3020 Caniff, Hamtramck, MI 48212 • (313) 874-2100Volume 11 No. 18

May 3, 2019

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A message from the

Head CoachGeorge Juncaj, "If anyone

wants to watcha good

European football/soccergame, come out

and show your support, May 4th, at

7:00 pm at the Ultimate Soccer

Arena

By Charles SercombeSome time in the next

few months, you’re goingto once again hear “playball” at Hamtramck’s his-toric baseball stadium.

Thanks to a successfulonline fundraising cam-paign, the Friends of His-toric Hamtramck Stadiumnow has $100,000 tospend on upgrades forthe field and on other fea-tures.

The 30-day fundraisingcampaign’s goal was toraise at least $50,000,after which that point theMichigan Economic Devel-opment Corporation com-

mitted to kicking in an-other $50,000.

Detroit rocker JackWhite was the first to stepup to the plate, with hisdonation of $10,000.

The stadium is one ofonly a handful left thathosted Negro Leagueteams. Hamtramck Sta-dium was built in the1930s.

The Friends of HistoricHamtramck Stadium re-cently rolled out its plansat a press conferenceheld at the HamtramckHistorical Museum.

Those plans include:Ripping out the current

field and replacing it to ac-commodate not onlybaseball, but also soccer

and cricket. The cost ofmaintenance for the

At Hamtramck Stadium, it willbe a brand new season ahead

Continued on page 2

Weather-wise, lately,you’d hardly know it’s May.

But it is, and in fact, it’sthe first weekend of themonth. You know what thatmeans, right?

Yes, it’s time for the St.Florian Strawberry Festival.

The fun starts Saturdayevening and runs throughSunday.

To kick off the festival,the Hamtramck firefighterswill host their annualmarch to St. FlorianChurch, where a specialMass will be held.

Firefighters will first as-semble at the fire station,and the march begins at3:30 p.m. on Saturday.They will march downBrombach to the church.

St. Florian, by the way, isthe Patron Saint of firefight-ers.

Another highlight thisweekend at the festival willbe a performance by thetown favorites, The PolishMuslims, also on Saturday,starting at 6:30 to 9:30p.m.

As usual, there will beplenty of Polish food anddrink available, and, ofcourse, strawberry pie.

Come on out and cele-brate spring!

Saturday, May 4thSt. Florian all class reunion day from

6:30-9:30PMfeaturing

The POLISH MUSLIMS

By Walter WasaczFinding adventures

close to home in Ham-tramck is easy. You juststep outside, pick a direc-tion and start walking.

Early Saturday after-

noon, I headed out frommy house on Edwin atGallagher and onto resi-dential streets west ofJos. Campau.

The city had begun toturn green, if tentatively,

We are all influencers

during the last days ofApril. I could see new lifebudding on trees and inpatches in front ofhouses on Trowbridgenear Brombach.

Springtime strolls mightbe the best strolls, or atleast the most invigorat-ing after the grind of along winter. The bodyseems lighter (of course itis with less clothes), butwith more people movingaround outdoors theheart and soul of the city

seem lighter as well. As I glided through

these streets I thoughtabout the benefits ofwalking versus driving in acity like ours, whichstretches end to endslightly more than 2 milessquared.

It’s a perfect size forlocal destination travel(shopping, dining, meet-ings in cafes and bars,sporting events) or forwanderings like mine --

Continued on page 5

By Charles SercombeThis year’s city council

election is all set to go.None of the nine candi-

dates who filed last weekdropped out of the race byFriday’s deadline.

Three incumbents, AnamMiah, Abu Musa and SaadAlmasmari, are defendingtheir seats.

Their challengers are:Robert Zwolak, NayeemChoudhury, Carrie BethLasley, Mohammed Has-san, Mohammed Alsomiriand Justin Jessop.

They will all face off in theAug. 3 Primary Election.The top six finishers in thatelection will move on to theNovember Election.

Some of the namesshould be familiar to voters.

Zwolak is a former cityclerk for Hamtramck, andhas also served before oncity council. Hassan is alsoa former councilmember.

Both Choudhury and Al-somiri have run before forcouncil. Alsomiri is renovat-ing the former Shopper’sWorld building on Jos. Cam-pau and Yemans.

Lasley kicked off the cam-paign season with a protestoutside of city hall lastTuesday before the councilmeeting.

And they’reoff and running

A new field will be installed at the historic Ham-tramck Stadium this season, along with a number ofother renovations. The cost of the project is$100,000, half of which came from online donationsand the other half from the State of Michigan.

By Charles SercombeThe search for a new

superintendent for Ham-tramck’s public schoolsis down to two candi-dates.

Dr. Youssef Mosallamand Jaleelah Ahmedmade the final cut, afterthe board interviewed atotal of six candidateslast week.

Mosallam is the Execu-tive Director of Commu-nity Partnerships, College& Career ReadinessAchievement for theDearborn Public Schools.

Ahmed is the Directorfor English Language De-velopment with the Ham-tramck Public Schools.

The vote to whittledown the candidates totwo finalists was initiallysplintered, but oncethere was an agreement,with a bare majority ofthe vote, the board wasunanimous in moving for-ward with the final twocandidates for furtherconsideration.

Boardmember ShowkatChowdhury was absentduring all of the inter-

views with the six candi-dates.

The vote on finalizingthe two candidates washeld last Friday eveningafter the final round ofcandidates were inter-viewed.

