November 2015 It's the Foundational Principle That Holds That Assertion

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2 Editorial Is restoring trust as easy as turning a faucet? By Paul Rozycki Magazine Trust is the glue of life. It's the most essen - water, and generated pages of precise, East Village tial ingredient in effective communication. apparently scientific numbers, to back up Vol. LIII No . 10 November 2015 It's the foundational principle that holds that assertion. These were to be neutral, Founder Gary P. Custer all relationships. non-partisan authorities who were sup - –Stephen Covey posed to tell us when the water was good Editor Jan Worth-Nelson or bad. Only after months of reassuring Managing Editor Nic Custer Success has a thousand fathers. Failure is reports, backed up with charts and num - Ad Manager Daniel Kienitz always an orphan. bers, did we learn that studies were Copy Editor Danielle Ward –attributed to Tacitus and Count Galezzo flawed, designed for smaller sized cities Reporters Nic Custer Ciano or otherwise misleading. A few months Andrew Keast down the road, when they come out with Ashley O’Brien [Editor’s note: While these are Paul a new report telling us everything is now Columnists Jan Worth-Nelson Rozycki’s personal views, they are all right, will we trust them? Teddy Robertson shared by the EVM editorial board.] Local leaders lose trust? Paul Rozycki On the local level, there were too many Bob Thomas With Dr. Karen Weaver’s decisive vic - leaders who went along with the experts Business Manager Casey Custer tory in Flint’s recent mayoral election, and the powers that be, and reassured us Éminence Grise Ted Nelson most of us might hope that the water issue that all was well. Much more disturbing, it Photographer Edwin D. Custer would be taken care of as well. appears that those assurances continued Poets Grayce Scholt Unfortunately, that won’t be the case. As even after they knew better. Will we be Nic Custer much as we’d like to move on to some - able to trust them when they finally tell us thing else, this issue will be with us for that everything has been fixed and that we Distribution Staff Director: Edwin D. Custer. Staff: Kim Bargy, Jane some time. And we may be the first of can drink the water? Bingham, Casey & Nic & Andy Custer, Emma many cities to face a serious water prob - Failure is always an orphan Davis, Marabeth Foreman, Andrea Garrett, Charlie lem. Perhaps the most damaging of all was & Linda & Patrick & Terrance & Christan & There are many lessons to be learned the “blame game” where governors, Jillianne Goldsberry, Robert Jewell, Carol from Flint’s ongoing water crisis, perhaps emergency managers, mayors, candidates, Larzelere Kellermann, Jo Larzelere, Mary LeRoy, too many to list, but the most important les - council members, and others were quick Bill & Carol Leix, James & Lillian & Livia son is that trust matters – and once lost, it’s to point the finger at someone else saying Londrigan, Alan & Julie Lynch, Annette McCarthy, a long and difficult process to restore it. “it’s the other guy’s fault.” (It should also Ron & Mary Meeker, Robert & Nancy Meszko, That loss is reflected on many levels be noted, that some of today’s harshest John Moliassa, Keith Mullaly, Mike Neithercut, and was almost certainly a major factor in critics of using Flint River water were Edith & John Pendell, Dave & Becky Pettengill, Weaver’s win and Mayor Walling’s defeat. strong advocates of the same idea a few Debbie Rumsey, Barbara & Richard Schneider, Trust in the competence of all govern - years ago.) Mike Spleet, Gina Stoldt and Krista Striler. ment is called into question. A few strong leaders Trust in the national government? Yet, not everyone is a villain. There Board of Trustees On the national level, trust in the abili - were at least a few individuals and groups • Jane M. Bingham • Edwin D. Custer ty of government to do the right thing has who had the courage to stick with their • Bella Kritz • Jack D. Minore been slipping for decades, going back to convictions even against heavy pressure. • Robert R. Thomas • Jan Worth-Nelson, xo Watergate and the Vietnam War. The most Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, M.D., M.P.H. 720 E. Second St. recent examples include Hurricane program director for the pediatric residen - Katrina, the Iraq War, and Congress’ cy at the Hurley Children’s Hospital at Flint, Mich. 48503 inability to do much of anything at all. Hurley Medical Center in Flint, deserves (810) 233-7459 Today much of the appeal of a Donald much credit for standing up against intense Web Site: eastvillagemagazine.org Trump or a Ben Carson is that they aren’t pressure, when she discovered the elevat - E-mail: [email protected] part of the government. ed levels of lead in Flint children. Her Layout by Ted Nelson. Printing by Riegle Press Trust the governor? courage should be an inspiration to all. Inc., 1282 N. Gale Rd., Davison, Mich. 48423. On the state level, the trust in Governor State Senator Jim Ananich and The East Village Magazine is a program of the Snyder and his wide use of Emergency Congressman Dan Kildee deserve credit Village Information Center Inc., a nonprofit corpo- Managers has certainly fallen to a new for pressing for a full examination of the ration. We welcome material from readers, but all low. Yes, he and the state legislature final - Flint water crisis by the Environmental submissions become the property of the publication ly came around with some aid, but it Protection Agency and not letting the and if published will be edited to conform to the edi - seemed a day late and a dollar short. It’s issue die. torial style and policies of the publication. All fair to ask, as many have, that if this same Finally, the Flint Coalition for Clean inquiries about the publication should be mailed to East Village Magazine , Village Information Center, crisis had happened in Republican Water and all those groups and individuals 720 E. Second St., Flint, Mich. 48503. Distribution Birmingham or upscale Ann Arbor would who raised protests deserve credit as well. is the second Saturday of each month. Display the state’s response be as slow and half - They may have made noise standing in the advertising rates are $34.00 a column-inch plus any hearted as it has been for Flint? (Continued on Page 5.) other costs. Unclassified ads are $2.50 a printed line Trust in the experts? or part of a printed line. Rates subject to change Similarly we’ve lost trust in the many Cover: without notice. The deadline for advertising is 10 state (and national) experts who told us Getting ready for winter on Crapo Street. days before each publication date. that everything was just fine with the 3 Photo of the Month Photograph by Edwin D. Custer Library win means “new service focus,” modernization By Nic Custer The Central Park Neighborhood Association Even with those measures, there still issue on the ballot but only provide infor - (CPNA) October meeting covered a Flint has been a revenue gap of $500,000. The mation about the proposal. Public Library (FPL) millage ballot proposal, millage is expected to raise $450,000 to Signals of support neighborhood blight, the Investor’s Committee fill