Behind the Headlines

By: Michelle Swartz

I covered Monday night’s kickoff celebration of the annual Big Read of Monroe County. It was held at the La-Z-Boy Center at the college.

I was impressed with how many people attended, especially the range of ages. I talked to teenage students as young as 15, which is quite refreshing. Most people picked up free copies of “The Great Gatsby” novel and then watched the movie.

There had to be around 200 people attending the event. I guess it’s nice to see — in this world obsessed with technology — that warming up to a good book remains a favorite pasttime.  

I even ran into my high school English teacher who now teaches at the college. It was good seeing you, Mrs. Venier! And thanks for all the English lessons that helped me land my job!! 

Hope to see you all there again next year!

Look up Michelle Swartz’s story about the Big Read kickoff at monroenews.com. — Paula Wethington

By Paula Wethington

I’ve been participating in the Monroe County Big Read since its 2007 launch with Fahrenheit 451. Now, to be fair, Ray Bradbury is one of my favorite science fiction authors so that was the perfect book to coax me into participating in a community literacy campaign.

The 2008 Big Read book was To Kill a Mockingbird.

The 2009 Big Read book is The Great Gatsby.

My co-worker Michelle Swartz will have a report for The Monroe Evening News Tuesday, but it has become somewhat of a tradition for the reporters to post Big Read blog reports here at Behind the Headlines.

If you were in the audience tonight during the kickoff event at the La-Z-Boy Center, you were able to get FREE books, study guides, CD-Roms and even a T-shirt if you wanted one. (No, I’m not a T-shirt collector. I don’t wear too many souvenir shirts).

There was live jazz music for the prelude, and the film festival viewing featured the 1974 cinema adaptation of the book.

And if you were there, you probably saw several of my co-workers, one of the other bloggers at BlogsMonroe, and at least one MonroeTalks member in the lobby. They weren’t there just to report on the event. They were there to enjoy it.

The local planning committee is already working on its bid for a 2010 Big Read campaign.

In the meantime, go to the Big Read campaign page and pick an event or two to participate in. I plan to attend at least one more film festival.

This notice is a cross-post from Monroe on a Budget:

By Paula Wethington

My reporting job at The Monroe Evening News includes getting the non-profit and charity announcements scheduled for the Community Page in our print edition and posted in our on-line calendar at MonroeTalks.

The Mom 2 Mom sale concept has really caught on in Monroe County, with several such events taking place this spring. This is a huge jump in traffic. It was only about a year ago that this rummage sale concept, which has been popular in metro Detroit for several years, started popping up locally. Mom 2 Mom sales are multi-family garage sales that feature only kids’ stuff, and are typically sponsored by a church, school or mother’s club.

Unfortunately, I’m seeing Mom 2 Mom sale notices being directed to people all over the newsroom, with requests that they run in sections where rummage sale notices don’t normally appear.

I have to be firm on this procedure because so many of you are announcing Mom 2 Mom sales now. I can guarantee space on Community Page for any local non-profit event if the notice arrives to my desk in a timely manner. The other spots that some of the Mom 2 Mom sale committees have requested are space available situations. You don’t want to miss out on what we can absolutely can do for you FREE on the Community Page at The Monroe Evening News by trying to compete for news space elsewhere in our newspaper.

Besides, its only fair that all of you get the same placement for your sale notices.

They are going on Community Page.

If you aren’t paying attention to that section of our newspaper, you should be. Most of the public service announcements and free community events that I post on Monroe on a Budget are directly from the Community Page notices.