The final interviewswere then held this week.Mosallam was inter-viewed Tuesday, andAhmed was interviewedThursday, after The Re-view went to press.

Both interviews wereopen to the public.

Before a final decision

is made, the board willvisit the Dearborn SchoolDistrict.

The school board is ex-pected to make its deci-sion on who to hireduring the week of May13. The board could alsoopt to not hire either ofthe candidates and con-tinue its search.

Current SuperintendentTom Niczay is retiringafter 40 years in educa-tion, the last 10 of whichas superintendent.

2019 season is also fac-tored in.

There are other stagesof development planned,but those costs run ashigh as $18 million.

But this first step willallow the preparation forthe landscaping andpreparing for a plaza atthe main entrance to therear of the grandstand,facing Dan St.

Outdoor educationaland interpretative exhibits

will be installed in thenew plaza telling the storyof the stadium, of the De-troit Stars and DetroitWolves, of the NegroLeagues in Detroit, ofHamtramck’s world cham-pionship youth baseballteams, and of the sta-dium’s connections to theAfrican-American and Pol-ish-American communi-ties.

Streetlight banners willbe placed on Jos. Cam-

pau and Dan along withlarge banners depictingthe Detroit Stars and the1959 Little League cham-pionship team for thegrandstand facade.

There will also be a signinstalled saying: “Wel-come to Historic Ham-tramck Stadium,” signagefor self-guided tours, plusdirectional street signs atmajor intersections onHamtramck’s southend.

2 Hamtramck Review Phone (313) 874-2100 Friday, May 3, 2019

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Place an ad today.

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ESL Class - Monday,May, 6th, 9:00 a.m. and12:00 p.m. ESL classesare free to all Ham-tramck residents. Regis-tration is required

ESL Class - Tuesday,May, 7th, 12:00 pm. ESLclasses are free to allHamtramck residents.Registration is required.

ESL Class - Wednes-day, May 8th, 9:00 a.m.and 12:00 p.m. ESLclasses are free to allHamtramck residents.Registration is required.

ESL Class - Thursday,May 9th, @ 12:00 p.m.ESL classes are free toall Hamtramck resi-dents. Registration is re-quired.

Toddler Time - April4th-May 9th, Thursdays,11:30 a.m. to 12:30p.m. Children up to age5 and their parents andcaregivers are invited forsongs, storytelling andplaytime.

Movie Night - Tuesdaysat 4 p.m. Family friendlymovies, snacks pro-vided.

A UNIVERSE OF STO-RIES - SUMMER LI-BRARY PROGRAM2019Registration opensMonday June 17th!Come to the Library tosign up and get your ac-tivity log!

This is a Free Program Open to all youth ages

4-12KICK-OFF EVENT:Animal AstronautsWednesday, June 26th

@ 2:00pm

#READYTOCODE -Makerspace STEM+ ArtYouth in 4th to 12thgrade are invited for the#ReadyToCode events.Programs are held onWednesdays in May from3:45-4:45, and run fromMay 1st- May 29th. Proj-ects will include: Anima-tion, Games, Videos,Music, and Art!

Memorial Day BugleCalls Presentation - Pre-sented by Richard Gadi-gian. Thursday, May 23rdat 6:00 p.m. Hear howBugle calls were usedduring the Civil War andthose that continue tobe used in our modernArmed Forces. SpecialGuests: John Wayne @Sari Villanueva

For more information about events at the library call (313) 733-6822, or visit its website at http://hamtramck.lib.mi.us

where you can also access the online catalog. The library is located at 2360 Caniff.

This week at the library...

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At Hamtramck Stadium, it willbe a brand new season aheadContinued from front page

School Board narrows superintendent field of candidates

Jaleelah Ahmed Dr. Youssef Mosallam

2403 HolbrookHamtramck

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HAMTRAMCK HOUSING COMMISSIONSURPLUS EQUIPMENT AUCTION

Friday, May 1011am Rear of the Senior Plaza

Inspection @ 10amCash only

By Joe Anthony MyrickSpecial to The Review

Nobody likes a know-it-all, except when theseknow-it-alls happen to bepartners Alex Meitz andAdam Fuller.

Together, they form the“Alex Knows It All” troupe.

The two are the latestcomedic gems emergingfrom the Planet Ant talentpool. Remember, this isthe same Planet Ant thatgave us famed actor/co-median Keegan-MichaelKey and Sam Richardson.

We recently met up withAlex and Adam to discusstheir journey thus far.

In their own words, AlexKnows It All is a “musicand comedy-based per-formance art piece.”Through the device of char-acter acting, Alex readslive poetry onstage -- sub-mitted from friends andfans -- while Adam playsmusic in the backgroundwhich he composes him-self.

For the stage, Alex ac-centuates herself as amuch more eccentric,brash, exaggerated andgoth version of herself.

“Part of our dynamic isthat my character, ‘Alex,’ isthis big, crazy, larger thanlife character who’s beendescribed as ‘the Queen ofMean.’ I don’t think me asa person is necessarilymean, but ‘Alex’ (the char-acter) gets very mean,”Alex said.

In the same way thatAlex inflates her personal-ity for the stage, both per-formers inflate theirrelationship for the stage.On stage, Adam is essen-tially a nice guy doingeverything he can to winAlex’s approval, while Alexis -- in the actor’s ownwords -- this “high-expecta-

tion, never satisfied per-son who takes everythingout on Adam.”

