16th Annual Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Detroit Race for the Cure June 16 www.karmanos.org/detroitraceforthecure 2nd name to honor veterans BYDARRELLCLEM STAFF.WRITER A one-mile stretch of Central City Parkway will have a sec­ ond, patriotic name in time for Memorial Day. The portion of the parkway between Ford and Warren roads will be dedicated Sunday as Veterans Memorial Parkway. A formal ceremony will occur on the front lawn of Westland City Hall after a Memorial Day weekend parade arrives there. The parade, sponsored by the Wayne-Westland Veterans Parade Council, will start at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Wayne-Ford Civic League on Wayne south of Ford. The parade will move north on Wayne to Ford, then west to*, City Hall for the unveiling of a Veterans Memorial Parkway sign. "It's important to not only honor all the veterans from all the wars, but the country is also at war now," said Westland City Councilman Michael Kehrer. "This will be a memorial to all veterans." Kehrer proposed the dual naming of Central City Parkway to his council colleagues, who approved the measure Monday. He was approached by a committee that last summer handled a visit to Westland by The Moving Wall, a replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. The parkway will not be renamed. Rather, it will have two PHOTOS BY TOM HAWLEYI STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER names. No one will have a change of address as a result. St. Damian School fourth-grade teacher Kim-Rourke is ait smiles after hearing astronaut Sunt Williams (seen in a photograph on the wall behind New signs are expected to be placed along the. parkway them) tell her cousin, seventh-grader Nicki Pandya, he should be with her on the International Space Station. before Sunday's parade. Normie Brazier, whose son served in Iraq and whose brother was in Vietnam, commended Kehrer for bringing the proposal to his colleagues. "This is long overdue," she said Monday. Also in time for Memorial Day, Mayor William Wild said the city has replaced flags that fly at city buildings. Some of them were getting old. Those flags and hundreds more will be disposed of properly by veterans during a ceremonial burning at 3 p.m. Monday at the VFW Romanowski Post,6896, on Joy Road between Middlebelt and Iiikster in Westland. The public is invited, said Larry Tebor, commander of the BY SUE MASON home, students carried on a conver­ Westland-based VFW Bova Post 9885, which is co-sponsoring STAFF WRITER sation with Astronaut Suni Williams, the event. Anyone who needs to dispose of a flag may take it to the flight engineer aboard the the Romanowski post or bring it to Monday's ceremony. It was a long-distance call that few International Space Station. In yet another development, Tebor said veterans will be plac­ students at St. Damian School will "I love being up here, it's really a ing more than 1,400 flags on graves of veterans starting at 4 Second-graders Michaela Gearin (left) and Makena ever forget. blast/' Williams said. "It's nothing p.m. Saturday at Cadillac Memorial Gardens, on Ford Road in Junttonen join the rest of the St. Damian students, Monday morning, using technolo­ Westland. in saying goodbye to astronaut Suni Williams. gy that could have helped E.T. phone PLEASE SEE ASTRONAUT, A4 Volunteers are welcome and should meet at the main build­ ing at 4 p.m., Tebor said. [email protected] 1 !734) 953-2110 BYDARRELLCLEM white Ford Escort. Police stopped the Escort, searched the STAFF WRITER The mother recognized the man because two women and found the victim's money It's a date: Mayor ready he had once met her in the park and paid and bank receipt, police said. An 83-year-old man was robbed in a her for sex, according to information from Kmet and Neumann were arraigned Westland park by a woman he once paid the warrant request that Hoak read in Monday in front of Westland District Judge for State of City speech for sex, police said, and the woman's daugh­ court. C. Charles Bokos on charges of unarmed ter is accused of helping her take the The man declined a similar offer last robbery and larceny from a person. Bokos Mayor William Wild will deliver his first State of the City address money. Friday, Hoak said, and the mother is entered a not-guilty plea for the women in June. The incident happened shortly before 11 accused of climbing into the truck through and ordered them jailed with a $50,000 Wild has invited residents and business owners alike to attend a,m. last Friday in Venoy-Dorsey Park, an