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BY SARAH [email protected]

I t’s a problem that is almost nev-er talked about, yet it affectshundreds in Genesee County.In a four-year span, more

than 200 people in GeneseeCounty made the decision to taketheir own lives. People here killthemselves at a higher rate than thestate or the nation.They were people of all ages, gen-

ders and races. They came from allover Genesee County.

Suicide is the 10th-leading cause of

death in the county, trailing pneumo-nia/influenza, kidney disease, stroke,cancer and heart disease.Yet, we almost never talk about it.

And that only makes it worse, healthofficials say.

Homicides are an epidemic in Flintand are talked about a lot, althoughpolice say those crimes almost arenot preventable, nomatter howmanyofficers are on the streets.

Talking about suicide is a key com-ponent to suicide prevention.“(Suicide) is not a reaction that is

considered typical. ... Unfortunatelyit’s not uncommoneither,” said LaurenTompkins, chief clinical officer for theGenesee County Community MentalHealth. “Prevention does matter.”In 2010, there were more than

38,000 suicides throughout theUnited States. The number of actualvictims is hard to measure.

SEE SUICIDES, A2

BY KRISTIN [email protected]

FLINT — When Flint rapper JonConnor was asked to join the videoproject of MLive.com and The FlintJournal for suicide prevention, hedidn’t hesitate.The sensitive subject struck a

chord with the musician, whose bestfriend, James Kaczorowski, killedhimself in 2006.“It was probably one of the worst

days of my life,” he said, addingthat suicide has lasting effects on

the friends andfamily who areleft behind.Connor is

one of severalnotable namesto participate inthe video, usinghis name andimage to helpspread themes-sage that suicide isn’t the answer.Also included are Michigan Gov.

Rick Snyder, Olympic gold medalistSEE VIDEO, A2

CONNECTWatch the video:§

bit.ly/iwantyoutoknow

MOREHow you can join§campaign,A12

x

BY SHAUN [email protected]

FLINT — A fiery Facebookpost by UAW Local 651 Presi-dent Art Reyes is signaling thefirst stages of the local enteringinto negotiations with GeneralMotors Co.

“A Strike Authorization Voteis a signal that we are going tostandTOGETHER asONELO-CAL to get GM (which is thecompanyWEALLWORKFOR-not one of us works FOR Del-phi) back to the table to makesure we can get a contract,” theFacebook post says. Reyes saidhe wrote the message.

“This is one of the steps thatis part of the bargaining pro-cess sowe can show the properseriousness that it deserves,”Reyes said Tuesday. “We’vegone nearly two years withouta full local agreement. We feelit could be holding up somework that should be cominghere, and we want to get thattaken care of.”

Themembership is expectedto vote today on a strike autho-rization to support the bargain-ing unit, which UAW Region1-C Assistant Director StevenDawes said is part of the nego-tiation process.“It’s just on our process

list, and this is what you do,”Dawes said. “They are reserv-ing the right to have theirbargaining unit ask for strikeauthorization.”Locals have a time frame

with steps to take prior to thenegotiation process starting forthe local agreement, he said.UAW Local 651 represents

870 active members workingat Flint East and Davison RoadProcessing Center in Burton.

The national agreementwiththe automaker dealswith issuessuch as retirement, health care,wages and vacation time.The local agreements dis-

cuss issues related to the local

facilities where those employ-eeswork. This can include howovertime is offered, shift pref-erence or how departments aredefined tomove from one clas-sification to another.UAW Region 1-C covers 120

local agreements in 11 different

counties.While the agreements typ-

ically are three years long,each local begins the bar-gaining process at differenttimes, Dawes said.

GMspokesmanTomWick-ham declined to comment.

MILT KLINGENSMITH | MLIVE ILLUSTRATION

Notable names team upfor suicide-prevention video

death in the county, trailing pneumo-nia/influenza, kidney disease, stroke,cancer and heart disease

Breakingthe silenceSUICIDES

OFTEN AREOVERLOOKEDIN COUNTY

Still imagesfrom the#iwantyoutoknowvideo show thosewho contributedmessages ofencouragement.

MLIVE.COM FILE

UAW Local 651 members participate in the Pledge ofAllegiance during a 2012 meeting at the union hall in Flint.

Fiery Facebook message signalsstart of UAW Local 651 negotiations


GENESEE COUNTY —Genesee County ranks second-worst in the state for low-birthweight babies and fourth fromthe bottom in overall childwelfare, according to newlyreleased data.More than 10 percent of all

babies born in the county, or560, were born too small, lessthan 5.5 pounds, according tothe latest Kids Count inMichi-gan Data Book released today.

Thedata looks at 15 indicatorsto determine the well-being ofchildren at the state and countylevels in Michigan. For the firsttime since 1992, when the databook was first released, thecounties were given an overallranking.GeneseeCountyplaced79out of 82 counties,withClare,Roscommon and Lake countiesas the bottom three.Michigan has 83 counties;

Keeweenaw County was notcounted in the report.“Looking at the numbers,

the problem is nothing new.Flint and Genesee Countyhave been struggling. We tookthe economic hit harder thanother places in the state,” saidAmy Krug, executive directorfor Priority Children in Flint.“There are tons of programsand services, but the fact of thematter is as there are more andmore people in need, servicesare being stretched.”

SEE CHILDREN, A6

BY THE NUMBERS

Where GeneseeCounty ranksECONOMIC SECURITY•Children in poverty ages0-17: 70th out of 82 counties•Young children, ages 0–5,in the Food AssistanceProgram: 75th out of 82•Students receiving free/reduced price schoollunches: 44th out of 82HEALTH•Less than adequateprenatal care: 62nd out of 82•Low-birth weight babies:80th out of 81• Infant mortality (per1,000): 32nd out of 49•Child/teen deaths, ages1–19 (per 100,000): 32ndout of 56FAMILY AND COMMUNITY•Births to teens, ages 15–19:74th out of 82 counties•Confirmed victims ofneglect, abuse: 56th outof 82•Children in out-of-homecare: 60th out of 78EDUCATION (NOT PROFICIENT)•Fourth grade (MEAPreading): 61st out of 82•Fourth grade (MEAPmath): 56th out of 82•High school students (MMEreading): 67th out of 82•Students not graduatingon time: 67th out of 82SOURCE: 2012 Kids Count in Michigan

Data Book

Latest Kids Count report

lists Genesee County

as No. 79 out of 82

County is

near bottom

in well-being

for kids

A2 THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 2013 THE FLINT JOURNAL

Thursday, January 31, 2013Complete obituaries begin

on Page A6.For more information go to

mlive.comANDERSON, Ms. Deunka

LaTray, 30 (Serenity FuneralChapel)BARR Gordon, 80, of Grand

Blanc (Allen Funeral Home)BETHAY, Mr. Charles L., 83

(Serenity Funeral Chapel)BOYLAN Alice, 75, of Sun

City Center, Fla. (Swartz Fu-neral Home)

BRACY James, 68 (LawrenceE. Moon Funeral Home)BRITT, Ms. Joyce Ann, 54

(Serenity Funeral Chapel)CHAPIN John, 75, of Davison

(Swartz Funeral Home)COHEN William, 81, of

Boynton Beach, Fla. (SharpFuneral Home)COULTER Wil l ie , 63

(Lawrence E. Moon FuneralHome)DAVIS Charles, 42 (Law-

rence E. Moon FuneralHome)DENOOIJER, Alice, 47FARLOWBonnie, 65,ofGrand

Blanc (Sharp Funeral Home)FIKES Betty, 87FLYNN Melinda, 47, of Clio

(O’Guinn Funeral Home)FRITTS Barbara, 87, of Flint

(Swartz Funeral Home)GATEWOODEunice, 55 (Se-

renity Funeral Chapel)GENTRYCher, 61, of Burton

(Brown Funeral Home)GLOVER Ledget, 75 (Law-

rence E. Moon FuneralHome)GOODWIN Phillip, 53, of

Flint (Swartz Funeral Home)GROSSI Anna, 90, of Flint

(Swartz Funeral Home)HANSONOlaf, 86, of Flush-

ing (Rossell Funeral Home)HATTERBarbara, 74 (Swartz

Funeral Home)HENRY Robert, 72, of Flint

(O’Guinn Family Funeral Home)HOCKENDorene, 84 (Brown

Funeral Home)HODO Dora, 86 (Lawrence

E. Moon Funeral Home)HOSKEY Anthony, 69, of

Harrison and Flushing (ReigleFuneral Home)