the gap. She said if the funding gap is Jack Minore, a former city council and upcoming elections. filled the library will begin to invest in member and state representative, spoke as Director Kay Schwartz, Flint Public new service priorities. The new vision is a member of Citizens for the Flint Public Library, shared information about a to become Flint’s “go to” place for what Library. He asked residents to vote yes on library millage on the November ballot. she described as “learning across the lifes - the millage. [Editor’s note: the millage passed by a pan.” This plan will have three priorities: He said even though the increase would wide margin in the Nov. 3 election]. digital literacy, family literacy and pre - equate to about $1 per month for the aver - Schwartz explained that the millage for serving the building as a welcoming place age resident, the amount will be fewer tax 6/10 of a mill would last from 2015 to for the community. dollars than in previous years when the 2021. It would expire at the same time as “We’re ready for a transformation to property taxes were higher. He said if the the other 1.4 renewable millage, which really be a learning center for our com - community approves the millage, it will residents already pay. The library also has munity to help people get job ready,” give a signal to the Mott Foundation that two mills funding in perpetuity, which Schwartz said. the community supports the library and was passed in 2003 and is the maximum Library building modernization needed wants it to be invested in it. that can be requested by FPL according to Built in 1958 and expanded in 1990, Demolition requested state law. the library needs to be modernized. She In other CPNA business, Norma Sain, New model of library service said she hopes to get additional C.S. Mott Court Street Village Non Profit Housing She said the FPL has just been through Foundation funding for an architect to Corp., reported that a house at 722 East a planning process, funded by the C.S. redesign the interior space to make Street will be added to the city’s emer - Mott Foundation, to develop a new model staffing more efficient. gency demolition list. The house’s field - for library services. Between 2009 and She said because the library is built in stone foundation has been crumbling for 2013, FPL lost more than $2 million, or rooms, it requires more staff to run it. The the last several years. She also reported about 50% of its budget because of library just had a facilities assessment. that a duplex at 801 E. Court Street is declining property values. The air handling units are from 1958 and being stripped of its siding. Schwartz said the library is funded by two of three freight elevators are “old Funding for house painting a property tax millage. The library had enough to draw social security.” And the In November, CPNA Investor’s to settle on a level of service it could building has single pane windows and not Committee will present an idea to home - afford so in 2013 it reduced to five days much roof insulation. owners to fund exterior house painting in a week and only a single shift of staff to Schwartz said library staff cannot the neighborhood. The group will meet a run it. advocate for the library when there is an second time to begin seeking funding for (Continued on Page 10.) 4 Transformed by water and politics, Walters fights on Interview by Ashley O’Brien LeeAnne Walters was once a stay-at- Gavin had to be bathed in bottled water. decided to go with the science. You can’t home mother of four. But she was trans - Even his clothes were washed outside the argue with science.” formed into an advocate for water safety home. How the facts emerged in Flint and across the country after her Another of Walters’ children, J.D., Looking back, Walters details how her four-year-old son Gavin got sick—the who’s now 15, was the first to experience family’s story progressed following J.D.’s numbers on his blood tests clearly in the frightening health issues. Walters said he problems. “action” range for lead poisoning. got sick last Thanksgiving just before the In January, two months after her older Walters, 37, and her whole family – issue of TTHMs (Total Trihalomethanes) son got sick, she received a notice about husband and four kids – experienced hair in the water came to light. TTHMs in the water. By the time she loss and rashes after the water source “He was in and out of the hospital and found out about the TTHMs, it was too changed to the Flint River in 2014. But it different doctors, they couldn’t figure out late to test to see if that was causing J.D.’s was Gavin, a twin with brother Garrett, what was going on with him,” Walters illness, because the family had already who had the worst reaction. said. They continued drinking Flint water stopped drinking the water. “Since we At one point, she said, Gavin’s blood until “the water started coming through didn’t know, there was no way to prove lead level was 6.5 micrograms/deciliter, the filter brown. It was bogging the filter it,” she said. substantially above the 5 micro - down so badly.” But the TTHM notice also warned grams/deciliter point where, she said, When the family stopped drinking the about complications for people with com - medical researchers told her the definition water, J.D.’s health gradually returned. promised immune systems. That would of lead poisoning begins. And Gavin seems to be slowly improv - include Gavin, one of her four-year-old Born with a compromised immune sys - ing, although the family and their medical twins. tem that made it harder for his body to team have been on “watch and see” “Every time he was in contact with the process toxins, during the worst of it mode. water, he was breaking out in this nasty Propelled to action scaly rash,” Walters said. “It got to the Throughout the expanding crisis, point he was taking Benadryl before a ... Trust Walter’s outrage drove her to action. bath because he would break out so (Continued from Page 3.) She found herself putting in 16 to 20 badly.” hour days on top of caring for her family. Walters had a lead test done on her back of the room and waving around their She attended meetings, she got mad, she home water and received alarming results. bottles of dirty water, may have been dis - spoke up, she researched, she formed an A test done in February said Walters’ ruptive, loud and perhaps even wrong on advocacy group with another ally. water had 104 parts per billion (ppb). occasion, but they kept the issue alive And eventually, she and a cadre of oth - Another test in March read 397 parts when no one else was listening. ers – citizens, journalists, physicians, per billion. Federal guidelines warn about Flint “the canary in the coal mine?” researchers – started to get results. lead levels above 15 parts per billion. If there is anything good to come out of “I am ecstatic that they [state and local “I knew if my numbers were that high, our current crisis it might be that we are officials] are finally listening, that they there had to be other places, especially the “canary in the coal mine’ and that the are doing the right thing and going back to with so many people throughout the city water problems and infrastructure