A barn party is being planned for this year’s “Pandemic Prom,” being sponsored by parents and community members and designed for this year’s juniors and graduating seniors. Semi-formal and casual dress attire is encouraged.

Update 6-22-20: Organizers are still in need of donations! See info on donating below. Although this is not a school sponsored function, all the school faculty and staff to attend.聽

One of the traditional events near the end of each school year is the junior/senior prom. With the COVID-19 crisis this year, that special time of gathering did not happen in most school districts.

But in Manchester, a group of parents and community residents are planning to host a “pandemic prom 2020” for the classes of 2020 and 2021, on Friday, June 26 from 7 to 11:30 pm. The location will be at the barn of Kody Naylor, at 17500 Sharon Valley Road.

“All MHS junior and senior students and a guest are invited,” said Angie Fuller, who is one of the parents helping to plan the event. “The guest must be under 21 and we will be checking ID.

“It will be formal/casual dress attire,” Fuller continued. “No jeans or cutoffs will be allowed–girls can wear a formal dress or a dressy sun dress. Guys are encouraged to wear dress pants and. a shirt.”

A pizza dinner will be served at approximately 7:30 pm, and dancing and fun will follow. The event will be free for the kids who attend.

“We want to make as many memories as we can for them in the current situation,” Fuller added.

Entertainment will be provided by Throw Yo Hands Up Entertainment, with music and a photo booth.

Organizers are requesting the community and parents who are able to make donations, to contact Fuller at (317) 517-2057 or Jenni Kerns at (734) 216-6261. Donations may also be made at the Old National Bank office in Manchester, by telling them it is for the “non-prom” account.

Fuller emphasized that this is not a school related function and is being put on by members of the community who wish to help make some extra-special memories for this year’s juniors and graduating seniors, whose school year was interrupted by the pandemic.

Map of Manchester Township. The Village of Manchester is located in the top right corner.

糖心视频 takes no position on the issue being discussed. Editorials are by local leaders or experts with specific knowledge of a topic and may contain opinions. Views expressed in any editorial are always exclusively those of the author.

by Pat Vailliencourt, President,聽Village of Manchester

Most of us have heard bits and pieces about bringing broadband to the townships in our community. The need for this has been a discussion for many years at local, county, state, and federal levels. Those of us that live in the village, and have broadband services, may be under the impression that it does not involve or affect us. As Village President, I feel it is extremely important for village residents to understand that as a village, we are part of Manchester Township. Michigan state law currently does not allow special assessments for installation of fiber-optic lines.

As Manchester Township proceeds with the Feasibility Study that may eventually lead to a ballot proposal for funding, by law they must include the village as part of this project. This means that village residents will be taxed in the same manner as Manchester Township residents.

Sharon Township recently completed their Feasibility Study and will be putting out a bond proposal to fund $4.9 million for 20 years. Village residents currently pay over $150,000 annually to Manchester Township for services they provide. If this initiative passes, based on the Sharon Township study, it is very probable that the amount paid by village taxpayers to Manchester Township will double, without any change to services received.

Another part of this initiative is that the millage will be assessed by parcel, not residence. This means that if you own property that is divided into multiple parcels, each will receive an assessment. If you do not live in a township that passes this millage but own vacant property, including farmland, you will receive an assessment–even though you cannot vote.

I completely understand the need for better internet services in rural areas. My objective is not to try to have this initiative defeated, but rather to ensure that we fully understand exactly what this means and to protect village residents from additional taxes that provide no benefits.

Our state Representative, Donna Lasinski, has introduced a bill to allow special assessments but it is stalled in committee due to lack of support. Rep. Lasinski will be at the Seniors Luncheon at Emanuel Church at 12:45 on Thursday, March 29. Please join us to hear an update, express your support, and/or share concerns.

]]> 29270 /2017/06/19/the-beaufort-street-banshee-manchesters-cryptid/ Mon, 19 Jun 2017 13:41:34 +0000 http://themanchestermirror.com/?p=25036

The mysterious sound which occurs in the evening every couple of weeks in the summer can be heard the loudest on Beaufort Street.

Cryptid听–听noun. 聽An animal whose existence or survival is disputeted or unsubstantiated.

This word originated in 1990 with the rise in popularity of cryptozoology, a form of pseudoscience in which people 鈥渟tudy鈥� or search for cryptids. While you might not have heard the term before, many cryptids themselves are well聽known, such as the Yeti, Bigfoot, or Chupacabras. There are even聽movies and television shows dedicated to searching for cryptids.

