Grand Rapids: Agriculture trade show set for three-day run
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — The Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market Expo takes place this week at the DeVos Place Convention Center in Grand Rapids.
The trade show runs Tuesday through Thursday. Growers, farm marketers and industry officials are expected. Organizers say nearly 4,000 people from 41 states and Canada attended in 2009.
For the second consecutive year, the Michigan Greenhouse Growers Expo is being held at the same time. One registration fee covers both conferences.
Michigan State University Extension educators have planned dozens of sessions and workshops. Speakers from other states and the U.S. Department of Agriculture also are expected.
Detroit: Detroit Institute of Arts to open puppet gallery
DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Institute of Arts this month gets a new permanent gallery featuring hand, shadow and string puppets, and the original Howdy Doody marionette from the 1940s will be on display for an opening exhibition.
The gallery that opens Dec. 22 will display pieces from the museum’s Paul McPharlin Puppetry Collection, which includes more than 800 puppets.
“We’re excited to have our puppets on view for the first time in 10 years,” Larry Baranski, director of public programs and puppet curator, said in a statement. “The new gallery will give us the opportunity to bring out old friends . . . and to show the public the great variety and diversity of our outstanding collection.”
The opening exhibit will include rare 18th-century American and Italian hand puppets, and iconic puppets from the early days of television such as the puppet seen on NBC’s “Howdy Doody Show” and characters from the book “The Marvelous Land of Oz.” The iconic Punch and Judy puppets also will be displayed.
The puppets included in the exhibit will change every six months. A series of puppet-related events are planned for late December at the museum in Detroit’s Cultural Center area. The events include puppet-making workshops and performances from Dec. 26-31.
“Our puppets have long been a favorite with the public,” museum director Graham Beal said.
McPharlin was a Detroit resident and prominent figure in American puppetry during the early 20th century. The installation is made possible by an endowment fund established in 1951 by the McPharlin family and The Detroit News.
Puppets will be shown in cases with programmable lighting that can create scenic effects, and original stages and backdrops also will be displayed. And the museum’s 300-seat Lecture Hall is getting new stage equipment to enhance performances using puppets.
Warren: Police vet Dwyer stepping down as city’s top cop
WARREN, Mich. (AP) — Warren Police Commissioner William Dwyer is stepping down as the top cop in one of Michigan’s largest cities to become an Oakland County commissioner.
The city says the 70-year-old law enforcement veteran’s last day on the job is Sunday. He’s being replaced by Jere Green, the deputy police commissioner.
Dwyer says he’s grateful for having such a fulfilling job.
Dwyer spent more than two decades as the Farmington Hills police chief before taking the Warren post two years ago. He also previously served with the Detroit police.
Benton Harbor: Man faces 8 possible life terms in assaults
ST. JOSEPH, Mich. (AP) — A Benton Harbor man faces eight possible life sentences when he’s sentenced on 20 counts stemming from a string of gunpoint kidnappings and assaults that terrorized the lakefront city.
The Herald-Palladium of St. Joseph reported Saturday that Terrance Dawson, 33, was convicted of all charges he faced in connection with last summer’s spree that targeted teenage girls and women.
“We got a very bad man off the streets,” Benton Harbor police Capt. Robert O’Brien said outside the courtroom after the verdict in the bench trial was read Friday.
Berrien County Trial Court Judge Charles LaSata said the testimony of three teenage girls and a 33-year-old woman who identified Dawson as the man who abducted them at gunpoint was convincing. Plus, LaSata said, one victim’s fingerprint was found on Dawson’s car.
Dawson maintained his innocence, saying he was working at a men’s shelter in Benton Harbor when the crimes occurred. But the judge said the alibi wasn’t credible.
LaSata ordered Dawson held in the county jail until his Jan. 3 sentencing.
Dawson faces possible life sentences on each of five kidnapping counts, two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of assault with intent to murder.
LaSata also found him guilty of two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon and 10 counts of firearms charges.
The five abductions over nine days, including three on July 17, struck fear in residents.
The 33-year-old woman testified that Dawson forced her into his car at gunpoint early on July 17 and told her he wanted sex. As they drove around Benton Harbor, she opened the door, jumped out and ran from Dawson. She said he shot her in her right arm as she used it to shield her face.
A 15-year-old girl testified that later that same day, Dawson used a gun to force her into his car. She jumped out of the car, too, and Dawson drove away.
A 16-year-old girl said she was the third victim that day. She testified that Dawson forced her into his car at gunpoint as she walked along a street. She said he drove to an abandoned house, forced her to undress, raped her and then dropped her off.
A state police fingerprint expert testified that a print recovered from the door of Dawson’s car matched the 16-year-old’s.
O’Brien credits the public with helping officers catch Dawson that day. Karen Tucker, who knows one of the teenage victims, spotted the suspect’s black Oldsmobile, followed it and stayed in contact with police by cell phone to report his whereabouts.
After Dawson’s arrest, a 37-year-old woman told police he had kidnapped her at gunpoint a day earlier on July 16, raped her and released her.
In another case, a girl testified that Dawson abducted her on July 9 but released her when she told him she was only 10. She was actually 12 at the time.