prob - Detroit water,” Walters said. “I am sad - with the discolored water,” Walters said. lems we are facing in Flint are likely to be dened and sickened that it had to get to She began attending town meetings, talk - statewide and nationwide issues in the this point. My son shouldn’t have had to ing about her water problem. She said city years to come. Let’s hope other officials be poisoned for them to listen.” officials never took her seriously, and she will learn from our mistakes and handle Campaigned for Weaver was told “for months that the problem was the issue with more openness and trust. She said she is delighted about the out - strictly at my home, and that it wasn’t a Let’s also hope that Mayor Karen come of the mayoral election. She and citywide problem.” Weaver’s first job will be to rebuild some her family moved to Norfolk, Virginia, a Forming “Water You Fighting For” sense of trust in all those institutions that month ago after her Navy husband was “I wasn’t fluent when it came to the should have served us better. She will be transferred, but she came back to Flint to workings of water before this, the chemi - facing a challenging task. Turning on the work the polls for Karen Weaver and to cals that were used,” Walters said. “It was faucet to clean water may be easier than attend a town hall meeting. always something that was taken for grant - restoring the flow of trust. Restoring that “I’m ecstatic,” she said, speaking from ed. You pay for a service, you expect it to trust will be a big job, much bigger than Flint two days after the election. “We be clean and healthy, and ours wasn’t.” replacing pipes, turning valves and adding needed a change and now we’re going to Walters met Melissa Mays at a public filters – but just as important. get the change we need.” hearing at the City Hall Dome in January. Meanwhile, I’ve bought another case of “You can’t argue with science” The two women founded the advocacy bottled water to keep under the kitchen table. Walters, who had been a Flint resident group, Water You Fighting For. They since 1993 and graduated from Kearsley organized rallies, marches and meetings Paul Rozycki is a retired professor of politi - High School, has learned a lot of chem - to do something about Flint’s toxic cal science from Mott Community College. istry during the water crisis. water. The organization eventually He has lived in Flint since 1969 and has At meetings, she said, officials from merged with other groups like The been involved with and observed Flint poli - the Michigan Department of Concerned Pastors to form the Coalition tics for many years. He is author of Politics Environmental Quality (MDEQ) and for Clean Water. and Government in Michigan (with Jim emergency manager Jerry Ambrose Walters said she still couldn’t get peo - Hanley) and A Clearer Image: The History “called me a liar and they called me stu - ple to listen, and she decided to change of Mott Community College. He can be pid,” she said. tactics. That’s when she started learning reached at [email protected]. “I am neither of those things, so I the science. (Continued on Page 6.) 5 ... Walters Hurley, apologized to the activists for “From the start, they made it clear taking so long.” (Continued from Page 5.) they didn’t want any other children Mays explained that his sick mother Virginia Tech arrives on the scene to get hurt. They literally turned their once had to wait for an important surgery In the process, Walters reached out to lives upside down to get to the truth because of a rash, so when Walters told the research team at Virginia Tech. Dr. of Flint’s water system.” him about her son’s rashes, he took it very Marc Edwards called to tell her that they –Dr. Marc Edwards, Virginia Tech, seriously. would come to Flint. about LeeAnne Walters and her “I don’t think that many people just “I cried,” Walters said of the phone call. husband complain about the problems with the “I was happy. I was relieved. Nobody else water just to complain. There were just was helping. So to figure out a way to get way of the testing and get rid of the loop - too many complaints for me to not pay help, and to be taken seriously and to holes,” Walters said. She said she would attention,” Mays said. “When people cry prove what we’ve been saying for months be going to Washington D.C., in out, listen close and then try to learn more and months and months was going to be November to talk to officials at the EPA about what people are saying.” brought to light. It was a relief.” about changing testing rules. Walters has been compared to Erin Edwards described Walters and her Flint politics played a role Brockovich, Harriet Tubman and Rosa husband as “absolute heroes.” “It’s very obvious that the city council Parks. “From the start, they made it clear they and the mayor (outgoing Mayor Walling) “There’s worse things in the world,” didn’t want any other children to get are not interested in doing what’s best for Walters joked about the comparison. hurt,” Edwards said. “They literally the citizens. They’re interested in the bot - “On the list of things I’ve done in my turned their lives upside down to get to tom dollar,” Walters said. “The only per - life, I would never have thought being the truth of Flint’s water system.” son who heard us and stuck with us was an activist was one of them. I wouldn’t Much more to do [City Councilman] Eric Mays.” change it. Yes, I would change the fact But Walters acknowledges there is Mays described Walters as “one of the that my son got poisoned, but I would - much more work to do. champions of the water movement.” n’t change the fact that I’m helping She plans to appear before the National “I give LeeAnne Walters credit. In people.” Drinking Water Advisory Committee in the middle of the movement, we dealt Arlington, Virginia Nov. 18, a meeting with boil-water advisories, TTHMs, we Staff writer Ashley O’Brien can be Flint’s Congressman Dan Kildee also will dealt with prices, and I give her the reached at [email protected]. attend. She said she is scheduled to meet credit for championing the lead aspect EVM editor Jan Worth-Nelson con - with him there. of it, and sticking with it, until the point tributed to this report. She can be reached Since her new home is so close to from Virginia Tech that the medical at [email protected]. Washington, D.C., she sees an opportuni - community, and the doctors from ty to take her fight to the national level. But she’s not letting go of the local advo - cacy either. “And just because I’m not [living] in Flint doesn’t mean I’m stopping the fight. “Now I am making sure that the testing they are doing is up to par. That means taking out the loopholes,” Walters said. “They’re not trying to find the high lead that they’re supposed to.” Loopholes on lead level testing According to Walters, there are three main loopholes that are being taken advantage of in Michigan to hide high lead levels. The three loopholes include pre-flush - ing the water before testing the sample, using small mouth bottles and capping the hours water can sit before testing. Walters explained small mouth bottles force water to be collected slowly, much differently than how people run the water when they go to fill up a glass. She said the mouths of the bottles used by the EPA are the size of a regular glass, so that when you turn on the water, the particulates go into the bottle the way you drink it. Walters explains that the testing regula - tions is “a city fight, a state fight and a national fight.” She said she is looking for loopholes other states might be using so she can get the EPA to reword the law. She wants the loopholes named as violations. “It’s my personal mission to change the 6 Atwood Thanksgiving: 50 years of snow, ice, sports drama By Lawrence R. Gustin

