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COMMUNITY PAGE 1-B
April 15, 2010
SALINE
6 p.m.
Thursday, April 15 ■ Saline Parks and Recreation offers a Tot Play Group at the Recreation Center every Thursday from 10 a.m. to noon for children 5 years old and younger. Tot-sized gym equipment, toys and other fun activities will be available in the gym. Come bounce on the moonwalk the last Thursday of the month. The cost is $4 per child; no charge for Saline Recreation Center members. For more information, call 429-3502. In honor of National Library Week, the Saline District Library will offer the second of two free sessions of Bingo for Books. Children in second through sixth grades may play bingo from 4:15 to 5 p.m. in the Youth Department Program Room. There will be books for prizes, as well as some bookmarks. For more information, visit www.salinelibrary.org or call 429-5450.
Thursday, April 22 ■ Saline Parks and Recreation offers a Tot Play Group at the Recreation Center every Thursday from 10 a.m. to noon for children 5 years old and youngr. Totsized gym equipment, toys and other fun activities will be available in the gym. Come bounce on the moonwalk the last Thursday of the month. The cost is $4 per child, no charge for Recreation Center members. For more information, call 429-3502.
Friday, April 16 ■ Saline Area Chamber of Commerce presents Saline Salutes community awards 5:30 p.m. at Saline High School in the Ellen A. Ewing Performing Arts Center. Mary, Peter and Sara Bowe will be honored as Citizens of the Year; Paul Thibault for Lifetime Achievement; and David Rhoads with the George A. Anderson Vision Award. The Youth of the Year Award will be presented to Saline High School senior Rosie Voss by the Saline Youth Council. Registration will be held from 5:15 to 5:30 p.m., followed by a reception with entertainment and a strolling buffet. The awards ceremony will start at 6:30 p.m. The cost of the event is $25. Call 429-4494 to make a reservations or register online at www.salinechamber.org. Saturday, April 17 ■ A Mom 2 Mom Sale will be held in the Saline Recreation Center gym. There will be 75 tables of gently used children’s clothing, gear, toys, books and more. The sale runs from 9 a.m. to noon. Admission is $1, payable in cash at the door. For more information call 429-3502. The annual large indoor garage sale to benefit the Saline American Legion will be held at the Legion Hall, 320 W. Michigan Ave. The event will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. To donate items, call 429-7372. Parent Night Out will be held from 5:30 to 10 p.m. for infants through fourth-graders at Children’s Creative Learning Center, 5939 Saline Ann Arbor Road. For more information, call 429-9292 Sunday, April 18 ■ A “Night and Day” Pops Concert will be held 7 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church, 1200 N. Ann Arbor St. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. Tickets may be ordered by phone by calling 649-6831 or e-mail jeri. shumate@gmail.com. An afterglow will follow the concert. All proceeds from the concert will benefit building and construction work in Tennessee by Holy Faith Church and First United Methodist Church, who are jointly sponsoring the concert. Wednesday, April 21 ■ This is the last day to register for Saline Parks and Recreation spring adult softball. The Monday and Wednesday night leagues are full. There are still openings in the Tuesday, Thursday and Friday co-recreational leagues. League play begins the week of April 26. For more information, call 429-3502. As part of the curricular review cycle, the Saline Area Schools Reproductive Health Advisory Committee is hosting the second of two open hearings at Liberty School. The purpose of the hearings is to review proposed materials for pupils in fourth through eighth grade. The hearing begins at
Murder Mystery
CALENDAR
Friday, April 23 ■ Visit the Saline Parks and Recreation Summer Kids Camp Open House at the recreation center from 6 to 8 p.m. Staff will be on hand to give tours of the facility and answer questions. Prospective campers can make a craft or play games. For more information, call 429-3502. St. Paul United Church of Christ will hold a Swiss Steak Dinner from 5 to 7 p.m. at 122 W. Michigan Ave., in Saline. Cost is $9 for adults, $4 for children 5 through 12, and children 4 and younger eat for free. Tuesday, April 27 ■ All princesses are invited to the Saline Parks and Recreation Princess in Training program from 12:30 to 1:15 p.m. at the Saline Recreation Center. Young guests will learn everything they need to be a proper princess. The cost is $6 per princess. For more information, call 429-3502. The Saline Area Chamber of Commerce will host a Building Business Relationships Breakfast from 7:30 to 9 a.m. at Brecon Village, 200 Brecon Drive, Saline. Featured speakers are Don Hes, New York Life Insurance Co.; Jeff Steeb, UStore Self Storage; and Jason Tracey, Verizon Wireless-Wireless Zone. The emcee will be Tino Lambros of Coach’s Catastrophe Cleaning & Restoration Services. For more information and reservations, call 429-4494. Friday, April 30 ■ Saline Varsity Blues will host a spaghetti dinner at UAW Local 892 on Woodland Drive from 6 to 8 p.m. The fundraising dinner will help offset the cost of the cast tour to Chicago. Purchase advance tickets from a Saline Varsity Blues cast member or by sending a ticket request to salinevarsityblues@yahoo. com. Tickets are $8 each or four for $30. Tickets also will be available at the door for $10. To-go orders will be available upon request. Saturday, May 22 ■ The fifth annual Breaka-thon fundraiser for Cystic Fibrosis will start at 11 a.m. at 750 Woodland Drive in Saline. The festival includes a dunk tank, bungee run, games, food and live performers, including the Saline High School Jazz Band, Varsity Blues, Rhythm Dance Group and Saline ATA Demo Team.
