I would like to say thank you to everyone who had supported me in the election for Van Buren school board.
I would like to thank my family, my friends and the members of Liberty Baptist Church for standing behind me.
Many wonderful people all around this community had placed a lot of confidence in me to whom I am very grateful and humbled by your support.
I do want you to know this one thing, even though I am not on the board this does not mean I will be silent.
You still have a voice through me.
I would like to congratulate Toni Hunt and Brenda McClanahan for a well- run campaign and for their love and compassion for all the students in the Van Buren school district.
The community has given you four years to help our children.
There is a lot of work to be done so please do not waste their (the students) precious time.
And finally I would like to ask the community, the parents and grandparents and each and everyone that lives in this school district to get involved.
Get involved with the school, its functions, the PTO, the sports program and help by coming out to all the different meetings and school activities.
Most of all get involved with your children and encourage them to be involved in their own school activities.
During the football season I was blessed beyond measure by attending the freshman practices and supporting them as well as the JV team and varsity football team.
I took the opportunity to talk with some of the kids and listen to them and try to be a friend to all the players.
I was honored to be able to support them.
That freshman team is our future and they had a great
Season.
Congratulations to Coach Lapointe and his staff and congratulations to the freshman Tigers for an 8-1, winning season.
Congratulations to the great citizens of Belleville for giving the students a brand new high school.
I'm telling you I am so excited about the future I could run and shout.
So I say to the school board, "Please don't drag your feet on this project! Start with the sports facilities! Give the kids something now!"
Keep our kids here at Belleville High School and you will see other kids enrolling into the Van Buren public school district.
Trust me on this.
Give back to the community and the community will always rise to the occasion and give to you.
Supporting our schools mean supporting our children.
Once again, thank you so very much for your confidence and support.
Pastor Tim McCoy, Ph. D.
Liberty Baptist Church
Belleville
Running was great learning experience
I want to let the voters of Van Buren Twp. know how grateful I am.
While the outcome of this election may not have been what my colleagues and I had hoped for, in the end the campaign process presented an opportunity for me to meet and talk to so many wonderful people.
My passion to serve Van Buren residents, business owners and citizens is greater than ever before.
This experience reinforces my desire to be a voice and an asset for the citizens, residents and business owners of Van Buren Twp., my hometown.
My township must reflect the vision of the people of our community.
To the employees of Van Buren Twp., you are a credit to yourself and your community.
Your level of professionalism is a tribute to our community and is recognized as such.
As a resident, a very interested resident, I am very proud of you.
I know more about what you do each and every day.
Thank you, all of you.
I have my deepest respect and sincerest gratitude.I have a great deal of admiration for those of you, who worked so hard and so tirelessly on behalf of Larry Fix, Judy Johnson, Sylvia Shippy and me.
I feel truly blessed to have worked with you and for this experience. I honestly believe things happen for reasons as hard as they may be. I truly appreciate all your support and sincere efforts.
I started this journey to teach my children to take an active role in their community.
For my husband, Scott, and I there is no greater job than setting the right example for our children and our youth.
As parents we have many opportunities to inspire our two sons and two daughters- public interest and community activism are worthwhile acts.
I don't want this to end here, I hope to continue to hear from each one of you.
I would like to extend a gracious "Thank You" to all the Van Buren Township residents who took the time to vote in the General Election.
The voters endured long lines in the early morning, and were considerate and kind to their fellow voters and the candidates. The Democratic candidates are very thankful for the tremendous support shown to us by the voters, and I am especially thankful and pleased to be elected to the Supervisor position by our residents. I will work hard as your Supervisor to show your selection was the right choice.
The poll workers, and especially the absentee voter room workers, deserve our thanks for their hard work at our polls. The absentee room workers were in the room for about 20 straight hours, and are to be commended for their endurance and work.
Also, our current Supervisor, Cindy King, invited me to meet with her to create a smooth transition for the office. Supervisor King has been very professional, courteous, and is presenting me with the necessary information in our meetings for a seamless change of office. I am very thankful to Supervisor King for her professionalism and positive attitude during the transition.
Thank You
Paul D. White
Van Buren Township
Supervisor Elect
A heartfelt thank you to the community
I would like to take a moment to thank the entire city of Belleville, the fire department, the police department, all my wonderful neighbors at Harbor Point and my dear friends and family.
