No. 35
NEWS YOU CAN USE, NEWS YOU CAN TRUST
75¢
Aug. 30 – Sept. 5, 2018
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 may
become a very scary place to
visit when the 6th Annual
ScarecrowShowandContest
begins Sept. 29.
See page 4.
Northville High School
freshman Ved Muthusamy
won a Bronze medal in the
International Geography
Bee in July in Berlin,
Germany.
See page 2.
Vol. 133, No. 35
Vol. 71, No. 35
Vol. 71, No. 35
Vol. 18, No. 35
A series of townhallmeet-
ings has been scheduled to
provide information to vot-
ers about a millage to sup-
port Romulus Fire and
Police departments.
See page 5.
Vol. 133, No. 35
Vol. 71, No. 35
Vol. 71, No. 35
For home delivery of The Eagle call 734-467-1900.
Construction of the Pulte
Homes residential develop-
ment in Westland is now
under way, with a model
Nankin Mills home open on
Joy Road east of Newburgh
Road.
See page 4.
Delaine Passucci of
Canton was throwing away a
Powerball ticket but asked a
store clerk to scan it first and
found she'd won $50,004 in
the July 25 drawing.
See page 2.
Vol. 18, No. 16
Investigators from the
Inkster Police Department
are requesting assistance in
identifying and locating a
robbery suspect.
See page 5.
The Plymouth Arts and
Recreation Complex millage
will be part of the discussion
set for a Senior Round Table
set forMonday, Sept. 10.
See page 3.
The Belleville Area
Historical Society will host a
special membership and vol-
unteer drive Sept. 20 at the
Ted Scott Campus of Wayne
CountyCommunityCollege.
See page 5.
Things are looking much
brighter throughout the City of
Westland.
Members of the city council
approved the final $1.1 million
phase of the streetlight conver-
sion program at their meeting
Aug. 20 setting Westland on
course to have high-efficiency
LED streetlights throughout the
city.
According to Mayor William
R. Wild, the installation of the
streetlights, “will make
Westland one of the first cities in
westernWayne County and all of
Michigan to be fullyLED.”
The new streetlights and the
replacement of others should be
complete next year, officials
said. About 870 streetlights will
be replaced along with the
installation of the new lights in
locations proposed following a
study by the police department.
Eleven lights will be installed
along Wildwood, between Ford
and Hunter; eight will be erect-
ed on Venoy, between Cherry
Hill and Palmer; 132 will be
installed along Newburgh Road
between Joy and Glenwood; 42
will be added along Warren
Road between Wayne and
Newburgh and another 28 will
be installed on Central City
parkway, between Warren and
Wayne roads.
The initial phase of the proj-
ect, which took place in March
of 2015, was a pilot program that
converted 166 Mercury Vapor
street light fixtures to LED in
the Annapolis Park Subdivision.
Phase two began in August of
2015 and converted 230 street
light fixtures to LED on major
roads throughout the city. The
Westland is constantly striving
to improve upon the safety
of motorists and pedestrians...
”
See
Lights,
page 4
WhenPattyBradenwas in graduate school at
the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, she
worked at both the Law Library and the
GraduateLibrary.
“I knew right away I wanted to go to library
school,” said Braden, who has been the
Romulus Public Library director for seven
years. “I was very impressed with the librarians
at theLawLibrary.”
Those professionals knew the law as well as
many languages in addition to English. Braden
earned a bachelor's degree in geography from
Eastern Michigan University with a literature
minor as well as a master's in information and
library studies at theUniversity ofMichigan.
Braden started in academic libraries, first for
years at the University of Michigan and then in
Fort Wayne, Indiana. She became a public
library director in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
Nearly 10 years ago inmoving back toMichigan,
she was hired as youth librarian by the late
PauletteMedvecky at theWaynePublicLibrary.
“Absolutely, very much so,” she said when
asked about support at her library, which serves
Romulus and Huron Township residents.
Circulation of materials and program atten-
dance “is on the upswing and has been for a
long time. Our youth programs are very popu-
lar.”
The Summer Reading program for children
drew crowds. “All of those numbers are way up.
I'mvery proud of the staff,” she said.
