Voter forums held, guides released

DEARBORN HEIGHTS — The League of Women Voters hosted a City Council forum for both Dearborn and Dearborn Heights on Sept. 29 and 30, coinciding with the release of their new non-partisan voter guide just over a month out from the city’s general elections.

At the Dearborn Heights council forum at City Hall, Proposition O, the Operating Millage Renewal, was explained to the gathered audience as was the Henry Ford Community College’s Millage Continuation Proposal.

Details of the proposals can be found in the voter’s guide, which can be found at libraries, City Hall, in senior centers, The Arab American News main office, 5706 Chase Road in Dearborn, and online at www.lwvddh.org.

The voter’s guide features mock ballots and profiles on each candidate in the races for mayor, treasurer, clerk, city council, and school board seats.

The forums can be seen on local public TV in their entirety leading up to the November 3rd elections, which run from 7 a.m.-8 p.m.

Michigan poverty rate climbs to 14.4 percent

LANSING — About one in every seven people in Michigan — 14.4 percent — lived in poverty in 2008, up from 14 percent in 2007, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released Sept 29.

Poverty climbed for the second year in a row in Michigan, the only state with that distinction. Nearly one in every four young children lived in families below the poverty line, the report said.

“We don’t need a Census report to know that people are hurting in Michigan, but this gives proof to our policymakers that a shared pain approach was not appropriate,” said Karen Holcomb-Merrill, of the Michigan League for Human Services, an advocacy group for low-income citizens currently fighting to keep safety-net services from being cut from the state budget.

“We need a balanced and reasonable approach,” said the group’s president and CEO Sharon Parks. “The cuts-only avenue will further drive Michigan into a downward spiral of poverty and despair.”

Michigan’s poverty rate has jumped by 43 percent since 2000, when 10.1 percent lived in poverty, below the national average.

The poverty level in 2008 was just over $17,000 for a family of three and about $22,000 for a family of four.

Carl Rashid, Jr.

Arab American appointed Oakwood trustee
DEARBORN — Oakwood Healthcare System announced last week the appointment of Carl Rashid, Jr., of Grosse Pointe Woods, to its Board of Trustees.

Rashid, a vice president and director with the Butzel Long law firm in Detroit, was honored in 2007 by the American Arab Professional Network as “Arab American Professional of the Year.”

Rashid has served as a Trustee of the Downtown Detroit Partnership and on the board of the American Arab Chamber of Commerce.

County provides students with free backpacks

DETROIT— County Executive Robert Ficano has been teaming with local community organizations to hand out backpacks to students through the Wayne County Back-to-School Program.

He teamed with the Arab American and Chaldean Council on Sept. 17 to hand supplies out to 100 area underprivileged children. On Sept. 29 he teamed with ACCESS to help another 100 students at Salina Elementary and Intermediate School in Dearborn start the school year on the right foot. On Sept. 30 he did the same at Star Academy charter school in Dearborn Heights. The blue backpacks were each filled with a notebook, a folder, crayons, pens, pencils and a ruler.

“You can be anything you want,” Ficano told Salina students. “The most important foundation you can have is reading.”

“Not only does this program provide essential tools for education,” he said at the ACC event, “but it helps elevate self-esteem for those children in need.”

Councilman’s home damaged in fire

DEARBORN — The home of City Councilman Robert Abraham was severely damaged in a fire Sept. 27.

No humans were hurt in the fire, though the family pet, a golden labrador named Dublin, died. The family is staying at Abraham’s father’s nearby home. Abraham said the fire likely started with an electrical failure in the basement.

He said the support he’s received from the community has been overwhelming.

“In Dearborn and a lot of places around Michigan,” he said, “it’s always the same people who were themselves in need yesterday who are the first to say ‘let me know how I can help.’

…We’re asking people that if they want to show their support, to make a donation to the Dearborn Animal Shelter .”

Donations can be made online at www.dearborn-animals.com.