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A
SSOCIATED
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EWSPAPERS OF
M
ICHIGAN
P
AGE
6
December 13, 2012
The Westland Community
Foundation hosted the 16th annu-
al fundraiser for The Salvation
Army last week.
The Salvation Army itself has
bell ringers outside stores and has
collected a reported $56,271.55 or
17.9 percent of the goal for the
Northville, Plymouth, Canton and
Belleville areas needed this holi-
day season to help families in dis-
tress.
United Way collected teddy
bears at a recent Whalers' game,
the Rotary clubs, the Kiwanis, the
Lions and every other service club
is collecting for the various chari-
ties and food pantries in the area.
Toys for Tots collection spots are
popping up and anyone who has
attended the annual party at
Hermann's Old Town Grill knows
how much fun it can be to help
others. The first of the
Goodfellows newspaper sales took
place andwill continue this month
to collect funds to help the less for-
tunate.
There are efforts through
churches in every community and
in our schools to collect and help
others which do as much good for
those who give and for those who
receive.
All this is a wonderful tribute to
the area inwhichwe are fortunate
enough to live and work. This spir-
it of community which seems pres-
ent everywhere, from credit
unions who organize funding
drives to the line workers at the
GM plant in Van Buren Township
who collectmoney andbuy toys for
kids. There is no end, it seems, to
our opportunity to give and rein-
force the concept of helping others
as a part of the fabric of our lives.
We think this is a good thing.
While we know that residents
cannot give to every collection or
effort, we know that the existence
of options provides people a
choice and an opportunity to give
at whatever level and in whatever
amount they can.
Our communities are places
where the respect and concern for
others is ingrained and important,
where service clubs abound and
do good work all year, not just at
the holidays. We live in an area
where there are less fortunate and
needy folks, just as there are
throughout the county, state and
country. This is an area, too, where
that is recognized as an opportuni-
ty to help our fellowman, to lend a
helping handwherewe can.
These opportunities are a les-
son to our young, about the impor-
tance of giving back to the commu-
nity, of helping those who find
themselves in a tough spot. Those
lessons of real charity taught by
example will live on with those
children into adulthood.
We see people who actually
adopt entire families during the
holiday and provide for their
Here's a hint for holiday host-
esses. Don't invite Paul Sincock
andme to the same party.
Sincock is the city manager in
Plymouth and I suspect that he's
still annoyedwithme.
He called me two weeks ago to
complain about a story on the front
page that dealt with the current sta-
tus of fire protection services in his
community. Hewas irate then and I
suspect he's still angry. Actually, he
was more than irate. I apparently
turned this usually nice man into a
snarlingwerewolf-like creature.
He had a lot of complaints about
the story and my professional per-
formance and he wasn't shy about
tellingme exactlywhere I had gone
wrong and the error ofmyways. He
informed me that the article in
question said that response times
were on the agenda at the last two
meetings of the fire advisory board
whichwas entirely incorrect.
“Response times are on the
agenda at EVERY meeting,” he
explained, not too calmly.
Well, OK Paul, I guess you got
me there. Sorry about that.
He then explained that the
claim that some response times
were being reported as the time
any officer arrived on the scene,
with or without equipment, was
completely erroneous.
“We report response time when
the first fire unit arrives on the
scene,” he said.
Well, that's as it should be, I
guess, but I wonder how long it
takes after that for the paid on-call
firefighters to arrive from
Northville and elsewhere. I sure
wasn't about to ask him that ques-
tion, though. I may be dumb, but
I'mnot that stupid.
So, while we were informed that
at least one other community is
reporting that way, Paul says not in
Plymouth. I apologize to Paul and
everyone else who was misin-
formed by the article and that
information. I'mactually being seri-
ous here. I do regret it more than
anybody knows when we make a
mistake. Paul's temper wouldn't
have snapped, I don't think, if it
hadn't been an egregious error,
either.
E x c e p t ,
here's the thing,
I 'm still really
not sure where we went wrong
here, except for the two items men-
tioned above. Paul was so angry,
even he found it difficult to articu-
late the actual errors. Now any-
body who knows Paul would tell
you, that's going some. He's about
the most articulate guy you will
meet, and one of the most person-
able and charming. When he isn't
shouting and stuttering with rage,
that is.
