Behind the Headlines

By Stephanie Ariganello; stephaniea@monroenews.com

Browsing through the paper this weekend, I was drawn to the classified ad that simply read: “MUSKRAT MEATS Call Bill at …” How could anyone pass that up? (I’m fond of packages of nuts that label their innards as meats, like walnut meats or almond meats. I think that was in play here.) I was so taken by it, I didn’t even realize it was under the wanted to buy heading rather than the for sale heading.

So I called, wondering about these mysterious muskrat meats. Were they available? Where did they come from? Bill, the man seeking the meats, clarified. He wanted some muskrats for bear hunting. He usually uses beavers to draw bears close, but beavers have become scarce - harder to find and more expensive. So he figured muskrats were a none-to-distant relative and they would probably work, too. Hence the ad, seeking the meats.

He said they used to be available at Monroe Frozen Foods, and he could satiate his need for muskrat whenever he needed to. While this batch he wants for hunting, he said they used to trap them at the creek near his home and his mom would cook them up in creamed corn for big family dinners. But he’s having a hard time locating any muskrat. Bill said he keeps hearing about all the muskrat dinners and has been wondering if they’ve cornered the market. So his question is: where does one acquire muskrat around here?

Apparently he’s not the only one. About 20 minutes before I phoned him, he said he got another call asking how much he was charging.

This seems like a uniquely Monroe thing. What do you think?

By Stephanie Ariganello;
stephaniea@monroenews.com

Hey everybody, I’ll be working on a local response to the President’s State of the Union speech tonight. It’s set for all major basic channels, 9 p.m.
Are you planning on watching it? I’d like to talk to you after the speech if you are, just to get your impressions.
So, please contact me and let me know if you’d be willing to chat via phone or email. That’d be great. Thanks.

Call me at 734-240-5773 or email the aforementioned email address. I would post it hyperlinked, but would rather not be swarmed with spamtastic spam.
And if you think watching the state of the union is a snooze, check out http://www.drinkinggame.us/ where even presidential policy can be turned into boozing and prankery. While I don’t particularly advocate getting wasted while watching government addresses, if it gets you involved, more power to ya. Just be responsible about it, please and thank you.

In case you were wondering:

“The Michigan State Police (MSP) is announcing that a widely distributed e-mail message about a “30-day speeding ticket frenzy” to be conducted by the MSP is completely false. There is no such effort underway at this time, or any time in the future, to generate revenue through the issuance of traffic citations. Citizens should regard the warning as nothing more than an urban legend.

Versions of this e-mail have been circulating in cyberspace for a few years. Several other states including New Jersey, Hawaii, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Oklahoma have also been targeted in this hoax.“

By Stephanie Ariganello; stephaniea@monroenews.com

Google Maps recently launched their “street view” feature for Detroit. You can type Detroit, MI United States into Google and come up with a map of the city. Click the “street view” option to the left of the usual options and certain areas of the city will become highlighted in blue. You can pretty much click where ever on the blue parts and zoom in to street level. The idea is that you can see what you would see if you were standing there.

It’s really kind of neat. They’ve been doing this for awhile and there was some buzz when it first launched, but the fact that Detroit was added is important. It maps all the way down to Woodhaven and Trenton, stopping just short of Huron River Drive, and Monroe County. It also goes west as far as Plymouth in spots.

Detroit street view now joins the ranks of other cities like Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, LA, Minneapolis, NYC, Philadelphia, Portland, Orlando, Tucson, and a few others.

What I like is that you can get a feel for a place never having been there or check out where you grew up, if you happened to grow up in one of the cities that offers the feature. It takes a while to load, but once you’re at the spot you want to be at, you can zoom in, look all around, and travel down the street. So, if you’ve never been to central park, but would like to know what it looks like, go for a visit. It would be helpful also if you’re planning to go somewhere like downtown Detroit and want to get a feel for where the entrance is, where you can park, etc.
Click here for a place to start.

Ms. Shawna just called in another dispatch. This time, she’s waiting in line at Target, which she predicts will take a total of 1.5 hours to reach the register.

And the scene was “pandemonium insane.” Our friend and yours said there was almost a fist fight among the rosy-cheeked shoppers after the line had to be shifted so people could continue to walk through the store.

Walmart she found to be busy, but orderly. Target being the most insane by far. Next up is KMart and Meijer.

I made the mistake of asking if she was done after the next store or two.

“No, no, no!”

My goodness, the stamina required. After hitting up other stores in Monroe, Ms. Shawna was planning on trading her sister in for her kids and hubby, going up to Taylor for other stores, grabbing some lunch and “we’re making a day of it.”

So, if by 11 a.m., you’ve already been out for 8+ hours, doesn’t that kind of qualify as making a day out of it? I know I’m ready for bed and I haven’t been up for nearly as long.

A short amount of time later:

At Staples, three young men decided they would set up hobo shop, pitching a makeshift tent and waiting things out in the comfort of their space heated room on air matresses. They said they were in line since about 4 p.m. yesterday. Laptops were the hot thing.

The people gathered there, though most were not together, seemed to have a certain camaraderie about them. It seemed like a kinder, gentler shopping experience.

Shawna reported, that even though she and her sister were some of the first shoppers at Old Navy, there was no MP3 player to be had. They grabbed their stuff and got in line, but were told that only the first 39 people who got wristbands when they came in the doors were eligible for the free gift. She definitely felt shafted, she said.

Bath and Body Works and other mall stores, though, Shawna reported were moving along swimmingly.

By Stephanie Ariganello/stephaniea@monroenews.com

Just got back from some Black Friday shopping craziness. Mary Mary, the photographer, and I went out to capture the mood and drama of the morning. In the meantime, Shawna from MonroeParenting, has been checking in via phone calls to update us on her shopping experience.

