Thank you to everyone participating in our online polls. Here are the results of our most recent questions.
Do you think Sgt. Tim Casey should be demoted from sergeant to police officer over the firecracker incident (in Milan)?
Yes: 55 percent
No: 45 percent
What does spring inspire you to do?
Get outdoors and exercise: 36 percent
Gardening work: 27 percent
Clean house: 20 percent
Home fix-it projects: 16 percent
What's your main dish for Easter?
Ham: 64 percent
Chef's Choice: 17 percent
Something vegetarian: 12 percent
Turkey: 7 percent
What kind of content would you like to see from your community this summer?
More youth sports coverage: 33 percent
Gardening content with expert advice and video garden tours: 33 percent
Local home tours with photos and video: 22 percent
A wine column by an expert with video: 11 percent
Monday, April 26, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Works Bombs found in York Township
The following information was provided by the WCSO regarding a pair of Works Bombs found in a York Township resident's yard. Educate yourself so you can handle these situations safely.
"On April 18 at approximately 8 a.m., WCSO Deputy Mansell was dispatched to Bemis Road in York Township for a possible explosive device. Upon arrival it was discovered the object was an unexploded “Works Bomb” in the front yard. After Mansell cleared it away from the residence it detonated itself within 30 seconds. After leaving this residence he located another 'Works Bomb' a couple doors down laying again in the front yard. Luckily no one has been hurt in these two situations; however please take this time to educate yourself and family.
The chemical reaction makes a volatile build up of gases and subsequently detonates the bottle with a great amount of force. Once the detonation occurs, the chemical substance that is in the bottle is actually boiling liquid.
The amount of force that is generated at the time of the explosion is enough to severe fingers and also delivers 2nd and 3rd degree chemical burns to the victim. The chemicals can possibly cause blindness and the toxic fumes can be harmful.
When you are out and about in your yards, please be mindful of these devices. If you’re picking up your morning paper, or mowing your grass, or if you let your children play outside; whatever your activities are, please use the following precautions.
If you find a soda bottle or any other bottles, examine it carefully before you touch it or get near it. If it shows signs of swelling, or melting in any way or simply just has liquid inside of it, DO NOT TOUCH IT! Call 911.
Both of the bombs listed above appeared to be slightly swollen, with a dark colored liquid, inside of it. This liquid could have easily been mistaken for left over soda.
In closing, please educate your children on the dangers and consequences of making these devices. It has become popular with the youth in the past few years, to do this as a prank, but there have been some changes to the law. Not only could it be deadly to the maker or the victim, but making one these devices is called, 'Possession of a Substance with Explosive Capabilities.' If it causes no damage, it’s a 15 year Felony. If it causes damage, it’s a 20 year Felony. If it causes physical injury, it’s a 25 year Felony. If it causes serious injury, the penalty can be 'Up to life,' and if it causes death, it’s Mandatory Life without the possibility of Parole. These are statutory guidelines only.
We have included a video link to show you what happens when the 'Works Bomb' detonates."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXS4TFnvg18
Lisa King, Sergeant
Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office
"On April 18 at approximately 8 a.m., WCSO Deputy Mansell was dispatched to Bemis Road in York Township for a possible explosive device. Upon arrival it was discovered the object was an unexploded “Works Bomb” in the front yard. After Mansell cleared it away from the residence it detonated itself within 30 seconds. After leaving this residence he located another 'Works Bomb' a couple doors down laying again in the front yard. Luckily no one has been hurt in these two situations; however please take this time to educate yourself and family.
The chemical reaction makes a volatile build up of gases and subsequently detonates the bottle with a great amount of force. Once the detonation occurs, the chemical substance that is in the bottle is actually boiling liquid.
The amount of force that is generated at the time of the explosion is enough to severe fingers and also delivers 2nd and 3rd degree chemical burns to the victim. The chemicals can possibly cause blindness and the toxic fumes can be harmful.
When you are out and about in your yards, please be mindful of these devices. If you’re picking up your morning paper, or mowing your grass, or if you let your children play outside; whatever your activities are, please use the following precautions.
If you find a soda bottle or any other bottles, examine it carefully before you touch it or get near it. If it shows signs of swelling, or melting in any way or simply just has liquid inside of it, DO NOT TOUCH IT! Call 911.