Here’s the procedure for Mom 2 Mom sales:

• Send all Monroe County Mom 2 Mom sale notices to me, Paula Wethington, paula@monroenews.com, fax (734) 240-5745, or mail / drop off the notice to Monroe Evening News, 20 W. First St., Monroe MI 48161.
• I can run one “table rental” notice on Community Page whenever you are ready to take table reservations.
• I can run on “sale notice,” which will usually be scheduled on Community Page two or three days before the sale takes place.
• We list the Mom 2 Mom sales in the today / tomorrow calendar listings on Community Page.
• We list the sales on the MonroeTalks calendar as soon as I can get the notices posted, which is often the same day as the notice arrives. Here’s a pre-set search for the rummage sale events in the next few weeks, which includes Mom 2 Mom.
• I do post calendar links on the Monroe on a Budget blog to remind blog readers of various events, and lately that has included rummage sale roundups.
• For best results, send me the Mom 2 Mom notices as soon as you have the details firmed up. You’ll get traffic from the on-line listing that I can post immediately, and I will keep the notice on file until it is time to run the information in in the newspaper. (Regardless of the event, I need all Community Page notices at least a week before event or reservation deadline.)

This article is on page 1A of today’s print and e-editions of The Monroe Evening News, but it didn’t make the list for the monroenews.com headlines. Here is the article for the benefit of out-of-town seminar attendees who wanted to look it up. I also have a previous blog post about the event. — Paula Wethington

Genealogist: document your work researching family tree

A speaker at the county genealogical society’s spring seminar reminded attendees not to be lax when compiling citations to trace their roots.

By Paula Wethington
paula@monroenews.com

The inspiration to delve into genealogy often starts with an interesting story that has been told and retold within your family.

But unless you take the time to properly document what you learn as you track down the details of what really happened to that ancestor, that favorite story will be of little use to other family historians.

Documentation and source citations were some of the main take-home points during the Genealogical Society of Monroe County’s 32nd annual spring seminar Saturday at Monroe County Community College.

“It’s how we go about evaluating evidence,” said John Humphrey, a genealogical researcher and author from Washington, D.C. (more…)

By Paula Wethington

Are you on Twitter? I really enjoy it. It’s like a big chat room. I’ve picked up blog ideas and caught some headlines that I’ve forwarded to people.

Here are some news feeds to add to your twitter follow list (or to start one):

• Monroenews. (It’s an auto-feed of our headlines at monroenews.com, but we also can, and have, made posts manually as needed.)
• NBCNews.
• CBSNews.
• TimeBusiness.
• NPR Talk of the Nation.
• NPR News.
• WXYZ Detroit.
• USA Today Money.

There’s a lot more on twitter, some of it just for fun, some of it informative, and some just plain off the wall. I’ve jumped into several conversations about frugal living and the journalism business. And yes, there really are Monroe County residents on twitter. Do a search by city, or watch who is talking to whom, and you’ll find them.

You can add as many or as few twitters to your list as you like. If you don’t like what someone is saying on twitter, you don’t have to read their nonsense. You can “unfollow” them or even block them.

By the way, I’m at MonroeOnABudget and Danielle is at newschic.

By Paula Wethington

I began my genealogy project in 1990.

I started with the wonderful blessing of  written family histories and genealogical lists from three branches of the family line that detailed several generations of ancestry and left off with my great-grandparents.

Since that time, several of my relatives have been researching one family line or another as time is available or they become interested in a particular story from the past (my mother did a report on one of her ancestors for a women’s history class.) And we do share information and research back and forth.

So while I haven’t done serious genealogy research in about 10 years, I do have a huge database of names in my computer and a box of photocopies and records. I still add to my collection  if I run across something of interest, with the intention that I’ll jump back into the hobby at some point.

Today, my assignments for The Monroe Evening News included visiting the Genealogical Society of Monroe County’s annual Spring Seminar at Monroe County Community College. I will have a report in Sunday’s paper about the event.

I’ve been trying to talk  my mother into coming to this event for the past couple of years, but either she or I have had schedule conflicts. Now that I’ve seen the event first-hand, I am very much interested in attending future GMC seminars.

You don’t have to have family in Monroe County to find this event useful, although, of course, many of the local history books were available for purchase. The vendor tables had history books and census charts available from several states. The other vendor wares included T-shirts, tote bags, clip art featuring images from several ethnic traditions, cross-stitch patterns, magnifying glasses, family heritage posters, and cookbooks featuring various historical eras.

