One of our city’s many gems is the Players Guild of Dearborn Theatre, located at 21730 Madison in Dearborn, southwest of the intersection of Monroe and Outer Drive.

Year in and year out, The Players Guild of Dearborn delivers high quality entertainment at an affordable price. The Guild opened its 82nd season on Sept. 18 with the show “Inspecting Carol,” a farce by Daniel Sullivan and the Seattle Repertory Company.

Jeff Ostrowski, president of the Players Guild of Dearborn, dropped us a note the other day reminding us that the show will run for another weekend, Oct. 2 to Oct. 4. Like this weekend’s performance, next Friday and Saturday shows are at 8 p.m., with a 2:30 p.m. Sunday matinee.

Tickets are just $15. Student discounts of $2 (with valid I.D.) and group discounts are available. For more information, you can call the Guild ticket line at (313) 561-TKTS, or visit their web site by clicking HERE.

Here is what the show “Inspecting Carol” is about:

With their National Endowment for the Arts eligibility to be reviewed by an inspector, the Soapbox Playhouse is desperate to raise money and decides to mount yet another production of “A Christmas Carol.” An unknown, wannabe actor asks to audition for the company and is mistaken for the inspector. Desperate to stay afloat, the troupe caters to this bewildered actor, believing he is the NEA inspector. As hilarity piles upon hilarity, the theatre group finds themselves in a state of chaos, resulting in a thoroughly unprepared performance.

Dearborn’s own Brian Townsend is directing the show, with assistant direction by Mike Moseley (Allen Park). Sydnee Dombrowski (Dearborn) is the show’s producer.

A scene from 'Inspecting Carol' by The Players Guild of Dearborn. Tickets are still available for Oct. 2-4 performances.

The cast includes: Debbie Pletzer (Canton) as Zorah; Patrick Denyer (Dearborn) as Sidney; Tiffany Mullins (Westland) as Dorothy; Lindel Salow (Dearborn) as Larry; Alan Ellias (Farmington Hills) as Phil; Kenyada Davis (Detroit) as Walter; Nathan Booth (Dearborn) as Luther; Nick Graham ( Belleville) as Kevin; Margaret Winowiecki (Dearborn) as M.J.; Stan Guarnelo (Dearborn Heights) as Bart; Alex Gojkov (Redford) as Wayne; and Kori Bielaniec (Livonia) as Betty.

First it was cats, than dogs, than more cats. Now, it is chickens. Yes, chickens in Dearborn.

Dearborn officials found 10 chickens in the garage of an east side home.

Fresh from cleaning up a home where hundreds of Chihuahuas lived and died in squalor, Dearborn officials now tell Deepsaidwhat.com that they are working with a homeowner to have her remove 10 chickens from the garage of her east side home.

City officials found out about the chickens after a neighbor complained about the smell. Dearborn officials went to the home and found 10 chickens in the garage. The owner of the home told officials that she kept the chickens as pets for her young children.

While that might be okay for families who live on a farm, the reality is that in a city such as Dearborn with more than 100,000 residents keeping chickens as pets is against the law.

The owner of the home now has seven days to get rid of the chickens or could face misdemeanor charges and fines. The fact the homeowner has already gone to Mayor John B. O’Reilly Jr.’s office to save her chickens, telling officials that her children are “attached” to the birds, suggests that this matter will not be quickly resolved.

We aren’t sure what is going on in Dearborn but this chicken case now brings to five the number of homes found with an excessive number of “pets.”

1. In July, the city quietly removed some 50 cats from a home on the west side of Dearborn
2. In August, hundreds of Chihuahuas lived and died in squalor in an east side home. Cleanup costs, along with city police, fire and other city officials could drive the cleanup bill to nearly $100,000
3. In late August, some 20 cats were found in an abandoned home
4. In September, an elderly woman on the east side called city officials to have some 25 cats removed from her home. All of the cats were healthy but the woman became unable to manage having all of them in her home, city officials say.
5. Finally, in September 10 chickens were found in an east side home.

We’ve had a lot of discussion on these pages about the quality of education in our state and many of our communities. Now a new survey says that public assessment of schools has fallen to its lowest level in nearly three decades.

According to a recently released Education Next poll put out by the Hoover Institution, public assessment of schools has fallen to the lowest level recorded since Americans were first asked to grade schools in 1981. Just 18 percent of those surveyed gave schools a grade of an A or a B, down from 30 percent reported by a Gallup poll as recently as 2005.

