Chapelle Carnival was a huge success

I want to thank Chapelle PBA President Taura Cheatham for inviting me out to the Annual Chapelle Carnival. More than 400 folks turned out for the event as people walked shoulder to shoulder down the hallway.

It was a great time across the board as people enjoyed games, face-painting, cotton candy and snow cones, raffles, and lots of prizes! Birthday girl Mauricia Schofield (who turned 8 on the day of the carnival) chose a custom paint job on her left cheek.

It was a bitter-sweet time for lots of folks, however, as this marked the last carnival at Chapelle before the school closes at the end of the school year. Still, the kids, parents and other community members who came out didn't let that ruin their fun, including one of the most popular items at the fair, the giant inflated obstacle course.

Principal Joe Guillen had fun announcing the winners of the raffles over the PA system as he sported his "Chapelle Community Schools" t-shirt.

Here are a few other sights from what people called the final Chapelle Carnival.

Willow Run’s ruling on Hicks expected May 25

Willow Run Community Schools announced that the Board of Education will make its ruling on the charges brought forth against Director of Special Education Laconda Hicks in a special meeting tomorrow, May 25, at Willow Run High School, with a closed session beginning at 5:30 p.m.

Hicks, who has been on paid administrative leave since early April, had charges brought against her from the board prior to being placed on the leave. In a 27-page document submitted by the board, Hicks was charged, along with former Willow Run Superintendent Dr. Doris Hope-Jackson, on multiple counts. Amongst 15 charges brought against Hicks, it was alleged by the board that she received thousands of dollars in extra pay and benefits (at least $8,500 over the summer of 2009), and that she was given more than the district’s allotment of paid days off/sick leave. Hicks was also approved for a pay raise just days before the charges were announced.

“As President of the Board, it is my considered opinion that you abused your authority and that your misconduct and dereliction of duty as specified above is nothing short of shameful, reprehensible and inexcusable,” said Board President Sheri Washington in the document containing the charges. “It cannot be tolerated or condoned. It has adversely affected the District and has resulted in such a loss of confidence and trust in you, and respect for you, that you are unfit to continue in employment in this District in any capacity.”

The charges also allege that Hope-Jackson and Hicks treated co-workers, including teachers, other district administration, and parents and students, unprofessionally. The documents include direct statements from witnesses corroborating the allegations brought forth by the district.

The district began the due process hearing for Hicks on April 13. In an April 1 board meeting that lasted all of seven minutes, the school board voted 6-0, with Washington abstaining, to pursue the charges.

A source who testified in the proceedings said yesterday in a phone interview that “Laconda Hicks was able to successfully defend herself in the process.”

If they are found guilty, Hicks will face the possibility of termination and revocation of her contract, barring any further financial obligation to them from the district. Proceedings on Hope-Jackson have yet to begin.

Results from our latest poll

Which summer festival are you looking forward to?Ann Arbor Art Fairs: 30 percentChelsea Summer Fest: 30 percentYpsilanti Heritage Festival: 24 percentSaline Celtic Festival: 16 percent
What are you doing with your tax refund?Saving it: 44 percentUsing it on household expenses: 37 percentSpending it on something special: 15 percentSpending it on vacation: 4 percent
How much do you donate to nonprofits each year?$1,000 or more: 54 percentUnder $100: 21 percent$100 to $300: 16 percent$300 to $500: 9 percent
What do you do when you have an hour of spare time?Read a book: 36 percentRead a newspaper: 34 percentPlay online games: 20 percentUpdate Facebook page: 9 percent
What do you think should be a priority of WISD consolidates services?Human resources: 42 percentMoney savings: 33 percentStudents outcome: 18 percentService quality: 6 percent

You meet the nicest people on a Honda...

The following was submitted by Belleville View staff reporter Jerry LaVaute:

You meet the nicest people on a Honda…

In the early 1960’s, Honda Corporation set a goal of quintupling Honda motorcycle sales, from 40,000 units per year to 200,000 units.

To help do this, they developed with Grey Advertising a campaign that said, “You meet the nicest people on a Honda.”

The colorful print ads featured ordinary people like a parent and a child, a young couple and other members of society doing ordinary things on a small Honda motorcycle.

