Celebrate the 1960s and '70s

Local musician Daniel Lai and the band Delirious Love will perform at the Quarter Bistro & Tavern in Ann Arbor on Saturday. The show is open to the public and starts at 9 p.m.
For more information, visit http://www.thequarterbistro.com/events.php

One of Michigan’s newest rock/pop bands with combined 12 years experience, features the talents of six local musicians bringing the sights and sounds of the 60s, 70s and 80s alive in a stunning and intimate setting. Performance includes the sounds of Chuck Berry and the beginning of Rock & Roll era to the British invasion with The Beatles – as well as classic hits from Motown, Neil Diamond, Tom Petty and beyond.

Entertainment lineup brings fresh faces

The 65th annual Manchester Community Fair evening lineup promises to be a crowd-pleasing selection of music and entertainment variety.
“We tried to get as many new and fresh acts that we could find this year,” entertainment coordinator Ben Wotjas said. “We want to keep rotating the entertainment to keep things new.”
New to the fair this year include a Guitar Hero videogame contest sponsored by Best Buy, a pizza eating contest sponsored by Classic Pizza, as well as performances by local musician Jim Dokurno and Manchester Enterprise Editor Daniel Lai’s band Delirious Love.
“We’re pretty excited about the caliber of entertainment we managed to get for this year’s fair,” Wotjas said.
The Cottonwood Cloggers, a well-known dance group, will kick-off the entertainment at 8:30 p.m. July 7.
Led by Atticus Sumner, the group includes members from across the state of Michigan and performs an eclectic mix of blues, country, rock and roll, and jazz.
“During the show, you will see Atticus’ music in motion Atticus has inspired many people through his dance and audiences too will be able to experience this talent with a nationally recognized musical phenomenon,” the group states on their Web site.
Sumner and the Cottonwood Cloggers have appeared frequently on television, radio and in newspapers throughout the country. The group performed at the Fox Theater in Detroit, opened for the Grand Ole Opry with Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys, Ricky Skaggs, Holly Dunn, and the Bellamy Brothers.
The Cottonwood Cloggers have also performed at past fairs in Manchester as well as the Manchester Chicken Broil.
The Cloggers will also perform at 6 and 7 p.m. July 9 and 6 p.m. July 10 at the fair.
On July 9, the musical styling of Jim Dokurno will delight audiences beginning at 8 p.m. on the main stage. Based out of Marshall, Dokurno’s musical influences include ’90s grunge rock.
“He’s a super fantastic singer and songwriter and he will be performing a solo set of music,” Wotjas said.
After years of playing with rock bands, Dokurno has finally stepped out on his own to find his place in the music scene, releasing his first solo album in January 2005 (“The Finding My Voice Demos”).
“With music ranging from slow moody rock to ballads of love and anger, Dokurno finds the way to get straight to the point with few blurred lines in between,” Dokurno’s Web site states. “Overly honest lyrics about life and the stories with in it, take his songs to new heights. Thrashing his guitar to bring out the most angered tones and gently massaging it to bring out every ghostly note. Dokurno rounds it all off with a stage presence that is untouchable.”
Dokurno’s influences include: Nirvana, Sound Garden, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Mother Love Bone, The Verve Pipe, Papa Vegas, Sponge, Damien Rice, Foo Fighters, Colic, Jimmy Hendrix, The Beatles, and Led Zepplin.
On July 9, the Longneck Strangler Band takes to the stage at 8 p.m. The band takes a new and innovative approach to some of country music’s great songs. The Detroit-based band has performed at Cheli’s Chili Bar and The Dawghouse.
The band is self-described as Johnny Cash and Hank Williams meets AC/DC.
“If both their love of rock and roll and their being from Detroit may deny Longneck Strangler an invitation from the Grand Ol’ Opry, a quick inspection of Longneck Strangler in performance reveals qualities that rank them with any other country band on the market,” the band states on their Web site. “The singer switches between acoustic guitar and fiddle when he is not demonstrating his impeccable vocal delivery, the guitarist may sling a Gibson Flying V… but he does stop moving to work the steel guitar, the drummer knows when to keep four-on-the-floor (and when not to), and the bassist lays down the most solid two-feel this side of the Mason-Dixon Line while (occasionally) wearing a cowboy hat.
“These four musicians combine diverse but overlapping backgrounds into the Longneck Strangler sound, which, for the sake of simplicity, you could arguably label country.”
Rounding out this year’s musical lineup is Manchester Enterprise Editor Daniel Lai and the band Delirious Love. The band will perform from 5 to 7 p.m. July 11 on the main stage. Based in Taylor, Delirious Love is one of Michigan’s newest rock/pop band’s with a combined 12 years of experience. The band features the talents of six local musicians bringing the sights and sounds of the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s alive in a stunning and intimate setting. The band carries audiences back to the sounds of Chuck Berry and the beginning of Rock & Roll era to the British invasion with The Beatles – as well as classic hits from Motown, Neil Diamond, Tom Petty and beyond.
Delirious Love has performed at the Manchester Oktoberfest, the Riverfolk Music & Arts Organization’s “Halloween with a Heart” fundraiser in 2008, The Quarter Bistro & Tavern in Ann Arbor, and other local venues throughout Southwest Michigan.
For a complete listing of this year’s activities and events at the fair, visit www.manchestermi.org/fair/
Daniel Lai can be reached at 428-8173 or dlai@heritage.com.