No less than 25 percent of those polled by Education Next gave the schools either an F or a D. (In 2005, only 20 percent gave schools such low marks.)

For the full story, click HERE.

More Sleep Equals Better Grades, Healthier Students

What is the best time to start school for a high school student? Opinions vary but early school start times are a medically proven detriment to health and education.

Dearborn school leaders appear to have finally come to that realization and are now asking parents and students to take part in an online survey to determine the merits of changing the high school start time from the current 7:20 a.m. to something later. A time change could be implemented as soon as the 2010/2011 school year.

Now we all know changing school start times can be very challenging for school districts because of busing schedules, kids missing more classes because of early release for sports activities and to parents. Some students also are concerned that being in school later would cut into after-school jobs and extra-curricular activities.

Later start times might also impact teachers, who as adults do not need more sleep to function better. Will these longer days mean less efficient teachers at the end of the day simply because of fatigue?

While difficult to determine, there are many studies that have been done over the past decade that show pushing back start times to allow teenagers to get the sleep they need yields positive results. In no particular order, studies have shown these advantages to students who get more sleep:

• Better grades;

• Less likelihood of experiencing depressed moods;

• Reduced likelihood for tardiness;

• Reduced absenteeism;

• Reduced risk of fall asleep car crashes; and

• Reduced risk of metabolic and nutritional deficits associated with insufficient sleep, including obesity.

We don’t have the exact number of schools or districts that have pushed back there start times over the past five years but the figure is in the hundreds. Clearly, those school districts have deemed it a positive priority to add sleep to the school curriculum at all grade levels.

As there are advantages and some disadvantages to starting later, the online survey by the Dearborn school district is a good way to get input from the community to attempt to tailor a solution that can work for all.

To take part in the survey, which ends Sept. 30, click HERE.

Appraisers from Detroit’s Dumouchelles, Fine Arts Auctioneers and Appraisers since 1927, will be on hand to examine and appraise your family heirloom. The fee is $10 for a single appraisal and $15 to appraise two items.

Appointments are required, call Barbara Logan at 313-624-0205 to schedule.

The Well, Dearborn's newest bar is now open for business.

Dearborn’s newest pub is now open for business. Located in the West Village Commons on Michigan Avenue, the new bar called The Well is now serving your favorite brew, along with some nice atmosphere.

The Well’s co-Owner Ross Varacalli, a Dearborn resident, had planned to have his new bar (next to the now closed Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory in the West Village Commons) open by July or at least by Dearborn’s Homecoming celebration in August, but getting the needed paperwork done and liquor license hurdles cleared took a bit more time than anticipated.

If The Well in Dearborn is anything like the one Varacalli and his partners operate in Detroit, it should be a hit in Dearborn.

Good luck and welcome to the neighborhood. For the earlier story, please click HERE.

Tickets are now on sale for Dearborn’s “Smoke on the Grill” charity fundraiser, which will be held from 4-7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 1 at Ford Field Park.

The event, which includes dinner, drinks and entertainment, benefits Dearborn public school students through the Parent Teacher Student Associations (PTSAs) and the Dearborn Goodfellows.

Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly Jr. will serve as honorary chairman for the event, which helps raise money for new technology, uniforms and other items students need but aren’t covered in the school’s budget.

Money also goes to the Goodfellows to help them pay for all the great things they do in the community all year round, including buying holiday gifts for those in need. Tickets this year are $30.

Please call Gary Kuhlmann at Park Place Catering at 313-274-4499 to reserve tickets.

The 6th annual Arab American National Museum Concert Gala, at 8 p.m. Saturday, October 17 will feature a stunning live performance by the world renowned MESTO – Multi Ethnic Star Orchestra, a 40-piece orchestra conducted by the esteemed music director Nabil Azzam, with special guest vocalist Moroccan-born Karima Skalli, known as the “Golden Voice.”

Under the baton of Maestro Azzam, MESTO and Skalli will perform Arab music as never heard before, featuring the exciting instrumental and vocal works of Muhammad Abd al-Wahhab, Baligh Hamdi, Rahbani Bros., Farid El-Atrache, Muhammad Abdo, Nabil Azzam and many more.

This festive, black-tie-optional fundraiser at the Max M. Fisher Music Center, 3711 Woodward Ave. in downtown Detroit, celebrates the first and only Arab American museum in the United States and generates up to 10 percent of its annual operating budget, providing vital support to the AANM’s cutting-edge programs.

