I think I've figured this out... maybe.
There is favoritism in West Bloomfield Township, which is no way to run a community. Everyone should be equal under the rules and if someone is allowed a little extra equality, well, trouble arises.
And once you're proven to be unfairly gaining from special access to the system, then nothing you can say about other benefits can really be believed. Integrity is an easy thing to surrender.
Why does something stink with Supervisor Michele Economou Ureste and her ride home by a police officer who pulled her husband over late on night (he got a ride home, too)?
Because at the first meeting when the public could comment, she started public comment by firmly warning that people only had 2 minutes to comment.
First up? Her husband and a multi-paged letter that took more than 6 minutes to read before the supervisor finally asked him to stop. Ouch. She knew he was first; she knew what he had to say; she had to know how long it took to read.
Yet she felt the need to state the firm time limit.
My rules do not apply to me. OUCH. No way to run a township, and I'm happy for the people who called her and her husband out as he continued to read his lengthy rant.
Whatever his blood alcohol content that night, that little glimpse into how things are in West Bloomfield is proof enough for me that some rules only apply some of the time.
The video can be found here.
Oh, and about the actual issue itself, the supervisor and her hubby (who sounds very snotty in his defensive tone, not helping their case, in fact, hurting it) continued to insist that she innocent of any wrongdoing.
Her husband used phrases such as "no facts, no case....no wrong doing, never charged, no evidence" in showing that there is no proof that he had been drinking or was drunk. (The police report indicated that his preliminary breath test result was a 0.11 percent, but this is not admissible in court.)
He keeps saying all these things as to why they are innocent, but there was no investigation, no official inquiry, and THAT is the problem. The evidence was not collected, and it may have shown him sober. But the elected official and her husband got SPECIAL treatment, treatment that the rest of us do not get.
And with that time limit violation, they've proven their guilt in believing in special treatment for leadership. Americans do not like that, which is why the media does love these kinds of stories.
If only they had paid the slightest bit of attention to L. Brooks Patterson, who apologized, went to court, and submitted to a traffic violation. He did not hide behind denials, and he was forgiven.

I wonder where they'll find him. In one sense, you can just hope that they, the rebels, parade him around dead; that way, you'll know it's done and life can go on.

Somehow, I sense, the "maddog of north Africa," is that how Reagan called him?, will pop up here and there and continue to make trouble. It would be nice to stability on the fast track over there.

Nice for all of us if that were the case.

So, the Detroit Lions have sold out their Monday Night Football game and all is well with Detroit football. Sorry, I can't see it that way.
Sure, Matthew Stafford is not yet out of the season, awaiting his first body slam. Then we will see what this team and its QB are made of.
I am not buying the high expectations of the season, just as I'm not buying that Monday Night Football is a return to glory for the Lions.
Primetime football is best on Sunday....on NBC, not ESPN.
Sorry ESPN and the tradition of MNF, but that boat has passed. Not just because MNF is now on Cable, but the night features plenty of other viewing opportunities. Also, the announcers and production are just not as good. SNF is the prime football broadcast. They have the players, they have the prime matchups, and they have the talent in the booths.
I'm reading the biography of ESPN's start and losing the SNF to NBC while gaining MNF was not a winning moving. According to the interviews, SNF came with the prime flex schedule and with the traditional MNF schedule, Super Bowl winners and high market teams. MNF is now the old Sunday Night Football.
So we in Detroit should not be acting like MNF is the old MNF.

I don't necessarily agree with him, but Rick Perry, the accented governor from Texas who accused the fed of treason, has picked a winning fight. Even if he's completely wrong, it works, because it pits him against the president in a CNN-declared WAR OF WORDS.
Meaning?
Forget the primary, it's Perry versus Obama. If this carries on, Americans will buy it, too.
It may be good practice for Obama, but it really must be bumming out Michelle Happy-Birthday-Elvis Bachmann and Mitt I'll-Spend-My-Money-Later-and-Not-in-Iowa Romney.
Great speech, Governor.

Yes, it was a minor thing, but we were wrong when we reported in a story that a Farmington Hills woman had murdered her husband and then killed herself. The story is here.
The woman, according to police, had killed her husband. It's a homicide, not yet a murder, which is a legal distinction. A prosecutor can charge one with murder, and it up to a jury (or a judge or a defendant, if they plead guilty or no contest) to determine if it is murder.
Funny thing, though, is I still think of these cases, really these tragedies, as murder-suicides. I can't find a better term. Murder-suicide just flows. I'd call it a murder-suicide, but I would not say that the woman murdered her husband.

