Choze Powell

Teen In Custody After Making School Threat

A 16 year old boy who attends St. Clair High School is in custody after making a threatening post on social media.  According to St. Clair County Sheriff Tim Donnellon, a tip shortly after 3:00 Thursday, regarding a threatening social media post came into the Central Dispatch Center through the “Ok 2 Say” school safety website.  The post was a picture of the suspect, holding what appeared to be an airsoft gun with the caption “Don’t go to school on Monday”.  Deputies and detectives located the suspect at his home in China Township, where he was taken into custody and transported to the Macomb County Juvenile Detention Center.  He is expected to face a juvenile hearing on Saturday.  Administrators from the high school were advised of the threat that was made.

Retail Fraud

On Thanksgiving Day, at 7:38p.m., St. Clair County Dispatch received a call from Kohl’s Loss Prevention that a subject was in a changing room with several items of clothing, possibly putting on all the items in an attempt to steal them. Deputies arrived at the Kohl’s Store in Fort Gratiot  and the suspect, who had exited the changing room, fled from the store, after assaulting one of the deputies at the entrance / exit doors. Several units of the St Clair County Sheriffs’ Office responded to the area and set up a mobile perimeter to contain the suspect until K-9 Faust could start a track. Within (8) eight minutes from the start of the track, the suspect a 39 yr. old Clinton Twp. man was located to the west of Michaels Auto Sales in a tree line and taken into custody; the deputy who was assaulted was treated at PH McLaren for a minor injury.

Traffic Stop Leads To Drug Seizure

A traffic stop on I-94 last week ended with the seizure of heroin and crack cocaine.  According to St. Clair County Sheriff Tim Donnellon, deputies from the Sheriff’s Office executed a traffic stop on eastbound I-94 near Smiths Creek Road in Kimball Township shortly before 9:00 p.m. Monday of last week.  Once the vehicle was stopped, drug paraphernalia and some heroin were located inside the vehicle.  The driver and sole occupant of the vehicle, a 44 year old man from Detroit was arrested at the scene of the traffic stop without incident and transported to the St. Clair County Intervention and Detention Center.  During a search of the suspect at the jail, $1200 worth of heroin and $600 worth of crack cocaine was located and seized.  The man faces charges of possession with intent to deliver heroin, possession with intent to deliver crack cocaine, smuggling contraband into a jail and being a habitual offender.  The St. Clair County Drug Task Force and Sheriff’s Office K-9 Unit assisted at the scene of the traffic stop.

Winter Weather Advisory

WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
National Weather Service Detroit/Pontiac MI
255 PM EST Sun Nov 25 2018
 
…WINTER STORM EXPECTED LATE TONIGHT INTO MONDAY…St. Clair-Macomb-Washtenaw-
Including the cities of Port Huron, Warren, and Ann Arbor — 255 PM EST Sun Nov 25 2018
 
…WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 1 AM TO 3 PM EST MONDAY…
 
* WHAT…Wet snow expected. Total snow accumulations of 1 to 4 inches expected. The higher snow totals will be across western St Clair, northern Macomb, and northwestern Washtenaw Counties. Winds on Monday will gust between 25 and 30 MPH.
* ADDITIONAL DETAILS…The hazardous conditions will impact the morning commute with slippery road conditions and reduce visibilities. The snow will be a heavy and wet. That may cause a few power outages and make for difficult snow removal.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
A Winter Weather Advisory for snow means periods of snow will cause primarily travel difficulties. Expect snow covered roads and limited visibilities, and use caution while driving.

PHS Board Of Education To Consider Future Transition Plans For Kimball And Roosevelt Elementary Schools

The PHSchools full Board of Education is considering approving a plan developed by district leadership and the Building and Site Subcommittee of the Board to address elementary capacity issues. Beginning with the 2019-20 school year, it is proposed that Kimball Elementary will be closed, and its boundaries will be redrawn to include Indian Woods, Michigamme Elementary, and the Academies at Woodrow Wilson and Cleveland.  Additionally, Roosevelt Elementary will transition into a one-level school facility. Roosevelt Elementary will still receive the planned bond work to bring the building up to the new district standard, which includes a safe and secure welcome center, an updated learning commons, larger kindergarten classrooms, group collaboration rooms for students and teachers, flexible furniture and climate control. Roosevelt will continue to offer multiple sections per grade, with its boundaries remaining the same as its current configuration. All current students may remain at Roosevelt through fifth grade.  Initial plans were shared at a Board of Education workshop in August 2018. The district has been studying elementary capacity issues for two years and there are some unavoidable facts when it comes to operating our schools and being fiscally responsible with our community resources:
● Enrollment has decreased by over 833 students (grades K-5) since our last school
closed in 2013 (Lakeport Elementary).
● We project a continued enrollment decline over the next 5 years.
● Kimball Elementary capacity is 57%.
● Roosevelt Elementary capacity is 57%.
● Almost half of students that live in Kimball Elementary boundaries choose charters or other school districts.
● 93% of Kimball students already use district transportation.
A plan is being developed to allow all those involved (students, teachers and families) to have a voice in the transition planning. There will be transition activities in the spring at all four buildings where Kimball students will attend in 2019-20 to give Kimball families a chance to tour the schools, meet the staff, and become familiar with the opportunities for their students at the new schools.  Please refer to the “Projects” tab on the district webpage to view the board presentation on elementary capacity, and to see where the new boundary lines will be drawn, instructions for submitting questions to the district administrative team about the closure and transition
process, and an FAQ that will have answers to community generated questions as our team receives them.
Superintendent Jamie Cain announced, “My administration team and I look forward to meeting with parents, staff and the community to share more details and to gather input on the transition plan.”

