Aerial view of Rouge Park

Millard Berry shared a video to YouTube recently that shows aerial footage from a drone as it flies over Rouge Park in Detroit. This video clip is only one minute and 22 seconds long. However, it shows some spectacular views of the Scout Hollow campsite and the Rouge River.

This video is one more reminder, I believe, of how lucky we are in the Warrendale neighborhood to have Rouge Park so close to us.

Detroit to spend $58 million on roads this year

Road construction - File photo by Frank Nemecek

The City of Detroit announced plans this week to $58 million this year resurfacing a total of 88 miles of roadways. Included in this proposal is the resurfacing of Artesian Street between Ford Rd. and Paul St. at the southern end of Warrendale.

There will also be several other residential side streets that will be worked on this year that are in or around Warrendale. Crain's Detroit Business has more on this story here.

Paintball shooters target Warrendale

A pair of shooters armed with paintball guns have been targetting residents and business owners in the Warrendale neighborhood, according to a report from Fox 2 Detroit. The shooters are described by one victim as two Arabic speaking men, one with long black hair that is tied in a ponytail while the other has blonde hair.

The pair attack from a moving vehicle, often hitting businesses or pedestrians with paintballs. According to one victim who was shot while walking his dog on Plainview Street, the paintballs hit hard enough that he thought he was hit with real bullets at first.

Anyone with information about these shooters is asked to call the Detroit Police Department's 6th Precinct at (313) 596-5600.

Detroit church to host free Memorial Day concert

Interior of SS Peter & Paul Catholic Church - Photo by Frank Nemecek

Ss. Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church (7685 Grandville) will present a free Memorial Day concert on Saturday, May 26 at 6 p.m. in the church. It will feature vocalists Gabriela Kash and Paula Steele, violinist and vocalist Stacy Mason, Frank Urbiel on the accordion as well as organists Johnny Kash and Dave Calendine.

There will be a reception and music by Dave Calendine that begin after the 4:30 p.m. Mass that day and continue until the concert starts. Everyone is invited to attend this free concert.

On changes in the Boy Scouts

Boys and girls as scouts in Thailand - Creative Commons photo from Pixabay

Last week, the Boy Scouts of America announced that they will change their name to reflect the fact that girls are now allowed to be members of the 108-year old organization. Their new name will be Scouts BSA and, quite frankly, I need to get a few things off my chest.

Ever since this happened, my social media feeds on Facebook and Twitter have been blowing up with people reacting negatively about this. I've heard referred as "snowflakes taking over the world", "trying to destroy boyhood", and a slew of disparaging remarks.

In fact, if I had a dollar for every time that I have heard or read complaints about the Boy Scouts accepting girls as members and changing their name to Scouts BSA, I would be writing this blog post from my new oceanfront villa in Tahiti as a half dozen or so Victoria's Secret supermodels feed me grapes and rubbed themselves all over me.

You're welcome for the imagery, by the way.

I should start out by mentioning that I started as Cub Scout, went on to the Webelos, and eventually became the senior patrol leader at Boy Scout Troop 525, which was based right here in Detroit's Warrendale neighborhood. As a scout, I did all of the usual Boy Scout things. I also went to the national jamboree and served as a Boy Scout guide on Mackinac Island. I later left the Boy Scouts during my high school years and joined the Civil Air Patrol.

I personally don't think either the name change or allowing girls into the Boy Scouts is all that big of a deal. For those who wish to disagree with me, I would simply like to remind you of a few things:

1. Both Scouting organizations have had a drop in membership over the years;
2. Some girls want to do more than sell cookies;
3. Most Scouting parents have both sons and daughters. This change is a lot more convenient for them;
4. Explorers, Sea Scouts, and Venturers/Voyagers are all a part of the Boy Scouts of America and all have been coed since their inception; and
5. Scouting has been coed internationally for years.

As for the repeated-so-often-that-I-want-to-vomit meme that this will lead to the Boy Scouts becoming some sort of hedonistic orgy whenever they go camping, I will simply say that most other organizations for teens are also coed. This includes band camp, Civil Air Patrol, and most of your summer camps.

I was at either summer camp or a Civil Air Patrol encampment for most summers during my teen years. As a former teenage boy, I regret to inform everyone that no matter how much I wished it had been true, youth camping was absolutely nothing like what some people imagine the new scouting program will be. I'm pretty sure, therefore, that the virtue of everyone's lovely teenage daughter is as safe in the Scouts as it is in your own home.

Heck, as I think about some of the things that used to happen in someone's basement during my high school days when their parents were right upstairs, I think there will even be less debauchery at a Scouts BSA camp than in the homes of some parents.

And there you have it - my reasons for why allowing girls into the Boy Scouts and the organization's subsequent name change is no big deal at all. It might even turn out to be a positive.

For now, though, I simply sick of hearing people complain about this and me not getting the $1 that I need from each of them to make the Victoria's Secret supermodels in Tahiti thing a reality.

Wildflower walk in Rouge Park

The Friends of Rouge Park and the Michigan Botanical Society will host a Wildflower Walk this coming Sunday, May 6. It will start at 2 p.m. at the Stone Bridge Nature Trail.

This event will highlight some of the native flowers that grow wildly inside the largest park in Detroit. It's a great chance for families to get back to nature for an afternoon.

The Stone Bridge Nature Trail is located off of Tireman inside Rouge Park. The entrance is in between W. Outer Drive and Spinoza Drive. A map to the trail is available here.

More information, as well as the ability to register for this event, is located on the group's Facebook page here.

50 years ago today

Nancy and Frank Nemecek on their wedding day (May 3, 1968)

50 years ago today, a dashing young carpenter from the Corktown neighborhood in Detroit declared, "You know what this world needs? A loud mouth idiot who is crazy enough to try to make the world a better place."

"That sounds like a good idea," a beautiful young bookkeeper from the nearby suburb of Redford agreed. "But do you think one will be enough?"

"You're right! There should be four of them - each an improvement on the one who came before."

It was then that a wise priest overheard them and interrupted this couple by saying, "By the power vested in me by the State of Michigan and the Holy Roman Catholic Church, I hereby pronounce you husband and wife. Go forth and create those four loud mouth idiots."

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Happy 50th wedding anniversary to my Mom and Dad from the loudest of your four loud mouth idiots.