Category: Romeo News

  • Tim Hortons Arrives in Romeo


    When they first started building on the corner of M-53 & 32 Mile Road I hoped that they would either open a Starbucks or Tim Hortons at that location. The latter was realized this week. 

    For those outside of the upper Midwest or eastern Canada, Tim Hortons is a donut and coffee chain co-founded by Toronto Maple Leaf hockey legend, Tim Horton. Tim died in a car accident in 1973, but the donut chain bearing his name lives on. 

    Let’s be honest. It’s a local thing. They don’t serve the best donuts in the world and their coffee isn’t the best. I personally prefer their sandwiches and soups more than the donuts. Nonetheless, Tim Hortons is a phenomenon as a franchise. Owned by the Wendy’s Corporation, it is slowly fanning out from Eastern Ontario and now into a bunch of places in the United States. 

    It’s a big deal to have them here in Romeo. I hope they do quite well. (So far, mediocre opening.) The Village has long been cold to franchise restaurants and I hope Tim Hortons opens the door to many other chains that would make the 32 MIle area a stopping point for visitors. Romeo is a very unique village which is struggling, like most of the area, is struggling financially. Yet if the village can figure out how to maintain the village feel while gaining some flagship retailers, it will secure Romeo’s place as a “cool city” once and for all.

  • Mike Harding was in the house

    Yesterday Mike Harding filled the pulpit at Romeo. It was fun to see Mike again and hear about his new ministry, 831 House. Here’s a little video about their ministry in Gulf Shores. 

    Mike was the guy who convinced Kristen and I to relocate to Romeo just over five years ago. Shortly thereafter he felt strongly like he needed to leave the church and go back to help the family business. As he said yesterday, even when he did that he wasn’t entirely sure what God was up to. None of us were.

    Here’s a little video about what Mike and Cynthia do. 

  • How are you doing?

    The most basic of questions now has a new meaning. At least where I live. You ask a shop keeper it and he asks you. Same with neighbors, teachers, folks at church, bank tellers, waitresses, and pretty much everyone I come into contact around town.

    “How are you doing?” It’s a basic, friendly question with a new double meaning. Meat and potatoes midwest meets Wall Street. 

    People are really asking if you are making it. “How are you doing?” means, is your business doing OK? Is your restaurant or corner store going to survive the economic down turn? Will you keep your house? Will your kids get to go to college? Will you get laid off? Have you found work? Will your marriage survive? Do you have anything to do with the auto industry?

    Some people call this a recession. I think that’s a polite thing to say as a depressed Michigan looks for a new industry. The future is bright for our state as soon as we forget about the past and look toward the future. I truly believe that out of this terrible time will come the next great innovation the planet needs. Michigan will not be known as an automotive state in 50 years… and that new fame is being decided upon right now! These are excitingly scary times. The smart will thrive while those holding to the past will go bankrupt. 

    The most basic of questions is an upper midwestern nice way of asking, “Are you going to make it?” I’ve heard people answer that question with, “Oh no… we’re fine. Things at work are going really well, a little slow but really well.” Recently I overheard a small business owner get asked, “How are you doing?” He told the customer… we’re down about $40,000 on sales this year. I wondered, was that what the question the customer really was asking? 

    Friends and neighbors and shop keepers and waitresses and everyone else, how are you doing? To quote our old pastor, Ray Pritchard. “We don’t know about tomorrow but we know who holds tomorrow. That makes today a good day to run to the cross.” In Christ, everything is going to be OK. How are you doing?

  • Megan’s Journal Entry Today

    One of the things I love about my kids school is that they are trying to teach kids how to write by journaling. Here’s what Megan typed in her journal this afternoon.

    Paul is crazy I don’t know why. He loves me but he is mean to me. He likes my cat more than his cat. But I have more webkinz than Paul. Paul has two webkinz, and I have five. He is also crazy because I am his big sister. He is crazy that I am his big sister because he said
    he is big tooooo. I think Paul is crazy. Don’t you?

    Not bad for a first grader.

  • A horrible yet honorable story

    I recognize that the news is never going to cover this story. So here’s it’s shot at getting out there. I received this email from a person in our community today. Most people would know her as a protagonist. I know her as someone with a deep sense of justice for our schools and the people in her life.

    So here is her story from today. I think you’ll like it.

