Advertisement

2007 in Shelby Township and Utica saw continued progress on long-anticipated projects, stories of heartache from the Middle East and even tales of heroics from local residents and law enforcement officials.

Here are some notable stories covered in 2007:

January:

l Residents throughout the area become swept up in the search for Gunner, a Boston Terrier who disappeared from a Shelby Township boarding facility while his family was on holiday vacation. Joanne Gouleche, Gunner’s owner, said the dog ran off after employees at the facility let him out to enjoy the weather. Search teams from throughout Macomb County search for Gunner for several weekends, but he never returns home.

l Shelby Township’s Board of Trustees begins accepting quotations for architects and construction managers for the creation of a new police and court building on the township’s municipal grounds. Each month throughout the year the Board meets with the project’s team to view progress. The justice center will be funded from police and court funds and will be located on the municipal campus, which could also be home to a new library facility. Construction is expected to begin in 2008.

l Shelby Township’s Burgess-Shadbush Nature Center opens its new, interactive Clinton River Exhibit on Jan. 30. The project, which includes light-up windows, animal displays and tunnels, is the result of $12,000 in grants from Visteon and donations from throughout the township. The exhibit is designed to provide children with hands-on education about the area’s ecology. Clinton Township-based company The Nature Factory assisted with the project’s construction.

February:

l Shelby Township resident and U.S. Marine Tarryl Hill, 19, is killed in action in Iraq on Feb. 7 when an improvised explosive detonates under his vehicle. Another soldier is killed in the attack and two more are wounded. Hill joined the Marines on Easter Sunday of 2006 and was deployed to Iraq in December of that year. Hill is the second Shelby Township citizen killed in the war in Iraq; Army Pfc. Mark A. Barbret was killed in action in October 2004. Hill’s name is inscribed on the Shelby Township Veterans Memorial in May.

l After a year off due to Super Bowl complications, the city of Utica celebrates its Ice Festival once again. Various sculptures from businesses and residents line the streets of Cass and Auburn on Feb. 10 and 11 as families enjoy games, carriage rides and hot treats inside Utica City Hall. St. Clair Shores-based company Creative Ice Designs created the sculptures for the festivities.

l Jurors find Francis and Hikmat Meram, owners of Meram Building Company, innocent of committing any wetlands violations during the construction of Shelby Township’s Soccer City. Macomb County prosecutors had charged the Merams with four counts of unauthorized draining and filling of wetlands during construction of the facility on 23 Mile Road in September 2006. Jurors acquit the Merams on Feb. 16. Soccer City continues to be a source of conflict throughout the year as operators debate plans for a permanent facility and storage of the dome during the summer with township officials.

March:

l Joseph Hendrix, 24, is found guilty of felony murder stemming from a carjacking in September 2006. Jurors find Hendrix guilty of pushing 65-year-old Evangeline Doen out of her daughter’s vehicle as he unlawfully drove it away from a Shelby Township shopping center. Hendrix is sentenced to mandatory life in prison in April by Circuit Judge Matthew Switalski.

l One of Macomb County’s last milkmen makes his final deliveries on March 31 as Shelby Township resident Don Minor retires from his route after 54 years on the job. Minor delivered milk to homes in Shelby and Washington townships and Romeo for more than five decades and saw much of the area develop throughout the years.

l A Utica mother is arrested for allowing her 14-year-old daughter to have sex with two 21-year-old men. Macomb County prosecutors say that Tammy Fennell, 35, was aware of her daughter’s year-long relationship with Christopher Garcia and his friend, James Przeadski. At the time the girl, who was not identified, was pregnant with Garcia’s child. She had previously made headlines in 2006 when she was with a 25-year-old Indiana man whom she had met after posing as an 18-year-old on the popular Myspace Web site. Fennell pleads no contest to a lowered charge of fourth-degree child abuse in May and receives probation instead of jail time; the daughter is placed in foster care. Garcia pleads guilty to two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct and failing to register as a sex offender in June; he is sentenced to 72 months to 15 years in prison on July 23. Przeadski pleads guilty to assault with intent to commit sexual penetration in May and is sentenced to three years probation and nine months in prison on June 14.

April:

l At an April 17 meeting, the Shelby Township Board of Trustees approves $75,000 in funds to match a Recreation Initiative Grant for the Shelby Community Foundation. The monies are approved to create a barrier-free pathway to Heritage Lake and Gardens and a walking path from Mae Stecker Park. Improvements are currently under way.

May:

l Employees and patrons of Utica’s Locker Room Saloon celebrate the tavern’s 25th anniversary and the 102nd anniversary of the Utica Fire by exploring a local urban legend. Rumors of ghostly residents in the Locker Room circulated through the town for years and the bar’s owners invite Clinton Township minister Patricia Davis to communicate with the otherworldly guests. Davis says she makes contact with several entities and releases a family of spirits to the “other side.” Locker Room employees say spirits in the basement are welcome to stay as long as they want.

l Popular summer hot spot Erma’s Frozen Custard celebrates its 65th anniversary of doing business in Utica. The shop, which opened in 1942 along Auburn Road, still sells old-fashioned frozen custard at prices under $5 and draws crowds from around the area to enjoy its frozen treats.

l Shelby Township Police respond to an apparent murder-suicide on May 7. Rolando Santa Ana, 62, reportedly contacts police at approximately 7:45 a.m. and says he has a gun and is going to kill himself. Dispatchers hear a gunshot and, upon arriving on the scene, find Rolando and his wife, Eden Santa Ana, 58, in bed with fatal gunshot wounds to the head. Police say a letter indicates that Santa Ana, who was a physician at Selfridge Air Force National Guard Base, may have been under stress and depression due to economic hardship.

