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No. 40
NEWS YOU CAN USE, NEWS YOU CAN TRUST
75¢
October 9 – 15, 2014
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
Seniors from the City of
Wayne brought home nine
gold, nine silver and two
bronze medals during the
recent Senior Olympic com-
petitions.
See page 4.
The Romulus Fire
Department was recently
awarded a $5,000 Marathon
Petroleum First Responders
Grant.
See page 3.
The Plymouth District
Library will join with
libraries, schools and others
throughout the galaxies to
celebrate Star Wars Reads
Day from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m.
this Saturday.
See page 5
.
Northville Downs officials
have voluntarily submitted
the Thoroughbred and
mixed-breed licenses at
Northville Downs to the
Michigan Gaming Control
Board.
See page 5
.
Diane Letice Orr, 43, of
Van Buren Township will
face a jury trial in Wayne
County Circuit Court in the
shooting death of her son,
RenardLumpik, 23.
See page 3.
Vol. 129, No. 40
Vol. 67, No. 40
Vol. 67, No. 40
Vol. 14, No. 40
Vol. 129, No. 40
Vol. 67, No. 40
Vol. 67, No. 40
For home delivery of The Eagle call 734-467-1900.
Members of the Westland
City Council have made zon-
ing restrictions in the city a
bit easier for residents to
understand with a new
ZoningDistrictMap.
See page 4.
This October marks the
22nd Annual Canton Fine
Arts Exhibition, which will
be on display at The Village
Theater at Cherry Hill, locat-
ed at 50400 Cherry Hill Road
inCanton throughNov. 1.
See page 2
.
Vol. 14, No. 40
The Mighty Voices of
Thunder and Dancing In
Faith Liturgical Dancers will
perform in a free concert at
3:30 p.m. this Sunday to help
the Adopt-A-Child-Size pro-
gram.
See page 4.
The Wayne County Elections
Committee
on
Monday
approved recall petition lan-
guage against four Plymouth
Township officials.
Targeted for recall are
Plymouth Township Supervisor
Richard Reame, Treasurer Ron
Edwards,
Clerk
Nancy
Conzelman and Trustee Kay
Arnold. The basis for the recall
includes Reaume's filing of
incorrect information on the
Economic Vitality Incentive
Program (EVIP) with the state
and the votes of the other three
officials prohibiting the town-
ship from any joint projects
with the City of Plymouth for
three years.
Members of the citizens
group who filed the recall peti-
tion language said they were
pleased after a meeting on
Monday during which Wayne
County Circuit Court Judge
Milton Mack approved the peti-
tion language that enabled them
to go forward.
The recall effort was
derailed by the three-judge
panel in Wayne County last
September when the proposed
petition language was denied,
prompting organizers to re-sub-
mit language and continue the
effort.
Wayne County Chief Deputy
Treasurer David Szymanski and
Mack were present at the 15-
minute meeting Monday while
County Clerk Cathy Garrett was
absent.
Mack rejected arguments by
Conzelman, who challenged the
verbiage speaking for the four
officials, after she claimed the
petition language was not factu-
al because the date was incor-
rect. The statement reads,
“Voted on January 14, 2014 not
to participate in any authority
with the City of Plymouth until
November 20, 2016.”
Mack said the hearing was
not to determine if the date
(November 20, 2016) was true,
saying the hearing was only for
determination of clarity.
After the petitions naming
Conzelman, Edwards, and
Arnoldwere approved, Reaume
conceded that petition language
against himwas factual and that
he made inaccurate statements
on an Economic Vitality
Improvements (EVIP) report to
the State of Michigan, request-
ing additional funding. Because
he agreed to the submitted lan-
guage (against him) and conced-
ed rather than leaving the lan-
guage to be determined by the
Senator Hoon-Yung Hopgood
(D-Taylor) has introduced legis-
lation designed to prevent future
operations of the controversial
hazardous waste injection well
facility in Romulus under cer-
tain circumstances. The facility,
previously
owned
by
Environmental
Disposal
Systems (EDS), began injecting
hazardous waste into mile-deep
disposal wells in 2006, but was
shut down by the Michigan
Department of Environmental
Quality (DEQ) after only 10
months of operation due to
above-ground leaks. Since then,
Environmental
Geo-
Technologies, which is owned by
Greektown businessman Jim
Papas, has received permits to
resume operations at the facility.
Senate Bills 1105 and 1106
are the latest in Hopgood's ongo-
ing efforts to address the envi-
ronmental and safety risks asso-
ciated with the Romulus facility.
Public Act 254 of 2014, previous
legislation introduced by
Hopgood and signed into law by
Gov. Rick Snyder in July, allows
theDEQ to revoke a permit to an
operator of a hazardous waste
facility who feloniously obtained
the right to apply for such a per-
mit.
