Inside: Rec department puts out a casting call

Ice-fishing tourney is designed for family fun — Lifestyle, 1C

Volume 166 Number 37

Sunday, February 13, 2011 www.livingstondaily.com $1.25

EDUCATION

Super testifies on funding, costs

LESA chief tells lawmakers retirement
and health issues need to be contained
By Christopher Behnan
DAILY PRESS & ARGUS
The head of Livingston County’s inter-
mediate school district urged legislators
to contain public school districts’ retire-
ment and health-care costs, and to use all
school aid dollars to fund schools as they
develop next year’s K-12 budget.
Livingston Educational Service Agency
Superintendent Scott Menzel testified last
Scott Menzel week in front of the state’s school aid
appropriations committee, chaired by
state Rep. Bill Rogers, R-Genoa Town-
ship. Rogers’ committee is tasked with
proposing a school aid spending plan for
the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.
In his testimony, Menzel said retire-
ment costs — calculated as a percentage
of school district payroll — continue to
increase and cost public school districts
more each year.
The retirement rates are determined by
the Michigan Office of Retirement Ser-
vices based on what is needed to keep the
statewide pool solvent.
This school year, districts paid just
more than 20 percent toward the system,
and are projected to pay nearly 27 percent
next school year, Menzel said.
He said districts’ retirement costs could
be contained by moving to a defined-con-
tribution system, which would create a
set percentage paid into the pension pool.
Continued on page 7
INSIDE
• A funding shift discussed in
Lansing could mean Michigan’s pub-
lic schools see a a $191-per-pupil
cut next school year — and that may
just be the beginning. See page 7A.
• Gov. Rick Snyder’s budget chief
said last week that every area of gov-
ernment will see cuts in this week’s
budget proposal. See page 8A.

COMMUNITY
“With hockey and around homecoming, when we had so much stuff to do,
I wasn’t home for more than seven hours straight, when I would sleep.”
— Sean Nelson
Senior captain, Brighton High School hockey team
EDUCATION

Student body; busy bodies File photo by MANOOCHER DEGHATI/ASSOCIATED PRESS

An man holds a newspaper fronted with a picture of for-
mer Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the Arabic
headline “Finally he steps down” in Cairo, Egypt.

Residents watch
change in Egypt
with joy, concern
By Christopher Behnan
and Jim Totten INSIDE
DAILY PRESS & ARGUS • Egypt’s army commits to
transfer power and
Two Livingston County resi- peace with Israel
dents with ties to Egypt shared two
very different interpretations of after the resigna-
what Friday’s resignation of Egypt- tion of President
ian President Hosni Mubarak will Hosni Mubarak,
mean for Egypt and its people. right. See
Mubarak announced his resig- page
nation late Friday morning after
weeks of protest in the streets of 5A.
Cairo and other Egyptian cities.
On Friday, the Egyptian military
assumed power.

Continued on page 5
Photo by GILLIS BENEDICT/DAILY PRESS & ARGUS
Brighton High School varsity cheerleaders Gabe Tobel, left, and Amanda Garry are among teens who risk getting ECONOMY
overstressed by taking on a load of extracurricular activities and work on top of their school studies.
Mika
Bussey
helps a soc-
Bigger workloads, more responsibilities Unemployed turn
are becoming the standard for teenagers
cer team-
mate up. “I
like to make
lists, and
By Sarah K. Norris
DAILY PRESS & ARGUS
still, so I like having things to do after
school,” said Mackenzie Frasso, a
Brighton High School senior who is edi-
to education to
even when
I’m driving, I
think about
what it is I
For adults, a schedule that begins with tor of the school’s yearbook, runs cross
the alarm ringing at 6 a.m. and ends with country and participates in other activi-
bedtime around midnight might seem the ties at the school, such as Students
norm. However, today, many teenagers Against Destructive Decisions.
compete for jobs
have to do,” are taking on a similar schedule. Frasso is one of 30 students at the By Lisa Roose-Church
said the Many students are dividing their time school who participate in a special lead- DAILY PRESS & ARGUS ABOUT THIS SERIES
Brighton between school, clubs, sports, work and ership class, responsible for organizing
other commitments, often packing more pep assemblies and taking on fundrais- Daniel Acromite believed his 20 • Last month, the Living-
High School into their day than many adults whose ers. The class, taught by Arnella Park, is years of experience as a mechani- ston County Daily Press &
senior. workday runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. cal engineer would help him Argus began an in-depth look
DAILY PRESS & ARGUS FILE PHOTO “I’m one of those people who can’t sit Continued on page 6 quickly find employment after at unemployment locally and
being laid off in February 2009. across the nation Each Sun-
However, his efforts were thwart-
day through March, we’ll pub-