KAUPPHarold, 79, ofAlmont(Henry M. Malberg FuneralHome)KOTLARK Dorothy, 85, of

Clio (O’Guinn Family FuneralHome)LEECE Hilda, 97, of Flint

(Sharp Funeral Home)MAHONEY John, 66, of Bur-

ton (Swartz Funeral Home)MARTIN Donna, 69, of

Mt. Morris (Martin FuneralHome)

MARTIN,Mr.GeorgeCarver,68, (Serenity Funeral Chapel)MCLOGAN Edward, 93

(Muehlig Funeral Home)PATTILLOMarie, 92 (Reigle

Funeral Home)POOLE-STONE Earlene, 104

(Lawrence E. Moon FuneralHome)POWERS Nancy, 76, of By-

ron (Swartz Funeral Home)PSALMS Kay, 78, of FlintRICHARDSDavid, 65, of Da-

vison (Swartz Funeral Home)RIMATZKI Siegfried, 72,

of Spruce (Gillies FuneralHome)ROBERTS Rosie, 91 (Law-

rence E. Moon FuneralHome)ROLFSEN Geraldine, 86, of

Grand Blanc (Swartz FuneralHome)SAVAGE Margaret, 85, of

Flint (Swartz Funeral Home)SCHLIEGER Gerald, 65,

of Flushing (Swartz FuneralHome)SCHWARTZ Mary Jo, 83, of

Flint (Swartz Funeral Home)SHARP Scott, 53, of Green-

ville (Pederson FuneralHome)SOMERS Mary, 89, of Flint

(Swartz Funeral Home)STODDARD Lewis, 85, of

Flint (Swartz Funeral Home)VERRILL Linda, 64, of

Swartz Creek (Sharp FuneralHome)VINCENT Michael, 38

(Lawrence E. Moon FuneralHome)WHITTAKER Frances, 94

(Muehlig Funeral Home)WRIGHT-COLLINSDarlene,

60 (Lawrence E. Moon FuneralHome)YEAGER Raymond, 57 (Se-

renity Funeral Home)

THE FLINT JOURNAL

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MICHIGANLOTTERY

Results from Wednesday:Midday Daily 3: 707Midday Daily 4: 4769Daily 3: 071Daily 4: 6324Fantasy 5: 5, 6, 26, 31, 34Classic Lotto: 8, 15, 16, 33, 42, 47Keno: 1, 9, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 24,26, 28, 34, 40, 49, 53, 54, 58, 60,

72, 73, 78, 80

Late Tuesday result:Mega Millions: 8, 12, 27, 46, 47Mega Ball: 6 Megaplier: x3

Wednesday’s Fantasy 5 jackpot

was worth $145,000.Wednesday’s Classic Lotto 47

jackpot was worth $4.95 million.Wednesday’s Powerball jackpot

was worth $151 million.Friday’s Mega Millions jackpot is

worth $13 million.

Powerball results are available at

mlive.com/lottery. The drawing

took place after press time.

CONTINUED FROM A1

Victims of suicideIn 2010, two county residents

younger than 20 committedsuicide; 19 residents werebetween 20 and 44 years old;30 were between 45 and 74; andfour were 75 years or older.

But most of suicide’s victimsstill are alive.They are the parents.Like Lynnette and Michael

Capehart, parents of JoshPacheco, 17, who killed himselfNov. 27.A junior at Linden High

School, Josh never did drugs,was a good student, held a joband always was smiling.“I never thought I would

be in this situation,” LynnetteCapehart said. “Here we aresitting on this side of thesituation.”The vict ims are the

children.Like 16-year-old Kayla

Komega.Her father committed suicide

four years ago, triggering adepression and feeling ofhelplessness.She tried to overdose three

times before changing schools,finding a support group andconnecting with a nationwideadvocacy group that helpedher become a voice againstsuicide.“It made me want to help

other people and be a socialworker. I can’t hide from itand want to tell other people,”Kayla said.And so many other victims

throughout the community.Like William Barnum, an

emergencymedical technicianwho often is among the first toarrive at a suicide.In his almost 10 years on the

job, there was no way for himto keep count of how many ofthose calls he responded to, hesaid. Seeing the families oftenwas the worst.He, like most emergency

personnel, finds a way to dealwith the devastation of seeinglives senselessly lost andfamilies trying to come to gripswith that reality.“Everyone has their own

coping mechanism that theydevelop,” said Barnum, anoperations sergeant withSTAT Emergency MedicalServices.

What can you do?Those who make the

decision to commit suicideor are thinking about it havea feeling of helplessness andthat there is no other way out,Tompkins said.

Theremight be signs, such asa real change in what’s typicalfor a person, less involvementin normal activities, isolation orproblems with concentration.Or, there might be no signs

at all.“Nobody should feel like

they are at fault,” Tompkinssaid.Those at risk for thoughts

of suicide include thosewho are going throughan emotionally diff icultsituation, such as divorce, adeath or another traumaticsituation — especially thosewith little or no supportsystem.Those who know someone

who committed suicide mightalso be more at risk, becauseit might make them feel likesuicide is a viable option, shesaid.

“I think this is an issue thatis particularly important rightnow, because of a lot of theincreased stressors goingon in the economy — losingjobs and losing homes,”Tompkins said. “Now, morethan any time, people need tobe aware that those stressorscan trigger those types ofactions.“Right now, I think there is

a fair amount of risk in ourcommunity.”

What to knowThose who are thinking of

suicide don’t necessarily wantto die. They justwant a solutionor a release, Tompkins said.That’s when friends and

family of someone thinkingabout suicide must step inand get them some help, shesaid. That help shouldn’tstart and end with a simpleconversation.

“Being a very good listeneris important,” Thompkinss a i d . “Anybody cou l dencounter an individual whois thinking of suicide as asolution. You don’t just wantto walk away and do nothingfurther.”The next step is to seek

professional help, she said,even if the individual seemsbetter.

CommunityMental Health isone location inGeneseeCountythat offers a Mental HealthFirst Aid training that teachesmembers of the communityhow to help someone who isdeveloping a mental healthproblem or experiencing amental health crisis. For moreinformation, contact CMH at810-762-5280.Although only a fraction

of suicides were committedby those younger than 20,the pressures of being ateen cause increased riskand concern, said LisaHunt, clinical supervisor forGenesee County CommunityMental Health Child andFamily Services.Her advice is talk about it.Not later. Not when the time

is right. Now.“Don’t wait. Talk to your

kids every day. Talk aboutconfidence and resilience.Get them involved in thecommunity,” Hunt said. “I thinkthe biggest prevention tip is:Just don’t wait.”—MLive.com writers Roberto

Acosta and Gary Ridleycontributed to this story.

SUICIDES VICTIMS LEFT WITH QUESTIONS

CONTINUED FROM A1

Claressa Shields and Flintbasketbal l s tar MateenCleaves.Snyder was asked to

participate because of theanti-bullying law he signed in2011 — a law named after anEast Lansing teen who killedhimself in 2002 after beingbullied. The parents of at leasttwo Genesee County teenswho committed suicide in 2012said those youths also enduredbullying at school.

Upon signing the legislation,

Snyder revealed that, beforehe was “one tough nerd” (thenickname he famously coinedduring his gubernatorialcampaign), he was bullied.

“Bullying is just plainwrong,”he said.Neither Shields nor Cleaves

said they personally knowanyonewho committed suicide,but they were happy to offerwords of encouragement toteens who need them.In the #iwantyoutoknow

video, Shields tells teens notto quit and Cleaves says, “It’salways gonna get better.”As for Connor, he said he

often thinks about the bestfriend who ended his lifeprematurely.Connor’s video message is

a request to any teen thinkingabout doing the same:“Think about not only

yourself, but all of the friendsand family that it hurts in theprocess,” he said.

VIDEO SHIELDS, SNYDER, CLEAVES CONTRIBUTE

OBITUARIES LIST

BY DOMINIC ADAMS

[email protected]

FLINT TOWNSHIP —Narcotics officers said a manarrested in Flint Township willface felony charges in connec-tion to a one-pot meth labfound at the Home Town Inn.Flint Township Police re-

ceived a tip about a potentialmeth lab in one of the rooms atthe Miller Road hotel near I-75.After getting a search war-

rant and confirming there wasa meth lab in the room around

1 a.m. Wednesday, the FlintArea Narcotics Group wascalled to dispose of the lab.FANG said they will seek

charges formanufacturingmeth-amphetamine, manufacturinghazardous materials and pos-sibly seek other felony chargesin relation to the lab. Theman’sname was not released.

