Child-proof your home to safeguard little visitors, B7 ..omelawn .. roHW'NItTATinNIt H>TWII>fc* Putting you In touchy Sunday with your world December 20,1998 Serving the Westland Community for 34 years & - ';•- VOLUME- 34 NUMBER 57 WESTLAND. MICHIGAN • 70 PAGES • http://observercccentric.com SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS O lMeKom«Te*B OsuaualcttJooj Network, Ipe. THE WEEK Ravine Street options studied AHEAD Parents on Ravine, a dirt-and-gravel street Some parents have said they don't their driveway. stretching a half-mile south from Joy Road, want their children dodging potholes To study ways of alleviating drainage and splashing through mud on their problems, the city hired the consulting have partly blamed poor drainage for their way to catch the bus. Parents also said firm of Jarrett, Mills & Schron to study decision to drive their children to a bus stop. they like to see their young children the issue. In a memo to Westland City MONDAY Improvements are being studied. make it safely onto the bus. Council members, Dittmar said JMS BY DARRELL CLEM tor Richard Dittmar said, but questions But a heated dispute erupted earlier has recommended placing a storm Council meeting: The STAFF WRITER loom about whether either proposal this year when the city put up no-park­ sewer from Joy Road to a Ravine area [email protected] Westland City Council would satisfy residents' concerns. ing signs near the end of Ravine to creek and installing catch basins at the One proposal to alleviate drainage Parents on Ravine, a dirt-and-gravel keep parents from causing a traffic bot­ Joy intersection. ' ; will meet at 7p.m. Mon­ problems near a controversial West- street stretching a half-mile south from tleneck. "Their estimated cost to install this day in city council cham­ land school bus stop would cost an esti­ Joy Road, have partly blamed poor The city also wanted to protect cor­ sewer is $108,000," Dittmar wrote. bers, second floor, West- mated $108,000, a city official said. drainage for their decision to drive ner homeowners Larry and Peggy Sul­ "This cost could be paid by the city, or a An alternative plan would cost only their children to a Livonia school dis­ livan, whose property was being dam­ special assessment could be placed on land City Hall, Ford $5,000 to $7,000, Public Services Direc­ trict bus stop at the end of their street. aged by the cars and who said they Road west of Wayne sometimes couldn't even get out of Please see RAVINE, A2 Road. ± LightFest: Wayne County LightFest in Hines Park, Westland, continues nightly 7-10p.m. through Jan. 1, except for Christ­ mas night. Donation is $5 T HE per car. TUESDAY Dancing: Enjoy English Country Dancing with the Editor's note: Every year, many Ann Arbor Council for folks in our community decide to Traditional Music and share their holidays with others. While we couldn't tell each and Dance, 7-9:45p.m. at the every tale, we decided to share the Chapel Hill Condomini­ stories of a few of the people who help make this holiday season a um Clubhouse, 3350 special one.'Enjoy! Green Road, north of Ply­ mouth Road, Ann Arbor. Admission is $4; call (734) 662-5158 for infor­ OCwttn mation. Jntlieba^ket: ClevelandEllementaf^'siiukenisRyariNiemiSiO, (leftLforight)^HrMikfwin- ping at Meijeir in Westland for five families the school adopted through the Salvation Army. HOLIDAYS Closings: The 18th Dis­ Holiday giving takes on all shapes and sizes trict Court and Westland BY MARIE CHESTNEY t The kids got their paychecks and pushed the drive Svay over its goal, city offices will be closed STAFF warreR bought their canned goods in carts," to 33,123 cans, or IB tons of food. Thursday and Friday, mchestney@oeJio~mecomixLnet Halvangis said. "Some carts had "We were so nervous, and then With just three days to go to meet 100-200 cans." we started seeing them come in," Christmas Eve and a 25,000-can goal in the school's Paul Perez, chairman of the drive Perez said. Christmas Day. canned food drive, panic set in said two factors - the promised hair among student leaders at Churchill clips and "sheer panic at the end" - Please see GIVING, A3 Schools: Schools in the High in Livonia. On Tuesday, just 5,000 canned goods had been Well- Wayne-Westland and brought in, and Friday was the cut­ stocked: Livonia Public school dis­ off date. Rolling to help: Second- "Reaching 25,000 seemed improb­ Food items tricts are closed all week graders from Cleveland able," said Bill Halvangis, student delivered for the holidays. Elementary, Gabrielle activity coordinator. for the Leese, 7 (left to right), So Halvangis and fellow teacher Livonia Trash: The trash pickup Patrick O'Halloran, Tony Jack Schneider, senior class spon- Goodfel- sor, brain8tormed and came up with lows from schedule will be partially Kosmalski, 8, Tony Osan- an idea. We'll both shave