CANTON WOMAN • GIRLS LEARN LIFE -h' AMONG 4 CHARGED n SKILLS THROUGH YMCA SPORTS, fclfe&t. IN MURDER CASE RUNNING PROGRAM PAGE A2 EDUCATION, A4 SUNDAY June 2. CANTON The Observer & Eccentric Newspapers Volume 36 Number! OBSERVER $1.00 hometownlife Ift^om CANTON CONNECTION Board faces cfwice on Fieoel's pad July 4th fun Plymouth- BY BRAD KADRICH HEAD OF THE LINE Fourth of July is approach- OeStRVERSIAFr WRITER Canton school Here's a list of the people who've served as superintendent of ing. and with it will come superintendent Plymouth-Canton Community Schools since Mike Hoben look parades, fireworks and family Dr. Craig fiegel Former Plymouth- traditions. speaks to the Canton Community Schools the job in 1972; We'd like to know how you Plymouth Noon Superintendent Mike Hoben held Supt Start End celebrate our r^ation's birttiday. Rotary club. the job for 22 years, from July 1972 Mike Hoben July 1972 June 1994 to Junel994'- Maybe your neighborhood Chuck Little July 1994 August 1999 In the 16 years since Hoben runs an annual decorated bike Ken Walcott (*) July 1999 January 2000 walked out the door for the last parade. Or you go whole tiog January 2000 July 2002 time, the district has seen a revolv- Kathleen Booher to deck the house and garden ing door of superintendents. Jim Ryan (•) July 2002 December 2002 in red. white and blue. Do you Including two interim superin- Jim Ryan December 2002 February 2007 continue a family or personal tendents who turned the job over Ken Jacobs (*) February 2007 June 2008 tradition that day? to the next person and one who got Craig Fiegel July 2008 Present Tell us about it. Write to (•) Interim Sharon Dargay at sdargay^ BILL 8RrSL£R | SUf f PHOTOGRAPHER Please see FIE6EL, A7 hometownlife.com or 615 W. Lafayette. Level 2, Detroit. Ml 48226. Inducte a phtrto if you like. Make sure it's in jpg foimat if e-mailing. We'll share your story with other readers on July 4. Safety first More patrols Summer is heating up and so Study: Police, firefighters is a statewide drunken driving crackdown. TTie Canton Police Department is joining law leave majority feeling safe enforcement agencies across the stale for the July 4th BY DARRELLCLEM "Drunk Driving. Over the Limit OBSERVER STAPr WRITER CANTON PUBLIC SAFETY Under Arrest" crackdown. COMMUNITY SURVEY 2009 Increased patrols begin July A staggering 98 percent land will run unUI July T1 in of Canton residents who Canton. Local law enforcement answered a new survey will take to the streets working said they feel safe in their to prevent drunken driving hometown, and an over- injuries and deaths by arrest- wh«^lroinK majority gave ing impaired drivers. high marks to township During last year's July 4 holi- police officers and fire- day time period, one person fighters. was killed in an alcohol-related The new findings come traffic aash. from a community sur- vey mailed late last year "Ttre summer is a great to 4,000 households by time to celebrate and relax the Canton Public Safety with friends and family. But Department. Though not a fun should not come at the scientific poll, the results If yti, Ifyn. expense of a needless death provide one snapshot of ritt tM servlca rate the servk* caused by impaired driving." how residents view the 2009 2009 said Special ^vices Lt. Scott people hired to protect Hilden. "To prevent tragedy or them. a drunk driving arrest, we sug- "We're very happy with gest designating a sober driver, the results," Public Safety taking a cab or ride service, or Director Patrick Nemecek spending the night" said. "A lot of the accolades Excell«nt/Good In Michigan, a motorist can have to go to our men and be arrested for drunken driving women on the street. They 98% with .08 blood alcohol content are the people dealing with or higher. A drunken driving the public on a day-to-day conviction comes with assort- basis." ed penalties including fines, In all. 973 households age, sex and education legal fees, driver responsibility returned the survey, mark- select 4,000 households, ing a nearly 25-percent evenly divided among the level, though longtime fees, court costs and higher BILL SRCSIERI STtrr PHOTOGRAPHER response rate. Survey township's four quadrants. residents were more likely insurance rates. organizers used assessor's Results reflected a mix In 2009, there were 299 Canton firefighters scored high marks in a recent survey about how residents feel office data to randomly of respondents based on Please see SURVEY, AS alcohol-related traffic deaths, about safety in their community. a decrease of 6 percent from 2008. Roadworli Construction work designed to provide safety improve- Governor; State must continue to diversify ments at the intersection of Ford Road at Beck Road is BY BRAD KADRICH hope for