It was the second time FANGwas called to the hotel for ameth lab, FANG said.A hotel manager did not

return a message seekingcomment.

Meth lab foundat Flint Twp. hotelfor 2nd time in year

Daily 3 odds: straight: 1 in 1,000; 3-way box: 1 in 333; 6-way box: 1 in 167.Daily 4 odds: straight: 1 in 10,000; 4-way box: 1 in 2,500; 6-way box: 1 in

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01

NOTICE OF REGISTRATION OF ELECTORSSPECIAL PRIMARY ELECTION

COUNTY OF GENESEE, STATE OF MICHIGAN

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a Special Primary Election will be held in the precincts

of Argentine Township, Clayton Township, City of Fenton, Fenton Township, City of Flint, Flint

Township, City of Flushing, Flushing Township, Gaines Township, Genesee Township, City of

Linden, City of Montrose, Montrose Township, Mundy Township, and City of Swartz Creek within

the County of Genesee, Michigan, on the 12th day of March, 2013, from 7:00 a.m. until 8:00

p.m.

THEREFORE, NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that any person who has the qualifications of an

elector or who will have such qualifications on the day of said election and who is not registered

upon the registration books of their City or Township may register at their City or Township

Clerk’s Office on any day preceding the 11th day of February, 2013, except Saturdays,

Sundays, and legal holidays, during regular office hours. Further, the City and Township Clerk’s

Offices will be open for taking registrations on Monday, February 11, 2013, between the hours

of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.

Any registered electors who have changed their residence within the same City or Township

since last voting and have not notified the Clerk’s Office thereof, may cause their registration to

be transferred to their new address by sending to that City or Township Clerk a signed request

stating their present address, the date moved, and the address from which last registered or

by applying in person for such transfer. Such transfer must be made on or before Monday,

February 11, 2013, in order to qualify for the Tuesday, March 12, 2013 Election.

The following partial term office ending 1/1/2015 will be voted on:

27th District State Senator

Questions regarding the Tuesday, March 12, 2013 Special Primary Election may be directed to

your City or Township Clerk’s Office or to the Genesee County Clerk’s Office at (810) 257-3283.

A12 THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 2013 THE FLINT JOURNAL

BY ROBERT FISHER

If John Cakmakci and AnneWoiwode had a point about

right to work, they lost itwhen they mischaracterizedAmerican businesses asnot caring “about workingpeople, their families, or ourenvironment; they care aboutbottom lines.”I have spent 20 years

cleaning up hazardous wastesites and helping businessescomply with regulationsand one thing stands out:The vast majority taketheir responsibility to theenvironment very seriously.Again, the vast majority of

businesses discovered longago that good stewardshipis good for the bottom line,especially now that the costof raw materials and energy isso high.I have worked for the

Environmental ProtectionAgency, the Department

of Defense and privateenvironmental companies onhundreds of projects.My experience is that

businesses want to knowtheir problems and how tofix them. My experience withthe Sierra Club has beenthe opposite. They come tomeetings with agendas andhave little regard for scientificpresentations. They shoutnonsense and hijack thepublic participation process.Cakmakci and Woiwode

may have a point about rightto work they would liketo make, but demonizingbusinesses that don’t worklock step with their politicalagenda is not helpful foranyone.I know that political types

will use children and theenvironment as props tobolster any argument, but inthese economic times this“eat your own” mentality is aburden on us all.

Robert Fisher, a Grand Rapids area

native, is a registered professional

geologist. He has 20 years of

experience as an environmental

scientist.

BY JOHN CAKMAKCIAND ANNE WOIWODE

Perhaps it’s a testament tothe progress we’ve made

on workers’ rights in Americathat so many people in somany states take them forgranted, evidenced by thespread of so-called right-to-work policies.Unfortunately, Michigan

was recently subjected to thisextreme agenda, becomingthe 24th “right-to-work” state.Despite being home to the

United Auto Workers anda birthplace of the modernlabor movement, it seemswe’ve forgotten just how farwe’ve come because of theexistence of labor unions.That disregard for the value

of unions poses a threat notonly to working families butalso the environment.The threat to working

families and the environmentposed by right-to-work isreal. Corporate interests whoare funding this agenda don’tcare about working people orour environment; they careabout bottom lines.States with right-to-work

laws have lower wages — forboth union and nonunionworkers alike — by anaverage of $1,500 per year.Right-to-work laws

decrease the likelihoodthat employees get healthinsurance or pensionsthrough their jobs, foreveryone.Also there’s no correlation

that shows right-to-worklaws bring businesses andeconomic activity to the state.Better jobs mean a safer,

cleaner environment. Unionworkers serve as the frontline of defense againstharmful pollution, chemicalspills and other accidents thatcan devastate communities.Union workers are

generally better trained toknow about the health andsafety risks of dangerouschemicals and have greaterprotections if they blow

the whistle on hazardouspractices in the workplace.We need to continue to

safeguard values like these.Unions were formed

to level the playing fieldbetween workers andtheir employers on issuesof workplace safety, pay,holidays, health insuranceand much more.Major advances attributed

to the union movement haveled to the 40-hour workweek, fair wages and saferworking conditions that haveelevated the quality of life forall workers, union memberor not.Employer and employee

relationships havetremendous influence on ourlives beyond the workinghours.That’s why we have unions

today and that’s why we’llcontinue to need unions andthe vital protections theyprovide.

John Cakmakci is president of

Local 951 of the United Food and

Commercial Workers International

Union. Anne Woiwode is director of

the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter.

Does right to work hurt the environment?

BY CINDY SCHUMACHER

Michigan’s charter publicschool students are

making larger learning gainsthan their peers in traditionalpublic schools, according toa study.On average, charter school

students are experiencingstatistically significant growthof nearly two additionalmonths per year of learninggains in math and reading.This is exceptional news

for students and families inMichigan.The study was released

by The Center for Researchon Education Outcomesat Stanford University,the foremost independentanalyst of charter school

effectiveness. This is its firstin-depth examination ofcharters here, and Michiganis among the highestperforming of the 22 statesthe center has studied to date.This report supports our

data and shows that theMichigan Model is working,leading to significantimprovements, especially forat-risk children.The Michigan Model is

built on strong statewideauthorizers, freedom to selectmanagement structure andboards that are well vetted.Using data from 2006-11,

the study compares charterstudents to demographicallymatched students intraditional public schoolsbased on seven factors: grade

level, gender, race, free orreduced-price lunch status,English language learnerstatus, special educationstatus and prior scores onstate achievement tests.A Stanford report confirms

Michigan charter studentshave greater learning gainsthan demographically similarstudents in traditional publicschools.In Michigan, 35 percent of

charters outperformed theirtraditional counterparts inreading, while only 2 percentof charters underperformed;and 42 percent of chartersoutperformed traditionals inmath, while only 6 percent ofcharters underperformed.This is in striking

contrast to a 2009 study

(which did not includeMichigan) in which only 17percent of charter schoolsoutperformed and 37 percentunderperformed.In the Michigan study, the

performance of students incharters exceeded those intraditional public schools in51 of 55 significant findings.Notably, learning gains

were better for black andHispanic students, studentsin poverty; for those in urban,suburban, and rural charters;and students in chartersmanaged by service providersshowed significant gainsover those in self-managedcharters.Much work remains to

improve public educationin the state, since too many

students are behind gradelevel and only one in five highschool graduates is college orcareer-ready.What this study shows

is that students in charterschools are learning at agreater rate than their peersin traditional schools thus

closing the achievement gapquicker — which is positivenews for these students andtheir families.

Cindy Schumacher is the executive

director of The Governor John

Engler Center for Charter Schools at

Central Michigan University.

GUEST COLUMN

FILE

Seen through a helicopter in the classroom, Introduction toAviation instructor Keith Sutherland gets his ninth-gradersorganized for a group assignment at West Michigan AviationAcademy charter school at Ford Airport in Grand Rapids.

Study shows charters are closing gaps

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Email letters to [email protected]. Please include aname, address, hometownand phone number. (Theaddress and phone are forverification only.)

Come Heller high water ...