all the workers at altered by the holiday. towski, 7, get a ride from hair off our heads at a school Sandy O'Halloran at Mei- assembly, they told the school's Ford Thursday's trash pickup jer in Westland and 2,000 students, if you will meet the Motor Co. will be on schedule, while 25,000 goal. Samantha Culp, 7 (off That did it. By Friday, a moun­ Friday's pickup will be cart) were looking for items tain of canned goods had literally Saturday. for the adopted families. rolled into the school. INDEX 1 Obituaries A4 • Classified Index E5 Prosecutors to look at appeal in traffic death case Real Estate El BY DARRELL CLEM charges against Farmington Hills Arbor Trail. The crash killed 18-year- northbound Middlebelt in front of Crossword E8 STAFF WRITER teenager Joseph Norman Novell. old Julia Margaret Serda in her sev­ Serda's friend Margaret Louise Bar- dclem&oe.homecomm.net Jobs HI His office's appellate department will enth month of pregnancy, but her baby gowski. Serda was a front-seat passen­ girl survived ger in Bargowski's westbound Ford Home & Service H10 Wayne County prosecutors will review a Dec. 11 ruling by Wayne County Circuit Judge George Crockett "Our appellate department will Tempo J2 review for possible appeal a judge's Automotive decision to clear a teenager of wrongdo­ III, who dismissed a negligent homi­ review the judge's ruling to make a Westland police have said both • Taste Bl ing in the Westland traffic death of a cide charge against Novell. determination on whether there will be drivers entered the intersection on an an appeal," McCann said amber, or yellow, traffic light, and Nov­ • Health & Fitness B7 pregnant woman. Novell - 1998 valedictorian of ell was charged amid accusations that CI Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Clarenceville High School was The accident occurred when Novell, • Arts & Leisure Wade McCann said it is too early to say charged following an Aug 1, two-car in a 1990 Chevrolet Berotta. turned • Sports & Recreation Dl whether his office will seek to renew collision at Middlebelt Road and Ann from easthound Ann Arbor Trail to Please sec DEATH, A2 HOW TO REACH US 79-year-old pedestrian killed crossing Merriman Newsroom734-953-210 4 west side of Merriman 'weren't functioning " Newsroom Fax: 734-591-727 9 BY DARRKLL CI.EM "He was walking with a cane and just didn't make STAFF WRITER it across the road in time." the officer said The investigation is continuing, but Cholak said £mfl//:bJachrnan©od homecomm.net [email protected] The victim was struck as a 36-year-old Westland the driver wasn't using alcohol or drugs Nlghtline/Sports: 734-953-2104 A 79-year-old man using a cane to make his way man was driving north on Merriman Koad and "Speed also doesn't seem to be a factor." he said Reader Comment Line734-953-204 2 across Merriman Road was killed Wednesday apparently didn't see him, Cholak said The victim was tnken to Oak wood Hospital/Annapolis Center Wayne, where lie died Classified Advertising734-591-090 0 evening when ho was hit by a car, police said. The victim wasn't crossing the road in a designated Westland police still hadn't released the man's area. Cholak said the closest crosswalks are at from what Cholak described as "massive lung trauma Display Advertising:734-591-230 0 name Friday, saying his relatives hadn't been Annapolis Road to the north and Van Born to the to the left side of his chest Home Delivery.734-591-050 0 reached. south. One witness e-mailed the Observer to say that the The incident occurred at 6:56 p.m Wednesday "This nian frequented McDonald's quite a bit and man appeared to become disoriented just before (hr after the man left a McDonald's restaurant on Merri­ was on his way home on the day he was hit." Cholak accident and that he "stood motionless in the street man Road about a quarter-mile north of Van Born, said in the seconds before his death " police officer Mark Cholak said. Part of the problem may have been that the man The same witness also voiced concerns about street The man was trying to cross Merriman to return to was crossing Merriman in the dark, in an area where lights not working in the area his residence in n nearby assistod-living facility. street lights were off, he said "If the street were better lit. or even lit as much as Cholak said. "The only lights were from the McDonald's." the was apparently was planned and intended, the acci­ 6 63174 10011 6 officer said, adding that several street lights on the dent may have been avoided." he wrote p^"^"******'***"***^ A2(W> The Observer & Eccentric/ SUNDAY, DECEMBER 20,1998 frontpage Al Living Nativity scene the" residents in the affected • Richard Dittmar and area/ '.-•' f.Moreover, Dittmar noted that James Zoumbaris thejstorm sewer will be required reviewed plana and if Ravine ever becomes a paved suggested an alternate street.