Archive - Aug 12, 2011

By MARY KAY MCCORMICK

In 1985 the Los Angeles City Fire Department developed a program to utilize community members and called the program Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). When the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) saw how useful the volunteer organization was during the 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake, FEMA adopted the program on a national level. In 1993 FEMA first offered the CERT program nationally, and Lenawee County Sheriff Jack Welsh brought CERT to Lenawee County in January 2008.

In 2007, while Welsh worked as the regional planner for emergency management, he applied for a $3,200 grant to start CERT in Lenawee County. At that time, Welsh also went through the instructor training class, so he could teach CERT classes in Lenawee County.
“I thought it would be a great tool for us,” Welsh said. “We don’t have a lot of disasters, but if we did have one, our resources are pretty thin.”

Welsh taught three CERT classes, back-to-back in 2008, and had over 50 people complete the courses.

“The response from the community was tremendous,” Welsh said.

He also worked to introduce the group to police and fire chiefs in Lenawee County. The goal was to educate first responders – police, fire, emergency medical teams – about how CERT could be used as a resource in emergency situations.

Cindy Faust, current co-coordinator for Lenawee CERT, trained in Detroit with a CERT group in 2007. She originally heard about CERT through her work with the Michigan Technical Rescue Operations, based in Sterling Heights. After three trips to Louisiana for animal rescue work after Hurricane Katrina, Faust had experience working in disaster situations and CERT allowed her to use her experience locally. When Welsh started Lenawee CERT, she signed up right away.

“It’s the ability to help other people who at the time are unable to help themselves,” Faust said about why she wanted to be a part of CERT.

By DEB WUETHRICH

On Monday night, Tecumseh City Manager Kevin Welch will be asking city council members to consider a proposal to temporarily modify the hours and days that city hall and the building department are open to the public. If the council agrees, the hours of operation would be Monday through Thursday, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., beginning Sept. 11, 2011, with a trial through Feb. 25, 2012. Those offices would be closed on Friday.

Welch said that being open earlier and later in the day could benefit community members.
“We frequently run into people dashing to get in here by 5,” Welch said. “I think it will help out with that.” He added that working “four-tens,” as people call it, would also help with a situation that has come up since the city had to lay-off some full-time staff and go to part-time workers, who have restricted hours and cannot go into overtime. Welch said they can work a 10-hour day with no overtime, however.

“There are other communities who have explored this over the past couple of years, and it’s always been in the back of my mind if it would benefit us or not,” said Welch. “Some communities are touting cost savings, but we would still have some energy costs because we wouldn’t actually shut down the buildings. We could see a little savings in overtime, however.”

The change would only apply to city hall and building department staff. Welch said departments such as the department of public works, the cemetery department, and the department of public utilities would still operate from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

“That works for them and we wouldn’t change that,” he said. The parks and recreation department would still be open five days per week, and the police department works in shifts and would not change.

Jennie (Giovannina) Mary Mannino, age 89, of Tecumseh, passed away August 11, 2011, under the loving care of her family, Tecumseh Place and Hospice of Lenawee. Jennie was born March 12, 1922, in Detroit, Michigan the daughter of Bart and Anna Badalucco.

On June 1, 1947 she married her loving husband, Joe Mannino, at the Italian Methodist Church in Detroit. He preceded her in death May 20, 2008. Jennie grew up on a beautiful fruit orchard farm. She loved the farm and often made trips to Eastern Market in Detroit with her parents. She attended Clinton Schools, sometimes riding a sled over a mile in the winter, and graduated from Clinton High School. After graduation she worked at C. F. Smith Grocery Store in Clinton. Jennie moved to Detroit and later to Harper Woods where she and Joe began raising their family. In 1955 they moved to Tecumseh where they built and owned Joe’s Market for 19 years. Jennie and her husband later became co-owners of the Tecumseh and Brooklyn Big Boy restaurants. While Joe operated the businesses, Jennie was a dedicated full-time housewife and mother. Jennie loved the outdoors and enjoyed working in the yard and planting flowers. But most of all, she loved being surrounded by family. Jennie enjoyed family vacations in northern Michigan and the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee as well as many family celebrations.

Jennie is survived by three daughters: Jeanette (Tom) Meyer of Tecumseh, Diane (David) Noack of Clinton and Pat (Richard) Northrup of Tecumseh. She deeply loved and devoted much of her time to her five grandchildren: Ben (Helen Dombroske) Noack, Laura (Josh) Baker, Joe (Carrie) Northrup, Bart, and John (Bonnie Scott) Northrup. Jennie also enjoyed visits from her great grandchildren, Amber and Juliana. Jennie will be greatly missed by her community which she generously supported, friends, and most of all, her family.

In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by her parents.

Patrick Raymond Connors, Jr., 55, of Monroe, formerly of Tecumseh, passed away Aug. 9, 2011, at his home at The Marian Place in Monroe. He was born Sept. 27, 1955, in Toledo, Ohio, to Patrick and Sharon (Wilcox) Connors, Sr.