While that makes for funchemistry onstage, it is farfrom who they are as realpeople. In real life, theycouldn’t be kinder to oneanother, and always crediteach other for the successof the Alex Knows It Allbrand.

“People don’t under-stand that just because it’smy name on the show, itdoesn’t mean that I amthe only one who is creat-ing all of this content,” Alexsaid.

“Adam puts endlesswork into each show thatwe do. Adam helps with allof the writing. He writes allof the music himself, forthe most part and hehelps with my delivery. Webounce ideas off of eachother. I literally could notdo the show withoutAdam.”

One thing that has madeAlex Knows It All so popu-lar with Hamtramck resi-dents has been that theiract is so high-concept. Intheir creativity, both steertoward “grandiose” ideas,as Adam puts it. “I justhave a weirdly obsessivecreative brain, where if Iget fixated on an idea, I willbeat it like a dead horse

just to get everything I canout of it.”

In many cases, as thecouple recalls Alex mayrandomly think up an ideafor a show at 11 a.m. and,in a surge of creativity,Adam spends the rest ofthe day trying to makemusic that will then fit thatidea.

The beauty of their rela-tionship is that, while theirideas together alwaysamount to somethinghuge, they are able to bal-ance each other out byhelping to keep the other’sideas doable andgrounded in reality.

They have incorporatedeverything from comedy,music, and spoken word toeven seances into their actsince debuting a year ago.

Their first time they hitthe stage with a bangwhen they won Planet Ant’sVersus Tournament. Uponlearning about the tourna-ment, they then signed upfor it on a whim.

They came up with theAlex Knows It All conceptwithin a week’s time. Afterreceiving such an over-whelmingly positive reac-tion to their act, theyrealized, as Adam put it,“This is our thing now.”

They have regularly per-formed at the Ant Hall ever

since. This year, they willbe hosting Planet Ant’sVersus Tournament, withAlex being one of itsjudges.

More recently, AlexKnows It All performed intheir first HamtramckMusic Festival. Some crit-ics complained about thecomedy duo participatingin the festival becausethey weren’t “a real band.”

Alex has a reply to thosenaysayers.

“We wanted to bridgethe gap between the De-troit comedy scene andthe Detroit music scenebecause there’s so muchtalent on either side, butthey don’t really overlapthat often,” she said.

“You get a few peoplewho do comedy and music,but you don’t really seecomedy people going toband shows or band peo-ple going to comedyshows, and we’re kind of inthis weird middle groundwhere we’re both. So wewanna try to book showsnot only for a comedy the-ater, but opening for a

Friday, May 3, 2019 Hamtramck Review Phone (313) 874-2100 3

Second Front PageIt’s Time to Pray,

Please Join UsWe are a Multicultural Parish Family

Sunday English Mass 9 a.m.Sunday School 10 a.m.

Everyone is Welcome to Worship with Us

Holy Cross Parish Polish National Catholic Church2311 Pulaski, Hamtramck • Very Rev. Jaroslaw Nowak, Pastor

313-365-5191 www.HolyCrossPNCC.com

We are an ActiveParish Serving the

Community

Celebrating 97 Years of Traditional, Catholic, and Democratic Church

Get Out on the Hamtown!

May 4 – Polish Dinner & Annual Raffle (Drawing at 7 pm) with Mike Zawojsky, Grammy

Nominated Accordionist 4-7 pmMay 11 – Soup Kitchen – Everyone Welcome! 2-4 pm

ANNUAL RAFFLE for benefit of Holy CrossParish P.N.C.C. Sponsored by Ladies’ Societies / Tick-ets $5.00 each or 3 for $10.00 / Drawing May 4, 2019

Contacts: Nancy Jedynak 906-322-1223 |jedynakn@yahoo.com; Jolanta Nowak 313-505-2862| jola@netscape.com; Katherine Banicki 248-755-

4331 | kbanicki@tectest.com

Continued on page 6

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Welcome! e world is coming: Detroit City Football ClubProfessional Soccer coming to Hamtramck, Fall 2019.

Certified Residential Specialist

Performers Adam Fuller and Alex Meitz mix comedyand music in an act they call “Alex Knows It All.”

students had great funlearning about mixturesand compounds by makingtheir own version of Dr.Seuss' "Oobleck."

nOn Earth Day, the whole

school gathered in the gymto enjoy the magical teach-ing lessons of "DumpsterDoug." 

Dumpster Doug taughtthe importance of recycling,reusing and of reducingwaste in our environmentby entertaining us with hisskillful magic tricks.

Students were left inwonder, and could be heardthroughout the hallwayssaying, “How did he dothat?”

In upcoming weeks, thestudents will be visitingSchoolcraft College for Sci-ence Day. Also, the stu-dents will be visiting theDetroit Institute of Arts fora day of art enrichment.

Dickinson East Elemen-tary School News

Dickinson East fourthgraders recently created ra-dial designs inspired by Is-lamic tiles. To create thedesigns, students sat inclassroom windows andtraced their name eighttimes. The resulting ab-stract design were coloredwith markers.

Hamtramck Health HikeThe Hamtramck Health

Hike will be held on Satur-day May 4 from 8 a.m.- 2p.m. It starts at the Ham-tramck Community Center,11350 Charest St. 

Please join us for a dayof fun, including free t-shirts, free lunch, prizes,obstacle course, Fowlingand other giveaways. 

