Woods retirees object to proposed
benefit changes at council meeting

Retired and soon-to-be retired Grosse Pointe Woods city workers concerned about changes in their current health plan flocked to Monday’s city council meeting (March 15) to make their voices heard.

Former Public Safety Officer Thomas Hunke, who sent a letter of complaint to the city, was first to the podium. Hunke said the group came to the meeting to protect the retiree benefits they had earned as city employees, benefits that were not only promised but guaranteed by their contract. read more...

Woods council committee gets
fiscal forecast for coming year

Grosse Pointe Woods City Council members put their heads together for nearly three hours at the Committee of the Whole meeting Monday night (March 8) to analyze the current city budget and help make determinations for the coming year.

“Consolidation,” “collaboration” and “job cuts” were some of the language tossed around as officials discussed what costs and services could possibly be reduced or eliminated to help the bottom line. read more...

Woods council applauds Waeiss for
award-winning 'lifestyle' video

The Grosse Pointe Woods City Council kicked off its Monday (March 1) meeting by congratulating Sandy Waeiss, communications coordinator for the city, for winning recognition from the Michigan Recreation and Parks Association.

Waeiss, the Woods' communications coordinator for 25 years, won an MRPA marketing award for a 30-second spot about the city featuring the mayor as its spokesman. “Grosse Pointe Woods Lifestyle” can be accessed from the first page of the city website. read more...

Relay For Life set in Woods;
Council approves use of park

The Grosse Pointe Woods City Council laid the support groundwork for the American Cancer Society 2010 Relay For Life Event at Lake Front Park in May, authorizing the event, contingent on liability insurance coverage, at its Monday (Feb. 22) meeting.

Mark Cohn, event chairman for the Pointes, stepped up to talk about the event.

“Cancer does not care who it takes, we have a three-year-old survivor on one of our teams,” said Cohn. read more...

Woods Eagle flies off with honor
as council handles routine agenda

Grosse Pointe Woods City Council kicked off its Feb. 1 meeting with a presentation to one lucky Boy Scout.

February 11 was Kevin Bennett Day in the Woods.

Bennett, 16, was awarded the honor after he achieved the highest rank in scouting – the Eagle.

“What you’ve done for yourself and your family, you’ve also done for us,” said Mayor Robert Novitke before presenting a proclamation to Bennett recognizing his achievement.

The Grosse Pointe North High School junior has a 3.72 grade-point average, is a member of the National Honor Society, the DECA business club and the Grosse Pointe North football team.

As Bennett and his family exited the proceedings, the audience erupted into laughter when the mayor told Bennett that he’d get another merit badge if he stayed for the length of the meeting.

In other business, the council: read more...

Michigan Urgent Care opens
Woods location on Mack Avenue

Michigan Urgent Care has opened its latest location in Grosse Pointe Woods, kicking off with an open house on Jan. 28. Woods Mayor Robert Novitke and Michigan Urgent Care owner Dr. Mohammed Arsiwala helped cut the ribbon. The center, at 20311 Mack Avenue in the space formerly occupied by Antonio's restaurant, offers walk-in care for illness or accident injury from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., 365 days a year. More information is available at its website. Photo by Ihor Balaban for GrossePointeToday.com. read more...

Only empty snares for Woods'
coyote hunter, but game's not over

Two weeks ago, the Grosse Pointe Woods city council was told "Grizzly Adams" was working on their coyote problem. A trapper from Varmint Police Inc. in Westland, a firm that had success removing nuisance coyotes from other cities, was hired to stalk the beasts on the grounds of the Lochmoor Club and, it was hoped, remove the animals who had attacked and/or killed two pet dogs nearby.

But the life of a predator is a hard one, and that includes trappers. None of the traps set in the Woods have caught anything.  read more...

Woods tables request to restore
Lake Front Park winter hours

What started two weeks ago as a cordial exchange about winter hours at Lake Front Park took a turn at this week’s Grosse Pointe Woods City Council meeting. 

Woods resident Chris Cassidy read a statement detailing his disappointment with the council and the results of the Citizens Recreation Commission meeting. read more...

Search continues for missing woman

Divers continued to comb the waters of Lake St. Clair on Monday, searching for Joann Matouk Romain, a Grosse Pointe Woods resident who has now been missing for a week. Police have reported no new developments since Matouk Romain's disappearance from the area around St. Paul on the Lake Catholic Church. See story.  read more...

Where is Joann Matouk-Romain?
Family searches for missing mom

There are many faces on Facebook. But there's only one the family of Joann Matouk-Romain wants to see–hers.

The family has turned to viral social networking, on Facebook and Twitter, to help spread the word that their mother is missing, and they want her to come home. They've also put up an additional site, as well.

Ryan Thompson, a family friend, set up the Facebook page to serve as a clearinghouse for information and deflect pressure on the family. "Bring home Joann Matouk-Romain" was posted Thursday (Jan. 14) with the few facts that have been made public since the  disappearance of the Grosse Pointe Woods woman two days previous:

Matouk-Romain was last seen around 7 p.m. Tuesday night, Jan. 12, sitting in the back row at St. Paul on the Lake Catholic Church on Lake Shore Road in the Farms. Her car was found a few hours later in the church driveway. Police said at the time that footprints leading from the car to the water's edge, along with a mark apparently left by a person sitting down, led them to suspect Matouk-Roman may have jumped or fallen into Lake St. Clair. A search by the U.S. Coast Guard and the Farms dive team that night and the following day turned up nothing, and the water search was called off. Farms police said Wednesday night that the matter was being handled by the Woods public-safety department as a missing-persons case.

Thompson said the family strongly rejects the idea that Matouk-Romain was suicidal. 

"We know it was not a suicide," Thompson said. "She lives for her kids. If she could see the agony they were going through now, she wouldn't have have done anything to cause that." read more...