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m* MVVJW> Glenn grad adapts to role at Iowa, CI rntfTavw I,. yoi^mxn^TttfrM flLL- m Putting you to torn* Thursday .¾¾ with your Worid -V Fefcwary 4,1999 Serving the Wtstlarid Community for 34 year$ WINTLAM). MICHIGAN • 70 I'AGES • http: observer eccontriccom SEVENS -FM c\ 01H» BMMIWA Cwimmtoartw* Hrtwotk, la* B Chiie week after a new survey showed resi­ ported building a new recreation cen­ dollars to build a new recreation center dents* support for a new recreation center, ter. The mayor also wanted to build a - estimated to cost about $15 million - new city hall on the proposed site. but officials would've had to find oth«r : Westland Mayor Robert Thomas called for a "I could almost cry to tell the council Ways to pay for a new city hall. V l Hearing in D.C.: Westland halt in negotiations to buy land hear Ford that it's time to walk away from negoti­ Road and Central City Parkway. ations," Thomas said after the meeting. Dejected mayor cable-TV subscribers "I'm unhappy." Frustrated and glum over his loss, BY DARRELL CLEM anchored strip center, citing a huge could potentially lose one STAFF WRITER gap between the asking price and what The sudden turn of events apparent­ Thomas nonetheless said the city will of two companies provid­ dcleiti9oe.homecomm.net the city is willing to pay. ly killed plans for building a new, mul- move ahead with efforts to improve timillion city complex in a special tax­ recreation services in this city of some ing.local service, accord­ A dejected Mayor Robert Thomas "At this point I'd recommend that we '-. -, e' just break off negotiations for the prop­ ing area - known as a Tax Increment 90,000 residents. announced abruptly Monday that he Finance Authority district - north of "We will continue to improve our ing to the mayor. /A3 has abandoned his dream of building a erty," Thomas told Westland City Council members during a Monday Ford Road. parks and recreation department no n new recreation center northwest of "It Was the only land site in the dis­ matter what," he said. ; Fire tip: A Westland pizze­ Ford Road and Central City Parkway. night meeting. ?3- The decision came just one week trict that worked (for new buildings)," Alternate options include: Thomas called for a halt in negotia­ Thomas said. ria was saved from a tions to buy land behind a Kroger- after a new survey indicated that a potentially devastating majority of Westland residents sup­ The mayor had proposed using TIFA Please see RECREATION, A2 I - fire./M A tale of two lives Local man COMMUNITY LIFE On The Edge: Julie Maxwell got her feet wet escapes on student radio and the introduction was enough for her to dive into a explosion career in broadcasting, BY BETH SUNDRLA JACHMAN one that has landed her a STAFF WRITER spotatWXDG-FM./Bl [email protected] Gerald Gurevich of Westland didn't sleep Monday night. An employee of the Ford Motor Co.'s AT HOME Rouge plant in Dearborn, Gurevich, a boilermaker, missed being injured or At Home: The 1999 killed in the Monday afternoon explo­ sion at the plant by a matter of min­ Spring Home & Garden utes. Show at the Novi Expo He spent Monday night on the phone with friends, co-workers and family, Center kicks off the home overwhelmed by the magnitude of the show season./DG blast. ( "Gosh almighty, 10 minutes before the explosion my boss asked me to go ENttKiAlNMENT Please see EXPiOSJON, A2 Comedy: Class clown of his Walled Lake Central High School class, come­ i dy club owner Mark Rid­ STAIf PHOT08 BY TOM HAWIKY ley has been making peo­ Changing classes: Abfoe, Danielle Hartsell (right) changes on Ravine ple laugh for 20 years./El classes at John Glen,n High School while talking to her friend Jackie Zunieh (left). At right, Danielle works on a Music: When college stu­ math problem. dents start moving to the Street woes music of May nard Fergu­ BY DARRELL CLEM son's Big Bop Nouveau Top skater balances STAFF WRITER Band, they're "swing [email protected] A delicate compromise has been dancing." Whatever it's reached among once-divided neighbors called, the 71-year-old competition, classes who live near a controversial Westland jazz master is delight­ school bus stop. ed/El BY TOM HAWLEY "The first Many parents became angry last fall STAFF WRITER Danielle: semester was not when the city erected no-parking signs to ease traffic congestion along a dirt Two separate lives best describes as smooth as past A DAY years," Hartsell road, Ravine, just south of Joy Road. REAL ESTATE the life of Danielle Hartsell, a The action followed complaints from senior at Westland John Glenn IN THE •»* .. „. •corner homeowners Larry and Peggy High School and a world-class The John Glenn Sullivan, who said parents driving to Staying motivated: What pairs figure skater. LIFE senior carries a the bus stop created unsafe conditions. do Realtors do when sales Hartsell's first semester of her full course load The couple's property also was dam­ senior year was very rocky with taking classes aged by cars crowding along Ravine. slow down and it's hard the pressure of keeping her above such as Accounting 3, College Starting Feb. 11, the city will cover to get excited about B grade-point average and balanc­ Comp, Humanities, and Algebra 3 up the signs and give parents an 80- ing her career as a skater. work?