New editor at the Enterprise

We've had a lot of staffing changes over this past summer at Heritage Media, but I'm happy to tell you all that I'm taking over as editor at The Ypsilanti Courier and Manchester Enterprise.

I'm Krista Gjestland, and I've been at Heritage since November as a general assignment and government reporter. Prior to that, I freelanced for Heritage for about nine months. I graduated from Eastern Michigan University in 2011, where I earned a degree in journalism and worked at The Eastern Echo.

Although I'm a Washtenaw County resident, most of my experience has been on the east side of the county. I'm incredibly excited to get to know Manchester and its community better. Who wouldn't want to be the editor in a town that hosts its own Oktoberfest?

I'm always looking for more community contributors, bloggers and freelancers so please reach out to me if you're interested. Please feel free to let me know what you want to see in the Enterprise. Let me know what issues are most important to you.

If you have any suggestions, feel free to email me at kgjestland@heritage.com, find me on Twitter @kgjestland or give me a call at 734-429-7380 ex. 18.

I'm also regularly stationed in our Community Media Lab, located at 215 W. Michigan Ave. in downtown Ypsilanti. I'm there every Monday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. so stop in and say hi.

A new face for the Enterprise

Starting tomorrow, a new face will be in editing the Manchester Enterprise.
Carrie Kennedy, who previously worked at the Oakland Press, will be taking over the Enterprise and Ypsilanti Courier as I transition into a new role, community engagement editor for Heritage-West.

As Carrie starts to get settled in her new position, I'll still be in the Manchester community, covering school board, chamber of commerce and Sharon Township meetings. I'll also be covering a few local events. You'll probably see me petting baby rabbits, or in line for an elephant ear, at the fair.

I'm grateful for the Manchester community's kindness and help as I became acquainted with the community and am looking forward to continuing to cover local events.

If you'd like to submit story ideas, content or have a question, Carrie can be reached at editor@manchesterenterprise.com or ckennedy@heritage.com.She's a pleasure to work with and I have no doubt she'll exceed expectations in her new role.

Thanks for the memories, Manchester

This is my final blog post for The Wire.

I'm leaving Heritage Media to begin a new reporting job covering Redford Township near Detroit, but wanted to leave some final thoughts on working with and in Manchester for more than a year.

Covering a village like Manchester was the right thing for me to do after graduating college. I had worked in the big city for 7 months previously, but craved more. I wanted a community, I wanted to get to know a town well. I felt like I had more of an opportunity to do that covering Manchester, and did what I could to make that happen.

Even though my role at Heritage shifted over the last 6 months, I still identified with covering Manchester. I tried to make sure the stories I did write were in Manchester, and enjoyed all of the community events I covered.

I tell stories to my friends back near Detroit and across the country about how this small town can do so much. I talk about the Chicken Broil, and I marvel to them about how this village attracts thousands for a delicious chicken dinner every year. I saw events such as the medieval festival and Crazy Ca$h night, and was in awe of the participation and enthusiasm everyone involved had. They are impressed with the stories I tell.

I've appreciated all of the feedback I've received from residents, both positive and negative. I realize I came into a town as an outsider, and I worked to make myself recognizable around town. I've spent plenty downtown eating lunch and sometimes dinner, and I found myself loving spending the afternoons writing at the Manchester District Library.

Thank you to everyone who I've worked with in the village and surrounding townships. I hope our paths cross again in the future.

The Wire's blog posts earns third place in SPJ Detroit awards

The award certificate for blogging I received for my writing on
The Wire.

I started blogging on Manchester more than a year ago, as a directive for work. But in that time, I've embraced the inside look at Manchester, and the time spent has earned some recognition.

I attended the annual Society of Professional Journalists Detroit Chapter banquet in Troy Wednesday night. There, I received a third place award for blogging, which was all done here on The Wire.

I submitted three posts, including my one on redistricting, and come in third. The first and second place finishers in the category, which was open to all publications in the state, were from the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press. Not bad names to be mentioned with.

Each entry was judged by non-local journalists from all over the Midwest, and each winner had comments left by them. Here's what they said about this blog:

"Veselenak's blog is a great read because it goes beyond the story, to reveal the details of 'local reporting' that used to be the grist of community journalism. It's exceptional because its so simple. Interesting stories about the community. His piece on a local candidate who failed to obtain a single vote, even her own, is great journalism because at its most basic level, is what we're here to do."

The write-up on the "local candidate who failed to obtain a single vote" is slightly misleading, as I used an example from the Flint-area as a way to show the power of the vote, not Manchester (Everyone in the village elections this time got a vote, even though there weren't that many).

