4A WWW.FREEP.COM FRIDAY, AUG. 5, 2011 BACK ONLINE: After being out of service for a week because of flooding, the toll-free number for the Michigan Public Service Commission is operating again. Utility customers who have questions or complaints about service can call 800-292-9555, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. Customers who have video or cable complaints can call 866-552-7725.
The commission offices in Lansing, which were deluged with up to 7 feet of water last week, will remain closed until further notice. -KATHLEEN GRAY ntOl lummjuMn. rJ ay on They say decision violates U.S. Constitution demic emergency and financial issues we've got to fix." Passed in March, the Local Government and School District Fiscal Accountability Act gives Roberts the power to modify or terminate contracts. By law, the contract modifications will last until the state declaration of fiscal emergency in DPS is revoked.
The cuts mark the first time the new law was used to modify collective bargaining agreements for school workers. I CONTACT CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY; contributions to health benefits to 20. Dillon previously approved the decision. The modifications to the eight union contracts will save $81 million, Roberts said last week, and are part of the adopted 2011-12 budget. DPS faces a $327-million deficit.
Roberts declined to address the lawsuit Thursday. "But I will say that I am encouraged by overall attitudes of the unions indicating a willingness to work together," he said in a written statement. "I'm here because we have an aca The lawsuit seeks an injunction to halt the pay cuts. The lawsuit argues that the decision to impose cuts violates the contract clause in the U.S. Constitution.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit, names DPS Emergency Manager Roy Roberts, who is the state-appointee emergency manager running the district, and Andy Dillon, the state treasurer, as defendants. On July 29, Roberts signed an order to cut employee pay by 10 and increase employee tion of Teachers, the Detroit Association of Educational Office Employees and the Detroit Federation of Paraprofession-als are affiliates of the American Federation of Teachers. They said in a joint written statement Thursday that they want to stop an "unprecedented power grab." "This is about simply trying to break three strong unions," said DFT President Keith Johnson. "We may bend; we don't break." By CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER Three of the Detroit Public Schools' eight employee unions filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against state officials who used a new state law to modify contracts and cut employee wages by 10.
A new state law gives emergency managers the power to modify or cancel union contracts. The unions that filed the lawsuit the Detroit Federa ACLU takes up causes of those jailed over fines Misdemeanor offenders say they're too poor By DAVID ASHENFELTER FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER Kyle Dewitt says the last thing he expected when he went fishing in Ionia County in May was to wind up in jail. But that's what happened after Ionia District Judge Raymond Voet sentenced the unemployed 19-year-old from Ionia on Tuesday to three days in jail because he said he couldn't afford a $215 ticket for catching a smallmouth bass out of season. Dewitt is one of five Michigan residents whom the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan is holding up as victims of pay or Michigan Obama to visit battery facility in Holland President Barack Obama will return to Michigan on Thursday, touring a Johnson Controls advanced battery facility in Holland and highlighting technology's role in helping achieve new vehicle fuel standards. Last week, the Obama administration said automakers will have to hit a fleet average of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025.
MASON Med student to stand trial in puppy deaths Andrew Thompson, a 24-year-old Michigan State University medical student accused of killing at least 12 greyhound puppies, was ordered Thursday to stand trial in more deaths. A judge in Mason ruled that there is enough evidence to try Thompson on 14 counts in killings at his apartment in Ingham County's Meridian Township. Last Friday, another judge ordered Thompson tried for puppy killings at an East Lansing condo. Thompson has been suspended by MSU's College of Osteopathic Medicine and is in jail on bond. Oakland BIRMINGHAM 2 men in court on charges in nightclub brawl Two men appeared in court Thursday on assault charges related to a brawl just before closing Sunday at South, a Birmingham nightclub.
TreL. Wright, 19, is accused of stabbing a guard in the neck with a fork after getting into an argument with a club employee. Edmund J. Wright, 22, is accused of brandishing a knife at security. The guards were released from a hospital that night, Birmingham Police Cmdr.
Terry Kier-nan said. Tre Wright posted bond, and Edmund Wright, who was arrested trying to flee the club, was being held on bond. I rsrll, SP r-aj jj, hi Shy im'i 'LtiM iiiniiii.il aiWIiin -rim mum -iritirtiirv it-- -ir I Photos by ANDRE J. JACKSONDetroit Free Press The new Oakland County International Airport terminal and administrative offices in Waterford will be dedicated Aug. 23.
a modern, green Oakland Airport stay the practice of some judges to lock up misdemeanor defendants who can't afford to pay their fines. "Long thought to be a relic of the 19th Century, debtors' prisons are still alive and well 23 Kyle Dewitt in Micnigan, state ACLU Director Kary Moss Solar panels line the roof of the new terminal at Oakland County International Airport. The building also has wind turbines that generate electricity. Pontine Lake Recreation Ejujmj'" Area 'rTf 1 Willials Pontiac Lake -fesn j'-' I rr1 tf qWy-H lighting is LED or energy-efficient fluorescent. Several telecommuting offices in the building will allow flyers to have teleconferences at the airport without having to deal with road traffic.