In the past week we’ve hadIce Station Zebra cold,

torrential rains, blindingsnow, gale-force windsand golfing temperatures.Michigan has to be the onlystate that can give you anentire year’s worth of weatherin one week. The only thingmissing was falling leaves.Best description I heard

of what it was like driving inthis week’s gorpy mix of ice,rain and slush came from mybuddy Dave: “It’s like drivingthrough a Slurpee.” That wasit exactly. Only without thecherry syrup.The mayor of Detroit says§the state has withdrawn itsoffer to lease Belle Isle fromthe city and fix it up. That’snot surprising. There’sbeen nothing but gripingfrom city officials sincethe offer was made. Theydon’t want state help fixingtheir finances. They don’twant state help fixing theirschools or parks. Could youblame the state if it got fedup at some point and said,OK, to heck with you? Themoral of this story: You canlead a struggling city towater but you can’t make itdrink. Sound familiar, Flint?I’ve been meaning to get§

to this since the governor’sState of the State address,but how come when aRepublican proposes raising$1.4 billion in taxes and feesto fix the roads we all shareit’s considered a necessaryinvestment in infrastructure,but if a Democrat proposedthe same thing it would belabeled as socialism?David Letterman had the§best joke about the newpolicy allowing women incombat: “Finally there willbe somebody in the tankwho will stop and ask fordirections.”Then again, on the§downside, male tank driverswill now have someonesaying, “Slow down, you leftyour turn signal on, you’regoing too fast.”A new study says smokers§lose a decade off their lifecompared to nonsmokers.Then again, you have tofigure they also get an extradecade of time away fromwork while they’re outsidehaving a smoke. So it allevens out.

Enjoy it, Michigan fans.§Being ranked No. 1, evenbriefly, is a rare, rare thing.I, for one, am excited. Forthe first time since theFab 5 (who turned out tobe not so fab after all),there’s something to lookforward to going into MarchMadness.Iran launched a monkey into§space this week. You knowthat monkey’s up therethinking, “I’ve got to figureout a way to not go back.”

The Postal Service has§increased the cost ofsending a letter to 46 cents.Another increase, can youbelieve it? I have half a mindto send them an angry emailabout it.Seriously, though, is 46§cents really all that muchfor someone to drive to yourhouse, pick up your letterthen deliver it anywhere youwant it to go? Seems like abargain to me. And that’snot even counting the little

thrill of anticipation I stillget every day when I go tothe mailbox, even though Iknow there will only be junkmail and bills. That’s gottabe worth something, right?

“If computers get toopowerful, we can organizethem into a committee — thatwill do them in.”— Bradley’s Bromide

Email: andrewhellercolumn@gmail.

com.

ANDREWHELLER

COLUMNIST

Gonna have weather, whether or not

FILE

Streets in the area last week certainly shared the gorpy, slurshy weather effects.

PRO & CON

Yes: The same way itdegrades workersand families

No: Business has knownbetter for years

MARJORYRAYMERCommunity NewsDirector

[email protected]

BERNIE ENGCommunity Engagement Specialist

[email protected]

PAULM. KEEPExecutive Editor of Print

[email protected]

SHARE YOUROPINIONSPublic Pulse,�e Flint Journal

540 S. Saginaw, Suite 101, Flint, MI [email protected]

OPINIONOPINIONJOIN THE CONVERSATION AT MLIVE.COM

BY KRISTIN [email protected]

We want them to know notto give up.

To choose to live.That life without them

wouldn’t be the same.When a teen commits

suicide, the people left behindwish they could have told himor her so many things.With The Journal’s “I

want you to know” videoproject, we wanted to paytribute to suicide victimsand at the same time send amessage to teens who maybe contemplating suicidewith the hope of preventingfurther loss of life.Our video carries messages

from people from all overGenesee County, includinglocal high school students, ateen who attempted suicideand the family and best friendof Josh Pacheco, a Lindenteen who committed suicidein November.You’ll also hear messages

of inspiration from familiarfaces like Olympic goldmedalist and Flint nativeClaressa Shields, MichiganGov. Rick Snyder and Flint-born rapper Jon Connor.You can see the video at

MLive.com. Just go to bit.ly/iwantyoutoknow.After you watch, we’re

hoping you’ll join the effortby commenting, sendingin your photo tributes oruploading your own videomessage to teens dealing withbullying or contemplatingsuicide.

#IWANTYOUTOKNOW

You can joincampaignto preventsuicide

Friday, February 1, 2013 $1.00

InsideSpartanspick up

Big Ten winover Illini

SPORTS, B1

POWERING MLIVE .COM

FL DAILY

ADVICE C3

CLASSIFIED ADS D1

COMICS C4

LOCAL A3

LOTTERY A2

NATION/WORLD A7

OBITUARIES A5

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SPORTS B1

STOCKS A9

TV C6

WEATHER C6



BY ROBERTO [email protected]

BURTON — An attemptedtheft of copper pipewas behinda break-in and ammonia leaklateWednesday at the shutteredIce Mountain Arena Complexin Burton.Ken Gould, the city’s

deputy fire chief and publicinformation officer, said thedepartment received a call tothe complex at 5371 Daly FarmsDrive shortly after 9 p.m. for aladder to help police.“He was just there at the

building checking, and heheard a bunch of noise insidethe building,” Gould said of anofficer patrolling the area about9 p.m. The officer called fora ladder from the Burton FireDepartment after spotting aman peeking over the side ofthe building a short time later.“(Police) wanted to put the

dog in, butwhen foundout itwasammonia, theydidn’twant toputthe dog in there,” Gould said.A man who tried to escape

through a roof hatch was laterarrested by Burton police.

GouldandBattalionChiefKenBaker tried to enter thebuilding,but Gould said, “We took onestep in the building, and weturned immediately around.Wecouldn’t even take a breath.”

SEE AMMONIA, A2

BY GARY [email protected]

FLINT — Two homes belonging toa licensed Flint social worker wereraided after authorities uncoveredthat he was housing people in“deplorable” conditions, GeneseeCounty Sheriff Robert Pickell said.


GENESEE COUNTY —Recently, MLive-Flint Journalstaff looked at the issue ofsuicide, its prevalence inGeneseeCounty and the impactit has in the community.Over a four-year period,

more than a 200 people in the

county took theirown life. Localmental health officials urgedawareness and encouragedeveryone to know how to findresources to help someonethinking about suicide.Community members took

notice of the #iwantyoutoknowproject, spreading the word,sharing it through social mediaor leaving a comment.

Hopes for parentsMany said it was something

they thought needed to besaid.“From my high school days

at Lakeville to my college daysdownsouth,we’veseeithappen,”said Jeffrey Fillmore, 53, of Flint.“I think (the project is) a greatthing to do and to show that thecommunity does care.

“Hopefully, some of theseyoung ones ... they can get aclue on it and get a grasp on it,what the overall picture is.”Fillmore, who is a volunteer

for the social media groupFlint Police Operations, sharedthe project and video on thegroup’s Facebook page, sayinghe didn’t hesitate a minute.

SEE SUICIDE, A2

SAMMY JO HESTER | MLIVE.COM

A police official exits a home at 733 Prospect St. in Flint on Thursday after authorities used a battering ram to open adoor to one of the apartments. Five people were removed from the home, including some with mental health issues, afterGenesee County Sheriff Robert Pickell said they were found living in “deplorable” conditions.

LAUREN JUSTICE | MLIVE.COM

The Genesee County hazardous materials team and theBurton fire department investigate a suspected ammonialeak Wednesday at Ice Mountain in Burton.

‘I had no idea it was such a big issue’COMMUNITY REACTS TO

#IWANTYOUTOKNOW

SUICIDE-PREVENTION PROJECT

Ammonia leak found after

break-in at closed Burton

ice skating complex

Police: Man was trying

to steal copper pipes

FLINT HOMES RAIDEDFOR ‘DEPLORABLE’ CONDITIONS

OWNED BY LICENSED SOCIAL WORKER

Authorities raid tworoom-and-board facilities

Seven people wereremoved Thursdayfrom the homes, whichwere being operatedas room-and-boardfacilities.P ickel l sa id the

investigation into thehomes came afteran inspection by theDepartment of HumanServices adult protectiveservices.T h e r e s i d e n t s ,

i nc lud ing seve ra lpeople who werewards of the GeneseeCounty mental healthcourt, were supposedto receive housing and

three meals a day atthe facilities, Pickellsaid. But the sheriffsaid his investigationuncovered that manyof the residents werereceiving only one mealper day.The people paid

$350-$400 a month tolive at the facilities,Pickell said.Genesee Probate

Chief Judge JennieBarkey, who overseesthe county’s mentalhealth court, confirmedthat three of the homes’residents were part ofthe specialty court.