“The hazardous waste injec-
tion well facility in Romulus has
been nothing but a nightmare
from the very beginning,”
Hopgood said. “It poses serious
and unnecessary health and
environmental risks to the sur-
rounding communities. For the
health of our people and the
sake of our environment, I firmly
believe that the hazardous waste
wells should be closed and
Wayne City Council members
were expected to name a
replacement this week for City
Manager Joseph Merucci, the
fifth department head to leave
the city since July. Council mem-
bers have interviewed former
South Lyon City Manager David
Murphy and Taylor Deputy City
Manager David Mackie for the
position.
In July, long-time Parks and
Recreation Director Nathan
Adams resigned to take a new
position with a health-care
provider while council dis-
cussed the closing of the Wayne
Recreation Center and other
recreation programs to offset a
serious budget deficit in the city.
That same month, Ramzi El-
Gharib, city engineer and for-
mer interim city manager,
resigned to take a dual position
overseeing both the Wayne
Department of Public Works
and theWestlandDepartment of
Public Services. In August,
Finance Manager James
Ghedotte resigned to take a job
out of state and in September,
Personnel Director Matthew
Mulholland, a former council-
man, left his city job to "pursue
other opportunities." Merucci
resigned after only four months
on the job citing "personal rea-
sons" and immediately took a 30-
day leave from the job, fulfilling
his contractual obligation to pro-
vide 30-days notice to the city.
His effective resignation date is
Oct. 11.
His paid leave and resigna-
tion was unanimously accepted
by members of the city council
who made no official comment
on the reason for his departure,
saying only that he had resigned
due to a "personal situation."
Police Chief Jason Wright, a
21-year veteran of the depart-
ment, was named interim city
manager and will be paid an
The hazardous waste injection well
facility in Romulus has been nothing
but a nightmare from the very beginning.
”
Proposed legislation would control toxic waste well
Wayne loses 5 of 7 city department heads
”
I think today's hearing will show
that our citizens are tired of being treated
poorly by these people and not having a voice.
See
Well,
page 3
See
Wayne,
page 4
Plymouth Township recall language OK’d
See
Recall,
page 5
Rouge-A-Palooza
Water recreation event
celebrates Rouge River
A celebration of nature and
the recreational opportunities
now available along the
Rouge River will highlight the
second annual Rouge-A-
Palooza from noon until 10
p.m. this Saturday in Goudy
Park inWayne.
In addition to the rubber
duck and paper boat races,
there will be a classic canoe
race and a canoe and kayak
trip organized by the Friends
of the Rouge along with live
music, a beer tent, free enter-
tainment for children and
canoe rentals. Michigan State
Parks and the Howell Nature
Center will have live birds of
prey on display at 3 p.m.,
Wayne County Parks natural-
ists will bring live animals and
therewill be displays from the
Wayne County Water Quality
Division.
The Wayne Rotary Club
members organized the event
this year along with River
Restoration, Inc, a non-profit
organization formed specifi-
cally to continue clean-up
efforts in the Lower Rouge
River, chick flows from
Canton Township, through
Wayne, Westland, Inkster and
Dearborn before reaching the
Detroit River.
Wayne Main Street will
organize the rubber duck race
and will raffle off two kayaks
to help fund efforts to revital-
ize downtown Wayne. The
Rotary Club will have a booth
at Goudy Park where children
can build their own paper
boats from the free supplies
on hand. Winners of the 4:30
p.m. rubber duck and paper
boat races will receive prizes.
receive prizes.
Several other non-profit
groups will have booths set up
in Goudy Park, 3355 S. Wayne
Road, during the event, organ-
izers said.
Entertainment will be pro-
vided by Tyrone Hamilton
who will begin at noon at the
Goudy
Park
stage,
Troublesome Creek will play
at 2 p.m., the Huron Flute
Circle will entertain and
Corndaddy will perform at 6
p.m. George Bedard and the
Kingpinswill play at 7:30 p.m.
Registration for the Logjam
Classic Canoe Race will begin
at 9 a.m. behind the Wayne
County Environmental Water
Quality Management Division
building at 3600 Commerce
Court, just east of Hix Road.
This is a 3-mile sprint along
the river through the woods of
the Rouge Parkway, finishing
at Goudy Park.
The kayak/canoe paddle
has been taking place for
nearly a decade, organized
annually by the Friends of the
Rouge.
“This event has been pretty
popular over the years. We've
had close to 40 boats on our
trips in the past. We think it's a
great way to showcase the
Rouge. It's really beautiful
with the fall colors at this time
of year, as well,” said Sally
Petrella of Friends of the
Rouge.
The trip begins at noon and
canoe rentals are available by
calling (248) 685-2379.
Rouge-A-Palooza is spon-
sored this year by the Wayne-
Westland Federal Credit
Union.
Don Howard
Staff Writer