North Pointe-Volume 51-Issue 3-Oct. 24, 2018

Page 1

INSIDE

PAGE 6 Varsity football team support cancer survivors during cancer awarness month.

COURTESY OF NIK DAVIDS

POINTE

NORTH GROSSE POINTE NORTH HIGH SCHOOL

EVENTS

ACT TESTING Saturday, Oct. 27 at 8:00 a.m. in the gym. QUARTER 1 ENDS Friday, Nov. 2 for all students SAT TESTING Saturday, Nov. 3 at 8:00 a.m. in the gym NO SCHOOL Tuesday, Nov. 6 for all students

INSIDE “CHANGE WILL

NOT

HAPPEN IN A

VACUUM, AND IT IS ABOUT

TIME

FOR GIRLS’

EDUCATION TO COME

FIRST. " PAGE 3

"BEING TRUE TO

YOURSELF AND REALLY

FIGHTING FOR WHAT

YOU WANT OUT OF

LIFE." PAGE 2

"AT SOME

POINT

IN THEIR LIVES,

PEOPLE "GETWILL

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 24, 2018

House explosion sparks concern in nearby areas

By Hannah Zalewski & Michael Hartt PAGE EDITORS Word traveled quickly about the explosion that occurred at 20839 Lennon Road in Harper Woods, prompting a lot of concern throughout the community. According to the Detroit Free Press, the explosion was caused by a gas leak due to a disconnected line that allowed natural gas to fill the home. Officials now believe the line was once hooked up to the house’s furnace, which was stolen out of the home days before the explosion. Junior Rhea Janka first found out about the explosion from her AP Psychology teacher, and was surprised to hear such news. “I heard about it the day they told us not to go out for lunch past where the house exploded,” Janka said, “because of all the problems that were in the area. Honestly, there has not been a whole lot of crime in Grosse Pointe to begin with, so the sudden fluctuation of heater thefts and these exploding houses, it's very new (to me).” Janka was not alone. Almost all of the sophomores, juniors and seniors that have the ability to drive were informed of the incident before they left for lunch on Friday, September 21, so that they would not interfere with the investigation and remain safe. Ron Ballinger, a parent and member of the Grosse Pointe community was home, just a street away, at the time of the explosion. He noted that without the text messages from his kids or the notification from the news, he wouldn’t have known an explosion had taken place. “It wasn't until (my daughter) started sending texts and worrying about it that I even checked into it,” Ballinger said. “One of my neighbors has a business where he uses a truck to load and unload windows and I thought it was just (a) lift gate (that)

hit the street too hard. I looked out the door and saw their truck and I didn’t think anything of it.” According to the American Chemical Society publications, roughly 17 people die from home explosions a year. While the Harper Woods

explosion resulted in no fatalities, many members of the community were worried about the safety of themselves and their loved ones. Junior Rory Angott, who lives close to the house that exploded, left class early to make sure all was well at his home. “When I heard it happened, I was in class and I was really worried about my dog, so I ended up having to leave school to go check on him,” Angott said. “I was a little bit afraid when I got home that something might happen again.” Ballinger was more concerned about the safety of his children than himself after he found out about the explosion. “Because of the alerts that my kids were getting,” Ballinger said, “and that it wasn't fully explained, whatever was going on, I was worried as a parent because my kids were upset and I didn't like that.” A week following the incident, another explosion almost occured in Harper Woods that was also caused by a furnace theft. This time, a realtor smelled gas on the property and immediately called DTE Energy before entering the home, preventing another explosion from occuring. Angott said he believes the city has handled the whole situation well and that there isn’t much that can be done to prevent it from happening again. Moreover, he believes that now the concern should be dealing with the fear left from those involved. “I would just focus on the factor of the people who were in their houses, (and) the fear factor that they felt when they heard that explosion,” Angott said. “That must have been terrifying for them if they were at home.”

HANNAH ZALEWSKI

Contributing: Kylie Duke & Leo Peck

Medstar becomes new emergency service provider By Arzoo Chhaya PAGE EDITOR Grosse Pointe Farms, Woods and The City of Grosse Pointe will now share Medstar as their new Emergency Services Provider. Beaumont Transportation, the city’s previous provider announced last year that they were discontinuing their services in the City. This change has been graciously welcomed by members of the community. English teacher Kristen Alles is one of them. “I think change can be tough sometimes, but I trust that the elected officials are making the best decisions that are in the citizens' best interests.” Alles said via email. In Grosse Pointe Farms, for example,Medstar’s response time ranges from 90 seconds to 6 minutes. Senior Maddie Graham said that she is optimistic about the short response time that the new EMS provider offers. “I think that (timing) is a lot faster than what it is because where I work, it's right in line with like ambulances. So we see ambulances going by usually like three times a day.” Graham said. “Usually it's minor stuff. But if it's faster, It's gonna be awesome.” As of now, the total annual subsidy for Medstar is $125,000. However, if another city is to join this contract, individual costs for the City, Farms and Woods will go down.

Junior Mackenzie Stockwell is unsure about how the price will affect the willingness to continue with the contract.

I think change can be tough sometimes, but I trust that the elected officials are making the best decisions that are in the citizens' best interests. Kristen Alles ENGLISH TEACHER

UPCOMING

NORTHPOINTENOW.ORG

SINCE 1968

“From what I know the response time is quicker, which will be good if there's ever is an emergency situation where we need an ambulance at the school immediately but I can see it can become an issue with like the price and everything.” Stockwell said. “While the money might be more, I believe that it will be beneficial in the end for

EXPERIENCE INFORMED

when the situation shall arise.” Graham thinks this change will be of an extreme nature, and thinks that the new EMS service may end up delaying response times. "As an applied med student and like someone who lives in the community, I think it'll be like it's either going to help or it's going to hurt.” said Graham. “I think especially because Grosse Pointe is so small and there's so many streets with like similar names, I think it could be like very, very difficult for the new people to like get around and like really help.” The cities have already had a year long trial period with Medstar ambulance services, and this provides comfort to many, Alles again being one of them. “I'm not quite sure how Grosse Pointe will be affected. I think we will have to see as time goes on. The fact that Grosse Pointe has had a trial run with Medstar seems promising, though. Hopefully people are just as or more happy with this service than they were previously.” Alles said via email. This change, while intimidating, seems to have been anticipated by many because of Medstar’s growing reputation regarding response times and other benefits throughout all of the participating Grosse Pointe communities. “In today's society, you can never be too safe,” Stockwell said, “and having a fast response time for these like emergency services would be beneficial.”

Grosse Pointe Woods

IT, AND I AND MAKE THINKVOICE THE YOUR MORE HEARD. YOU WE UNDERSTAND CANNOT ABOUT IT, AFFORD THE TOLESS LOSE

Grosse Pointe Farms Grosse Pointe City

THEM." AFRAID

PAGEOF 7 YOU ARE IT.”

HANNAH ZALEWSKI

PAGE 6

@thenorthpointe www.northpointenow.org

HANNAH ZALEWSKI

VOLUME 51 | ISSUE 3

News Life

1 Editorial 3 Reviews 5 2 Indepth 4 Sports 6

By Hannah Zalewski & Kylie Duke


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