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No. 29
NEWS YOU CAN USE, NEWS YOU CAN TRUST
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July 19 - 25, 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
James Hawley was appoint-
ed by a unanimous vote of
Wayne City Council members
to fill the unexpired term cre-
ated by the resignation of
DonnaMcEachern.
See page 3.
Officials in the City of
Romulus are looking into ways
to take better care of the parks
within the city closed because
of budget cuts. Many of them
have fallen into disrepair.
See page 5.
It's now official. The newest
president of the Plymouth
Noon rotary Club has taken
the oath of office and is hoping
to bring some new ''traditions"
to the civic group.
See page 4.
The Thursday Northville
Farmer's Market will be col-
lecting donations of fresh and
canned food for Northville
CivicConcern.
See page 4.
Members of the Belleville
City Council approved a 5 per-
cent increase in both thewater
and sewer rates in the city
retroactive to July 1.
See page 5.
Vol. 127, No. 29
Vol. 65, No. 29
Vol. 65, No. 29
Vol. 12, No. 29
Vol. 12, No. 29
Vol. 127, No. 29
Vol. 65, No. 29
Vol. 65, No. 29
Inkster residents won't have
to travel far from home to find
fresh produce, thanks to a new
program of the Wayne
Metropolitan Community
ActionAgency.
See page 3.
For home delivery of The Eagle call 734-467-1900.
More than $750,000 will be
spent on renovations to the
empty building at 501 South
Wayne Road in Westland, the
site of several former restau-
rants.
See page 3.
The historic State-Wayne
Theatre in downtown Wayne may
soonbe under newmanagement.
According to City Manager
Robert English, negotiations are
ongoing with Phoenix theaters,
with headquarters in Farmington,
to enter into a joint agreement
with the City of Wayne to manage
and operate the theater which first
opened in 1946.
The theater was originally
owned and operated by the
Schafer family who owned Wayne
Amusements and had only one
screen. It was sold to National
Amusements which added an
additional three screens before
being taken over by the city several
years ago.
English said he was putting the
finishing touches on a proposal to
take to members of the Wayne City
Council that would allow the city to
"make the theater into what it
shouldbe."
Phoenix Theaters currently
manages numerous small, inde-
pendent theaters throughout the
area, the closest in Laurel Park
Place inLivonia. "This would allow
us to do so many things," English
said. "We would be under the
Phoenix banner, on the website
and give our residents the opportu-
nity to even order tickets online,
which they have never hadbefore."
English said plans include the
replacement of the current huge
film reel projectors now being
used at the StateWayne.
"By 2013, the movie studios will
no longer be making movies on the
big reels, so we have to go to digital
projectors by 2013 or wewon't have
a product to show. Our choice is
change the projectors or close the
theater," he said. English said that
the city could recoup about 70 per-
cent of the cost of converting to dig-
ital projectors during the next six
years through rebates being
offeredby some of themajormovie
studios.
"I think the theater is very
important to downtown Wayne,
and we need to look at new ideas."
English added. "We're still operat-
ing the theater the way we did 40
years ago."
In conjunctionwith the newdig-
ital projectors, English said he is
hoping to add Dolby sound and
new screens. No plans for new
seating are in the plans," he said.
English stressed that the city
An investigation into the
early morning wrong-way driv-
er crash which left three peo-
ple injured is continuing in
CantonTownship.
See page 4.
See
Phoenix,
page 3
New management proposed for historic theater
Touch down
$250,000 donation
renames, helps fund
high school field
When Northville High School students
take to the field for the first home football
game of the season Aug. 24, they'll do it on
brand new artificial turf on the newly named
TomHolzerFordField.
The TurfClub, a group organized to help
raise funding for the renovation of the field,
raised more than $600,000 toward the $1.2
million project by sponsoring numerous fund
raising events, accepting contributions from
various area businesses and an anonymous
donation of $500,000. Then Constance Holzer,
CEO and president of Tom Holzer Ford in
Farmington Hills, heard about the need for
renovations to the field, first built in the late
1960s. There had been some improvements
to the field in the 1980s, but since then it had
deteriorated considerably.
