Top stories of 2022: Condemned apartments, missing woman lead Lenawee County news
When 2022 started, no one knew that 206 days in that 175 people in Adrian would suddenly find themselves wondering where they would lay their head that night and for the next several weeks.
Yet that’s what happened when tenants of the Riverview Terrace apartments were told to evacuate because the building was structurally unsound.
The situation at Riverview Terrace tops The Daily Telegram’s list of top stories of the year. That list includes a controversial project, an ongoing missing person case and significant deaths.
Riverview Terrace evacuated
On July 25, the tenants of the high-rise apartment building on College Avenue in Adrian were told they had to get out, quickly. Workers replacing carpeting in one apartment had found cracks between the walls and floor, and inspections found many more gaps throughout the building.
Engineers found that the building’s exterior walls were pulling away from the flooring structures and could not be easily repaired.
City officials decided to buy the Adrian Inn motel for $800,000 to use as transitional housing for many of the Riverview Terrace tenants who could not find other housing. The city had declared the inn a public nuisance a year before because of frequent calls for police service and was in litigation with the former owners related to the nuisance designation.
The city has worked with several agencies to assist the apartment tenants, who are mostly 62 or older or permanently disabled, with their housing needs and other social services.
Dee Warner still missing
Dee Warner, a mother, wife and businesswoman from the Tipton area, continues to be missing 21 months after she disappeared in April 2021. Her brother, Tipton farmer Gregg Hardy, and her adult children connected with a private investigator, Billy Little, who in the spring began airing occasional online updates about his investigation, particularly into Warner's husband, Dale, and their businesses. Little's updates included criticism of the Lenawee County sheriff’s and prosecutor’s offices and their handling of the case.
In August at a rally at the old Lenawee County Courthouse where many people held “Justice for Dee” signs, Sheriff Troy Bevier announced he had asked the Michigan State Police to take over the case. A few days later, the state police officially took over, though the department and the FBI had been involved from early in the investigation.
The case was the subject of an episode in October of the series "Disappeared" on the Investigation Discovery TV channel.
Project Phoenix
In 2021, Lenawee County officials announced plans to buy the former Tecumseh Products Co. plant site in Tecumseh to build a recreation and community services center, dubbed Project Phoenix, with the hopes that the redeveloped site would become a regional draw for travel youth sports teams. The county followed through with the $2.3 million purchase, but debate about the project’s merits continued into the spring of 2022, and in June the county shelved the plans when it appeared state funding for the project was in doubt.
Supporters argued there is a need for a facility where youth travel sports teams from the area can have tournaments without traveling hours away; that the facility could be paid for with federal pandemic relief funds, state allocations, private contributions, rent for the athletic facilities and for commercial and office space in the facility, and the county’s delinquent property tax fund; and that the influx of visitors would drive further economic development in the area. Opponents argued the $88 million project was too expensive, would not benefit most Lenawee County residents and was too far from communities in the southern and western parts of the county. They also said the county’s consultants said it wasn’t a sure thing that the facility would be the draw county officials said it would.
New superintendents
Four of Lenawee County's 11 school districts, including its largest, changed leaders in 2022 after three retirements and a departure for another district. Nate Parker became Adrian’s superintendent in January, followed by Addison hiring Daniel Patterson in March, Jennifer Ellis becoming Morenci’s superintendent and Clinton promoting Kevin Beazley. Ellis and Beazley both were named superintendent in July.
Parker had been principal at Springbrook Middle School in Adrian, Patterson was an administrator at the Dearborn schools, Ellis had been principal at Clinton Elementary School, and Beazley had been Clinton's high school principal.
Philanthropists’ deaths
Lenawee County lost three of its leading community supporters over the course of 2022: Greg Adams, Frank Dick and Paul “Chico” Martinez Jr.
Adams, 48, was a leading proponent of mental health services and recreation. He died Feb. 13 from injuries suffered when he was struck by a vehicle while jogging. He founded the E-race the Stigma 5K run, which has been named in his memory, to support mental health services in Lenawee County. He also received a statewide award for outstanding public service from the Community Mental Health Authority of Michigan in 2019.
Dick died Sept. 5 at the age of 96. He had a long career as a superintendent for multiple school districts in Ohio before coming to Michigan to work for the Gleaner Life Insurance Society. As Gleaner’s CEO, he oversaw the move of the home office to Adrian in 1981 and its growth over the years, and he and his wife, Shirley, became fixtures in the Lenawee County community, supporting many causes, including college scholarships, health care initiatives and many community organizations.
