2010 Census: The specifics for the Greater Manchester area and Washtenaw County

For some people, last Tuesday was just that, a plain old Tuesday. But for some, including this reporter, it was like Christmas morning.
Last Tuesday was the day that detailed counts of Michigan's municipalities' populations was released by the Census Bureau. This data showed the population changes of everything from the City of Detroit, which got its population numbers decimated the last ten years, dropping to 713,777, to Pointe Aux Barques Township in Huron County, which only has 10 residents (How do they manage that?!?).
Census data, which was collected last spring, is vital to areas such as representation, growth and probably most importantly, funding. Funding for the next ten years is determined using census data, and a decrease in population can be devastating to a municipality's state-shared revenue.
Locally, numbers for the greater Manchester area varied. The Village of Manchester saw a slight decrease, going from 2,170 in 2000 to 2,091, a decrease of 79 people, or 3.6 percent.
The data was much different for Manchester Township, which saw an increase of people. The township gained 438 people, going up from 4,097 to 4,569, a 11.5 percent increase.
In Bridgewater Township, very little change in population took place, with an additional 23 people registering as living in the township. In 2010, 1,674 people lived in Bridgewater Township, compared to 1,651 11 years ago. Same thing applied to Sharon Township, with only a 3.5 percent increase, going from 1,678 to 1,737.
Freedom Township was the only township in the southwest corner of Washtenaw County to lose population, going from 1,573 to 1,428, a decrease of 9.2 percent.
Overall, the Greater Manchester area (the village and the four surrounding townships) had a population of 11,578.
The trend in the southwest corner of the county seemed similar to what happened across the county, except in smaller terms. More city populations decreased this cycle, and more people are living in outside townships. To see other municipalities in Washtenaw County's population, check out the map below and click on a marker.

Sharon United Methodist Church Lenten fish fry: behind the scenes

While most people were enjoying the warm(er) weather last Friday, many residents were at the Sharon United Methodist Church on Pleasant Lake Road in Sharon Township prepping for the first Friday fish fry.
The fish fry dinner, which takes place each Friday during Lent (except for Good Friday) is a tradition predominantly done by Roman Catholic groups, since the eating of red meat and poultry is forbidden on Fridays during the season (Interestingly enough, it's a common occurrence year-round in Wisconsin).
Everyone knows fried fish is tasty, but what does it take to prep the meal? Here are some behind-the-scenes photos from the prep work done last week.

And the fish fry isn't the only Lenten meal taking place in Manchester this year. Each Thursday, St. Mary's Catholic Church will be hosting a loaded baked potato dinner at the church. What types of foods do you commonly eat during Lent?

Crazy Cash Night

When I arrived at the American Legion Hall at about 9:30 p.m. Saturday, I had planned to stay until the final ball was drawn and get a reaction photo from the winner.

One slight problem: the winner wasn't in attendance. Jerry Humitz, a Kiwanis Club member, had gone out and spent time with some family that came into town. Humitz was the first winner of the $5,000 main prize that wasn't there to collect his winnings since the first Crazy Cash Night more than a decade ago.

But overall, the night ended in success. Tickets Nos. 199 and 200 were auctioned off for $500 and $1,250, respectively, and plenty came and enjoyed dinner.

In case you missed it, here are some additional photos from the night. For a video showing the last ball being pulled, check it out here in the story.

14th annual Men's Club Chili Cookoff

I'm not originally from Manchester, or any small town that features chili cookoffs. But Saturday's event, even though organizers said numbers were down (at blame was the state wrestling meet, Treasurer Bob Rhees said, which sent 14 Manchester wrestlers), was an impressive display of some awesome cooking, especially for a city kid like me.

By the time I left, which was about 6 p.m., the American Legion Hall was packed with people, and it smelled fantastic. The LaBlanc family from Onsted won the top prize of $200, with their southwestern chili recipe. Overall, a few hundred people showed up to sample only 11 cooks' chili. Here are some photos from the evening, which also featured a 32-person euchre tournament:

A look at other municipalities' takes on medical marijuana

Hazy. Smoky. In a cloud. There are so many puns you can associate with when writing about the medical marijuana laws and municipalities, I thought I would get a few out of the way right off the bat.

The Manchester Planning Commission seemed to take a step closer toward recommending a medical marijuana ordinance for the village at last week's meeting. The commission had been charged with drafting its own ordinance and sending it to the village council for approval.

While discussions will continue at next month's meeting, it seemed the commission leaned on adopting a similar model to the one being proposed in Dexter, which would define a dispensary and not allow sales or consumption of marijuana inside the building (Dexter held a public hearing on the matter last week). It would also ban a dispensary from opening with 500 feet of a school. Manchester currently has a moratorium on medical marijuana facilities, although it expires this spring.

Village Manager Jeff Wallace said he has been contacted by people looking to open a dispensary in the village, mostly because of the opportunity to use larger barns for growing.