I feel bad for my part in turning
him into the snarling creature who
calledme.
I suspect it may have been the
tone of the article, which, upon re-
reading, could have been interpret-
ed as harsh. Nobody likes to read
Despite the concerns of many residents, the fastest grow-
ing church in inner-city Detroit is coming to Northville
Township.
Triumph Church, which claims a 15,000 member congre-
gation and a 4,000 member a month growth rate came to an
agreement with the township recently to take over an exist-
ing facility on Beck Road. The church currently has five out-
reach churches for services, one of them currently meets at
CantonHighSchool, according to theirwebsite.
The issue which several people alluded to but never ver-
balized was that Triumph is a black congregation. There
were eye-rolls and some raised eyebrows, but nobody ever
said that the color of the congregation had anything to do
with the concerns residents expressed at meetings of the
township planning commission when they were asked to
approve themove of the church to the site.
We don't think racehad anything to dowith it.
Anybody who has ever been forced to drive down Beck
Road during any of the busy commuter times of day, which
lately is nearly all the time, will agree that it isn't pretty. Beck
is a heavily used and well traveled road through the town-
ship and many travelers getting off I-275 use it to get further
up to the next major highway interchange. Many from the
other direction find it the best way to get to I-275, too. Try
driving it at around 5 in the afternoon and the concerns of
area residentswill be obvious.
Considering the traffic in the area, we suspect that the
complexion of this congregation could have been a bright
shade of green, or any color of the rainbow, and the concerns
would have been exactly the same. The concern here was for
the increased traffic a congregation of this size, of any size,
really, would add to the Beck Road parking lot most drivers
who travel it regularly experience.
Residents also expressed concern about the tax-exempt
status of the churchon a piece of property this large.
The planning commission members and the township lis-
tened to the concerns of residents and attempted to find a
way to limit the church access, which prompted a threat of
litigation from the church spokespeople. Subsequently, the
township hired special legal counsel to work with the church
lawyers to come up with an agreement that would work for
everyone concerned.
They were successful at that negotiation, and the church
will be moving an ancillary location to the 20 acre site
betweenFive andSixMile roads off Beck soon.
We applaud the township administration for the way in
which this was handled. Officials and commissioners lis-
tened to concerns from both sides and knew a compromise
had to be reached.
They approached the problemwith dignity, respect and an
attitude of compromise and responsibility.
There will still be increased traffic on Beck Road, but it
will be limited to specific times of services after rush hour on
Wednesday and on theweekends.
Like we said, a solution requiring a little compromise on
both sides.
Spirit of
community
is charity
I feel bad for my part
in turning him into
the snarling creature who called me.
”
Officials and commissioners
listened to concerns from both sides
and knew a compromise had to be reached.
”
Facing Mr. Hyde after offending Dr. Jeykell: Chapter One
Approval of church site was well handled
Union questions use of auxiliary
To the editor:
What is the definition of “auxil-
iary”?
Per
the
“Merriam/Webster's” Dictionary,
the definition of “Auxiliary” is 1.a:
the offering or providing help. b:
functioning in a subsidiary capaci-
ty. c: serving to supplement or
assist.
Now, throw in the word Police
after Auxiliary and you have
Auxiliary Police, which the Inkster
Police Department has. The
Inkster Police Department has for
years utilized the Auxiliary Police
to assist where and when needed,
assisting in booking prisoners,
transporting prisoners to and from
other departments or on the street
during arrests, watching prisoners
at hospitals, assisting with crowds
during parades or at crime scenes
to assist keeping the crowds back.
When the City of Inkster has
laid off 30 officers (10 inNovember
2011 and 20 in July 2012) this has
brought the number of sworn offi-
cers including command and
detectives to 24. The police union
has filed some grievances against
the city over the use of auxiliary
officers, in the eyes of the union
some auxiliary officers have over
stepped the boundaries of their
duties so the union has filed griev-
ances per contract.
The police department can use
the assistance of the auxiliary
police in such cases as assisting
Letters
See
Angry,
page 7
See
Letters,
page 7
See
Spirit,
page 7