Bring your family andfriends for a fun-filled day. 

Enrollment InformationHamtramck residents

may enroll their children inHamtramck Public Schoolsat the HPS Business Office,3201 Roosevelt.  School ofChoice applications will beaccepted during the follow-

ing dates:  Kindergarten:Unlimited, through Septem-ber 5; grades 1st through12th: Unlimited, throughJune 28. 

Late school of choice ap-plications cannot be ac-cepted. School of choiceapplicants may be deniedbased on the student’s at-tendance and/or disciplinerecord. 

You will need to bringwith you: an original birthdocument (raised seal birthcertificate, passport, greencard, visa), an up-to-dateimmunization record, a final2018-2019 reportcard/transcript, parentalidentification, two currentproofs of residency (utilitybill, mortgage statement,formal signed lease, paystub, etc.) and proof of in-come (required only for pre-school applications).

Upcoming Events:• May 9 -- Progress Re-

port 4 Distributed.• May 24 -- Half day for

students and staff.• May 27 -- No school for

students and staff. Memo-rial Day.

• May 28 -- School re-sumes.

• May 30 -- Last day forpreschool.

• May 30 -- Last day forHamtramck and HorizonHigh School Seniors.

Recreation DepartmentNews

For more information,give us a call at (313) 892-2635. Follow us on Face-book for the mostup-to-date information:

www.Facebook.com/HamtramckRecreationDepart-mentCompiled by Janice Gandelman

4 Hamtramck Review Phone (313) 874-2100 Friday, May 3, 2019

Early Childhood Elemen-tary School News

With spring here, itseems every day atthe  Early Childhood Ele-mentary has somethingspecial going on. 

Students in Ms. JaniceRakoczy's first grade class

are learning about mam-mals and animal babies.They are learning the lifecycle of animals, and whatthey need to survive in theirhabitat.

Our resident super scien-tist, Jupiter Jaye, came tothe kindergarten throughsecond grade classes

teaching many different les-sons.

Students experimentedwith making their ownsnow, and other weatherexperiments, with plantlife  and even had a visitfrom a friendly boa snakenamed “Slither.”

Ms. Amanda Lesko's

A handful of firefightersand residents gathered atthe front door, and heldsigns protesting againstmerging the police and firedepartments into a singlepublic safety department.

There is no current planto do that, but the councilrecently voted on a newcontract with the city’s po-lice brass to allow for a tran-sition into a public safetydepartment “should (city)management move forwardwith such implementationin the city’s future.”

Police officers also re-cently agreed to a similarclause in their new contract

a few months ago.Councilmember Andrea

Karpinski was the onlycouncilmember to voteagainst it.

“The city manager andcity attorney will tell you thatincluding a unified com-mand clause in the policecontract is a bargaining tac-tic,” Lasley said on her cam-paign Facebook page.

“How effective can a bar-gaining tactic be if they aresaying it is merely a bargain-ing tactic? It is either theworst bargaining tactic everrolled out, or the residentsare being gaslit. …”

And they’re off and running Cont. from front page

Above and below: Early Childhood Elementary Schoolstudents had a busy week learning a number of sub-jects.

Below: Dickinson East Elementary School studentscreated special designs.

both of which have clearhealth and wellness ben-efits.

More people on footalso leads to less streetcrime and lowers green-house gas emissions --the largest percentage ofwhich comes from cars,trucks, buses and planes-- making the communitysafer and cleaner.

Not to mention con-tributing to a cleanerworld.

More pedestrians onthe street are also goodfor economic develop-ment: entire commercialdistricts around the worldare built on people whowalk versus those whodrive. In the future the car

will be a liability not anasset for enlightenedcities (London has a planto reduce car traffic byclosing some streets inthe central city to mo-torists and increasingpedestrian and cyclingtraffic by 2029).

More eyes closer to theground also has anotherunderrated benefit: peo-ple that walk see trash ac-cumulating in the streetsand alleys and are moreapt to do somethingabout it.

Dedicated periodic com-munity cleanups like theone planned for this Sat-urday are certainly a goodthing, but imagine ifcleanups are instead

done as a strolling party,a regularly scheduledwork/play event.  

In the Netherlands,group walks called wijk-wandeling are done everyfew months, not only forpicking up trash but foridentifying missing orcrooked signage and re-porting hot spots forspeeding and recklessdriving. The group sendsits observations to gov-ernment authorities whocan address their con-cerns and make appropri-ate changes.

In this way the voices ofpeople become truly en-gaged in city life -- inneighborhoods wherethey actually live and walkdaily -- influencing govern-ment to do its job properlyby keeping the streetsclean and managingmotor traffic with bettersignage, innovative cross-walk design and othercalming methods now

Friday, May 3, 2019 Hamtramck Review Phone (313) 874-2100 5

Other Voices: Guest Editorial

The Hamtramck ReviewPublished every Friday

3020 Caniff, Hamtramck, MI 48212 Phone: 313-874-2100 Fax: 313-874-2101

www.hamtramckreview.com • email news@thehamtramckreview.comPublisher: John Ulaj • (248) 866-1110 • julaj@thehamtramckreview.comEditor: Charles Sercombe Office Manager: Jean IngenthronSales Manager: Dave Sweet Copy Editor: Alan Madlane

This newspaper is not responsible for mistakes in advertising beyond the cost of the space involved.