Editor’s note: Gustin, a writer for the remember was the best attended – and famous sports photo in Flint history, Flint Journal for decades and much-pub - many say best – of them all. It was held in Bolden running all alone through snow lished historian of Flint’s automotive past, 1950 before a record crowd of 20,600 and flurries and appearing to glance at the big agreed to contribute this reminiscence of had long been sold out. stadium clock displaying the 13-13 score Atwood Stadium – including the almost An Atwood event sold out? Even with and the sweeping minute hand. 50-year-long series of Thanksgiving Day bleachers all around, the place was filled That 1950 game continued a long series contests between Flint Central and Flint to the brim. I got in, at age 13, as a Boy of confrontations between the two Northern high schools. In a second piece Scout usher. My seat on that cold, windy schools. Going back to the beginning, in coming in December, he will describe his and snowy day was a concrete step. 1928 and 1929 Northern won the first attempts to track down and preserve game It was a great game. Northern was two, 7-0 at Central, then 6-0 at Northern films from those peak Atwood years. favored but Central scored quickly after on Frank Mitoraj's field goals. recovering a fumble. Northern came back My dad, a Northern student at the time, For folks of a certain age, the recent with two touchdowns. Very late, Central said it was so cold he watched through a rebirth of Atwood Stadium likely revives quarterback Dwight Etherington raced 38 button hole in his coat. memories of the greatest sports tradition yards to score and Lacey Bernard kicked The action moved to Atwood in ‘30 and in Flint history – Thanksgiving games the extra point to create a 13-13 tie. I was Northern won again, 18-0. between Flint Central and Northern high happy my underdog Central Indians Houston a pathfinding Northern coach schools. would finish with a tie. Guy Houston, the Vikings’ coach, was on The games began in 1928, the his way to becoming the first first at Central, the second at high school member of the Northern and starting in 1930 at Michigan Sports Hall of Fame. newly built Atwood. They ran His use of minorities was through 1976, when they were described as putting Flint on the finally moved from Thanksgiving. national map. Before he was It had been a great run, but atten - through, he would lead dance was declining, two more Northern to 10 undefeated sea - local high schools blunted the sons and 12 Saginaw Valley rivalry and there was the flight to Conference titles in 24 years. suburbia, as well as state tourna - Central finally got a score and ment scheduling problems. a win, 6-0, in ‘31 when But for most of those years, Sherwood Moore, 15, intercept - especially the 1940s and ‘50s, ed a pass and ran 81 yards. The the numbers were unbelievable Indians won 19-13 in ‘32, by today’s standards. Football unbeaten state co-champs, but attendance of 3,000 at Atwood in ‘33 it was Northern that was today is respectable. But in earli - unbeaten behind Fred Trosko's er decades, crowds of 18,000 three TDs against Central. were routine and twice the count Northern won again in ‘34 and topped 20,000! ‘35, extending its undefeated For many years, Atwood was record to 25 in three seasons. one of the centers of action in Northern's 32-0 win in 1940 Flint, rivaled only by the IMA was the final for the school's Auditorium, also built in 1929. “Wonder Boys” – Len Sweet, The stadium held campaign vis - Ed Krupa and cousins Bob and its by Franklin D. Roosevelt and Dick Holloway – who com - John F. Kennedy, a world feath - bined in 36 straight basketball erweight title fight with champ triumphs and 28 consecutive Willie Pep knocking out Flint's Here Northern’s Leroy Bolden is running 79 yards for the winning football victories. Jock Leslie, a national high touchdown in the last minutes of the 1950 Thanksgiving game won by The ‘41 game introduced school band concert led by John Northern, 20-13. He appears to be looking at the clock as the minutes Central's sensational junior, Philip Sousa, exhibitions by the wind down. This famous photo was taken by the Flint Journal’s Dante Lynn Chandnois, who scored Detroit Tigers and Lions, a Levi. Used by permission of the Flint Journal, 2015. twice in a stunning 13-0 victory World War II armaments demon - before a record 17,460. The stration for civil defense workers, rock But then something happened that to Vikings retaliated in ‘42, winning 19-0 for concerts, Flint’s centennial celebration me was unbelievable. On the first play their fifth undefeated, untied season. featuring Dinah Shore and so much more. after Central’s ensuing kickoff, with only Chandnois was surprisingly outshone by But for consistent popularity, nothing 2:45 left, Northern star Leroy Bolden Northern's versatile Bill Hamilton, who rivaled Thanksgiving games between sprinted 79 yards to score – the longest scored twice, passed for the other TD and Central and Northern. run from scrimmage in Thanksgiving his - outrushed Chandnois, 67 yards to 32. An unforgettable 1950 game tory and no doubt the most spectacular. Chandnois did prove he was faster, how - As a child, I had been taken by my par - I felt devastated watching that run. ever, catching up with Hamilton and tack - ents to a couple of the Flint games in the Northern won, 20-13. The Flint Journal’s ling him on a 58-yard run. late 1940s. But the first I distinctly Dante Levi took arguably the most Even after stellar careers at Michigan (Continued on Page 8.) 7 ... Atwood “Without the AstroTurf ...someone may Not only was he one of very few play - have drowned.” Central won, 26-19. ers ever to see Thanksgiving action in all (Continued from Page 7.) The finale in 1976 ended 7-6 for three of the series’ venues – Central, State and in the NFL, Chandnois remem - Central in the series' only overtime. Northern, and Atwood Stadium – but he bered. When I showed him a video of the Central's Frank Nagy scored a TD and was certainly the only one to perform in play in 2009, he laughed and said, “I Jody Smith booted the winning extra Flint games on Thanksgiving 50 years never told Bill, but I had the angle on point. Northern answered with a TD but apart. him.” when it went for a two-point conversion, Replacing cleats with tennis shoes on ice Central's David Gibson batted down a Lawrence R. Gustin’s career as a writer There’s room here for only a few more pass that looked like it might connect. and historian offers too many high points highlights. Central’s Norm Jones raced 93 That ended the Thanksgiving series. to count. He wrote the award-winning first yards with the