Cryptids are often regional, and Michigan is home to many. The Michigan Dogman is just one example. He is a werewolf-like creature who has mostly been sighted in the northwest part of the Lower Peninsula. The legend gained popularity after a song was recorded by Steve Cook about the Dogman as an April Fool joke. The song rose in popularity and Cook eventually updated the song with more recent sightings in 1997. The Ridgeway Monster is another Michigan cryptid that hits a little closer to home. Ridgeway is a small town close to Tecumseh, and in 1986, Nancy Niemann wrote a story in the Tecumseh Herald about the beast. She claimed she was told by a realtor that there was a specific house in Ridgeway that had an extremely active poltergeist and a red-haired monster with green eyes that would peek into windows, but that the realtor聽refused to give her the specific address.

Cryptids are particularly interesting when you have one in your own town聽and聽Manchester has had its share with the Manchester Panther and the infamous crocodile.聽However, neither聽is as mysterious or eerie as the Beaufort Street Banshee. While there have been no sightings of the elusive creature, residents have heard the cries of this monster for years, though only those who have live on or very near to Beaufort Street have ever heard this strange noise. The Beaufort Street Banshee has been vocally active for nearly聽10 years. The cries cease when winter arrives usually in late September but sometimes continuing into聽mid October. The Beaufort Street Banshee, like skunks, groundhogs, bears, and bees, appears to hibernate in the winter.

On June 15th, 2017, local resident Ivy Herron, got the very first known recording of the cryptid’s scream. Posting it on Facebook, she posed the question, 鈥淲hat is it???鈥� While the general population of Manchester offered up many interesting options as to what the noise could have originated from, (a recorder, squeaky air conditioner, metal scrapings, a bassoon, an elk call, etc.). A聽suggestion聽offered up by聽Yvonne Woelders Fent was that the mysterious sound was actually a 鈥淕host train.鈥� While this is an appealing idea, it would make more sense if the origin of the sound was along the multi-use trail, where train tracks at one time ran through town, instead of along Beaufort Street.

To those who have grown used to its ten year聽presence in the community, the call of the Beaufort Street Banshee signifies the unofficial start of summer. It has become not only a normal part of life聽but also a local聽icon to those living on Beaufort Street and the surrounding area. While it is understandable to try and pin the noise on something commonplace like a musical instrument or a faulty appliance, the most reasonable conclusion is, in fact, that Manchester has its own cryptid, the Beaufort Street Banshee, and I believe that we should respect this creature, and search for the endless positive opportunities聽that having our own聽cryptid could offer.

Looking north along Beaufort Street. This is the direction from which the banshee’s scream seems to originate.

Bomont is a very strict little town run by the Reverend Shaw Moore. After a tragic accident that affected the whole town, he banned dancing to try and save the town’s youth. However, his daughter, Ariel, has other ideas and loves to rebel against her father by wearing bright red cowboy boots and dating the high school dropout Chuck. Between Ariel, her friend Rusty, Ren, and his friend Willard, will these four kids be able to take on the city council and change this law? Come out and see the show to find out.

Taylor Denby stars as Ren McCormick, Ava Sharrow-Duscay as Ariel Moore, Skylyr Zink as Rev. Shaw Moore, Caleb Goodell as Willard Hewitt, and Cameron Denby as Rusty. In addition, Kayanna Williams plays Vi Moore, Gale Shrewsbury plays Ethel McCormick, Stefan Asplund plays Chuck Cranston, Alyssa Davila plays Wendy Jo, and Alexa Moore plays Urleen. These kids, the rest of the cast, and the stage crew have been working tirelessly for months to put on a wonderful show, and what an amazing show they have!

Janine Hawley directs, with musical director Jared Throneberry, technical director Nate Betz, and choreographer Kendall Buie have helped make this whole show possible. The show opens Friday, April 21st at 7 pm, continues on Saturday, April 22nd at 7 pm, and concludes with a聽matinee show on Sunday, April 23rd at 2 pm. Tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for students and seniors. We hope to see you there!

Although starting off strong Manchester’s Digital Dislocators (FRC team 6081) 聽faced a tough weekend.聽 Battling mechanical and minor programing issues they finished 35^th in their second and final competition this year in Howell.