Inside: Online:
ed when he reached the education
portion of a job application. He lish stories examining various
could not check the box that indi- aspects of the problem of job-
cated he had a college degree. As a lessness in the community.
The pastor of a county church is Visit www.livingstondaily.com result, prospective employers didn’t • E-mail story ideas for the
seem to take a second look at the
drawing attention to preventing to see our photo gallery from 48-year-old Genoa Township man. ongoing joblessness series to
disease in Africa with a new Friday night’s Brighton and lcp-metro@gannett.com.
documentary. See page 3A. Pinckney boys basketball game. Continued on page 6

INDEX
Best Bets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2A
County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3A
Community Calendar . . . . . . . 4C
Editorials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10A
Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10A
Lifestyle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1C
Lottery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2A
Names & Faces . . . . . . . . . . . . 3C Contact Us Mostly cloudy
Nation & World . . . . . . . . . . . 12A For home delivery: 1-888-840-4809 High 38
Obituaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4A
Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1B To report news: 517-548-2000 or 517-552-2828 Low 28
State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8A Weather - 2A
Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6C To place a classified ad: 1-888-999-1288
Week Ahead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2A
6A DAILY PRESS & ARGUS-Sunday, February 13, 2011

COUNTY

An active life for Unemployed look

teens may increase
stress and demands
Continued from page 1
made up of teacher-nominated stu-
dents who range from captains of
sports teams to student council
leaders and volunteering standouts.
The workload these students take
on is becoming more typical for
teenagers, who are beginning to
accumulate responsibilities at an
increasingly younger age, said Dr.
Jennifer Christner, an adolescent-
medicine specialist at the University
of Michigan Health System.
“I don’t know exactly why it is
that society has shifted from play-
time to lessons, but it has,” she said.
In order to deal with the de-
mands from these commitments,
many teenagers have developed
sophisticated coping skills.
“I like to make lists, and even
when I’m driving, I think about
what it is I have to do,” said Mika
Bussey, a Brighton senior who is
captain of the girls soccer team. “I
also know that when I get over-
whelmed, I always find a way to
get things done.”
Students described a variety of
techniques to prioritize and sched-
ule their time, but emphasized that
attitude is key.
“I just try to keep a positive atti-
tude,” said Cassidy Lawlor, senior
captain of Brighton’s pom pon
team and a competitive dancer.
Most of the students in Park’s
class admit to getting less sleep
than they’d like and sleeping
longer on the weekends. Some say
they need a lot of sleep to function,
but most say they get between six
hours and seven hours a night.
“With hockey and around home-
coming, when we had so much
stuff to do, I wasn’t home for more
than seven hours straight, when I
would sleep,” said Sean Nelson,
senior captain of the Brighton
hockey team.
Lack of sleep is one of the con-
sequences of a busy lifestyle that
could be detrimental to teenagers,
Christner said.
“I can’t emphasize sleep enough,”
she said. “Teenagers need eight to
nine hours of sleep a night, and very
few get that. Lack of sleep affects
mood, and catching up on the week-
ends isn’t going to completely cut it.”
Because of increased stress and
time demands, Christner said that
stimulant use among high school
and college students has increased,
ranging from abuse of prescription
drugs for attention disorders to an
increased consumption of coffee
and energy drinks.
“That trend has emerged, which
is even a little bit scarier, because
it’s not illegal or necessarily bad,”
Christner said. “I think that they’re
using these drinks to stay awake
when they’re fatigued and they
need to get things done.”
Christner said she works with
teenagers who are prescribed at-
tention-deficit medication, such
as Ritalin or Adderall, to help
them deal with the potential that a
friend or acquaintance may ask
them to share their medication.
With the pressure and time de-
mands of so many commitments,
teenagers said that being involved
is a reward itself.
“For me, being involved feels
really good,” said Gabe Tobel, a
senior cheerleader for Brighton,
who is in the volunteering club
Interact and the National Honor
Society. “You get to meet a lot of
people that you might not have
met otherwise.”
Making friends is another bene-
fit of having so many interests and
activities.
Morgan Zebley, a state-champi-
on swimmer who spearheaded
Brighton High School’s Food
Fight food drive this year, said, “I
moved here after my freshman
year, so being involved in a lot of
things helped me make friends.”