opening kickoff as the Many ghosts haunt Atwood biographies of General Motors founder Indians won in ‘43. In ‘47, Central com - In 1977, however, a “Nostalgia Bowl” Billy Durant and Buick founder David pleted its first perfect season in 22 years was created by the Flint Journal to com - Buick. He created the Flint Journal as coach Howard Auer quickly replaced memorate the 50th anniversary of the start Centennial Picture History of Flint in cleats with tennis shoes, providing his of the series. three editions for the U.S. bicentennial. players with good footing on an icy field As the Journal’s Mintline wrote: He wrote the inscriptions for Joe Rundell’s and a 20-6 win. “There are ghosts haunting Atwood statues of Flint auto pioneers. He retired Among strong performers: Central Stadium, so many participants being in 2005 as assistant director of Buick pub - guard Don Coleman, an All-American at involved in those 49 years, that a chance lic relations after 21 years at Buick PR. Michigan State and the first player there to hobble through it once more, just for That followed 23 years as a reporter and to have his number retired. In 1975 he was sentimental reasons, sounds interesting.” editor at the Flint Journal. He and his wife named to the National Football League It did for Russ Reynolds, anyway. He Rose Mary, both Flint natives, now live in Foundation Hall of Fame. In 1949 11 was a star at Northern and played in the Oakland County and have two sons and inches of snow were dumped on Atwood, 1928 and ‘29 games and then in the first five grandchildren. but Northern's Bolden scored twice and contest at Atwood. In 1977, he suited up fellow star Ellis Duckett, who didn't score one more time for the Nostalgia Bowl. but played very well, still won the Valley scoring title. I've mentioned Bolden's long run and City water shutoffs resume, 60% delinquent the record crowd of 20,600 in 1950, but I By Jan Worth-Nelson thought the ‘53 game was more exciting. Shutoffs for nonpayment of water bills are due. Customers are then given 10 days to In the third period, Northern was awarded once again being issued by the city of Flint, remit payment to avoid disconnect. a controversial safety, but the Vikings according to an announcement from Jason Over 60% of the total accounts in the trailed until, in the last minute, Art Lorenz, the city’s public relations officer. first two cycles already are delinquent Johnson broke loose on fourth down to Customers with outstanding bills due (1,819 out of 2,993 accounts), he reported. score (Johnson would eventually be the Sept. 11, 2015, will be the first to receive The first bills issued with the reduced grandfather of 2009 Flint Heisman shutoff notices. Customers in the first rates were due Sept. 11, 2015, and were Trophy winner Mark Ingram). Central cycle of overdue bills with court-ordered 30 days past due on Oct. 11. Due to the made a frenzied comeback attempt. adjusted rates will be issued notices first. “unusual” events and the work necessary A desperation pass by Charles Thrash After an injunction order issued by to perform accurate billing, Lorenz said, intended for Joe Quarles ricocheted into Circuit Court Judge Hayman in the case the payment period has been extended to the hands of Larry Catlin, who fell on the of Shears vs. the City of Flint, the city Dec. 1, 2015. Northern one as the game ended, Northern was required to reduce water rates and This will result in all cycles being winning 15-13. In 1956 Northern won 20- discontinue shutoffs on previously owed given over 80 days, Lorenz said, or 2 ½ 8 in for another perfect season, but balances. months past their original due date to pay. Central triumphed in a blowout, 51-0, in Lorenz explained the city then immedi - Regular timelines for water and sewer 1958 under coach Bill Doolittle. Flint ately stopped doing water shutoffs and shutoffs will resume with processing of Journal sports editor Doug Mintline called began restructuring the water and sewer notices at 30 days delinquency with 10 it “the Tribe's greatest victory in history.” unit charges for all billing after the injunc - days to remit payment after Jan. 1, 2016, Rain, mud, astroturf, dancing tion. According to the orders of the he stated. Atwood’s playing surface, which often injunction, the city now has the ability to For customers who have their water turned to mud by mid-game, was so resume shutoffs, Lorenz asserted. shut off in the coming weeks, Chief muddy in 1967 that Journal reporter Len He said the first bills reflecting the Financial Officer Jody Lundquist said the Hoyes called it the “worst field conditions adjusted rate were mailed to customers in customer service department will work in series history.” It became known as the September. Unpaid balances prior to the with the water service center to ensure “Mud Bowl.” That led to a drive to cover new bills being mailed in September have that turn-ons for payment will be handled the field with AstroTurf, donated by the effectively been frozen and payments as quickly as possible. Mott Foundation, the following year (and made on balances due before the injunction She said the city also will continue to this year to fund a safer synthetic playing have been applied to the new billing table. work with its partner service agencies in surface). In some cases, this has resulted in a the Keep the Water Flowing program, In a 6-2 Northern victory in the Mud credit being applied to customers’ bills. including the United Way, the Salvation Bowl, William Wallace ran for the touch - The first bills issued with the reduced Army and Catholic Charities to help those down but his antics (in a more conserva - rates were due on September 11, 2015, eligible for assistance. tive period), including dancing and ges - and were 30 days past due on October 11. The City of Flint Division of Water turing at Central players and fans, were In a press release, Lorenz explained that Service Center is at (810) 766-7202 or criticized by some. The ‘68 game was the city’s policy is to issue shutoff notices online at www.cityofflint.com. played in a driving rain. Wrote Hoyes: when accounts are more than 30 days past 8 Bicycle culture extends new spokes in Flint By Andrew Keast and Jan Worth-Nelson If anybody can prove that Flint might Moilanen said he’s bothered when local “The people out here are very friend - be transforming itself – from the wheels institutions cut public transportation pro - ly,” she said on one of the last rides of the up – into a bicycle-friendly culture, it’s grams while expecting people to hold season. “They give you tips; they’ll help Danny Moilanen, 28, owner of Vehicle down a job. He said he believes “bikes you with your bike. She refers to the ride City Tacos and a self-described “social can possibly play some role in addressing as “a wonderful experience” and recom - cycler.” some of these deeply systemic problems mends it to “anybody who just started rid - In 2012, he and a few friends created our city faces.” ing.” the Thursday Night Party Ride, an easy - The taco entrepreneur also is behind Joining her on the ride were Ben Pauli, going summertime tour through Flint. Social Cycling Flint, whose members 30, and Vivian Kao, 32. Recent arrivals to