“ T h e y ’ r e v e r yvulnerable people,”Barkey said.A u t h o r i t i e s

raided a home at733 Prospect St. at about11 a.m. Five people wereremoved from thathouse.

Some of the building’sresidents left the homeon their own, whileothers relied on supportf r om eme r g e n c yresponders to reachambulances.At least one resident

had to be carried down

from a second-storybedroom and placed ona stretcher.Pickell said the home

was cold and infestedwith cockroaches. Hesaid authorities alsofound a hot plate ontop of a toilet in thebathroom where theybelieved residents werecooking food.“ I t ’ s a l m o s t

unbelievable,” Pickell

s a i d . “ T h e y ’ r eliving in horribleconditions.”Authorities said

they also found drugparaphernalia—pipesused for smokingcrack cocaine — inthe house.

Thiswasnot thefirsttime law enforcementwas called to the homethis week.

SEE RAIDS, A2

A man is carried out of a home on a stretcherat 733 Prospect St. in Flint.

BY RON [email protected]

GENESEE COUNTY —Former county ControllerGeorge Martini claims he wasfired from his job because heblew the whistle on double-dipping by Sheriff RobertPickell.Martini, in a lawsuit filed

Wednesday, said he told thecountyBoardofCommissionersthat Pickell was simultaneouslyreceiving county pensionbenefits as a retiree of the

Prosecutor’s Office while thecounty also has contributedmoney to his 401k retirementaccount.Martini’s lawsuit claims the

double payments to the sheriffwere illegal and says he toldcommissioners exactly thatbefore his Jan. 16 firing.The controller’s attorney,

Glen Lenhoff, would notcomment on facts of the caseoutside the five-page filing inGenesee Circuit Court.“We look forward to a trial

in this case,” Lenhoff said. “Wewill fully expose the facts ofthis case.”

Pickell saidThursday that theissue of his pension collectionstill has not been resolved andthat talks have been ongoingfor about the past year.

SEE MARTINI, A2

Ex-Genesee County controller

claims firing was payback

Martini files suit saying

dismissal followed

whistle-blowing

A2 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2013 THE FLINT JOURNAL

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MICHIGAN LOTTERY

Results from Thursday:Midday Daily 3: 639Midday Daily 4: 3054Daily 3: 511Daily 4: 7342Fantasy 5: 1, 13, 21, 32, 34Keno: 5, 14, 15, 21, 25, 29, 31, 32,36, 37, 44, 45, 59, 62, 64, 65, 69,

71, 74, 76, 78, 79

Late Wednesday result:Powerball: 14, 16, 32, 47, 52Power Ball: 16

Thursday’s Fantasy 5 jackpot was

worth $181,000.

Friday’s Mega Millions jackpot is

worth $13 million.

Saturday’s Classic Lotto 47

jackpot is worth $5.15 million.Saturday’s Powerball jackpot is

worth $176 million.

More results at mlive.com/lottery.

CONTINUED FROM A1

Even county off icialshave shifted their positionson the propriety of thepayments, according to thesheriff.“I followed all the rules the

county laid out for me,” Pickellsaid.The sheriff said Martini and

former county corporationcounsel Ward Chapman hadbeen aware of benefits paid tohim since at least 2008, and thecounty retirement office set upthe arrangement.

DebraTocarchick, retirementservices administrator for thecounty, said she had not seen

Martini’s lawsuit and declinedto comment.Martini’s firing came in

the same month the formercontroller told commissionershe has been and continues tobe the subject of a criminalinvestigation by the U.S.Attorney’s Office.

Martinisaidinamemorandumto commissioners that hehad been told by federalprosecutors that he won’t beprosecuted if he resigned hisposition.Commissioners voted 7-2

to terminate Martini, givingno explanation for theirdismissal of the controller,

who is considered an at-willemployee.The federal investigation

is tied to Martini’s office’soversight of Career Alliance,a job training agency wherestate regulators made findingsof improper spending andmismanagement during thetenure of former executive PamLoving.

Pickellhasclaimedforseveralyears that Martini treatedhis office unfairly in makingbudget cut recommendationsto the county commissionersbecause his office was initiallyinvolved in the Career Allianceinvestigation.

MARTINI SHERIFF DENIES WRONGDOING

CONTINUED FROM A1

With the c i ty ’s f i redepartment not fully equippedto handle hazardous materialsituations, Gould said theGenesee County hazardousmaterials team was called toenter the building.

“Theymade two entries intothe building,” he said. “Thefirst one, they went into theroom where the anhydrousammonia was. One containerwas compromised, and it hadsprayed all over.”Gould said the hazmat

team knew it was ammoniabecause a purple dye used onthe substance could be seen“all over the walls” inside thecomplex. They also discoveredpipes that the suspect brokeinside the facility.“He was salvaging pipe

or trying to steal the pipes,”he said. “That’s all he wasdoing.”The 70,321-square-foot

skating complex opened in in1998 and featured two skatingrinks, locker rooms andconcession areas, and has beenthe home in recent years of theMichigan Mountain Cats andhigh school teams from acrossGenesee County.Stacey Bassi, city assessor,

said the facility closed aroundthe summer of 2012. Theproperty’s mortgage was soldMay 30 to Phoenix, Ariz.-basedMWJDM LLC on a sheriff ’sdeed for a little more than$1 million, according to generalproperty information.

Records show$81,645 in taxesstill have not been paid on theproperty since 2010, when therequest for a tax tribunal wasmade.

Representatives forMWJDMcould not be reached forcomment, and Bassi said thecity has not had conversationswith the group since the sale.

AMMONIA

FACILITY CLOSEDIN SUMMER 2012

CONTINUED FROM A1

For him, it was one of thosestories that needs to be told.“To me, it’s all about sharing

the story,” Fillmore said. “Ithink it’s about looking at it,viewing it and sharing it withother people and then talkabout the short- and long-termimpact of what suicidemeans. Ithink that’s the whole point.”As a father, Fillmore said

he also hopes parents learn tostay engaged and active in theirchildren’s lives no matter howold the children are. His hopeis people will continue to talkabout the topic.

Spreading the wordGroups such as Genesee

Health Plan, Flint’s Club 93.7,Carman-Ainsworth schooldistrict, theMichiganWomen’sCommission, the Flint Local432, Calvary Church in GrandRapids,TeamRevelationMMA,a mixed martial arts group inFlint, and even one from theUK spread the word of thevideo on Twitter.Join the conversation

on Twi t t e r by u s i ng#iwantyoutoknow.The video featured a variety

of people— includingGov.RickSnyder, students, sports starsMateen Cleaves and ClaressaShields, rap artist Jon Connor,a family of a young suicide

victim, even ex-convicts —all of whom cared enough tospeak out on suicide and helpin the effort.R i cky Burns , on - a i r

personality for radio stationClub 93.7, said when he wasa freshman in high school heknew someonewho committedsuicide. It doesn’t seem realuntil it happens, he said.“I had no idea it was such a

big issue,” Burns said. “Theyalways talk about someonewhodies tragically, shooting. I hadno idea this amount of peoplewere affected (by suicide).”That is why he chose to

spread the word through socialmedia and on his show.People are losing their lives.

Young people are losing theirlives. So, if sharing thismessagehelps at least one person, it waswell worth it, Burns said.

“I want you to know that youstill have people. Even thoughyou lose people and theymightfeel like they aren’t by yourside. There’s always somebodythere,” Burns said.

‘Still that stigma’MLive-Flint Journal staff

started taking a deeper look atsuicide after 17-year-old JoshPacheco, a junior at LindenHigh School, committedsuicide.When 16-year-old Alana

Steele watched the video, shecried. She saw herself on thevideo talking about her bestfriend, Pacheco, who commit-ted suicide in November.“It was really emotional for

me,” Alana said. “I’m glad it’sgetting out there. I’m glad it’sbeing talked about.”