Continued from front page

Review: Opinion Page

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In Our Opinion

The expanded federallawsuit regarding the be-havior of a towing com-pany operatorunderscores a need forlocal and state officialsto step up.

The towing industry inMichigan is known to benotoriously predatory,and to grossly over-charge those unluckyenough to be one oftheir victims.

Breakthrough Towing,a Detroit company thathas rebranded its namedue to intensive mediacoverage, first came tothe attention of themetro area when it wascalled out for pouncingon cars that were parkedin the Hamtramck CVSparking lot after busi-ness hours.

Despite there being acouple of warning signs

saying folks could gettowed after CVS closedfor the day, it turned outthe company never hada contract with CVS todo that towing.

By this time, dozens ofcar owners who patron-ized Bumbo’s Bar acrossthe street have had todish out upwards of$400 per vehicle to gettheir cars back, or elseunhitched at the site.

As it turned out, whilethere were some signsposted, there were notenough to meet stateregulations.

At the time, some ofour police officers didnot know the state law,and therefore allowedBreakthrough to con-tinue towing.

Unnamed Hamtramckpolice officers have nowbeen added to a class

action lawsuit. The cityhas also been included.

Breakthrough was alsoallegedly allowed to op-erate even though itfailed to renew its yearlystate license. However,officers have been issu-ing tickets lately to towdrivers who are not li-censed to work here.The lawsuit also spellsout some constitutionalissues as well.

Hamtramck needs totake a close look at itsordinances, as well asmake sure officers areup to speed on laws reg-ulating towing compa-nies.

State legislators alsoneed to tighten up regu-lations so that towingcompanies can’t getaway with charging exor-bitant fees to car own-ers.

Towing lawsuit underscoresneed to tighten regulatory laws

Continued on page 6

Recently the Friends ofHamtramck Historic Sta-dium held a press confer-ence commemorating theDetroit Stars Centennial. The baseball team was

part of the Negro League,and played at Ham-tramck’s own historic sta-dium.Here are the remarks

made by Gary Gillette, thePresident of Friends of His-toric Hamtramck Stadium:By Gary Gillette

The Detroit Stars playedtheir first game on EasterSunday, April 20, 1919, atMack Park on Detroit’sEast Side.

They defeated the 1918city champion Maxwell In-ternationals, a powerfulwhite semi-pro team, infront of 3500 fans. TheMaxwells’ roster includedone former major-leaguerand at least four formerminor-leaguers.

Rube Foster of Chicago,the “Father of Black Base-ball,” attended the Stars’debut. Foster was instru-mental in setting up theStars and may have hadan ownership interest inthe club, though thenamed owner was Detroi-ter Tenny Blount.

The Stars featured fu-ture Hall of Famer out-fielder/team captain PeteHill along with veteranstars like pitcher JohnDonaldson and catcherBruce Petway.

Future Hall of Famepitcher Andy Cooperjoined the club in 1920,when the Stars became

charter members of RubeFoster’s new Negro Na-tional League (NNL).

The Stars played atMack Park through 1929,when a July fire destroyedthe main grandstand. Al-though they finished theseason at Mack Park, op-position from white citi-zens in the neighborhoodcaused them to relocatein 1930.

Detroit fielded a con-tending club throughoutthe 1920s, but never wona pennant. The closestthey came was in theirfirst season at Ham-tramck Stadium in 1930when they won the sec-ond-half NNL title beforelosing the league champi-onship series to St. Louisin a hard-fought, seven-game series.

Undoubtedly the great-est black player to spendmost of his career in De-troit was Norman “Turkey”Stearnes. A five-tool cen-ter fielder from Nashville,Tennessee, Stearnes wasa Negro League superstarand one of the greatesthome run hitters of all-time -- black or white.

He was inducted to theNational Baseball Hall ofFall in Cooperstown in2000, 21 years after hisdeath. Stearnes made hismajor Negro Leaguedebut in 1923 with De-troit, playing for the Starsthrough 1931 as well asin 1937.

Stearnes also starredfor the Chicago AmericanGiants and Kansas City

Monarchs in the 1930sand 1940s.

Victims of the Great De-pression, the Stars foldedalong with the league in1931. In 1932, the De-troit Wolves -- featuringfive future Hall of Famers-- played in Hamtramck forhalf a season until thenew Negro East-WestLeague also failed.

In 1933, the Indianapo-lis ABCs relocated to Mo-town to become thereincarnated Negro Na-tional League’s DetroitStars, playing in Ham-tramck for one year as fu-ture Hall of Famer RayDandridge made his prodebut.

In 1937, the Titus De-troit Giants semi-pro clubbecame charter membersof the new Negro Ameri-can League (NAL), adopt-ing the storied DetroitStars’ name. They, too,lasted only one summer -- the last major NegroLeague team to hail fromDetroit.

In 1954, a GrandRapids semi-pro clubmoved to Motown, joinedthe Negro AmericanLeague, and rebadgedthemselves as the DetroitStars. After 1950, how-ever, the NAL was strictlyminor-league in quality.Playing mostly on theroad, this version of theStars folded after 1961along with the debilitatedNAL, marking the end ofthe Negro League era.

Remembering Hamtramck’s rolein the Detroit Stars’ centennial

By Alan MadlaneHamtramck High School

is gaining a lot of lovefrom a non-profit statenews source.