Both of the bombs listed above appeared to be slightly swollen, with a dark colored liquid, inside of it. This liquid could have easily been mistaken for left over soda.
In closing, please educate your children on the dangers and consequences of making these devices. It has become popular with the youth in the past few years, to do this as a prank, but there have been some changes to the law. Not only could it be deadly to the maker or the victim, but making one these devices is called, 'Possession of a Substance with Explosive Capabilities.' If it causes no damage, it’s a 15 year Felony. If it causes damage, it’s a 20 year Felony. If it causes physical injury, it’s a 25 year Felony. If it causes serious injury, the penalty can be 'Up to life,' and if it causes death, it’s Mandatory Life without the possibility of Parole. These are statutory guidelines only.
We have included a video link to show you what happens when the 'Works Bomb' detonates."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXS4TFnvg18
Lisa King, Sergeant
Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office
Manchester's First Steps program holding bake sale
Unfortunately, the local First Steps program was forced to close at the start of the month due to budget constraints. First Steps helps young children to interact with others and stay engaged during early development.
This is especially unfortunate given the fact that April is officially the "Month of the Young Child." Manchester's First Steps Washtenaw-Parents as Teachers Program is desperately seeking funds to restart the playgroup program.
So... why not a bake sale? The program will raise money through proceeds from a bake sale this Saturday at Manchester United Methodist church at 501 Ann Arbor St. in Manchester (beside Klager Elementary). It runs from 9 a.m. until noon.
Help the program to finish out the school year.
This is especially unfortunate given the fact that April is officially the "Month of the Young Child." Manchester's First Steps Washtenaw-Parents as Teachers Program is desperately seeking funds to restart the playgroup program.
So... why not a bake sale? The program will raise money through proceeds from a bake sale this Saturday at Manchester United Methodist church at 501 Ann Arbor St. in Manchester (beside Klager Elementary). It runs from 9 a.m. until noon.
Help the program to finish out the school year.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Local reporters win Excellence in Journalism Awards
In the photo above, Mike Larson (left), Jana Miller and Gerald LaVaute pose with their Society of Professional Journalists awards.
Three Heritage Newspapers reporters swept the sports columnist category in the Society of Professional Journalists Detroit chapter's 2009 Excellence in Journalism Awards.
At a dinner held April 14 at the San Marino Club in Troy, Jana Miller, Mike Larson and Don Richter won first through third place, respectively, in the sports columnist category in print, Class B, with a circulation less than 100,000.
In addition, reporter Gerald LaVaute won third place for investigative reporting for his piece "Police Compensation Comparison."
LaVaute is a staff writer for The View in Belleville and The Milan News-Leader.
Miller, a former Saline and Milan sports reporter, is a copy editor and reporter for The Manchester Enterprise. Judges noted that all three of her entries were award worthy. They were "Hush, hush controversy brings sex into sports," "Academics and athletics can mix" and "Gender equity in sports."
Richter, a former sports reporter for The Chelsea Standard and The Dexter Leader, now covers sports for The Saline Reporter and The Milan News-Leader. His winning piece was his farewell column to Chelsea and Dexter readers.
Larson, a sports reporter for The Ann Arbor Journal, a new publication launched July 9, 2009, by Heritage Newspapers, won for his column "Medal More than Award." This is the first award produced from the A2 Journal. The other Heritage publications have a long history of winning journalism awards in the SPJ contest, as well as in the Michigan Press Association Better Newspapers Contest and Suburban Newspapers of America editorial contest.
This year's competition was judged by the North Central Florida Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, SPJ Minnesota Pro Chapter and Chicago Headline Club.
More than 100 Excellence in Media awards were given to area journalists during the banquet.
Monday, April 12, 2010
United Airlines majorly botches disability policy
http://evilpuppy.livejournal.com/365126.html
Give that a read. Apparently a disabled woman, who happens to be a popular LiveJournal blogger, had an incredibly terrible experience on a United Airlines flight. You won't even believe the ridiculousness. I know almost everyone hates at least one aspect of flying. If it had been me going through what this girl went through, I would have sobbed.
