l.l;n
PAGE THREE
. n' S •
FEBRUARY 13 - 19, 1985 THE CITIZEN
/ B nton Twp. t� hay
•
rr
h nth
du t s
tl
10
y
own
township residents to get their
o n police and dispatching in
working order, and concluded
that the county board ought
to approve a separate 911
dispatching for. Benton Town-
hip.
Commi ioner AI· Ro ebush
of iles pointed- out that at
night, while the county herrif
h five to eight car on patrol
the tat police two to five
patrol cars, Benton Township
has three to . out covering
just the township. "Benton
Town hip Will have the close t
car rno t of the time," Ro -
bush id, "Th y have more
cars per person than the other'
two combined. n
Commissioner Otto Grau
objected that the board was
not being presented with exact
cost figure on initiating a 911
y er
ST. JOSEPH - With all the
promi s of enhanced com­
munication and quicker re-
po s, perhaps the county
Board of Commi . oners should
h ve impl m nted 911 before
they approved it. fter almost
three hours of deliberation t
the Feb. 7 meting, ith two
10 rece to re arch and
draft re lutions, the county
board approved a 911 imple­
m ntation and financing plan.
County Clerk Forrest Kes­
ter e read a letter from Jo ph
Sieber, former police chief of
Benton Township. The 1 tter
outlined the township's strug­
g1 . nce the 30' to get a tate
police po t, en their lost
ttle to get dded sherrif
deputi in 1952, th "mil­
lions of dollars" pent by
ystem.
Janet Leahey head of the
911 Tas Fore said exact
figures ere not vailable be­
c use Michigan Bell bein an
industry regulated by the Public
Safety Commi ion, could not
predict tarrif hike and could
not, therefore, y what 911
would co t two year from now.
"The cost estimates are a
final d as po ible," she said.
Le ey also questioned
whether Benton Township could
handle' fire and ambulance can
on its 0 n. She said dispatch­
ing from five PSAP's would
be confusing for Media I, hich
handles ambulance calls fOT the
county.
Benton Township Supervi r
Larry ielsen objected, saying
the implication was that what
was good for St. Jo ph, iles,
Benton Harbor and the county
rrif, wa not g od for B n-
ton Township. iel n said
Benton dispatchers would no
th area better than the county
and would avoid ible rni -
take, such s nding in the
rong police or fire department.
Commi ioner red Baird
added that inee Benton Town­
ship wa g ing to handl it
o n dispatchin April 1 re­
gardle of the 911 decision the
board hould not hinder them
by not giving them 911 dis­
patching privileges.
Commissioner ancy Clark
mo ed, and Roland 0 lka up­
ported that the 911 Task Force
recommendation be approved.
illi A e mov d, and Fred
Baird upported an amendment
to allow Benton To n hip a
P AP of it
At thi a noted
that ince no a enda
or written re lution ubmit-
ted, a two-third m jority
would be ne d d to
both resolution.
was taken, to ubmit
resolution.
The resolution to 11
ton Township PSAP a
moved first and approv d, nine
to four. Commi ion r Robert
Burholz, ancy Clark, Rol nd
Oselka and Chairm n Ke ter
Oselka and hairman Ed Kes­
terke voted no.
Then the board approved the
amended 011 plan with Com­
mi ioners Walter Heyn, Roland
o elka and Chairman e t rke
voting no. ielsen id he s
plea d th t his argument h d
tuc , and he was urpri d
the nton PSAP am ndment
recei ed a much upport a it
did. 'I though it would be
much cIo r, nd I as
prepared to ha them vote
u do n," i n aid.
Co�mis ioner Heyn aid he
v ted against th II m a ures
becau 'the whole pl n i not
complete". Heyn said AIl-TeU
of Brid eman and th Three
Oaks and Galien area would
not participate under the
appro d plan.
After another rece the
bo rd a pproved a cost agree­
ment with Michigan Bell. Heyn
wa the only di nting vote.
The plan calls for a 237 999
start-up cost, and a 109 993
annual cost. The current charge
for calls tran fered bet een
PSAP. i * cents per c n.
m commissioner objected
that th re wa no dollar amount
n th total co t r P AP
tran fer . Leahey said tha t
ould depend on the numb r
of II and the tarrif impo ed
n lchi n Bell.
Th bard al 0 decided tIt
th 91 1 Advi ory Board come
up with recommend tion for
I ctiv routing of call in
nd round PSAP s. Several
mmi ioner felt that thi
uld b sicaUy gi the ad-
vi ry bard final y ov r
c t of lective routing. The
board decided to retain final
approval of all 911 advi ry
bard decisions.
Bro herhood week
ocu onAmerica'.s
•
immigrant hsritaqe
E ORK - 'America i
many count me in," i the
theme lected by, the ational
Conference of ri tian and
Je s to highlight Broth rhood/
isterhood 1985.
Th CCJ, hich ha spon-
red Brotherhood/Sisterhood
eek ince 1934 is foe ing
on the pluralistic heritage of
Americ in it Brotherhood/
isterhood campaign thi year.