Bridge Michigan hasjust revealed their Aca-demic State Champs des-ignations for 2019. Thesedesignations, given as anannual listing of stateschools “where college isthe norm,” are availableto view on the Bridge

Michigan website,bridgemi.com.

Broken out into variouseconomic levels, the listhonors those state highschools (10 in each offour economic categories)where there is the highestpercentage of studentsgoing on to either a two-year or four-year collegewithin six months of grad-uating.

According to the statis-

tics Bridge Michigan isusing, Hamtramck HighSchool sent an impres-sive 73.1% of their gradu-ates on to college withinin a half-year from whenstudents graduated.

That places the school9th overall in their cate-gory. It far outpaces the54% average for the“neediest” schools.

Most HHS students move on to college after graduating

6 Hamtramck Review Phone (313) 874-2100 Friday, May 3, 2019

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MATTHEWSM i r a

Matthews (neeMorszczyna),62, died April27, 2019.

Visitation is Friday, May3, 2019 from 3-8 p.m.,with Rosary at 6 p.m., atJurkiewicz & Wilk FuneralHome, 2396 Caniff Ham-tramck MI 48212. Mrs.Matthews will lie in stateSaturday, at 10:00 a.m.followed by Mass at10:30 a.m. at Our Lady ofCzestochowa CatholicChurch, 3100 18 MileRoad, Sterling Heights, MI48314.

SPACKOFF Steven Spackoff, 63,

died April 30, 2019.Mr. Spackoff was the

son of the late Samueland Helen; father ofSteven Jr. and Margie;brother of Randy; nephewof Al Spakoff; ex-husbandof Deanna.

Visitation is SundayMay 5, 2019 from 2 - 8p.m. at Bagnasco & Cal-caterra Funeral Home,25800 Harper, St. ClairShores MI 48081. Burialis Monday, 11 a.m., at

Holy Trinity Old BelieversChurch Cemetery, 42401Saal Rd. Sterling HeightsMI 48313. Arrangementswere made by Jurkiewicz& Wilk Funeral Home,Hamtramck MI.

WOZNIAKWalter Woz-

niak, 65, diedApril 21,2019.

Mr. Wozniakwas the beloved son ofVirginia; father of Michael(Theresa), Christopher,Daniel, Matthew, Jeffery,John, Jennifer (Ted),Amanda, and the lateMaryann. He is also sur-vived by 19 grandchildren.

Visitation is Friday, May3, 2019, from 2-9 p.m.with Prayers at 7 p.m., atJurkiewicz & Wilk FuneralHome, 2396 Caniff, Ham-tramck MI 48212.

Mr. Wozniak will lie instate, Saturday, May 4,2019 at 9:30 a.m., untilthe time of the funeralMass at 10 a.m., at OurLady Queen of ApostlesCatholic Church, 11200Conant, Hamtramck, MI48212. Burial will be atMt Olivet Cemetery, De-troit, MI.

band.”Even before the HMF

and Planet Ant came intotheir lives, Alex and Adamhave always been drawn toHamtramck in some wayor other.

In Adam’s case, duringhis days in a teen band, afriend’s dad used to takethem to the HamtramckBlowout. In later years,Adam went on to actuallyperform at both theBlowout and HMF with hisband.

As for Alex, she alwayskept an eye on Planet Ant,being someone with a the-ater background. Initially,she was reluctant to try im-prov, as she wanted tofocus more on scriptedwork, but her and her part-ner finally “bit the bullet”after seeing her mom doimprov, and knowing Adamhad friends at the Ant.

So, they signed up forimprov classes together.After one class, Alex real-ized “this isn’t just a class.This is very much a com-

munity. You can get asmuch out of Planet Ant asyou put into it.”

Adam added that bothPlanet Ant and Hamtramckin general “have this feel-ing of community, becauseeverything’s so tightly knitand so close that it’s verycommunal.”

You can find Alex KnowsIt All on Facebook, Band-camp, Instagram (@Alex-KnowsItAll.jpg) and atleast every other week, like-- performing at Planet Ant.

If you go to see them, besure to submit poetry toAlex Knows It All for themto perform on stage, bysending it to them in ad-vance on any one of theirsocial media platforms.

The Planet Ant VersusTournament as hosted byAlex Knows It All is also ac-cepting submissions. AlexKnows It All will also beperforming for the DetroitWomen of Comedy Festivalon May 31. Alex is servingas a social media directorfor the festival.

Comedy duo knowsall about mixingmusic with theaterContinued from page 3

By Greg KowalskiSatchel Paige is there. So

is Turkey Stearnes. These long-gone baseball

greats have found a newpresence in Hamtramck.

They are part of a specialexhibit on the Detroit Starsbaseball team, the NegroBaseball League and theHamtramck stadium at Vet-erans Memorial Park thatonce hosted them.

The exhibit is at the Ham-tramck Historical Museum,9525 Jos. Campau, andruns through June. It con-sists of historical photosand a number of pieces ofmemorabilia.

The Negro BaseballLeague existed from the1920s to the 1950s, whenprofessional baseball wassegregated and black play-ers were not allowed to playon Major League teams orstadiums.

Turning to small commu-nity stadiums, they playedat fields around the countryincluding what was origi-

nally called Roesink Sta-dium at Veterans MemorialPark.

Some of the greatestblack baseball players inhistory played there untilthe Major Leagues were fi-nally integrated in the late1940s and early 1950s.