    I want to tell you about a horrible incident that happened to me today….somewhere there is a lesson to be learned in this story, so please bear with me:

    I pulled into the Meijer parking lot on 26 and Van Dyke to buy some cough syrup for my daughter and a few cans of cat food.  While I was getting my coupons out (gotta love those coupons!), I sat in my car with the car engine off.  A man was exiting his car one spot over directly across from me.  While he was exiting his vehicle, an older woman attempted to pull into the spot directly across from me next to the man exiting his vehicle.  He quickly closed his door and waited for her to pull in….she almost hit his car, she was within inches of his vehicle sideways.

    He opened his door and began yelling at the lady (I later found out her name) and telling her to back out before she hit him.  She didn’t move…he kept yelling.  I got out of my car and said to the dude, ‘why don’t you try to help her instead of yelling at her?’ and I walked up to the lady…she was a senior citizen who was shaking with her hands on the steering wheel.  I asked her if she was okay, and she said the guy was scaring her and she turned off her car because the steering wheel locked up.  I asked her if she would restart the car and I would help her unlock the steering wheel and get the car into the parking space.

    She was visibly upset, shaking and staring at the man who was out of his car by this time and yelling every profanity you can imagine, not only at her, but at me for being a ‘do gooder’ (and that was the nicest thing he said, believe me…his language was worse than a sailor, much worse than anything that I have ever hear from any human being in my lifetime and for those of you that know me, that’s pretty bad!).

    When she restarted her engine, the guy got of his car and got in between her car and his – literally inches.  I asked him to move and he said no, she was going to hit his car and I explained to him that if her car jerked forward she would take off his kneecaps and he said good then he could sue her sorry old ass and get her inheritance!  He did move and leaned against his car mocking her as she tried to get the car moved into the space, which she did successfully shaking and in tears!

    Once out of harms way, he hailed a stream of profanity at both her and I, going off on how how old people shouldn’t be driving and she should have her keys taken away from her…he began to walk away and I called him back to apologize to the lady and to me.  He told me to &()@ myself, asked what kind of C*&@ helps old people and to mind my own business!!!! I told him to return so I could call the police and he said for what…thank goodness the Meijers security guards were watching this all on their in-store cameras and came out to assist!

    I called the police… she was in her car visibly shaken and they arrived while the guy was still spewing his horrible language.  The police asked what was going on; I told them my version, she told them her version and the Meijers security told them what they had seen and then heard in the parking lot once they were on scene.  The police officer then talked to the dude…they did a breathalyser on him and arrested him for DUI and disorderly conduct and hailed his ass off to jail!

    The victim and I drove down to the police department to file witness reports while they were towing his car away and when I arrived at the police station the guy was still going at me and her for being every female word you can think of that is not positive!  The victim is 87 years old, her husband passed away 35 years ago and she prays everyday that she will not harm anyone, even if she goes for a walk, with her mouth or her actions (I need to learn alot from Geraldine!).  The dude is 75 years old…spewing that old people shouldn’t be driving!!!!

    He was slammed with a DUI and a disorderly in public charge, locked up for 12/24 hours and I also asked to have another charge brought against him for harassment of me and Geraldine.  The statute is VERBAL SEXUAL HARASSMENT and SWEARING IN A PUBLIC VENUE.  We are both going to appear in court in June when he is charged, but at least he is locked up tonight for awhile anyway.  The officer told me that the dude has a previous criminal history, he could not say what it was for confidentiality reasons, but the guy has been in trouble before…lovely eh?

    I drove her back to her car, we did our grocery shopping together and we sat in the food court until I could get in touch with her son, who assured me he would come by tonight and check on his mom…he already called to tell me he checked on her on his way home and she is still flustered, but doing okay!

    I warn my kids everyday to watch out for the lunatics and I thank my lucky stars that I was there when this all took place with her.  I could only picture my daughter or my mother being harassed by the dude, and my heart broke!  How could anyone stand by and watch a defenseless old woman be harassed by a dude so disrespectfully?

    We all need tolerance, patience and empathy….this victim is now my friend…I called her tonight to make sure she is okay and we are having lunch next week…I need to learn alot from her….please take the time with older people, have the patience with the young and the old cause we all will be there one day (hopefully!).

  • 10 Things I Did While My Friends Were in Florida

    I mentioned this project earlier today, here is the video. I think it turned out pretty funny. What do you think?

  • Easter Egg Hunt | Slam Dunk

    Gosh, I just got home and I’m having a hard time controlling my excitement. Today was a blast!

