They’re an abandoned but well-loved lot
The Ann Arbor News
By Pamela Appea
Photo Caption: Orphan Car Show
An Arbor resident Bob Elton will drive his 1937 LaSalle, left, and his 1937 Hudson Terraplane to the fourth annual Orphan Car Show in Ypsilanti’s Riverside Park June 4.
The cars to be shown in the upcoming Orphan Car Show share the distinction of having being discontinued by their manufacturers.
The best thing about Ypsilanti’s Orphan Car Show is that you can see cars you never get a chance to see anywhere else, said Bob Elton, a veteran car collector.
Elton, an Ann Arbor resident, has two 1937 antique cars he’s taking—and driving—to the fourth annual show in Riverside Park next week.
Jack Miller, curator of the Ypsilanti automotive museum and an orphan car-show coordinator, said several hundred people will show dozens of car models at the June 4 event. An estimated 3,000 to 5,000 spectators are expected to attend.
The event, the first of its kind in the Midwest, is called the “orphan” car show because automobiles such as Hudsons, Kaisers, Dusenbergs, Ramblers and Tuckers have been “abandoned” by their parent manufacturer, event coordinators said.
Elton bought his 1937 Terraplane, made by Hudson Motor Car Co., in 1979.
“I bought it in pieces and brought it home in pieces,” Elton recalled. It took nearly eight years to repair the cream-colored car to the point it was fully functional, he said.
“You just keep plugging away at it; you can’t rush it,” Elton said. Luckily for him, the only Hudson parts shop in the world is in Ypsilanti.
“I’ve always liked Hudsons. When I was real little, I can remember the new 1949 Hudson. It was a sleek, bullet-shaped car,” he said.
Elton was so fascinated by the Hudson model, he said, that he used to draw picture upon picture of the car.
He brought his first Hudson—a 1950 model—in 1972 and drove it to a Detroit-area car show. “The more I studied up on Hudsons, the more I learned about them,” Elton said. “They were a small company that did big things.”
Eugene M. Silverman, a Superior Township resident, will show his 1956 Citroen at the show. Silverman said it will be his first Ypsilanti orphan car show.
Silverman enjoys collecting French cars, particularly Citroens. Back in the 1960s, he was in the army and stationed in France. An acquaintance drove up one day in a Citroen and Silverman fell in love with the model, he said.
“It’s lived its life in Paris,” Silverman said of the model he currently owns.
In 1976, Silverman, with his wife, returned to France, and instead of renting a modern car, they bought the 1956 black Citroen.
“This is quite a historic car to the French. In its day—the car was basically built from 1934 to 195700 … it was very innovative,” Silverman said.
Citing the Citroen’s unibody and front-wheel construction, the car was built in a modern way, Silverman said. “In a sense it was a forerunner of what modern cars would be like,” Silverman said.
The car, in its prime, was built to go up to 85 miles per hour but Silverman said he does not drive it faster than 65. With four doors, four seats and a very spacious interior, Silverman said it makes for a “very comfortable ride.” In contrast, Silverman’s other Citroen, a 1923 model which he bought in 1973, was made to go about 30 miles per hour but it is not very stable, he said.
“I wouldn’t dare drive it over 25 miles (an hour),” Silverman said.
The 1923 Citroen, which used to go to Greenfield Village’s Henry Ford Museum displays, has one door and seats two people, Silverman said.
The Ypsilanti Orphan Car Show will also feature Cushman, Indian and Henderson motor scooters and motorcycles along with Federal al-Knight, Garford and Gotfredson trucks, event organizers said.
Company executives from DaimerChrysler and other automotive companies will provide a narration of each company’s history.
The Details
The event will take place June 4 from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Admission for spectators is $3. For more information, call Jack Miller, curator of the Ypsilanti Automative Heritage Collection at (734) 482-5200 or call the Ypsilanti Area Convention and Visitor’s Bureau at (734) 482-4444. The bureau’s Website is www.ypsilanti.org
Originally published Friday, May 26. 2000
Friday, May 26, 2000
Wednesday, May 24, 2000
Marsh’s Office Supply: a lot of memories in store
Marsh’s Office Supply
A lot of memories in store
The Ann Arbor News
By Pamela Appea
Bob Marsh decides to move his long-time family business from downtown Ypsilanti to his home.
Bob Marsh remembers back in the 1950s and 60s when Marsh’s Office Supply was open until 9 p.m. on Friday nights and people lined up to buy everything from typewrite ribbons to pens to office furniture.
Ypsilanti’s downtown was a different place then. The booming downtown district boasted three hardware stores, three men’s clothing stores, two women’s clothing stores, three shoe stores, two househould-furniture stores, three jewelry stores and McClellan’s, a five-and-dime across the stress from the office supply store, Marsh recalled.
Old friends and new friends walked in to talk and to buy products from the family business, Marsh said.
A lot has changed in the office-supply business since Thorvald F. Marsh, Bob Marsh’s father, opened shop in 1946. For one, Bob Marsh doesn’t sell typewriter ribbons or calculators, and not too many paper supplies, anymore. Not as many people, particularly new customers, come by either, Marsh said. Still, he said, the store has done reasonably well in recent years.
But because of health reasons, Marsh, 65, decided to sell the retail space at 22 N. Washington St. last year, and the store will close July 1.
Marsh doesn’t allow himself to get too caught up in nostalgia. The office-supply business--like other businesses--has become more specialized, he said.
“You have to reinvent yourself to survive,” Marsh said. “To make any money you have to have a specialty, because competition is fierce,” Marsh said.
For the past 10 years Marsh has specialized in ergonomic or comfortable high-tech office furniture.
The rise of voice mail, fax, computers and other modern convenience will allow Marsh to continue his business, Marsh’s Inc., on a smaller scale from his home, he said.
Marsh doesn’t deny that superstores such as Office Max have affected businesses. Ann Arbor used to have another Marsh office-supply store for a number of years, Marsh said. Both stores featured different products, from greeting cards to computers, back when computers were bulky and expensive. Marsh said he now gets his edge on superstores by specializing in ergonomic office-work stations and “quality” office furniture.
Photo Caption: The expanded use of computers and other technology will allow Bob Marsh to continue his business, now called Marsh’s Inc. from his home. Marsh has sold the retail space at 22 N. North Washington St. in Ypsilanti last year, and the store will close July 1.
Marsh doesn’t allow himself to get too caught up in memories.
Marsh earned a marketing degree from Michigan State University. Then Marsh returned to work for the family business full-time.
Marsh married Rose Marie Marsh in 1959, the same year he started to work full-time at the office supply store. He credits Rose for putting in countless hours in the store, particularly in the past few years.
On a recent day Marsh looked around the store’s walls, which are rapidly becoming bare. It’s starting to feel empty,” he said quietly.
Everything’s on sale. The white-out, the yellow chalk, the mail labels, even the fixtures left on the walls. The sign on the front window says, “50-75% off. All Reasonable Offers considered. Everything Must go.”
The hours he puts into work now are limited, Marsh said. In the next few weeks, Marsh said he has a lot of cleaning and organizing to do. In his office, papers are everywhere but stacked in an organized way.
“I’ve been shredding and ripping and tearing papers,” Marsh aid. “You don’t realize how much you can accumulate in 50 years.”
Photo Credit: Kirk Speer
Originally published May 24, 2000
A lot of memories in store
The Ann Arbor News
By Pamela Appea
Bob Marsh decides to move his long-time family business from downtown Ypsilanti to his home.
Bob Marsh remembers back in the 1950s and 60s when Marsh’s Office Supply was open until 9 p.m. on Friday nights and people lined up to buy everything from typewrite ribbons to pens to office furniture.
Ypsilanti’s downtown was a different place then. The booming downtown district boasted three hardware stores, three men’s clothing stores, two women’s clothing stores, three shoe stores, two househould-furniture stores, three jewelry stores and McClellan’s, a five-and-dime across the stress from the office supply store, Marsh recalled.
Old friends and new friends walked in to talk and to buy products from the family business, Marsh said.
A lot has changed in the office-supply business since Thorvald F. Marsh, Bob Marsh’s father, opened shop in 1946. For one, Bob Marsh doesn’t sell typewriter ribbons or calculators, and not too many paper supplies, anymore. Not as many people, particularly new customers, come by either, Marsh said. Still, he said, the store has done reasonably well in recent years.