Roesink Stadium waseventually acquired by thecity, and has since served itin many capacities. Almostall the other stadiums na-tionally that hosted theNegro League games aregone. The Hamtramck Sta-dium is now the focus of amajor renovation effort,spearheaded by the Friendsof Historic Hamtramck Sta-dium.The stadium Friends are

sponsoring the exhibit at themuseum. It’s free. The mu-seum is open 11 a.m. to 4p.m. Saturday and Sundayand by appointment. Call(313) 893-5027 or (248)770-8389. Visit our websitewww.hamtramckhistory.org.

See the Negro League greatsat the Hamtramck museum

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being throughout theworld.

The true power of citiesrests in the hands of thepeople who live there andthoughtfully engage itselected leaders and man-agers, pushing for posi-tive change from thebottom up.

I continued walking,turned right on Brombachand then left on Caniffand up to Ant Hall, whereBernie Sanders' localteam was kicking off theVermont Senator's 2020presidential campaign.

About 20 people werethere to watch a filmedrally featuring Sanderswith a group of support-ers. In the film the mes-sage was made clearimmediately by campaignmanager Faiz Shakir:

Sanders is in the race towin this time.

He won the MichiganPrimary by just over onepercentage point in 2016,a defeat for Hillary Clintonthat foreshadowed herlosing the state vote toDonald Trump in the Gen-eral Election.

A town as politically“blue” as Hamtramck hasbeen important to na-tional Democratic candi-dates for decades.

FDR and JFK made his-toric visits here: as did, tobe fair, Reagan and H.W.Bush, who both covetedthe city’s largely Polish-American voter base,which by the late-1970s/early-1980s hadbegun drifting away fromthe Democratic Party.

Continued from page 5

Continued on page 8

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Friday, May 3, 2019 Hamtramck Review Phone (313) 874-2100 7

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5104 Evaline, 3 br., livingrm., dining rm., kitchenand bath, $850/mo.,313-303-3460, 313-310-3540. 4/12

12829 St. Louis, 2 story, 5BR, upper and lower eachhave kitchen, bath, diningand living rm, Palo andDiane 248-659-2325.

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2954 Goodson, 4 br., living,dining rm., kitchen, fullbasement, 2 car garage,turn-key house, $125,000,248-879-2521, ask forPete.

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Mentor, OH area. Exp.team needed, must re-side on 40 suite property,Claridge House Apart-ments, to provide man-agement/ maintenance.Ideal for couples/ part-ners, retirees. ContactJonathan at 216-509-6361 or Paula at 216-595-1800. 5/3

Two Chihuahuas, one tanand one tan with whitemarkings, were lost onLumpkin Street in Ham-tramck. Reward, callWilliam 313-603-0703. 5/3

APARTMENTS & FLATS FOR RENT

Advertisers should check their ad fol-lowing first publication. The newspa-per shall not be liable for failure topublish an ad, for a typographic erroror errors in publication except to theextent of the cost of the ad for the firstday’s insertion. Adjustments for errorsis limited to the cost of that portion ofthe ad wherein the error occurred. Wereserve the right to classify, revise orreject any classified advertisement.

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By Charles SercombeThis week’s Crime Log

covers April 23-29.

Tuesday, April 23• A Detroit resident

was arrested while inthe Oakland County Jailfor being wanted on aHamtramck warrant.

• A resident was ar-rested in the 2300 blockof Poland St. for beingwanted on warrants fromRedford and Westland.

• A resident in the3100 block of Jacob St.reported a break-in andthe theft of plumbing ac-cessories.

• A resident in the2900 block of Trow-bridge St. reported thatsomeone kicked in theirdoor and stole items.

• A resident in the2400 block of HolmesSt. reported that some-one sprayed graffiti ontheir garage door.

Wednesday, April 24• A resident reported

that someone threw abrick at their residence

and broke out two frontwindows.

• At 2:30 a.m., awoman was arrested ata residence in the Trow-bridge-Gallagher area fortrespassing, and a manwas arrested there aswell for assault.

• A resident in the11300 block of MoranSt. reported the theft oftheir city-issued trashcan.

• A Detroit residentwith a history of having24 license suspensionswas arrested for that of-fense once again. Thedriver was also wantedon a Hamtramck war-rant.

• A 911 emergencyhang-up call was re-ported.

• An Inkster residentreported that, while in abuilding on Jos. Cam-pau, someone stoletheir cellphone.

Thursday, April 25• A resident reported

being the victim of a sex-

Continued on page 8

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WEDNESDAYS, 7 p.m., every second Wednes-day of the month – The 3C7 and Midtown Blockmeets at 2339 Caniff PCS Senior Day Center.This block club includes all residents and busi-nesses west of Jos. Campau and north of Hol-brook.

SATURDAY, May 4, 4-7 p.m. -- Polish Dinner &Raffle with Mike Zawojsky, accordionist, at HolyCross P.N.C. Church, 2311 Pulaski at Fleming

SATURDAY, May 11, 2-4 p.m. -- Soup Kitchenat Holy Cross P.N.C. Church, 2311 Pulaski Streetat Fleming. Everyone is welcome.

MONDAY, May 27, 9 a.m. – Wayne CountyCommissioner Martha Scott hosts a free Com-munity Coffee Hour every fourth Monday of themonth at Maine Street Restaurant, 11650 Jos.Campau.