Manchester students who participated in States: Rachel Fegan, Nehemiah Ingram, John Dobis, Rayna Edwards, Devon Kelly, Elijah Herron, River Spitler, and Grant Tungate

Manchester High School’s DECA chapter started the year with twenty-six DECA members. Of the students who went to the district competition, eight qualified for the state level competition, which was held March 10th-12th in Detroit.聽DECA, which stands for Distributive Education Clubs of America, is a nationwide student leadership organization that helps prepare high school students for business career.

Team members could choose to compete in areas that reflect their possible future career path and interests from a large聽number of competitive categories. The competitive categories fall under 6 different career clusters: marketing, business management and administration, finance, hospitality and tourism, entrepreneurship, and personal financial literacy. Some of the events Manchester DECA members competed in were principles of business management, principles of hospitality, business finance services, retail management services, and marketing communicaton.

Advisor Leslie Rollins explained, 鈥淐lub members began meeting in September to start preparing for the district level competition. Much of the preparation takes place in the business classroom. They also meet weekly, go over sample questions and role plays.鈥�

A few weeks before a competition, students took a 100-question test. Then, at the competition, students participate in in-person role playing with a judge. The highest combined scores in every category proceed to states.聽 This year eight Manchester students, Rachel Fegan, Nehemiah Ingram, John Dobis, Rayna Edwards, Devon Kelly, Elijah Herron, River Spitler, and Grant Tungate聽competed against hundreds of students from all over the state at the State Career Development Conference in Detroit the weekend of March 10th-12th.

At the State Competition, five students were selected to attend leadership academies at the DECA International Career Development Conference in Anaheim, CA:聽 Rachel Fegan, John Dobis, Devon Kelly, River Spitler, and Grant Tungate. Rayna Edwards was a top scoring competitor in her event, earning an award and going up on stage.聽 The awards ceremony is quite a production with music, lights, and smoke, a real rock star experience, so being on stage is no little deal.

Manchester which has only had a DECA team for four years, competed against more established teams; some programs have been around for nearly 30 years. They come from much larger schools and from all over the state. Unlike in other competitive events, teams aren鈥檛 separated by school size or 鈥渃lass鈥�. 聽Everyone is treated as though they are on an equal playing field. In addition, not all team members are able to be in a business class.聽Manchester’s聽team success reflects the educational experiences the teachers provide at our聽high school!

According to its website, DECA prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges around the globe.

MHS’s Rayna Edwards (center) was a top scoring competitor in her event.

The Digital Dislocators team is made up of聽Rachel Allen, Ian Thompson, Taylor Denby, Gi West, Garret Mayes, Claudia Pierce, Jakob Vershum, Allen Morse-Koch, Noah Radcliffe, Caitlin Gaydosh, Miles West, and Cullen Armstrong. The team mentors are Matt Hall, Mark West, Ed Kurgin, Nick Kurgin, Chris Fillyaw, and Daniella Kippnick.

The team got off to a slow start and lost their first four matches, but with improvements聽to the robot, they played better every single match and won the remaining seven matches. After eighty matches were played by the forty teams in attendance, it was time for alliance selection. After team selection, the Dislocators ended up captains of Alliance 8, and were paired with team 94, the Ninetyfouriors from Southfield, and team 3707, the Technodogs from Brighton.聽 Unfortunately, The Dislocators played against the strongest alliance in the Quarterfinals and, although scoring very well, they were eliminated after two matches. Despite this, the team was glad to have made it so far and are working on new components so their robot is more prepared for the next competition.

The next District Competition is in Howell and will run from Friday, March 31st to Saturday, April 1st. If the team does well at that competition,聽they will qualify聽 to go to the state competition the second week of April.

Manchester’s team.

MHS scores. Photo courtesy of Shea Van Vuuren.

This past weekend, the power returned just in time for the Manchester band program to go ahead and host the District 8 MSBOA band festival at the High School as planned. Beginning Friday afternoon and concluding Saturday, twenty-five bands from area schools came to participate in the festival.

Both the Manchester High School Concert Band and the Manchester Middle School Band did an outstanding job and received the highest rating from every judge in every category.聽 Having received overall 1 ratings, both bands qualify to participate in the state festival later in April, which will also be hosted at Manchester High School.

Hosting events like this is only possible by the organization of 聽the Music Boosters and their great army of volunteers.