But because of health reasons, Marsh, 65, decided to sell the retail space at 22 N. Washington St. last year, and the store will close July 1.
Marsh doesn’t allow himself to get too caught up in nostalgia. The office-supply business--like other businesses--has become more specialized, he said.
“You have to reinvent yourself to survive,” Marsh said. “To make any money you have to have a specialty, because competition is fierce,” Marsh said.
For the past 10 years Marsh has specialized in ergonomic or comfortable high-tech office furniture.
The rise of voice mail, fax, computers and other modern convenience will allow Marsh to continue his business, Marsh’s Inc., on a smaller scale from his home, he said.
Marsh doesn’t deny that superstores such as Office Max have affected businesses. Ann Arbor used to have another Marsh office-supply store for a number of years, Marsh said. Both stores featured different products, from greeting cards to computers, back when computers were bulky and expensive. Marsh said he now gets his edge on superstores by specializing in ergonomic office-work stations and “quality” office furniture.
Photo Caption: The expanded use of computers and other technology will allow Bob Marsh to continue his business, now called Marsh’s Inc. from his home. Marsh has sold the retail space at 22 N. North Washington St. in Ypsilanti last year, and the store will close July 1.
Marsh doesn’t allow himself to get too caught up in memories.
Marsh earned a marketing degree from Michigan State University. Then Marsh returned to work for the family business full-time.
Marsh married Rose Marie Marsh in 1959, the same year he started to work full-time at the office supply store. He credits Rose for putting in countless hours in the store, particularly in the past few years.
On a recent day Marsh looked around the store’s walls, which are rapidly becoming bare. It’s starting to feel empty,” he said quietly.
Everything’s on sale. The white-out, the yellow chalk, the mail labels, even the fixtures left on the walls. The sign on the front window says, “50-75% off. All Reasonable Offers considered. Everything Must go.”
The hours he puts into work now are limited, Marsh said. In the next few weeks, Marsh said he has a lot of cleaning and organizing to do. In his office, papers are everywhere but stacked in an organized way.
“I’ve been shredding and ripping and tearing papers,” Marsh aid. “You don’t realize how much you can accumulate in 50 years.”
Photo Credit: Kirk Speer
Originally published May 24, 2000
Friday, May 19, 2000
Their activism is only natural
Their activism is only natural
The Ann Arbor News
By Pamela Appea
Corinne Sikorski, general manager at the Ypsilanti Food Co-op doesn’t consider herself an in-your-face kind of activist.
At the same time, you could say that Sikorski—and other members of the co-op—are definitely politically involved citizens. Sikorski said she and others practice a low key but effective kind of activism.
The co-op on North River Street in Depot Town isn’t just a place to get high-quality organic spinach, tofu helper or granola mix. It also serves as a place to learn the buzz about what’s going on in the political work of food and agriculture, said Heather Nobriga, a co-op employee for the past several years.
The Ypsilanti Food Co-op, which is celebrating its 25th birthday this weekend, has come a long way sine a small group of people—many who were Eastern Michigan University student at the time—were allotted a bag of available produce each week for $3 in the mid-1970s.
The community feel of the store and the concern that members have for the community and grassroots organizing has remained the same throughout the years, Sikorski said. For the past 25 years, she has been a volunteer, member and then full-time employee for the co-op.
The co-op has grown and now has nearly 2,000 lifetime members and 600-1,000 customers who frequent the store, Sikorski said. Not only has the co-op expanded but the seven-person board has worked to repair the store’s interior. In recent years, Sikorski said they’ve also added new products including ready-made healthy frozen meals.
Sikorski said she finds that once people learn about the co-op they want to learn more about organic food and laws that regulate food, fruits and vegetables and coffee.
For example, customers who frequent the co-op can learn about fair trade for coffee farmers in Central and South America through brochures in the store. These fair-trade companies and cooperatives deal directly with the farmer cutting out the middleman—known to farmers as ‘coyotes,’ who often take and keep the profit for themselves, Sikorski said.
The Ypsilanti Co-op does it business with cooperatives that believe in fair trade an exchange, maximizing the chance that the farmers will benefit from their crops, Sikorski said.
“It’s this kind of activism—on the grassroots level—that helps people become more aware, Nobriga said.
“By having good food—it doesn’t necessarily sell itself—but people try it and realize it is a better product,” Sikorski said.
At the register, customers usually can find a petition on genetically engineered food or another hot-topic food issue when they ring up their purchases. There’s no pressure to sign or not to sign but many co-op members see first-hand that their signatures and grassroots organizing does make a difference, store employees said.
In a recent national effort, Ypsilanti community co-op members played their part in the U.S. Agricultural Department regulations of organic food, Sikorski said.
In 1997, after 10 years of consideration of what is a proper organic product, the Agricultural Department’s guidelines were still not quite right, Sikorski explained. So around that time, 300,000 critics across the country wrote the federal agency objecting to the department putting the “organic” label on foods grown from genetically modified seeds, treated by disease-killing irradiation and fertilized by sewage sludge.
In 1999, the Agricultural Department reviewed the complaints and revised the original guidelines, sin Sikorski said. Now USDA Organic will really mean organic, she said.
“We have a voice,” Sikorski said of Ypsilanti Food Co-op members and the small but important role they played in that issue.
On a local level, the co-op’s main purpose from its inception remains the same—to provide nutritious and organic food options to people in their community, Sikorski said.
This month as part of the store’s promotional May Membership Madness month purchasing a lifetime membership is half of—only $5. Joining is easy, Sikorski said. A $10 non-refundable fee gives a person a lifetime membership, ownership of the store, shopping discounts and voting privileges for board-member elections.
As for Sikorski co-op work might not be exactly what she set out to do as an EMU student in the 1970s, but now she can’t see herself doing anything else.
Saturday Events
The Ypsilanti Food Co-op will hold a pizza bake-off at noon Saturday. Open to everyone; no entry fee or registration required. Just show up with your pre-made, pre-baked pizza in hand. Bring your recipe(s) to share. Pizza will be judged in the following categories” quickest, most nutritious, dessert, cheapest, alternative and gourmet.
The co-op will also hold a general membership meeting along with a Mystery Theatre. The event begins at 6 p.m. at the farmer’s market (The Freight House.) Everyone is welcome to attend. Bring a vegetarian potluck dish to pass or pay $5 admission at the door. For more information, call (734) 483-1520.
Photo Credit: Elli Gurfinkel
Photo Caption: Ypsilanti Food Cooperative regulars Bonny, left, and Carroll Osborn of Ypsilanti check out the bulk-food section in the Depot Town store. Cooperative employees says its main goal is to provide nutritious food for the community.
Originally published Friday, May 19, 2000
The Ann Arbor News
By Pamela Appea
Corinne Sikorski, general manager at the Ypsilanti Food Co-op doesn’t consider herself an in-your-face kind of activist.
At the same time, you could say that Sikorski—and other members of the co-op—are definitely politically involved citizens. Sikorski said she and others practice a low key but effective kind of activism.
The co-op on North River Street in Depot Town isn’t just a place to get high-quality organic spinach, tofu helper or granola mix. It also serves as a place to learn the buzz about what’s going on in the political work of food and agriculture, said Heather Nobriga, a co-op employee for the past several years.
The Ypsilanti Food Co-op, which is celebrating its 25th birthday this weekend, has come a long way sine a small group of people—many who were Eastern Michigan University student at the time—were allotted a bag of available produce each week for $3 in the mid-1970s.
The community feel of the store and the concern that members have for the community and grassroots organizing has remained the same throughout the years, Sikorski said. For the past 25 years, she has been a volunteer, member and then full-time employee for the co-op.
The co-op has grown and now has nearly 2,000 lifetime members and 600-1,000 customers who frequent the store, Sikorski said. Not only has the co-op expanded but the seven-person board has worked to repair the store’s interior. In recent years, Sikorski said they’ve also added new products including ready-made healthy frozen meals.
Sikorski said she finds that once people learn about the co-op they want to learn more about organic food and laws that regulate food, fruits and vegetables and coffee.
For example, customers who frequent the co-op can learn about fair trade for coffee farmers in Central and South America through brochures in the store. These fair-trade companies and cooperatives deal directly with the farmer cutting out the middleman—known to farmers as ‘coyotes,’ who often take and keep the profit for themselves, Sikorski said.
