More looking back: 30 years ago, this is what was happening in the tri-community

We are celebrating completion of our 30th year of publication by printing stories from our earliest issues to show what was happening in Belleville, Van Buren, and Sumpter.
In our fourth issue of the Independent on Jan. 26, 1995, which had 16 pages, our front-page story was headlined: “Police arrest gang leader, 3 others.”
There was a front-page picture of three Belleville police officers who got awards for their investigation and arrests in the Jan. 15 stabbing in the Belmont Manor parking lot. Honored were Cpl. Kenneth Voigt, Cpl. Carl Arnett, and Cpl. Harry Vern Taylor. Also in the picture were Police Chief William Zsenyuk and Mayor Glenn Silvenis.
Also, in the Jan. 26, 1995 paper there were the following stories:
• The DNR extended the public comment period on the Willow Creek cleanup to Feb. 11, but not the full 30 days requested by the public, which had many questions. The cleanup plan had been at the Ypsilanti District Library and a copy was also placed in the Fred C. Fischer Library in Belleville.
• Sumpter Township was advised by the DNR that the requested vertical expansion of Carleton Farms landfill owned by City Management is approved. Sumpter officials unanimously supported the expansion, but Wayne County said it would go to court to block the expansion. Township attorney is Levon King.
• The Tuskegee Air Wing announced it would come to the Sumpter PNA Hall on Feb. 12. Crystal Harris, president of the Sumpter Progressive League asked for free use of the PNA Hall and Sumpter agreed to co-sponsor the event.
• Antiques on Main doubled its space, expanding into the store next door so now it has twice as much space.
• The newly renovated PNA Hall in Sumpter reopened with an open house. The newspaper’s Quilt Block of the Week was the PNA Hall, which was built by members of the Polish Farmers’ Society. It was named after the Polish National Alliance, an insurance group. Marilyn Locke, chairperson of the Community Quilt project, did the block on the PNA Hall.