/Fl Please see SKATER, A3 Please see RAVINE, A2 INDEX • Obituaries A12 Whirlwinds to skate away with new costumes • Classified Index F5 F5 Real Estate BY SCOTT DANIEL put together. "I made the original dresses," said the new costumes. Owner John Rybski Crossword . F8 STAFF WRITER Friday's fire at the Canton Crossings MacLean, a Westland resident. "They simply wanted to help. • -\ •• -- — - F9 [email protected] Apartments destroyed the team's cos­ can't go without thei| dresses. It "I understand the devastation people Jobs _ When members of the Whirlwind tumes. All 13 dresses were stored in wouldn't be right." go through when they have a crisis like Home A Service G8 Precision Skating team of Westland the townhouse of Dorothy and Eric "Whirlwinds" is based in Westland this," he said. "Everybody needs help Automotive G9 Sports Arena take to the ice next week Johnson, who lost nearly everything in and features two squads. One is com­ sometimes." A14-15 in Alabama, it'll be in some of the pret­ the fire. prised of 8- to 11-year-olds and the Rybski, who has been in the cleaning • Opinion tiest costumes anywhere. Since then, several local businesses other of teenagers. business for nearly two decades, spe­ • Calendar B4 Like most outfits worn by 8- to 11- have banded together to replace the Youngsters from Westland, Ply­ cializes in restoring garments damaged • Sports CI year-olds at the competition, a lot of costumes. Kathie MacLean, who works mouth, Canton and Farmington, by fire and other disasters. Fl thought, time and energy will have in Canton, and a small army of volun­ among other communities, participate He, in fact, w^s able to salvage 19 • Real Estate gone into each. But only the Whirl­ teers will do the bulk of the work to get in local and regional competitions. dresses belonging to the Whirlwinds' winds will have costumes that so many the dresses ready when the team heads Monarch Cleaners of Canton older team. The dresses, which were HOW TO REACH US people went to such great lengths to to Huntsville Tuesday. stepped forward to donate material for Please sec WHIRLWINDS, A6 Newsroom: 734*$W-2104 Newsroom Fax: 734-Wl>7279 Changes in O&E management team announced E-mail; y«chmanPo«.l*m«comm,n«t Nlghtllne/Spoiis: 734-9S3-2104 HomeTown Communications Network Inc. Presi­ work vice president-editorial, will assume the posi­ publisher Grace Perry Jeanne's appointment will Reader Comment Line: 734-953-2042 dent Richard Aginian and Observer & Eccentric tion of 3irmingham Eccentric publisher to comple­ give us the opportunity to market all these award- , ClassifiedAo\enisIng:iM&149W> Newspapers Vice President and General Manager ment her responsibilities for HomeTown's other Oak­ winning newspapers as a cohesive group." land County properties. Jim Jimmerson, O&E production manager and a Display Advertising: 734-W1-2300 Steve Pope today announced a major reorganization of the O&E management team. "With the recent acquisitions of the Rochester Clar­ 31-year veteran of the newspaper business, will serve Home Delivery: 734-991-0900 Justin Wilcox, associate publisher of the Troy ion, Holly Herald and Mirror Newspapers of Royal ias interim publisher of the Observer newspapers, Eccentric, Rochester Clarion-Eccentric, Oxford Oak, Birmingham, Clawson, Berkley and Ferndale, "which include the Livonia, Farmington, Garden City, Eccentric, Lake Orion Eccentric and Clarkston we've grown to over 361,000 circulation in Oakland Canton, Plymouth, Redford and Westland Observers. Eccentric, has been promoted to publisher of these County to become the dominant print media in that He replaces Banks Dishmon, who recently resigned papers, as well as becoming publisher of the Eccen­ important arenn," Aginian said. "We have also reor­ to accept the position of president of Mid-Michigan tric West Bloomfield-Lakes Edition and the South- ganized our HomeTown Newspapers subsidiary, Newspapers based in Mount Pleasant. field Eccentric. bringing the Northville Record, Novi News, Milford "1 am pleased that we have such outstanding talent -Jeanne Towar, HomeTown Communications Net­ Times and South Lyon Herald under the direction of 6 "53174 10011 6 Please see CHANGES, AG A*W) The Observer A Ecctntricl THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4,19Sp Recreation from page Al ;• Renovating and expanding the existing Bailey even if Sobel and his coUeagves sought to resume Recreation Center and Westland City Hall on Ford talks.

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