First stop was Kohl’s where the doors were posted as opening at 4 a.m.. In a rare treat, and because everyone sang Jingle Bells so nicely, they opened the doors at 10 minutes until 4 a.m. Shawna, along with many others were out mere minutes later. Hot items: KitchenAid mixers for super cheap (with rebate). Toys were flying off the shelves. The only department not hopping, which was kind of a nice little respite: the men’s department.

Next over to Walmart where the doors were opening at 5 a.m. Line hoppers was the name of the game. Some people had been waiting forever there, and when the doors opened, there was a crush of people swarming from the fronts park of the parking lot, not lining up like good little shoppers should. The people at the front were Mad. That poor one employee - he was standing at the doors, trying to limit things a little. It wasn’t long before he lost total control. My favorite was a woman who had a shopping cart, talking on a cell phone. She was not maneuvering well and the cart was sideways, blocking people. It was a potential nightmare (think bottled waters of the Mississippi kind of pressure building behind her). The employee snagged the cart and admonished the woman, who didn’t even seem to blink and she continued talking.

The topper was the police cruiser, driving slowly past the line - just letting people know he was there. Nice. Happy Holidays!

More later.

Stephanie Ariganello; stephaniea@monroenews.com

Well, I finally found out what a feather party is - and it’s not nearly as exciting as I thought it was going to be. (Although, I have to admit I was a little leery when I kept seeing the sign for one at my local American Legion place, conjuring images I just didn’t want floating around in my brain.)

The Feather Parties are bingo/gaming parties where the participants win various assortments of fowl. They’re usually held to raise money for a church group or veteran’s organization.

I was looking for more information on them since I’ve been seeing signs and only really turned up links to Michigan. Is it true - are feather parties exclusive to the Mitten?

In recent years, there have been what I like to think of as old-timey raids on different events in southeastern Michigan because of the mix of gambling and booze.

Have you ever been to a feather party? What’s your favorite fact or story about feather parties?

(Above cartoon from www.kevscartoons.com)

“We desperately need help. We urge people to please donate blood immediately, particularly if you are type O-negative or O-positive.” So said a spokesperson for the Red Cross.
Donations of all blood types are needed immediately.

Blood transfusions are used for trauma victims, heart surgery, organ transplants, women suffering from complications during childbirth, and patients receiving treatment for leukemia, cancer or other diseases. If not for the commitment of volunteer blood donors, the lives of the patients would be in jeopardy.
For information on open blood drives, call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE (1-800-448-3543), or visit the Western Lake Erie Region web site at www.givebloodtoday.org
To donate blood you must be at least 17 years old, weigh at least 110 pounds, be in general good health and provide a valid photo ID upon donation.

Do you give blood regularly? I used to attempt it, but apparently my veins are difficult to tap into. I also had the image of them forgetting about me and the bag swelling and swelling while I become dehydrated of all liquids. As realistic as that is - maybe it’s time to get back to the needles.

Do you ever get to that point where your brain is just full and it’s kind of like that giant bingo drum where the ping pong balls are turned over and over and you’re trying to pull out a B12 but it’s just not working because you keep coming up with O64 or some such?

Yeah, well, the last week has been a little like that.

In between the fair, the bridge collapse in my old city, Minneapolis, and the truly interesting things going on in the community, the news business has been bustling. Don’t get me wrong - I’m not complaining. I love being in the thick of it. It’s just been a little jumbly.

I wanted to post an update of things to come:

* I got a copy of the city pension board expense reports for NCPERS, aka the Hawaii Conference, and hope to post the totals spent later today.
* A story on county and city expenses at that conference will be forthcoming.
* A deeper look at the issue between the Monroe Center and the Commission on Aging.
* A local guy in the Coast Guard, stationed in Alaska, recently helped search for Japanese soldier remains from WWII on a small island.
Let me know if there are any stories you would like to see in the paper or online.

It’s really quite warm outside. I was out there earlier for the demolition of the Jeep towers in Toledo. I wilted and the batteries in my camera repeatedly died. (although the camera reported that they were “exhausted” so maybe they just needed to rest awhile before kicking up the juice again.)
But before wilting, I stepped in some irony. At the Jeep ceremony in Liberty Park, Toledo, there was quite a little spread. Part of it was these little foam brick replicas painted orange with the word “JEEP” on one side. I think they were meant to be commemorative. However, one of the workers pointed out to me a little sticker on the foam brick.

“China.” As in made in China. The worker said, if that isn’t irony, I don’t know what is. Before too much longer, all of the stickers had been removed. However, the few novelty bricks that had escaped before the organizers noticed still bore the mark.

I spoke with a woman earlier tonight whose dog went missing two weeks ago. Apparently the Dachshund escaped through a little trench dug under the fence by the other dog in the yard. A witness reportedly spotted the little dog in the road and watched while a blue van stopped, slid the door open and nabbed the little gal. The witness initially thought, ‘oh, what nice people to stop and help the dog’ - but when she saw the flyer for the missing dog a day or two later, realized it never made it home.

The woman whose dog is missing is sure that it was a dog-napping. From the eye-witness account, it sounds like it. Within the same week, another pet owner reported a blue van stopping in their driveway, apparently trying to coerce their little dog inside. A woman was in the yard chasing the dog. When the owners went out and said what the heck are you doing? she responded that she was part of an animal rescue and was attempting to rescue the dog. When the owner responded that the dog did not need rescuing the woman reportedly jumped back into the van and the driver sped off.

Something seems fishy. I haven’t had a chance to investigate this just yet, but was wondering if anyone else had seen or heard anything like this happening. Has this ever happened before in Monroe or nearby counties? The targets - if it’s fair to call them that - have all been little dogs.