Crafters, scrapbooking fans and card makers should plan to make their way to the First Presbyterian Church of Dearborn on Saturday, March 13 for a day of creativity that also will help a local homeless shelter.

The day of project-making begins at 9 a.m. and runs until 9 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church of Dearborn, 600 North Brady St. Registration is $40, which includes personal table space, a continental breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Demonstrators from scrapbook consultant companies — Stampin’ Up, Creative Memories, and Close To My Heart — will be performing demonstrations throughout the day and offering scrapbook supplies for sale.

All proceeds from the event will benefit www.christ-net.orga local rotating night shelter and permanent daytime shelter for the homeless, located in the downriver communities. As this is a fundraiser, registration is tax deductible for 2010. Receipts will be provided at the event.

To register or for more information, please contact Jeni Cole at 313-792-8224 or jlcole71@att.net

The late John W. Tanner, a Dearborn resident for 45 years and a lawyer who worked in the city of Dearborn’s legal department, gave to our community in numerous ways. From his work serving on the board of directors of the Dearborn Goodfellows and Smoke on the Grill charity organization to Scouting and being active in Dearborn Lions football, Tanner was passionate about giving back to the city he called home.

Thanks to his daughter, Alison Anhut, his giving ways will continue.

She and her family are on the committee for The John Tanner Dearborn Youth Football Association (DYFA) Scholarship and are turning to friends, family and residents for support to expand the scholarship opportunity to all Dearborn high school students. Tanner, an Edsel Ford graduate, was one of the founding members of the DYFA. After his death at just 54 on Oct. 7, 2008, the DYFA awarded a scholarship to one DYFA athlete in his name.

The DYFA now wants to make the $1,000 scholarship an annual tradition and expand it to one graduating senior from each of Dearborn’s three high schools (Dearborn, Edsel Ford and Fordson) who have continued to play football throughout high school, completed two years of the DYFA program (in either football or cheerleading) and are pursuing a college education.

The idea to expand the scholarship to three was School Board member Hussein Berry’s (president of the DYFA board) and Jamal Al’s, who approached Tanner’s wife, Beverly, and asked if the Tanner family would like to be involved. Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr., and Councilman Robert Abraham, among many others in our city, also are on the committee helping to raise funds to support the scholarship.

“My family and I are honored and are looking forward to carrying on my father’s name within this organization,” Anhut said. “My dad was one of the founding fathers of the DYFA and dedicated to its success. He was very passionate about charity work in general. My family and I cannot think of a better way to honor him and his vision than to continue working hard to serve and support the DYFA and our community.”

Here is where friends, family and residents can help.

To help raise funds for the scholarship, a dinner is going to be held on March 25th at 6 p.m. at Park Place in Dearborn. Tickets are $30 per person. There also will be a raffle at the dinner where a $5 ticket purchase could win you a first prize payout of $2,500, $1,500 for second and $1,000 for third. The plan is to sell just 3,000 tickets but if a minimum of 2,000 are not sold the raffle will revert to a 50/50. Monies raised also will be distributed to the DYFA to keep registration fees nominal and to continue to encourage youth participation.

In addition, plans are in place to hold a silent auction (donations for auction items are still being accepted) and there is the opportunity for those wanting to advertise in the March 25 dinner program, as well.

With everyone’s schedule pretty packed these days, attending an evening dinner may not be so easy to do. If that is the case, you can simply purchase a raffle ticket to help the cause or do both. All you have to do is contact Alison Anhut at azd18@yahoo.com or her mother, Beverly Tanner at tanner@ameritech.net

It’s all for a good cause and helps support the DYFA, an organization that continues to improve and help develop kids ages 8 to 13 with the ideas of teamwork, hard work and positive influence.

The City of Dearborn is getting ready to test the real estate market, deciding to put the Dearborn Towers in Florida on the sales block, according to a recent story in the Dearborn Press & Guide.

Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr., tells the paper that he would like to get the 88-unit apartment building in Clearwater, Florida on the market “within the next month.”

Many of you will recall that in 2007 voters approved a measure that gave permission to the city to sell the towers. Well, it appears that time is now.

