No. 38
NEWS YOU CAN USE, NEWS YOU CAN TRUST
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Sept. 28 – October 4, 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
Language on recall peti-
tions against Wayne three
city councilmen and Mayor
SusanRowewere approved.
See page 5.
Northville Public Schools
families and community
members can learn more
about Bond 2017 at the sec-
ond of two community
forums being hosted by the
board of education.
See page 9.
Vol. 132, No. 38
Vol. 70, No. 38
Vol. 70, No. 38
Vol. 17, No. 38
A Romulus-based fran-
chisee of Tim Horton's Cafe
and Bake Shop will pay
$22,500 to settle a federal
lawsuit.
See page 9.
Vol. 132, No. 38
Vol. 70, No. 38
Vol. 70, No. 38
For home delivery of The Eagle call 734-467-1900.
City council members
approved the purchase of
five
new
cardiac
monitor/defibrillators.
See page 4.
Drivers
throughout
Canton Township will face
another detour and road
closing this week when
Ridge Road, between Ford
andHanford is closed to traf-
fic during paving.
See page 6.
Vol. 17, No. 38
The Inkster Legends are
already planning their
Annual Christmas Giveaway
raffle which funds holiday
groceries and gifts for 100
less fortunate Inkster fami-
lies.
See page 5.
A new custom tile mural
created by Pewabic Pottery
of Detroit has been unveiled
at the Plymouth library fea-
turing approximately 650
tiles.
See page 8.
Yankee Air Museum will
attempt to reclaim the
Guinness World Record for
the Largest Gathering of
People Dressed as Rosie the
Riveter nextmonth.
See page 2.
Election Day may be Nov. 7,
but several thousand voters will
be receiving their ballots during
the next two weeks from local
city and township clerks.
Richard LeBlanc, city clerk
in Westland, said that his office
would be mailing absentee bal-
lots to 4,600 voters this week. He
added that the total number of
voters permanently registered
as absentee voters in Westland
totals about 7,300, but those vot-
ers must request an absentee
ballot.
In Romulus, City Clerk Ellen
Craig Bragg said that her office
would be mailing the absentee
ballotsOct. 6.
“It really is an effort to make
voting more convenient,” Craig
Bragg said. She said her office
sends out postcards to citizens
registered as permanent absen-
tee voters asking them if they
wish to request an absentee bal-
lot.
“I think more people are tak-
ing advantage of absentee vot-
ing,” she said. “Our office sent
out literature explaining our
new voting equipment and the
absentee process.”
LeBlanc agreed noting that
he launched an outreach effort
to increase absentee voting in
Westland about 18 months ago
with the approval of the mayor
and city councilmembers.
He said that he tries to get the
ballots into the hands of the vot-
ers as soon as the language is
approved by the state and coun-
ty offices responsible for ensur-
ing the accuracy of the verbiage.
LeBlanc added that when he
started the effort, there were
about 4,600 Westland residents
registered as permanent absen-
tee voters.
“That total has increased to
7,300,” he said. LeBlanc added
that he had offered to go pick up
the ballots from the official
printer personally to ensure a
promptmailing in the city.
“We learned last Friday that
our ballots were officially
approved,” LeBlanc said, “so we
expect them here this week and
then theywill go into themail.”
Craig Bragg added that she
felt there has been an issue of
trust with voters. New proce-
dures put into place by
Secretary of State Ruth Johnson
With the mailing of absentee
ballots to nearly 5,000 Westland
voters this week, allegations of
racism and disinformation have
been leveled at two candidates
for city office.
One of the harshest critics of
current mayoral candidate
Kevin Coleman is Arthur
Warren, the current president of
the Westland Democratic Club.
Warren claims that Coleman is
deliberately misleading voters
during his house-to-house cam-
paign visits and that he is sup-
ported by a racist agenda.
Coleman denies those allega-
tions.
Warren said that the
Democratic Club would not
endorse Coleman and had cho-
sen to support incumbent Mayor
WilliamR.Wild.
“I will be biased, but truth-
ful,” Warren said, regarding his
comments. The 40-year city resi-
dent claims that Coleman, who
served on the city council prior
to making a bid for the mayoral
office, is blatantly lying to voters
and has displayed racist tactics
during the campaign.
“This group that supports
him, Move Westland Forward,
has never said a good thing
about our city. They are on the
edge of neo-Nazism and the Ku
Klux Klan,” Warren said. “Note
that I said on the edge.”
Coleman denies any affilia-
tion with the Move Westland
Forward group and said he is
honest withpotential voters.
“I am not involved with them
(Move Westland Forward). They
do their own thing,” he said. “I
know that they support me,” he
added.
Lisa Graham who manages
the Move Westland Forward
Group denies any trace of
racismon the site.
“That is absolutely not true,”
she said. “We ban racist com-
Area clerks urge voters to use absentee ballots
They are on the edge
of neo-Nazism
and the Ku Klux Klan.
”
See
Election,
page 4
See
Ballots,
page 10
Racism charged in city election
Slow motion
Continued train delays spark residents’ complaints
Frustrated motorists in
Plymouth continue to complain
about train delays, some lasting
almost 20minutes and stretching
2-3miles across the community.
Complaints about blocked
crossings are not a new topic in a
town built around the railroad
150 years ago. Plymouth is still a
major railroad intersection and
for decades motorists and resi-
dents have learned to live and
accept slow-moving rail traffic.
As late as the 1960s, Chesapeake
and Ohio passenger trains
served the Plymouth community
making regular daily runs to
Detroit and Ann Arbor. At one
time 27 trains regularly criss-
crossed the city. Plymouth is one
of the few communities in the
state where trains run both east
andwest andnorthand south.
Ken Rutka, a 35-year old con-
sumer research director who
works in Ann Arbor, says he just
moved to Plymouth last month
and already had what he
described as “an unbelievable
train delay.” Rutka said he's lived
by railroad tracks his entire life
but never encountered a train a
long as the one on Starkweather
Street on a recent Thursday.
“I was held up by a train in
Plymouth this morning on
Starkweather for 16 minutes by
my count. Not something you
want to run into on yourmorning
commute…wish there were
penalties to assure this wouldn't
happen to motorists in the
future,”Rutka said in an email.
In recent years, frustrated city
leaders have attempted to allevi-
ate the train delay problem after
facing irate residents. Traffic
tickets have been issued to train
engineers in an attempt to find a
solution to the problem.
In 2002, then State Attorney
Drivers in Plymouth know to expect long delays when the barriers come down at local railroad crossings which have been reported to
delay traffic for as long as 15 minutes.
Photos by Don Howard
Don Howard
Staff Writer
See
Trains,
page 11
