June 17, 2007 the Observer & Eccentric Newspapers
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Graduation Coverage Go to www.hometowniife.com for photo galleries of school gradua &4' tions in your communis —** i-A ' "^.R^-* £-^ - *M v. ^ 1» 75 cents WINNERS OF STATE AND NATIONAL AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE www.hometownlife.com BY DARRELL CUM • Adopting a quicker time STAFF WRITER line for slapping warning stick ers on properties in efforts to Westland city leaders hope force owners, including banks, to mow down complaints about to address the problem. tall grass by beefing up enforce B Increasing penalties by ment efforts. adding fees to owners who Mayor William Wild said refuse to comply. Costs could unsightly properties have increase by 30 percent if the become a problem due to some city has to mow grass and put 400 homes left vacant, largely the price tag on tax rolls. from foreclosures caused by • Using outside contractors economic woes. His directors to help city workers mow what also have noticed a surge of has become an unmanageable complaints. number of properties. a-** X f- "This is without a doubt the • Cutting grass on residential PHOTOS BY TOM HAWLEYI STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER worst I've ever seen it," Building properties twice a month rather Reasther Everett (from left), husband Arnelt Everett and Velma Wilson show the T-shirts being sold to raise money for their historic Annapolis Park Director Sue Dodson said, add than once — and on commercial neighborhood, which will be getting a state historical marker. ing that some people ai-e sim properties once a month rather ply "walking away from their than twice during the mowing homes." season. Public Service Director Kevin £ Putting money collected Buford said the city didn't from penalties into a special choose to get involved in mow grass-and-weed fund to pay for ing residential and vacant prop ongoing efforts. erties, "but we've been forced Dodson, calling the prob into it." lem of tall grass "epidemic" in Annapolis Park residents put history on T-shirts Wild's administration, in nature, said residents on one talks Monday with Westland street recently applauded when BY DARRELL CLEM City Council members, pro city workers arrived to mow a, STAFF WRITER before summer's end. posed measures for addressing property. "Now the game is on," Kenneth the issue before it worsens. Buford said tall grass could Annapolis Park, which brought Reeves, the homeowner group's "I think we owe it to the citi lead to more problems with national attention to Westland president, told city leaders earlier zens of Westland to do some rodents unless the situation is as one of the first U.S. suburban this month. thing about this problem," said addressed. neighborhoods settled by African The state marker, which cost Buford, a city resident himself Wild's administration hopes Americans, is gearing up for a the group nearly $3,000, has been Among the possible solutions; to draft a new proposal as soon yearlong celebration of its heritage. ordered. It will likely be placed B Identifying grass as a prob as possible so that city council And residents have the com near Middlebelt and Hanover, and lem when it grows to around 7 members can vote on it. memorative T-shirts to prove it. Everett said a second marker will inches, compared to the current "It's a very proud moment," likely be bought eventually. 10-inch mark. [email protected] | (734) 953-2110 said Reasther Everett, area rep To help pay expenses, 100 resentative for the long-active residents — many of them original Southeast Westland Homeowners homeowners — paid $20 to include Association. their names among 100 history- Annapolis Park, a 354-home makers listed on the back of the subdivision built in the 1950s commemorative T-shirts. A map of southwest of Annapolis and Annapolis Park adorns the front. Middlebelt, has made the National In a continuing fund-raising Register of Historic Places and effort, T-shirts are now being sold T-shirts being soid list 100 history-makers of Annapolis earned a state historical marker Park, including some of the original residents of the historic that is expected to be in place Please see T-SHIRTS, A2 neighborhood on Westfand's southeast side. for Thunder to help vets BY DARRELL CLEM paign slogan will be Moving BY DARRELLCLEM said FAV national program Director Bob Westland Summer Festival for. prizes STAFF WRITER Westland Forward, cited his STAFF WRITER ' McDonald of West Bloomfield. awarded at 9 p.m. involvement in such organi FAV's projects have included redeco The last bike out will be at 2 p.m. Four more candidates had zations as Westland Jaycees, With a loud roar signaling a passion rating hospital rooms to make them Entry costs are $25 for each rider and entered the Westland City Rotary, S.P.A.R.K: (Sports, for helping veterans, a motorcycle ride seem more like