Clinton Township Newsletter

1 J u n e 2 0 1 4 C L I N T O N T O W N S H I P N e w s l e t t e r ® –Julie Flynn It seems this month Ruth and I are sym- patico; we both (independently of each other) decided to write about this Newsletter. First of all, many of you loved the stinkbug on May's cover, some of you hated it, but you all noticed it. Anyway, I now believe in karmic retribution. I'll spare you the awful details – let me just say that I like kale, so do stink bugs; they're sneaky little buggers and now I know, nauseating. Damn them. Forgive the awkward segue: when one of our readers called asking me to connect them to the Police Department, I knew it was time to try to clear up questions concerning the difference between Clinton Township Mu- nicipal and the Clinton Township Newsletter. We're actually two separate entities, but sort of related... we're like cousins. We have a mutual love/ respect for each other and visit each other occasionally, but they don't try to tell us what to do and we certainly don't try to tell them what to do. We've had readers call here with all manner of requests and occasional complaints, from leaf pick-up to snow shoveling to questions about recycling to wanting the police. The "helper" in me really wants to take care of their issues. ("I'll be right over with my snow shovel!") The realist in me knows that I (and Ruth) actually have absolutely no authority in this Township whatsoever. However, since we are first, or maybe second cousins with CT Municipal, I do forward all of those requests straight to our very capable and fantastic: Mayor, Kevin Cimei, our Township Ad- ministrator, Marvin Joss, and our Township Clerk, Donna Burham and Carla Conner, who is the Person In Charge of Many Things (that's her title, I think). In addition, we're tight with our Police Dept., the Annandale Fire Dept., and our local Rescue Squad. (But by all means, please don't call us for any emergencies--don't hesitate to call 911 for those.) Truth is, this is a privately owned publication. I think I've mentioned this story in this column before but, towards the end of my interview with Fred, he asked if I had any further questions. I did: "Will I have to write a column? Because I really don't want to." (I'm a graphic designer, not a writer.) "Oh no," he quickly answered, "you won't ever have to write a column." I've learned that life has a way of continually surprising us, and being forced to write this column has been a very nice surprise for me. That said, I have no idea what I will write about next month. Suggestions? It's our advertisers that keep us in business so, as always, I want to say THANK YOU TO OUR ADVERTISERS! We very much appreciate your loyalty. To everyone else who enjoys this publication, please check out our advertisers, purchase their products and use their services. I feel that if they succeed, we all succeed--and we'd like to stay in business for another 30+ years if possible. It's been a long, hard Winter (literally and figuratively). I know that they would all agree with me when I say that it's time to get out and get our local economy healthy again. Ruth, not to worry--I hope you'll write your column in this Newsletter for another 30+ years–I think I'll get flakier before you do. Last, but certainly not least, THANK YOU to all of our readers for reading us! Please feel free to email us anytime. Enjoy your June – everything but the June bugs! EDITOR'S COLUMN b y J u l i e F ly n n "HIS tory" b y R u t h K e e s i n g Since 1982 I remember the day my late husband, Fred, suggested we publish a Township Newsletter. Both of us had been journalists, he as Photo Editor of what was then the Plainfield Courier News. I'd done a lot of freelance columns for sev- eral area newspapers, but was gainfully employed as an Administrative Manager for Bellcore back in 1982. Fred realized that being retired, for him, was just another opportunity to commence another endeavor. He approached the then Mayor of Clinton Township (Dick Maitland) with his idea and was summarily informed that there was not enough money in the budget to finance such a plan. So, Fred decided HE would publish a Township Newsletter on his own. He was quite computer savvy, for a man born in 1913, and soon filled a home office with computers, printers, file cabinets and a sound system that would enhance his days with march- ing bands and loud tenors. He hired a neighbor to do the "typing" and started pounding the pavements for advertisers to finance the project. Suffice to say, the local businesses were less than enthusi- astic about placing ads in what was then a non-existent publication. I remember cruising up and down Routes 31 and 22, knocking on the doors of offices and stores and restaurants, pleading for a chance to run ads for them. Over the years he had three terrific "homemakers" (Meg, Becky and Jan) in charge of inputting enough mate- rial to fill 8 pages – then 10, 12, 14… and more. These wonderful women all preceded another wonderful woman – Julie Flynn, current Editor and owner of CTNL. The Township contributed news as did the local Board of Education. Advertisers began lining up to place copy in each issue. At one point several decades ago, Fred lost most of his eyesight to Macular Degeneration. Ever resourceful, he purchased a large screen computer with lots of fancy software to enhance the size of print and recruited Steve Kesselhaut as tutor/technician. It was slow tedious work and he often used a hand held magnifier to read copy. Never complaining about his visual handicap, he was determined to do the job of Editor and Publisher, although what used to be a 10 minute job now took 30 to 40 minutes. He used guest columnists to fill the left side of the front page. When one wasn't readily available he would say to me: "I can't get a REAL PER- SON to do the column this month, so you write one." Apparently "real people" became scarce because, as the years went by (and I had retired by then), I ended up a permanent "guest" columnist. He continued to write the Editor's Column until his 98 years of age took its toll. So that is how the CTNL came to be. Julie still lets me write a monthly column. When I get flakier with age I'm sure she'll come up with Plan B. I'm ever grateful Fred gave birth to this publication over 32 years ago. "And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer." – F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby J u l i e F ly n n, e d i t o R J u n e 2014 It's

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