You had plenty to say about the news yesterday. Here's a sampling of what you think, taken from comments on our online stories, from Facebook and from Twitter:
- S4Hubbard on Twitter: "Kwame's out of the joint & on his way to TX. Unfortunately the courts will force him to come back re: racketeering & corruption. Good-bye."
- rachelk on our editorial about apathetic voters: "We should let our voices be heard when election time comes and even in between, like when the person we elected disappoints us. Last night we caught a glimpse of what democracy is all about when Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, in the midst of intensive rehabilitation for the head wounds she sustained, took the difficult journey to D.C. to make sure that she can vote. Yes, each vote counts. I recall how we in West Bloomfield voted en masse for the renewal of our public library and because of that collective effort our library continues to serve us and brought us much pride when it received a national award. Don't forget how fortunate we are to live in a Democracy, I sure don't."
- cookiepro, commenting on the story about the Troy library vote: "I don't understand the big deal that the anti-tax extremists are stirring up. Obviously, the Troy Library needs to be taken out of the equation by giving it separate funding."
- Dave Lambert on Facebook, where we asked for prediction on the Troy library vote: "Hard to predict. Most Troy voters love the library but distrust government at all levels. Whichever feeling is uppermost in the mind of the voter when he/she enters the polling place will probably determine the outcome."
- Cougar, commenting on our story about the jailing of the former U-M basketball star: "I can promise you Mr. (Jalen) Rose won't receive any more tickets for the next 20 days."
- Torch Harrison on Facebook about the debt ceiling being passed: "Mad. Boiling mad. And folks might not wait for the 2012 elections to show it."
- Dave Lewandowski on the same Facebook question: "I gave up paying attention what they are doing in DC anymore I just do my own thing and stay happy."
What do you think?
Share your thoughts and you could be featured in our OPINION column. You can post a mini-column — up to 250 words — on our Facebook page or email it to allan.adler@oakpress.com. If you have a quick thought on a current topic, post a comment on our online story. You also can send us a Tweet @TheOaklandPress or answer our daily questions on Facebook. We want to hear from you.

After an accident in Waterford was caused by a wrong-way driver, we asked readers on our Facebook page to share examples of bad driving.
You had plenty of examples and thoughts to share:
- Pauline Schillo: I had someone go around 5 cars and me in the oncoming lane to go around, and that is just the beginning of the moronic moves.
- Vicki Jackson Brewer-Lambert: We were just discussing this recently. It seems that drivers no longer know what a double yellow line means!
- Debbie Engelhard Wagner: Don't understand it at all. Between passing in a no pass zone and tail-gating. Is it really that important to get to your destination a few seconds earlier?!
- Elizabeth Kelley Huff: Got to say - the DUMBEST thing I've ever seen was last year. My daughters and I were in the car when we noticed a man had missed the entrance to the store he wanted to go to and, instead of SAFELY turning around - this guy actually put his car into REVERSE on Rochester Road - in a 50 mile per hour speed zone at 1 p.m. on a Sunday! It was by the Grace of GOD that no one was killed that day!
- Hugh Gains: I was doing 55mph in a 45 mph zone on M-59, pickup truck passed both lanes of traffic in the center lane @ 75 mph+. Lets also not forget our wonderful citizens who REFUSE to use their turn signals, speed excessively, tailgate, talk on the phone and drift from lane to lane, go into a daze at red lights and sit through a green, and many, many more. The skills and courtesy of drivers has gone SERIOUSLY downhill over the last 10 years and surprisingly, its NOT the younger people that are to blame.
- Colleen Egan: Please don't drive like people from Ohio. The left lane on the highway is for passing — not for camping out with your cruise control set at 5mph over the speed limit while shaking your fist as people passing you on the right. Get out of that lane unless you are there to pass someone and move on.
- Emily Machelle Cramer: Yesterday a guy on a croch rocket speeding behind me, tried to cut between me and the car in the next line. He almost lost control of the bike and slowed down when he regained control. If he'd had skidded out I would have ran him over in my truck cause he was that close! n Christine Page: I have to pick ONE?? Every day I see people do the dumbest traffic maneuvers. Wake up... You are NOT the only car on the road and you are definitely not the most important. Pay attention & follow the rules!
What do you think?
Share your thoughts and you could be featured in our OPINION column. You can post a mini-column — up to 250 words — on our Facebook page or email it to allan.adler@oakpress.com. If you have a quick thought on a current topic, post a comment on our online story. You also can send us a Tweet @TheOaklandPress or answer our daily questions on Facebook. We want to hear from you.