This successful advertising campaign rings true for me when I think about most of the people I have met, just doing my job, for the last several months.

And several of them are or will be featured in my recent or upcoming stories:

· Melissa Reeves, a teacher at Symons Elementary school in Milan, has applied for a $50,000 grant to improve reading skills among students at the school.
· Kyle Oberdorf is a Belleville High School alumnus who has returned to his alma mater to help build what has been called the New Belleville High School.
· Lynette Jordan, who was the Senior Center coordinator for Van Buren township, was promoted on Tuesday to become the new Director of the enterprise. The seniors who attended the formal vote on the appointment appeared to be thrilled with the outcome.
· Betty Ditzik, an Ypsilanti township resident, has raised Old English Sheepdogs for over 20 years. And I got to play with the puppies.
· In a more somber but significant event, I covered the mock vehicle crash at Milan High School on Monday. It left a deep impression on me, and may even improve my personal driving habits, where I’ve allowed myself to become increasingly distracted as I drive.

Yes, you do meet the nicest people on a news writing assignment.

For Lloyd Carr, hard work and self-reliance still valuable traits

Submitted by Austen Smith

SEE VIDEO OF LLOYD CARR'S SPEECH AT WWW.HERITAGE.COM/VIDEO

There was a Wolverine sighting in Belleville last week!Wait, don't call animal control just yet, this Wolverine was pretty tame especially compared to some of his more fiery outbursts over his 13 years of patrolling the sidelines as University of Michigan head football coach.

That's right, Lloyd Carr was received as a special guest for the Belleville Rotary Club's Annual Scholarship Awards on May 11, and he certainly didn't disappoint the group of wide-eyed youngsters hoping to receive valuable words of wisdom as well as a proverbial swift kick in the rear thinly disguised as motivational rhetoric. During his speech, Carr was gracious, caring and did well to acknowledge the gravity of the immediate life decisions these 10 young men and women will be facing in the coming months and years. Belleville Rotary members, funded through the Charles B. Cozadd Foundation, were able to award scholarships to five Belleville High School seniors and, in addition, award five "renewal" scholarships for students whom have completed their freshman year at a higher education institute.

But don't get me wrong, Lloyd Carr, who actually coached Belleville football for several years in the early 1970s, is old school through and through. He didn't offer easy answers to the large, gathered crowd of students and parents hanging on the longtime coach's words as if he were drawing up a critical play for fourth and long. His message was simple - work hard and do your best. And the details making up the framework of that directive are left up to you and you alone, of course it's in the details where life gets tricky.

At times you won't know what to do, Carr told the kids, to which he offered a football-related anecdote (which is what everybody was waiting to hear of course) about University of Michigan right guard Steve Hutchinson. In 1997 when the Wolverines won the national title featuring a star-studded team of Charles Woodson, Brian Griese, Ian Gold and Tai Streets just to name a few, Carr related a story about a game they played where Hutchinson was a freshman starter and his first, second and third job responsibilities were to protect the quarterback, protect the quarterback and protect the quarterback. Carr said during the first passing play they had, a linebacker flew in from the right side to which Hutchinson then prepared himself, but then another guy appeared out of nowhere causing Hutchinson to basically abandon his job assignment all together.

The scene afterwards was not pretty, Griese went down and Carr said "he was looking out the ear hole of the helmet."When Hutchinson came over to the sideline nervously anticipating his head coach's wrath, he told Carr that he simply didn't know what to do. Carr's response to that was simple and complete: "Just do something!"And that, essentially, was his message to those 10 eager faces.

Nobody in this world is going to hold your hand through major life decisions and at times it will be so confusing you won't know where to start. But it is within that process where character is built and resolve is hardened.

And what would a Lloyd Carr led speech held in Belleville be without a story about hometown hero Ian Gold? Carr talked fondly of Gold and said he personally recruited him to Michigan because, even as a youngster, he displayed a deep passion and enthusiasm for the game. He told the students that Gold played the game in an unbridled manner that could be applied to the rest of their lives. He said Gold, "did everything he could to get that ball carrier...and (he played) with an attitude that nothing is going to stand in the way of me accomplishing my goals." And that, just like Coach Carr said, is "what it's all about."

