Miller’s Bar in Dearborn has purchased the adjoining building and will soon add a new private dining room.

Miller’s Bar patrons will soon have a new reason to love one of Dearborn’s best burger places — the owners of the bar will soon be adding a new dining room for private parties.

If you’ve driven by Miller’s Bar on Michigan Avenue recently, you will have noticed that the adjoining building is now painted the same red oak color of the famous burger bar. That’s because the Miller family, which has owned the business since 1941, recently purchased the adjoining building, including the upstairs apartment units.

A new private dining room will be a great addition to one of Dearborn’s gems.

We wish the Miller family the best of luck with their new purchase.

Jan Scruggs, decorated veteran and the driving force behind the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., will be the keynote speaker at the opening ceremony for The Wall That Heals, at 10 a.m. on October 25 on the grounds of Ford Motor Company World Headquarters.

The traveling half-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall will be available for viewing by the public around the clock from 10 a.m. on Thursday, October 25 till 8 a.m. on Monday, October 29. It is free.

“The Wall That Heals transcends the Vietnam War to help our great nation renew its relationship with veterans of all wars,” said Scruggs, founder and president of Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF). “It helps veterans from all of America’s conflicts to find healing and a powerful connection through their common military experiences.”

Scruggs was a wounded and decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, having served in the 199th Light Infantry Brigade of the U.S. Army.

In 1979, Scruggs conceived the idea to build a tribute to those who served during the Vietnam War.

He launched the effort with $2,800 of his own money, gained support from other veterans, and together persuaded Congress to provide a location on federal government property. The story of that effort is told in the book and movie To Heal a Nation.

Scruggs continues today as president of the VVMF, the nonprofit organization created to build and maintain the Memorial, now in its 30th year.

Scruggs will see the groundbreaking in November for a companion Education Center to be located near the Vietnam memorial.

A big part of bringing awareness of the men and women who were lost in the war is the display of the replica Wall coming to Dearborn.

 Oct. 25 Opening Ceremony in Dearborn

Tributes, including music, will be provided at the October 25 opening ceremony at Ford World Headquarters.

Also offering remarks will Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr. and Mike Bannister, chairman and chief executive officer for Ford Motor Credit Company and executive vice president of Ford. Bannister is an Army veteran and executive champion for the Ford Veterans Network.

The Dearborn Allied War Veterans Council (DAWVC), with new Commander Phil Smith, will lead the service.

Organizers are encouraging representatives from nearby communities to attend and lay a wreath in honor of their residents who never came home from Vietnam.

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An antique appraisal clinic will be offered from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. this Saturday, Oct. 6, at the Dearborn Historical Museum’s McFadden-Ross House, 915 Brady Street.

The antique appraisal clinic is open to the public and is sponsored by the Museum Guild of Dearborn. All proceeds will be used to support the Museum.

The clinic will operate on a first-come, first-served basis. You must register at the event in order to participate, and you must register by 3:30 p.m.

Robert Du Mouchelle from Du Mouchelle Art Galleries will evaluate your antiques and collectibles. The cost for appraisal is $10 per item and there is a limit of five hand-carried items per person. No musical instruments, furniture or weapons will be appraised.

For additional information about the antique appraisal clinic, call 313.565.3000.

Mark your calendars for this Tuesday to learn more about the candidates running for Dearborn School Board.

The League of Women Voters of Dearborn – Dearborn Heights is hosting the forum at Dearborn City Hall in the Council Chambers. The forum begins at 7 p.m. on Oct. 2.

There are three candidates running for two open seats. Incumbents Aimee Blackburn (first elected in 2000 and serving her third term) and Mary Lane (serving her third term) are working to keep their positions, while Mary K. Petlichkoff is throwing her hat back in the race after being defeated in 2011.

Pumpkin decorating contestants in 2010 show off their creations during Camp Dearborn’s Halloween Weekends.

Dearborn’s Recreation and Parks Department has added a third Halloween Weekend at Camp Dearborn as a way to meet demand for this popular family-friendly event now in its fifth year.

This October the weekends of 12 – 14; 19 – 21 and 26 – 28 are reserved for the themed camping weekends.

Halloween Weekends offer families an opportunity to expand on the fun and excitement of Halloween by booking a tent, cabin or RV site for a weekend filled with activities in a safe environment. New this year are the popular resort cabins with full bathroom facilities.

Campers will receive one pumpkin at check-in Friday afternoon to carve and enter in a contest. Additional pumpkins will be available for purchase and campsites will be allowed multiple entries in the contest.

Campers are invited to take part in all scheduled activities at no additional cost. Campsite decorating is strongly encouraged to set the mood and will be judged for prizes.

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If you have a tablet, laptop, e-reader, digital camera or any other electronic gadget driving you crazy because it just won’t work right then Dearborn’s free Tech Time technology assistance program at the Henry Ford Centennial Library may be the solution for you.

Bring any device to the workshop of your choice and the experienced staff of the Dearborn Public Library will answer questions and provide hands-on assistance.

