SPORTS

Locals compete with states best golfers See Page 1-C

Crowds flock to Strawberry Festival See Page B-1

COMMUNITY

INSIDE

Area crime briefs See Page 5-A

The
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VOL. 28, NO. 25 THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012 Weave the Web:
Make sure to click on www.heritage.com around the clock for the most in-depth coverage. See most popular stories....100 support personnel afraid of losing their jobs in Saline schools.

Ofcials OK $116K for ball eld upgrade

By Jerry LaVaute
Special Writer

To preserve the availability of previous Community Development Block Grant funds provided by the U.S. Housing and Urban Development department, the Van Buren Township Board of Trustees re-allocated $188,000 of CDBG money from 20082010 toward improvements at the Beck Road

Torch sparks re at school cafeteria

By Ben Baird
Heritage Media

ball fields, in lieu of previous plans now to preserve the funds for the for a new sidewalk on the east side township. Treasurer Sharry Budd of Belleville Road, between requested and received Tyler and Robson Roads. an extension for using the VAN BUREN funds. HUD had recently raised some issues regarding the Instead, the TOWNSHIP funding will beblock grant use of the $188,000 to buy used to easements to build a $66,000 build a new playscape for sidewalk. The agency hasnt $61,000, a covered pavilyet made a decision regarding the ion for $25,000 and six upgraded issue, but township Development concrete dugouts for $30,000, for a Director Terry Carroll is acting total cost of $116,000. The balance

of the available CDBG funding may be used as a contingency, or potentially for concession stand improvements at the baseball fields. The $66,000 CDBG grant for 2011 will continue to be reserved by the township for the Belleville Road sidewalk, and the township DDA is working on the project.
PLEASE SEE UPGRADE/3-A

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Violin Monster performs

Berry nice weekend

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The Belleville High School cafeteria caught fire Tuesday afternoon, prompting area residents to snap photos of the scene as it was happening. Van Buren Public Schools Superintendent Michael Van Tassel said the fire was started by a torch being used by a worker in the cafeteria, which is undergoing renovation. The flame touched off a pile of nearby debris. No one was injured in the fire. Dr. Brian Loranger, interim fire chief of the Belleville Fire Department and a chiropractor with offices in Belleville and Dexter, said the department believes a spark from cutting an I-beam fell into a pile of debris. The fire ignited in the debris was not immediately noticed. A call for the fire came in at approximately 3 p.m. The high school, 501 W. Columbia Ave., is
PLEASE SEE FIRE/3-A

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If you live in the greater Belleville area and are interested in writing about local events, news and views or even your own interests and hobbies, please contact Tanya Wildt at twildt@heritage.com.

Photo courtesy of Darlene Gerick

Dancers from Bellevilles Jitterbugs Elite Dance march in last Saturdays Strawberry Festival parade.

Belleville ofcials applaud Strawberry Festival

By Jerry LaVaute
Special Writer

In a relatively brief city council meeting, after their regular business was done, Belleville city officials provided their

perspectives on last weekends Strawberry Festival. I think the festival went very well, said Councilman Brian Blackburn, also a city firefighter. He said he worked the festival on Friday and Saturday and that

there were no serious concerns. It was a nice, quiet family event, added Councilwoman Kim Tindall, who said she was at the festival for much of the weekend.
PLEASE SEE FESTIVAL/3-A

Band aims to be instrumental in community

By Gary Winkelman
Heritage Media

Local ads are just a hop away at the MIcentral. com marketplace. While you are there, you can check out all the special supplements of Journal Register Co. newspapers in Michigan. Click on marketplace on the home page of our website or go directly to www.marketplace.micentral.com.

The Marketplace:

Belleville Community Band members Emily Mall (left), Kristin Copeland and Wanda Monks practice for the groups upcoming concert.

The founders of the Belleville Community Band had high hopes. Among them, provide some much-needed entertainment and culture for the area well as an outlet for local musicians to gather and perform in their own backyard. Ultimately, the goal was an ideal outdoor venue, a grateful audience and a tradition that would keep the music going long after the originators had retired their instruments. Today, more than a decade after it began, the band is chugging along still with high hopes and about to embark on its annual summer concert series. Its great that it has survived this long, said John Monks, per-

cussionist and one of the musicians who spearheaded the groups formation in the late 1990s, but wed like to see it be bigger. Monks, owner of Fielders Collision, said the band was born when Ken Askew, then president of the Belleville Council for the Arts, asked him and a handful of others to make the idea of a community band a reality. Monks recalls conversations with Askew that noted what a shame it was that we had such a great educational system here putting out some really fine musical talent through the school system and then none of them ever did anything in their hometown. There was no place for them to play other than in the
PLEASE SEE BAND/16-A

INDEX
Editorial Calendar Sports Page 6-A Page 12-A Page 1-C

Death Notices Page 8-A

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