Even though I'm not doing as much Manchester blogging these days, I'm still popping in and writing when something hits me as a blog post. I'm hoping to continue to find interesting tidbits that might not be story-worthy, but quick post-worthy. Thanks for reading!

My day with Mark Ouimet

My Monday morning started off like any other day. I began my 40-minute drive to Saline with 102.9 FM on the radio. That morning, State Representative Mark Ouitmet, R-Scio Township, was a guest on the morning show, playing "Make me Say Wow." If callers told a story that made Ouimet say, "Wow," they would win concert tickets. Ouimet felt all the stories had a wow factor and all the callers walked away with concert tickets.

I thought Ouimet sounded very awake and that it must have been an early morning for him. Little did I know, it would be an early morning and a late night.

At 12 p.m., I arrived in downtown Manchester to attend the Manchester Area Chamber of Commerce meeting. Shortly after I sat down, in walked Ouimet, who stayed for the entire meeting.

At 7 p.m., I walked into the Sharon Township Hall for the monthly board of trustees meeting and who was there? Ouimet of course. After talking with the residents and answering questions, Ouimet said he was headed to Saline Township for another meeting.

I was impressed with Ouimet's drive. I had been stressed covering just two meetings, but Ouimet made it to a radio show, three meetings and who knows what in-between, all in one day.

As he left to go to Saline Township, Ouimet joked that he'd see me tomorrow.

Sunblossom Solar Gifts makes it onto "Made in Michigan" on WWJ Radio

Another Manchester business is being highlighted in a bigger media market.

Sunblossom Solar Gifts, 131 Adrian St., was recently featured on WWJ 950 as a part of the Made in Michigan series.

Marie Osborne, host of the show, interviewed President Bonnie Greenwald about the products at the shop during the minute-long clip.

Miss hearing it on the radio? Take a listen to the clip below:

Construction season is upon us; we've updated our cover photo to reflect it

With construction now fully in force throughout the village, we thought it would be time to update our cover photo here on the blog.

The trees have been removed, and the concrete is being cut up as a part of the streetscape project. The plan is for this phase to be completed by Memorial Day, which will work well for this year's parade.

We'll keep this photo up until more updates have been done, and a brand-new photo will look great once the downtown streetscape is completed.

We're also looking for new submissions for our Facebook cover photo. Right now, we've got one of the River Raisin on our cover, but we're always looking for new photos to feature. You'll be sure to see images celebrating the Chicken Broil, community fair and Riverfolk, too.

Remembering Hutaree

Whether it's sitting in a shack with a bloody butcher talking about Constitutional rights or simply entering a stranger's house, there are plenty of opportunities to feel uneasy as a journalist.
Uneasy might not be the right word for my experience with covering the Hutaree militia in Hillsdale County.
I was working for the Hillsdale Daily News at the time, and my editor Amy Bell and I set out to find the home where militia member Joshua Stone had fled following the initial arrests in Lenawee County.
Down dusty dirt roads we searched for the house, only knowing that the property was run down and the lawn was full of junk. It wasn't much to go on, considering the area.
We teamed up with the Channel 4 news from Detroit in approaching the house. When veteran reporter Roger Weber advised that I put my camera away initially, I realized the the very real potential danger in the situation.
As best we knew, we were approaching a known Militia hideout and had no idea who was there or how aggressive they were.
Thankfully, it was just an older man named Bob Dudley sitting at his house, who told us how Joshua arrived at his home and how we couldn't turn away his friend's son. He allowed the young man to stay overnight in a trailer on his property before the police arrived the next day.
Still, I will never get what Dudley said to me when we asked him why he believed in the idea of the militia: "I fully believe we are headed toward a civil war."
Members of the militia were acquitted from charges of sedition and conspiracy yesterday. The group's founder David Stone and his son, Joshua Stone, will remain on trial for lesser weapons charges.

M-52 construction starts tomorrow; how do you plan to retain normalcy?

Utility workers dig near City Street earlier this year. The
MDOT construction project begins tomorrow.

Tomorrow kicks off the first leg of construction through Manchester that will engulf the village until November. Originally, the project was to begin next week, so at least the project is beginning early.

MDOT will begin its construction throughout the village beginning at the east end by the Village Hall tomorrow. The downtown streetscape project, which will revamp the look and feel for downtown, will start shortly after (more to come on downtown later).

We know businesses are working hard to make sure they aren't forgotten, but what about area residents? What are you planning on doing to keep business-as-usual during the construction?

A strange vote at the Manchester Township Planning Commission

The Manchester Township Planning Commission seemed to
have an odd vote at last night's meeting. 

Last night's Manchester Township Planning Commission was filled with drama, accusations and walk-outs. This isn't out of the ordinary when an issue strikes at the heart of any community.