Martinez, the founder of Adrian’s annual Cinco de Mayo parade who regularly would do what he could to help others in need, died Nov. 8 after a long battle with lung cancer. Martinez was The Daily Telegram’s Citizen of the Year in 2007. He was 56.
Deputy charged in shooting
Lenawee County Deputy Sheriff Kirk June was charged in August with careless discharge of a firearm causing injury for an incident in April when he shot a man during a late-night search for the person who fired a shot into the air outside an Adrian residence. The case is in Lenawee County Circuit Court where a pretrial hearing is scheduled for Jan. 18.
The man who was shot, Harold Glenn Tate, was trying to hide from police by lying on the ground in a dark, vacant lot next to the residence where the shot was fired. June was handling a tracking dog, who found Tate. Video from June’s body-worn camera showed that the shot was fired while June was trying to handle the dog’s lead and his pistol.
Tate was hospitalized and required more than one surgery to repair his wounds. He pleaded guilty to charges of second-offense possession of less than 25 grams of cocaine and possession of a firearm by a felon in connection with the incident to which June and other officers responded. He admitted to briefly handling a handgun. He is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 12.
Adrian trash collection
In April, the Adrian City Commission agreed to an updated contract for residential refuse collection with trash hauler Stevens Disposal and Recycling Services. Rather than a routine matter, the new contract generated complaints about the new rates being charged and confusion about how to use the 95-gallon carts that were distributed to each residence. The contract doubled the rates to $240 per year, and city officials found they had to mount an educational campaign to explain that the carts are to be put away each week and not left at the curb. Previously, trash was put at the curb in bags and recycling collection was optional.
Downtown redevelopment plans
An ambitious concept to redevelop part of downtown Adrian along the River Raisin and North Winter Street between West Maple Avenue and West Maumee Street has drawn $15 million in state funding as well as private interest. The plan includes new residential development along North Winter Street, new parks and open space, walking trails, public amenities and a renewed focus on the river ecosystem. The residential development would be in the area of the former Daily Telegram office building, the former Access Shopper’s Guide, and the former Eagles building, which were purchased by the Adrian Development Collaborative LLC. The company’s partners are a group of local businessmen.
Principal dismissed
In July, the Tecumseh school district and its high school principal, Dennis Niles, agreed to a separation agreement. Niles had been accused of inappropriate behavior by multiple female students. Police found his behavior was not criminal, but an officer described one incident as “borderline assault.” Niles initially was reassigned to being the district’s operations director, but after parents and a former school board member complained the agreement for the district to pay Niles $80,000 to leave the district was reached.
Transportation developments
After five years, the Sand Creek Highway bridge over the south branch of the River Raisin was finally replaced with the new structure opened to traffic in late October. The work was made possible by the Michigan Department of Transportation bundling several bridge projects statewide together to streamline coordination and permitting and increase economies of scale.
A bridge on Deerfield Road was closed for much less time — about eight months — but drivers on the county’s east side were happy when it reopened in November.
The county’s longest nonmotorized trail, the Kiwanis Trail, saw the long-awaited Tecumseh Connection opened in November. The trail now extends to Cal Zorn Recreation Center.
At the other end of the trail in Adrian, plans to construct a tunnel under South Main Street just north of Beecher Street have been pushed back until 2024 because of rising costs, heavy demand for construction work and an unstable market. State funding has been allocated for the project, which is intended to create a safer connection to the trail’s east side extension that opened in 2021. Now, trail users have to cross at the busy Beecher and Main intersection to get from the trail on the west side of Main Street to the east side extension.
Several road paving projects were completed during 2022, including a "road diet" in Tecumseh that reduced the number of lanes on Chicago Boulevard through the downtown area.
Top online Daily Telegram stories of 2022 by pageviews
Man charged with wife's death in July 4 shooting in Raisin Township, 17,907 views.
Devils Lake drowning victim's body recovered Monday afternoon, 13,094.
Private investigator in Dee Warner case says money was a motive, 13,091.
Morgan Wallen entertains on opening night of Faster Horses country music festival, 8,803.
Adrian woman dead after Thursday crash in Whiteford Township, 8,630.
Private investigator on Dee Warner case says arrest forthcoming, 8,627.
Study finds that climate change, global warming is having an effect on nine tree species, 7,724.
Motorcyclist dies in crash Tuesday morning at U.S. 223 and Ogden Highway, 7,246.
Man dies from injuries suffered in crash Friday in Adrian Township, 6,563.
Woman dies, 3 others injured in crash at Lipp Highway, Horton Road in Riga Township, 6,558.
NOTE: Stats as of Dec. 22.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: 2022 top stories: Condemned apartments, missing woman lead news