June:

l Shelby Township residents turn out in force to raise $111,000 for cancer research during the community’s first year of participation in the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life on June 2 and 3 at Riverbends Park. Dozens of teams, including 105 cancer survivors, walk throughout the day, selling items and raising more funds for ACS. Malow Junior High School’s team, led by teacher Justin Spear, raises more than $35,000 alone through fundraisers and other events.

l An abduction that began in Rochester Hills ends with a daring escape in Utica on June 3. Teodor Campan, 33, abducts his 40-year-old ex-girlfriend and her 62-year-old companion from their Rochester Hills home, binds them with duct tape and drives away in his vehicle. As he drives down Hall Road and attempts to turn onto the M-53 Expressway, the woman leaps from the car. Campan exits the vehicle, walks toward the woman and shoots himself. The woman checks herself in to a local hospital for minor injuries and leaves the next day; her companion was not seriously injured. Campan had been undergoing deportation hearings back to Romania. He had previously been deported but returned in 2006 to Canada under refugee status.

l Police respond to a home in Utica on June 17 after receiving reports of a barricaded gunman. Police say Shane Patrick Lloyd, 39, forcefully entered the home of his 37-year-old ex-wife and her 12-year-old daughter brandishing an assault rifle. The daughter escapes while Lloyd holds his ex-wife hostage, tells police he has placed C4 explosives around the home and allegedly sexually assaults the woman several times. Police from several jurisdictions, including local SWAT teams, surround the home for more than seven hours before Lloyd surrenders. Police find an AK-47 and several rounds of ammunition inside the home, but no explosives. Lloyd is charged on June 18 with three counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct, four counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a weapon, kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon and home invasion.

July:

l Army Pfc. Christopher D. Kube, 28, is killed in Iraq on July 14 after an improvised explosive device detonates under his vehicle. Kube lived in Shelby Township as a teenager and attended Utica Community School’s Center for Applied learning until halfway through 10th grade and obtained his parents’ permission to join the Army at the age of 17. Kube’s name is added to the township’s veterans’ monument in November.

l A Shelby Township man returning from the Harsen’s Island area on a 19-foot powerboat falls overboard and drowns on the evening of July 3. Douglas Wilson, 38, is with three friends when one of them falls overboard. Wilson jumps in to save him and both men drown. Neither is wearing their life jacket. Wilson’s body is found in the lake on July 7; the body of 45-year-old Daniel Rozenski of Roseville is found nearby five hours later.

August:

l A Shelby Township man dies on Aug. 4 after police subdue him using a Taser. Police are called to the area of 23 Mile Road and Dequindre after receiving reports of a man running around the community in a state of undress. Upon responding, they find Steve Spears, 49, wearing only underwear and socks and having “some kind of episode,” according to reports. Spears runs into oncoming traffic and is apprehended by police, who subdue him using a Taser. He loses consciousness while being examined by paramedics and is pronounced dead at Troy Beaumont Hospital. In September, Oakland County Medical Examiner Dr. L.J. Dragovic determines that the manner of death was accidental and rules that the cause of death was “cocaine-induced excited delirium and complications,” with “physical restraint” labeled as a contributing cause. Two investigations conducted by the Macomb County prosecutor and Sheriff Mark Hackel clear police of any wrongdoing. Spears’ family is pursuing a lawsuit against the officers.

l At its Aug. 21 meeting, the Shelby Township Board of Trustees approves the layoffs of two building department employees. Township Supervisor Ralph Maccarone says the layoffs, the first he can remember in his tenure as supervisor, are due to a shortfall of more than double the $289,173 revenue decline the department saw last year. The employees affected by the layoffs are two low-seniority department employees who began working for the department in 2005. Maccarone says the layoffs are a last resort, made after the township has already cut overtime, part-time inspectors and held a clerk-typist position open. The layoffs are expected last well into 2008.

l Officials give Shelby Township Attorney Rob Huth the authority to pursue legal options to overturn a speed limit increase along Mound Road. The speed limit along Mound from M-59 to 26 Mile Road was increased from 45 to 50 miles per hour earlier in the summer, the result of a road survey by the Road Commission of Macomb County and the Michigan State Police. Township officials initially disagreed with the State Police’s recommendation to increase the limit, saying that the area of Mound that travels through the township passes by several stores, churches and schools and an increase would endanger pedestrians. Maccarone says that the RCMC and the Michigan State Police acted incorrectly when they increased the limit without the approval of the township; state Sen. Alan Sanborn, in a letter to the State Police, concurred. The township formally files a lawsuit against the RCMC and the Michigan State Police in September. The case is still pending.