It starts at 9 p.m. and pauses every 15 use Facebook to share cycling informa - Flint for faculty positions at Kettering minutes or so for socializing in open tion, and it was Moilanen, working University, Pauli and Kao bought a house spaces such as the parking lot at with the owners of Krystal Jo’s Diner, in the College Cultural neighborhood and Kearsley Park or the ramp at Mott who organized a recent Flint Bike were eager to see what the community Community College. Swap. had to offer. While the ride is far calmer than its At that event, local mechanics provided So they tried one of the Sunday Flint name might suggest, and a few of the free service and repairs, and bikes and River Trail rides, pulling their three-year- riders are well into middle age, a rau - parts were available for free or at minimal old son Julian along in a cart. cous touch is added by rock music prices. Every one of the 39 kids who Kao described herself as “not a bike booming from the riders’ portable attended went home with a free bicycle, rider at all, actually – still learning how to devices, and the tour often ends at local he said. ride, how to get on and off the bike and Moilanen’s programs are just one how to shift gears and things like that.” spoke of several bike-promoting efforts in Still, she said, she found the ride manage - town. able. Flint River Trail development Of the tour, which carried riders to Another is the Friends of the Flint Bluebell Beach and back, through both River Trail, (FFRT) who have successful - open and wooded areas, she said, “We ly advocated and raised funds since the enjoyed seeing parts of the city that we late 1970s for user-friendly trails and usually don’t get to see.” bicycle lanes. Pauli, whose love of mountain biking That group, propelled in the 1990s by was interrupted by nine years “very Stephanie Diana, started by clearing glass immersed in academia,” said he really and trash off a dirt trail along the river that liked the pace of the ride. had been created in the 1970s. Later the “It was not too intense, and yet you do trail was blacktopped. feel that you’ve had a workout,” he said. According to a memoir by Jack In 2009, Minore said, the Friends of the Minore, former city councilman and state Flint River Trail became a chapter of the Photo by Jan Worth-Nelson representative, “Along with Mott watering holes such as Soggy Bottom Community College, we encouraged the Bar. writing and awarding of a grant to pave a The tours began, Moilanen trail through Kearsley and Dayton Parks – explained, with friends “who simply connecting Longway Boulevard to the wanted to see the city by bicycle and existing Flint River Trail near the point hang out.” But more serious concerns where Gilkey Creek empties into the Flint also emerged: he and his friend actual - River.” ly want to change the transportation The Friends sponsor The Flint River culture of Flint. Trail Ride every Sunday from early May “The idea was that we could improve through the end of October. Minore, 77, bicycling culture in Flint,” Moilanen said, still makes the ride. “by simply getting more bikes on the The Flint River Trail ride, which leaves road. With more bikes on the road, it starts at 2 p.m. from the site of the old Farmers’ to become a visible presence, and that’s Market on East Boulevard Drive, usually the basis of any important social move - draws between 30 and 60 participants and ment.” covers 12 to 13 miles, takes about two Bikes could help planet, aid the poor hours, and never covers the same route Photo by Jan Worth-Nelson He said he and his friends aim to show two weeks in a row. that cycling is “a fun, realistic, reliable, All ages join in healthier option for ourselves and the The Sunday trail ride attracts cyclists of Flint River Watershed Coalition, a part - planet.” all ages. nership he said has served both organiza - But he’s also interested in how particu - Frankie Thompson, for example, a tions well. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organ - lar problems might be attacked through Flint River ride regular, is in her sixties ization, the FFRT now can work on more biking, which he notes is “a necessary and said she is determined to keep in grants and trail development. form of transportation for many people shape. She said she participates for the UM-Flint a “bicycle friendly” campus who don’t have access to a car – that’s a exercise, but also values the camaraderie Recently officials at UM-Flint have significant number of people in this city.” within the group. played a role in facilitating bike culture as 9 (Continued on Page 10.) ... Bicycle ... Library ~wine~ (Continued from Page 9.) (Continued from Page 4.) craft beer ... well. For the past four years, students the project. & more have had access to the school’s “Maize Election scheduled at the Flint Bikes,” a fleet of 14 bicycles donated to In other news, the group will hold elec - Farmers’ Market the university. They can be rented out for tions at its November general membership $2 an hour, according to Theresa Landis, meeting. Vice President Karen Tipper and UM-Flint director of auxiliary and recre - President Ed Custer are willing to rotate East Village Magazine ations services. positions. The group has no candidates to has writing internships available. She said the university offers a seven- fill its vacant Secretary position. week, one-credit course called “Health Care The group meets at 7 p.m., November Call (810) 233-7459 113: Bicycling the Flint River Trail” and 12 at Court Street Village Non Profit sponsors a yearly ride in memory of Stephen Neighborhood House, 737 East St. Landon, a theater professor and avid cycling buff who died several years ago. Nic Custer, East Village Magazine In addition, the university campus managing editor, can be reached at shuttle is fitted out with bicycle racks [email protected]. and air pumps have been attached to bike racks on campus. Bike lanes have been recently marked on campus roadways and signs erected indicating UM-Flint was awarded a “bicycle friendly” desig - nation by the League of American Bicyclists. Moilanen points out that riders around town can get free mechanical help and learn basic skills from bike experts at Flint Steam Works, a makerspace open every Tuesday and Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m. at Red Ink Flint, 124 W. First St. Volunteer Distributors Wanted “We need to do more,” Moilanen said, The East Village Magazine is looking “but we’re getting there.” for volunteer distributors in some of the The Sunday ride and the party ride both residential blocks bounded by E. Court, are on hiatus for the winter, but are expect - Franklin, Tuscola and Meade Streets. ed to resume next spring. More information Spend less than one hour a month get - about the Friends of the Flint River Trail, ting exercise and insuring your neigh - Flint Steam Works, the Thursday Night bors get the magazine. Contact Party Ride, the Flint Bike Swap and Social [email protected] or write to 720 Cycling Flint can be found online. For fur - E. Second St. Flint, MI 48503 ther details about programs at UM-Flint, visit www.umflint.edu/reccenter/walking- and-biking or call the university Recreation Center at (810)762-3441.

