C&G Newspapers

Eric Czarnik

C&G Staff Reporter – Sterling Heights Sentry

Staff Writer Eric Czarnik reports on Sterling Heights and Utica Community Schools, and he writes a weekly auto column. He is a Wayne State University graduate who has been employed at C & G Newspapers since 2007.

Published May 24, 2019

Sterling Heights Sentry

‘Matilda’ promises fun for kids and adults

STERLING HEIGHTS — It doesn’t necessarily take telekinetic powers to make school and society a better place, but a strong will and a big imagination help.

Published May 24, 2019

Sterling Heights Sentry

Pregnant heart surgery patient urges health screenings

STERLING HEIGHTS — Pregnancy is a joyous time of expectation. But Sterling Heights resident Tiffany Polisena discovered a terrifying surprise soon after she became pregnant with her second child in 2016.

Published May 24, 2019

Sterling Heights Sentry

Mentoring academy offers ‘Vision’ to students experiencing difficulties

STERLING HEIGHTS — Dany Arabo recalls coming to the United States from Iraq when he was very young, around 2 or so. “We have come here because of the war,” he said. “Most of my family members are separated in different countries. My cousins are in Europe.” But thanks to a new program called the Vision Empowerment Academy, Arabo, a 17-year-old Stevenson High School junior, has gained a better sense of what he’d like to achieve in America.

Published May 23, 2019

Sterling Heights Sentry

Farmers market grows in vendor support, activities

STERLING HEIGHTS — When Sterling Heights residents Bob and Cynthia Bruno set up shop as Let’s Pop at the Dodge Park Farmers Market, they often sell kettle corn and lemonade to people from their own neighborhood.

Published May 20, 2019

Sterling Heights Sentry

Sterling cancer survivor campaigns for e-cigarette regulations

STERLING HEIGHTS — Heather Hall has fought three bouts of cancer, and she doesn’t want anyone else to experience what she has gone through. “Being diagnosed at 21 years old, I was a senior at Central Michigan University when I was diagnosed with bone cancer,” she said. “I underwent a 13-month chemotherapy (session) and surgery that replaced my femur with a titanium rod.

Published May 13, 2019

Sterling Heights Sentry

Bill offers 2 years to get Iraqis’ deportation cases heard

STERLING HEIGHTS — A Chaldean community organization and a local lawmaker have expressed a sense of accomplishment over the introduction of a new bill that, if passed, might allow some Iraqi nationals with deportation removal orders to stay in the U.S.

Published May 13, 2019

Sterling Heights Sentry

Military mom who surprised son to be parade grand marshal

STERLING HEIGHTS — May 27 will be a special day for Air Force Master Sgt. Hope Morphew. It will be her 41st birthday. It will mark the anniversary of when she came home from Iraq. And it will also be the day that she leads the Sterling Heights Memorial Day parade as grand marshal.

Published May 13, 2019

Sterling Heights Sentry

Sterling Heights police enforce passing laws with school buses

STERLING HEIGHTS — Sterling Heights police hopped aboard a Utica Community Schools bus May 8, but it wasn’t because anyone needed a ride or was reliving their high school days.

Published May 10, 2019

C&G Newspapers

UCS chess enthusiasts rank in annual tournament

UTICA/STERLING HEIGHTS/SHELBY TOWNSHIP — For Roberts Elementary School fifth grader Vincent Frabotta, the joy of chess lies in setting up his pieces in the middlegame to devise a way to checkmate his opponent.

Published May 6, 2019

Shelby - Utica News

ThunderChickens declared world champs

STERLING HEIGHTS/UTICA/SHELBY TOWNSHIP — Sometimes teamwork that runs like a machine can accomplish things that metal cannot solve alone.

Published May 6, 2019

Sterling Heights Sentry

Sterling Heights police plot out online crime map

STERLING HEIGHTS — Sterling Heights police hope a new online resource will help put a more transparent way of crime fighting on the map.

Published May 6, 2019

Sterling Heights Sentry

SHPD K-9 handler dies a month after retiring

STERLING HEIGHTS — Richard Heins will always be remembered by the Sterling Heights police chief as a 6-foot-6-inch man with a heart of gold, and one of the nicest guys you’d ever want to meet.

Published April 26, 2019

C&G Newspapers

Three communities sue drugmakers over opioids

STERLING HEIGHTS/WARREN/HARRISON TOWNSHIP — David Clayton knows the importance of rescue training in Narcan, or naloxone, as a lifesaving antidote to opioid overdoses. As the outreach coordinator for the Families Against Narcotics organization — and someone in long-term recovery from drugs, including heroin and alcohol — he is alive to explain it today.

Published April 26, 2019

Sterling Heights Sentry

Sentry stands guard for 30 years

STERLING HEIGHTS — Much can happen over the span of three decades. And throughout those years, the Sterling Heights Sentry has watched and documented what has occurred within its territory.

Henry Ford II High School ninth-graders Emily Hudson, 14, and Madyson Howard, 14, recently worked together to raise thousands of dollars for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Published April 22, 2019

Sterling Heights Sentry

Students win awards for cancer fundraiser

STERLING HEIGHTS — About one year ago, Madyson Howard’s great-aunt died from cancer. That experience has caused Howard, at 14 years old, to take an active role in making a difference and preventing others from suffering with the disease today.