The Ypsilanti Co-op does it business with cooperatives that believe in fair trade an exchange, maximizing the chance that the farmers will benefit from their crops, Sikorski said.
“It’s this kind of activism—on the grassroots level—that helps people become more aware, Nobriga said.
“By having good food—it doesn’t necessarily sell itself—but people try it and realize it is a better product,” Sikorski said.
At the register, customers usually can find a petition on genetically engineered food or another hot-topic food issue when they ring up their purchases. There’s no pressure to sign or not to sign but many co-op members see first-hand that their signatures and grassroots organizing does make a difference, store employees said.
In a recent national effort, Ypsilanti community co-op members played their part in the U.S. Agricultural Department regulations of organic food, Sikorski said.
In 1997, after 10 years of consideration of what is a proper organic product, the Agricultural Department’s guidelines were still not quite right, Sikorski explained. So around that time, 300,000 critics across the country wrote the federal agency objecting to the department putting the “organic” label on foods grown from genetically modified seeds, treated by disease-killing irradiation and fertilized by sewage sludge.
In 1999, the Agricultural Department reviewed the complaints and revised the original guidelines, sin Sikorski said. Now USDA Organic will really mean organic, she said.
“We have a voice,” Sikorski said of Ypsilanti Food Co-op members and the small but important role they played in that issue.
On a local level, the co-op’s main purpose from its inception remains the same—to provide nutritious and organic food options to people in their community, Sikorski said.
This month as part of the store’s promotional May Membership Madness month purchasing a lifetime membership is half of—only $5. Joining is easy, Sikorski said. A $10 non-refundable fee gives a person a lifetime membership, ownership of the store, shopping discounts and voting privileges for board-member elections.
As for Sikorski co-op work might not be exactly what she set out to do as an EMU student in the 1970s, but now she can’t see herself doing anything else.
Saturday Events
The Ypsilanti Food Co-op will hold a pizza bake-off at noon Saturday. Open to everyone; no entry fee or registration required. Just show up with your pre-made, pre-baked pizza in hand. Bring your recipe(s) to share. Pizza will be judged in the following categories” quickest, most nutritious, dessert, cheapest, alternative and gourmet.
The co-op will also hold a general membership meeting along with a Mystery Theatre. The event begins at 6 p.m. at the farmer’s market (The Freight House.) Everyone is welcome to attend. Bring a vegetarian potluck dish to pass or pay $5 admission at the door. For more information, call (734) 483-1520.
Photo Credit: Elli Gurfinkel
Photo Caption: Ypsilanti Food Cooperative regulars Bonny, left, and Carroll Osborn of Ypsilanti check out the bulk-food section in the Depot Town store. Cooperative employees says its main goal is to provide nutritious food for the community.
Originally published Friday, May 19, 2000
Thursday, May 11, 2000
She sets a strong record of accomplishment
She sets a strong record of accomplishment
The Ann Arbor News
By Pamela Appea
When Asia Renning was 2 and a newcomer to the United States, she couldn’t walk, stand or crawl.
Renning, now 19, and a member of the Milan High School cross country and track teams, routinely sets school records, in addition to breaking her own personal times.
In recognition of her athletic accomplishments, she recently won a Yes I can! Award—as did 35 other individuals—from an international agency that honors extraordinary people with disabilities.
Born in South Korea, Renning was adopted and brought to the United States by an American couple, Adair and Jerry Renning, in the early ‘80s. Life in a South Korean orphanage hampered some of her early developmental years, since she didn’t receive any individual attention, her parents said.
Although eventually diagnosed with autism, Renning slowly but surely has blossomed.
Adair Renning said some non-traditional medical treatments, including auditory-integration therapy and allergy treatments, helped Asia through the years. She now loves to ask questions when she meets someone she doesn’t know. It’s not long before they’re swapping stories about good restaurants in town (China One), fruits she likes (strawberries and apples) and how she likes to run (but not stretch.)
Asia Renning has loved to run since she was a little girl, Jerry Renning said.
“Even when she was 10 years old, she was as fast as the wind,” he said.
“Her feet would take off first; her legs were ahead of the rest of the body,” Jerry Renning recalled of their father-daughter jogging trips.
Asia has been a member of the track and cross country teams in the Milan schools since the seventh grade, with the same group of girls.
“It’s fun. It’s happy. Good exercise, good team,” Asia said at a recent track practice at Milan Middle School’s track.
Steve Porter, the track and cross country coach at the Milan schools, said Asia helps the team not only by being one of the top five runners on the cross country team, but also by teaching the other girls about diversity and people with disabilities.
“Asia never ceases to surprise us, both athletically and on team discussions,” Porter said.
“There are no limits. She comes back and does more – so do all the girls.
Asia has faced a lot of challenges in life from the very beginning, Adair Renning said.
For her first two years, Asia whose birth mother died, lived in an orphanage since other family members couldn’t take care of her. Asia was born with Hirschprung’s disease, a failure of the nerve endings at the lower end of the colon to develop.
Because of a lack of medical supplies at the orphanage in South Korea, Adair Renning said, Asia didn’t receive adequate treatment in her early years.
The South Korean social services didn’t even have Asia on their list of “adoptable” children at first, Adair Renning said.
But after seeing a picture of her in an international adoption magazine, the Rennings petitioned to adopt Asia, whose Korean name at the time was Kyung Hee.
After several months and some community-based fundraising efforts, the couple finally brought Asia to their home in Minnesota. Asia’s older sister, Meghann, also was adopted.
Adair and Jerry Renning named Asia for Ae Ja Choi, a temporary foster mother she lived with in South Korea shortly before coming to the U.S.
It was challenging for everyone in the family in the early years, the couple said. But after coming to Milan 14 years ago, the family developed a supportive network at the Milan schools. Asia has come to enjoy her classes, making new friends and learning how to cook, Adair Renning said.
Asia attends a special education program at Milan High School and will graduate in two years.
She also had a final colostomy performed four year ago and now her only health problems are a few food and environmental allergies, Adair Renning said.
Asia may also move out from her parents’ home in the next few years to a group home or an alternate-roommate situation, her mother said.
Asia said she likes track and cross country equally, but Adair Renning said Asia frequently changes her mind about which team sport she likes better. Jerry Renning and [Coach] Porter said they think she likes cross country more since everyone on the team runs the same distance together.
Plans after high school graduation include some short marathons and other competitive running. Asia’s mother said, “Running has become such a part of her life,” Adair Renning said.
Asia’s Records
· 200 meter dash, 36:06 seconds … May Washtenaw County Special Olympics.
· 400 meter dash, 0: 82 seconds … May Washtenaw County Special Olympics
· 1500 meter event, 6:14 May Washtenaw County Special Olympics
· 800 meter event, 2:55 … May 2000 meet at Saline High School
· 1600 meter event, 6:26 … Spring 2000 record
· 3200 meter event, 13:39 … 1999 record
· Best 3.1 mile Cross Country Time, 22:24 minutes … Fall 1999
Other awards
· 2000 Yes I can award recipient
· 1996 Summer Olympics Torch carrier in Detroit
Photo caption: Asia Renning, 19, who is autistic, is one of the top five runners on the Milan High School cross country team. She also helps teammates by teaching them about diversity and people with disabilities, coach Steve Porter said.
Originally published Thursday, May 11, 2000
The Ann Arbor News
By Pamela Appea
When Asia Renning was 2 and a newcomer to the United States, she couldn’t walk, stand or crawl.
Renning, now 19, and a member of the Milan High School cross country and track teams, routinely sets school records, in addition to breaking her own personal times.
In recognition of her athletic accomplishments, she recently won a Yes I can! Award—as did 35 other individuals—from an international agency that honors extraordinary people with disabilities.
Born in South Korea, Renning was adopted and brought to the United States by an American couple, Adair and Jerry Renning, in the early ‘80s. Life in a South Korean orphanage hampered some of her early developmental years, since she didn’t receive any individual attention, her parents said.
Although eventually diagnosed with autism, Renning slowly but surely has blossomed.
Adair Renning said some non-traditional medical treatments, including auditory-integration therapy and allergy treatments, helped Asia through the years. She now loves to ask questions when she meets someone she doesn’t know. It’s not long before they’re swapping stories about good restaurants in town (China One), fruits she likes (strawberries and apples) and how she likes to run (but not stretch.)