 A wide range of ticket prices from $25-$500 make this very special event affordable for all. Tickets are available for online purchase at  www.accesscommunity.org.

 For more information about tickets and sponsorship opportunities, contact Nissrine Hussein at 313.583.3360 or nhussein@accesscommunity.org

The Arab American National Museum documents, preserves, celebrates, and educates the public on the history, life, culture, and contributions of Arab Americans. It serves as a resource to enhance knowledge and understanding about Arab Americans and their presence in this country. The Arab American National Museum is a project of ACCESS, a Dearborn, Michigan-based nonprofit human services and cultural organization. Learn more at www.arabamericanmuseum.org  and www.accesscommunity.org

The Arab American National Museum is a proud Affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Read about the Affiliations program at http://affiliations.si.edu.

 The Museum is located at 13624 Michigan Avenue, Dearborn, MI, 48126. Museum hours: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday; noon-5 p.m. Sunday. Closed Monday, Tuesday; Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. Admission is $6 for adults; $3 for students, seniors and children 6-12; ages 5 and under, free. Call 313.582.2266 for further information.

Dearborn High School will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony this Friday at 6:30 p.m. for the school’s $2.9 million athletic complex renovation. The ceremony will take place on the school’s new synthetic turf football field prior to the start of the Sept. 18 football matchup with cross town rival Fordson High School.

Dearborn High School will celebrate its new football field and athletic complex this Friday, Sept. 18. This earlier photograph shows the synthetic turf being installed.

As a Dearborn High graduate, I’m still having a hard time adjusting to the relocation of the football field from the valley to alongside busy Outer Drive. Don’t get me wrong, the field looks great and so do the new stands. It’s just the wrong place for a football field and the home seats are actually constructed on the wrong side of the new stadium (the sun is supposed to shine in the faces of the visiting team, not the home team sideline). In addition, noise complaints from nearby residents have forced the school to turn down the volume of the loudspeakers at the new football field.

We can’t help but wonder what the field would have looked like if the School Board had taken up the City of Dearborn’s offer to pay for the costs of moving clay and dirt from the holes being dug for the combined sewer overflow basins and used it to raise the grass field in the valley.

A Dearborn Schools spokesman confirms the city did indeed make such an offer but it wasn’t as simple as filling the valley up with dirt to raise the field out of the flood plain. The quality of the soil that would have been trucked from holes along the Rouge River to the school was unknown and would have needed testing. In addition, the school district would have had to create a new flood plain in another location to match the exact size of whatever was changed in the valley of Dearborn High. While an interesting idea, those obstacles stopped the plan before it could ever get traction.

For those wondering, the $2.9 million price tag at Dearborn High covered the complete renovation of all athletic property at the school. The athletic complex renovation project began with the west complex in the spring of 2008. The complex includes a new synthetic turf football field, grandstands, press box, concession stand, new tennis courts, new softball field, renovated baseball field and renovated track.

The Dearborn High project is the final piece of a three year district-wide program to renovate the athletic facilities at all three high schools. A great deal of work was accomplished at Dearborn High over the summer. The school held their first gridiron match-up on their new synthetic turf field on Sept. 4, 2009.

Is it just us or has the whole Dearborn paid parking matter just gotten so confusing that it might be next to impossible to keep up on what to pay, when, what day and at what lot?

New $2 flat fee for some metered lots in Dearborn begins Sept. 21.

The newest tweak to Dearborn’s paid parking system becomes effective Monday, Sept. 21.

In metered Lot C and Lot H, patrons will have the option of a flat $2 parking fee daily after 6 p.m. These lots are located between Mason and Monroe on both sides of Michigan Avenue.

This change is the latest move by the Dearborn City Council to help bar owners in the area who have complained that they are losing some of their customers earlier than usual out of fear of getting a parking ticket for an expired meter.

A parking attendant will work collecting the fees, although we are not quite sure where this person will stand as the city removed and sold its parking booth on eBay months ago when the meters were installed at a cost of more than $200,000. Customers saying for a shorter period of time can still use the meters as they normally would.

In addition, council approved changing the hours of parking enforcement to 3 a.m. instead of the present 4 a.m.

The city’s paid parking system will continue to be operated by Park-Rite through June 2010. The city council approved a contract extension with Park-Rite that pays the company $4,200 monthly, plus 8 percent of parking revenues.