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No. 48
NEWS YOU CAN USE, NEWS YOU CAN TRUST
75¢
December 5 – 11, 2013
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
Warren Attwood, the former
president of the Attwood
Foundation, and a member of
the Attwood family that owned
and operated the Unistrut
Corp. inWayne, diedNov. 17.
See page 4.
Memberships and overall
use are up, but it was still a dif-
ficult year for the Romulus
Athletic Center which has fall-
en out of compliance with a
state debt eliminationplan
See page 5.
Michigan Stop Smart
Meters is hosting a free show-
ing of a new movie, Take Back
Your Power, at 11 a.m. Dec. 7 at
the Plymouth District Library,
223 SouthMainSt.
See page 3.
Northville police are seek-
ing the driver of a vehicle
involved in an injury accident
on Friday, Nov. 22, in the area
of Six Mile Road east of
SheldonRoad.
See page 3
.
The Yankee Air Museum
will celebrate the 70th birth-
day of the Yankee Warrior, a
North American B-25 D
Mitchell bomber still flying at
70 years old at aDec. 8 party.
See page 7.
Vol. 128, No. 48
Vol. 66, No. 48
Vol. 66, No. 48
Vol. 13, No. 48
Vol. 128, No. 48
Vol. 66, No. 48
Vol. 66, No. 48
From 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. this
Saturday, Dec. 7, the congrega-
tion at Middlebelt Baptist
Church will once again host a
ClothingGiveAway.
See page 4.
For home delivery of The Eagle call 734-467-1900.
Westland has officially
begun 5th Annual Shop &
Dine Westland Holiday
Campaign, a 6-week multifac-
eted marketing effort to pro-
mote Westland's shopping dis-
trict.
See page 4.
Plymouth and Canton stu-
dents will have the opportuni-
ty to celebrate the heritage of
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
withan art and essay contest.
See page 3.
Vol. 13, No. 48
Michigan
State
Police
announced last week that the cause
of the fire at Electric Stik/Marvaso's
Italian Grille May 8 was arson and
the death of Wayne-Westland
Firefighter Brian Woehlke in the
blaze will be investigated as a
homicide by their offices.
George Marvaso, the owner of
the businesses, said that he and his
family were “startled and con-
fused” by the announcement.
The newapproach to the investi-
gation is the result of a report from
the
Wayne-Westland
Fire
Department that determined the
cause of the fire as arson caused by
some type of incendiary, although
no accelerants were found. There
were multiple points of origin,
according to the Wayne-Westland
report.
“We received a copy of the inves-
tigation by Hearndon & Associates,
a professional fire investigation
firm, on Aug. 14. They were hired
by our insurance company. The
report by those professional investi-
gators said that they foundno accel-
erants, the cause was undeter-
mined and the fire was not of
human cause,” Marvaso said last
week. He added that he and his
family had been attempting to “get
a hold of the state police for weeks”
for ameeting. He said that meeting,
with State Police Sgt. Sunshine
Ponzetti, took place last week and
that he and his family attended the
interview without legal representa-
tion.
“She was very professional, very
thorough,” he said of Ponzetti and
other investigators with whom he
spoke.
“We told them we just want to
clear our name. We don't under-
stand it,” he said. “We were well
Romulus Mayor LeRoy
Burcroff has named former
Police Chief Robert Dickerson as
his new chief of staff and integra-
tor.
An integrator is a person who
harmoniously integrates the
major functions of the city and
carries out the vision of the
mayor; delivering the message
and holding people accountable
across the board, while managing
day-to-day issues that may arise,
Burcroff explained.
Dickerson is a retired Wayne
County Sheriff's office operations
chief who worked under former
Sheriff Warren C. Evans. From
September of 2011 to March of
2013, Dickerson served as the
Romulus Police Chief and Public
Safety Director. Prior to resigning
his position last March, he was
credited with turning around the
Romulus Police Department,
which had gone through some
turmoil prior to his arrival. In the
18 months he served as chief of
police, he not only helped deliver
outstanding police services and
lower response times for calls for
services, he also administrated
the department in a professional
manner that regularly led to
budget surpluses and increased
productivity, Burcroff said.
Dickerson retired from the
Sheriff's Department in
December 2008 as Chief of
Administrative Operations. From
2005 to 2008, he ran the business
side of the Sheriff's Department,
including budgeting, finance,
labor relations, training, police
academy, police reserves, over-
time usage, police discipline and
other areas. During his career, he
also worked on numerous assign-
ments, details and task forces,
including a 10-year assignment to
a federal drug enforcement unit.
