Farms Union Blasts City Administration
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rosse Pointe ews VOL. 47-No. 29 Grosse POinte, Michigan, Thursday, July 17, 1986 It 35 Cents 40 Pages DCi.?fI'77t 77. 7 101 J OUI mJOI IlldtlOIl Farms union blasts Park man fyi city administration convicted Bv Nancv Parmenter ployee currently conteshng what of fraud he calls an unlawful dismissal by The entire Grosse POInte Farms the city CIty admmistratIOn - With one ex- Two saved There are "two sets of rules" A Grosse Pomte chiropractor ception - took a lambasting from operatmg In the Farms, OlcenIk was found gUilty July 10 on 39 by passerby an employees' umon at a closed said Rule~ restrIctmg personal counts of mail fraud Involvmg counCIl seSSIOn July 14 Angry use of office telephones and the fraudulent bIllIngs of more than There wa~ almost another UnIon officials had twice asked for tragedy Sunday mght at the conductmg of personal busllless on $300,000 to Blue Cross-Blue Shield a hearing durmg an open meetmg, city hme are Ignored for the upper of Michigan and to MedIcare. lake. but were refused. Paul Ashley and hiS wIfe, levels of management, he said Dr Alan Klem of Grosse Pomte City Clerk RIchard Solak was the City l\I1'ilnilger "'ndrew Bremer Park was found gUIlty after a \\ho lIve on HdllllJlon, were only admInIstration member to es- walkmg down to the water In the can never be reached by em- three-day trial in Federal Dlstric;t cape unscathed. "Your efforts, and ployees, reSidents or the press. Court before Judge Horace Gil- early evenmg They saw a cou- your efforts alone, are the only rea- ple sitting on the grass about 50 Olcemk said When he ISavaIlable, more He had been charged With 40 son there is any commUnIcation he refers matters to someone else counts of mall fraud, a federal of- yards from the yacht club with between the city and its ~m- their two daughters Employee morale IS low, he fense One count was dlsmls~ed for ployees," union secretary Greg charged, because problems are lack of a Witness, accordmg to GIl- Then everythmg happened Olcenik saId he told Solak m front too fast One of the httle girls never addressed and employees more's clerk of the counCIl Olcemk added, who complam are harassed Peo- Klein, 30, could receive a maxI- slIpped and fell mto the water "He's the only one who's worth a and her father jumped m after ple who file grIevances are told mum sentence of five years and/or damn." "we don't need thiS around here," a $250,000 fine on each of the 39 her. The mother and the other Olcenik said the umon's execu- child became hysterical Olcemk said counts SentencIng has nOt been tive committee, representIng the Olcemk said the UnIon executive set Ashley ran to the water's Farms local of the AmerIcan Fe- edge, knelt and rescued the committee was domg more than "ThiS is not a case of overutIlI- deration of Federal, State, County blowing off steam. The group re- zation," where a doctor pads the ChIld from her father. He then and Municipal Employees, charg- grabbed the arm of the terror- quested assistance from the CIty bIll With additional services not ed CIty Manager Andrew Bremer, councIl In the form of quarterly rendered, said ASSIstant US At strIcken man who was unable to CIty Comptroller/Assessor / ASSIS- hang on to the edge and pulled meetings to diSCUSSproblems and tant Manager Carrol Lock and to make the CIty adminIstration ac- hIm out "There's nothing to various department heads with be- countable for ItS actIOns grab on there - it's like a piece ing unresponsive, retalIatory and of teflon for a hundred yards or The union first trIed to be heard discriminatory m theIr dealIngs at the June counCIl meeting They so," Ashley said. with city employees. : . These patients All he could think of, he said, were not on the agenda, but asked City c.ouncil members were re- to make a statement during the was the Woods man who drown- had never been to luctant to discuss events which oc- "other busmess" segment, when Photo by Peler A Salinas ed there the week before and curred in closed session Several reSIdents often appear With ques- Caring his office.' how easIly It could happen. acknowledged hearing out the tions and complaInts Thanks to Sheila Knoche for charges and mdicated they would ... and giving of themselves, two teens volunteer their - Assistant callmg in thiS story. There's a Mayor James Dingeman refus- look into them. ed their request on the grounds summer days at St. John Hospital. Dozens of junior volunteers family out there who was ex- U.S. Attorney "We don't know what will come that the matters were better handl- and hundreds