No. 52
NEWS YOU CAN USE, NEWS YOU CAN TRUST
75¢
Dec. 29, 2016 – Jan. 4, 2017
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
The next Distinguished
Young Woman program will
take place March 10 and
preparations are already
under way to find partici-
pants.
See page 3.
In spite of the best efforts
of two Fire Departments and
23 paid-on-call firefighters, a
Northville home was com-
pletely destroyed by fire just
before the holidays this
month.
See page 5.
Vol. 131, No. 52
Vol. 69, No. 52
Vol. 69, No. 52
Vol. 16, No. 52
Celia Gold, the author of
The Hair Fairy: My Angel,
visited Romulus Middle
School recently to bring her
message of self- confidence
to youngwomen.
See page 2.
Vol. 131, No. 52
Vol. 69, No. 52
Vol. 69, No. 52
For home delivery of The Eagle call 734-467-1900.
The City of Westland is
seeking applicants to fill
vacancies
on
the
Construction Board of
Appeals and applications
can be mailed to the mayor's
office.
See page 3.
The Detroit Circus will
bring their high-energy per-
formance to the Village
Theater in Canton just in
time forNewYear'sEve.
See page 4.
Vol. 16, No. 52
Rashad M. Bell, 28, has
been charged in connection
with the homicide of his first
cousin, Joseph Franklin, 26,
in a shooting at the Stardust
Lounge in Inkster.
See page 5.
The Plymouth District
Library will be showcasing
the splendor of Europe,
albeit in 1:87 scale, with an
exhibit by the Great Lakes
Chapter of the European
TrainEnthusiasts.
See page 2.
Teachers in the Van
Buren Public Schools had a
little something extra to be
thankful for last month when
54 of them received grants to
help fund classroom proj-
ects.
See page 4.
The simmering enmity
between members of the Wayne
City Council boiled over last
week in response to a request to
place a discussion of the ethics,
policies and procedures commit-
tee report on the next meeting
agenda.
Mayor Pro Tem Anthony
Miller explained to the council
members that he had requested
that this topic be added to the
Dec. 20 meeting agenda, without
success. Therefore, he said, he
was making a formal motion
requiring a vote to ensure that
the itemwould be on the agenda
and discussed at the next meet-
ing. As part of his motion, he sug-
gested that all financial transac-
tions with businesses owned by
any city council member be sus-
pended until “we have a code of
conduct and ethics inplace.”
Councilman John Rhaesa
said that he felt themotion was a
personal attack on him and his
business. Rhaesa is the owner of
The Wayne Dispatch, a monthly
publication and JoNahGraphics.
The city does business with both
companies placing advertise-
ments in the publication and
purchasing typesetting and
graphic design.
Rhaesa referred the question
to the city attorney, Breeda K.
O'Leary-Brassfield, asking her to
read a legal opinion prepared by
her office in 2012 regarding the
situation. She said that her office
had researched the legality of
the city placing ads in Rhaesa's
newspaper; of council members
writing articles for the paper and
of council members placing pri-
vate articles in Rhaesa's publica-
tion.
O'Leary-Brassfield cited
Michigan Compiled Laws 15.321,
which she said supersedes any
local ordinances or charter pro-
visions. She said the law states
that public servants who are not
required to work 25 hours of
more a week would not be in vio-
lation of the law or any ethics
provisions by doing business
with the municipality in which
they hold office.
A review of the ordinance she
cited could appear open to inter-
pretation, experts said.
Provisions
of
Michigan
CompiledLaw15.328: Other laws
superseded; local ordinances.
Sec. 8. “It is the intention that
this act shall constitute the sole
law in this state and shall super-
sede all other acts in respect to
conflicts of interest relative to
public contracts, involving public
servants other than members of
the legislature and state officers,
including but not limited to sec-
tion 30 of 1851 PA 156, MCL 46.30.
This act does not prohibit a unit
of local government from adopt-
ing an ordinance or enforcing an
existing ordinance relating to
conflict of interest in subjects
other than public contracts
involving public servants.” The
work Rhasea’s companies pro-
See
Ethics,
page 3
Ethics question fuels heated response
An Inkster police officer and
another motorist were injured in
a Christmas Eve accident last
week.
Michigan State Police were
called to the area of Carlysle
near Inkster Road at about 2:15
a.m. Dec. 24 where an Inkster
patrol car had been struck in the
front passenger side at thewheel
and fender area.
According to police reports,
officers in a patrol car were
responding to an emergency call
and had both their lights and
siren activated. The lead patrol
car traveled through the inter-
section at the light which was
blinking red/yellow. A second
Inkster patrol car, attempted to
follow the first through the inter-
section on a blinking red light
and was struck by a northbound
vehicle.
The Inkster officer went off
the road and came to a stop a
short distance from the collision.
The truck which struck the
patrol car spun back and came to
a stop inside a party store park-
ing lot facing eastbound.
The officer and the civilian
driver were both transported by
ambulance to local area hospi-
tals. According to police reports,
it does not appear that their
injuries were severe, but the
driver of the truck complained of
neck and facial pain and the offi-
cer sufferedhip andback pain.
The incident remains under
investigation by the Metro South
Post of the Michigan State Police
and the reconstructionunit.
A Canton Township officer
was also injured in a vehicle col-
lision during the holiday week-
end.
At approximately 7:20 p.m.
Dec. 23, Michigan State Police
Troopers assigned to the Metro
South Post responded to a crash
on Michigan Avenue in Canton
Township.
A Canton patrol officer was
responding to a call from
motorists about a car traveling
the wrong way on Michigan
Avenue. Police reports indicated
that the driver of a 2007 Ford
Focus was traveling the wrong
way when it struck the Canton
Townshippatrol car.
The driver of the Focus was
transported to a local hospital
with non-life threatening
injuries, police said while the
officer was treated and released
froma local hospital.
This incident, too, remains
under investigation by Michigan
StatePolice.
State Sen. Patrick Colbeck,
R-Canton, and 22 of his Senate
colleagues have formally
requested a state investigation
into systemic poll book irregu-
larities that are coming to light
after the election onNov. 8.
According to a published
report, in 59 percent of Detroit
voting precincts, the poll book
ballot count did not match the
machine ballot count. By
Michigan statute, the ballots in
these precincts cannot be
recounted, but they do indicate
voting irregularities that merit
further investigation.
There are at least three
potential explanations for
these discrepancies:
A failure of the machine
required a ballot to be reinsert-
ed into themachine. When this
happens, poll workers are sup-
posed to manually adjust the
machine ballot count to reflect
the additional scan attempt(s);
multiple ballots that were not
tracked in the poll book were
inserted into the voting
machine and a single ballot
was intentionally reinserted
into the voting machine multi-
ple times.
One example of suspicious
vote irregularity was witnessed
by an observer of the recount
in Detroit voting precinct 152.
In this precinct, a recount vol-
unteer reported that when
election officials opened a box
sealed and certified as reflect-
ing 306 votes, only 50 ballots
were found in the box.
“The state needs to investi-
gate whether or not the cause
Officers injured in 2 holiday eve crashes
Senator requests election investigation
Councilman John Rhaesa
said that he felt the motion
was a personal attack
on him and his business.
”
Sounds of the season
As has become a holiday tradition, students from the various music classes and groups at the Plymouth Educational Park visited the
Plymouth Noon Rotary Club meeting and presented a concert of holiday songs and music. Every year the students, who are the
lunch guests of the club members, entertain at the last Friday meeting before Christmas, providing instrumental music and vocals.
Photo by Dave Willett
See
Probe,
page 4