While the commission voted to approve the conditional use permit for the banquet hall on Tracey Road 4-2, the events right before that final vote (which effectively ended the meeting, as the board moved the rest of its agenda to next month and adjourned after many residents left very upset), were slightly interesting.

Confusion over what motion was made when the roll call made it to Lyle Widmayer, who also serves on the township's Board of Trustees. A motion to seemingly approve the permit was made by Trustee Pete Stumpo, seconded by Secretary George Daubner. As the vote went around the table, it got to Widmayer, who questioned what the vote was on. His claim was that the vote being made was for whether or not the commission would vote on the issue tonight, not to approve it. Even with planning adviser Andrea Bibby reading the proposed ordinance for approval, it was unclear to him what the vote was actually on.

Much discussion ensued, and then it seemed the previous motion was halted in its tracks along with the vote. That's something I've never seen before: a vote initiated by the body after a motion and second, and all of a sudden, it vanished during voting without a clear withdrawal.

Another motion was then made by Stumpo, this time to approve the conditional use. This went through like most motions do, and was eventually approved 4-2. But that lone vote continued to be on the floor.

Perhaps this means nothing, and perhaps there's something else here. I've just never seen a procedure for a vote taken like that at a public meeting, where the previous motion seemed to not be withdrawn.

Take a listen at the last few minuters of the meeting and see if you agree:

Middle school student's letter to the editor gives advice on how children can become more responsible

I received a letter to the editor from Manchester Middle School student Josh Bunn on how to make your children more responsible. Take a look at his suggestion.

Wildts were one of the first German-speaking families in Washtenaw County

Kathy Siler, chairwoman for the Washtenaw County Farm Bureau Communications Committee, sent me an email earlier this month telling me about some of the research she's been doing on the history of Washtenaw County agriculture. While reading an article by Dale R. Herter and Terry Stollsteimer, she saw the names of the first German-speaking families that settled in Washtenaw County, and one caught her eye. Imagine my surprise when the final name on the list was "Wildt."
I knew my family had some Michigan roots, especially near Homer, but I didn't know we had a Washtenaw County presence. It's very cool to find myself reporting on agriculture in Washtenaw County, the opportunity that brought my ancestors here almost 200 years ago.

Here's the full list:
Surnames of the first German-speaking families known to have settled in
Washtenaw County (1830-1832). All were from the Stuttgart area of Wuerttemberg.
Allmendinger
Aprill
Auch
Beck
Bissinger
Grauer
Gross
Haab
Haas
Hornung (Horning)
Kaercher
Koch
Laubengayer
Mann
Maeyle
Mueller (Miller)
Osius
Paul
Roth
Ruehle
Schilling
Schneeberger
Staebler
Stollsteimer
Wildt (Wild)

To read the full article, click here.

Great invention

Today I ate a homemade cupcake at work, that I made, for the first time. This special moment took place thanks to a cupcake carrier my sister received as a gift. The plastic container holds a single cupcake and secures it, so fears of smeared frosting are long gone.

The container is a creative invention that will add a sweet treat to my lunch that I wouldn't have been able to transport safely before.

As you can see, the cupcake was transported so beautifully its deliciousness did not last long enough for the photo.

An open letter to MDOT on the Adopt-a-Highway sign on M-52 (updated)

Dear Michigan Department of Transportation,

I gotta get this off my back, it's bugged me since before I began working at Heritage Media: this year, is it possible you could work and change the Adopt-a-Highway sign facing northbound M-52 and correct the spelling on it?

The Manchester Men's Club has sponsored two miles of highway on the road in Manchester Township. But, the sign has the name spelled wrong. Here's what it looks like:

I remember seeing it, and thinking "that's a strange way of spelling a group." But after seeing the sign pointing southbound closer to the village spelling it correct, I realized it was an error.

Perhaps this year when M-52 is being worked on in the village later this year (more on that later this winter/spring), someone could go down and correct it. I know MDOT's fixed other signs on the stretch several times closer to the village, and I'm sure the Men's Club would love to see the village's name spelled correctly.

Sincerely,
David Veselenak, Heritage Media online coordinator

P.S. While out on the road taking the picture of the sign, a man stopped and asked if I needed any help or a ride; he assumed my car had broken down and I needed help. I told him no worries, but thought it would nice knowing Michigan still has some pretty friendly drivers.

UPDATE: MDOT tweeted back at us this morning, saying they'll look into it and get it corrected:

@davidveselenak @HeritageNews Thanks for pointing out the misspelled AAH sign - we'll get this taken care of as soon as possible!

— Michigan DOT (@MichiganDOT) January 3, 2012