September:

l A Shelby Township businessman is sentenced to 180 days in jail and more than $10,000 in fines and restitution for illegal dumping on Sept. 12. Dennis Szulborski, owner of Allied Environmental, an asbestos-removal firm, was found guilty in August for directing two employees to dump a substance known as mastic in two locations in Washington Township. One of the locations was located across the street from a middle school. Szulborski’s attorney describes his client as a “hired patsy” who was unaware of the actions of his employees when they disposed of the material.

l Two Shelby Township residents are arrested on Sept. 25 after their 18-month-old son allegedly ingests illegal substances. Robert Seifert, 26, and Shannon Kammer, 25, contact police and say their toddler is having trouble breathing. Police arrive at the home to find Kammer has taken the boy from the scene. They eventually locate her driving down Schoenherr Road. Police obtain a search warrant for the couple’s home and find several marijuana plants and the drugs Vicodin and OxyContin. The couple are charged with possession and intent to sell marijuana plants and possession of Vicodin and OxyContin; child abuse charges could follow, prosecutors say. The couple are due in Macomb County Circuit Court for trial Jan. 24.

October:

l At its Oct. 2 meeting, the Shelby Township Board of Trustees unanimously agrees to reverse a June pay increase for the incoming Board, which will be elected in 2008. The motion accepted in June had agreed to increase the compensation for the next Board as insurance increased, with a 3-percent cap. Township Treasurer Paul Viar calls for the reversal, stating that the Board had made a mistake in approving the increase. Viar says Michigan’s weak economy made it fiscally irresponsible to approve any increases in compensation. Maccarone contends that the increase simply keeps up with changes in the cost-of-living. The incoming Board can vote to approve an increase once it is seated.

l A group of five eighth-grade students and two teachers from Ramallah, Palestine visit Utica for the month as part of St. Lawrence Parish’s “Peace Project,” an initiative that seeks to increase understanding between Catholics in the United States and the Middle East. During the visit the group attends a Detroit Tigers baseball game, takes a trip to Cedar Point and participates in several community outreach programs and conferences before returning to Palestine in November.

l Shelby Township resident Thomas Turner is arrested on Oct. 19 on charges of home invasion and assault. Turner, best-known for his vocal behavior at Shelby Township Board of Trustees meetings, allegedly enters a neighbor’s home and strikes a woman after two teenage girls rang his doorbell. Turner posts a $10,000 bond and is ordered to stay in his home under house arrest with a tether, leaving the home only for work and doctor’s appointments. He is due back in court in January and, if found guilty of the most serious offense, could face up to five years in prison.

November:

l Approximately 33 percent of Utica’s registered voters turn out to the polls on Nov. 6. Voters choose to re-elect Mayor Jacqueline Noonan to another two-year term over challenger Ken Shepherd. Voters also choose to re-elect incumbent City Council members Jerry Baker, Marry Figurski and Joyce Kraft to four-year terms.

l Two pedestrian bridges that link the east and west sides of Shelby Township are officially dedicated on Nov. 16. The bridges, which allow safe pedestrian and bicycle crossing over M-53, are part of a $2.7 million construction project over the summer. Funds for the project had initially been offered by the Michigan Department of Transportation in 2004, but cost escalations caused the project to be delayed until its approval in 2006. The project was funded by $1,187,500 in grants by MDOT with the remaining balance coming from the township’s bridge and highway funds. The 22 Mile Bridge is dedicated to Donald Pitzen, a sidewalk committee member who was instrumental in securing funding and support for the project; Pitzen died in October 2006, only a month after the project was approved. His wife and grandchildren take the ceremonial first walk over the bridge.

December:

l A new traffic light installed at the 24 Mile and Van Dyke intersection in Shelby Township initially causes confusion among drivers. The signal, only the third in Macomb County, includes a red, yellow, green and blinking-yellow light. The blinking yellow replaces the flashing red left-hand turn and is part of a new standard being implemented across the nation. Officials from the Road Commission of Macomb County say the traffic light is statistically safer and more efficient than the blinking red left-hand turn.

l Utica Mayor Jacqueline Noonan addresses the Michigan National Resources Trust Fund Board of Trustees on Dec. 4 to request funding for a hike and bike trail through Utica. The trail will be part of a larger trail that will eventually connect Stony Creek and Metro Beach Metroparks and has been in discussion for years. The MNR Board recommends $350,000 in grants to assist the city with the trail’s completion. Additional funding will be requested through grants to help construct the trail. The funds still must be appropriated and will likely arrive in fall 2008.

l The first major snow of the 2007-08 winter season arrives on Dec. 16, dumping an estimated 6-10 inches of snow on Macomb County. Crews from the Utica Department of Public Works are called in to work at 7 p.m. Dec. 15 in preparation for the snowfall; DPW director Bill Lang says the roads are clear and crews are sent home by 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Shelby Township, whose roads are cleared by the RCMC, still has several roads covered later in the week, although Maccarone said that the crews are working to get to them. Classes in the Utica Community Schools district are cancelled on Dec. 17 but resume the next day.