Basically, in summary, this girl repeatedly had to wait for a wheelchair, which almost caused her to miss the flight because they kept giving them to people that were elderly and they didn't believe she was disabled (bc she's young, doesn't appear disadvantaged, etc... has some sort of spinal injury aka the worst). She finally gets one and is taken to the flight ramp, where she asks the woman at the check-in to make sure there is a note to have a wheelchair waiting for her upon arrival. She is assured that there will be one waiting for her.
Then once she finally gets on board, she asks a flight attendant to help her load her carry-on luggage into the overhead compartment. Then this happens (from the girl's letter and blog post)....
"If I helped everyone do that all day then MY back would be killing me by the end of the day!" I asked her how I was supposed to get my luggage stowed and her answer was: "You'll just have to wait for someone from your row to come back here and ask them to give you a hand." When I asked what would happen if no one would, her response to me was: "Well, normally a passenger is around to overhear something like this and they'll offer to help with it on their own. You'll just have to ask someone when they get back here." Then she turned back around and went up to the front seats where she waited to "assist" other passengers.
So then she finally gets a passenger to help her load it--a passenger who is not PAID to ASSIST, mind you--into the overhead compartment. The same kind man helps her unload once the flight lands. She gets off the ramp to find, what? You guessed it. No chair waiting for her. More than a half hour later, she still has no wheelchair to take her through the terminal. She opts to approach a customer service desk once she DOES get one... and this happens (oh, it gets worse, courtesy of Dina the customer service agent)..
Dina the customer service agent's response to girl's complaints: "I won't apologize for her actions and I'm not sorry for what happened to you. It's not in our contract to assist passengers with their luggage and we reserve the right to refuse assistance to anyone. If that's what you need, then perhaps in the future, you should make other travel arrangements."
Oh, wait. It gets better. Somehow, some way.
Things went downhill from there because I pointed out that being disabled, I required assistance and Dina said that I obviously should have asked the person pushing the wheelchair for me to come on and load my luggage. She even turned to the woman pushing me now and asked her if she'd every followed a passenger on board to assist them with luggage. The woman pushing me flat out said: "No, that's the stewardess' job." That seemed to take the wind out of Dina for a moment, but she recovered quickly and repeated again that she wasn't sorry for what happened to me.
This time, however, she added: "It's not actionable. She won't even get a slap on the wrist, so there's no recourse for you in this situation." I was getting more and more upset with every word she said and I asked her if that meant it really was company policy to depend on their other passengers to provide assistance to the disabled. Dina's answer was: "Normally another passenger will step in and help, yes. If you have troubles, you really should ask them." I was unaware that it was company policy to depend on complete strangers who are in no way affiliated with United to provide my disability assistance while I'm on your airline.
So after all of this went down, this blog post/letter circulated Facebook, Twitter and the blogosphere... and finally someone made a tweet @UnitedAirlines on Twitter, and they had this to say in response:
@UnitedAirlines responds on Twitter: This is concerning. We're looking into this matter.
Oh, of course you are, United Airlines. By the way, the reason all of this happened (not a good or acceptable reason) is that flight attendants don't get worker's comp if they injure themselves by helping someone else with luggage. AKA there is clearly some interior fury going on at the airlines, and some worker rage... which led to passive aggressive rage against passengers who really, REALLY need the help.
Part of the reason the Airline responded was because good old Kevin Smith's name was dropped. Remember him? He was essentially discriminated against over at Southwest Airlines.
Since the info and letter have circulated, and United Airlines PR got a chance to get up to speed, these two Tweets were also made by United Airlines:
UnitedAirlines: What the customer describes is unacceptable. We are working to reach her to offer apology, & identifying the employees involved.
and...
UnitedAirlines: We take serving customers with disabilities very seriously. Trying to contact the customer to apologize & resolve. Thank you for feedback.
Ah yes, sweet sweet public relations. I hope this girl goes all the way. Apparently she is sending the letter to the American Disabilities Association (they'll have a field day), as well as Aviation Consumer Protection and Enforcement.
So you think your flight was bad? Think again.
Give that a read. Apparently a disabled woman, who happens to be a popular LiveJournal blogger, had an incredibly terrible experience on a United Airlines flight. You won't even believe the ridiculousness. I know almost everyone hates at least one aspect of flying. If it had been me going through what this girl went through, I would have sobbed.