home for terminally ill $20 for each passenger. Special T-shirts Council race as of early Friday Parks and Recreation for Kids), organized by a national charity group veterans, sending veterans to Special will be given to the first 400 people who afternoon, widening the field of the Westland Chamber of will coincide with this year's Westland Olympics and artist competitions and enter. hopefuls to seven. Commerce and the American Summer Festival. paying the cable TV tab at the Detroit- First-place prize will be a night for Candidates who plan to run Legion. It's billed as Ride with the Thunder, based VA hospital, said FAV President two people at the Windsor Casino Hotel for council, mayor or city clerk "I've always been involved in and it's a charity ride that will benefit Larry Siedell of Canton. with $100 in restaurant credit and face a 4 p.m. Tuesday filing the community," Bulson said, the John Dingell VA Medical Center's In all, hundreds of thousands of dol $100 in cash. The second-place winner deadline at City Hall, on Ford adding that he views a council hospice unit in Detroit, which helps war lars have been raised and spent to help will receive $100 and third-place $50. Road between Wayne and bid as the next step in helping veterans from all over. improve the lives of veterans. Fourth and fifth prizes will include FAV Newburgh. Westland. "I'm all about com The event will be the first char Registration for Ride with the jackets. To sign up for the ride, call (248) The latest council candidates munity service." ity ride by the nonprofit Foundation Thunder will start at 10 a.m. Saturday, 661-9365. For more information about include: • Todd Kangas, 44, chief of for American Veterans, an organiza June 30. Riders will start at the FAV, visit its Web site at www.fav.org. • Gary Bulson, 38, owner of investigations for an unemploy- tion that started in 1996 in southeast Westland City Hall parking lot, go to Men on the Move moving com Michigan and has grown to 33 states, Heck Park in Monroe and return to the dclemUhometownlife com I {734) 953 2110 pany Bulson, saying his cam Please see COUNCIL, A2 © The Observer & Eccentric INDEX For Home Newspapers HOME EQUITY LINE OF CREDIT APARTMENTS E4 Delivery call: AUTOMOTIVE E6 Volume 43 CLASSIFIED D1-F4 (866) 887-2737 Number 7 CROSSWORD PUZZLE E3 HEALTH CT HOMETOWNUFE CI JOBS 01 Auto • Home • Life • Business NEW HOMES El OBITUARIES ' C4 T54425-8! REAL ESTATE E2 28959JoyRoad • Westland SPORTS B1 look inside for details and to learn how you're eligible to join PCCU. (4 Blocks E, of Middlebelt) \ PERSPECTIVES A7 Observer.S Eccentric | Sunday, June 17,2007 A2 (W) www.hometownlIfe.com Patriots' Class of 2007 gets COUNCIL remodeling company. Like FROM PAGE A1 Kangas, Rodriguez has been long active in the Westlaj&d •.;. Franklin High School's Class merit agency. Kangas has been Youth Athletic Association fhd of 2007 celebrated graduation on long active in the Westland has been a vocal proponent of Sunday, June 10, at Compuware Youth Athletic Association and the grassroots Frontier Park Arena in Plymouth Township. has been a strong proponent proposal. The school's Naval Junior for building Frontier Park, a Rodriguez has said that Reserve Officers Training Corps massive recreation complex improving recreational did the presentation of colors. that would be built west of opportunities, particularly Soloist Justin Jaroh sang the Central City Park. for youngsters, is needed National Anthem. School board Kangas also cited curbside to make Westland a place president Lynda Scheel offered recycling and the cleanup of where residents want to live. greetings from the board of educa Central City Park, which is Recreational facilities in tion, and principal Dan Willenborg contaminated with lead, as Westland "are old and inad introduced guest speaker Tom issues he wants to address. equate," he said. Tobe, principal of Emerson Middle "Westland has taken a If nine or more council can School. wrong direction and is sliding didates enter the race, there The Senior Choir sang "I down a slippery slope right will be an August primary. If Will Remember You" by Sarah now," he said. not, the four seats will be 011ed \ McLaughlin. • Michael Kehrer, 53, in the November election. The • Class co-presidents Meagan inspector for an engineering .. top three vote-getters will earn Buchler and Jessica Eskildsen firm. Kehrer is in his sixth four-year terms; the fourth- and Student Congress President year as a council incumbent place finisher will get a two- Cassandra LaPrairie offered reflec and hopes to win re-election. year term. tions and presented the class gift. " if "I've always been involved in As of Friday, City Clerk Other Senior Congress officers my community, and I got on Eileen DeHart was unop included Olympia Ackall, vice presi the council to make a differ posed in her bid for a four-year dent; Lea Bowers, corresponding ence," he said.