I always thought if I ever told a story at the Moth, it would be about that time in 2001 when I was tricked into visiting the U.S. Embassy in Beijing so I could be falsely accused of attempting to pay someone to smuggle something onto an America-bound plane. (That’s a long, retrospectively amusing, and very 9/11-era story.)

But now I’m thinking my spoken-word tale will be about how I made an ill-advised crack about moths in this space last week and got quite literally schooled. I asked whether anyone loves the critters, and the answer (as I figured) was a resounding yes.

Just in time for Earth Day, everyone seemed to have a favorite. Peter Westerman asked if I’d ever seen a luna moth or a giant cecropia moth and noted, “There is more beauty in nature than we can possibly comprehend – let alone understand.” Karin Fujimoto emailed amazing shots of a hand-sized hyalophora found on the side of her garage a few years back. “We were excited enough about it that we dragged the kids out of bed to see it,” she wrote.

Karla Passalacqua provided a link to the polyphemus moth with an exhortation not to “judge an entire group of arthropods for a few bad actors.” The most visually interesting, to me, was the Isabella tiger moth shared by M.M. Serpento.

I’ve learned a lot this week! Rachel Shaw pointed me to a fascinating blog post entitled “For the Love of Moths.” Rita Mitchell linked me to a Smithsonian piece about moths as “unsung heroes of pollination.” And Sally Oey reminded me that my kidding around gave aid and comfort to those OK with committing the insect genocides disrupting the natural world. “Please consider being more respectful of our fellow creatures instead of gratuitously inviting hate,” she wrote. “And thanks for an otherwise fantastic publication!”

I could go on and on – and so could all of you – but we have a week’s worth of news to get to. The biggest story was the horrific murder of local activist Jude Walton, a woman whose violent loss has really shaken the town. If you knew her and want to offer a memory or thought, drop me a line. There’s also the local kid who had a (sorta) perfect SAT, the U-M softball pitcher who threw two no-hitters in one weekend, and the curious case of the desk on the Diag.

As I mark July 22 on my calendar as the start of this year’s National Moth Week, I wish you a safe and luminescent week.

– Steve Friess, editor

Activist’s brutal slaying rocks A2: Jude Walton, whom the New York Daily News referred to as a “beloved figure in the Ann Arbor community,” was found dead by strangulation in her home on Thursday afternoon. Walton, fifty-one, a former commissioner on the Independent Community Police Oversight Commission and most recently director of employee experience at Avalon Housing, a nonprofit dedicated to housing the homeless. Fifty-four-year-old Ricky Dewayne McCain was arraigned Monday on charges of open murder, first-degree home invasion and criminal sexual conduct-assault with intent to commit sexual penetration. Read MLive’s obituary.

MERC arbiter rules GEO strike violates contract: An administrative law judge for the Michigan Employment Relations Commission sided with U-M and is recommending that the full commission order the Graduate Employees’ Organization to end its work action, according to the University Record. Union members walked off their jobs on March 29 to press their demands for a 60 percent raise in minimum base pay and to enhance other benefits. U-M has offered an 11.5 percent raise. The GEO says it will appeal. Meanwhile, U-M has a new labor headache: the House Officers Association, a union of some 1,300 physicians and dentists in training, filed an unfair labor practices complaint with MERC over the school’s bargaining tactics, MLive reports (paywall). Their contract expires June 30.

Should Ann Arbor sell downtown land to raise revenue?: Administrator Milton Dohoney floated the question to council this week, explaining that costs will soon exceed income, MLive reports (paywall). Dohoney suggested increasing tax revenue by allowing development on City Hall property between Huron and Ann streets as well a city-owned parking lot off Ashley. The latter was assessed at $19 million a few years back, he said.

U-M’s speedy removal of trees on North Campus sparks ire: Students at Escher Cooperative House on Gilbert Ct. adjacent to the now-formerly wooded area were outraged that the bulldozers moved in so fast to clear the area for the construction of a $14 million sports facility, MLive reports. The regents approved the project on March 23 and the site was cleared within days because the city doesn’t allow leveling of trees during the spring bird-nesting season. To assuage the students, U-M says it may add a barrier of trees and impose a noise limit late at night on the fields.

