Ferndale Rotary Pancake Breakfast Brings Out the Best (Crystal A. Proxmire, Dec. 18, 2013) In the decked-out dining room of Blumz, kind-hearted Ferndalians and friends gathered for the annual Rotary pancake breakfast. In addition to buying a breakfast of pancakes, sausage and eggs, guests brought winter clothing items for the warming tree. Scholarship winners Christopher…
Holiday Ice Festival-Goers Celebrate the Snow (Crystal A. Proxmire, Dec. 15, 2013) Ferndale’s annual Holiday Ice Festival had something that it’d been missing for several years before that – snow! As the weekend storms hit the Ferndale area, festival-goers ventured to 9 and Woodward for shopping and fun. Santa Claus had kids and adults on…
Woman and Child Kidnapped, Held for Ransom from Ferndale (Lt. William Wilson, Ferndale Police Dept., Dec. 13,2013) Coordinated efforts between the Ferndale Police Department, Michigan State Police, and Detroit Police Department resulted in the rescue of a woman and her 12 year old daughter after they were carjacked and kidnapped by gunman and terrorized for…
Deadlines For CDL Drivers And Their Medical Providers Fast Approaching (Michigan Secretary of State Press Release, Dec. 12, 2013) Secretary of State Ruth Johnson strongly encourages Michigan residents with a Commercial Driver License (CDL) to self-certify to which type of commercial motor vehicle (CMV) operation they perform to avoid losing CDL privileges after Jan. 30.…
City Seeks Input with Interactive Website: Ferndale Moves (Crystal A. Proxmire, Dec. 12, 2013) Do you think Vester should be turned into a one-way? Do you think the crosswalk at Fielding across Woodward is too narrow? Would you like to see the intersection at Woodward and West Troy changed? Are there places around town where…
Police Report: Ferndale Officer Injured in Crash (Lt. William Wilson, Ferndale Police Department, Dec. 11, 2013) At approximately 12:45 this afternoon, a Ferndale Police Officer was injured in a car accident on w.b. 8 Mile Road and s.b. Woodward. The officer was westbound in a fully marked vehicle when a southbound car struck the police…
EAA Expansion to be Voted On (Crystal A. Proxmire, Dec. 11, 2013) Michigan legislators are considering bills this week to expand the State’s authority to take over schools and run them as part of a State-controlled school district known as the Education Achievement Authority. The EAA takes over failing schools and puts them in a…
How Michigan Funds Schools (Kevin Deegan-Krause, orig. Ferndale Friends/ KevinDeeganKrauseForFerndaleSchools.com, Dec. 10, 2013) Please put away your notes and let’s begin our discussion of school funding with a high-stakes multiple choice test: 1. Does Michigan fund schools from: A. Local sources B. Federal sources C. State sources 2. Does the revenue come from: …
Girls Share Whiskey at Ferndale Sleepover, Sending One to Hospital (Crystal A. Proxmire, Dec. 10, 2013) Three fourteen-year-old girls are in trouble after sharing a fifth of Canadian Club Whiskey at a sleepover on E. Breckenridge in Ferndale Friday night. According to The Daily Tribune, police were called to the home at about 11:45 pm…
Finnegan’s Monsters are Invading Ferndale! (Jacki Smith, owner of Candle Wick Shop, Dec. 7, 2013) Home by home, room by room, child by child, monsters are invading! Finnegan’s Monsters! Don’t worry, these adorable, handmade plush monsters by Finnegan Mueller are the kind of monster Ferndale, MI likes. He is making a special, friendly batch that…
Downtown Ferndale Holiday Ice Fest, Dec.14 (Crystal A. Proxmire, Dec. 7, 2013) The Downtown Ferndale Holiday Ice Fest returns this year for a day of seasonal fun, community and commerce. Store will feature ice sculptures done by World Champion Tajana Rakaur, this year with a superhero theme. Rakaur will also do live demos through the…
Ferndale Considering Council Meeting Time Change (Crystal A. Proxmire, Dec. 7, 2013) The Ferndale City Council is considering moving meetings to earlier in the evening, and is looking for public input on that potential change. The City’s website now has a survey where residents can chose between 6:30pm, 7pm, and 7:30pm for their preferred meeting…
SEMCOG Approves I-94, I-75, US-23 Amendment to Expand (David Sands, SEMCOG, Dec.7, 2013, orig. http://wearemodeshift.org/node/1055) Although plans to widen the I-94 and I-75 expressways have been generating a bit of a buzz this week, dissenting voices seemed to have little sway over the bulk of the Southeast Michigan Council of Government’s Executive Committee. At a Friday meeting, the…
Transgender Day Of Remembrance Lists 242 Killed (Crystal A. Proxmire, orig. Between the Lines, Dec. 6, 2013) 242. That is the number of transgender individuals whose murders and suicides have been reported in the past year around the world. Groups like Gender Identity Network Alliance (formerly Transgender Detroit) know that this number is low due…
Ferndale’s UHS Partners with Wayne State University (Wayne State University Press Release, Dec. 6, 2013) A group of more than 100 Detroit-area high school students are learning firsthand how to navigate the college experience thanks to a newly formed partnership between Wayne State University’s College of Education (COE) and the Ferndale Public Schools’ University High…
Guest Column: Reckless Driving: MDOT’s Lead Foot on Freeway Projects (Richard Murphy, Michigan Suburbs Alliance, December 4, 2013) The public appeals to delegates entering SEMCOG’s June meeting. The sign in back, “No new gas tax, Snyder — We don’t need our freeways wider,” demonstrates our trust problem. Over the past few years, Governor Snyder’s Lansing…
Meet the Mayor: Kurt Metzger of Pleasant Ridge (video) (Crystal A. Proxmire, Nov. 29, 2013) With less than a month on the job, Pleasant Ridge Mayor Kurt Metzger has one main goal on his mind – how to get people more involved in a more transparent government. The 66-year-old data specialist is part of a…
Holiday Shopping Legal Tips (Guest Columnist Atty. Tim Burns, Nov. 29, 2013) It’s November and for many people that ushers in the start of the Holiday shopping season. As you are hitting the stores and shopping on the Internet it’s important to be proactive in knowing your legal rights so that your gift giving experiences…
Disabled Veterans Property Tax Exemption Deadline Nears (Oakland County Press Release, Nov. 28, 2013) Counselors in Oakland County’s Veterans’ Services Division are ready to help totally disabled veterans meet the Dec. 5 deadline to retroactively claim their homestead property tax exemption for 2013. Under a new Michigan law, Public Act 161 of 2013, totally disabled…
Small Turtles Not a Good Pet Choice: Risky and Illegal (Oakland County Health Dept. Press Release, Nov. 27, 2013) According to the Michigan Departments of Community Health (MDCH) and Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) small turtles with shells that measure less than four inches in length…