The subject of medical marijuana has caused such a headache for some muncipalities since voters approved the measure in 2008, that many are still hashing (there's another one!) out the details. Here's a look at some other Michigan communities that are or have wrestled with ordinances pertaining to medical marijuana:

• Manchester Township: The area surrounding the village recently proposed an ordinance very basic in nature, requiring dispensaries be at least 1,000 feet away from schools. The township could also regulate how long a dispensary remains open.
• Ypsilanti: The city in eastern Washtenaw County became one of the select few in Michigan that approved ordinances for medical marijuana, doing so at its city council meeting last week. It states that dispensaries that apply for licenses (which will begin after a 45-day waiting period) must be at least 1,000 feet from a school and 500 feet from another dispensary. It also requires a security plan in place and at least $500,000 in insurance coverage in case of a fire.
• Chelsea: The city does not allow any medical marijuana dispensaries, as decided by the city council at its meeting Dec. 15, 2010. It became the second community within Washtenaw County to outright ban facilities, the first being Saline.
• Royal Oak (my hometown!): The city voted last month to adopt the "Livonia model," which would effectively ban any dispensaries within homes in the city, although patients would still be allowed to use the substance. Similar ordinances were approved by Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills, which are currently being sued over the ordinances.
• Walker: The city on the western side of Grand Rapids voted this week to extend a moratorium until Sept. 10, hoping the state legislature will have worked out better guidelines on the issue. 
• Bay City: The city commission in the town near the Saginaw Bay approved a moratorium for 180 days this week and has no current ordinances to deal with dispensaries.

Klager Snowflake Social and Basket Auction

Manchester resident and freelance photographer David Jose took pictures at Klager's Snowflake Social and Basket Auction recently, which brought together Klager students and their families for the annual dance event. Check out some photos!

The Rundown: 2011

Hello community! Copy editor Jana Miller here...

I wanted to take the time to update everyone on a fresh year in our community. I also wanted to introduce a new employee, staff writer and online coordinator David Veselenak. He will be helping me out in Manchester and his assistance will be much appreciated. For one thing, I now have an extra set of legs to run to all the various township and village government meetings which means a more comprehensive picture of what's going on in our community. Second, it means more time to do the fun things (like blogging!) that may have fallen below government/breaking news on the totem pole.

A lot has been happening, both in our office and in the community. Let's begin with Manchester Village, in which lots of developments took place at the end of the year. For one, there has been a lot of news about the proposed Rails to Trails bike and walking path through the Village. The status of that project right now is that an application is out for county grant funding to convert the railroad bed into a trail. A bridge (the second phase of the proposed project) is still being discussed. Council will be looking over a scoping document in the near future to see if it adequately solves certain concerns which were voiced at the public hearing.

Other Village developments include taking a look at Main Street Bridge repair/reconstruction due to deterioration. This isn't something that is an immediate problem, but will continue to worsen in the next five years. Council is looking into repairs now.

Council adopted a wood burner ordinance that essentially prohibits them within the village limits. To the council's knowledge, there are not currently any of these structures within the village limits. The ordinance clarifies the amount of land necessary to have one on the property. Practically anything can be burned in these things, which can cause some pretty heavy smells and smoke.

M-DOT confirmed a project through the village and downtown. It is part of the downtown enhancement project which is piggy-backing on some M-52 road and bridge work. The enhancement includes streetscape stuff like new lighting, seating areas, new trees and shrubs, trash receptacles, etc. It has been in development for going on three years and will likely begin in the fall of this year.

Sharon Township has a new township supervisor in John Frey. He replaced Rich Jones who resigned for personal and health reasons. There was a second resignation at the Jan. 6 meeting when trustee Bill Chizmar resigned for personal and health reasons as well. There is also activity at the county level concerning Sharon Township now that several residents have filed petition language twice. The first petition language was filed against Kim Yordanich, Chizmar and Tom Lavender. It was denied by the county board that reviews these cases because it was too vague. New language was filed on Monday morning and a second clarity hearing will be held to decide if the filers can start circulating a petition for a recall election.

Manchester Township is in a budget shortfall and may put an operating millage proposal back on the ballot this year. It appeared twice recently, once in November when it failed to pass by four votes, and earlier in August during the primary.

There are also problems with roads in all four townships, and the Washtenaw County Road Commission is reporting being short millions of dollars... which means it can't complete those needed projects. There has been lots of talk about the Waldo Road Bridge in Sharon Township which was closed, and there are no current plans on the Board's part to put up matching funds for its repair. A majority of the dangerous bridges in the county are in Sylvan and Lima Townships. There are also roads in Manchester and Freedom Townships which have had flooding issues in the past and it was voiced that road work was needed.

Manchester Village Council signed a new police services contract with the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Department in December. The cost of a police unit was agreed upon by the Washtenaw County Commissioners. Police services now take up well over the majority of the Village budget. Bridgewater Township and the Village share a contract with Lodi Township for a handful of police officers.

Stories about all of these events can be found on our website at www.heritage.com. To search for articles from further than six months ago, click 'advanced search' and change the date range before entering your key words.

I'm really looking forward to 2011. A lot of projects and stories which are close to my heart were put on the back burner while we had some staffing shortages, and I'm excited to have the time to return to them (and blogging!) in the new year. Some of the staffing changes included Chelsea/Dexter editor Daniel Lai (previously the Manchester editor) who left approximately a month ago to work for a new website. Ed Patino left a while back to work at a daily in Adrian, and now new staffers have been hired to replace both of those positions.

As always, my door, inbox and voicemail is wide open if you have a story you'd like to share. I can be reached at (734) 429-7380 or jmiller@heritage.com with any questions, comments, concerns, or ideas.

Happy New Year!