Patrick graduated from Tecumseh High School in 1974 and from Eastern Michigan University with a Bachelor’s Degree. He worked as a Treatment Specialist for Holy Cross Children’s Services, Boysville Campus until his retirement in September of 2005. Patrick enjoyed spending time with his family and hunting. He was an avid fan of the University of Michigan and the Detroit Tigers. He was a member of St. Elizabeth Catholic Church.

Patrick is survived by a daughter, Briana Connors, of Goldsboro, N.C.; his parents, Patrick and Sharon of Macon; two brothers, Michael Connors of Ypsilanti and Tim (Licia) Connors of Tecumseh; a sister, Kristin (Tony) Rendi of Commerce Twp; 10 nieces and nephews; and one great-nephew.

He was preceded in death by his grandparents.

A funeral liturgy was held Saturday at St. Elizabeth Catholic Church, Tecumseh with Fr. Daniel Wheeler as celebrant. Visitation was held on Friday at the Tecumseh Chapel of the Anderson Funeral Home, where a Vigil Prayer Service was also held. Cremation followed the service. Burial of the cremains at Macon Cemetery will be at a later date.

Condolences may be made to the family at www.andersonfuneralhomeadriantecumseh.com. Memorial contributions may be made to Sanctuary at Marian Place 408 W. Front St. Monroe, MI 48161. Envelopes are available at the Tecumseh Chapel of the Anderson Funeral Home.

Lorena Walker, 85, died Aug. 11, 2011, at Huron Woods, a residential facility for memory loss patients on the campus of St. Joseph Mercy Health Systems in Ann Arbor.
Lorena was born April 9, 1926, in Blissfield, the daughter of Joseph and Marietta (Spadafore) Nizzardi, Italian immigrants who came to America in 1917.

Lorena graduated from Blissfield High School, the valedictorian of her class. She attended Detroit Mercy School of Nursing, graduating in 1947. She worked as a staff nurse for a few years at Bixby Hospital in Adrian. In 1951, Lorena graduated from the University of Michigan with nurse anesthetist training.

She married Ralph E. (Mike) Walker of Adrian on January 24, 1953. In her early years, Lorena and her surviving sister, Louise Hines (Robert) endured many family tragedies; the death of their father, Joe, in 1933, their oldest brother, Andy, in 1934, another brother, Fred, in 1937, and brother Bill, who died in WWII in 1944. When able, Lorena helped her mother and Louise in the family confectionery store in Blissfield. The store closed in 1956.
Lorena enjoyed a varied career as a CRNA (certified registered nurse anesthetist) while raising her daughters Martha and Michelle. Early in her career, she worked at Hillsdale Community Hospital. When Mike was transferred to Vincennes, Ill., Lorena worked at hospitals in Mount Carmel, Ill., and Lawrenceville, Ill. The family moved to Adrian in 1965. At that time, she began employment at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor.
She continued to work occasional weekends at St. Joe's even after accepting a position a few years later at Herrick Hospital in Tecumseh. At Herrick Hospital, Lorena soon achieved high respect from many doctors and nurses. There was many a night when Lorena wasn't officially “on call,” but most willingly returned to work to provide anesthesia for emergency surgery. Lorena loved her work and was proud to be a CRNA.

In the spirit of full disclosure, both of my kids admittedly swam for Tecumseh High School and also competed as Tigersharks when they were younger. Swimming is a great opportunity for students to develop a lifelong passion for physical fitness. However, I truly believe that the community pool is an equally invaluable asset to adults. We need to increase the amount of physical activities available within our community. Competitive sports are great for strengthening our bodies and minds alike.

On July 24, I competed in and completed the Ironman Lake Placid triathlon. An Ironman starts out with a 2.4-mile swim which is followed by a 112-mile bike and then a full 26.2-mile marathon. I trained for and competed in the event with my friend, Tecumseh native and City Attorney R. Scott Baker. We completed the race in just over 14 hours and 37 minutes, finishing the final 10 miles of the 140.6 mile race together. We each consider our Ironman finish to be quite an accomplishment. Neither of us would have been able to undertake this endeavor without the Tecumseh Community Pool.

An Ironman swim has a mass start with over 2,000 athletes in the water at the same time, kicking, reaching, punching, shoving and swimming over each other to complete the two laps as quickly as possible. The swim leg of a triathlon is a full contact sport. While we did some open water swimming to prepare for the Ironman swim, we consistently trained in the pool for almost a year in preparation for our event, building our strength and endurance, both physically and mentally, to enable us to reach our goal of finishing this extraordinary race. While Scott is a naturally gifted athlete and tough as nails from his experience in the Marines, neither of us could have done this without being able to train in the community pool. I hope Tecumseh keeps the pool so that others can likewise follow their dreams and achieve the otherwise impossible. It is a wonderful community resource.