Thunder Over Michigan Ground Parade set for Aug. 9 in Belleville

By Rosemary K. Otzman
Independent Editor
On Friday,Aug. 9, the Thunder Over Michigan Ground Parade will stage at Victory Park in Belleville and then, at 6:30 p.m., head up Main Street to Roys, next to the museum.
After the parade, the World War II American and German vehicles and re-enactors will stage again at Horizon Park until about 7:45 p.m. and then head back to Willow Run Airport where they are a part of the big week-end Air Show.
At Monday’s regular meeting of the Belleville City Council, Michael Luther, Yankee Air Museum’s Air Show Director, apologized for the late notice of the parade. He said they thought about skipping it this year to save money, but, there was overwhelming support for the parade on their Facebook page.
This year’s parade will have no vintage aircraft overhead as in the past, just vehicles and re-enactors in costume.
Also at Monday’s meeting, the council:
• Approved a request by the Belleville Area Council for the Arts to have a Food Truck Rally, with four to six trucks, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Victory Park during the weekend of citywide yard sales on Sept. 7, or Sept. 8, if there is rain;
• Heard a member of the Board of Directors of Victoria Commons tell the council about muskrats eroding the ponds, cracking of concrete driveway aprons, trees that need trimming, conditions of the fountains, and the dilapidated condition of the wooden playground equipment and knee-high grass in the park. He was directed to the city administration and the Downtown Development Authority for help. He said DPS Director Keith Boc told him “The city’s broke,” so the Victoria Commons board and residents could take care of some of the problems themselves, if it’s OK with the city;
• Heard the man from Victoria Commons say his four-year-old son and members of his family were attacked by dogs in Victoria Commons and now his son is petrified of dogs. He questioned the dog ordinance that says dogs can be off the leash in their own yards. He said if anyone is hurt he will go after the city as well as the dog owner. City Manager Diane Kollmeyer said the ordinance hasn’t been looked at in 30 to 40 years, but Police Chief Gene Taylor said he had submitted a request for a revision of the ordinance to the city prosecutor, but never heard back. Kollmeyer said she didn’t know that. The man said he had a picture of the boxer running after other people. Chief Taylor said he was unaware of the man’s complaint on the dogs;
• Heard the Independent ask about the fire department’s autism awareness drive for donations that started in April. The paper received a letter about the drive, with the writer saying he never got the T-shirt he ordered and when he called AutismSpeaks, which was supposed to get money from the drive, they said Belleville hasn’t sent any money to them. Mayor Kerreen Conley turned the question over to Councilman Brian Blackburn, a fire fighter, who said Kris Rix and Chris Zweng were in charge of the drive and the money hasn’t been disbursed yet because they were trying to find the right address to send it to. Also, the list of the T-shirt purchases was lost and they will be giving full refunds for the T-shirt purchases. He said it was on the fire department’s Facebook page and there will be a notice in the newspaper; and
• Went into closed-door session for about an hour to discuss a union contract and then reconvened to unanimously approve the Government Employees Labor Contract (GELC) for the seven full-time members and one part-time member of the DPS/Clerical union. The contract, which runs from June 2012 through June 2015, now goes to the union for ratification. The new contract has no wage changes, but there are changes to health care and retirement, said Mayor Conley.