Marshall Ct residents, past and present, gather ahead of demolition: Dozens of homes are soon to be removed off S. Division St. to make way for a new U-M dorm, so the owners of six of the homes hosted an emotional, nostalgic farewell potluck last weekend, MLive reports (paywall). The Hathaway family, who sold the half-dozen rental properties for $6 million, reminisced about the four generations of their family that lived there at various points since the 1920s. 

U-M launches planning process for 2050: The yearlong effort will seek input from various stakeholders about the physical future of the A2 campus, according to the Record. Campus Plan 2050 will include five- and 10-year development horizons, as well as a 25-year plan to serve as a catalyst to advance ongoing initiatives and set priorities for capital investments.

Scio Township approves tax break for tech incubator: Michigan Innovation Headquarters, or MI-HQ, wants to redevelop 300 N. Zeeb Rd., the former UMI/Proquest building just off I-94.  After sitting vacant for 13 years the site requires significant and expensive remediation, so the township agreed to freeze local property taxes at the current rate for five years. In 2018, the Observer’s James Leonard talked to MI-HQ founder Mark Smith about its existing site on Wagner Rd., and living and working at “Ground Zero” for the  Gelman plume. 

$3.3M purchase to prevent development in Scio: Danish-born farmer and environmentalist Michael Vesergaard is buying the 101-acre Renz Farm along Wagner Rd. near Liberty with help from the area’s farmland preservation program, Cynthia Furlong Reynolds reports in this month’s Observer. The move takes land previously planned for residential off the table, with the township ponying up almost $3 million in local, regional, state, and national funds to buy the development rights and Vestergaard paying the Renz heirs about $330,000. “I believe that local, organic farms will do as much – or more – to resolve environmental concerns than just driving electric cars,” the farmer says.  

Fuller Park may become Bicentennial Park: City administrator Milton Dohoney said the committee planning the 2024 celebration of A2’s 200th birthday is considering renaming the park and adding a splash pad, a garden, a sculpture honoring homegrown Olympians and other new amenities to it, MLive reports. Fuller Park is under consideration in part because it is not named to honor any person but rather adopted the name of the street it is on.

Man found dead at Ypsilanti Township bus shelter: The body was reported Monday morning on Washtenaw Ave. just east of Golfside Rd., WWJ reports. The county sheriff’s office provided  little detail except to note that the death does not appear to involve foul play.

New documentary revisits chilling chapter of local history: The forthcoming 1969: Killers, Freaks, and Radicals, is a feature-length movie inspired by a 1976 book about a murder spree in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti in the late 1960s, Trilby MacDonald writes in this month’s Observer. Videographer and true-crime enthusiast Andrew Templeton is delving deep into the saga about the seven girls and women, ages thirteen to twenty-three, who were brutally slain between 1967 and 1969. Templeton hopes to wrap the project in late summer, but is still interested in speaking to women who remember that time; you can reach him here.

A2 woman’s lawsuit accuses landlord of bias based on income: With help from the U-M Law School’s Civil Rights Litigation Initiative, Megan Morse is suing the Wilson White Company after she was rejected from renting at the Arbor Hills Apartments and Wyndham Hill Apartments. The lawsuit alleges the landlord declined to allow her to pay her rent via a federal housing choice voucher, in violation of a 2014 city ordinance barring source-of-income discrimination. Morse, who has several disabilities including epilepsy, explains her case in this YouTube video.

State representative Jennifer Conlin takes on payday lenders: The first-term lawmaker from Ann Arbor Township introduced a bill to require annual reports on  the short-term loan shops, where cash-strapped borrowers can be hit with steep fees and 300 percent interest, MIRS News reports. The reports would include public complaints, data on customer transaction volumes, interest rates, and fee amounts. Sixteen states prohibit high-cost payday loan operations.

