m ^^^^ Kettering students honored for essays, A3 Hom*5Iown ••• '•DHMINK' VTf""-? ff'™"*» Putting you In touch Thursday with your worW February 19,1998 Serving the Westland Community for 33 years '/'/•0/ / VOLUME 33 NlWBtR 74 WESTLAND. MICHIGAN • 70 PAGES • http://observcrecccntric.com SEVtNTY--FIVT ClNTS ©1»M BeMlWa CoMiiBle«ti«M (Wirw*. I»c- '; THE PAPER million bond proposal OK'd TODAY Election • Only 4,880 of the dis­ day. Ronald trict's 68,000 voters braved •il. ; Sampson heavy rains and winds to rtton signs in td go to the polls in Tuesday's COUNTY NEWS vote at school bond election. WAYHE-WESTUWP SCHOOLS .BOND PROPOSAL ' Precinct 17 /YES-2,768 Mori fish: Wayne County inPdichin BY DARRELL CLEM NO - 2,112 has agreed to pay for the Elementary] STAFF WRITER restocking x>f fish at New- as election Wayne-rWestland school district classroom. "; •-..• : * ^-- workers homeowners will see a 4-mill tax "This is a great day for the children burgh Lake ahd a down­ Helen increase this summer after supporting of Wayne-Westland schools," a jubilant streamimpoundment on Maczuga, a $108.3 million bond measure in Superintendent Greg Baracy said Tuesday's special election. Tuesday night.. : / 1 the Rouge River, while a left, and Taxes will increase $180 annually He claimed victory for the bond pro? project manager will give Evelyn • for the owner of a $90,000 home. posal at 9:25 p.m., just 85 minutes $3,000 to Friends of the Prokop, cen­ Schopl officials say the 22-year mea- after polls closed. His announcement; ter, watch,- 8ure;will pay for long-needed building drew cheers and applause from soirie; Rouge,/A5 renovations and educational technolor : surr PHOTO BT BITAN MncBza gy including new computers- in every Please see BOND, A2; COMMUNITY LIFE Anger within: These days, speeders, inconsiderate Downpour drivers, even slow drivers can easily find themselves on the receiving end of abuse from their fellow motorists and, more and basements more, the abusers are BY DARRELL CLEM women./BX STAFF/WRITER As many as 100 Westland home­ owners reported basement flooding AT HOME this week as heavy rains drenched neighborhoods, Deputy Mayor George Gillies said Wednesday. Designed with care: A . Some residents reported several Troy company, Caring inches of flooding because sewers Solutions, helps disabled couldn't accommodate the deluge, he said. people keep their indepen­ But Gillies and Assistant Fire dence. /D6 Chief Patrick Harder said new flood­ ing didn't compare to a massive sewer backup - one year ago this ENTERTAINMENT week - that ravaged more than 400 homes with raw sewage. The city's/19.97 flood occurred ¥\\m Gordon Michaels, a because a 6-foot sewer pipe; was inad­ vertently srealedloff during a $10 miK graduate of John Glenn lion sewer-separation project. High School in Westland, This week's flooding, however, is a lot like the lead char­ occurred because heavy rains pound­ ed some areas of the city faster than acter he plays in the film sewers could accommodate the water. "Unbeatable Harold"- This is an act of God," Gillies said determined to bring the Wednesday afternoon. "We were just deluged with rain, and the sewers story to the big screen./Bl will only take so much water." Even so, some residents of August Theater: Natalie Ross, a and other streets raised allegations this week that the problem has been STAT? PHOTO BY JIM JAGDFELD senior at Churchill High persistent for years and that the city Wet basement: Wendy Brunswick, 6, views the standing water in the basement of the School in Livonia, was hasn't addressed it. Brunswicks* house on August Street in Wetland. M.J. Brunswick had already begun pumping Gillies said there's little the city water out after Tuesday's heavy rains. one of 700 hopefuls look­ can do to combat storm-related flood­ ing for a new lease on life. ing. However, Westland City Council Or just looking to members have indicated they will aRent."/E± schedule a study session to discuss the problem. Flooding sends some to city hall Some residents Wednesday report­ ed flooding that soaked basement car­ REAL ESTATE pet arid other belongings. BY RENEE SKOGLUND for their regular meeting. aware of the flooding oh August "It doesn't appear to be as STAFF WRITER "I left my husband alone to come Street for a long time. Sticker shock: Rents for widespread as it was last year," Ruth Ann Butler's basement on and plea with you people to get Us M. J. Brunswick, who has lived in Harder said. "There hasn't been an August Street has flooded since help. We can't move. We're senior cit­ his August home for 15 years, office and industrial actual emergency yet. If it was an 1956. When the water and sludge izens," she said. stepped up to the microphone and space are high, and actual emergency, we wpuld'have began perking through the drains "It's disgusting," said Marjorie got right to the point. been on the front line." yesterday, she left her handicapped Kingsinger, a widow whose son lives "We have about 4 inches of sewer there's not a lot of space M.J. Brunswick, standing Wednes­ husband home and headed over to in her basement. water, dirt and mud," he said. "For­ available./fl day afternoon on basement carpet City Hall. Butler said she and Kingsinger get some of the new building (that saturated with water, said he used a Butler - along with three other were going to spend the rest of the has occurred in the area), Take care shop vacuum to pump water from his August Street residents''.