On Oct. 22, I was involved in a serious car accident. Through all the prayers and skilled physicians, i'm going to be okay.
In this accident i had lost one of my two dogs. This community turned Harbor Point upside down looking for my chihuahua. Through posting flyers, through yard-to-yard searches, with the many calls to the Humane Society and the animal shelters, we pulled together.
On Oct. 31, one of my closest friends and her daughter found my little Chica back behind Belleville High School. She was frightened, skinny and had a few insect bites. It is my great pleasure to have her home.
In closing, I am sending out a heartfelt thank you to all for showing such an unmatched loyalty to your neighbor, your friend, your mom: Thank you.
Andrea Black
Belleville
City officials have good, if not, misguided intentions
Last week's apparent gasp of renewed breath by the Walker Project now appears to have been a death rattle instead.
Shortly on the heels of the announcement that a grand unaveiling of that plan for the taking of and destruction of Belleville private property for a downtown grocery store parking lot, Walker officials announced that the project was dead due to problems associated with financing.
The cancellation of that plan, while greeted with approval by many, has quite unexpectedly illustrated a potentially serious and major project planning flaw. That flaw was the failure of not incorporating within the Walker plan a fall-back position that would address the possibility of a failure in securing longterm stable financing that would have ensured completion of the project.
Due to Walker's decision to abandon its grocery store plan, coupled with the recent collapse of many American financial institutions, perhaps the city of Belleville has inadvertently escaped a disastrous situation. Had the city and Walker been successful last year in securing those 14 homes and other buildings, and had those properties been removed from local tax rolls, and had Walker initiated its development plan and then decided to abandon it, today the city could have been faced not only with the loss of previous tax revenues but could also have faced the unhappy circumstance of having to live for perhaps years with the remains of a that failed project in the middle of town.
And that is exactly the problem many area communities must now face as other developers in other communities have been forced to halt development plans due to the loss of financing. These scars on the community are created quickly by unforseen circumstances and often will last for years
This is not to suggest that this scenario would have happened here or that the dramatic change in the nation's financial institutions could have been predicted by Walker or city officials. However, the lack of provisions within the Walker Project plans for protecting the city from such an unexpected circumstance could have resulted in an unfinished building shell serving as an unsightly anchor in our downtown surrounded only by empty space where Belleville homes and historic buildings once existed. Not a welcome addition to our already struggling downtown.
There is however, one valuable lesson to be learned from these developments. In our haste to improve our community, and improve it we must, the best of intentions cannot, and will not, protect us from unexpected circumstances and/or poor planning. It is therefore incumbent upon our city officials to think carefully, move slowly, enlist the full support of the community through clear and concise public information, engage the best possible planners and to build into any agreement provisions that would mitigate any such future disaster.
With the distraction of the Walker Project now off the table, city officials should go to work on an initially less intensive plan for the improvement of Belleville.
A good place to start would be with an immediate plan for the spring repair of Main Street followed quickly by the implementation of the much discussed Downtown Facade Program.
Most importantly, In the wake of the death of the controversial Walker Project, it should be clear to most residents that in spite of the final result, the work, the interest and the good intentions of those many city officials who had worked so hard to improve our town should not be ignored.
They are to be commended for their efforts and thanked for their sincere interest in their town
Dennis G. Fassett
Belleville
We can finally move forward with new high school
To The Community Leaders of the Belleville Area including the city of Belleville, Sumpter and Van Buren townships and Van Buren School District.
It was great news to hear that the citizens of the community supported the new high school millage!
It is about time we get to work on creating a place that offers our youth the best setting we can provide and to show that we support excellence and that they deserve the best. I also hope that the leaders of this community will take this opportunity to spend our money wisely.
This means creating a building that is central to our community and is used by our youth as well as the rest of our community.
There also has been talk about the community needing a new library district, and I've heard people say we need a recreation center. This high school project provides the opportunity to do it all in one - to create a central campus for our entire community, to provide services for everyone - during the summer, on the weekends, in the evenings - and serving as a vehicle for improving student learning.
I hope that our leaders can demonstrate the teamwork and cooperation that is necessary to make this happen and not squander this chance.
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