Asia Renning has loved to run since she was a little girl, Jerry Renning said.
“Even when she was 10 years old, she was as fast as the wind,” he said.
“Her feet would take off first; her legs were ahead of the rest of the body,” Jerry Renning recalled of their father-daughter jogging trips.
Asia has been a member of the track and cross country teams in the Milan schools since the seventh grade, with the same group of girls.
“It’s fun. It’s happy. Good exercise, good team,” Asia said at a recent track practice at Milan Middle School’s track.
Steve Porter, the track and cross country coach at the Milan schools, said Asia helps the team not only by being one of the top five runners on the cross country team, but also by teaching the other girls about diversity and people with disabilities.
“Asia never ceases to surprise us, both athletically and on team discussions,” Porter said.
“There are no limits. She comes back and does more – so do all the girls.
Asia has faced a lot of challenges in life from the very beginning, Adair Renning said.
For her first two years, Asia whose birth mother died, lived in an orphanage since other family members couldn’t take care of her. Asia was born with Hirschprung’s disease, a failure of the nerve endings at the lower end of the colon to develop.
Because of a lack of medical supplies at the orphanage in South Korea, Adair Renning said, Asia didn’t receive adequate treatment in her early years.
The South Korean social services didn’t even have Asia on their list of “adoptable” children at first, Adair Renning said.
But after seeing a picture of her in an international adoption magazine, the Rennings petitioned to adopt Asia, whose Korean name at the time was Kyung Hee.
After several months and some community-based fundraising efforts, the couple finally brought Asia to their home in Minnesota. Asia’s older sister, Meghann, also was adopted.
Adair and Jerry Renning named Asia for Ae Ja Choi, a temporary foster mother she lived with in South Korea shortly before coming to the U.S.
It was challenging for everyone in the family in the early years, the couple said. But after coming to Milan 14 years ago, the family developed a supportive network at the Milan schools. Asia has come to enjoy her classes, making new friends and learning how to cook, Adair Renning said.
Asia attends a special education program at Milan High School and will graduate in two years.
She also had a final colostomy performed four year ago and now her only health problems are a few food and environmental allergies, Adair Renning said.
Asia may also move out from her parents’ home in the next few years to a group home or an alternate-roommate situation, her mother said.
Asia said she likes track and cross country equally, but Adair Renning said Asia frequently changes her mind about which team sport she likes better. Jerry Renning and [Coach] Porter said they think she likes cross country more since everyone on the team runs the same distance together.
Plans after high school graduation include some short marathons and other competitive running. Asia’s mother said, “Running has become such a part of her life,” Adair Renning said.
Asia’s Records
· 200 meter dash, 36:06 seconds … May Washtenaw County Special Olympics.
· 400 meter dash, 0: 82 seconds … May Washtenaw County Special Olympics
· 1500 meter event, 6:14 May Washtenaw County Special Olympics
· 800 meter event, 2:55 … May 2000 meet at Saline High School
· 1600 meter event, 6:26 … Spring 2000 record
· 3200 meter event, 13:39 … 1999 record
· Best 3.1 mile Cross Country Time, 22:24 minutes … Fall 1999
Other awards
· 2000 Yes I can award recipient
· 1996 Summer Olympics Torch carrier in Detroit
Photo caption: Asia Renning, 19, who is autistic, is one of the top five runners on the Milan High School cross country team. She also helps teammates by teaching them about diversity and people with disabilities, coach Steve Porter said.
Originally published Thursday, May 11, 2000
Cabela’s local megastore to open by fall
Cabela’s local megastore to open by fall
The Ann Arbor News
By Pamela Appea
Dundee, Michigan--Cabela’s is coming.
The national hunting, fishing and outdoor gear retailer will open a huge retail facility in Dundee in September.
Cabela’s officials boast the planned store, the seventh retail outfit in the chain, will become the “top tourist attraction” in Michigan, drawing 6 million visitors or more each year.
The Cabela’s showroom in Dundee is expected to feature everything from outdoor sports, including tents, sport-utility vehicles, clothing, and fishing and hunting equipment. The entire store will encompass 220,000 square feet.
Along with merchandise, the store will showcase stuffed animals from all over the world, much like a museum. Cabela’s will also have an aquarium, a display of antique and prize-worthy guns, and conference space for meetings.
Chelsea resident Don Janowiecki said he has been a faithful Cabela’s catalog customer for at least 15 years.
“I think a lot of people from Michigan and Ohio are going to come to this Cabela’s store,” Janowiecki said.
Bob Wolverton, vice president of the Lenawee County Conservation League, said he plans to go to Cabela’s to see what it’s like once the store opens. Like Janowiecki, Wolverton has received Cabela’s catalogs for years.
Cabela’s officials said another draw at the Dundee store will be an “interactive” laser gun shooting practice ranges where adults and children can practice targeting shooting at taped videos of animals.
The compound hall, built on 150 acres, will also house hotels, resteraunts and service stations in the future, similar to other Cabela’s complexes in rural and semi rural pockets of Nebraska, Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
“It’s conceivable that our six million (visitors) estimate could be broken. It’s a conservative estimate,” said Cheyanne West, retail marketing manager for Cabela’s Retail.
In comparison, Ann Arbor’s Briarwood Mall attracts between eight million and 11.5 million people a year, according to Briarwood general manager Marc P. Strich.
West said Dundee was picked as the next site for the Nebraska-based chain, due to a high number of Cabela’s catalogue sales coming in from the Michigan and Ohio areas.
Susy Avery, vice president of Travel Michigan in Lansing, said the agency courted Cabela’s so the company would pock Michigan as its next retail site. Michigan was vying for the store with other states including Pennsylvania and Ohio, Avery said.
Residents of communities near Dundee--including Tecumseh, Saline and Clinton--are preparing for a possible increase in traffic and development as a result of Cabela’s.
Patrick Burtch, the longtime village manager of Dundee, said he’s been contacted by some people who “have a lot of misinformation on Cabela’s”
“A lot of people have problems about the amount of traffic,” Burtch said.
“People get in their mind six-to-eight million Cabela’s visitors means six-to-eight million cars a year,” he said.
But the village manager said most Cabela’s customers and visitors will come in on tour buses or otherwise in groups. Citing a Cabelas’s-sponsored traffic impact study, Burtch said that 3,600 cars--during peak hours--would come off the expressway to Dundee.
“That’s just a small percentage increase,” he said.
Greg Golab, the appointed manager of the Dundee store said the retail outlet hopes to hire between 500 and 500 people. Most employment will come from the local area, Golab said. But several higher-level management positions may be filled with people from outside the state.
When asked whether he anticipates difficulty hiring, Golab said, “It’s definitely going to be an issue.”
The unemployment rate in Dundee, a town of 3,200 is about 2 percent, Burtch said. Nearby Tecumseh, Clinton and Saline have similar low-levels of unemployment, officials said. But Golab said he feels Cabela’s has a lot to offer its employees, citing the company’s compensation and benfits package.
Including Cabela’s catalog staff, the company employs 2,426 people in the United States. According to the Fortune magazine Webs site, Cabela’s revenue in 1998 was $667 million.
Originally published Saturday, March 11, 2000
The Ann Arbor News
By Pamela Appea
Dundee, Michigan--Cabela’s is coming.
The national hunting, fishing and outdoor gear retailer will open a huge retail facility in Dundee in September.
Cabela’s officials boast the planned store, the seventh retail outfit in the chain, will become the “top tourist attraction” in Michigan, drawing 6 million visitors or more each year.
The Cabela’s showroom in Dundee is expected to feature everything from outdoor sports, including tents, sport-utility vehicles, clothing, and fishing and hunting equipment. The entire store will encompass 220,000 square feet.
Along with merchandise, the store will showcase stuffed animals from all over the world, much like a museum. Cabela’s will also have an aquarium, a display of antique and prize-worthy guns, and conference space for meetings.
Chelsea resident Don Janowiecki said he has been a faithful Cabela’s catalog customer for at least 15 years.
“I think a lot of people from Michigan and Ohio are going to come to this Cabela’s store,” Janowiecki said.
Bob Wolverton, vice president of the Lenawee County Conservation League, said he plans to go to Cabela’s to see what it’s like once the store opens. Like Janowiecki, Wolverton has received Cabela’s catalogs for years.