    The teams were all awesome. Set-up/Tear-down team… excellent. Band team… excellent. Hospitality team… excellent. We had never been a part of an event quite like this one.  Joyce from Park & Rec and her team seemed very pleased with how we complimented the event. She told one of our team, “I wasn’t sure what to expect with the band… they were great.”

    As parents and kids filtered in, the weather was perfect for what we had planned. (Sunny and mid-30s) Our hospitality tent was ready [big thanks to the folks at Caribou for all their help!] and people were thirsty for great coffee, hot cider, and hot chocolate. Oh my… we went through a lot of hot chocolate. (150 cups!) We had just enough as the last cups were poured with only 2 packets left in the box.  Autumn and Bob (our senior pastor) had a hard time keeping up with demand. Bravo to them for keeping their cool! They had a constant line the entire time… amazing job.

    What was today all about? It was all about changing minds. Forever we’ve been the “old baptist church” in town. Those who have lived in Romeo a long time think they know who we are, what we’re about… in marketing language the typical person in our community thinks they know our story and they’ve made up their mind. This was about us partnering with the community and showing them that we aren’t who people think we are. We aren’t fuddy-duddy. We aren’t old-fashioned. We don’t wear skirts and ties or are stuffy. We aren’t “against the world” and judgmental. Basically… we want to tell people the truth… we’re just like you. We’re parents, grandparents, neighbors, and friends you know from school. We like the music you like, we have the same dreams you have, and we like to give back to the community as much as everyone else.

    I loved the way we came alongside of the Parks & Rec department and worked with them. I hope we made them look good!

    I loved the songs that the band selected. They did music right off the radio. Switchfoot, Rascal Flatts, John Mellencamp, Daughtry, etc. I kept hearing people ask, “Is that the band from the church?” Yup. Jimmy and his gang are really, really good. I loved seeing people smile as they sang along to the music.
    Over at Romeo, we’re entering into this new phase we’re calling “God of this City.” It’s not about us and serving ourselves. It’s about bringing God to the city.  And we’re doing that in fun, unexpected ways. Today was one of them. Awesome job to all who helped. Thanks!

    I’m working on a video. It should be up later today.

    For now… rest.

  • Easter Egg Hunt | Today!

    The day is here already. In about 45 minutes I’ll head over to the church to pick up the last of the stuff to head over to Barnabo Field. Despite the fact that it’s only 28 degrees right now, we’re hoping that it is going to get up to the mid-30s for this year’s community egg hunt.

    It’s going to be fun to add to this event. I think the community center does a great job… it’s our hope to add just a couple of small elements to make it even more fun for children and parents.

    Hopefully, later today I’ll have pictures.

  • The Melt is On

    melting snowIn the knick of time. With the easter egg hunt about 24 hours away, the melt is finally on in Romeo. According to our thermometer it only got to about 31 degrees last night and it is already 35 degrees.

    As long as the sun shines all day, we’re safe. With the forecast saying we will hit 47 today, we’re safe.

    Finally, Spring has almost sprung in Romeo. Apparently, this has been the #10 snowiest winter on record in the state of Michigan. Winter this year was sponsored by Al Gore.

  • We need a heat wave!

    This weekend is Romeo’s annual community Easter Egg hunt. (see video of last years event) This is put on by Romeo Parks & Rec department and has become a favorite of my kids. They only thing that they like doing as much is the first high school football game when they have a big party with face painting, inflatables, and games.

    Going into this year the staff at church was looking for an event like that to either put on ourselves or somehow compliment to make better. So I contacted the community center to see if we could help. (Why reinvent the wheel?) To my delight they said yes.

    On Saturday morning we are doing a couple of simple things to make the event just a tad more fun. We’re providing live music (Jimmy’s band) and a warming station with coffee/hot chocolate/apple cider. This is part of our new “God of this City” emphasis.

    The problem: Let’s state the obvious. It is still winter in Romeo. My backyard currently has 6 inches of snow. We need a few days of 40-50 degree weather to have a shot at the field being clear of snow. More importantly, if it is 15 degrees I think that will dramatically lessen the attendance at this event. And we’re looking to warm up and meet as many parents as possible!

    The solution: Right now we’re just watching the weather and hoping it all comes true! We have 3 days forecasted to be in the 40s and Saturday is currently forecasted to be about 35.

    Wanna come? It’s at Barnabo Field at 1:00 PM.