"We anticipate at least a 15 savings on enercrv costs." Van- County official: 'We want to leave an impression' By KATHLEEN GRAY FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER First, there's the futuristic-looking glass entryway. Then there's the red carpet that welcomes businesspeople and dignitaries. And then there are the twirling wind turbines that bring it all to life. It sounds more like a California movie studio than an airport terminal. But the new Oakland County International Airport terminal and administrative offices in Waterford defy the conventional.
"We want people to see a professional, modern community when they land at this airport," said David Van-derVeen, central services director for Oakland County. "We want to leave an impression." The impression so far, 17 days before the new building is dedicated, is an energy-efficient facility with the special touches that ensure everyone knows they're in an airport. It's not there yet, but a 1940s-era Pitt Special biplane will hang from the ceiling and a display case will feature model airplanes and all of the awards and historical documents associated with the airport including the first license for the airport, signed in 1929. A living wall, designed and maintained by Planterra of West Bloom-field, will grace a wall with ferns, mosses, orchids, bromeliads, ficus vines and spider plants that will help with air purification. But not quite so visible are the amenities that make the renovation a model of energy efficiency.
Solar panels on the roof and three Windspire wind turbines quickly rotate to generate electricity. And a geothermal bed 7 feet underground helps make the heating and cooling systems more efficient. Rainwater from the roof will be recycled into rain gardens, and all the new terminal, which was paid for with $2 million in federal grants and bonds that will be repaid with fees charged to the corporate and private fliers, will officially be dedicated Aug. 23. An open house will be held Aug.
28. Despite the new digs, the county doesn't anticipate opening up the airport to commercial traffic. "Metro Airport to the south and Bishop Airport to the north Thursday in announcing that it had intervened on behalf of Dewitt and the others to challenge their court sentences. "Jailing our clients because they are poor is not only unconstitutional, it's unconscionable and a shameful waste of resources," Moss said. In each case, Moss said, judges failed to conduct a hearing to determine whether the defendants were too poor to pay, whether they could pay in installments, or whether they should be sentenced instead to community service.
Voet wouldn't comment on the sentence. But Ionia County Prosecutor Ron Schafer, who attended Dewitt's sentencing, disagreed with the ACLU. "Mr. Dewitt is an able-bodied high school dropout who came up with the money to buy all of his fishing gear, tackle and his license. But now he can't come up with $215 to pay his fine and the ACLU is intervening on his behalf?" Schafer said.
"The general Michigan citizen is going to say, 'Wait a minute. Is he someone who doesn't have the means to pay, or chooses not to The ACLU said Thursday's announcement resulted from a two-year investigation. During the past two weeks, it said, ACLU court watchers observed district and circuit court judges issue such sentences in Macomb, Oakland, Wayne, Montcalm, Muskegon, Kent and Ionia counties. Dewitt, who insists he caught a legal rock bass, was ticketed by a state conservation officer. "It was unfair," Dewitt said.
"The judge should have given me a grace period so I could make the payments. I could have come up with the money over a period of time." The ACLU said it plans to appeal Dewitt's conviction. I CONTACT DAVID ASHENFELTER: DASHENFELTER FREEPRESS.COM (WATERF0RD -r-" Elizabeth Lake WHITE LAKE TWP. 1 cv derVeen said. "And if you're going to reno- (N eh Oakland MacombJ DETAIL Wayne Detroit Free Press vate, why not do it with something that's going to conserve energy?" The county hopes Wayne DETROIT Man gets jail, treatment in coma case Cornell Lowman, 49, charged with sexually touching a woman in a coma, was sentenced to a year in jail, three years' probation and sex offender registry and treatment, the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office said Thursday.
The victim was a patient at a nursing home in the 600 block of East Grand Boulevard, the prosecutor's office said. He did not work there. COMPILED FROM REPORTS BY TODD SPANGLER, MEGHA SATYANARAYANA, GINA DAMRON AND THE ASSOCIATED PRESS the terminal is granted the coveted gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. The terminal also includes an expanded U.S. Customs office, which will give officers the ability to process up to 70 foreign visitors to the country; a mini-station of the Waterford Police Department, and a conference room with a catering kitchen that can be used for meetings, parties, political visits, even weddings.
The airport houses about 800 corporate and private planes that take off and land 120,000 times a year. The have both done a fine job," Vander-Veen said. But the new terminal may attract more business flights as pilots look for an efficient and attractive place to land. An increase in private flights, however, might take a bit longer. "Aviation is the first segment hit and that last one out of a recession," VanderVeen said.
For more information on the airport, go to www.oakgov.com aviation. I CONTACT KATHLEEN GRAY: 313-2234407 OR KGRAY99FREEPRESS.COM.