Coming events

Hamtramck/Detroit bor-der, lower unit, 2 br.,kitchen, dining rm., livingrm., bathroom, $650/mo., sec. dep., ref. re-quired, 313-492-0626.5/10

ual assault three weeksprior, at a residence inthe area of Dyar and Car-penter.

• A resident reportedbeing struck by a car in ahit-and-run incident.

• Two residents re-ported that, while in thearea of Moran and Car-penter, their brother as-saulted them.

• A resident who livesin the area of Jacob andGallagher reported abreak-in and the theft offour doors.

• A false 911 emer-gency call was reported.

• A resident was ar-rested during an investi-gation in theConant-Caely area forbeing wanted on a Ham-tramck warrant.

• A resident in the2000 block of NorwalkSt. reported damage totheir vehicle.

• A resident in the2300 block of NorwalkSt. reported that theirneighbors scared off two

suspects attempting tobreak into his residence.

• A resident in the9500 block of Mc-Dougall St. reported thata neighbor’s dog (a tanpit bull mix) dug a holeunder her fence, enteredher yard and ripped up ascreen door. The dogalso broke the door win-dow.

• A resident in the1900 block of Trow-bridge St. reported see-ing two suspects cut offhis vehicle’s catalyticconverter and drive awayin a red Pontiac.

• A hit-and-run crashwas reported at Jacoband Jos. Campau.

• A 911 emergencyhang-up call was re-ported.

Friday, April 26• At 10 p.m., a Detroit

resident was arrested inthe area of Danforth andLumpkin for being disor-derly.

• Officers located an

open door at a structurein the 2400 block ofDenton St. and securedit.

• A resident on Okla-homa St. reported shewas assaulted by her fa-ther.

• A Sterling Heightsfamily reported that theircatalytic converter wasstolen while their vehiclewas parked in the areaof Commor and Fleming.

• A resident reportedthe theft of their vehi-cle’s catalytic converterwhile it was parked inthe 12000 block ofMitchell St.

• An arson report wasmade for a residence inthe 1900 block of Ye-mans St.

Saturday, April 27• A hit-and-run crash

was reported at Andrusand Lumpkin.

• At 3 a.m., a residentwas arrested in the areaof Florian and Jos. Cam-pau for domestic vio-lence.

• At 8 a.m., a Detroitresident reported beingassaulted at Conant and

Caniff.

Sunday, April 29• In three separate in-

cidents, officers as-sisted ambulance crewswith unresponsive resi-dents.

• A juvenile was re-ported missing from aresidence in the 2400block of Burger St.

• A Holmes St. resi-dent reported being as-saulted.

• Officers attempted topull over the driver of aDodge Charger, butstopped their pursuitafter a short chase.

• A Detroit residentwas arrested for pos-sessing an unlicensedand stolen gun.

Monday, April 29• No criminal incidents

were reported for thisdate.

8 Hamtramck Review Phone (313) 874-2100 Friday, May 3, 2019

Get Yourself NOTICED!

Place an Ad in The Review

Call (313)874-2100

Continued from page 7

Continued from page 6

Get Out on the

Hamtown!

A good argument couldbe made that it was bluecollar constituencies likeHamtramck's where theso-called “Reagan-De-mocrats” movement wasbirthed.

Few are left: most con-tinued drifting up to Ma-comb County, whichhelped tilt Michigan toTrump in the last election.

As we go forward it willbe interesting to see whatkind of presence JoeBiden will have in Ham-tramck, or even more pro-gressive politicians likeElizabeth Warren, KamalaHarris, Corey Booker andPete Buttigieg, the firstopenly gay presidentialcandidate from one of thetwo major parties.

From Ant Hall I walkedback down Caniff to BankSuey, where its pop upshop, Book Suey, washosting a daylong seriesof events for IndependentBook Store Day.

There were hands-onpresentations by localurban farm Tiny Acres, aperformance by the Hon-est to God Jug Band anda drag queen story hour,the first of its kind inHamtramck.

I arrived just as thereader, Queen Aphrodite,was beginning her pro-gram. About a dozen chil-dren spread across thefloor or sat with adults abit further back near thebookcases.

Aphrodite read storiesabout inclusion, genderequity and the impor-tance of being yourself.

She took questionsfrom kids and their par-ents, answering oneabout what a drag queen

is by saying it is dressingup like a lady but “wear-ing way more makeupthan mom.”  

Asked what pronounshe prefers when in drag,Aphrodite answered“she.” Otherwise, the gen-der neutral singular“they” was her prefer-ence, Aphrodite said.

One parent questionedwhy she occasionally re-ferred to the children as“you guys,” even thoughthere was mix of malesand females in the room.Aphrodite said it wassomething done out ofhabit, but she should bemore conscious of whatshe is saying.

It was a good question,not a bad answer.

Afterward, people stoodaround and talked as thejug band set up. Ibrowsed and found a cou-ple books. I ran into oldfriends from Model D, theonline magazine where Iworked for several years;and new friends Kimaraand Ricardo, documen-tary filmmakers from Ger-many I met last fall, intown again for anothermonth of filming.

There were individualsof all ages: moms, dadsand both straight andsame-sex couples.  

I left thinking howcalmly Hamtramck ex-presses its hospitality,how normal is its extremediversity, how everyone iswelcome to simply bethemselves, how all inthat room are quietly influ-encing life in the city.(Walter Wasacz's column

about walkable discoveryappears twice monthly inthe Review.)