Dexter schools join national lawsuit against social media companies: The district is one of at least 11 in Michigan to sign on to a legal action designed to hold the likes of Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram accountable for tactics that attract and addict youngsters, Bridge Michigan reports. “As a school district our duty is to keep our kids safe,” Dexter board president Mara Greatorex says. “Our duty is to keep our kids engaged in the educational setting and when you have those outside forces, it’s harder for us to reach our goal.”

Trinity relaxes Covid-era mask requirements: The sprawling health system sent an email to patients this week informing them masks are “now considered optional” at virtually all locations. “We are excited to restore the powerful human connection when patients, caregivers and loved ones can see each other’s faces,” the missive says. Covid vaccinations remain a requirement for health-care workers.  Michigan Medicine made a similar change a few weeks ago.

Ypsilanti names new police chief: Kirk Moore starts a four-year contract today with a base salary of $120,000, leaving a post as a police captain in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson, Nevada, WEMU reports. The New Orleans native replaces Tony DeGiusti, who resigned in August. 

$4.5M overhaul coming to N. Huron Dr.: The roadwork, to start in June and last into November, is Ypsilanti’s most expensive city infrastructure project in years, MLive reports. It involves a total reconstruction and installation of sidewalks as well as storm sewer improvements from Cornell to Leforge roads on the northern boundary of the EMU campus.

Segment of Lohr Rd. closes Monday for two weeks: A $390,000 resurfacing project will close the section between Textile Rd. and Regents Park Ct. in Pittsfield Township, according to the county road commission. Residents of nearby subdivisions will have to enter and leave via Textile Rd.

City asks for thoughts on early voting: Residents have until May 24 to take the anonymous six-question survey about how pre-Election Day balloting should take place. Last year, Michigan voters approved a nine-day period to cast ballots for statewide and federal elections at “early voting centers.” Possible sites “may include downtown, campus area, as well as neighborhood locations,” according to the quiz’s preamble.

Saline says no to No-Mow May: The city’s leaders declined to enact a measure that would allow locals to grow their grass out, saying it would detract from the quality of life and become unruly, MLive reports. That’s in contrast to Ann Arbor, where residents are being encouraged to grow their lawns up to a foot tall throughout the spring to provide havens for bees, butterflies and pollinators.

U-M women’s tennis takes Big Ten title: It’s the eleventh conference title for the program, including ten during the sixteen years the team has been shepherded by head coach Ronni Bernstein, MGoBlue writes. Michigan, which defeated defending champs Ohio State in the title match, is the top seed in the Big Ten Tournament that kicks off Wednesday at Purdue.

U-M pitcher throws two no-hitters in two days: Sophomore Lauren Durkowski beat Purdue on the road on Friday and Saturday, striking out 20 batters between the two games, according to MGoBlue. Durkowski also shut out Michigan State at home on Tuesday, and the righty from Elmhurst, Illinois, has not given up a run in more than 21 innings. Michigan’s softball team is in fourth place in the Big Ten with a 9-5 conference record.

Huron High junior scores a 1600 on her SAT: Although Anita Gaenko got a few questions wrong, she received the highest possible score “based on the difficulty of that particular administration of the test,” MLive reports (paywall). The student, who has a 3.9 GPA and is taking college-level classes at U-M, says she plans to attend medical school. “I have a very fast reading speed, so I think that helped me out in that aspect. There were definitely some questions that I was unsure about and that’s why when I walked out, I was not expecting a perfect score.”

Engineering prof wins statewide honor: Amy Cohn, a longtime instructor in the Industrial and Operations Engineering Department, is one of three statewide to receive the Distinguished Professor of the Year award, according to a U-M news release. Her past and present students won’t be surprised – they have selected her as the department’s Professor of the Year nine times. During the pandemic, she also played an essential role in orchestrating testing and vaccinations on the U-M campus and at Michigan Medicine.

A desk on the Diag draws messages of love, peace, and randomness: Canopy Magazine, a student organization, left a small wooden table with a wooden chair outside for weeks on the Diag and at a site on North Campus starting in January, with prompts inviting people to write or doodle in the journal provided. They amassed hundreds of entries, from affirmations about the importance of kindness to a cartoon of a paper airplane in flight, Canopy contributor Steve Liu writes in an essay for the Michigan Daily.