open window and trying to grab an cash bond. the event, scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 19, at the city's police said. The mother, 37-year-old envelope of money from the victim's shirt Bokos scheduled a May 31 preliminary Friendship Center, on Newburgh south of Ford. Tammy Rochelle Kmet of Westland, and pocket . hearing mat will determine whether Kmet "I am looking forward to relaying a positive, upbeat, patriotic the daughter, 21-year-old Shawna Nicole The man fought the woman, but she was and Neumann should face trial in Wayne update regarding the state of our all-American city," Wild said. Neumann of Wayne, were arraigned able to take the envelope containing $248, County Circuit Court Among the topics Wild will address will-be environmental testing Monday on criminal charges. according to the warrant information. The If convicted, the women could face up to at Central City Park, his proposal for a balanced, $60-million budg­ The robbery occurred after the 83-year- victim got out of his truck and continued to 15 years in prison for unarmed robbery. et and his V.I.R. (Very Important Resident) program. old man parked his pickup truck in the , fight the mother, prompting the daughter The larceny charge is punishable by up to Under the latter program, residents may stop by the mayor's park on Venoy between Glenwood and to start throwing cans at him in an attempt 10 years in prison. office at City Hall and pick up a button to wear that identifies them Michigan Avenue, police Sgt. John Hoak to overpower him, police said. Neumann also is charged as a second- as a V.I.R. confirmed. The mother-daughter pair then fled the degree habitual offender, meaning her Wild's State of the City will be his first since he was appointed in Hoak described the incident Monday in park in the white Escort, police said. The penalties could be increased if she's convict­ January to become Westland mayor. Westland 18th District Court, saying the incident was reported to Westland police, ed. A former councilman, Wild got the job for one year in a vote of mother approached the man's truck after who spotted the car at Henry Ruff and his former council colleagues after his predecessor, Sandra Cicirelli, she and her daughter drove to the park in a Michigan Avenue. [email protected] I (734)953-2110 became a district judge. -^,-^0.^^- **. -* --: -f ^1 5 The Observer & Eccentric * S1SAKS » SEAFOOD * PASTA * INDEX For Home Newspapers APARTMENTS B9 Delivery call: AUTOMOTIVE C3 Volume 42 CLASSIFIED 88-C6 (866) 887-2737 Number 104 CROSSWORD B9 HOMETOWN LIFE COMDI Joss B12 MOVIES E15 OBITUARIES A14 4P> OPINION A10-11 TUESDAY IS KIDS NIGHT REAL ESTATE 88 SERVICE GUIDE BIO I.FU A 1*• Ifil2 . &1 VUNDE R DINE FREE 4-8 PM»v > -U. •>.<.. • 3. SPORTS 81 .-*•• (w) Observer & Eccentric | Thursday, May 24,2007 LOCAL NEWS www.hometownlife.com AROUND WESTLAND 'Rifive the Hits' Saturday, Oct. 13, at St. turn and buffet dinner with In the bag: Library Theodore Church, 8200 N. prizes. Drinks will be provided Come to Westland's Friendship Wayne Road, Westland. Table on the course and cash bar at Center 1-3 p.m. Friday, when rental is $25. For more infor­ dinner. Sponsorships also are performer Michael Carluccio mation, call Mary at (734) 425- available. will star as Dean Martin, Elvis, 4421 or Eunice at (734) 261- For more information, to Franfe Sinatra and others, introduces new club 8357. make a reservation, or to pur­ while vocalist David James will chase a sponsorship, call The -give a special tribute to Neil Re-grand opening Senior Alliance at (734) 722- Book clubs - or book dis­ Diamond Harlow Tire and Service will 2830. cussions, book groups - Admission is $3 and proceeds celebrate its 42nd anniversary aren't hard to do. Get togeth­ will benefit Mayor William R. with a Re-Grand Opening Cheer program er with a few friends, pick a Wild's "Wild's Walkers" team Celebration starting at noon The Westland Stars will hold new book every month or tot the 2007 American Cancer Friday. There will be refresh­ a cheer and dance summer two, read it and meet. The Society's Relay for Life. ments, a ribbon cutting cere­ program 6-8:30 p.m. discussion can be over Advance ticket sales are mony at 4 p.m. and car show Thursdays, beginning June 14, breakfast or brunch, dessert available at the Friendship 6-9 p.m. in the multipurpose room of or coffee. It's as easy as get­ Center at 1119 N. Newfeurgh Harlow Tire is at 1849 N. the Bailey Recreation Center, ting reader's guides and Road, just south of Ford Road. Wayne Road, just south of 36651 Ford.