Community News

Schools of choice option gains popularity in Michigan, benefits Meridian

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By Katie Dudlets
The Meridian Times Staff Reporter

In Michigan, the number of students in schools of choice increased from 66,560 in 2005-06 to 115,209 in 2012-13, an upsurge of 73 percent. Schools of choice enrollment also made up a larger percentage of the state’s overall student population, rising from 3.7 percent of 1.8 million students in 2005-06, to 7.1 percent of 1.6 million students in 2012-13. Administrators in Meridian Township are seeing a similar trend. “We do have many students that are interested and go ahead and make applications for schools of choice for Haslett [High School], and not only Haslett, but for Haslett Public Schools,” said Haslett High School Principal Bart Wegenke. “I think we’re probably about 18 to 20 percent schools of choice [students] for this district.”

According to Joshua Cowen, an associate professor in the Department of Educational Administration at Michigan State University, this increase in the program’s popularity is not only a trend in Michigan, but in the nation as well.

Environment

Want to recycle a mattress or clean up a park? April 23 is your day

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By Katie Dudlets
The Meridian Times Staff Reporter

April 23 is a big day for the environment in Meridian Township. Upcoming Spring Clean and Go Green! and Love-A-Park Day events are giving volunteers a chance to participate in a community-wide effort to recycle items they have at home and to beautify the natural areas all over the township. Chippewa Middle School’s parking lot will be filled with volunteers accepting recyclable items at the annual recycling event, from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. that Saturday. “This recycling event is a convenient way to recycle or reuse items that you may not be able to recycle curbside or even at your local recycling center,” said Recycling and Energy Coordinator LeRoy Harvey.

Business & Economy

Seven of 10 top property tax payers in Meridian Township last year were apartment properties

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By Katie Dudlets
The Meridian Times Staff Reporter

Sitting in the food court of Meridian Mall, mall-goer Tim Cunningham guessed correctly when he said that the very building he was sitting in was one of the biggest taxpayers in Meridian Township. As a matter of fact, it is the biggest taxpayer in Meridian, with a total taxable value of $29,387,161 in 2015. Cunningham didn’t guess, however, that apartment properties made up seven of the top ten taxpayers in Meridian last year. “Wow, I’m surprised at that,” Cunningham said. “But I guess they do cover a lot of ground and they’re [made up of] a bunch of units.

Government

Are you reading this while driving? Well, stop.

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By Katie Dudlets
The Meridian Times Staff Reporter

Meridian Township resident Lexi Lambdin has continuously seen distracted drivers while on the road. “There’s so many careless drivers out there with the texting and driving,” Lambdin said. “I can’t tell you how many times I’m on the road and I look over and the person next to me has their phone in their hand, and they’re not even looking at the road.”

Police see lots of the same thing, even though it’s against the law. “Even though there’s a law against texting and driving, we still see it,” Meridian Township Police Chief David Hall said. “I have a tendency to think that people think ‘well, it’s a risk worth taking – I don’t see any police officers, so … ’ You still see [phones] out a lot.

Break the Chain

Hidden in plain sight: Dunnings arrest brings light to human trafficking in Ingham County

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By Ally Hamzey, Erica Marra, and Katie Dudlets
The Meridian Times Staff Reporters

In the aftermath of the arrest of Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III, Ingham County residents are left acknowledging the presence of human trafficking within their community. Mason resident Denise Maurer said the Dunnings arrest put the issue of human trafficking in perspective. “I think we just want human trafficking to go away and to not think that could be really happening in the United States, that our own people are trafficking our own people,“ Maurer said. “But I know now that it’s happening here.”

A state-local-federal investigation revealed that Dunnings allegedly engaged in commercial sex hundreds of times with multiple women over the course of five years. Dunnings is facing 10 counts of engaging in the services of prostitution, one count of prostitution/pandering and four counts of willful neglect of duty in the counties of Ingham, Clinton and Ionia as a result of this investigation.

Government

"A lot of pride" in Meridian's new Central Fire Station

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By Katie Dudlets
The Meridian Times Staff Reporter

OKEMOS — The new Central Fire Station located at the corner of Okemos Road and Central Park Drive comes in a larger context of infrastructure redevelopment for Meridian Township. It has been fully-operational and providing emergency services since January. Fire Chief Fred Cowper believes this move from the antiquated station on Clinton Street to the new one was entirely necessary. “The [Clinton Street] fire station that we closed was built in 1957, and in 1957 there weren’t females in the fire service in our country,” said Cowper. “So it lacked separate bathrooms, showers and dormitories.