1969-07-10; Saline Reporter

              Vol. 20, No. 44 —'Thursday, July 10, 1969
The picture ,aboye..^leftX. was,
taken shortly after midniglit Saturday, without the aid of a flash
bulb .„T, , since nature provided 19
flashfes of lightning during the 10-
second exposure, Photographer Ot-
„ to .Qunnesch,- mgpzte^ The i agged
slash across the sky  (right)   was
also captured in a 10-n'cond  e\-
pjosure...
10c COPY — $4.00 YEAR
New Assignments
Don1! Represent
Salary Increases
A complex shuffle of administrative posts in the
school system, has been announced.
"The changes in assignment are being made within
the framework of present salary schedules and do not constitute an increase in either
personnel.or salary," Superintendent Harold Hintz said.
The new line-up:
Stanley Sekerka, former assistant principal at Houghton
Elementary School will become full-time principal at
Jensen Elementary.
Ruby Kuhl,, formerly principal at Jensen, will transfer
to    Houghton    as    assistant
principal and will work half
time. Mrs. Kuhl has been in
the Sahne school system for
10 years, as teacher and assistant   principal   at   Jensen
until Houghton School opened,   when   she   became   full
principal    of ■  Jensen.    Said
School Superintendent Harold
Hintz: "Eventually, there will
"be only one principal for each
elementary school when the
Intermediate  School is  used
for the  elementary grades."
. (That will take place when
the new high school, now under construction, is opened in
.. the fall of 1971.)   -,.,«- ■•,,-;.-.
Sekerka came .to Saline in
1968. Before that, he was assistant   superintendent   for
curriculum      at     ' Fruitport,
Mich, for four years. He has
a BA from University of Toledo and MA, in elementary
administration  from  Indiana
University.   He   taught,  elementary school for 12 years,
two years in Maumee, O., and
10 years in Monroe. In 1959-
62,    he    was    principal    at
Springport,  Mich.,  and from
1962 to 1964, he was principal at Cassopolis, Mich., before going to Fruitport.
Another administrative re
alignment will move Michael
Rotunno, now High School
counsellor and football coach,
into the capacity of assistant
superintendent for instruction
for Saline Area Schools.
He will work in this capacity half-time, Hintz announced;   the   other  half  will  be
spent in counselling and guidance.  "In this capacity, Mr.
Rotunno' will not have time to
be involved in coaching football," the announcement said.
"His duties, to name a few,
will be to encourage experimental   programs   with   the
staff and insure a continuous
orientation program for new
teachers,   coordinate  various
activities of the various departments in the instructional program, and supervise the
selection   of   textbooks   and
materials.",
Rotunno "has been involved
in   curriculum  for   the  past
two years and has taken additional course work at the
University of Michigan in this
area."   In  this   capacity,   he
will be assisted on a half-day
basis   by   Margaret   Livingstone, who will also teach kindergarten   half-days.   Previously, she taught 6th grade
half-days, and worked as assistant.. ,elenjenta,ry» * principal
at Jensen.
The announcement adds:
"Contrary to numerous rumors, Mr. ( Dwight Reynolds
will not retire, but will continue as principal of the Intermediate. School."
The position of varsity
football coach will be filled
by Clem Corona, who will also continue his duties as athletic director and assistant
principal of the High School.
Assistant coach will be Mer-
viii Ward, now head coach of
football in Dundee. He is the
son-inrlaw of Dr. D. O. Leidheiser of Saline.   -
. A weak sun rose Saturday morning on all that was left of the Ellsworth Littler home, on Pleasant
Lake Rd., after it was struck by
lightning and set ablaze during one
of the most violent storms in local
memory. The family was away
when the disaster occurred.
House Levelled
rung
Typical new "Teamster tenants"
at Saline Valley Farms are the
Roth and the Wells families, who
have been camping at the farms
since the Fourth. For a while
Mother Nature made things pretty
dismal for them, but once the big
holiday storm had subsided, "all
members of the families agreed
that living was mis?lity.easy on the
.rounds. Joseph Roth, a teamster
from. Madison Heights, 'along with
his wife, children, and grandchild
(at ri^ht above), Wave enjoyed
Rw'timinp-- fishing, herrvincr and
hikine at Teamster Local ?99's new
recreation area south of Saline,
»nd they plan to stay there
through Roth's four-week vacation. Mr. and Mrs, Bill Wells, of St.