Duckling rescued, reunited with family: Fire crews pulled the little quacker out of a storm drain on Waymarket Dr. on Tuesday and brought it back to its mother and half-dozen siblings, MLive reports. It was the first such fowl rescue of the year for the department, which responds to about fifteen calls of this feather each year.

Indian-Mexican fusion on menu at Latitude: The fast-casual restaurant between the Michigan and State theaters on E. Liberty is the work of Huron High and EMU grad Shaikh Sakib, who originally leased part of the former American Apparel shop with partners for Qmin, a pan-Asian fusion concept. The pandemic killed that plan, but Latitude – so named because the Tropic of Cancer cuts through both Mexico and India – emerged in its place, Dave Algase writes in this month’s Observer.

Footprints making tracks around the corner: The shoe shop on S. Main between Washington and Liberty may close as soon this weekend in preparation for a relocation to 114 E. Washington, the owners posted on Facebook. Footprints Ann Arbor’s lease ends April 30 and the reopening date has not been set, so they’re selling off its inventory at a discount and expect to shut the current location down on Sunday.

Mothfire Brewing to open on Ellsworth this spring: The craft-beer brand is expanding into a 6,000-square-foot brick-and-mortar taproom where it will partner with a new wood-fired pizza venture called Carozza Pizza, according to a press release. The release says the business will open in June.

Ronald McDonald House fundraiser on Saturday: The Red Shoe Affair soiree, featuring a dinner and silent auction, starts at 6 p.m. at the Jack Roth Stadium Club inside Michigan Stadium. The funds support the charity that provides housing for children and their families while the kids are undergoing treatments at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. Tickets are $250 each and can be purchased here. Guests are encouraged to wear red shoes, a signature of the spokes-clown for the fast-food chain. There’s also an online silent auction that non-guests can participate in that closes at 8 p.m. Saturday.

U-M student group raises $5,000 to pay off lunch debts: End the Cycle used the money to retire the outstanding balances for kids at Carpenter and Allen elementary schools, the Daily reports. The organization also provides virtual tutoring services to local children. One student leader, junior Zubaida Azeeza, says the idea to pay off the lunch bill came from a TikTok video about students at other schools doing the same thing in their local areas.

$98,000 awarded to U-M environmental programs: The Planet Blue Student Innovation Fund spread out the money to support five projects, according to the Record.  They include the purchase of an electric vehicle and charging station for the Campus Farm, a microbial carbon capture device to remove CO2 from the Huron River, and two bat houses for North Campus.

By Jennifer Taylor

Friday: Hear Cleveland-based chamber orchestra The Oblivion Project with Argentine singer Solange Merdinian perform music of 20th century Argentine tango master Astor Piazzolla. 7:30 p.m., Kerrytown Concert House, 415 N. Fourth Ave. Masks encouraged. Tickets $29 to $50 (students $19) in advance and at the door. (734) 769–2999. 

Saturday: Join the Chelsea District Library’s “Annual Midwest Literary Walk,” a day of readings by three writers at different Chelsea locations highlighted by Detroit poet Tyehimba Jess, author of the haunting 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winning collection Olio; fiction writer Jamie Ford, whose acclaimed latest novel, The Many Daughters of Afong Moy, centers on a mother’s mental health struggles; and veteran Throwing Muses post-punk singer-songwriter Kristin Hersh, whose Rat Girl was named No. 8 in Rolling Stone’s list of the Twenty-Five Greatest Rock Memoirs. 1 to 5 p.m., various downtown locations, Chelsea. Free.  

Sunday: Celebrate our planet at the Leslie Science & Nature Center/City of Ann Arbor Earth Day Festival, a family-oriented zero-waste event featuring animals, crafts, activities, guided hikes, and musical performances. Noon to 4 p.m., Leslie Science and Nature Center, 1831 Traver Rd. Limited parking. Free. Visit A2earthday.org or (734) 997–1553.

See the Observer’s online calendar for many more local events. 

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