What Alana likedmost aboutthe video was themessage, shesaid.It’s such a serious issue, it

shouldn’t be ignored, saidAlana, a junior at Linden HighSchool.“People should know they

don’t have to be ashamed ofhow they feel. They need toknow there’s hope,” she said.Linden Superintendent

Ed Ko l d e o s a i d t h e#iwantyoutoknow tagline ispowerful and leaves it openfor many different things thatpeople want to say.“It was moving. There were

so many different people. Thepoint came acrosswell that thisaffects a lot of people in ourcommunity,” Koledo said.Koledo said he hopes that

anyone who is thinking ofsuicide will wait one more dayand check one more time withtheir friends beforemaking thedecision.Although the school district

had been in session for onlyone day since the video debut,

Koledo said he heard from afew teachers who thoughtthe video was powerful andappreciated it.Danis Russell, CEO of

Genesee County CommunityMental Health, agreed that thevideo was powerful.He hopes the community

realizes there is help out thereand suicide is something thatshould be talked about.“I think (the project)

is important because it’ssomething that does not gettalked about a great deal.There is still that stigma ofmental health and that stigmaaround suicide. Not too manypeople proclaim that my lovedone committed suicide. Thereis always that guilt,” Russellsaid, adding his own message.“You don’t have to fight thison your own. There are peoplethat care and there is helpavailable.“ I hope (communi ty

members) take away thatit is not hopeless. It is notuncommon to have those typesof feelings or those types ofthoughts. It does not make yousome sort of outcast.“I think society needs to

get over that those types ofemotions are bad and a sign ofweakness.”— Staff writer Dana DeFever

contributed to this report.

SUICIDE ‘THEY NEED TO KNOW THERE’S HOPE’

CONTINUED FROM A1

Pickell said Flint policeresponded to the home for astabbing Tuesday.A man police identified

as the owner arrived at theproperty while police werethere. He could not be reachedfor comment.Pickell spoke with the

property owner, who, staterecords show, is a licensedsocial worker. The sheriff alsosaid the homes’ owner is anemployee of nearby HurleyMedical Center.

Hurley officials confirmedthe man’s employment.“He had no compassion for

these people,” Pickell said ofthe home’s owner.The investigation then

shifted to a second home afterPickell’s conversation with thehome owner.Authorities removed two

people from a home at 110 E.7th St., which also is owned bythe social worker.Flint building inspectors

were called out to both homesafter the raids. Pickell said it

was recommended both becondemned.Room-and-board houses

operate with very littleoversight , according toauthorities. No licenses areneeded to run the facilities,state officials said. GeneseeCounty Community MentalHealth CEO Dan Russell saidThursday’s raids highlight theproblems that many people inthe community have in findingquality, low-cost housing.Unlike an adult foster care

facility, Russell said room-

and-board facilities operate“basically unsupervised” andhave few requirements outsideof the city’s building code.Russell said Community

Mental Health workers do notrecommend or refer patientsto live in room-and-boardfacilities but many have littlechoice due to financial orhealth reasons.No arrests were made at the

scene. Pickell said informationfrom the raidwill be forwardedto the prosecutor’s office forconsideration of charges.

RAIDS NO ARRESTS MADE AT SCENE

Friday, February 1, 2013Complete obituaries begin

on Page A5.For more information, go to

mlive.com.

BETHAY, Mr. Charles L., 83(Serenity Funeral Chapel)BONDY Margaret, 86, of

Grand Blanc (Sharp FuneralHome)BROWNMichael, 52 (Swan-

son Funeral Home)BRYAN Harlan (Allen Fu-

neral Home)CLARK Chris, 49, of Clio

(Dodds Dumanois FuneralHome)COHEN William, 81, of

Boynton Beach, FL (Sharp Fu-neral Home)ETHRIDGE Willis, 74, of

Linden (Sharp Funeral Home)FREEMAN Margaret, 94, of

Flint (Swartz Funeral Home)FRITTS Barbara, 87, of Flint

(Swartz Funeral Home)GOODWIN Phillip, 53, of

Flint (Swartz Funeral Home)HEADLEY Michael, 57, of

BurtonJENKINS Jerry, 63, of Flint

(Sharp Funeral Home)LEECE Hilda, 97, of Flint

(Sharp Funeral Home)MASTON Joe, of Talladega,

Ala. (Terry’s MetropolitanMortuary)

MONDOU Jeanne, of St. Au-gustine, FL (Hansen FuneralHome)

PATTILLOMarie, 92 (ReigleFuneral Home)POWERS Nancy, 76, of By-

ron (Swartz Funeral Home)RICHARDSDavid, 65, of Da-

vison (Swartz Funeral Home)

SAVAGE Margaret, 85, ofFlint (Swartz Funeral Home)SCHLIEGER Gerald, 65,

of Flushing (Swartz FuneralHome)SEXTON Doshia, 68, of Da-

vison (Allen Funeral Home)SOMERS Mary, 89, of Flint

(Swartz Funeral Home)STANCZYK Walter, 88, of

Fenton (Sharp Funeral Home)

TAULKER David, 71 (Tem-rowski Funeral Home)TEDFORD Ralph (Swanson

Funeral Home)VOHWINKLE Evelyn, 82, of

Flint (Allen Funeral Home)WADE Henry, 61 (Swanson

Funeral Home)WALTON Edna, 85 (Law-

rence E. Moon FuneralHome)

OBITUARIES LIST

4513

380-

20



� ��

4548645-04

Sunday, February 3, 2013 $2.00

POWERING MLIVE .COM

FL SUNDAY

ADVICE DIVERSIONS

BUSINESS D1

CLASSIFIED ADS E1

ENTERTAINMENT C1

LOCAL A3

LOTTERY A2

MICHIGAN A15

NATION/WORLD A17

OBITUARIES A8

OPINION A12

SPORTS B1

WEATHER A15



BY BLAKE [email protected]

FENTON — Things could be differentfor Jenna Bernard.

There could be no dog rolling around onthe kitchen floor, jockeying for attentionwith cats named Binky and Oliver. Therecould be no molasses cookies cooling inthe refrigerator or kids coming home sickfrom school.

Someone else, some other family, couldbe living in this modest brick home on aquiet street in Fenton.There could be no wooden frame hold-

ing a black and white picture of Bernardon her wedding day, her new husband’sarms around her.No honeymoon in the Bahamas. No

homemade cherry taffy bubbling on thestove.If Jenna Bernard hadn’t decided to live

— and picked up the phone to call forhelp the night she tried to kill herself witha prescription drug overdose — none ofthis would be here.

Bernard’s story, especially its ending, isdifferent from Josh Pacheco’s, the Lindenteenwho committed suicide in his family’sgarage in November. It’s different fromJarrod Nickell’s story, the Flushing teenwho in January took his own life afterliving only 18 years of it.It’s different because Bernard chose

to live.But in other ways, they are all the same

story.Life felt wrong. The future seemed

hopeless. Something powerful had tak-en hold, something so powerful that lifedidn’t seem worth living.“I wanted it to stop,” said Bernard, now

29. “I wasn’t thinking I wanted to die, butI wanted it to stop. I wanted this pain tostop. I wanted the struggle to stop.”

The spiralBernard grew up in Bluffton, Ohio, a

small town of about 4,000 about an hoursouth of Toledo. She did well in school,getting A’s and B’s and acceptance lettersto good colleges.It was a typical small town upbring-

ing, she said. Like many small towns, itleft Bernard and other teenagers feelingas if there was nothing to do. They wouldgo to nearby Lima or Findlay to catch amovie. A few times, she sneaked off withfriends to drink alcohol, but those werea rarity.Bernard graduated and went off to Col-

lege of Mount St. Joseph — a small, pri-vate, Catholic university in Cincinnati,about 140miles south of Bluffton. Bernarddidn’t know anyonewhen shewalked ontocampus her freshman year.She was kind of an introvert, she said,

used to towns like Bluffton where every-one knows everyone.Like many new college students, get-

ting drunk became the standard meansof making friends. For Bernard, it quicklybecame the only way.Soon, depression also set in.She started sleeping a lot — 12 to 14

hours a night — and couldn’t understandwhy. She started crying for no reason.Classes she knew she could ace were sud-denly a blur of facts and information shecouldn’t focus on or remember.And, she drank a lot. To try to feel

better.It was the first semester of her sopho-

more year when she first cut herself. Shehad been drinking vodka to prepare forgoing out that evening.

SEE SURVIVOR, A5

SUICIDE SURVIVOR:

#iwantyoutoknowYOU’RE NOT ALONE

Still images from the

#iwantyoutoknow

video show those

who contributed.

BY ERIC [email protected]

FLINT — “Tricky” RickyPatton’s memories of SuperBowl XVI are crystal clear.