Staff writer Andrew Keast can be reached at [email protected]. Jan Worth- Nelson, East Village Magazine editor, can be reached at [email protected].

Unclassified ads Editing Services. Eagle Eye Editing and Proofreading Services provides top-notch copy edit - ing and proofreading for your writing needs by a published author and East Village Magazine copy editor and proofreader. Prices depend on the type of project and number of pages. Contact Danielle E. Ward at [email protected]. Large two-bedroom apartment on E. Second Street. Three blocks to UM-F and MCC campuses, Library, Cultural Center, parks, downtown and Farmers’ Market. Furnished, laundry and off-street fenced parking. $585 a month includes water. References and credit check. Pictures available. E-mail [email protected] or write Apartment, 720 E. Second St., Flint MI 48503.

10 ... Local news n’t offer liver sandwiches -- the demand nostalgic craving for that old newsroom isn’t there.” durably nestles in memory, it seems the (Continued from Page 12.) He said he didn’t know up-to-date current era offers unparalleled – and I wanted to see if there was any “news - numbers on the print run, but 2012 num - changing – ways to be ‘local.” It seems room” left, if there was anybody “local.” I bers put subscriptions at about 50,000. we can be “local” from almost anywhere. wondered if there might be some old edi - “We are not a newspaper with a web - Even in town, paradoxically, the new real - tor chomping on a cigar and yelling at the site,” Mickle said. “We are a website with ities of the Flint Journal might be good reporters, a half-drunk columnist with a a newspaper.” for local news, making it more likely that hangover asleep in the corner, impossible Staff cuts mean that the local crew has reporters would leave their little storefront piles of papers and crumpled coffee cups to be very selective. Many coverage deci - and find Flint stories. littering the floor. sions are driven by metrics – analytics In fact, my husband and I put together Flint Journal now: a storefront that tell Mickle how many people click on our last edition of East Village Magazine Well, there is a there, there and a who what links. Despite what people might say – the one obsessed with Flint’s water there too. The Flint Journal office, now a on a survey, he said, the Journal ’s data debacle, as we all have been – from a storefront on Saginaw Street sandwiched supports the old journalistic cliché: “If it small apartment on a San Pedro hillside. between a packaging company and an art bleeds, it leads.” It’s our laptops, cell phones and a speedy gallery, is shiny and modern. Backpack, phone, laptop Wi-Fi that make it possible – with the Behind a reception desk are rows of Mickle doesn’t have an office, not to uncluttered tables with people plugged in, mention a desk. Nor do any of the focused on laptops. reporters. When Mickle greeted me he There I found Bryn Mickle, the paper’s had to find a conference room for our editor since last year. At 42, he rose conversation – a pristine space with not through the ranks after arriving as a a single pile, messy ashtray or book - reporter in 1999. He took over the Flint shelf. The newsroom on Saginaw Street edition after the previous editor moved is designed around an “open concept,” into an executive role with M-Live. He and reporters pick where they want to lives in Grand Blanc. sit. “Everything you do is basically con - tained in your backpack,” he said. Each reporter gets a cell phone and a laptop and together, those three tools are their offices and their desks. “It’s a freeing concept for me,” Mickle said. Like most journalists, he said, he was a pack rat, but has learned the libera - tion of traveling light. Whatever he wants to keep he scans onto his laptop. Worth-Nelson, Keokuk, summer 1970 Open concept: no more cubicles Scott Atkinson, a former Flint Journal essential help, of course, of a staff of vol - reporter now teaching writing at the UM- unteer “citizen” writers who faithfully Flint, said he loved the open format. He show up – in person – at neighborhood said it helped him grow as a reporter. “The events and meetings. Bryn Mickle, Flint Journal editor idea that a reporter should show up to the So even though I myself, like the M- office every day and sit in his/her cubicle Live crew, rely on my backpack, cell The reporting staff has been sliced was gone,” he said. phone and laptop to keep in touch, I con - from about 50 in the old days to a core “I worked at Good Beans, the Crepe fess I’m still a romantic about my journal - group of about 10. Of those, two are crime Shop, the Flint Public Library, the Flint istic sense of place. reporters, one is a court reporter who Institute of Arts café, the passenger seat of I much prefer the sound of those CSX helps cover crime, and one is a sports my car. trains as I bang out columns, the fra - reporter. “People and I talked about the issues of grances of fireplace smoke this time of The hard copy is printed in Walker and the day, our kids, our city. I probably year, the actual cappuccino at Steady Bay City. And of course most of the action walked at least a mile a day.” Eddy’s. Now, where’s my cigar and that now is online, where MLive, part of the Archives moved to Sloan half-full bottle of booze? It’s deadline Newhouse family of national publica - The Journal’s archive – what used to be time. tions, has an active presence and readers called the “morgue” in my day – has click on whichever city they want for moved and is maintained at the Buick Jan Worth-Nelson is the editor, since local news. Gallery of the Sloan Museum. All issues January, of East Village Magazine – a late Mickle remembers when the paper was since 1997 are on the Journal’s electronic in life career surprise she never asked for printed at the corner of First and library. Yes, it’s an extra step for reporters and never expected. In addition to her Harrison. When the presses started up, he to dash over to Sloan, Mickle noted, but summer at the Keokuk, Iowa Daily Gate recalls, you could feel the whole building the museum helps out when immediate City, she worked at the Laguna Beach rumble. access is needed. (CA) News-Post and the Orange Coast No liver sandwiches I’m not here myself Daily Pilot. She can be reached at jan - But as far as going back to the glory Here’s the thing – I saved my kicker for [email protected]. days, when the print run of the Sunday the end, while I was finding out what I wanted to say. A third of the year, I’m not Journal was about 100,000, “Well,” he Donations to EVM are tax deductible! said, “there’s a reason McDonald’s does - even “here” myself. So even though my