"The centennial of the Statue
of Liberty in 1986 provides
all m rican ith an incentive
to e mine his or her root ,"
id J cqueline G. exler, presi­
dent of the CCl.
, ot only do all Ameri-
can have a right to expect
equitable 'opportunity when
they y 'count me in,' but
they also must be prepared
to shoulder equitable respon­
sibilitie in and for thi land,"
explained Wexler. 'Democratic
freedom carrie with it the
respon ibility of exerci mg
the right that so many peopl
have uffered to secure and
protect.
Brotherhood/Sisterhood
Week traditionally is celebrated
the week of Washington's birth­
day, the third onday;n
February. For 1985 r -r :�l.,r­
hood/Sisterhood (( I :S
February 17-23.
Cover
p
Continued from P 2
official appealed the fin be­
cau e they thought it was un­
warranted,
The PA e d the fine
bee u e th di trict alledgedly
failed to conduct abe t te t
outlined in revi ed EPA regula­
tions.
According to Hawkin the
P A und the chool di trier's
buildings to be abe to -free
after te t were made in 1979
and more recen tly in October.
But th EPA claim the
di trict hould have been rete t- .
ed with a newer, more ccurate
method in 1980 after the fed­
eral government changed the
abe 0 testing regulation .
The di�trict appealed t�e fine
and recently reached an agree­
ment with EP authoritie on
the lower fine, according to
I Hawkins.
In other busine , the board
approved the Junior-Senior cl
trip to Florida hich will take
place during Spring break, pril
6-12. High School Principal
J ohn Young told the board
that students. are paying their
o nay.
Total co t of the trip is
13 260 for 32 tudents. Young
id the only expen to th
board will be S4 7 4 to pay hi
bus fare and hotel expen .
Young i the only on of four
chaperone who e pen will
be paid by the board.
improvement
p. pia
Stora e. The fruit proce sing
and storage plant on apier has
recently changed hands.
special committe con ist­
ing of Supervi or ielsen, and
Trustees Martin Lane and ora
Jeffer on was created to review
the three propo al received for
legal services for the county.
Those . submitting proposal
were: the current township
firm Globensky, Glei , Hen­
derson and Bitner of St. Joseph;
Butzbaugh and Ryan of St.
Jo eph; and Bleich, Burch, and
Dettman of Benton Harbor.
The committee will come up
with a recommendation and
bring it to the board.
Th board accepted the low
bid of 8,950 from Midwest
Sewer Sy terns of Benton Har­
bor to install sewer at Higman
Park Hill. ie n said the
cost would be split between
the re idents and the town­
ship.
ielsen said the tate would
match Benton Township's
2,500 with 22,500 for the
Small Cities grant. A public
hearing date .ha been t for
February 19, at 7:30 p.m.,
to discuss t� grants and their
ue.
The board approved a pecial
u permit for Pilgrim Re t
Church, to operate a 20 bed
adult fo ter care hom. The
facility would be built on the
corner of Lynch and Broadway.
ielsen id it should be an
asset to the area as the empty
lot there at time ha turned
into' a rubbish dump."
Treasurer Boothby' request
to extend the deadline for the
payment of 1984 property taxes
from Feb. 14 to Feb. 28 was
approved. The extension al 0
incldues the provision that they
can be paid up to that date
without penalty.
The board al 0 approved the
transfer of' the 1FT district
near Pearl Grange from Fruit
Pak to uthern tchigan old
hardship on the working people
of thi country", Boothby said.
''It' a matter of how to payoff
the deficit, and when. Appar­
antly Re gan wants to do it in
one fell swoop."
Boothby said the township's
budget depends on federal re­
venue haring money, and has
sine 1977. The to nship
received 350 000 in federal
revenue in 1984, which went
to m e drainage improvements
and other projects. "Cutting
this off entirely will have a
deva tating effect" Boothby
. d, "the board will have to
wor twice hard to keep the
township lvent."
Supervisor ielsen announced
that Benton Town hip would
be pursuing both a UDAG,
to help improve the local in­
dustrial b and a Small
Citi start-up grant to make
engineering ments and
improv ments on dewers espec­
ially in the Broo field F rms
area, and on Crystal, along to
north Euclid.
larg t muncipality in the coun­
ty merit the sam attention
other municipalities half it's
ize?" That wa the que tion
put forward by Supervi or Larry
ielsen t the Feb. 5 meeting
concerning the 911 Task Force
recommendation that Benton
Township not be allowed to
handle it own dispatching.
ie n made his comm nts
at the regular Benton Township
ard meeting Tu day night.
ielsen id he w king all
the county ard commi . oner
ho repre nted the township
in part or in whole illie
, Robert Burkholz nd
ancy Clark) to support an
amendm nt to the propo d re­
lution on 911, to a110 the
To nship to handle it' 0 n
police, rue and mbulance call .
Tre urer Jam othby
critisized Pre . dent Reag , de­
c· 'on to cut out all deral
revenue ring fund for 1986.
The presiden t is