Newton Township Historical Society

05/14/2026

05/14/2026

Detroit Fee Press 20 Aug 1881

05/13/2026

Joseph Aslin (Austen) was my GGG Grandfather. I originally heard this story from Edmund “Pa” Aslin, Joseph’s grandson. I have that story on audiotape c. 1957.

05/12/2026

Indigo Bunting?

05/11/2026

This article is extra interesting because the HS has video of the wedding as described.

05/10/2026

The hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship is being handled judiciously because of special training which has been given to select groups for decades. Back when bird flu and other virulent diseases started rearing their ugly heads, our government, as well as many others, started to plan for worst case scenarios. Like a plane load of passengers passing the half way point on a flight from Asia (for instance) suddenly having people exhibit signs of an unknown virus.
I was a team leader in something called a Mobile Response Unit with Treasury/Customs and later Homeland Security/Customs and Border Protection. The teams were originally created so that a group (25 officers north, 25 east, 25 south and 25 west) could be flown on short notice to deal with threats like drugs, money, illegals, nuclear threats, and really the “usual suspects” in border enforcement.
When it was realized that the Center for Disease Control (CDC) didn’t have the type of manpower you see in disaster movies, rapidly deploying to deal with biological outbreaks; our teams rapidly pivoted to be trained to meet suspected illnesses aboard planes. We trained to separate the dead, sick, and asymptomatic passengers into prepared warehouses for enforced quarantine.
It WILL be needed at some point.