No. 40
NEWS YOU CAN USE, NEWS YOU CAN TRUST
75¢
October 4 – 10, 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
A Wayne couple has been
charged with second-degree
murder in the death of a 2-
year-old child last March.
The couple was arraigned in
34th District Court last
month.
See page 5.
A 47-year-old Westland
man has been arrested in
connection with the armed
robbery of the ChaseBank in
Northville Township Sept.
13.
See page 2.
Vol. 133, No. 40
Vol. 71, No. 40
Vol. 71, No. 40
Vol. 18, No. 40
The Romulus Senior
Center will host two fun
events tonight, Oct. 4,
designed to generate funds
for a new salon at the center
and other senior program-
ming.
See page 4.
Vol. 133, No. 40
Vol. 71, No. 40
Vol. 71, No. 40
For home delivery of The Eagle call 734-467-1900.
The City of Westland wel-
comed new police officers
Michael Bolton and Shamir
Enrique Garcia-Romero to
the department last week.
See page 2.
Canton Township resi-
dent Daksh Patel was glad to
present a check for $2,500 to
Canton Public Safety offi-
cials recently on behalf of a
local charity.
See page 3.
Vol. 18, No. 16
The Inkster Task Force
and the Inkster Firefighters
Local 1577 will host the 4th
Annul 5K Run/Walk as part
of Healthy Living Day 2018
onSaturday, Oct. 6.
See page 5.
Last week union mem-
bers of the Plymouth
Township Fire and Police
Department presented a
combined $4,670 in dona-
tions to Friends of Plymouth
Township.
See page 3.
Volunteers from the
Rotary Club of Belleville,
part of Rotary District 6400,
hope to package more than
100,000 meals during the 9th
annual Feed the World Day
2018 nextmonth.
See page 4.
Officials from Wayne County,
the City of Romulus and local
residents celebrated the com-
pletion of a $13.5 million road
improvement project that has
expanded transportation and
development options in the
north end of the community
during a special ribbon cutting
last week.
The ceremony took place
Sept. 25 in the parking lot of the
new Amazon Fulfillment Center
at 32801 Ecorse Road on the
east side of ViningRoad.
The Vining/Ecorse improve-
ment project, which started in
October 2017, created a four-
lane concrete boulevard exten-
sion of Vining Road from Smith
Road north to Ecorse Road and
expanded Ecorse from a two-
lane road to a three-lane road
fromVining toMerrimanRoad.
Intersection upgrades were
completed at Merriman and
Ecorse roads and Middlebelt
and Ecorse roads to enable bet-
ter traffic flow.
A series of signal light
upgrades and water and sewer
improvements are also part of
the project. Traffic signals were
upgraded at the Ecorse-
Middlebelt intersection, the
Ecorse-Merriman intersection
and the Ecorse-Wayne Road
intersection. New signal instal-
lations occurred at the Ecorse-
Vining installation and the
entrance drive at the Amazon
property.
The total cost of the project
was about $13.5 million: more
than $5.2 million for the Ecorse
Road construction, more than
$7.8 million for the Vining Road
construction, plus nearly
$300,000 in ancillary costs.
“The goals were to complete
the last link of Vining Road to I-
94 with Ecorse Road and to
improve the Ecorse Road corri-
dor across from Amazon,” said
Romulus Mayor LeRoy
Burcroff. “The improvements
will have an immediate and
lasting impact on our trans-
portation needs and develop-
ment options.”
Economic Development
Director TimKeyes said the job
saw two engineering firms work
simultaneously to get the proj-
ect completed. Wade Trim
designed the Vining Road por-
tion of the work, while OHM
Advisors designed the Ecorse
Road portion of the project.
Dan's Excavating was the con-
tractor.
“This is an important day
that marks big improvements
for the Romulus community,”
said OHM Advisors Director of
Municipal Services Kent Early
during the ribbon cutting.
“We're pleased to be a contin-
ued partner of the City of
Romulus, and are especially
proud to be part of the team
delivering infrastructure
See
Roads,
page 4
Wayne County Circuit Court
Chief Judge Robert J. Columbo
has again ruled against the may-
oral candidacy of former City
Councilman
Christopher
Sanders.
