MACCHIA H M H U v INTENSE, SWE TRAINING COFFEE YUMMI 1 W M FOR LIF! FOOD, B9 t &8SE&B&1 TRIATHLON TRAINING AND MORE SUBSCRIBERS - FIND YOUR COPY OF WOMAN WITH TODAY'S NEWSPAPER PRICE: $1 • THURSDAY, JULY 5, 2012 • hom etownlife.com Sidewalk sale The downtown Plym­ outh Sidewalk Sales take place 10 a.m. to Candidates question 9 p.m. Friday, July 20, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, July 21. Downtown Plymouth shops and boutiques will be offering special discounts and bargains. township’s land buy Participating shops By Matt Jachman according to the township. nology park, now in the ear­ ing recent interviews, said the include Bella Mia, Observer Staff Writer The parcel in the area of Five ly planning stages, would strad­ purchase was wrong and the Candy Trail, Creatopia, Mile and Beck is nearly a third dle Five Mile in Plymouth and township should focus on pub­ Gigi's Mode, Hands on Several challengers for the of the roughly 1,000 acres envi­ Northville townships between lic safety and other core ser­ Leather, Home Sweet Plymouth Township Board of sioned for the proposed Wayne Beck and Napier. Plymouth vices. Home, Isabella's Copper Trustees say they’ve found an County Advanced Technolo­ Township officials say they hope “Townships are not supposed Pot, Kilwins, Maggie & issue in the township’s purchase gy Park, to which state, coun­ to one day turn about 100 acres to be in the land business” said Me, Magnolia, Merle last summer of 323 acres of land ty and local officials hope to lure of the township’s site into park­ Chuck Curmi, a trustee from Norman, Old World in a tax sale. high-tech manufacturing and land to make WCATP more 1992 to 2008 who is running to Olive Press, R.S.V.P., The price of the acreage was research firms, plus ancillary attractive; Northville Township rejoin the board. Curmi said that, Razzamatazz, Simply originally just under $288,000, businesses that would provides would have a similar, contiguous if elected, he would advocate the Best, Sun & Snow, but that jumped to $606,000 after goods, services and recreation park site. selling the 323 acres. and TranquiliTea. the discovery of a clerical error for those who work there. But several Republican town­ Contact the Plym­ on the part of Wayne County, If it comes to fruition, the tech­ ship trustee candidates, dur­ Please see LAND, A2 outh Community Chamber of Commerce at (734) 453-1540 for more information. Absence flap Outstanding leads to more student Mary Catherine township minutes Mitchell of Plymouth was honored by the Engineering Society By Matt Jachman of Detroit as the 2012 Observer Staff Writer 1 Outstanding High School Student of the An examination of Plymouth Town­ Year. The award is ship records shows six Board of Trust­ g iv e n to ee meetings in 2008 and 2009 for which a h ig h there were no meeting minutes posted 5 sch o o l on the township website, at least as of stu d e n t Hiesday. fo r d em ­ But with Clerk Joe Bridgman present at o n strate d all six, according to copies of the minutes, p ro m ­ he still recorded the second most absenc­ ise an d es during the current term, not the most, Mitchell p o te n tia l as was alleged by Supervisor Richard for future Reaume in a June campaign flier. accomplishments in the Music director/conductor Nan Washburn led the Michigan Philharmonic in the second annual 'An Trustee Steve Mann, absent from fields of engineering American Salute' in Plymouth's Kellogg Park Saturday. Unlike last year, Mother Nature provided excel­ a Sept. 22,2009, regular meeting for and science. lent weather for the patriotic performance. which no minutes were available M itchell recently online, totaled 17 absences over 80 graduated Salutato- meetings, while Bridgman was absent rian of the Class of 13 times, the minutes show. 2012 at Father Gabriel Reaume, whose charge that Bridg­ Richard High School man had the most absences of current in Ann Arbor. She was Downtown dazzler elected officials was among several the president of the criticisms made of the clerk in a June National Honor Society campaign flier in which the supervi­ and a three-year class sor endorsed Nancy Conzelman, who is officer on student Orchestra wows park crowd with patriotic performance challenging Bridgman in the Republi­ council, most recently can primary race for clerk. senior class treasurer. By Brad Kadrich The flier, paid for by the Conzelman She played varsity soft- Observer Staff Writer campaign, was mailed to about 3,000 ball her first two years likely voters, Reaume said. Bridgman and basketball all four When the Michigan Phil­ answered the charges with a campaign years of high school harmonic tried to play “An piece of his own, mailed to about 4,000 where she was se­ American Salute” for the likely voters. lected to the Catholic first time last summer, Moth­ League All-Academic er Nature wasn’t very coop­ Please see ABSENCE, A2 Girls' Basketball Honor erative. Team . The rain fell, and the light­ ning came just a few songs into the performance, even­ Sound of summer tually causing the cancella­ INDEX tion of the performance and Business...................A9 sending everyone home dis­ Crossword Puzzle ....B12 Entertainment........ B6 appointed. Food....................... B9 There were no such weath­ Homes..................... B12 er issues Saturday, when the The hot summer night didn't seem to bother some 4,000 listen­ Jobs......................... B13 orchestra took the stage in ers who came out to hear 'An American Salute' performed by the Obituaries............... B5 downtown Plymouth’s Kel­ Michigan Philharmonic in Kellogg Park. Opinion.................. A12 logg Park for what is quick­ Services...................B12 to, operations director for the ing into the park to hear the Sports..................... B1 ly becoming a very popular Wheels.................... B13 patriotic concert. Plymouth Downtown Devel­ orchestra. The concert, spon­ With hot temperatures and opment Authority, which sored in part by the O&E and © The Observer & Eccentric wonderful weather abound­ hosted the concert. “The Hometown Newspapers in Volume 125 • Number 94 ing, the Philharmonic per­ Michigan Philharmonic has partnership with the DDA, formed for thousands of peo­ always had a great reputa­ The Wilcox Foundation, Big- Home Delivery: ple in the second annual con­ tion. To have an orchestra like gby Coffee, Atsalis Dental (866) 887-2737 cert. that play in downtown Plym­ Excellence and the Grand BILL BRESLER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER “That was the disappoint­ outh is certainly a great expe­ lYaverse Pie Co., wowed Carl Battishill conducted the Plymouth Return Address: ing part (last year), when the rience.” the crowd with its patriotic Community Band in one of its first perfor­ 41304 Concept Dr. Plymouth Ml 48170 lightning came and just kept Bruscato estimated the music, including its always- mances of the season June 28 in downtown pushing it farther and far­ crowd at upward of 4,000 peo­ Plymouth's Kellogg Park. For more on the ther back,” said Tony Brusca- ple who simply kept pour­ Please see ORCHESTRA, A2 performance, please turn to page A3. www.cfcu.org Hit the Open Road (877) 937-2328 this Summer! 2 . 2 4 C o m m u n i t y Auto loans with rates as low as F i n a n c i a l right here right for you PLYMOUTH CANTON NORTHVILLE NOVI *Payment example: The monthly payment up to 60 months would be about $266.14 assuming 2.49% Annual Percentage Rate (APR), 2010 model vehicle, loan amount $15,000, 10% down and a strong credit history. An additional .25% rate discount is available with auto pay from Community Financial checking. Rates subject to credit approval. APR as of 5/14/2012 and subject to change without notice. Federally insured by NCUA. Equal Housing Lender. ©2012 Community Financial 4 \ t A2 (P) Observer & Eccentric | Thursday, July 5, 2012 LOCAL NEWS online at hometownlife.com The board agreed to LAND the purchase in Ju ly 2011 ORCHESTRA Continued from page A1 with a 4-2 vote; C lerk Joe Continued from page A1 Bridgman was absent and “We have property that Trustees Steve Mann and stirring rendition of The we can’t get rid of,” said Mike Kelly voted against 1812 Overture. candidate Don Schnet- the purchase. “It was fabulous,” said tler, referring to the for­ In a vote the next Beth Stewart, executive mer township adminis­ month, the purchase was director of the Michi­ trative complex at Ann reaffirmed with a 5-0 gan Philharmonic. “The Arbor and Lilley, which vote; Trustee Bob Doro- crowd was great, they has been vacant for near­ shewitz was absent and were really responsive.” ly six years. “Why buy Mann, a lawyer, cited his The thousands in atten­ more?” law firm ’s work on the dance could bode well for Candidate Jennifer financing of the purchase future concerts. Mann said voters are ask­ in abstaining from the “That’s a great thing, ing her about the land vote. because those people are when she is on the cam­ The land was purchased going to tell other peo­ paign trail. out of tax foreclosure ple how great the con­ “We are not supposed after the state of Mich­ cert was,” Bruscato said. to buy land and hope to igan declined to buy it, “We’re looking for great make a profit,” Mann and Reaume said a cleri­ things next year.” said. “It’s a big issue. Peo­ cal error on the county’s The Michigan Phil­ ple want to know.” part initially put the price harmonic changed its Supervisor Richard at $287,679.85.