MHS names valedictorian, salutatorian for Class of 2009

Manchester High School recently announced the valedictorian and salutatorian for the Class of 2009. Both students attained over a 4.0 cumulative GPA on the weighted scale.
Samantha Jane Kreklau is the MHS valedictorian with a 4.25 GPA. She is the daughter of Deborah Kreklau and James Kreklau, Jr. She was a member of the track team for four years during which time she was a scholar athlete and received the Cascade All-Conference Academic Athlete award.
As a four-year member of the MHS Student Council, she served as president her senior year, and as a two-year member of the National Honor Society she served as membership secretary.
During her four years in Drama Club she served both as its president and as treasurer. Kreklau’s other activities include: four years in Key Club, serving as treasurer and bulletin editor; four years in Quiz Bowl; and participant in LifeSmarts. She recently received the Kiwanis Club Scholarship and Social Studies Department awards.
Outside of school, Kreklau was a 13-year member of Girl Scout Troop 977 and three-year member of the United Methodist Church Outreach Committee. She has worked for her church as well as Alber’s Apple Orchard and the Manchester District Library. This fall she plans to attend the University of Michigan.
Brian Kemeter is the MHS 2009 salutatorian with a 4.20 GPA.
He is the son of Gene and Sharon Kemeter of Manchester. He played football all four years of high school. He was a two-year member of both National Honor Society and Student Council. Kemeter received the Math Department award for the Class of 2009. He was also a student mentor for two years. He was selected as the Optimist Club’s Student of the Month for March 2008, WXYZ-TV Channel 7’s “Brightest and Best” 2009 student award, and awarded the Second Team Academic All-State for the 2008 football season.
Besides his work at school, he also volunteers in the community, including working as a tester at the Manchester Chicken Broil. This fall Kemeter will attend the University of Michigan to study business.
Kreklau and Kemeter have been outstanding representatives of Manchester High School as well as the Manchester community.

Community lends helping hand

By Sarah Pettigew
Guest Writer

To say that the current economic climate is tumultuous would be an understatement. For many of us in Michigan as well as around the nation, layoffs, plant closures and store liquidations are almost so common place that our ears no longer perk up with a jolt of shock when they're mentioned on the news.
When I drive through my once seemingly affluent hometown, the neighborhoods are dotted with auction signs on homes that have weathered foreclosure. The costs of our groceries escalate even as our ability to pay for them diminishes, and many of our neighbors wonder just how they'll keep it all together enough to move one day further.
However, I am exposed to another type of reality. For two years, I have been a part of a free community meal program that serves bi-weekly meals at First Congregational Church in Wyandotte.
As a regular, cook, server, greeter and volunteer coordinator there, I have almost seen it all – young women barely surviving beatings by enraged boyfriends, elderly folks sleeping in cars and traveling from place to place, children with no mittens in winter from homes where there is little to eat, couples who have worked all their lives suddenly faced with joblessness, victims of crime and sufferers of illness.
These are the images people expect to hear about when I tell them I am affiliated with a soup kitchen.
The unanticipated reality that overshadows these bleaker images, however, is a reality of hope.
People often ask me if it depresses me to share meals with those who struggle. In truth, I have been humbled, cheered, and inspired by not only the triumphs of those guests from our community meal program who overcome the adversity of daily existence, but also by the outpouring of generosity and support from local churches, businesses, and individuals that continues to foster our very important work.
When our larder is looking a little worse for the wear, a stranger will ask if we accept donations of canned goods.
Out of silverware? Here comes a woman who saw some on sale and thought we'd need some.
What's at work here is something reminiscent of that never-out-dated story of the loaves and the fishes with a little bit going far enough to reach all who had hunger.
The religious among us might say that this phenomenon we experience when we serve soup is God's hand providing again and again, while others might applaud the same spirit of humanitarianism that still motivates us to look out for one an-other.
What I know for certain is that something wonderful is at work here, in Michigan, where we're all supposed to have given up hope, where we're supposed to be washed up, fed up and given up for dead.
Even when we have little, somehow, our combined efforts are mighty and infallible. From the woman from the library who bakes when she can so that we'll have something to tuck into bagged lunches, to the soup kitchen “guests” who supplied us with produce from their garden to help stretch out a meal, to the mom and pop places that have a surplus they can share.
From the disabled students who scoop beans on a plate with infectious smiles, people who are your neighbors are banding together, usually anonymously, always without hope for recognition or repayment, and making a statement about a different reality here in Michigan.
That reality is one of selflessness and hope, and we've still got second helpings for everyone.
Last night, as I took stock of the few cupboards where we store our food stuffs, I couldn't help but notice the very bare spaces where rows of cans once overflowed, but I smiled to myself as I pulled out the components for an upcoming meal.
There is enough for tomorrow in our pantry, and I hold onto hope that our shelves will continue to bear enough goods to sustain us for the next meal and the next.
I have faith that our community will continue to sustain us.
Thank you, to our community of friends who are tireless in their commitment to compassion.
Sarah Pettigew is the director of a local soup kitchen. Waynewright Community Meals serves a warm meal and bagged lunch from noon to 1 p.m. at 98 Superior in Wyandotte on Wednesdays and Saturdays. To get involved contact,1-734 285-3540 or email teampetti-grew@hotmail.com

