errors cost him the seat on
the school board. He is seeking a
recount.
During a hearing June 9,
members of the board of can-
vassers, which oversee all elec-
tions in Wayne County, also
expressed concerns about the
way the ballots had been
secured since the election seven
months ago.
Members of the official board
visited various city clerks' offices
and entered photographs into
evidence during the court case.
The Westland ballots were of
particular concern. Among the
reported concerns in the court
filings were ballots that had
been removed from approved
containers; seals that were bro-
ken, improper or not recorded
and multiple ballots from vari-
ous precincts stored in one bag.
The evidence was submitted to
the court by Janet Anderson-
See
Ballots,
page 5
We never talked
to anybody about this.
Richard LeBlanc
”
Don Howard
Staff Writer
As has become a tradition,
Independence Day parades
and celebrations are planned
throughout the area.
NORTHVILLEPARADE
In Northville, the annual
4th of July Parade which has
been organized by the
Northville
Community
Foundation for 19 years, will
step off from the Northville
Downs parking lot at Sheldon
Road and Seven Mile at 10
a.m.
The theme this year is All
Star Salute to the U.S.A. and
the event whichusually draws
more than 20,000 viewers
along the route will include
the usual clowns, dancers,
floats, veterans, antique cars
and lots of music. The parade
will travel to the corner of
Griswold andMain Street and
continue down Main to
Rogers and then turn onto
Cady. The marchers will trav-
el down Cady to Wing and
then march down Fairbrook
Street to Center where the
marchers and floats will dis-
perse.
As always, the bike parade
of decorated cycles is planned
with the winners each receiv-
ing a $50 gift certificate from
the sponsor, NorthvilleMeijer.
There is no entry fee or appli-
cation, the children simply
show up with their decorated
bikes, ready tomarch.
As has become a tradition
in Northville, the parade is
sponsored by St. Mary Mercy
Hospital.
Organizers suggest getting
an early spot to view the event
as there is always a large,
patriotically-dressed and
enthusiastic crowd at one of
the most popular events
throughout the area.
A complete parade line up
for the Northville parade is
included as a special insert in
this edition of TheEagle.
PLYMOUTHPARADE
AND ICECREAMSOCIAL
In Plymouth, a special cel-
ebration is planned this year
as the 150th anniversary of
the city is celebrated.
There is an old-fashioned
ice cream social planned,
along with the traditional 4th
of July parade this year.
Officials from both the city
See
Events,
page 6
Hot dog
Arson detection
dog joins fire
department
The newest member of the
Westland Fire Department has
it all: beauty, brains and an
undeniable charm that has
already won the affection of all
her co-workers.
Bella, a 14-month-old
Labrador retriever, is a profes-
sionally-trained arson detec-
tion dog, also known as an
accelerant detection canine.
She traveled from Southern
Star Ranch in Texas recently
withher handler,WestlandFire
Department Captain Jeff
Stobbe, and immediately cap-
tured the hearts of her fellow
fire fighters.
“She's a great dog,” Stobbe
said. “Everybody here played
fetch with her and she loved it,
but she knowswhen it is time to
go to work. She understands
her job.”
While the Michigan State
Police have an arson dog, Bella
is the first to be part of a local
department in the area. Bella,
like accelerant detection dogs,
is trained to detect and locate
trace amounts of ignitable liq-
uids, including hydrocarbon-
based fuels such as gasoline,
diesel fuel, kerosene, turpen-
tine, butane and other flamma-
ble solvents. Canines have a
sense of smell that is tens of
thousands more sensitive to
odors than that of humans.
“Frequently the time
required to pinpoint crucial
evidence can lead to the deteri-
oration of saidmaterials before
they are even uncovered,” com-
mented Westland Fire Chief
Michael Stradtner. “Introduc-
ing an arson dog to the environ-
ment early reduces the likeli-
hood of this scenario, and
increases the odds of locating
trace evidence that an investi-
gatormay not find otherwise.”
Bella's rigorous and exten-
sive training began before she
was a year old. Stobbe said that
trainers began working with
her on basic commands and
detection procedures very
early, but soon discovered that
she had a talent for accelerant
detection, so that was the area
inwhich they trainedher.
Stradtner said that the
Westland department had been
working on obtaining an accel-
erant detection dog for several
months, but that it isn't an easy
process.
“You don't tell them (the
Westland Fire Department Captain Jeff Stobbe and the newest
member of the force, Bella, enjoy a break from training.
Photo by Don
Howard
See
Bella,
page 5