- was ready night rescuing Kingsinger's son's of some of the old residents and to square off with Westland City belongings from the basement. She make them happy." INDEX also said council members have been / Please see WET, A2 Council members who had convened """ Please see FLOODING, A2 I Obituaries A2 • Achievers A3 • Class Reunions AH • Classified Index F6 Real Estate Fl gets 5 years ion m Crossword " , • 02 Rentals G3 BY DARRELL CLEM Gackiewicz^ who had been drinking "I think the conclusion was reason­ said. 8TAFF WRITER prior to the March 10 accident on Ann able," Blake said. The prosecutor in the case couldn't Jobs/Careers 06 A Westland teenager will spend five Arbor Trail near Hines Drive, also will Gackiewicz has publicly apologized be reached for comment, but Blake • Sports CI years on probation for causing a fiery be subject to random drug and alcohol for the accident, which caused tyrh to said the probationary sentence had • At Home D6 one-car accident that killed a 14-year- testing, Blake confirmed. suffer "a long period of depression," been expected. El old girl'last March, his attorney said The teenager's sentencing occurred Blake said/ The sentence likely didn't satisfy • Entertainment earlier this month in front of Wayne The defendant also suffered accident everyone, but it didn't come as a sur­ I R«al Estate Fl Tuesday. Joseph John Gackiewicz, 18, also will County, Circuit Court Judge David Kir-. injuries that will remind him of the prise, he said.. be placed on a tether for one year for wan, who chose not to imprison the night he drove a 1989 Buick Regal into "You can't make everybody happy," HOW TO REACH US the death of Nicole Mugurian, a West- defendant. a roadside tree, causing the car to Blake said, "but I think it was pretty land resident and Livonia Franklin Gackiewicz could have faced a maxi­ burst into flames and kill Mugurian. much expected." High School freshman, attorney Mar­ mum 16-year prison term after plead­ "He had a smashed ankle that will Newsroom: 7349 (3-2104 vin Blake said. ing guilty to vehicular manslaughter. always give him some difficulty," Blake ~~~~ ~~ Please see TEEN, A3 Newsroom Fax; 734-591-7279 , E-mail: nmroom*<wonHm.com Nlghtllne/Sports: 734-993*2104 Qlrl Scout officer The programs aro designed to meet tho needs of veterans in metro Detroit. The free program assists Reader Comment Line: 734-993-2042 Bonnie Carre, an NBD vice president in Westland, men and women who are disabled, unemployed Classified Advertising: 734-991-0900 was elected first vice president of Huron Valley Girl PLACES & FACES Scout Council at its annual meeting Feb. 7. Carre seeking work, or facing a similar emergency with Display A dvertislng: 734-591-2300 food, clothing, counseling and job referrals. was a Girl Scout who later served in a variety of ingston arid Monroe counties. ', Home Delivery: 734-591-0900 adult volunteer roles. To receive these services, honorably.discharged Carre ia a member of the Westland Chamber of , veterans can send a one-page letter with name, Commerce, the City of Westland Housing Rehabili­ address, date and signature explaining current situ- - tation Review Board and a volunteer instructor with Veterans get funding ation and circumstances to Veterans Haven Inc., Junior Achievement. Veterans Haven Inc. of Westland recently was 460 S. Venoy, Westland. A copy of DD-214 is also Huron Valley Girl Scout Council serves 16,000 awarded additional funding through the Federal needed. girls and 4,000 adult volunteers' in "part* of Wayne Emergency Management Agency to buy food and For more information, call 728-0627 from 9 a.m. to and Oakland counties and in all of Washtenaw) Liv- supplies. 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. 53174 10011 6 L-*4*« { 9 "~V\ »\- -K. MOMM* >.->. AtiW) The Observer & Eccentric/ THURSDAY/FEBRUARY 19,1998 OBITUARIES frompageAl CARLftAMMMON Community Hospice. frontpage Al Tracy Brunswick didn't accom­ ing in her basement, which Funeral services for Carl Ander­ Brunswick said he attempted August Street basement after he.