Currently, the only candidate
on the ballot seeking the office
of mayor is City Councilman
John Rhaesa who was success-
ful in having Sanders, his only
challenger, removed from the
ballot by Columbo during an
Aug. 28 court proceeding.
In that ruling by Columbo,
Sanders' candidacy was disal-
lowed due to his “defacement”
of his affidavit of identity on
which he handwrote “No” in
response to a question regard-
ing the payment of all past filing
and election fees to the county.
Sanders still owes about $4,000
in past fees, according to county
records.
Sanders then filed an emer-
gency motion and appended
complaint Sept. 17, claiming that
Rhaesa had not properly com-
pleted his required affidavit of
identity by not completing spe-
cific information about his vot-
ing precinct.
An emergency court hearing
on Sanders' claims took place
last Tuesday during which
Columbo ruled that Sanders had
“no standing” in the matter and
vigorously rejected his claims.
Columbo additionally ruled that
timelines for any such claims by
Sanders had expired. Sanders'
claims were based on previous
rulings Columbo issued in unre-
lated legal challenges to a
Plymouth Township candidate's
legitimacy based on the same
failure to complete the section
of the affidavit detailing the
individual's voting precinct. In
that instance, Columbo ruled
that the candidate's failure to
designate his voting precinct on
the form invalidated the affi-
davit and ordered his name
removed fromthe ballot.
In this latest hearing,
Columbo rejectedSanders' argu-
ment and also awarded both
legal fees and court costs to
Rhaesa.
Sanders' attorney, Tarek
Baydoun, indicated that he
would file for a ruling from the
Michigan State Court of
Appeals.
“The decision rendered by
Judge Colombo in this matter is
highly regrettable,” Baydoun
said. “Judge Colombo not only
abused the court's discretion in
this miscarriage of justice, he
doubled down. Colombo abused
his position of power by prejudi-
cially and prematurely finding
that even the filing of a lawsuit
against John Rhaesa, a candi-
date who admits his entire can-
didacy began with the filing of a
false affidavit, was frivolous and
then awarding attorney fees
where no motion for attorney
fees hadbeen filed.”
Baydoun said that this latest
ruling of the court is a disenfran-
chisement of citizens who
signed Sanders' nominating
petitions and who support his
candidacy.
Sanders said that he had no
comment on the outcome other
than to express his disappoint-
ment and said he has made no
decision about a write-in cam-
paign. Candidates must file as
write-ins byOct. 26.
Sanders said that he had
no comment on the outcome
other than to express his disappointment.
”
Judge’s ruling leaves lone mayoral candidate
City celebrates $13.5 million road project
Officials from Wayne County and the City of Romulus along with Amazon leaders celebrated the completion of the new road project last
week.
Photo by Roger Kadau
Plymouth Township officials
are considering the need for a
more effective emergency
response in the deployment of
ambulances, paramedics and
firefighters. It is anticipated
township officials will soon
consider changes in the deliv-
ery of emergency response
service when 9-1-1 callers
require patient transport to a
hospital.
Michigan law provides that
a local government unit may
operate an ambulance opera-
tion or non-transport pre-hos-
pital life support operation, or
contract with persons to fur-
nish any of those services and
receive private funds for the
purpose of providing emer-
gencymedical services.
For decades Huron Valley
Ambulance Co. (HVA), an Ann
Arbor based non-profit
licensed to operate in
Washtenaw County and parts
of Wayne and Oakland coun-
ties, has conducted business
inside the township without
contractual agreement or per-
formance obligation, maintain-
ing restricted control over
patient care, according to
township records.
Last June, based on the rec-
ommendation of Plymouth
Township Trustee Jack
Dempsey, members of the
board of trustees approved a
resolution seeking bids for con-
tract ambulance services.
Township Clerk Jerry Vorva
then issued a Request for
Proposal (RFP) for supplemen-
tal ambulance service to deter-
mine whether there is interest
on the part of private providers
to enter into a contract with
Plymouth Township, beneficial
to both parties. Sealed bids
were opened at a public meet-
ing on the inquiry due date,
Aug. 31.
An informal arrangement
with HVA based on a hand-
shake deal crafted by former
Township Supervisor Maurice
Breen has been in place since
See
Ambulance,
page 3
Township board members said
they plan to make a decision this
month that will be effective Jan.1, 2019...
”
Don Howard
Staff Writer
Township considers new ambulance service