“As an executive member of
Canton Township officials will
receive a 1-percent salary increase
next year.
Members of the township board
of trustees voted unanimously on
the issue last week, saying the
increase matches those seen by
merit-based employees.
The new salaries are: $116,520
for Supervisor Phil LaJoy, $99,778
for Clerk Terry Bennett and
Treasurer Melissa McLaughlin.
Trustees John Anthony, Steven
Sneideman, Pat Williams and Tom
Yack will earn $12,120 for their part-
time positions.
The new salaries still leave
Canton officials earning less than
they did in 2008, when they took pay
cuts ranging from 4.3 percent to 9.2
percent. In 2008, LaJoy took a 9.2
percent salary decrease to $115,366;
Bennett and McLaughlin took a 4.7
percent salary cut to $98,790 and the
trustees decreased their salaries 4.3
percent to $12,000. The elected offi-
cials also effectively took a 5-per-
cent salary reduction in 2010, when
they adopted the same unpaid fur-
loughprogramas employees did.
The new salaries will go into
effect Jan. 14, 2014.
See
Fire,
page 4
We told them we just
want to clear our name.
We don't understand it.
”
Death of firefighter is now ‘homicide’
Romulus mayor names chief of staff, integrator
Canton Township officials accept 1-percent raise
While music lovers all credit
Detroit for the Motown sound,
Plymouth resident Carol Marvin
is busy promoting the area as the
home of a new, cutting edge type
ofmusic.
Marvin is the promoter and
organizer of two music events
planned during the July 4th
weekend, first a free event, the
Detroit Electronic Music Festival
at Campus Martius in downtown
Detroit, and a paid event, the
Federation of Electronic Music
Technology at FordField.
“I love Detroit and these
events will bring a global audi-
ence here. The music is now so
popular. The foundation was
laid in Detroit,” Marvin, a pas-
sionate supporter of the electron-
icmusic genre, said.
“This will be another celebra-
tion that is for the whole world to
enjoy.” At the kickoff announce-
ment at Ford Field, she and her
team branded the events with
green and black distinctive con-
temporary logos. Marvin said
shewants to bring young, hip and
energized young people to
Detroit. The Toronto, Chicago
and Cleveland crowds will make
their way to Detroit and Marvin
is even reaching out toEuro tech-
no devotees. Detroit has always
gotten international praise for
being the incubator for techno
music, she said.
The two festivals will have dif-
ferent missions, Marvin said, but
the “United We Dance” tagline is
applicable to bothevents.
The festivals will featuremore
than just music and dance,
Marvin said. Olaf Van Winden
came from the Netherlands to
preview some of the electronic
art samplings and promised a
global lineup of entertainers.
Van Winden said, “We are all
hyper-connected. Media arts and
technology in the arts is here to
stay.” The event will feature
more than 50 performers includ-
ing Detroit artists. Legendary
local techno performers will
include
Underground
Resistance, Juan Atkins' Model
500 and the live debut of the
Cybotron Project. World
renowned and international per-
formers will also be included,
Marvin said.
Emcee Adriel Thorton, a
Wayne State graduate, intro-
duced Atkins, who is an estab-
lished veteran in the techno
scene. Atkins, 51, who went to
Belleville High School, is recog-
nized as a Detroit pioneer in this
worldwide music phenomenon.
Atkins will be the program direc-
tor for the performing artists.
The Ford Field event will fea-
ture three-day passes, $300 gen-
eral admission and $1,500 VIP
and the tickets are already on
sale. Pre-sale tickets, at $250 gen-
eral admission and $1,200 VIP,
are available now through the
Ford Field website, www.ford-
field.com
Marvin signed an agreement
with Ford Field last January and
the arenawill use spaces, beyond
themain field, especially the atri-
ums.
“The idea is to turnFordField
into a club. I wanted to keep the
DEMF free. I wanted to pre-
serve the DEMF as a free global
dance party,”Marvin said.
“We will have two festivals
and one beautiful experience.
Next July is Detroit's special 313
birthday (313 is the Detroit tele-
phone area code). We are invit-
ing the world to come along and
enjoy a party worthy of this mile-
stone,” she added.
Going high-tech
Plymouth woman organizing electronic
music festivals in downtown Detroit
Carol Marvin
See
Mayor,
page 5
Raymond Rolak
Special Writer
Robert Dickerson, left, and Mayor LeRoy Burcroff