Clair Shores,   (second and third
from left), "didn't like all the mud
the first day here. We got stuck
with our carryall and trailer, but
the Teamster tractor came right
over and hauled us out . . . and
we've been enjoying ourselves ever
since. We plan to spend our whole
month's vacation here. Then back
to the grind, driving a truck."
Ed Roth, (at far left), who retired to a pension recently, after
29 years on the road, can stay at
the Valley Farms as long as he
wishes, and he showed noT signs of
moving on this week.
Said the Roths and the Wells:
"So far. we like it a lot out here
. . . and if the union does all the
things they've planned for this
place, it'll be beautiful."
Three local houses were
struck by lightning in Fourth
of July storms, and one of
them was completely destroyed.
The home of Dr. and Mrs.
Ellsworth Littler, at 4200
Pleasant Lake Rd., burned to
the ground while the Littlers
and their three small daughters were on vacation in Canada. Since rangers in Ontario
were unable to locate them,
they did not know of the disaster until they returned,
home Sunday night and were
greeted by a note on the gate.
■ For Saline firemen, the action began" Friday afternoon
when the James Marion home
at -100 S. Davenport was
struck by lightning. The Marions were also away from
home at the time but returned almost immediately, while
firemen were still on the
scene. The blaze was put out
with slight damage to the
roof: "a hole .about a foot
sauare," said Fire Chief Harold Armbruster. "Heavy rain
helped." .    '   *
At the same time, firemen received a call that a
transformer  on  Textile  Rd.
had shorted, and a panel
truck was dispatched to stand
by until Detroit Edison crews
arrived at the scene.
Lightning also struck the
chimney of the Maurice ^Robbins home on Saline-Ann Arbor Rd., knocking down several bricks but causing no
other damage.
The call to Pleasant Lake
Rd. came shortly after midnight, at the onslaught of one
of the most violent storms the
. area has suffered in many
years. Since telephone service was also disrupted by the
storm, neighbors were unable
to contact the Fire Department when the fire was first
spotted, and the house was
completely ablaze before
trucks could reach the scene.
The house and all Its contents were destroyed,.. but a
nearby garage, was saved. .
With their home gone, the
Littlers are staying temporarily In a one-room A-frame
on the same property, and
neighbors have launched a
collection of' clothing and
household items for the
burned-out'family. The little
girls are 11 months, five, and
seven years old.
Anyone wishing to donate
useful items is asked to call
Mrs. Douglas Peck, 429-4118.
SALINE-BUILT DEVICE
AIDS MURDER QUEST
Police authorities and State
Police skin-divers, attempting
to recover the weapon allegedly used in the recent death
of U-M co-ed Margaret Phil-
lins, got a boost from Saline
this; week. Unsuccessful after
several days of under-water
searching in the Huron River
near the US-23 bridge, the
divers welcomed a chance to
use a .Discoverer device developed and built by AZA
Scientific, for this type of application. *
The Discoverer, an invention of Barry Van Koevering,
president of AZA, is a ferromagnetic detector which can
Indicate the presence of iron
objects under water, even
when buried under several
feet of mud. The device has
aroused Interest among police, as well as skin-diving
treasure seekers.
Saline Junior Deputies captured another honor last week when they took the marching
trophy in the Fourth of July parade at Whitmore Lake. Roger Leutheuser, Bill Anderson
and Larry Henes,■ „above, accept the trophy
earned by the near-perfect marching of the 46-
member Saline group. Said Capt. Leutheuser
about the award: "I ~vvas surprised, but really,
when I looked back and saw you gu3rs, your
. lines were as straight as an arrow." The delegation to the Whitmore Lake event was super-
visd by Erwin Henes, adult advisor.    .
The tronhy, the permanent property of the
Saline Junior DeoUtie" now, is on display this
w«wk in the window of Gage's Barber Shop. It
will be moved from one business place to another durin«r the upcoming weeks, to give all
Salinians a look.     l .
And, savs Henes. all Saline can also set a look
sf. the PTonD in action in the weeks ahead. The
Saline Junior Deputies will show their marching ability . . . the stuff that Avon them the
Whitmore Lake tronhy and a blue ribbon in the
recent Petersburg Centennial parade ... at the
Milan, Manchester,  Chelsea  and  Saline Fair
—Photo by Film Central, Saline