On the move but staying in touch

My staff and I have been boxing up files, cleaning out desks and taking down awards and photos from the walls as we prepare for the move from our office at 135 E. Main St. in Manchester to our western region headquarters at the Saline Reporter in Saline.
As my girlfriend, mother, and sports writer spent the better half of last week boxing up the office, I couldn’t help but look through some of the old newspapers that were printed before my tenure in Manchester. This small town has certainly seen its fair share of news. From tragedies and scandals to celebrations, festivals and fairs, all of the Manchester community’s history has been recorded in the pages of the Enterprise for generations.
For me, one of the boxes of newspapers was and remains poignant. It contained the first several months issues of May 2007 when I took over as editor. I remember my first few months on the job were a learning experience. In fact, my first call to Jeff Wallace was to ask if he could put me in touch with Manchester’s Economic Development Corporation. His response was kind yet right to the point: “You aren’t from Michigan are you?”
The packing brought up many good and bad memories, a flood of emotion and a little bit of sadness.
But today I remembered those memories will not end.
Though Ed and I continue to educate ourselves about the ins and outs of Manchester two years later, I think our pictures can now go up on the hall of fame of former Enterprise staff members.
I will still work with Village President Pat Vailliencourt and her staff and many other city and school officials in Manchester, along with officials in Bridgewater, Freedom, Manchester and Sharon townships.
Infact, Mrs. Vailliencourt has graciously allowed the Enterprise to leave a drop box at the Coffee Mill Café on Main Street to allow local residents to continue to drop off photos and press releases for publication in the Enterprise. I or a staff member will retrieve the items on Monday mornings. This box is primarily for those who do not use e-mail. For those who have e-mail, electronic .jpeg photos and electronic press releases are still the preferred method of submissions.
This drop box will be in place in the coming weeks and I will include a notice in the Enterprise informing readers when they can begin leaving items at the Coffee Mill for pick-up.
All photos and press releases can still be sent to editor@manchesterenterprise.com. Similarly, all sports information can still be e-mailed to epatino@heritage.com. Readers can still reach us at our Manchester phone number, 428-8173. Mail can also be sent to The Manchester Enterprise, 135 E. Main St., Manchester MI. All mail will be forwarded to our office in Saline.
The Manchester Enterprise, with its news staff intact, will be in Manchester as often as we have in the past to cover the news and put out the best newspaper despite these recent changes. We are working around the clock to make this transition an easy one for everyone and are open to suggestions.
Changes to the newspaper profession are being reflected right across the American newspaper industry as well as other media — radio, TV, Internet, etc.
Consolidations, closings, reductions staffing are the norm.
When the future of GM, Ford and Chrysler are in question, people have to understand what is happening to the rest of American business.
But Manchester is not losing its local newspaper.
Most readers will not notice any change.
If the Manchester area can survive the purchase of the Enterprise by Heritage Newspapers, it can survive the move of the Enterprise office 13 miles east to Saline.
Editor Daniel Lai can be reached at 428-8173 or e-mail dlai@heritage.com.

