IN BRIEF ... New laws, low water, high hopes mark 2000 By Brad Lindberg natIOnally by wmnmg ~eventh news of 2000 "WIthout thf''''' 1"",,," ".,d N~w~ Staff Writer place In a natIOnal magazIne's Rlchnel, a rebldent of the Park, • In his weekly column, "Let's talk A" the level of Lake St Clair ranking of up:.cale lebldentJal January "the htlgatlOn proce~~ could stockb," Joseph Mengden says the continued to drop, boaters and commumtles severely stram the already Federal Reserve's latest action on reSIdents coped As Grosse • Andrew Richner, the Grosse bogged-down legal system, mterest rates IS too httle too late POinte reSidents facedoffm coun- Those and other I~bue" dunng POInte's Republican representa- depnvmg deserVIng partIeb of Page lOA ty and state electIOns, voters 2000 extended beyond the mdl- tlve In the state Legislature, theIr legItimate nght to rehef" • For Grosse POinte pubhc schools, made their deCISIOns VIdual Grosse Pomte& to encom- ~pon~ored one of a set of laws the year 2000 marked three success- pa!>s the entire wmmumty hmltmg the ablhty of people to The POlnteb earned recognItIOn ful mIllage campaIgns and an Impres- The follOWing ;,ummanzes the file nUisance laWSUIts See 2000, page IA sIve number of hIgh school JUnIOrb who pa"sed MEAP tests and receIved money for college Page 11A • The Grosse Pomte PublIc School Pointe parks System has JOined WIth hundreds of other MIchIgan school mstncts m a law SUIt agamst the state Called Durant III, the sUIt concerns relm- bur"ement for state-mandated pro- face tax peril grams such as specIal education Page llA By Jim Stick10rd strongly opposed plans by' • Kerby school offiCials WIll be Staff Writer the Grosse POInte Yacht: gOIng before the Farms CIty Council A recent statement Issued Club to expand ItS harbor,_ In January to request penmsslOn to by the State Tax which abuts the Shores go ahead WIth constructIOn of a curb CommISSIOn declanng that park's harbor The matter IS cut along Kerby Road The councIl mumclpahtles that have res- currently belllg litigated m first reviewed the plan In October, but Ident-only parks have to tax CirCUit court suggested a 120-day tnal penod WIth. those parks has the potential Shores Village manager out the cut But traffic experts beheve to affect how all the Grosse MIke Kenyon saId on June 6, that such a trial penod would be dan- Pomte commumtles allocate 2000, the Shores appealed a gerous WIthout the cut Page 3A fundmg for local parks directIVe to assess ItS park • The CIty of Grosse Pomte IS The memorandum was for 1999 repamng and upgradmg Its pump Issued after Thanksgtvmg It "We presented our case statIOn at the corner of Neff and 2000 babies! states "there are parks and never heard back from CharlevOIX The unobtruSive statIOn owned by local umts of gov- the commISSIOn," Kenyon has been at the location for years and Well actually there are only nine infants here. but all are year emment whIch have been SaId "In the meantIme the the CIty WIll performmg routme 2000 babies and all are from the Grosse Pointes. While the babies granted exemptIOns from 2000 assessments were mamtenance Page 6A engage in their own "bottle clutch" at one of their homes, their taxatIOn even though non- made Our assessor placed a with • Automotive wnter RIchard moms do likewise, but coffee cups. reSidents are not allowed to mlIDmal value on the park Wnght detaIls the history of From left are Annie Rinke, Annie McKee, Jack Straetmans, use the park" and our Village attorney OldsmobIle General Motors spokes- Isabelle Thibault, Caroline Hopper, Casey Scoggin. Phoebe Miri- The memo goes on to state appeared In front of the people recently announced that the ani, Margo Schaller and Daniel Follis. Otherwise occupied that that "m order for a park to be Shores Township tax board dIVISIOn WIl! be mscontmued Wnght day were Olivia Mikesell and Jack Hurley. exempt from property taxa- of reVIew" detaIls how the mVlslon grew and hon, It must be open to the Attorney Ralph Houghton, what caused ItS downfall Page 2A public WIthout restnctlOn, sald Kenyon, made two not Just to a limited group arguments The first was Woods last city to join such as reSidents of govern- that part of the value of Sports mental umts and their Grosse POinte Shores homes • It was a good )'ear for Grosse guests Tms posItion IS sup- comes from haVing access ~ POInte South's gIrls tenms team county emergency plan ported by Attorney General OSlUS Park Because the" OpmlOn No 5690 of 1979- park adds taxable value to a The Blue DeVIls finIshed fifth In the By Brad Lindberg task force "Had we needed to expand state DiVISIOn I champIOnshIps and 1980 and by the Court of property, taxIng the park Staff Writer and do