Basically, in summary, this girl repeatedly had to wait for a wheelchair, which almost caused her to miss the flight because they kept giving them to people that were elderly and they didn't believe she was disabled (bc she's young, doesn't appear disadvantaged, etc... has some sort of spinal injury aka the worst). She finally gets one and is taken to the flight ramp, where she asks the woman at the check-in to make sure there is a note to have a wheelchair waiting for her upon arrival. She is assured that there will be one waiting for her.
Then once she finally gets on board, she asks a flight attendant to help her load her carry-on luggage into the overhead compartment. Then this happens (from the girl's letter and blog post)....
"If I helped everyone do that all day then MY back would be killing me by the end of the day!" I asked her how I was supposed to get my luggage stowed and her answer was: "You'll just have to wait for someone from your row to come back here and ask them to give you a hand." When I asked what would happen if no one would, her response to me was: "Well, normally a passenger is around to overhear something like this and they'll offer to help with it on their own. You'll just have to ask someone when they get back here." Then she turned back around and went up to the front seats where she waited to "assist" other passengers.
So then she finally gets a passenger to help her load it--a passenger who is not PAID to ASSIST, mind you--into the overhead compartment. The same kind man helps her unload once the flight lands. She gets off the ramp to find, what? You guessed it. No chair waiting for her. More than a half hour later, she still has no wheelchair to take her through the terminal. She opts to approach a customer service desk once she DOES get one... and this happens (oh, it gets worse, courtesy of Dina the customer service agent)..
Dina the customer service agent's response to girl's complaints: "I won't apologize for her actions and I'm not sorry for what happened to you. It's not in our contract to assist passengers with their luggage and we reserve the right to refuse assistance to anyone. If that's what you need, then perhaps in the future, you should make other travel arrangements."
Oh, wait. It gets better. Somehow, some way.
Things went downhill from there because I pointed out that being disabled, I required assistance and Dina said that I obviously should have asked the person pushing the wheelchair for me to come on and load my luggage. She even turned to the woman pushing me now and asked her if she'd every followed a passenger on board to assist them with luggage. The woman pushing me flat out said: "No, that's the stewardess' job." That seemed to take the wind out of Dina for a moment, but she recovered quickly and repeated again that she wasn't sorry for what happened to me.
This time, however, she added: "It's not actionable. She won't even get a slap on the wrist, so there's no recourse for you in this situation." I was getting more and more upset with every word she said and I asked her if that meant it really was company policy to depend on their other passengers to provide assistance to the disabled. Dina's answer was: "Normally another passenger will step in and help, yes. If you have troubles, you really should ask them." I was unaware that it was company policy to depend on complete strangers who are in no way affiliated with United to provide my disability assistance while I'm on your airline.
So after all of this went down, this blog post/letter circulated Facebook, Twitter and the blogosphere... and finally someone made a tweet @UnitedAirlines on Twitter, and they had this to say in response:
@UnitedAirlines responds on Twitter: This is concerning. We're looking into this matter.
Oh, of course you are, United Airlines. By the way, the reason all of this happened (not a good or acceptable reason) is that flight attendants don't get worker's comp if they injure themselves by helping someone else with luggage. AKA there is clearly some interior fury going on at the airlines, and some worker rage... which led to passive aggressive rage against passengers who really, REALLY need the help.
Part of the reason the Airline responded was because good old Kevin Smith's name was dropped. Remember him? He was essentially discriminated against over at Southwest Airlines.
Since the info and letter have circulated, and United Airlines PR got a chance to get up to speed, these two Tweets were also made by United Airlines:
UnitedAirlines: What the customer describes is unacceptable. We are working to reach her to offer apology, & identifying the employees involved.
and...
UnitedAirlines: We take serving customers with disabilities very seriously. Trying to contact the customer to apologize & resolve. Thank you for feedback.
Ah yes, sweet sweet public relations. I hope this girl goes all the way. Apparently she is sending the letter to the American Disabilities Association (they'll have a field day), as well as Aviation Consumer Protection and Enforcement.
So you think your flight was bad? Think again.
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