Cabela’s officials said another draw at the Dundee store will be an “interactive” laser gun shooting practice ranges where adults and children can practice targeting shooting at taped videos of animals.
The compound hall, built on 150 acres, will also house hotels, resteraunts and service stations in the future, similar to other Cabela’s complexes in rural and semi rural pockets of Nebraska, Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
“It’s conceivable that our six million (visitors) estimate could be broken. It’s a conservative estimate,” said Cheyanne West, retail marketing manager for Cabela’s Retail.
In comparison, Ann Arbor’s Briarwood Mall attracts between eight million and 11.5 million people a year, according to Briarwood general manager Marc P. Strich.
West said Dundee was picked as the next site for the Nebraska-based chain, due to a high number of Cabela’s catalogue sales coming in from the Michigan and Ohio areas.
Susy Avery, vice president of Travel Michigan in Lansing, said the agency courted Cabela’s so the company would pock Michigan as its next retail site. Michigan was vying for the store with other states including Pennsylvania and Ohio, Avery said.
Residents of communities near Dundee--including Tecumseh, Saline and Clinton--are preparing for a possible increase in traffic and development as a result of Cabela’s.
Patrick Burtch, the longtime village manager of Dundee, said he’s been contacted by some people who “have a lot of misinformation on Cabela’s”
“A lot of people have problems about the amount of traffic,” Burtch said.
“People get in their mind six-to-eight million Cabela’s visitors means six-to-eight million cars a year,” he said.
But the village manager said most Cabela’s customers and visitors will come in on tour buses or otherwise in groups. Citing a Cabelas’s-sponsored traffic impact study, Burtch said that 3,600 cars--during peak hours--would come off the expressway to Dundee.
“That’s just a small percentage increase,” he said.
Greg Golab, the appointed manager of the Dundee store said the retail outlet hopes to hire between 500 and 500 people. Most employment will come from the local area, Golab said. But several higher-level management positions may be filled with people from outside the state.
When asked whether he anticipates difficulty hiring, Golab said, “It’s definitely going to be an issue.”
The unemployment rate in Dundee, a town of 3,200 is about 2 percent, Burtch said. Nearby Tecumseh, Clinton and Saline have similar low-levels of unemployment, officials said. But Golab said he feels Cabela’s has a lot to offer its employees, citing the company’s compensation and benfits package.
Including Cabela’s catalog staff, the company employs 2,426 people in the United States. According to the Fortune magazine Webs site, Cabela’s revenue in 1998 was $667 million.
Originally published Saturday, March 11, 2000
Wednesday, May 03, 2000
Amoco owners bid goodbye to life of service, The Ann Arbor News
Amoco owners bid goodbye to life of service
By Pamela Appea
The Ann Arbor News
Ypsilanti is about to lose a family-business fixture—the Ottos, who are getting out of the service-station business.
Harlan Otto has been in the service-station business for 40 years.
But Otto and his son Dieter Otto, said the time has come for someone else to run the Bob & Otto Amoco Service Station on Washtenaw Avenue. Dieter wants to go to graduate school at Eastern Michigan University. Harlan Otto, who sold the business to his son seven years ago, said he expects the new owner to take over within two to three weeks.
When Harlan Otto first bought the Amoco station in the 1960s, he sold gas for about 33 cents a gallon. Of course, a lot has changed in the Ypsilanti area since then.
Wastenaw Avenue had about six gas stations in the 1960s, he said, spanning from the Amoco gas station to the Eastern Michigan University campus area.
“They’re all extinct now,” Otto said.
“I’ve been here a long time.”
Pittsfield and Ypsilanti Townships have seen an explosion of growth and, with it, more
businesses.
“When we started here, we couldn’t find a sandwich place,” Otto said of his mechanics and other service-station workers.
Now the stack of menus from several different restaurants, several inches think on the station’s counter, tells a different story.
But the people who come in, the jokes, the stories and the friendship have remained the same over the years, Otto said.
Customers such as Ambrose Vyskocil Jr, an Ypsilanti Township resident, who has been coming to the service station for 10 years.
“Me and Otto can trade stories,” Vyskocil said.
But the service at Bob & Otto obviously is also a draw, he said.
“They’ve always treated me good,” Vyskocil said. “Once you find a place that does decent work, you stick with them.
Vyskocil, at the Amoco station for nearly 45 minutes on Friday afternoon, didn’t need any work done on his red 1993 GMC Yukon. He was just one of many customers stopping by to hold court with Otto and other friends.
Others, including Rosemary Markel, now a Manchester resident and formerly a resident of Ypsilanti Township came to say goodbye. Otto said that Markel has been coming to Bob & Otto’s for years.
The service station and repair shop is named for Harlan Otto and Bob Robinson, a former partner several years before. Otto said he kept the name sine it sounded catchy.
The service station is Otto’s third—and longest [job.] As a teen, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, traveling to the Philippines and Japan during WW II.
Otto, 73, also worked though …
Photo Caption: Dieter, left, and Harlan Otto have decided that it is time to make way for a new owner for Bob and & Otto’s Amoco on Washtenaw Avenue in Ypsilanti. Harlan started the business with a partner in 1960.
Originally Published Wednesday, May 3, 2000
By Pamela Appea
The Ann Arbor News
Ypsilanti is about to lose a family-business fixture—the Ottos, who are getting out of the service-station business.
Harlan Otto has been in the service-station business for 40 years.
But Otto and his son Dieter Otto, said the time has come for someone else to run the Bob & Otto Amoco Service Station on Washtenaw Avenue. Dieter wants to go to graduate school at Eastern Michigan University. Harlan Otto, who sold the business to his son seven years ago, said he expects the new owner to take over within two to three weeks.
When Harlan Otto first bought the Amoco station in the 1960s, he sold gas for about 33 cents a gallon. Of course, a lot has changed in the Ypsilanti area since then.
Wastenaw Avenue had about six gas stations in the 1960s, he said, spanning from the Amoco gas station to the Eastern Michigan University campus area.
“They’re all extinct now,” Otto said.
“I’ve been here a long time.”
Pittsfield and Ypsilanti Townships have seen an explosion of growth and, with it, more
businesses.
“When we started here, we couldn’t find a sandwich place,” Otto said of his mechanics and other service-station workers.
Now the stack of menus from several different restaurants, several inches think on the station’s counter, tells a different story.
But the people who come in, the jokes, the stories and the friendship have remained the same over the years, Otto said.
Customers such as Ambrose Vyskocil Jr, an Ypsilanti Township resident, who has been coming to the service station for 10 years.
“Me and Otto can trade stories,” Vyskocil said.
But the service at Bob & Otto obviously is also a draw, he said.
“They’ve always treated me good,” Vyskocil said. “Once you find a place that does decent work, you stick with them.
Vyskocil, at the Amoco station for nearly 45 minutes on Friday afternoon, didn’t need any work done on his red 1993 GMC Yukon. He was just one of many customers stopping by to hold court with Otto and other friends.
Others, including Rosemary Markel, now a Manchester resident and formerly a resident of Ypsilanti Township came to say goodbye. Otto said that Markel has been coming to Bob & Otto’s for years.
The service station and repair shop is named for Harlan Otto and Bob Robinson, a former partner several years before. Otto said he kept the name sine it sounded catchy.
The service station is Otto’s third—and longest [job.] As a teen, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, traveling to the Philippines and Japan during WW II.
Otto, 73, also worked though …
Photo Caption: Dieter, left, and Harlan Otto have decided that it is time to make way for a new owner for Bob and & Otto’s Amoco on Washtenaw Avenue in Ypsilanti. Harlan started the business with a partner in 1960.
Originally Published Wednesday, May 3, 2000
City Removes limits on trash, items on curb
City Removes limits on trash, items on curb
The Ann Arbor News
By Pamela Appea
Spring cleaning can be a pain. But the city of Ypsilanti is making the change-of-season cleaning a little easier by taking the limit off the number of trash bags and other items residents can put out on their stoop this week.
Normally, city residents are allowed up to three garbage bags and one large household item each week. But this week, city residents can put out their broken couch, that stained, old carpet and that 2-year-old papier-mâché piñata without paying extra for pickup.
Normally, residents would be charged for the extra trash.
“I think it’s a wonderful idea,” said Carey Weihmiller, municipal marketing representative at Waste Management in Southfield, the company that manages Ypsilanti’s trash pickup. Ypsilanti’s spring cleaning has been going on for five years.
