'Person of interest' can tar a life forever, so lose it

When Bob Bashara was president of Grosse Pointe Rotary, he instituted a policy of members reciting aloud the national club’s “Four-Way Test."

“Of the things we think, say, or do: First–Is it the truth? Second–Is it fair to all concerned? Third–Will it build good will and better friendships? And fourth–Will it be beneficial to all concerned?” read more...

Can Valade work more magic
on the Hill? Pass the popcorn, too

Men, if you have an Imelda Marcos-type shoe fashionista in the house, lock her up. The word circulating on the Hill is that Gretchen Valade is planning to open a shoe store in what is currently part of the League Shop.

Valade, who has done so much to enliven life on the Hill in Grosse Pointe Farms, with her Dirty Dog Jazz Café and Morning Glory bakery and sandwich restaurant, is not likely thinking Thom McCann.

The Carhartt clothing heiress does things first-class-plus, so it won’t be a place to get cheap cross trainers. read more...

Comment: Even in the Internet age,
we still need our public libraries

I grew up in a one blinker-light town about 45 miles north of Grosse Pointe in Michigan’s Thumb. It might as well have been on the moon as far as amenities go. There was no library, no swimming pool, no tennis court, no movie theater, no formal restaurant.

There was an old hotel, but no one ever stayed there to my knowledge; two bars, two hardware stores, a pickle factory, four gas stations, an elementary and a high school.

Paul Schafranski’s hardware store looked like Fibber McGee’s closet. It was long and narrow with two aisles and goods and items piled up to the ceiling. In the front was a bookcase, about six feet high and three feet wide. It had four shelves. It was serviced monthly by the St. Clair County Library even though that part of Memphis, Michigan was technically in Macomb County. read more...

South's Pointe Players to bring
'Anne Frank' to life onstage

One of the most compelling stories to emerge from World War II was what’s come to be called “The Diary of Anne Frank.”

Books, plays and movies have been produced about the tragic story of the teenage girl’s hopes and dreams that were lost in the Holocaust. read more...

Quash that rumor: Only one Joe
to serve Grosse Pointe foodies

Good rumors often don’t prove to be true and apparently the Papa Joe’s gourmet restaurant, catering service and grocery arrival in the old Border’s store in the Village is one of them.

My frequently reliable real estate sources were singing “mea culpa” on Monday and advising that the rumor was wrong. That won’t halt Fresh Farms Market from aggressively serving the upscale foodies in the Pointes or considering an expansion. read more...

Rumor has it: Papa Joe's eyeing
Border's space for Village presence

Rumors are swirling around Grosse Pointe real estate offices that Papa Joe’s, a gourmet restaurant, caterer and grocery, has its eye on the empty Borders book store space in the Village.

Village association officials couldn’t confirm that the owners of the west-suburban operation (with stores in Birmingham and Rochester Hills) were considering an east-side presence.

Several diners seated at restaurant table when the rumor surfaced hastily scrambled for their electronic devices and found this web information: read more...

Library opts for off-month millage bid;
a vital resource needs our help

The Grosse Pointe Library Board has quietly shelved plans to put an increased millage request on the November ballot and hired a consultant to aid them in presenting a request for more money from voters in February 2012.

“We found we simply were not ready,” library board member Ed Frederickson said. “We couldn’t campaign for a millage ourselves and we hadn’t formed a citizens committee yet to handle the campaign.”

Instead they hired Battle Creek consultants W. J. Schroer,  which specializes in library millages and similar campaigns. Schroer ran focus groups and discovered both library users and non-users agreed that we needed to support and retain our libraries. They recommended an off-month ballot proposal and the board chose next February. read more...

Charles 'Terry' Davis, a class act,
served his community to the end

I was startled to learn late last week via Rep. Tim Bledsoe’s Capitol Comment report that Grosse Pointe Farms City Councilman Charles “Terry” Davis III died Sunday, Aug. 14. No mention of the one-time key Reagan official’s death had appeared in the local media.

Davis, 67, pictured at right, had filed in the Republican primary in 2010 to run against Bledsoe, the first Democrat elected to the Statehouse from the Pointes in the Obama voter surge of 2008. read more...

From home runs to political runs: Why Clark Durant offers a clear choice for voters

More than two decades ago while I was watching the Tulip Festival parade in Holland, Michigan, who should come by handing out campaign trinkets but Grosse Pointe’s Clark Durant and his wife, Susan.

Clark lost that 1990 U.S. Senate primary race to now-Attorney General Bill Schuette, who in turn lost the November election to Democrat Carl Levin. The day Durant lost that primary was a lucky one for Detroit. Clark, an Episcopalian, joined with Catholic Archbishop Alan Maida a few years later to found the Cornerstone Schools. read more...