Manchester Enterprise to relocate office June 1

Officials of Heritage Newspapers and the Journal Register Co. have announced The Manchester Enterprise office at 135 E. Main St., Suite 202 in Manchester is being closed and relocated.
Beginning June 1, the editorial staff and advertising account executives will be consolidated into the Heritage Newspapers’ Western Region headquarters at The Saline Reporter in Saline.
The move is one of many being taken by the newspapers’ parent company, Journal Register Co. to survive in the current declining economy in Michigan and across the county — which has hit newspapers across the country very hard.
Staff writers, editors, photographers, advertising advisors and circulation route managers will continue to work in Manchester.
The Manchester Enterprise will continue to be delivered to Post Office boxes and sold at stores and from newspaper racks around the community.
The newspaper will continue to be the best and most authoritative source of news about the Manchester community — its school district, local governments, sports teams and the people and activities of Manchester.
The editorial staff will continue to attend meetings, gatherings and events to stay on top of events in Manchester.
Residents will still be able to talk to those people by calling the Enterprise’s cur-rent phone number: (734) 428-8173. Individuals will be available through their e-mail addresses as well.
The carriers who deliver the Manchester Enterprise will continue to work with route managers by mail, phone or in person at the Saline Reporter office at 106 W. Michigan Ave., Saline, MI. 48176.
That office is located 12 miles east of Manchester.
The move comes amid a shake up in the entire industry and Michigan in particular.
Papers across the state have seen reductions in staffing. Regional papers have con-solidated into a smaller number of locations and they have reduced coverage of smaller and outlying communities.
JRC has announced other moves designed to allow it to keep operating. It has closed newspapers in Connecticut and hired a firm to seek buyers for certain properties.
For more information, contact Manchester Enterprise Editor Daniel Lai at dlai@heritage.com or call 428-8173. Additional inquiries can be sent to Karl Ziomek at kziomek@heritage.com.

Swine flu the real deal?

By Sarah Franklin

This swine flu thing: Outbreak, epidemic, pandemic. Has the potential to be all three. And it's very scary.
I remember being at the World Health Organization when Avian flu was the hot button topic in the global health community. There was absolute panic and preparing for the expected outbreak put everything else on the back burner in Geneva.
Avian flu temporarily dwarfed HIV, TB, malaria and a whole slew of other diseases that kill enormous numbers of people. After all the panic and last minute funding and staffing, avian barely made a dent.
Swine flu is different. Whereas Avian flu developed in a centuries-old system of Asian peasants living in close contact with their subsistence livestock, swine flu is the result of large-scale industrial agriculture, a system that has only developed in the last half-century.
Most of the deaths so far have been in Mexico. Why? No one knows, not exactly, and not yet. However, the fact that Mexico's medical care is difficult to access certainly isn't helping the situation.
In addition to being sad, this is infuriating. The company that owns the "host" outbreak site is a U.S.-based company.
Not only American, but typically American - the largest pork producer in the world. We're talking million-hog feedlots. Sickening stench, incredible negative environmental impact (manure reservoirs, for example, and concentrated CO2 emissions), and most relevant, disease passed from pig-to-pig and now pig-to-person.
This is the way America farms now. Our animals and our plants. En masse, only one species per area, “monoculture” is the term in the agriculture world. And what the world is finally being made aware of is how treacherous a path we're paving.
We've messed with ecosystems and their natural protective mechanisms (biodiversity) and now we're paying the price.
But wait, it's not exactly the United States that's paying the price, at least not yet. It's Mexico and Mexicans: quick-moving infection rates and death tolls; travel warnings; talk of closing borders; and the inevitable stigma. As if Mexico didn't have enough on its plate already...
That “Big Ag” in the United States has deemed it appropriate to not only farm this way in the United States (bad for us), but to export these agricultural practices (bad for us and all the folks we inflict our systems upon) to countries where land and labor are cheaper – all facilitated by those “development” policies under the umbrella of the North American Free Trade Agreement – is unforgivable.
To make mistakes on our own land, with our own soil, and our own population is one thing. But that we've inflicted this upon Mexico and as we're fast learning, the world, is entirely another.
In the meantime, the U.S. government and “Big Ag” have gotten us into this mess.
And an apology (if ever we step forward with one) isn't going to solve the problem.
We should be frightened and angry. We've let “Big Ag” dominate our food system for too long, allowing their profit-hungry motives and facade of “efficiency” to shush those concerned with the environmental, health, and yes, even economic impacts of industrial agriculture.
Now, we're in deep, deep trouble. We've been given several warnings – tainted tomatoes, spinach, peanut butter. How many chances did we think we were going to get before things got completely out of control?
Maybe swine flu is our last warning, or maybe we're really in for it this time.
Either way, it's time to open our eyes to the broad impacts of mass food production, processing, and distribution in this country and abroad.
It's a system the United States has created and we are responsible for the consequences.
Sara Franklin is the capacity building coordinator for WHY (World Hunger Year).