The 58-year-old former Flintresident eloquentlycan describe all of thedetails.He still recalls all of

his emotions from theday when 81,270 fansfilled up the PontiacSilverdome on Jan. 24,1982, to witness the SanFrancisco 49ers capture theirfirst world championship infranchise history.After the game, top news-

paper headlines read: SanFrancisco beats the Cincin-nati Bengals, 26-21 in Pontiac,Mich.But to Patton and his local

audience in Genesee County,the game’s main storyline wasabout how the hometown kidreturned to the Great LakesState to outduel his formerFlint Southwestern HighSchool teammate Reggie Wil-

liams on the world’sbiggest stage.“You couldn’t ask for

anything more,” Pattonsaid. “You’re playing intheworld’s largest game,and you go back into thestate where you start-ed at. This was where

you started running for these150 yards and breaking away for65 yards, so now you’re go-ing to the Super Bowl. WhenI stepped out there, all of myfamily was there.”Patton provided tickets

for his high school coachSEE TRICKY, A2

For Flint running back who helped49ers to their first Super Bowl victory,‘you couldn’t ask for anything more’

MORE

NFL great Carl§Banks predicts49ers will win,Sports, B2

BY SHAUN [email protected]

GENESEE COUNTY — Atone time, CommunicationsWorkers of America Local 4103in Flint had about 3,000 activemembers. Today, it has about100, said Jake Vick, presidentof the local.Its story is a reflection of

Genesee County labor unionmembership numbers, whichare following a national trendof decline. The union locals inthe county attribute their dropin membership to a variety offactors, not just the public poli-cies, such as right to work, thathave grabbed headlines in thepast year.Local 4103 represents peo-

ple who repair and installtelephone lines, and Vick saidchanging technologies and the

retirement of longtime activemembers have played a role inits decline.“It’s not so much the public

policies,” Vick said. “The CWAis still a strong union.”The U.S. Bureau of Labor

Statistics said union member-ship nationally fell from 11.8percent in 2011 to 11.3 percentin 2012.In 1983, the union member-

ship rate was recorded to be20.1 percent with 17.7 millionworkers having membershipin a union.In 1986, there were 369 pub-

lic and private job sectors withunions in the Flint StatisticalMetropolitan Area and 75,834people who belonged to a laborunion or something similar, ac-cording to the UnionMember-ship and Coverage Database,

SEE UNIONS, A4

Declining unionnumbers in countyreflect national trend

49ers, Ravensmeet onfootball’s

biggest stage,B1

Phone call for helpstarted woman

on road to new life

‘Tricky’ Rickylooks backon history

MLIVE.COM FILE

Joe Montana, lower left, hands off to Ricky Patton on

Jan. 24, 1982, during Super Bowl XVI.

RYAN GARZA | MLIVE.COM

Jenna Bernard, 29, of Fenton, makes molasses cookies in the kitchen of her

Fenton home while her cat Oliver sits nearby. Bernard, who tried to kill herself in

2006, now is living a happy life with a career, a husband, children and a home.

A wedding

photo

shows

Jenna

Bernard

and her

husband,

Jorge

Bernard.

They were

married

Aug. 18 in

a church in

Owosso.

CONNECT

Notable names§have teamed up to helpprevent suicide in a videoproject by MLive.comand The Flint Journal.

Watch the video:§bit.ly/iwantyoutoknow

A2 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2013 THE FLINT JOURNAL

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MICHIGAN LOTTERY

Results from Saturday:

Midday Daily 3: 152

Midday Daily 4: 3746

Daily 3: 696

Daily 4: 3417

Fantasy 5: 6, 22, 26, 28, 36

Classic Lotto: 2, 12, 17, 18, 39, 43

Keno: 3, 10, 13, 14, 19, 20, 23, 32,

33. 37, 40, 42, 44, 50, 54, 55, 56,

61, 62, 64, 67, 77

Late Friday result:

Mega Millions: 1, 30, 32, 40, 41

Mega Ball: 17 Megaplier: x3

Saturday’s Fantasy 5 jackpot was

worth $287,000.

Saturday’s Classic Lotto 47

jackpot was worth $5.15 million.

Saturday’s Powerball jackpot was

worth $176 million.

Tuesday’s Mega Millions jackpot is

worth $19 million.

Powerball results are available

at mlive.com/lottery. The

drawing took place after

press time.

Sunday, February 3, 2013Complete obituaries begin

on Page A8. For more informa-tion, go to mlive.com.

ANDERSONDeunka, 30 (Se-renity Funeral Home)BARNES Pauline, 80, of Sa-

line (Robinson-Bahnmiller Fu-neral Home, Inc.)BILLINGS Bernice, 90 (Hill

Funeral Home)BONDY Margaret, 86, of

Grand Blanc (Sharp FuneralHome)BOONE Carol, 74 (Brown

Funeral Home)BRITT James, 90, of Davison

(Swartz Funeral Home)COHEN William, 81, of

Boynton Beach, Fla. (SharpFuneral Home)CORMICLE Shirley, 72,

of Flint (Anderson FuneralHome)DELASHMIT James, 60, of

Flint (Swartz Funeral Home)ETHRIDGE Willis, 74, of

Linden (Sharp Funeral Home)EVANS Vincent, 50 (Law-

rence E. Moon FuneralHome)FLETCHER, Perry Eugene,

63 (Swartz Funeral Home)FRAZIER Judith, 79, of Tra-

verse City (Rossell FuneralHome)FREEMAN Margaret, 94, of

Flint (Swartz Funeral Home)FRITTS Barbara, 87, of Flint

(Swartz Funeral Home)GAUTHIER JerryGILLMORE John, 92 (Reigle

Funeral Home)GOODWIN Phillip, 53, of

Flint (Swartz Funeral Home)GRANT Elmer, 93, of Pal-

metto, Fla. (O’Guinn FamilyFuneral Home)GRANTNER James, 75, of

Hale (Buresh Kobs FuneralHome)GROSSI Anna, 90, of Flint

(Swartz Funeral Home)HEADLEY Michael, 57, of

BurtonHODGELucille, 90, of Grand

Blanc (Swartz Funeral Home)HODO Dora, 86 (Lawrence

E. Moon Funeral Home)HOURTIENNE Delana, 76,

of Clio (Mumford FuneralHome)INMAN Marva, 58, of Mon-

trose (O’Guinn Family FuneralHome)JARBOE Lloyd, 84, of Plant

City, FL (O’Brien Sullivan Fu-neral Home)JENKINS Jerry, 63, of Flint

(Sharp Funeral Home)JENNINGS Barbara (A.T.

Hutchins LLC Funeral Homeand Cremation)JONES Jacky Ray, 72, of

Flushing (Hill Funeral Home)JONES Lori, 54, of Mt. Mor-

ris (Swartz Funeral Home)KLINE Ona, 91, of Flushing

(Rossell Funeral Home)LENZI Marjorie, 93, of Lin-

den (Sharp Funeral Home)LINN Joyce, 65, of Flint

(Sharp Funeral Home)MARTINVicki, 50, of Flush-

ing (Martin Funeral Home)

McGINNIS Keith, of Hale(Buresh Kobs Funeral Home)

PERKINSAgatha, 101 (BrownFuneral Home)POWERS Nancy, 76, of By-

ron (Swartz Funeral Home)QUARRELLA Stephen, 62,

of Grand Blanc (Sharp FuneralHome)

RICHARDSDavid, 65, of Da-vison (Swartz Funeral Home)ROAT Charles, 79, of Swartz

Creek (Swartz Funeral Home)ROCHE Leonard, 89 (Tem-

rowski Funeral Home)RODGERSON Douglas, 57,

of Mt. Morris (Swartz FuneralHome)SAVAGE Margaret, 85, of

Flint (Swartz Funeral Home)SCHLIEGER Gerald, 65,

of Flushing (Swartz FuneralHome)

SCOTTRicky, 39 (LawrenceE. Moon Funeral Home)SIMMONDS-LIGHT Dolly,

96, of Davison (Allen Funeral

Home)SOMERS Mary, 89, of Flint

(Swartz Funeral Home)SPECKMANTimothy, 63, of

Flint (Swartz Funeral Home)STANCZYK Walter, 88, of

Fenton (Sharp Funeral Home)STANKE Edward, 85, of

Swartz Creek (Sharp FuneralHome)SWANSON Minnie, 93, of

Brooksville, FL (Swartz FuneralHome)TERRELL AtheleeWATKINS Izora, 93 (Law-

rence E. Moon FuneralHome)WEBER Ida, 83, of Davison

(Allen Funeral Home)WILLSON Robert, 91, of

Gladwin (Hall Kokotovich Fu-neral Home)