MILAN
Photo by Steven Howard
The grave of Sayre Reeves in Azalia. A plot sits in the graveyard adjacent to the Methodist church.
Churchill unearths buried past By Steven Howard Heritage Newspapers
A
sensational murder plot with Milan ties has managed to make headlines recently. The strange thing is the crime took place 165 years ago. Local historian Martha Churchill said she unearthed the tale of a man named Sayre Reeves while doing research on an entirely different matter. “I was just doing research about Azalea,” she said, citing the small town located just south of Milan. A research assistant working for Churchill uncovered the story of an accused killer from Dexter named Sayre Reeves. The name was familiar to Churchill because Reeves was a prominent businessman in Azalea, then known as East Milan. “It was kind of confusing,” she said. “I thought, ‘Is this the same guy?’” As it turns out, Reeves was the killer from the Dexter incident, which has been known about in that community ever since it transpired. The problem was that no one ever knew the well-estab-
lished merchant from East Milan was the same person who murdered a man in a latenight dispute on the shore near Peninsula Mills. Michigan History Magazine also found the situation intriguing, publishing a lengthy article by Churchill in its most recent issue on these sensational events of May 2, 1845. Churchill said Reeves squat-
“He decided he was going to wreck the entire mill,” Churchill said. In the early hours of May 2, the mill owners were waiting for Reeves when he came to attempt to break the dam. When confronted, Reeves fired a pistol into the crowd, killing farmer Deforest Phelps. “Within a few hours, Phelps was dead,” Churchill said. Though the crowd of farm-
The connection between Reeves and his victim, Phelps, becomes even more unusual, as Churchill found out in her research. Reeves’ daughter, Mary Elizabeth, eventually moved to Dexter and married Charles Sill, who was Phelps’ nephew. “The really weird thing was he (Sill) was 7 when his uncle was shot,” Churchill said, suggesting it was more than likely he attended Phelps’ funeral. Churchill said she doesn’t know if the unlikely couple talked about their homicidal connection. Now that the facts have been brought to light, Churchill said she hopes the strange historical plot lives on in people’s memories. “I was thinking the people of Dexter might want to have a reenactment shooting,” she said. For more information on Michigan History Magazine, visit www.michiganhistroymagazine.org. Staff Writer Steven Howard can be reached by phone at 429-7380 or e-mail at showard@heritage.com. Read his blog at http://heritageweststaffblog.blogspot.com.
A research assistant working for Churchill uncovered the story of an accused killer from Dexter named Sayre Reeves. The name was familiar to Churchill because Reeves was a prominent businessman in Azalea, then known as East Milan.
Thursday, April 15 ■ Weekly story time sessions continue at the Milan Public Library. Toddler story time for 2- and 3-year-old children will be held on Thursday mornings at 10:15 a.m. Story times for 3through 5-year-old children are Thursdays at 11:15 a.m., Thursdays at 2:15 p.m. and Fridays at 10:30 a.m. Spring themes include transportation from April 15 through May 21, and Mother’s Day on May 6 and 7. For more information, contact the library at 439-1240 or visit www.milan- By Daniel Lai Heritage Newspapers library.org.
ted on property owned by Judge Samuel Dexter. Even though he didn’t own the land, Reeves built a home there close to the Peninsula Mills dam. “He built his house on property he knew would flood every year,” she said. Reeves sued the mill owners when his house flooded and won a settlement to the surprise of many locals. The mill owners refused to remove the mill despite the ruling, which infuriated Reeves.
ers apprehended Reeves a short time later, Churchill said a jury again sided with Reeves, suggesting he was protecting his homestead. A Michigan Supreme Court ruling later reversed the earlier land decision to Reeves, effectively kicking him off Dexter’s property. That is when he moved his family to Oakville and then East Milan, where he became a successful businessman, owning the Star Bending Co.
Local resident earns Mary Kay car
Friday, April 16 ■ Milan Wrestling hosts a pig roast from 6 to 8 p.m. at Milan High School, 200 Big Red Drive. Cost is $10 per person.
Saline resident Ginger Winter knows how to enjoy life in the fast lane. Cosmetics company Mary Kay Inc. has provided cars for Winter to use for more than 26 years through its Mary Kay PLEASE SEE CALENDAR/7-B Car Program. Earlier this
month, Winter received a silver Chevrolet Equinox from Bill Crispin Chevrolet in Saline. As an independent national sales director for Mary Kay, every two or three years she gets to choose from among four models to use for free. Before she moved up to the ranks, she earned a similar perk by meeting sales goals.
“I haven’t had to pay for a car since 1987,” she said. Winter said she will mark her 25th anniversary with the company Monday and has no plans to stop. “It’s a wonderful honor and it certainly helps to not have to worry about a car payment in this economy,” she said. The company allows Winter
and other sales directors to lease a car every two years if they meet their team production goal. “Once you have a car, they pay for 83 percent of the insurance, too,” she said. “It’s a nice reward for a lot of hard work.” Daniel Lai can be reached at 429-7380 or dlai@heritage.com.