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Public Service Credit Union and
Champions Against Bullying sponsored
anti-bullying workshops at Romulus
Middle School earlier thismonth.
The day-long event began with an
assembly for 700 students with special
guest celebrity spokesperson Star
Champion, Garrett Clayton, from the hit
Disney film, Teen Beach Movie.
Following the assembly, the students
broke-up into small, bullying prevention
workshops.
Founder Alexandra Penn and US
Director Leigh Faith-Fujimoto brought a
decade of experience providing work-
shops and programs for students, parents
and educators regarding bullying.
“Learning is impaired when children
are scared,” said Penn. “One in four kids
are bullied daily.” Because children's
mental health is directly linked to their
academic success, that means one in four
kids is underperforming. Removing the
obstacles that impede learning is essen-
tial to a child's future. It's up to us,” she
added.”
Linda Wallace, COO of Public Service
Credit Union said, “Eighty three percent
of girls and 79 percent of boys report
being bullied either in school or online.
We all need to bond together as a commu-
nity and help bring these wonderful
resources to the school systems so that the
message is clear - bullying is not accept-
able. Silence is not always golden.”
Employees, members and friends all
participated in fundraisers to bring the
program into the middle school and
Wallace said they hope to be able to bring
it to every school in the district.
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SSOCIATED
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EWSPAPERS OF
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ICHIGAN
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AGE
5
October 30, 2014
B
ELLEVILLE
- R
OMULUS
State panel considers radiation levels at landfill
Despite widespread publicity
and criticism, there has been
very little public interest in the
special panel convened by Gov.
Rick Snyder to reviewstate regu-
lations on disposing of radioac-
tivematerials.
A hazardous waste landfill in
Van Buren Township, located
between I-94 and Willow Run
Airport, was set to accept 36 tons
of radioactive fracking sludge
from a Pennsylvania oil and gas
development in late August. The
sludge had previously been
rejected by landfills in both
Pennsylvania and West Virginia
where allowed radioactivity lim-
its are more stringent than
Michigan.
The Van Buren landfill is 800
feet from Belleville Lake in the
Huron River watershed, which
leads into the Great Lakes, a sta-
tistic that was repeated many
times at Van Buren Township
Board of Trustees meetings as
residents questioned the accept-
ance of the radioactivewaste.
Following public criticism,
Wayne Disposal Inc, operated by
USEcology, withdrew a request
filed with the state to increase
the amounts of allowed radiation
by tenfold at the local facilities.
Naturally occurring, low-activity
radiation is concentrated to
higher levels through processes
such as oil and gas drilling,
including hydraulic fracturing,
or fracking, in which fluids are
injected into underground min-
eral layers to rupture the rock
and capture oil and gas that can-
not be mined through traditional
drillingmethods.
“We felt it made sense to pull
the request while the governor's
panel assesses activity level lim-
its for disposal in the state,”
USEcology spokesman David
Crumrine said.
The Van Buren Township site,
Michigan Disposal Inc., mixes
radioactive materials with inert
substances to reduce radioactivi-
ty to an acceptably low level for
the landfill. Wayne Disposal offi-
cials sought state approval to
increase the allowed radioactivi-
ty to 500 picocuries per gram.
Other state limits on the same
radioactivity range between 5
and 30 picocuries per gram.
USEcology announced in
August that the landfills would
stop accepting the radioactive
waste while the panel appointed
by the governor addressed the
current levels.
Department
of
Environmental Quality (DEQ)
officials said members of the
panel met twice and three more
meetings are scheduled before
January. The panel includes rep-
resentatives from Wayne
Disposal, academics, oil and gas
industry representatives and
unspecified other individuals.
Themeetings are not open to the
public.
There was very little public
interest expressed regarding the
reviewgroup.
Romulus voters to decide 2 charter amendments Nov. 4
Teen Beach Movie actor joins anti bullying effort
City of Romulus voters will
face two charter amendment
questions next Tuesday, Nov. 4,
designed to save money and
streamline some purchasing
processes.
Based on the recommenda-
tion of the Romulus Charter
Commission members, the
amendments remove the
requirement to publish
requests for sealed bids in the
newspaper of record for the city.
“It'll save time and it will
save expense,” said Margaret
LaDuke, a member of the char-
ter commission. “The charter
was written in 1970 and it is old.
This is something that we felt
could bring us forward into the
21st century.”
There will be two separate
proposals on the crowded ballot
next week, 13.1 and 13.2.
The first would remove the
requirement for newspaper
publication on requests for
sealed bids for contracts or
projects of public works or pub-
lic improvements when the con-
tracts or projects exceed the
amount set forth in the city pur-
chasing ordinance. Competitive
bids are still required and will
still be sealed. The amendment
would open the city up for addi-
tional bidders through the
Internet and allow the city to
participate in cooperative pur-
chasing contracts with other
municipalities.
The second proposed
amendment, 13.2, would
remove the requirement of
newspaper publication for bids
on “any material, tools, appara-
tus or other things” when the
cost exceeds the amount set
forth in the city purchasing
ordinance.
Last year, through another
series of voter-approved charter
amendments, the city removed
a set spending limit and
replaced it with a purchasing
ordinance that could be amend-
ed througha city council vote.
LaDuke said it was a con-
scious decision fromthe charter
commission to split the propos-
als upbetween the two years.
“There were a lot of changes
and we didn't want to over-
whelmthe voters,” she said.
The change would allow the
city to increase competition for
bids by advertising through
electronic media as well as pur-
chasing groups like the
Michigan Inter-government
Trade Network (MITN).
Solicitations posted on the
internet have the potential to
reach more potential bidders,
thereby increase competition
and savings, according to city
officials.
“These two proposals are
very important,” said Council
President John Barden. “It will
save the city money. It's very
worthwhile for everyone in the
city to vote on these two propos-
als.”
LaDuke said these two rec-
ommendations would formally
conclude the business of the
charter commission. She
expected it to disband next
month.
Leigh Rachel Faith-Fujimoto, director of Champions against Bullying,left, Garrett
Clayton, and Mayor LeRoy Burcroff support anti-bullying efforts.