U.S. Postal Service Gears Up For Holiday Mailings

 Are you a Black Friday shopper or Cyber Monday shopper? Maybe you shop throughout the holiday season. No matter when you buy your holiday gifts, you can relax knowing the U.S. Postal Service will get your packages to their destination this holiday season.  Holiday mailing deadlines are fast approaching, and the Postal Service is ready to deliver. Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, the Postal Service expects to deliver more than 900 million packages and nearly 15 billion pieces of mail – for a total of nearly 16 billion cheerful deliveries this holiday season.    Customers planning to mail cards and packages are encouraged to visit a local Post Office no later than the below dates for expected delivery by Dec. 25 to Air/Army Post Office/Fleet Post Office/Diplomatic Post Office and domestic addresses:*

  • Dec. 4    – APO/FPO/DPO (ZIP Code 093 only) Priority Mail and First-Class Mail
  • Dec. 11  – APO/FPO/DPO (all other ZIP Codes) Priority Mail and First-Class Mail
  • Dec. 14 – USPS Retail Ground
  • Dec. 18  – APO/FPO/DPO (except ZIP Code 093) USPS Priority Mail Express
  • Dec. 20 – First-Class Mail (including greeting cards)
  • Dec. 20 – First-Class packages (up to 15.99 ounces)
  • Dec. 20  –  Hawaii to mainland Priority Mail and First-Class Mail
  • Dec. 20 – Priority Mail
  • Dec. 20  – Alaska to mainland Priority Mail and First-Class Mail
  • Dec. 22  – Alaska to mainland Priority Mail Express
  • Dec. 22  – Hawaii to mainland Priority Mail Express
  • Dec. 22 – Priority Mail Express

*Not a guarantee, unless otherwise noted. Dates are for estimated delivery before Dec. 25. Actual delivery date may vary depending on origin, destination, Post Office acceptance date and time and other conditions. Some restrictions apply. For Priority Mail Express shipments mailed Dec. 22 through Dec. 25, the money-back guarantee applies only if the shipment was not delivered, or delivery was not attempted, within two (2) business days.  To send packages to loved ones serving in the military or at diplomatic posts abroad, the Postal Service offers a discounted price of $17.40 on its largest Priority Mail Flat Rate Box. The price includes a $1.50 per-box discount for mail sent to APO/FPO/DPO destinations worldwide.  To handle the surge in volume, the Postal Service is expanding its Sunday delivery operations in select high package volume locations during the holiday season. More than 5 million packages are expected to be delivered each Sunday in December. Mail carriers will also deliver Priority Mail Express packages on Christmas Day for an additional fee in select locations.

Busiest Week

The notion of a “busiest day” is a thing of the past, thanks to the increase in early and online gift shopping. Customer mailing and shipping traffic is expected to increase beginning Dec. 10, and the Postal Service expects to deliver nearly 200 million packages per week during these two weeks. The week of Dec. 17-23 is predicted to be the busiest mailing, shipping and delivery week, when nearly 3 billion pieces of First-Class Mail, including greeting cards, will be processed and delivered.

 Wrap Up the Holidays from Home

Consumers don’t even have to leave home to ship their packages, they can simply visit usps.com.The Postal Service anticipates Dec. 17 will be the Postal Service’s busiest day online with more than 8 million consumers predicted to visit usps.com for help shipping that special holiday gift. It’s predicted that nearly 105 million consumers will visit the website between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. And usps.com is always open.  It’s estimated nearly 400,000 consumers will use the Click-N-Ship feature and other online services on Dec. 17 to order free Priority Mail boxes, print shipping labels, purchase postage and even request free next-day Package Pickup.