Another motivator for high
achievement is family expectation.
“For me, I had two older siblings
who were very active; they were
always back and forth between
things,” said Anthony Swain, who
plays tennis for Brighton. “It’s sort
of expected in my family that you
get involved.”
To release the stress of their
busy schedules, many teenagers
find spending time with friends
and family to be a great destres-
sor. Others take on additional
activities that they find soothing.
BYF
File photo by JOHN HEIDER/GANNETT NEWS SERVICE
Sean Nelson, left, senior captain of the Brighton High School
hockey team, skates away from the team’s goal Dec. 22 at
Novi Ice Arena. Nelson is one of a growing number of teens
whose active lifestyle increases demands on their time.
“When I’m stressed, I really try
to put hours into the church,” said
Kalee Nantz, who attends The
Well Church in Genoa Township.
“It makes me feel good.”
For students with such impres-
sive resumes, applying to colleges
should be a breeze. Yet one stu-
dent, Taylor Vecchioni, said that
applying to college was “one of
the worst parts of high school.”
Many have already decided on
their destination, but others are
still waiting to hear from some
schools or are making tough deci-
sions about where they’ll attend.
“I have two scholarship compe-
titions coming up, so the process
feels never-ending,” said senior
Kristin Oliver.
Getting the applications done
early is the biggest advice students
can be given.
“I applied to 12 schools, be-
cause I needed to keep my options
open,” said Lawlor. “It got hard to
remember what I did for each
place. … I wish I had done every-
thing in the summer.”
Despite the amount of stress
they might feel, many teens said
they wouldn’t change their sched-
ule if given the chance.
“I feel like once you get older,
responsibilities start piling up,”
said Nantz “So, while you’re in
high school, it’s your chance to do
a lot of different things.”
Contact Daily Press & Argus
reporter Sarah K. Norris at (517)
552-2847 or at sknorris@gan-
nett.com.
Richard Wandzel, D.O.
Lisa Hamzik, Au.D. Sandy Kujawa, Au.D.
Other office location
222 W. Highland
Highland, MI
248-889-7600
for a educational
boost to compete
Continued from page 1
“I tried to find another job, but
I couldn’t find one,” Acromite
said. “That’s when I decided to go
back to school to get my degree.”
A bachelor’s degree later, Acro-
mite, who found employment in
his chosen field, joined the ranks
of Livingston County’s college-
educated work force.
There are 83,357 individuals in
Livingston County’s labor force,
according to 2009 statistics from
the Michigan Department of En-
ergy, Labor and Economic Growth.
Of that number, 73.6 percent have
some level of college education,
whether it is a few completed col-
lege courses or a bachelor’s, mas-
ter’s or doctorate degree. In com-
parison, 70.8 percent fell into that
category in 2008.
Yet the college degree was no
protection for people targeted for
layoffs due to the recession.
“The changing nature of unem-
ployment is impacting workers in
all education and skill levels,” said
William Sleight, director of Living-
ston County’s Michigan Works!
“We’re seeing that in our office and
certainly across the state. There is a
higher percentage of experienced
and well-educated workers losing
their job in this recession than in the
past.”
The number of workers with a
bachelor’s degree or higher who
were laid off in 2009 increased to
17.4 percent from 16.4 percent in
2008, according to the state.
Richard A. Wandzel, D.O.
Otorhinolaryngologist (ENT)
and
Huron Valley Hearing, Inc.
Audiology and Hearing Services
820 Byron Road in Howell, MI
Accepting new patients and appointments
Please call us at (517) 548-5900
Experts attribute that to the
transformation in the automobile
industry and changes in manufac-
turing in general.
In past recessions, Sleight said, it
was mostly the production workers
who lost their jobs, while manage-
ment — typically those at the pro-
fessional level with more education
— were protected. However, the
most recent recession, which began
in December 2007, saw a reverse in
that trend.
“It’s not unusual that when
unemployment goes up, enroll-
ment in post-secondary training …
at all levels increases,” he noted.
The four-year institution enroll-
ment nearly tripled since the start
of No Worker Left Behind, ac-
cording to a 2010 report by the
state’s energy, labor and econom-
ic growth department.
Acromite, who used the No
Workers Left Behind grant and
other opportunities to finance his
degree, said he found it difficult at
first to return to college, where the
students seemed younger, but he
quickly found a routine that helped
him balance studying and family.
“The path I chose worked great
for me,” he said. “Education is a
criteria you need to keep up on
and pursue. The way the economy
is going, it’s more competitive out
there. You need any advantage
you can get to land these jobs.”
Contact Daily Press & Argus
reporter Lisa Roose-Church at
(517) 552-2846 or at lrchurch@
gannett.com.
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