more, we could have done It," Appeals deCISion m Balogh v amounts to double taxatIon recently had five players named to The eastSide IS now umted m a he saId "There were rebource~ avall- Clt) of Flat Rock, 152 Mlch He CIted the example of the AIl-State team South's No I and nearly county-wide versIOn of the able to us" App 517 (1985) " condo umt& that have recre- No 2 doubles teams of Brody Dawson Grosse Pomtes' decades-old mutual "If It had escalated we would have As a result the State Tax at IOn faclhtles The recre- and Carolyn Gorski and Margaret aid agreement gone m," said Altschul. "We have the CommIssIon ordered local atlOnal faclhtlCs are not Batten and Meghan White made the WIth only a few stragglers remam- orgamzatlOn and expenence We take tax assessors "NOT to grant taxed because the value IS first umt, while No I smgles player care of busmess " exemptIOns to public parks reflected m the pnce of the Vicky SeIter receIved honorable men- mg, the county's Emergency owned by local umts of gov- condos tIOn Management Program IS nearly com- In a wntten appeal recommendmg plete the Woods team up WIth the county, ernment unless they are Houghton also made an Also, coach Mark Sobleralskl was MakowskI, Said, "We do not have the UmficatIon throughout Wayne open to the pubhc Wlthout argument speCific to the selected as DIVISIOn I Coach of the restnctlOn 'Pubhc' IS defined Shores OSlUS Park was lake Year Page 12A County moved one step closer last ~~~~:~~~t o~oth~r~::~:rce~~~t~~~~ week WIth the SIgning-on of Grosse as 'all reSIdents of the bottom until the 1950s Pomte Woods, the last of the county's pubhc and pnvate sector to deal WIth state'" When It was reclaImed from eastSide CitIes to do so any type of emergency beyond the The memo further stated the lake, deed restnctJons capabilItIes of mutual aId" that some local governments were put Into placf' zoning It The program IS a recIprocal-aId He contmued, "Currently we are have parks WIth estabhshed for park use only That agreement that tackles major emer- only one of nme Wayne Cnllnty com- fee rates for use of local means no one can use It for Saturday, ec. 30 genCles and disasters m the 43 com- mumtles not under the emergency parks that are dIfferent for houses or whatever In addl- Expenence the grandeur of an Auto mum tIes and 622-square mlles that operatIOns plan, and the only eastslde reSIdents and nonreSIdents tlon, If the land were ever to Baron New Year WIth a VISit to the compnse Wayne County DetrOIt, city not partICIpating" ThIS does not cause a park to be gIven up by the Shores, It Edsel & Eleanor Ford House, 1100 which has ItS own disaster contmgen- The other Grosse POlntes and lose ItS exempt status pro- would revert back to the CIeS, IS not a member Lakeshore m Grosse POinte Shores Harper Woods are already Signed up Vlded that the "fee for non- state So there IS no sale Local student pIanIsts perform from "The plan would prOVIde for the Hiller said, "We now have resources reSIdent,; IS reasonable" value to the property effiCIent utIlIzatIOn of resources from 1 - 3 p m In the ActiVIties Center avaIlable from Wayne County for Smce all the Pomtes have "And that's the last we Solanum HolIday tours are offered the county, pnvate sector and the whatever the disaster may be We're reSident-only parks, they heard about the Issue until state level to our cIty m case of a dls- through Jan 7, 2001, except on New ready" mIght have to start taxmg the commISSIOn Issued ItS Year's Day Grounds admISSIon IS $5 aster," saId Mike Makowski, the Woods dIrector of pubhc safety, m an PotentIal dIsasters fly over the theIr own land memorandum," saId For more Information, call (313) 884- wntten report to the Woods cIty coun- Grosse Pomtes dally m the form of The t3A commISSIOn first Kenyon "The attorney gen- 4222 cll aircraft usmg DetrOit CIty Airport started lookmg at the taXIng eral's office IS supposed to of reSIdent-only parks after Issue an opinIOn The opm- By JOining the program, the Woods "When Northwest flIght 255 Monday, Jan. 1 Gro..,se POInte Shores resl- Ion Cited In the memo Isn't becomes ehgtble for emergency help crashed (at DetrOIt Mctropohtan Happy New Year Most governmen- dent Lawrence Van TII wrote even the updated one" from throughout the count)' Yet pay- Airport>, the emergency c;y<;tem actI- a letter to the commIsSIon Kenyon saId he has heard tal offices, as well as banks and bUSI- backs aren't mandated vated," saId Hiller "The Park sent nesses wIll be closed for the hohday three officers for three days" questIOnIng the tax-free sta- from offiCIals of other "By JOInIng thiS plan," said The emergency program operates tus of Os IUS Park MichIgan cIties \\Ith resl- Tuesday, Jan.