11 minute read
Local Events Calendar
Editor’s note: Although we have made every effort to bring you the latest information, due to the COVID-19 outbreak events listed below may have been cancelled or rescheduled. Please check with the venue.
JULY 2 Adrian First Friday: “Americana,” 5-8 p.m., downtown Adrian, facebook.com/adrianfirstfridays
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8 River Raisin Festival, Ellis and Bachmeyer parks, Blissfi eld, riverraisinfestival.org
Blissfi eld Car and Bike Show, 5:30-8 p.m., South Lane Street, downtown Blissfi eld, blissfi eldmainstreet.com
“Fireside Stories: [Dog Days of] Summer,” open mic storytelling event sponsored by the Tecumseh Center for the Arts and Tecumseh Parks and Recreation. 8:30 p.m., AJ Smith Recreation Center fi re pit, 810 N. Evans St., Tecumseh, thetca.org or 517-423-6617
9 -10 River Raisin Festival, Ellis and Bachmeyer parks, Blissfi eld, riverraisinfestival.org
“Disenchanted,” 7:30 p.m., Croswell Opera House, 129 E. Maumee St., Adrian, croswell.org or 517-264-7469
11 “Disenchanted,” 2:30 p.m., Croswell Opera House, 129 E. Maumee St., Adrian, croswell.org or 517-264-7469
15 Classic Car and Bike Show, 6-8 p.m., Old National Bank parking lot, 205 E. Chicago Blvd., Tecumseh, www.downtowntecumseh.com or 517-424-6555
Music in the Park, 6-8 p.m., Adams Park, Tecumseh, www. downtowntecumseh.com or 517423-5602
“Through the Maze: Understanding Social Security and Medicare,” sponsored by the Tecumseh District Library featuring Frank Zanger and Preston Pelham of Edward Jones and Cheryl Shores of ACS Clinical Pharmacy and Sociably Secure-NGO. 6:30 p.m., Tecumseh United Methodist Church pavilion, 605 Bishop Reed Dr., Tecumseh. Registration required, tecumsehlibrary.org or 517-423-2238
Movies on Lane Street, 6:30 p.m., South Lane Street, downtown Blissfi eld, blissfi eldmainstreet.com
“Disenchanted,” 7:30 p.m., Croswell Opera House, 129 E. Maumee St., Adrian, croswell.org or 517-264-7469
16 - 18 Tecumseh’s Summer Beach Party and Sand in Tecumseh, www.downtowntecumseh.com or 517-424-6818
18th Annual Pet Parade, 10 a.m. July 17, downtown Tecumseh, www. downtowntecumseh.com or 517424-6818
Faster Horses Festival, Michigan International Speedway, www. fasterhorsesfestival.com
“Disenchanted,” 7:30 p.m., Croswell Opera House, 129 E. Maumee St., Adrian, croswell.org or 517-264-7469
20 “Hope for Headaches,” Facebook Live event sponsored by the Tecumseh District Library featuring Dr. Ashley Bailey of Bailey Family Chiropractic. 7 p.m., tecumsehlibrary. org or 517-423-2238
22 “Tecumseh Lore and Legends: Kayaking Adventure,” a 2 1/2-mile trip down the Raisin River with guide Mickey Alvarado, 6:30 p.m. beginning at Tecumseh Paddling Co., 703 E. Chicago Blvd., Tecumseh, tecumsehlibrary.org or 517-423-2238
“Fireside Stories: Redemption or Second Chances,” open mic storytelling event sponsored by the Tecumseh Center for the Arts and Tecumseh Parks and Recreation. 8:30 p.m., AJ Smith Recreation Center fi re pit, 810 N. Evans St., Tecumseh, thetca.org or 517-423-6617
25 - 31
Lenawee County Fair, Lenawee County Fair and Event Grounds, Adrian, lenfair.com
“Self-Defense for All Ages,” sponsored by the Tecumseh District Library featuring martial arts instructor Dixie Andres. 7 p.m. July 27, Tecumseh United Methodist Church pavilion, 605 Bishop Reed Dr., Tecumseh. Registration required, tecumsehlibrary.org or 517-4232238
“Add Some Spice to Your Life with Smiling Jim’s Seasonings,” sponsored by the Tecumseh District Library featuring entrepreneurs Jim and Deborah Bliss. 7 p.m. July 29, Tecumseh United Methodist Church pavilion, 605 Bishop Reed Dr., Tecumseh, tecumsehlibrary.org or 517-423-2238
AUGUST 5
“Michigan and the Moon: 50 Years Since Apollo,” Facebook Live event sponsored by the Tecumseh District Library featuring Dr. Nicolle Zellner of Albion College. 7 p.m., tecumsehlibrary.org or 517-423-2238
6 Adrian First Friday: “Americana,” 5-8 p.m., downtown Adrian, facebook. com/adrianfirstfridays
7 Tractor Cruise-In, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., South Lane Street, downtown Blissfi eld, blissfi eldmainstreet.com
10 “Get to a Better Place! What You Need to Know Before You Buy a Home,” WebEx event sponsored by the Tecumseh District Library featuring Amy Matteson and Joe Kiser of Old National Bank. 7 p.m. Registration required, tecumsehlibrary.org or 517-423-2238
12 Blissfi eld Car and Bike Show, 5:30-8 p.m., South Lane Street, downtown Blissfi eld, blissfi eldmainstreet.com Open Mic Night sponsored by the Tecumseh District Library. 7 p.m., Tecumseh United Methodist Church pavilion, 605 Bishop Reed Dr., Tecumseh, tecumsehlibrary.org or 517-423-2238
“Fireside Stories: Animal Encounters,” open mic storytelling event sponsored by the Tecumseh Center for the Arts and Tecumseh Parks and Recreation. 8:30 p.m., AJ Smith Recreation Center fi re pit, 810 N. Evans St., Tecumseh, thetca.org or 517-423-6617
13 - 19
“Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” 7:30 p.m., Croswell Opera House, 129 E. Maumee St., Adrian, croswell.org or 517-264-7469
Blissfi eld Bluegrass on the River, 11 a.m.-8:30 p.m., Bachmayer Park, www.facebook.com/SEMBA
“Upcycling with Pop Bottle Planters,” Facebook Live event sponsored by the Tecumseh District Library featuring TDL Supervisor of Circulation Services Sonja Downey. 7 p.m., tecumsehlibrary.org or 517-423-2238
“The Fabric of Civilization,” Facebook Live event sponsored by the Tecumseh District Library featuring Virginia Postrel, author of “The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World.” 7 p.m., tecumsehlibrary.org or 517-423-2238
Classic Car and Bike Show, 6-8 p.m., Old National Bank parking lot, 205 E. Chicago Blvd., Tecumseh, www. downtowntecumseh.com or 517424-6555
Music in the Park, 6-8 p.m., Adams Park, Tecumseh, www.downtowntecumseh.com or 517-423-5602
PROTECT & SERVE
By Drew Saunders
CONTINUTED FROM PAGE 13
This often deadly discrepancy helped lead to the entire Black Lives Matter movement. Police chiefs across Lenawee County told Our Town that they were generally in support of Black Lives Matter, a civil rights movement that calls for accountability for police violence against African Americans and other Americans of color.