Beth Gulyas-Williams, the city’s public works office manager, said pickup was a little slow this week, but the city expects more residents will be hauling out their discarded goods for pickup this week.
Most people appreciate having the grace period for their pickup, she said.
“I think it’s going to be more household items,” Weihmiller said of most residents’ contribution. In other cities Waste Management services, most residents don’t put out a lot more than their usual limit, even during the spring cleanup weeks, Weihmiller said.
“I personally don’t plan on putting out anything different (than usual)” said Joseph Lawrence, one of the founding members of the Ypsilanti Historic Society and an owner of several apartments and houses.
Lawrence, a longtime Ypsilanti resident, said he and his tenants are all avid recyclers. Typically, Lawrence said he and his tenants put out less than their allotted amount of trash.
However, Lawrence commended the city for doing the extra pickup of trash, citing it as a sacrifice given Ypsilanti’s tight budget.
“I know they’re doing the best they can to maintain the pickup service,” he said.
For more information, call the Department of Public Works at (734) 483-1421.
Originally published Wednesday, May 3, 2000
The Ann Arbor News
By Pamela Appea
Spring cleaning can be a pain. But the city of Ypsilanti is making the change-of-season cleaning a little easier by taking the limit off the number of trash bags and other items residents can put out on their stoop this week.
Normally, city residents are allowed up to three garbage bags and one large household item each week. But this week, city residents can put out their broken couch, that stained, old carpet and that 2-year-old papier-mâché piñata without paying extra for pickup.
Normally, residents would be charged for the extra trash.
“I think it’s a wonderful idea,” said Carey Weihmiller, municipal marketing representative at Waste Management in Southfield, the company that manages Ypsilanti’s trash pickup. Ypsilanti’s spring cleaning has been going on for five years.
Beth Gulyas-Williams, the city’s public works office manager, said pickup was a little slow this week, but the city expects more residents will be hauling out their discarded goods for pickup this week.
Most people appreciate having the grace period for their pickup, she said.
“I think it’s going to be more household items,” Weihmiller said of most residents’ contribution. In other cities Waste Management services, most residents don’t put out a lot more than their usual limit, even during the spring cleanup weeks, Weihmiller said.
“I personally don’t plan on putting out anything different (than usual)” said Joseph Lawrence, one of the founding members of the Ypsilanti Historic Society and an owner of several apartments and houses.
Lawrence, a longtime Ypsilanti resident, said he and his tenants are all avid recyclers. Typically, Lawrence said he and his tenants put out less than their allotted amount of trash.
However, Lawrence commended the city for doing the extra pickup of trash, citing it as a sacrifice given Ypsilanti’s tight budget.
“I know they’re doing the best they can to maintain the pickup service,” he said.
For more information, call the Department of Public Works at (734) 483-1421.
Originally published Wednesday, May 3, 2000
Tuesday, May 02, 2000
Are Black Girls Growing Up Too Fast? Article for Africana.com
When Nicole Turner (not her real name), then an eight-year-old second-grader, got her period, developed breasts and grew pubic hair all in the same year, she was the first in her class to hit puberty.
That was 15 years ago. Now, early puberty is more common than ever; and some are worried about its possible impact on black girls.
The Chicago resident, now 23, remembers being embarrassed at the time because she had to wear a bra to school.
“Starting puberty sooner does make you grow up faster. You’re not a kid anymore,” Turner said. “My mom was shocked when I first got my period. I’ll never forget the look on her face.”
The trend overall for American girls is that they’re reaching puberty sooner and developing at an early age – some feel too early. But research shows the early onset of puberty is particularly salient among black girls, who, according to some studies, start menstruating and developing as much as two to three years sooner than white girls.
On average, black girls get their periods before age nine. White girls typically start their periods a little later, at around 10. Just 10 years ago, researchers measured the average age of menarche, or first menstrual period, at 12.5 years of age.
In a 1997 University of North Carolina study headed by Dr. Marcia Herman-Giddens, more than 17,000 girls ages 3 through 12 were surveyed during routine doctor’s visits for signs of sexual development.
About 27 percent of black girls started developing by age eight, while only seven percent of white girls had started puberty by that age. About ten percent of the girls in the sample were black, while the rest were white.
In the North Carolina survey, the results of which were published in the medical journal Pediatrics in 1997, researchers reported they found 48 percent of black girls and slightly less than 15 percent of white girls had begun breast or “secondary” hair development — pubic and armpit hair — or both, by age nine.
Surprisingly, Herman-Giddens and her research team also found three percent of the 1,700 black girls in the study showed some sexual development by age three, while just one percent of the 15,300 white girls showed the similar development at that age.
Herman-Giddens, who is now an adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health, said she and others she worked with noticed five- and six-year-old girls were coming into the clinic with developing breasts or pubic hair when she was working as a physician’s assistant years ago.
Girls who started puberty any time before the average age had previously been considered “abnormal,” and sent to a specialist for evaluation and possible hormone treatment, Herman-Giddens said. But the study’s results saw the incidence of puberty among younger girls as less an anomaly or abnormality than a trend, with the exception of girls under five.
What’s behind this trend? And if it does seem to affect black girls more than whites, why? Although researchers have raised a number of possible causes – from birthweight to diet to stress levels – none has been proven.
Among the general population, and the parents and educators of girls in particular, the riddle of early puberty is especially alarming within the American context of ever-younger exposure to sex in the media. Girls in our society, many fear, are being forced into maturity before they are ready to deal with it.
Turner said that when she first got her period, as the oldest daughter growing up in a rural Illinois community, she didn’t know what was happening at first. Turner’s mother, who was still in her twenties at the time, took her daughter aside and showed her how to make a mini-pad using toilet paper.
But Turner didn’t actually start using sanitary napkins for some time, because she didn’t know about them or where to get them. “I don’t know why my mother didn’t buy pads for me.”
Turner knew the family’s finances were tight at the time — she had several young siblings — but looking back, she still doesn’t think the family’s tight purse strings was the only reason. Her mother may have been embarrassed, and may not have wanted to believe her eight-year-old daughter was menstruating.
“I feel sorry for all these young girls growing up before they have to,” Turner says.
Dina White, a 28-year-old Maryland resident, remembers growing pubic hair around the age of seven or eight, and getting her period at age eight or nine.
“My body was developing much quicker than the other girls in my neighborhood,” White said.
White thinks a high-fat diet may have something to do with the fact that black girls seem to have a tendency to start puberty sooner.
“I think one difference [between us] is our eating habits. We eat more fried foods, we eat larger portions — but not always a balanced diet,” White said.
Growing up in an all-black neighborhood in the Orlando area, White says she and her friends would always eat a lot of junk food. “I was always a thick little girl,” White says.
“My friends and I ate cookies, chips, Hostess cakes and all that. Then in the summers, when I went to the country to visit my grandma, we ate full breakfasts every day with grits, bacon and eggs, biscuits and sometimes even cornbread,” White recalled.
Researchers like Dr. Frank Biro, professor of clinical pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati, have conducted research that backs up White’s hunch.
The pediatrician found that heavier black girls are more likely to get their periods and develop faster than other girls, including skinnier black girls. Black girls who were “early maturing” were 1.61 times more likely to be overweight at age 15, while less overweight black girls started menstruating at 12.2 years, more or less in the “normal” time frame.
According to the three-year-old study, black girls who were late in maturing were 0.71 times, or much less likely, to be overweight at that same age. The study also pointed out that “early maturing” girls are overweight at an early age, and they may be less likely to lose that weight later on.
But overall, researchers and scientists agree that more puberty-oriented research needs to be done not only on blacks, but also on Latina, Native Americans and Asian girls.
Average age figures for puberty were reached by studying exclusive samples of white girls several decades ago. Now researchers aren’t sure why there is a “puberty age gap” between black and white girls. Researchers say it’s possible that black girls have been developing and getting their periods earlier than white girls for decades, or even centuries.
On the other hand, data from some African countries, like Kenya, show the average age of menstruation falling from 14.4 years in the 1970s down to 12.9 in the 1980s, according to the Population Information Center at John Hopkins University in Baltimore.
No matter the cause, the effects of early maturation may be profound.