In all, Carr's visit to the sleepy town of Belleville was a refreshing reminder that people still value hard work in a society continually de-valuing self-reliance. And, in an ironic twist, Rotary's Deb Juchartz - a Michigan State University graduate who says she "bleeds green" - completed the leg work to get Carr to come and speak. Juchartz's father, Don, who is beloved in Belleville for his more than 40 years of work with Rotary and also a diehard Spartan, couldn't help himself given the opportunity to stir up the rivalry by wearing a green tie. As Carr approached Don with a wide smile to heartily shake the Belleville icon's hand, he casually looked at his tie and asked, "Don, is that the best you can do?"

Contact Heritage Newspapers' Austen Smith at 1-734-429-7380 or email asmith@heritage.com. Check out our staff blog at courierviewnews.blogspot.com

The following was submitted by The View staff reporter Jerry LaVaute:

You never really know where the next interesting story assignment may appear.

In some cases, standard recurring meeting-type assignments may turn out to be fascinating: the introduction of the medical marijuana issue to Van Buren Township where I live, for example, or the recent $55,000 settlement with the Frankling family regarding a long-standing lawsuit against the township.

Or a story that breaks suddenly after months in gestation, like the $457,500 legal settlement between the township and former VBT Public Safety Director Jerry Champagne.

I learned early on a Friday afternoon that the document that I had FOIA’ed had become available, and morphed from running errands with my wife to picking up the data at the township, getting it home, reading it, and turning it around into a story that was posted online within about two hours of my learning that the document was available.

But the story assignments that continue to provide the most personal satisfaction are the feature stories about people in my community. And I’ve got a couple good ones coming up:

Later today, I will interview a retired Van Buren Public Schools teacher who has raised and sold Old English sheepdogs from her home in Ypsilanti Township for over a decade.

On her website, she says that the adults and puppies live with her in her home. “This breed,” she says, “wants to be with you all the time.” She goes on to tell an amusing story about the dogs joining her in her van for an errand to the bank.

Suffice to say that my visit to her home later today will be interesting. I wonder if I should have worn my old clothes. I expect to see some happy, lively dogs. Not that I’m a stranger to this – I have three dogs of my own.

The other feature story assignment that I’m looking forward to is an interview with Kyle Oberdorf, a Belleville High School alumnus. Currently, I’m planning to sit down to talk with him tomorrow.

Kyle is attending college, and as I understand it, he’s majoring in construction. He was fortunate to get a position as a summer intern with the contractor who is rebuilding much of Belleville High School.

I’ve developed a bunch of questions for him, and I look forward to sharing his story with you.

Covering GE Tech Center opening a new experience

The following was posted by Belleville View Staff Reporter Jerry LaVaute:

On Monday, the General Electric Corporation opened its new technical center in the former Visteon Village in the northeast corner of Van Buren Township.

I was there to cover the ribbon cutting and the press conference that followed.

I believe the name of the campus-like site has been changed to the Grace Lake Technical Center, as Visteon and GE now share it, although the signs in the area as I drove toward the event on Monday morning didn’t confirm that.

There was a small GE sign in front of one its buildings, but that was the extent of it. Fortunately, some security guards posted along the route provided directions.

How can you help but be buoyed by such an event? The promise of 1,100 new jobs in the community, 200 of them already filled, 90 percent of them from Michigan, is plenty of reason to start the excitement.

And, for me, it was my first major press conference – TV stations were there, the daily newspaper publications appeared to be represented, replete with professional photographers who acted as if they had seen it all before.

Me, I was rounding up local township officials for a posed photo using Grace Lake as the backdrop, a candid shot of high-level state and federal and local officials chatting amiably among themselves on the patio in the bright sunshine, a ribbon cutting ceremony for which a small platform was set up for photographers (I had no idea what it was for until I saw the other photographers begin to climb atop it, and quickly clambered up among them to get a good angle for a photo), and my first real press conference.

A surfeit of public official glitz surrounded me, as I was breathing the same air as some legitimately famous people, enabling me to drop names like Granholm, Stabenow, and Levin.

A heady atmosphere, as they say, and one in which I was pleased and felt lucky to be introduced.