of adults give local hospitals an added touch tremely fortunate Paul Ashley of it", said Councilman Bruce ed In closed seSSIOn Early thiS of waMlth. Here, Amy Hey, 14, of Harper Woods, at the right, was passing by at the rIght mo- . Rockwell. "<The meetIng) was a month, Olcenik receIved a letter and Monica Grady, 15, of Grosse Pointe Farms, give some spe- ment lot more productive than entering from the city attorney to the same cial care to a newborn in St. John's pediatric care unit. See torney Blondell L Morey 'It's mto a two-sided discussion." He in- effect, he saId related story on Page 3A. more blatant These patients had dicated that an argument in an <Continued on Page 15A) never been to hIS offIce ,. open meeting would have been use- Investigators from the US At- Hot under the collar... less before the council had an op- torney's office, lhe U S Postal In- . are Farms residents on portunity to consider the charges spector, the Inspector General's Chalfonte and Meadow Lane. Mayor Pro Tern Joseph Fromm Club-wielding man attacks 3 Office for Health and Human Ser- The Meadow Lane contmgent said "It's premature to comment VIces and the Blue Cross Investiga- has been complaining to council because we have to sort out what's tive urut worked on the case, which fact and what's fiction That's our By Nancy Parmenter DurIng the mght of July 11-12, After the Park man made hIS reo covered a three-year period from about the condition of their the man apparently waylaId three port to the Farms polIce and went pavement. They succeeded in first priority." The attacker of three peopl~ in 1982 to 1985, accor.dmg to Ruth; people In alleys behind Mack home, he receIved a telephone call gettmg some temporary pat- Olcenik said he, as spokesman the wee hours of Saturday mornmg CaIn, a spokeswoman for BlUE:! ches Now the temporary pat- for the executive committee, ask- has eluded Farms polIce The VIC- Avenue, SeIZIng them around the from hIS attacker, who threatened Cross. + ~ "c1itrs "stick more to your car eel tht:C(fufi~i1iflt (!ondOnes1be aG-J...- tlZ;Vlii~escnbed a tall, thm black neck and bIttmg them With the to kill him, police saId The pr.osecution was.not able to than they do to the road." tions of the administration regard:"" man witt! fiport halr, WIeldIng club, m an effort to steal..Rlcmey - Between the Ias't tW6-attacks, a establish how'Klein obtainecU,be But, be patient, folks, the ci- less of their consequences. "How some sort of weapon, perhaps a and cars One victim was injured car with a white driver and a black Information necessary to file the ty is "trymg" to get you put on many lawsuits have to be filed?" small club enough to reqUIre hospitalIzatIOn passenger led police on a chase fraudulent billings. Normally, a he asked. He said there is a thICk "What frustrates me ISthat my through reSIdential blocks In doctor gets the data from the pa- the list for repaving next year. It is not clear whether he was Grosse POInte, down 1.94 and file folder of suits filed during the guys looked up and down the by- tient's Insurance card Informa- Perhaps the cars won't rust workIng alone After a high-speed through DetrOit neighborhoods be- 19805by employees and residents ways and alleys and couldn't fInd tion such as the msurance group where the tar sticks. chase July 12, polIce arrested a fore It ran Into a dead end 01cenik, a Grosse Pointe Woods re- him," said Farms Detective Earl number, contract number <the Meanwhile, John Mohnach man who may have been the at- At 1 47 am, polIce spotted the sldent, IS a former Farms em- FIeld same as the mdlvidual's Social Se- drowned out council proceed- tacker's compamon car With Texas plates, IdlIng near mgs with a tape recording of the curIty number) and the type of city pumphouse as heard from "We'd be foolish if we weren't Mack and Cloverly. lJecause they coverage is reqUired for the billIng hiS house across Chalfonte. He's looking Into that," saId Police were checking on recent armed form been complaInmg about that for Chlef Robert Ferber robbery suspects, they ran the Blue Cross IS still looking Into years, he says, but the city told lIcense number through the state KleIn'S methods, Cain said. She At 10 p.m Friday, the man at- computer system. The driver got dismIssed as unlIkely the pOSSIbI- hIm to fiX it hImself. tacked a Traverse City woman, 21, nervous at theIr Interest and took "They saId, 'You're handy, as she walked toward her car, off lIty that Klein had tapped Into the I you do somethIng about It," he company's computer system, WhIChwas parked behmd a Mack The offIcer activated hIS siren which has "good safeguards .