11 Village Life Local news still matters, even as the “how” changes By Jan Worth-Nelson I just lost my temper. The trigger was you should never wake up retired geezers news. an early morning solicitation to subscribe when we’re sleeping in. It’s a luxury I spent five more years at two other to the Flint Journal – our hometown we’ve waited 50 or 60 years for. newsrooms before heading off to other paper, right? I asked the young voice with I understand that the Flint Journal ’s escapades. But the imprint of those news - a Southern accent where she was calling survival in any form is a sad miracle of paper days has never left me. from. Missouri, she said. cutbacks, compromises and consolida - Why do I care? Missouri? tions. While much of the business aspect If Gary Custer hadn’t died, maybe I “Missouri?” I shouted, “I want nothing has been farmed out, there still is a report - wouldn’t care today, but now that he’s to do with a newspaper in my home town ing staff in town. gone and I’m an old woman come back that outsources its business to another Keokuk, Iowa shaped my views unexpectedly to a business I have loved state!” And I hung up. But I’m touchy on how all this plays all my life, I find myself taking seriously Okay, so it was an overreaction. But out. I love local news. I’ve been shaped what journalism owes to its “place,” what - by my own history in ever that is. journalism. It matters to me that reporters who Restoring A Duck Decoy After the May, 1970 cover Flint locally live among us – or at By Grayce Scholt shootings at Kent State, least, like Teardown author Gordon where I was a journalism Young, have a sense of the place. I want I touch acrylic paint to neck, to wing major, I fled by bus from to know that they worry about their following my father’s curve of knife, of brush; Ohio to Keokuk, Iowa, water, try to decide where to send their where I had convinced the kids to school, try to find a grocery store, I daub an even falser life on this that sixty years before crusty old-school editor negotiate down bumpy brick Saginaw bobbed Judas-like on a Lake Erie bay of the newspaper there, Street, wait in line for the pho at and living wings would swoop to join the Daily Gate City , to MaMang. the silent flock – Bang! take me on as a summer I was a Flint Journa l subscriber for My father’s gun would spit, and intern. more than 25 years. I finally cancelled It was a perfect destina - when the paper shrunk to four days a dying wings would drop tion to satisfy my quest for week, lost most of its reporters, shut down into that split between two worlds. adventure. Perched on the its local presses, and moved out of its ven - bluffs of the Mississippi erable 100-year-old building. When he came home, his jacket bulging River, Keokuk was home I confess I miss the plop of the paper on with his prize, he’d lay the ducks to a set of locks traversed my porch in the early morning – an archa - before my wondering eyes by the commerce of the ic comfort from a past life, the trace con - and all I felt was his immensity. whole breathtaking river. tinuity of a slower-paced community. My mentor and guide We need good local reporting was Eleanor Waterhouse, a But there’s more to it than that. The He’d grumble some about the limit, ten, spirited city editor not recent water crisis is an important exam - about the ninety dollars rent he’d paid for marsh. much older than me. She ple of why we are thirsty, one might say, He’d tell of how his father shot a hundred in one day was a recent graduate from for thorough local coverage. As I’ve said when thousands darkened gray Ohio’s flyway. the University of Missouri before, the Flint Journal ’s Ron Fonger School of Journalism. did a great job of following the complexi - And then he’d scald them, pluck them, She curtained off a cor - ties. But many of us found that wasn’t sort the down, and tack the wings he liked ner of her walk-up apart - enough. high up on the coal bin door. ment in an old Victorian, People became reporters on their own – installed a fold-up single pressing politicians, digging into the min - bed, and there I stayed utes of local meetings and documents, You silent quacker sitting on my bench, until September. That researching water quality issues, lead you are that time long ago summer we were almost effects, proper filters, the design and dan - when my strong man inseparable. She pulled gers of the pipes underneath us, the chem - would rise up out of blind, me into the life of a small- istry of corrosion. and god-like town journalist, letting me And we shared all this with each other, strike down living flesh for me, cover anything I wanted. sorting out the facts and lies just like a and in my innocence I learned to work on dead - good journalist would do. Maybe that’s I’d cry for pride, line, write an “inverted the way it should be. But I still crave the pyramid,” and ask hard role of the Fourth Estate, and I worry that not death, not pity, questions. It was a blast. it’s slipping away. but for pride. Ellie Waterhouse dropped And so I went for a field trip Grayce Scholt is a retired English professor from Mott College who wrote in to visit me recently in I decided to visit the physical Flint art reviews for the Flint Journal. Her book of poetry, Bang! Go All the Flint. It has been 45 years Journa l – the version with doors and win - Porch Swings , is available online from Amazon. A personal narrative of and we’re both retired and dows and people I could talk to face to the poet’s life in Europe in the early 1950s, Vienna, Only You , is available matronly now. But we still face. I’d never been there since it moved at [email protected]. The author’s new book of poems, Night Song , love our memories of the – a sad comedown, I thought – three years is available from Friesen Press (www.friesenpress.com) and Amazon. Daily Gate City and our ago. devotion to covering local (Continued on Page 11.) 12 LIII:10 (631 issues, 6,307 pages)