WILSONAlice, 92 (LawrenceE. Moon Funeral Home)YAKLIN Steven, 54, of Clio

(O’Guinn Family FuneralHome)

OBITUARIES LIST

BY JOHN D. [email protected]

When it comes to cleavage,commercials for Super Bowl2013 might be a bust.No Victoria’s Secret ads.Novixen in a courtroombust-

ing out of her blouse and prom-ising to reveal “everything” onGoDaddy.com.Even sexy supermodel Kate

Upton is mostly covered up inher spot with Mercedes-BenzUSA.“It’s kind of disappointing,”

said Robert Kolt, an advertis-ing professor at Michigan StateUniversity, “especially when itcomes to Go Daddy, becausethat’s what we expect fromthem. That’s the best part ofwhat they do.”Go Daddy is one of about

30 advertisers who have pur-chased 50 or so spots duringSuper BowlXLVII, which airs at6:30 p.m. today on CBS-TV.Advertisers are expected to

spend more than last year’srecord $262 million, accordingto Kantar Media. This year’s30-second spots cost about$3.8 million and were sold outweeks ago.Go Daddy — known for its

racy ads and spokeswoman/race car driver Danica Patrick— has two spots this year.

The first commercial featurescouples from around theworld,each talking about the “next bigidea” and a little cameo appear-ance fromPatrick, who plays anairline pilot. Not a lot of sexysizzle there.

“I think thismight be a betterad for them to co-brand theirproduct,” Kolt said.But don’t worry, he added.“There will be plenty of sex

in the game.”The secondGoDaddy ad, for

example, features Sports Illus-trated supermodel Bar Refaeliin a lengthy kiss with a tech

geek. It’s a little “ewwy.”But a story on Today.com

said, “Compared to its earlier(GoDaddy) efforts, though, thisone is classy, even sweet.”Bill McKendry, founder and

chief creative officer of brand-ing and marketing firm HanonMcKendry & Mindscape inGrand Rapids, said everyoneknows Go Daddy loves to pushthe boundaries of taste.That’s on purpose, he said.“Sex sells, especially if you’re

trying to sell to men,” McKen-dry said. “And Go Daddy hasused it has a technique ... and ithas helped their business.”But there is a change in phi-

losophy this year.“Theymayhave tappedout in

terms of a target audience, andas a result, they are targeting awider bandwidth of people, andthey are usingmore romance orsome form of sex. They’re notbeing as blatant.”Overall, Kolt, president and

CEO of Kolt Communications,said the car ads are expected toshine. He has seen the ads forMercedes-Benz andKia (wheredo babies come from), and hethinks they hit the mark.And he has seen ads for Dor-

itos, Century 21 andmost of theothers.“People will laugh, and peo-

ple will be entertained,” saidKolk, whowill watch the SuperBowl with about 20 professorsat his home.They will rank the winners

and losers in real time.HanonMcKendry is teaming

upwith advertising and graphicdesign students from GrandValley State University, Kend-all College of Art and Design,Western Michigan Universityand Michigan State Universityto determine “ThumbsUp” and“Thumbs Down” awards.Super Bowl viewers can

vote on their favorite ads liveat www.superadpoll.com.

CONTINUED FROM A1Dar Christiansen, his mother,aunts, uncles, close friendsand other relatives to attendthe game. Legendary 49ersquarterback Joe Montana end-ed as the game’s Most Valu-able Player, but Patton rushedfor a game-high 55 yards off17 attempts, largely becauseof his comfort level in Michi-gan. He originally was fromBirmingham, Ala., but movedto Flint at age 13 while still inmiddle school in search of afresh start in the Midwest.“I felt like this was my town,

and thenwhen I turned aroundand Iwas playing against a highschool friend ofmine in ReggieWilliams — it wasn’t no chal-lenge towards him. It was justlike I couldn’t believe all of thisis happening to Ricky Patton,”he said. “Like Frank Sinatra said,‘This is my town.’ So I was outthere having a ball. Everybodywas there, so I was thinking,‘What could go wrong?’ Whatcould top it off even more hap-pened. We won the game.”Thirty-one years later, the

49ers are back. The franchiseis aiming to win its sixth SuperBowl title. Today, San Franciscowill compete against the Bal-timore Ravens in Super BowlXLVII.

Pattonwon’t be in attendancefor the battle, but he certainlywill be watching how every-thing unfolds.Three decades ago, he was

an athlete preparing for the biggame. He knows exactly whatplayers are going through and

how it feels to play on the bigstage in front of millions.“It’s just a feeling that you

get when you’re out there,” Pat-ton recalled. “You get chills andoverwhelmed until you get outon that field. Then, it’s a mind-over-matter thing.“A lot of people don’t realize

that you really can’t hear all ofthose people out there oncethe game is going on,” he said.“You’ve went over this overand over again for 16 games inthe season. You’ve got to tuneall of that noise out and listento one person in that huddle,and that’s that man telling youwhat to do to see what the finaloutcome will be.”Patton was 27 when San

Francisco won SB XVI. The1981 season was Patton’s beststatistical output in his five-year NFL career. San Franciscofinished 16-3 overall, and Pat-ton was the team’s top rusherwith 543 rushing yards from152 attempts. He averaged 3.6yards per carry and scored four

rushing touchdowns. Pattonalso caught 27 passes for 195yards with a receiving touch-down that year.He now lives near Atlanta

and is a member of the NFLAlumni Atlanta Chapter.Patton was picked by the

Atlanta Falcons in the 10thround of the 1978 NFL Draftand played for the Green BayPackers and 49ers but retiredafter the 1982 season. He nowenjoys cooking soul food dish-es, listening to the blues andvolunteering for youth foot-ball functions in Atlanta butrarely brags about his SuperBowl title.He hasn’t worn his cham-

pionship ring in nearly threeyears and doesn’t speak to anyof his ’Niners teammates often,but what the Gold Rush accom-plished in Pontiac more than30 years ago is one of Patton’sgreatest memories. “TrickyRicky” is a champion forever.“No matter what is celebrat-

ed with the ’Niners, that teamright there is always the firstSuper Bowl,” Patton said. “JoeMontana made a statement toeverybody one day, saying thatoncewe leave this field, we carewhat happens to one anotherbecause we want everybodyto come back, but personally Iknow I’m not going to call you,but as long as we are out heretogether, we are one family.“You never had that on

other teams,” he said. “It wasone family once wewalked outthere on that field. It was totaltogetherness.”

TRICKY TEAM ‘WAS TOTAL TOGETHERNESS’

COURTESY

Ricky Patton in 1975.

Ads during Super Bowlto turn down the heat

Daily 3 odds: straight: 1 in 1,000; 3-way box: 1 in 333; 6-way box: 1 in 167.Daily 4 odds: straight: 1 in 10,000; 4-way box: 1 in 2,500; 6-way box: 1 in

1,666; 12-way box: 1 in 833; 24-way box: 1 in 416. If you bet more than you cana�ord to lose, you've got a problem. Call 1-800-270-7117 for con�dential help.

4513380-23



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4548645-04

4555598-01

CHARTER TOWNSHIP OF MUNDY LEGAL NOTICEMUNDY TOWNSHIP ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

Notice is hereby given of the following request for consideration by the Mundy Township ZoningBoard of Appeals. The special meeting will be held on Wednesday, February 6, 2013 at 7:00pm, in the Donald G. Halka Auditorium at the Mundy Township Hall, 3478 Mundy Avenue,Swartz Creek, MI 48473, concerning the following:

Applicant/Owner: Jason Arden5517 S Linden RoadSwartz Creek, MI 48473

Property Location: 6453 Elms RoadSwartz Creek, MI 48473

Parcel Number: 15-07-300-019Request: Requesting a variance to Zoning Ordinance 08-123-Z Section

4.32 B (4) to allow for the removal of excess soil and similarmaterials excavated during the construction of a pond from the site.

The application may be examined at the Mundy Township Offices during regular business hours.Written comments may be directed to the Zoning Board of Appeals.

Thomas D. RathsackZoning Board of Appeals Chairman

Mundy Township, through the Mundy Township Clerk’s Office, upon proper and timely notice,will provide necessary, reasonable auxiliary aids and service to individuals with disabilities atany meeting or public hearing.

Publication Date: February 3, 2013

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