After the movement regained momentum in the fall out from the viral video of the death George Floyd at the hands of four Minneapolis police o cers — who did not listen to Floyd’s protests that he could not breathe as they kneeled on his back for nearly ten minutes — when protests swept the world. Everyone from politicians, to street protestors, to artists, to Dusseau condemned the police o cers’ actions as unacceptable.
Bevier said he responded by emailing all of his deputies immediately, to make it clear that his o ce would not condone what happened, and followed that up by calling local Black clergy to try to set up meetings to make sure that dialogue was open. “I don’t like using the term …. ‘police brutality’ … because what you’re really talking about is use of force by police. You either have no use of force, you have appropriate use of force, or you have excessive use of force,” Bevier said. “We have accountability. If you do the right thing for the right reason, and use the appropriate use of force, then there’s not a problem. If you use an excessive use of force, that’s not tolerated and we will do an internal investigation, and we will hold people accountable.”
Dusseau said that while there has been an issue with racism in policing historically, he said he didn’t see a problem locally. When asked about the long standing historical pattern of mistreatment and violence that African Americans and other minority Americans have had to deal with over generations, Dusseau acknowledged “I think in some areas there has been a problem with discrimination. But the rebellion of not stopping [when being stopped by the police], I don’t understand that, where instead of stopping they want to run or whatever. That just escalates the problem even more. When they run, at 100 miles an hour, endangering innocent people, that’s the thing. I don’t think we used to see that as much as we do now.
“I see where they’re coming [from] …
Black Lives Matter. I think all lives matter,” Dusseau added.
Another national discussion in recent years has been a call to a return to community policing. This envisions a return to an old fashioned police practice where, instead of having a police force that largely lives outside and separate from the community it protects, the o cers are encouraged – or even mandated – to live within their jurisdiction and do more than just show up when something goes wrong. Instead, they are encouraged to go around and actively form relationships with the people that they
Sheriff Troy Bevier
serve, solidifying trust and understanding between the citizens and police when the chips are down. This would also generally involve a demilitarization of the police, as Swift, the number two Lenawee Democrat, advocates for.
“The beauty of having a sheri ’s o ce, and being a sheri deputy, is really you’ve done community policing all along,” Bevier said.
Adrian Police Chief Vince Emrick said his department is going forward with a community policing strategy as well.
Another politically charged proposed solution is the Defund the Police movement. What this slogan actually means depends on who is saying it. While some people do actually mean that they want to end funding for the police and abolish law enforcement as we know it, it is more commonly a demand to take responsibilities away from the police and to redistribute them to an expanded and much more heavily funded social safety net. The argument goes that it is unfair, and unwise, to presume that law enforcement should be put in charge of mental health issues, homelessness and economic distress; and it would make more sense from a public safety perspective to take some of the funding to the social workers instead.
“I don’t think that defunding the police is the answer,” Bevier said. In any case, Bevier hasn’t heard any proposal within the county to defund the police. The sheri acknowledged that “we have a horrible system for helping the mentally ill,” adding “I don’t think if it’s an ‘if or this,’ I think that we should still fund the police to the level that we get good, qualifi ed applicants [so] that the police can do their job. But I also think that we need to fund the mental health crisis in America, too, and in Lenawee County.”
Police leadership across the county told Our Town that they are generally supportive of increased funding for the programs that proponents of the Defund the Police movement have. While some people within that movement do mean defunding the police entirely, most people do not. Most mainstream supporters of the movement mean that they are in favor of taking funding from the police and to redistribute it to social programs that would decrease the amount of crime in the country statistically. This includes everything from a ordable housing and mental health services, to child care and increased educational funding.
The thing is that the chiefs were in favor of funding those programs through other, unspecifi ed means, rather than through cutting their budgets. Adrian mayoral candidate William Garcia said “Chief Emrick is great. So is Sheri Bevier.” But, Garcia added, a lack of social services is causing police to have to deal with situations like homelessness and mental health emergencies, and that’s problematic.
“We don’t have so many things that our community [needs]. Problems that are not police problems end up having to go through the criminal justice system because there’s nowhere else to go,” Garcia said. “It’s like trying to eat soup with a fork.”
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