She manages a budget of about $700,000 a
year with a staff of 10, including three librari-
ans. The library on Wayne Road south of I-94
has two book clubs “going strong,” as well as a
third in cooperation with the City of Romulus at
theSenior Center.
Some of those attendees have joined the
library Friends group. There's a Seed Library
for donating seeds to gardeners, as well as a
LEGO Club, Anime Club and a Black History
Club.
Braden is proud of the librarywork in digitiz-
ing past issues of The Romulus Roman, now
part of the Eagle/Associated Newspapers, with
back copies online via a library card from 1968
to themid-1990s.
She's in several book clubs, including one
through The Library Network, Leaders Book
Discussion. Library professionals read and dis-
cuss supervision and management issues that
arise, “basically how to be a leader,” she said.
Braden is also president of the Greater
Romulus Chamber of Commerce. “That has
been a wonderful experience. I feel the director
ought to be out in the community,” she said dur-
ing a recent interview inher office.
Braden is also a member of a book club that
meets at the homes ofmembers, a club she start-
ed. “My favorite would be historical fiction,” she
said. “I learn a lot when I read historical fiction.
The resignation of Wayne
City Councilman Tom Porter
was rejected by a vote of the city
council during their regular
meeting last week. Porter had
tendered his resignation Aug. 20
in what he said was his indigna-
tion at the public posting of an
independent report citing ram-
pant discrimination and mis-
management at city hall.
City attorney Breeda O'Leary-
Brassfield was also rumored to
have tendered her resignation
to the council following their
failure to act on the findings in
report.
Porter stated at the meeting
last Tuesday that his action was
in response to another member
of the council leaking the 105-
page report rather than keeping
the findings confidential.
Members of the council voted
against accepting Porter's resig-
nation with Councilman Ryan
Gabriel casting the only vote in
favor of themotion.
In a later post on social
media, Porter said that hewould
not take any more calls, texts,
messages email or questions
regarding the report.
“I resigned, it was not accept-
ed, leaving me an open door (in
my opinion) to quit or rejoin the
city council as I (yes, just me and
the people closest to me)
decide.”
The independent investiga-
tion was performed by an out-
side legal firm which found no
basis for the initial complaint of
sexual discrimination but did,
however, discover mismanage-
ment and favoritism by the city
manager toward one employee
along with what could be char-
acterized as a hostile working
environment. The report further
cited management failures of
the city manager and suggested
the council take immediate
remedial action up to and
including dismissal if the
administrator is unable or
unwilling to take the necessary
corrective actions. No action
regarding the report or the con-
duct of the city manager was
taken during the regular meet-
ing and the item was not on the
agenda.
Porter spoke about his resig-
Canton
police
arrest
theft ring
At your service
Romulus Library seeks to
provide for residents’ needs
Five suspects were arrested
earlier this month on charges
related to a retail fraud scheme
which involved nearly $500,000
in merchandise stolen from
Cantonbusinesses.
Canton Township police
executed search warrants Aug.
1 on storage units, a warehouse
and residential locations fol-
lowing a four-month investiga-
tion of the alleged criminal
enterprise.
Prosecutors claim that
between March 16 and July 27,
the suspects would steal from
various retail stores in Canton
such as CVS, Walgreens, Rite-
Aid, and Target. The defen-
dant(s) would then turn the
stolen merchandise over to
Nafez Mohammad, 59, of
Detroit. It is alleged that
Mohammad would then take
the items to a storage unit in
Dearborn and remove the plas-
tic security devices and stickers
so they could be sold to pur-
chasers on the internet.
“Over the past year, the
Canton Police Department has
been diligent with our investi-
gations into organized retail
criminal enterprises,” said
Deputy Director Chad Baugh.
“Our intention is to disrupt the
trade of stolen merchandise in
our region, therefore diminish-
ing the number of venues for
would-be thieves to sell their
stolen goods. In the long run,
See
Library,
page 5
Julie Brown
Staff Writer
Westland OK’s final street light phase
See
Thefts,
page 2
See
Report,
page 4
I resigned,
it was not accepted,
leaving me an open door...
”
City management report sparks resignation
Romulus Library Director Patty Braden is proud
of the myriad of up-to-date services the facility
provides for the public.