Use of the stadium field, located at the old
Hillside Middle School, on the north side of
Eight Mile Road between Center Street and
Taft Road, was dependent on the weather
and less than desirable in the best of condi-
tions, school officials said.
“When they came to me and I heard about
the possibility of the kids getting hurt because
of the conditions, I felt it was a worthy cause
and something I wanted to do for the commu-
nity,”Holzer said.
Holzer presented a check to the district for
$172,600 this week, which will help fund the
first phase of the renovation which included
the new turf, lighting, a press box, scoreboard
and audio system upgrades. Superintendent
of Northville Schools Mary Kay Gallagher
and Holzer signed the agreement which stip-
ulates that Tom Holzer Ford will provide
annual payments of $8,600 for the next nine
years of the contract. In addition to naming
rights, the Tom Holzer Ford logo will appear
on signs at the north and south entrances to
the stadium and on the front and back of the
scoreboard.
Northville Athletic Director Bryan Masi
was very pleasedwith the arrangement.
“We're extremely excited about our new
partnership with Tom Holzer Ford,” Masi
said.
“A renovation of the stadium was long
overdue. We believe when the project is com-
plete in 2013 it will be a source of pride for
the entire Northville community.”
Contributions to the TurfClub are being man-
aged by The Northville Educational
Foundation, a 501c3 group, which established
a restricted fund for the purpose of funding
See
Field,
page 2
Northville school officials, board members and members of the Northville Educational
Foundation and Constance Holzer, CEO and president of Tom Holzer Ford, were on hand to
celebrate her $250,000 donation for the athletic field.
Photo by Ken Garner
Constance Holzer
Identity of political literature group unknown
The large full-color political
postcards that arrived in many
Plymouth Township voters' mail-
boxes recently did not come from
the
Plymouth
Township
ConcernedCitizens.
Carol Leroue, the founder of
the group, has attempted to track
down the sender, Concerned
Plymouth Township Residents, to
find out who is behind the inflam-
matory literature but has been
unsuccessful.
“The first place I checked was
Wayne County,” she said. “I could-
n't find any registration for this
group.”
The names are so remarkably
similar, Leroue is concerned that
someone wants her group to “take
the flack” for this literature
“This has nothing to do withmy
group,” she said.
“If this group has that kind of
money, why not come out with
some facts,” she said.
Leroue started her group about
four years ago as a reaction to her
disappointment with the “way the
township administration was
spending our tax money.” The
group began as an informal discus-
sion of decisions being made by
the township administration but is
See
Group,
page 2
Accused killer enters guilty plea
Michael Sutton, 41, of Canton
Township, has pleaded guilty to
second-degree murder charges in
the brutal killing of Frank Jones of
Romulus.
Sutton was arrested last
January after cell phone records
led Romulus police investigators
to himfor questioning in the killing
of Jones, also 41. Jones was discov-
ered in the bathroom of his
Romulus home by his adult son on
Jan. 7. The victim's hands were
tied behind his back and his head
was sealed in a plastic bag. He had
been beaten to death, according to
official reports of the crime.
Romulus police detectives and
Michigan State Police crime scene
investigators gathered mounds of
physical evidence at the crime
scene and other locations. Some of
the evidence proved the two men
were in an intimate relationship,
according to police reports. Jones'
car, a newer model Mustang, was
missing from the scene andCanton
Township Police located the car in
a parking lot the day after the body
was discovered.
"The quick apprehension, arrest
and subsequent guilty plea were
attributed to the hard work and
collaborative efforts of the
Romulus and Canton Police
departments, the Michigan State
Police and the Wayne County
Prosecutor's Office," said Romulus
PoliceChief Robert Dickerson.
Sutton was arrested and
charged with first-degree murder
and was arraigned on Jan. 25. He
was being held in the Wayne
County Jail on $1millionbond.
Sutton offered the guilty plea on
July 10. He will be sentenced Aug.
2 before Wayne County Circuit
Court JudgeTimothyKenny.
Michael Sutton