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Yourist Studio Gallery to hold holiday sale See Page 1-B

Sheila Truchan dedicated her life to Saline students See Page 1-B

Committee considers lifting cap on charters See Page 2-A

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Saline Reporter
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2011 Weave the Web:
its decision with ated the opporturegret. nity to serve the The chief said community as police chief. his decision was made after long It has been a talks with his very rewarding family. experience, he I think this is said. It has been the best move for a lot of fun and, Paul Bunten me, he said to at times, challenging. But I members of the have enjoyed it. City Council, move on to Mayor Pro-Tem Brian the next phase of my life and see whats out there to Marl, sitting in for the do next. absent Mayor Gretchen Bunten said he appreciDriskell, thanked Bunten for his 17-plus years of service to the community. Marl quoted former President John Kennedy who stated: Effort and courage are meaningless without direction and purpose. Marl added, Your life certainly has had direction. You are obviously very enthusiastic and passionate about law enforcement and that has reflected in you personally and professionally. More importantly, it has benefited the people you have served. In an e-mail, Driskell stated: (Bunten) has been an excellent police chief for Saline and the community is very fortunate to have benefited from his leadership and vision over the last 17 years. We will miss him. Buntens resignation comes in the wake of the
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The

Your Hometown Newspaper

75

VOL. 61, NO. 48

Search for new police chief to start

By Jim Pruitt
Special Writer

The Saline City Council formally accepted the resignation of Police Chief Paul Bunten at a meeting Nov. 21. Buntens last day will be Jan. 16, 2012. His retirement will bring to a close his 47-year career in law enforcement. Bunten submitted his letter of resignation Nov. 14. The council said it made

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Accident on Michigan Avenue VA Hospital holds open house

Saline considering all-day kindergarten

By Jim Pruitt
Special Writer

A need for speed?

New speed zones loom for Michigan Ave.
By Jim Pruitt
Special Writer

Switching to an all-day kindergarten may become a reality for Saline Area Schools. The Board of Education met Nov. 22 in a work session to discuss the options and to determine the financial implications. While the school has identified a full-day kindergarten to be an action step to achieve educational progress for students by the end of the third grade, pending legislation in Lansing could impact the schools finances, as well. Curt Ellis, executive director of Human Services, said the state Legislature is considering a bill that would cut kindergarten student grants in half for districts that retain a half-day program. The reasoning in Lansing is that if a school is only going to offer half of the education, they should get half the foundation grant, Saline Superintendent Scott

Graden said. The state has been looking at this idea for years and support for it in the Legislature has gained steam recently, he said. The current half-day program is a financial success for the school district, netting nearly $1.6 million annually. The state sends the district $7,000 for each of its 335 kindergarteners. The district also receives $4,000 per student from parents who have chosen the extended day option, or EDO, to keep their children in school all day. The school district expenses are 9.5 fulltime equivelant staffers ($952,000), mid-day transportation ($80,000) and costs for the assistants and curriculum ($25,500). The total cost is $1,057,500. If that plan becomes law, the school district would see its programs net profit fall to $148,500. By going to a full-day program, the school district would not have to pay for
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Portions of Michigan Avenue may see some adjustments made to the speed limits. The Michigan Department of Transportation and the Michigan State Police are conducting a survey to determine if the speed limits on US-12 from Austin Road to Industrial Drive are in need of an upgrade. Lt. Gary Megge, MSP Traffic Services Section, Traffic Crash Reconstruction Unit, spoke to the City Council about the proposal. There has been a buzz around town since the idea was broached at the last council meeting. Megge said he had spoken with Police Chief Paul Bunten and said the numbers that had been mention were strictly preliminary. The numbers presented are not the final report, Megge said. He said both he and MDOT will work with local officials to address concerns.

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Megge said there will be an explanation of why they are doing this and what will happen after the changes are made. But, more importantly, try to explain what will not happen, Megge said. He said he has been working with MDOT for more than 15 years and together have increased speed limits on more than 200 road portions across the state. Saline is not alone is this respect, Megge said. He added that speed limits are sometimes lowered. He emphasized that this is just a review process as required by policy to
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City sets hard cap on insurance contributions

By Jim Pruitt
Special Writer

Beginning next year, city employees in Saline will start a new era in insurance coverage as the city works to comply with state law.

The City Council voted unanimously to impose a hard cap on what it pays for premiums and deductibles for its workers. The move will save the city more than $39,000 as the burden falls on other sources. The savings will be

borne by the employees, City Manager Todd Campbell said. The decision follows a new law, P.A. 152, the Publicly Funded Health Insurance Contribution Act, signed by Gov. Rick Snyder Sept. 24, which

required communities to make decisions on what type of contribution limits it would follow. The city was required to choose from one of four options: the hard cap; an 80/20 plan; opting out of the process or doing noth-

ing. The latter choice would have meant sacrificing any state revenue sharing the city may have received. While the 80/20 plan would have saved the city more than $68,000,
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part of Heritage Media, offer breaking news text alerts. Text HERNews, HERSports and HERWeather to 22700 to sign up. Bloggers sought: The Saline Reporter is seeking community bloggers to write on a variety of subjects. To pitch a blog idea or share a current blog, which would be featured at www.Heritage.com, email Heritage Online Coordinator David Veselenak at dveselenak@heritage.com.

BRIEFLY...
Prayer bead-making event to be held: Holy Faith Church is holding a prayer beadmaking event from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday. Participants will learn how to make an Episcopal, or Lutheran, prayer bead strand. Participants will learn the signicance of the prayers for each style. Beads and supplies

will be available at the event for purchase at cost. It will be a multi-generational event, but children need to be accompanied and supervised by an adult. Prayer beads can be blessed 8 a.m., 9 a.m. or 11 a.m. Sunday at Holy Faith Church. For more information, call 429-2991. The church is located at 6299 Saline-Ann Arbor Road in Saline. Get breaking news text alerts: The Saline Reporter and Milan News-Leader, as

Holiday Hometown Concert Sunday, Dec. 4 2:00 pm Saline High School

Tickets: www.ddlersrestrung.com or (734) 224-8725

Pre-Glow Reception Dec. 4 1 :00 pm (734) 42 9-9633 FRSFrie nds@aol.c om RSUP

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