As most homeowners in Dearborn know, this isn’t the best time to be selling real estate. The same holds true of the Dearborn Towers. But with tightening city budgets this is one way for the city to generate some revenue and perhaps erase from the books a 50-year-old building that could soon need some major updates and repairs. In 2007, the Florida property was valued at between $8 million and $8.3 million, stated one informal appraisal, according to the paper. Another appraisal in March 2008 put the value of property at about $5.6 million.

The property’s value has since dropped to $2.8 million, according to the most recent appraisal, the Press & Guide reports. The value could climb to $5.8 million if rents in the building were raised to levels of surrounding buildings, the paper says.

The task of actually selling the property could take between six and 18 months, the paper reports.

“The good news is we’re not in a hurry to sell,” O’Reilly tells the paper. “We’re not going to jump at the first offer that comes along.”

For the full Press & Guide story and to watch a video interview with Mayor O’Reilly about the sale, click HERE.

When: Sunday, March 7, 2010, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Where: Ford Community & Performing Arts Center, 15801 Michigan Ave., Dearborn MI 48126

Admission: $3.00 – Children 12 and under FREE and parking is free.

Proceeds Benefit Children’s Leukemia Foundation of Michigan

Special Events on Stage include:

11:30 a.m. – MetLife speaker: “Financial Independence and Security, for Every Stage of a Woman’s Life”

12:30 p.m. – Zumba Fitness by Elements of Exercise

1:30 p.m. – Bridal and Prom show by One Stop Wedding Shop, hair and makeup by Hair Designs North

2:30 p.m. – Fashion Show by Shining Diamond Accessories

For more information and a discount admission coupon, click HERE.

The Henry Ford Centennial Library and the Dearborn Police will be taking the mystery out of lie detector tests at a free program set for 7 p.m., March 10.

Lt. Neil S. Myres from the Investigative Division of the Dearborn Police Department will present current issues and technological advances in the field of Forensic Psychophysiology.

We’ve all heard about lie detector tests in police investigations and, in some instances, it is used for job interviews.

This special presentation is part of the Everyone’s Reading program, which is a communitywide reading initiative sponsored by the libraries in Oakland and Wayne counties. The reading program promotes community dialogue through the shared experience of reading and discussing the same book.

“Presumed Innocent” by Scott Turow is the current book selection. Copies are available for check out at any Dearborn Public Library.

Information is listed in the Everyone’s Reading Programs and Special Events brochure available at all the libraries and online at www.everyonesreading.info. Events take place through April 15, 2010.

Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr. will deliver his annual State of the City Address at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 10 at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center, 15801 Michigan Ave.

Mayor O’Reilly will review the City’s major accomplishments in 2009, and discuss initiatives that will move Dearborn forward in 2010 and beyond.

The public is invited to attend. Light refreshments will be served after the address.

Wendy's before the demolition. Dearborn Theatre is in the background.

The building that was once home of Wendy’s hamburgers at Michigan and Telegraph has been razed and is expected to be the future home of Sonic burgers.

The deal to land a Sonic at that intersection is about 90 percent complete, according to one city official.

. . . Wendy's after the demolition.

The long-closed Dearborn Theatre also is slated to be demolished. However, a date for the removal of that building isn’t yet know. As we have reported here once before, discussions have been ongoing about building a new Hampton Inn hotel on the site of the theatre complex.

The current Hampton Inn in Dearborn, just east of Brady on Michigan Avenue, will at some point have to operate under a different name as the hotel in its current design does not meet Hampton’s new corporate requirements.

In other development news, the government-run auction for the long-closed La Shish restaurant and adjoining Talal’s restaurant on Michigan Avenue was apparently held last week. No word yet on who submitted the winning bid but hopefully something soon will happen with that eyesore of a building.

And finally, the owners of Ciao, the restaurant on Monroe that was badly damaged in a fire nearly a year ago, tell us that they are close to inking a deal for a new building in a new location in west Dearborn. The popular Italian eatery could open in the second quarter of this year, if all goes as planned.