The final day of the Miller hearing for the Oxford school shooter ended with planned dates for a decision announcement and sentencing hearing. Oakland County Judge Kwame Rowe listened to Miller hearing arguments for nearly a full month before the final testimony arrived on Friday, August 18th. Over the four days of the hearing, the prosecution and defense presented reasons for and against a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Judge Rowe said he expects to consider all evidence... including expert testimony and reports, research, data and eyewitness accounts. He said he will also conduct his own research before presenting his decision on Zoom at 9 A-M Friday, September 29th. Judge Rowe will hold this virtual discussion to explain the reasoning behind his decision, but it is not the official sentencing hearing, the required final step to a Miller hearing. The tentative date for the official sentencing hearing is December 8th, where the shooter will be committed to prison and any victims have the opportunity to make impact statements. The sentencing date was scheduled several months out due to the extra time necessary to complete a required report from the Michigan Department of Corrections. Oxford Community Television has decided to not travel to past or future hearing sites in understanding of the emotional toll the event has taken on the community.

Growing remembrance and sowing the seeds of hope – the Hana St. Juliana Memorial Garden groundbreaking took place on Sunday, August 6th. Hundreds of community members gathered under the Davis Family Farmers Market pavilion to celebrate and remember not only Hana, but Justin, Tate, and Madysin - all of the students who were lost in the Oxford school shooting in November of 2021. The event began at one P-M, and the official groundbreaking ceremony started at two. Dozens of vendors lined the pavilion, transforming the space into Hana’s Blooms market. Vendors donated portions of their proceeds to the Hana St. Juliana Memorial Fund at the end of the day. Seven speakers were introduced, including planner Chris Nordstrom, garden designer Katherine DeKrey, and endowment fund holder and executive director of the Four County Community Foundation Kathy Dickens. A ten-thousand-dollar donation to the memorial fund came from Meijer 197 Oxford Team Members, and I-B-E-W Local 58 donated twenty-thousand-dollars. The final two event speakers were members of Hana’s immediate family: her sister, Reina, and her father, Steve. Both emphasized their gratitude for the community coming together to love and support their family and the project. The final event of the day was the groundbreaking itself, where all four members of the family, along with Nordstrom and DeKrey, took lavender-colored shovels in hand and broke earth. The various shades of purple decor at the event were just one part of the representation of Hana’s life that will be furthered in the garden. Here is what Four County Community Foundation executive director Kathy Dickens had to say about the symbolic objects that will be part of the garden.

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For more information about the garden including digital renderings, or to donate to support the Hana St. Juliana Memorial Fund, visit their website hana-memorial-fund-dot-com. The garden is set to be completed by next spring.

Oxford’s Downtown Development Authority is completing a project that will place more furniture and fun near the northeast quadrant of downtown Oxford. The backside of the northeast quadrant, which hosts Red Knapp's restaurant and Norah’s Bridal, is the planned location for a seating and games area. Last year, the D-D-A received a Consumers Energy Foundation Grant to transform the area into a multi-use community space. They plan to use the money to install tables, chairs, a propane fire pit, a cornhole setup, outdoor lighting and music, and various children’s games in the location. The last portion of the flat concrete was filled in last month thanks to the work conducted by Birmingham Sealcoat. Last week, construction on the brick section of the iron archway began, and the D-D-A started to place furniture into the space and clean up the surrounding greenery. All of the community-use items are ready to be installed as soon as the construction is finished, so look out for updates in the coming weeks on the project’s progress.

The Oxford Township Police Department is warning business owners to stay aware of a man who attempted to use counterfeit currency at a local business. Two female employees at the Oxford Dollar Tree on 212 South Washington Street came into contact with a counterfeit 50-dollar bill when a man tried to use it to pay for merchandise. The incident occurred at 6 P-M on August 27th. Oxford Village Police Department Officer Rouse described the suspect as a black man in his mid-to-late-twenties with dreadlocks, a maroon shirt, and a baseball cap with black pants. One of the employees went to the Dollar Tree manager's office to call the police. Police say that while she was on the phone, the suspect became upset and paid for his merchandise with a 10-dollar bill. When Officer Rouse inspected the confiscated counterfeit money, he noted that its biggest tells were a waxy exterior, blue watermark on the backside, and a cartoonish appearance when the bill’s face was held up to the light. The case is still open for further investigation. Anyone with further information is encouraged to contact the Oxford Village P-D at (248) 628-2838.

A record-breaking number of tornadoes touched down in Michigan during the severe storms on Thursday, August 24th. Seven total tornadoes – the highest number of tornadoes ever recorded in a single day in Michigan in August – swept across the southern regions of the state and damaged hundreds of trees, homes and businesses. The strongest tornado traveled from Ingham County into Livingston County and was meteorologically rated E-F-two on the zero-to-five Enhanced Fujita Scale. The scale measures tornadoes based on wind speeds and the ranking indicates that this particular tornado was significant. The tornado clocked in wind speeds at over 111 miles-per-hour and flipped multiple vehicles along I-96. One person was killed as a result of the Ingham county tornado, while four other deaths tallied from a two-car collision in Kent County and an additional incident in Lansing. Weather Service meteorologist Steve Freitag said that the appearance of so many tornadoes in one night is about a once-in-every-five-to-ten-year event.

The Oxford High School Varsity Football home opener took place the evening of Friday, August 25th. The Wildcats faced off against Utica Eisenhower and opened with a slow start, scoring zero points in the first half and giving up 13. Going into the third quarter, Jay Cady got Oxford on the board when he kicked a 34-yard field goal, bringing the score to 13-to-three. With only 51 and a half seconds left in the same quarter, Cady made it through the posts for another field goal, this time from 25-yards away. Two other Wildcat field goal attempts were squashed by poor snaps, with one resulting in a turnover. Following another Eisenhower touchdown, the Wildcats were defeated 20-to-six. Despite the loss, Oxford coach Zach Line was optimistic about the boys’ potential in an interview with the Oakland Press. He believes the team won the physical battle, and said that the team’s mental errors will be the focus of future improvements. Line also said that he thinks the team is starting to figure out that they’ve got some talent.

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The Oxford Girls Diving team is breaking school and pool records! Two weeks ago in Oxford’s dual meet against Lake Orion, Oxford diver Tristan Krajcarski broke the girls six-dive school record with a cumulative score of 274.75, over ten points higher than the previous record. With this score, Krajcarski also set a new Oxford High School pool record. Earlier in the season at the Mercy Invite at Bloomfield Hills, a Bloomfield-Hills pool record was broken by two Oxford students, one after the other! Krajcarski once again broke the pool record for six dives with a score of 250.10, and then her record was broken by Ellie Sieter with a score of 261. Both girls earned medals at the event for their successes. The girls swim and dive teams compete against rival Clarkston this Thursday.