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July 23, 2015
N
ORTHVILLE
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LYMOUTH
Concours d’Elegance features world-class auto collections
Little Free Libraries now available in Northville
Last week organizers of the 37th
edition of the Concours d'Elegance
of America, a show that attracts
10,000 attendees to the Plymouth-
Northville community, rolled out
their plans for another world-class
event at The Inn at St. John's.
This weekend, July 25 and 26,
they will showcase 300 vintage and
classic cars and motorcycles from
31 states on 200 acres, reaffirming
their position as one of the most
prestigious automotive displays in
theworld.
“We're trying to move the
Concours into the modern world.”
said Brian Joseph, president of
Classic and Exotic Cars, at the
press preview and announced the
“Class of 55,” a category of cars that
will compete for special awards,
although not eligible for best of
show.
Gilbert Chestney is not new to
the car showcircuit. He has a nine-
car collection, all Kaisers and
Frazers.
Chestney has three Frazers and
six Kaisers, but his favorite is his
rare 1955 Kaiser Manhattan, two-
door, number four of only 44 ever
made, which he has entered into
the “Class of 55” showcategory.
Chestney, 74, was eager to talk
about the Kaiser-Frazer brand.
The company that started up soon
afterWorldWar II in 1945 ended its
final year of production in 1954
with the 1955 model, which
Chestney owns.
“Total production was 226 cars
and only 44 were two-doors,”
Chestney boasted.
Chestney said his Kaiser
Manhattan won the closed-car
class at the Concours in St. Joseph
in 2004.
“We were born in the car,”
Chestney said. My mother worked
forKaiser for 9 years.”
General-admission tickets for
the July 26 Concours exhibition
are $30 in advance and $35 at the
gate. For more information, tickets
and a listing of related vents visit
the Concours d'Elegance of
Americawebsite.
Northville has joined the sur-
rounding communities where
Little Free Libraries have been
installedby the local RotaryClubs.
Northville now has six of the
small mounted containers which
allow residents to take a book or
leave a book and return it when
they are finished with it. There is
no signing in or out and no library
card is necessary. The small
depositories in Northville were
built with the cooperation and
involvement of Home Depot,
Urban Science, Mark Blais, the
Northville Art House, Abigail
Wright-Geddes, the Northville
District Library and theNorthville
Parks
and
Recreation
Department.
Wright-Geddes, the director of
the Northville Art House, and
members of the group helped
paint the Little Free Libraries and
HomeDepot furnished all the sup-
plies, tools and lumber which
employees pre-cut for the con-
struction.
The project, completed earlier
thismonth, began early this spring.
Rotary clubs across the country
have adopted the Little Free
Libraries as a community project
and have completed the projects
in Wayne, Belleville, Romulus and
Plymouth.
In Northville, the Little Free
Libraries are located at theRotary
Well, near the Northville Chamber
of Commerce office, Cabbage
Town Park, Joe Denton Park, at
the trail head at Coldwater
Springs, Millennium Park and in
front of Community Choice Credit
Union onSixMileRoad.
Don Howard
Staff Writer
Oct. 26, pending a decision by the
Michigan Court of Appeals on the admis-
sibility of her confession to the crimes.
Callahan ruled that her confession to
policewas inadmissible based onher age
and the content of the conversations with
detectives. Prosecutors disagreed and
requested the ruling from the appeals
court which has agreed to hear the mat-
ter.
Sikorski's parents had filed a sexual
misconduct complaint against Rivera in
an attempt to separate the couple.
Investigators have alleged that the mur-
der plot was an attempt by the couple to
avoid the legal proceedings and run
away together. Sikorski had run away
fromhome in July 2014 to bewithRivera,
according to court documents.
Her parents have alleged that she was
manipulated by Rivera and suffers from
mental problems stemming from her
early childhood in Poland prior to being
adopted about 10 years ago.
Her new defense attorney appointed
by the court, Matthew Evans, has
requested that she be moved from the
juvenile detention center to some type of
residential treatment center in light of
health issues. Sikorski is 4-foot, 8-inches
tall and has lost weight while incarcerat-
ed, he said, andher health is in jeopardy.
Callahan said he would consider the
move, but didnot rule on the request.
Rivera's attorney, Wright Blake,
argued last Friday that unless the trial
went forward, bail for Rivera should be
reduced in light of his right to a speedy
trial under the law. Rather than reduce
bail, Callahan opted to try Rivera sepa-
rately.
Jury selection was scheduled to begin
lastMonday inhis trial.
improper.
Plymouth Township paid $606,150 in
2011 for two parcels of acreage at a fore-
closure sale by the Wayne County treasur-
er's office. The land was foreclosed on by
the county when the recorded owners,
Demco 54, a subsidiary of DeMattia Corp.,
failed to pay taxes on the land. The two
parcels were improperly recorded as
belonging to Demco 54 by the Plymouth
Township assessor's office, when in fact,
the City of Detroit owned the 190-acre par-
cel and had never sold or transferred title
to the land. The township reported the tax
arrearage on the entire section of property
to the county which then sold the land to
the township at the tax foreclosure sale.
Detroit was never notified of any tax
arrearage by the township or the county as
the notices went to Demco 54 which never
paid any tax on any portion of the proper-
ty.
Plymouth Township, in the appeal of
Columbo's ruling, claims the 2010 State
Tax Commission bulletin exempting
municipal property from foreclosure did
not recognize that the land is only exempt-
ed when it is used for a public purpose. In
court filings, township attorneys say that
Detroit left the land undeveloped and
therefore the State Tax Commission
exceeded it's authority in exempting the
land and that the “inclusion of municipal-
ly-owned land is flawed.”
The Plymouth Township legal filing in
the Court of Appeals started the clock for
the city to respond. Raimi says he's
already responded and filed a brief in the
appellate court stating he ready for oral
arguments and hopes the ruling won't take
more than sixmonths.
“I feel Judge Columbo's decision was
entirely proper.”Raimi said.
Teen
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