An Oregon puberty study surveyed a community sample of boys and girls, including blacks, and found early-maturing girls and late-maturing boys were more likely to have adjustment and behavioral problems than other teens. The implications of the Oregon study for blacks, if the results are duplicated in future research, are significant: poor urban black girls, who live more stressful lives, may menstruate sooner than their wealthier, suburban counterparts. If proven, this could have significant implications on social issues such as teen pregnancy.
Irene Johnson, 31, a Virginia resident, works regularly with elementary to middle-school children on a volunteer basis. Johnson says she feels black girls overall are definitely developing earlier than they did a generation ago, when she was growing up in a town 90 minutes away from Cleveland, Ohio.
Johnson said she is “concerned” that girls are developing as early as they do. Johnson credits today’s parents for telling their kids more about puberty than they did a generation ago, but popular culture still gets in the way. Developed kids, she says, act older than they really are.
“I think girls today are developing a little quicker,” Simmons says.
“I was an exception, but today, I see middle-school girls at the bus stop who look like grown women with hips and butt and breasts.”
Although Nicole Turner says people are more open to talking about sex today, she still doesn’t feel black girls get the information they need on puberty as early as they should.
Puberty101.com, an informational Web site for adolescents, posts an open letter to parents: “Do you think your child is too young to view this Web site? According to recent research, one out of six girls start puberty by age eight.”
D. Sands, a 25-year-old Maryland resident and mother of a two-year-old girl, says she plans on talking to her daughter when she thinks the time is right. Sands says she wishes now her mother had told her more about puberty before it actually happened.
Sands said she got her period at age 11, roughly around the same time as most of her peers. But Sands quickly grew into a D-cup by seventh-grade. An aunt who was a nurse at Howard University Hospitals told Sands at age 16 to seriously consider a breast reduction after the teen reached size 42DD. Later, Sands’ mother counseled her daughter “not to worry about the unsolicited advice,” and the issue was dropped.
Sands says that if her daughter develops in the same way in a couple of years, she will try and give her the information she needs.
White, who now has an 11-year-old daughter, said it’s hard to know all the answers.
“The next generation of black girls — and their parents — will not be as prepared for puberty, especially if they’re getting younger and younger.”
She worries that girls will get their information not from parents and professionals but from their friends. “We have unknowledgeable kids teaching our kids about puberty. And that’s a shame.”
Article originally published on Africana.com, May 2, 2000.
That was 15 years ago. Now, early puberty is more common than ever; and some are worried about its possible impact on black girls.
The Chicago resident, now 23, remembers being embarrassed at the time because she had to wear a bra to school.
“Starting puberty sooner does make you grow up faster. You’re not a kid anymore,” Turner said. “My mom was shocked when I first got my period. I’ll never forget the look on her face.”
The trend overall for American girls is that they’re reaching puberty sooner and developing at an early age – some feel too early. But research shows the early onset of puberty is particularly salient among black girls, who, according to some studies, start menstruating and developing as much as two to three years sooner than white girls.
On average, black girls get their periods before age nine. White girls typically start their periods a little later, at around 10. Just 10 years ago, researchers measured the average age of menarche, or first menstrual period, at 12.5 years of age.
In a 1997 University of North Carolina study headed by Dr. Marcia Herman-Giddens, more than 17,000 girls ages 3 through 12 were surveyed during routine doctor’s visits for signs of sexual development.
About 27 percent of black girls started developing by age eight, while only seven percent of white girls had started puberty by that age. About ten percent of the girls in the sample were black, while the rest were white.
In the North Carolina survey, the results of which were published in the medical journal Pediatrics in 1997, researchers reported they found 48 percent of black girls and slightly less than 15 percent of white girls had begun breast or “secondary” hair development — pubic and armpit hair — or both, by age nine.
Surprisingly, Herman-Giddens and her research team also found three percent of the 1,700 black girls in the study showed some sexual development by age three, while just one percent of the 15,300 white girls showed the similar development at that age.
Herman-Giddens, who is now an adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health, said she and others she worked with noticed five- and six-year-old girls were coming into the clinic with developing breasts or pubic hair when she was working as a physician’s assistant years ago.
Girls who started puberty any time before the average age had previously been considered “abnormal,” and sent to a specialist for evaluation and possible hormone treatment, Herman-Giddens said. But the study’s results saw the incidence of puberty among younger girls as less an anomaly or abnormality than a trend, with the exception of girls under five.
What’s behind this trend? And if it does seem to affect black girls more than whites, why? Although researchers have raised a number of possible causes – from birthweight to diet to stress levels – none has been proven.
Among the general population, and the parents and educators of girls in particular, the riddle of early puberty is especially alarming within the American context of ever-younger exposure to sex in the media. Girls in our society, many fear, are being forced into maturity before they are ready to deal with it.
Turner said that when she first got her period, as the oldest daughter growing up in a rural Illinois community, she didn’t know what was happening at first. Turner’s mother, who was still in her twenties at the time, took her daughter aside and showed her how to make a mini-pad using toilet paper.
But Turner didn’t actually start using sanitary napkins for some time, because she didn’t know about them or where to get them. “I don’t know why my mother didn’t buy pads for me.”
Turner knew the family’s finances were tight at the time — she had several young siblings — but looking back, she still doesn’t think the family’s tight purse strings was the only reason. Her mother may have been embarrassed, and may not have wanted to believe her eight-year-old daughter was menstruating.
“I feel sorry for all these young girls growing up before they have to,” Turner says.
Dina White, a 28-year-old Maryland resident, remembers growing pubic hair around the age of seven or eight, and getting her period at age eight or nine.
“My body was developing much quicker than the other girls in my neighborhood,” White said.
White thinks a high-fat diet may have something to do with the fact that black girls seem to have a tendency to start puberty sooner.
“I think one difference [between us] is our eating habits. We eat more fried foods, we eat larger portions — but not always a balanced diet,” White said.
Growing up in an all-black neighborhood in the Orlando area, White says she and her friends would always eat a lot of junk food. “I was always a thick little girl,” White says.
“My friends and I ate cookies, chips, Hostess cakes and all that. Then in the summers, when I went to the country to visit my grandma, we ate full breakfasts every day with grits, bacon and eggs, biscuits and sometimes even cornbread,” White recalled.
Researchers like Dr. Frank Biro, professor of clinical pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati, have conducted research that backs up White’s hunch.
The pediatrician found that heavier black girls are more likely to get their periods and develop faster than other girls, including skinnier black girls. Black girls who were “early maturing” were 1.61 times more likely to be overweight at age 15, while less overweight black girls started menstruating at 12.2 years, more or less in the “normal” time frame.
According to the three-year-old study, black girls who were late in maturing were 0.71 times, or much less likely, to be overweight at that same age. The study also pointed out that “early maturing” girls are overweight at an early age, and they may be less likely to lose that weight later on.
But overall, researchers and scientists agree that more puberty-oriented research needs to be done not only on blacks, but also on Latina, Native Americans and Asian girls.
Average age figures for puberty were reached by studying exclusive samples of white girls several decades ago. Now researchers aren’t sure why there is a “puberty age gap” between black and white girls. Researchers say it’s possible that black girls have been developing and getting their periods earlier than white girls for decades, or even centuries.
On the other hand, data from some African countries, like Kenya, show the average age of menstruation falling from 14.4 years in the 1970s down to 12.9 in the 1980s, according to the Population Information Center at John Hopkins University in Baltimore.
No matter the cause, the effects of early maturation may be profound.
An Oregon puberty study surveyed a community sample of boys and girls, including blacks, and found early-maturing girls and late-maturing boys were more likely to have adjustment and behavioral problems than other teens. The implications of the Oregon study for blacks, if the results are duplicated in future research, are significant: poor urban black girls, who live more stressful lives, may menstruate sooner than their wealthier, suburban counterparts. If proven, this could have significant implications on social issues such as teen pregnancy.
Irene Johnson, 31, a Virginia resident, works regularly with elementary to middle-school children on a volunteer basis. Johnson says she feels black girls overall are definitely developing earlier than they did a generation ago, when she was growing up in a town 90 minutes away from Cleveland, Ohio.
Johnson said she is “concerned” that girls are developing as early as they do. Johnson credits today’s parents for telling their kids more about puberty than they did a generation ago, but popular culture still gets in the way. Developed kids, she says, act older than they really are.
