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By Ben BairdHeritage Media

Mac’sAcadian SeafoodShack, SpottedDog Winery,Cobblestone Roseand Maureen’ Designs wereall broken into the night of Jan. 4 within the same areadowntown.

The burglaries arebelieved to have occurredbetween 8 p.m. Jan. 4 and7 a.m. Jan. 5, according topolice reports. All werelocated within the sameblock along East Michigan

Avenue and South AnnArbor Street.

The glass of the maindoor to Mac’s Acadian

Seafood Shack, 104 E.Michigan Ave., was found

brokenThursdaymorning anda medium-sized rock wasfound on the

floor by broken pieces of glass. The cash register inthe bar area was disturbedand papers scattered near-by. The downstairs liquorcabinet was also foundopen and inside it a cashdrawer and metal box hadbeen rifled through.

An undisclosed amountof cash was discovered

missing from the restau-rant. Fingerprints were

By Jim PruittSpecial Writer

He may not be riding off into the sunset, butafter 18 years as the police chief for the city of Saline, Paul Bunten is just a day away from leav-ing the office for good.

Bunten makes every day casual day now thathe has packed away his uniforms for good. Buthe’s clearly still on the job, as he recently over-saw his officers in an arrest of a local man whobroke into a pharmacy.

Bunten’s retirement comes a few monthsearly, after the City Council rejected his reorga-nization plan for the department. He proposedhiring a new second-in-command and trainingthat person as the next chief. He was going toretire, anyway, but was willing to stay on untilJune to train the new No. 2. With the council’sdecision to wait for a new chief to hire the sec-ond in command, Bunten felt it was time to go.

“I made peace with myself,” he said. “I did notchange my retirement date out of spite.”

“They didn’t like the idea,” Bunten said of theCity Council. “They did what they felt was right.You have to realize they are in charge.”

A 47-year veteran of law enforcement, includ-ing nearly 30 years with the Ann Arbor PoliceDepartment, Bunten said he has enjoyed his

time. There are parts to the job he won’t miss,however.

“I am tired of tragedies,” he said. “I worked alot of homicides. I worked a lot of major cases.”

Bunten said he doesn’t find thrillers enter-taining.

“You want to entertain me,” he said, “makeme laugh.”

Bunten is most proud of the work he has donewith the Saline Police Department. He saidwhen he took the job in April 1994, he found thedepartment housed in a ramshackle buildingnext to the senior center on Maple Road.

“It was a terrible facility; there were leakyroofs,” he said.

While the environment was substandard,the staff was sound with many senior officersamong the 11-sworn force.

What they had in experience they lacked intools. Bunten said he made it his goal to bringthe department up to date with technology and

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on www.heritage.comaround the clock for themost in-depth coverage.See our Most Viewed

story, “DETROIT LIONS:With flaws exposed,front office must be busyin offseason.”

Check outour video:■ 2013 Chevy Cars■ Four burglaries

discovered Thursday indowntown Saline

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Scouts improveWalker Tavern asEagle project

See Page 1-B

Deaf interpreterstake ‘center stage’

at area theaterSee Page 1-B

Holiday salesgood for Saline,

say merchantsSee Page 3-A

Newspapers to supply video for newscastGet ready for a local

newscast that combineshyper-local news storieswith television’s imme-diacy when WADL TV38 and Journal RegisterCompany, parent companyto Heritage Media, partnerto present the “News @ 9”weekdays beginning Jan.

16.“For me having been a

news director, bringingtogether newspaper jour-nalism and streaming videointo a real partnership withTV is unique,” said SteveAntoniotti, WADL TV 38general manager.

Antoniotti said he hadseen others try to do this,but “this will be much moreintegrated.”The 9 p.m. newscast

 — WADL’s first — willfeature reporting and video

coverage from reportersand videographers work-ing at Heritage Media, TheOakland Press, MacombDaily, Royal Oak’s DailyTribune and MountPleasant’s Morning Sun, aswell as national and inter-national news.

Antoniotti said another

major change for the locallyowned station will be theaddition of “America Now,”a 30-minute news magazinehosted by Leeza Gibbonsand Bill Rancic. “AmericaNow” will be broadcast 7:30p.m. with a fresh show at9:30 p.m.

Gibbons worked as ananchor on “EntertainmentTonight” and hosted herown TV talk show. Rancic

 — winner of DonaldTrump’s first “Apprentice”competition — is an author

and financial expert, andis married to GiulianaRancic.

The newscast, whichalso will feature Bloombergfinancial news and sportsreporting, will be anchoredby Makenzi Henderson, andMacomb County native andmeteorologist Eric Garlick.

Viewers in the regionneed a 9 p.m. newscast,Antoniotti said. That’sbecause many don’t arrivehome in time to catch anearly evening newscastsand others head to bedbefore the late shows.“The ‘News @ 9” is perfectfor them,” he said.

Kevin Haezebroeck,senior vice president of Journal Register Companyin Michigan, said, “We areexcited about the partner-ship with WADL TV 38.

“Our footprint in south-east Michigan matchesup very well with WADLTV 38 in Wayne, Oakland,Macomb and Washtenawcounties. We cover the

top news of the day withextensive video reports ineach of these markets, andit will be great to be ableto expand the reach of oursuperb journalism.”

Steve Antoniotti, WADL TV 38 general manager, hasentered a partnership with Journal Register Co., whichincludes Heritage Media and The Saline Reporter.

Bunten reflects on years as police chief 

Police investigating burglaries atfour downtown Saline businesses

Photo by Jim Pruitt

Saline Police Chief Paul Bunten has put awayhis uniforms as he spends his momentsbehind the desk. His last day is Friday.

PLEASE SEE BREAK-INS /3-A

PLEASE SEE BUNTEN /3-A

Four burglaries occurred between Jan. 4 and Jan. 5 within one block downtown alongEast Michigan Avenue and South Ann Arbor Road.

Thefts believed to have taken place between Jan. 4 and 5

VOL. 62, NO. 2 THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2012

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