change, but we have "zero taxes and unprecedented anticipated begin this week. OBSERVER STAFF WRITER to create our own way forward concessions" on the table in an Canton officials announced. and not wait for change to effort to entice the company to Construction will include Gov. Jennifer Granholm has come to us." stay, but Electrolux turned it adding additional right-turn been saying for a long time the To set up her point, down. lanes on ford Road and pro- state needs to diversify its busi- Granholm recalled the begin- "They told us, 'There's noth- tected left-turns in all quad- ness climate in order to pull ning of her first term when, in ing you can do to compensate rants. out of the years-long economic 2003, she faced three imme- for the fact we can pay $1.57 The project is being funded struggle the state has faced. diate crises: The financial an hour in Mexico,'" Granholm by the Michigan Department On Thursday, Granholm struggle of the Detroit Medical recalled. of Transportation and is brought that message to Center, a racial uprising in For years, Granholm's agen- anticipated to be completed Plymouth, speaking to the Benton Harbor and the mas- da. she said, has been to diver- by September. Officials are Plymouth A.M. Rotary Club, sive blackout of August 2003. sify the state's business base. urging drivers to follow posted then louring a Plymouth Then, at the end of that year, She said experts listed six areas detours and drive carefully Township business she thinks came the news Electrolux, the that would "give us a competi- tive edge: advanced manufac- through the construction area. exemplifies the kind of diver- manufacturing company that sity she's been talking about. had been making refrigerators turing (robotics, nano-tech- For more information on nology); homeland security "The world has changed in Greenville for more than 100 BILL BR£SU« I STAFf PHOTOGRAPHER road projects going on in and defense (an area to which and we have to change with years, was moving to Mexico, Canton, visit www.canton- she said the auto industry has Governor Jennifer Granholm tours Lycera, a pharmaceutical research firm in it," Granholm told Rotarians taking its 2,700 jobs (in a town mi.org or call Public Works at Plymouth Township, with Dr. Gary Click, founder and chief scientific officer, during a special noon meeting of some 8,000 people) with it. (734) 394-5150. and scientist Chad VanHuis. at Fiamma Grill. "There's still She said the city and state put Please see GOVERNOR, A3 WEVE GOT YOU OOVTMD! Home Delivery: Subscribe to an Observer. Eccentric (866) 887-2737 INDEX or Hometow/n Newspaper at Return Addrm: APARTMLNTS C3 CPMHUNIIRLIFT B5 HEALTH 41304 Concept Dr. www.hometownlife.com AUTOMOTIVE C6 CBQSSWORO PUZZLE C2 REAL ESTATE .C2 Plymouth MI . B1 or call 1-866-887-2737 6 53174 10007 8 GAhNEH 4H170 CARCER BUILDER .. CI OBITUARIES B7 SPORTS msL. mm (C) »er i EccW-:! Sunday, June 27.20KI LOCAL NEWS online at hometownlife.com Canton held in murder case Governor says no further BY SANDRA ARMBRUSTER Attorney's said nesses, Loussia said. ECCttTRlC STAFF WRITER they will be Using the vehicle descrip- presenting six- tion, Loussia said. Lt. Robert Four f)eople — including a se\"en witnesses Shelide and Officer Marc cuts are coming to schools Canton woman — are being held during the pre- Douville did an area check and without bond while facing mur- exam. located the suspect vehicle at BY BRAD KADRICH der charges in connection with The incident Seven Mile and Berg roads in Jennifer Granholm, speaking at a meeting of the shooting death of a West OBSERVER STAFF WRITER began when the Detroit. the Plymouth A.M. Rotary Club which, ironically, Bloomfield man in what police \ictim, Venkata Ermatinger According to Loussia, one of Plymouth-Canton Community Schools say was a failed robbery attempt Subramaova- took place at noon at downtown Plymouth's the men fled on foot. During Bojird of Education trustees "Riesday passed shortly after midnight June 1" Reddy a foot pursuit, the man was the district's $152 million budget with one Fiamma Grille, said legislators had "agreed" to All four are charged with fel- Cattamanchi. reportedly made found hiding in a trash can by question left largely unanswered: ony murder and armed robbery. contact with a woman through hold school districts harmless as they decided a K-9 tracking unit. Would the state make the long-rumored In addition, Kevin Huffman, an escort agency, Loussia said. Found next to the car was $268 cut in per-pupil funding Plymouth- what to do about an unexpected surplus in the 28, of Detroit faces two charges "They met at Wendy's next to a Colt Commander .45 Pistol Canton administrators had already built into of possession of a firearm in state's school aid fund.