And the topics of the day featured German ancestry, which a lot of Americans have somewhere in their family tree branches.

If you are interested in genealogy, the registration area had information about two events later this year.

• The Dearborn Genealogical Society will host its annual bus trip to the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne on May 12. The bus departs Dearborn at 7 a.m., returns at 10:30 p.m. The cost is $42 for the public, $11 for dinner, bring your own lunch. Reservations for the public will be accepted starting March 27 and all reservations are first-come, first-served. For details, call Linus Drogs at (313) 565-7291 or Tom Koselka at (734) 729-7590.
• The Western Wayne County Genealogical Society will present its “Shortcuts to Somewhere” seminar on Nov. 7 in Livonia. Topics include genealogical serarch tools, navigating the New York state census and “Playing Hide and Seek in the U.S. Census. The cost is $25 per person, $7 for lunch or bring your own lunch. For information, call Sue Cromwell at (248) 477-5846.

The Big Read of Monroe County 2009 schedule of events is now available.

This year’s book is “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

All the details are at the Monroe County Community College web site. There will be film festival shows, panel discussions, historic Monroe programs, and dances for the students.

All Monroe County Library System book clubs will be discussing the book; with family story times using the companion book “John Coltrane’s Giant Steps.”

– Paula Wethington

By Danielle Portteus

The weather is warming. Flowers are blooming. Potholes are being filled. It must be spring.

On my way to Ida High School yesterday I had the pleasure of seeing a Monroe County Road Commission vehicle filling in the potholes along Lewis Ave. Yes!

I also noticed some flowers coming up in the grassy patches and flower beds around town.

As I drive around the city and see piles and piles of debris left at the curb, I’m reminded this will be a tough week for refuse companies picking up trash. Due to all the basements flooded last week, many homeowners had to throw tons of carpeting, furniture, toys and other items that were ruined in the flood. That means more work for the refuse haulers. They can’t always rely on their automated systems to pick up the extra trash and will have to get out of their trucks and physically handle each item…

– Dean Cousino

By Charles Slat
Recent flooding has provided a spurt of business to the kinds of companies that specialize in restoration, repair and clean-up work.
Plumbing and heating contractors, water damage firms, carpeting outlets, appliance repair, pump sellers, and others are reporting an uptick in demand for their services due to recent heavy rains that flooded streets, yards and basements.
It only proves that even the darkest rain clouds can have a silver lining for some entrepreneurs.
The recent rains also have made it a business time for insurance companies, which are faced with trying to explain the nuances of flood damage coverage to upset homeowners.

By Danielle Portteus

This is a little late to post, but these photos are from the flooding last week. On S. Telegraph Rd. near Sterns Rd. in Bedford Township, there was significant water in the yards of the homes along that stretch of road.

The River Raisin at the Riverwalk entrance near the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. pedestrian bridge, 7:45 a.m. Thursday March 12.

– Paula Wethington

This notice is for our readers in Monroe County, Mich., and will be in today’s edition of The Monroe Evening News.

Cleanup kits are available free of charge at the American Red Cross office, 1645 N. Dixie Hwy., Frenchtown Township, for local residents who are cleaning up from basement flooding.

The Monroe County Red Cross chapter got several reports Tuesday night of flooded basements in the city of Monroe, particularly on Maple, Smith and Third Streets, said Debbie Davenport, director of community outreach and volunteer services for the chapter.

Any local resident who needs a cleanup kit can call the chapter at (734) 289-1481 for information.

The kits include a broom, mop, bucket, rubber gloves and other cleanup supplies appropriate for flooding relief.

– Paula Wethington

By Paula Wethington

As of 10:42 a.m. Tuesday, the National Weather Service in Detroit has a flood warning for Monroe County, Mich. Minor flooding is expected along the River Raisin.