Registration is required, but the workshops are offered free of charge. The Tech Time workshops are being offered:

• Tuesday, October 9, 6-8 p.m. (registration begins October 2)

• Tuesday, October 23, 10 a.m.-12 p.m. (registration begins October 16)

To register, please call the Adult Reference Desk at 313-943-2330. All workshops will be in the first floor training room at Henry Ford Centennial Library, 16301 Michigan Avenue, Dearborn.

Be sure to bring the USB and/or power cables for your device. If you have an e-reader, a valid Dearborn Public Library card is required. If your e-reader is a Kindle, you must also have an Amazon.com account.

Dearborn’s Hyatt Hotel will soon become the Radisson Hotel & Conference Center.

Dearborn’s Hyatt Hotel will now become the Radisson Hotel & Conference Center.

The hotel will open as a Radisson at the end of October, according to the Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, based in Minneapolis and Brussels, Belgium.

This is good news for Dearborn in that the Hyatt will remain a hotel. However, the Radisson brand is a upper, middle market chain that doesn’t carry the cache that the Hyatt or Ritz brand did when those two operated in Dearborn. Even so, Radisson does run a good hotel.

Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group announced Tuesday that it has signed a long-term agreement to manage the 772-room hotel, located in the Fairlane Town Center retail complex in Dearborn.

Hyatt announced in May that it would no longer manage the hotel after its current contract expires Oct. 31. Royal Realties, a group of international investors, acquired the hotel in April 2011.

The Radisson does operate one other hotel in metro Detroit and that is in Bloomfield Hills.

It isn’t known yet when the major renovations will be completed at the former Hyatt hotel.

The groundbreaking for “The Union at Dearborn” at the University of Michigan-Dearborn is Monday, Sept. 24, 2012.

Construction on a new $44 million student housing project that will serve students attending the University of Michigan-Dearborn officially begins today with a groundbreaking ceremony set for 3 p.m. at the future site.

The groundbreaking for what will officially be called “The Union at Dearborn” will be held at 760 Town Center Drive, directly across from UM-Dearborn’s central campus entrance on Evergreen Road.

Those expected to speak at today’s event include:

• Larry Winokur, managing partner, Urban Campus Communities. UCC is a developer of student housing and responsible for Wayne State University’s Union at Midtown.
• Daniel Little, chancellor, University of Michigan-­Dearborn
• Donna Inch, chairman and CEO, Ford Land
• John B. O’Reilly, Jr., mayor, City of Dearborn

Officials had hoped to begin construction a year ago and open this past August but financing challenges delayed the project. The new campus housing project now is expected to open in August 2013.

The student housing project calls for 521 beds by using two existing buildings and three other structures. The first existing building will be renovated into a student union – The Union at Dearborn – with eight student apartments. The second existing building will be modified for additional student apartments. The primary apartments will consist of three attached buildings.

Earlier plans indicated that leases for the apartments would be eight months, with the buildings closed for the summer semester. But that could change if interest in summer classes at UM-Dearborn increases.

There are also plans for a sand volleyball court, exercise facility, meeting rooms and a theater.

To connect the apartments to the UM-Dearborn campus, a walkway will eventually be constructed over Evergreen Road. In the interim, a stoplight will be installed so students can cross.

While UCC did secure the majority of the funding for the estimated $44 million project, the Michigan Economic Growth Authority did approve the project for a $2.34 million tax credit because it could bring “$7 million in new investments and up to 20 permanent full-time jobs.”

The Westborn Market, Dearborn Chamber of Commerce and the West Dearborn Downtown Development Authority will be hosting the third and final Food Truck Rally on Friday, Sept. 21, behind The Double Olive bar.

While there has been some debate on this site about whether these moving restaurants help other nearby restaurants, local bars seemed to have benefited.

The rally will have 10 different Food Trucks with an assortment of food to satisfy all taste buds. Live music will also be provided so it should be a good event for the entire family. The event takes place from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Dearborn is adding new tennis courts at Ford Field Park to replace two old deteriorating ones. The old court surfaces were cracking and in need of replacement.

Dearborn’s Ford Field Park is getting a tennis court makeover, thanks to a Wayne County grant millage allocation.

Separately, a new spray park element will soon be added to the baby pool at Dearborn’s Dunworth Pool.

The total commitment from Wayne County for these two projects is $137,000, with $90,000 for Ford Field Park and $47,000 for Dunworth Pool.

Regular visitors to Ford Field Park will notice that the current tennis courts were recently torn up and removed, including the fencing that surrounded the two courts.

Construction on new courts would soon begin after Dearborn’s City Council approves the award of the contract for construction services. That is set to take place at the next council meeting.

City officials tell DeepsaidWhat.com that the two new courts will come complete with freshly painted court surfaces, striping, new fencing, and new tennis posts and nets to replace the old deteriorating courts. The old court surfaces, for those who ever used them, were cracking badly and in need of repair or replacement.

Nearby residents who were concerned they had lost their tennis courts will be relieved to hear that the new courts will be erected in the same location, providing many tennis players with a nice facility to enjoy for many years to come.

The city hopes to have both projects up and ready for residents to use for the summer of 2013.