“I think girls today are developing a little quicker,” Simmons says.
“I was an exception, but today, I see middle-school girls at the bus stop who look like grown women with hips and butt and breasts.”
Although Nicole Turner says people are more open to talking about sex today, she still doesn’t feel black girls get the information they need on puberty as early as they should.
Puberty101.com, an informational Web site for adolescents, posts an open letter to parents: “Do you think your child is too young to view this Web site? According to recent research, one out of six girls start puberty by age eight.”
D. Sands, a 25-year-old Maryland resident and mother of a two-year-old girl, says she plans on talking to her daughter when she thinks the time is right. Sands says she wishes now her mother had told her more about puberty before it actually happened.
Sands said she got her period at age 11, roughly around the same time as most of her peers. But Sands quickly grew into a D-cup by seventh-grade. An aunt who was a nurse at Howard University Hospitals told Sands at age 16 to seriously consider a breast reduction after the teen reached size 42DD. Later, Sands’ mother counseled her daughter “not to worry about the unsolicited advice,” and the issue was dropped.
Sands says that if her daughter develops in the same way in a couple of years, she will try and give her the information she needs.
White, who now has an 11-year-old daughter, said it’s hard to know all the answers.
“The next generation of black girls — and their parents — will not be as prepared for puberty, especially if they’re getting younger and younger.”
She worries that girls will get their information not from parents and professionals but from their friends. “We have unknowledgeable kids teaching our kids about puberty. And that’s a shame.”
Article originally published on Africana.com, May 2, 2000.
Monday, May 01, 2000
Eye on Safety-Tecumseh officials aim to reduce district’s bus problems
Eye on Safety
Tecumseh officials aim to reduce district’s bus problems
The Ann Arbor News
By Pamela Appea
Tecumseh, Michigan—Tecumseh school officials are working to reduce the number of safety problems noted for the district’s buses.
State inspection results for this school year showed eight of Tecumseh’s buses were flagged for repairs—representing 40 percent of the district’s bus fleet. In last year’s inspections, seven of Tecumseh’s buses were given red tags, indicating the most serious violation.
Tecumseh was one of a handful of districts in Washtenaw and Lenawee counties where fewer than 80 percent of the buses passed muster in the past two years.
In comparison, the Milan and Saline districts passed with 95 percent or more of their fleets not receiving yellow or red tags during state inspection. Yellow tags indicate less serious problems.
Wendy Clement—Tecumseh transportation director for Ryder Now First Student, which operates the district’s buses—said the company has taken several steps to avoid receiving the high number of red tags for the state’s next inspection, to take place in 2001.
When state inspectors tagged Tecumseh buses, all red-tag safety hazards were corrected the same day, Clement said.
Some example of red-tag infractions include a burned-out headlight, a missing left rear-view mirror or a missing first-aid kit.
Yellow tag problems indicate a lack of function from a bus high beam, a bus horn that does not sound loud enough or missing items from a first-aid kit.
When the state issues a red tag on a school district bus, the vehicle is grounded until the safety infraction is corrected. For a bus that has been yellow-tagged, the repair must be made within 60 days.
Tecumseh has been served by the privately-owned bus company for the past four years. Clement said buses undergo a safety inspection once every three months or every 3,000 miles. Previously buses were inspected only every four months or every 4,000 miles, she said.
The company also hired a new mechanic, Clement said.
Sue Randolph, a bus driver for the district since 1992, said district buses are the newest buses the district has had in recent memory.
“We don’t have anything that’s over 9 years old. The average age (of our buses is) probably 4 to 5 years old,” Clement said.
Over the past few years, the state’s rating of Tecumseh’s buses has ranged anywhere from excellent to poor. In 1997-1998, Ann Arbor News archives show that none of the district’s buses received a red or yellow tags.
Clement said that the total fleet travels more than 282,000 miles every year.
Clement emphasized that Tecumseh bus drivers have had “zero preventable accidents” this school year. At a recent Tecumseh school board meeting, Clement told trustees that Tecumseh buses sustained two crashes—while empty of passengers—that were not the fault of the drivers.
Tecumseh Schools has 17 routes and a total of 25 drivers serving the district, transportation officials said.
Originally published Monday, May 1, 2000
Photo Caption: Wendy Clement, director of transportation for the Tecumseh Public Schools.
Inspection Record:
A review of how area districts fared in state bus inspections in 1999-2000. School buses are inspected at least once every school year; some districts have not yet been evaluated for this school year.
Red Yellow Pass Total buses
1999-2000 Inspection Results
Tecumseh Public Schools 8 1 11 20
Clinton Community Schools 1 0 10 11
Saline Area School District 1 0 40 41
1998-99 Inspection Results
Tecumseh Public Schools 7 2 11 20
Clinton Community Schools 2 1 9 12
Saline Area School District 1 1 39 41
Milan Area Schools 0 1 19 20
Dundee Community Schools * 16 2 5 23
*In 1997-98, the state gave Dundee school buses five red tags, zero yellow tags, 13 passes for their 18-bus fleet.
Tecumseh officials aim to reduce district’s bus problems
The Ann Arbor News
By Pamela Appea
Tecumseh, Michigan—Tecumseh school officials are working to reduce the number of safety problems noted for the district’s buses.
State inspection results for this school year showed eight of Tecumseh’s buses were flagged for repairs—representing 40 percent of the district’s bus fleet. In last year’s inspections, seven of Tecumseh’s buses were given red tags, indicating the most serious violation.
Tecumseh was one of a handful of districts in Washtenaw and Lenawee counties where fewer than 80 percent of the buses passed muster in the past two years.
In comparison, the Milan and Saline districts passed with 95 percent or more of their fleets not receiving yellow or red tags during state inspection. Yellow tags indicate less serious problems.
Wendy Clement—Tecumseh transportation director for Ryder Now First Student, which operates the district’s buses—said the company has taken several steps to avoid receiving the high number of red tags for the state’s next inspection, to take place in 2001.
When state inspectors tagged Tecumseh buses, all red-tag safety hazards were corrected the same day, Clement said.
Some example of red-tag infractions include a burned-out headlight, a missing left rear-view mirror or a missing first-aid kit.
Yellow tag problems indicate a lack of function from a bus high beam, a bus horn that does not sound loud enough or missing items from a first-aid kit.
When the state issues a red tag on a school district bus, the vehicle is grounded until the safety infraction is corrected. For a bus that has been yellow-tagged, the repair must be made within 60 days.
Tecumseh has been served by the privately-owned bus company for the past four years. Clement said buses undergo a safety inspection once every three months or every 3,000 miles. Previously buses were inspected only every four months or every 4,000 miles, she said.
The company also hired a new mechanic, Clement said.
Sue Randolph, a bus driver for the district since 1992, said district buses are the newest buses the district has had in recent memory.
“We don’t have anything that’s over 9 years old. The average age (of our buses is) probably 4 to 5 years old,” Clement said.
Over the past few years, the state’s rating of Tecumseh’s buses has ranged anywhere from excellent to poor. In 1997-1998, Ann Arbor News archives show that none of the district’s buses received a red or yellow tags.
Clement said that the total fleet travels more than 282,000 miles every year.
Clement emphasized that Tecumseh bus drivers have had “zero preventable accidents” this school year. At a recent Tecumseh school board meeting, Clement told trustees that Tecumseh buses sustained two crashes—while empty of passengers—that were not the fault of the drivers.
Tecumseh Schools has 17 routes and a total of 25 drivers serving the district, transportation officials said.
Originally published Monday, May 1, 2000
Photo Caption: Wendy Clement, director of transportation for the Tecumseh Public Schools.
Inspection Record:
A review of how area districts fared in state bus inspections in 1999-2000. School buses are inspected at least once every school year; some districts have not yet been evaluated for this school year.
Red Yellow Pass Total buses
1999-2000 Inspection Results
Tecumseh Public Schools 8 1 11 20
Clinton Community Schools 1 0 10 11
Saline Area School District 1 0 40 41
1998-99 Inspection Results
Tecumseh Public Schools 7 2 11 20
Clinton Community Schools 2 1 9 12
Saline Area School District 1 1 39 41
Milan Area Schools 0 1 19 20
Dundee Community Schools * 16 2 5 23
*In 1997-98, the state gave Dundee school buses five red tags, zero yellow tags, 13 passes for their 18-bus fleet.
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