This obituary is part of “We Will Remember,” a series about those we’ve lost to the coronavirus.
He was the famous rib cooker in the family and had a passion for riding his red trike.
Detroiter Leslie Helms, who managed to bounce back from multiple surgeries over the years, lost his life to what his wife of 45 years, Kathie Helms, called “something invisible.”
Helms lost his battle at the age of 72, six hours after Cliff Taylor, one of his best friends, died of COVID-19. He died April 18 at Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak.
Known to many as Les, Helms graduated from Mumford High School in 1967, and was one of the starters of the basketball team that won championships for the 1965-66 season. He later attended Flint Junior College, where he played basketball, and then received a basketball scholarship to play for Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Community Comment: Channel 7 viewers react to Detroit Riverwalk s best in the nation honor
Detroit Riverfront Conservancy
and last updated 2021-03-11 20:36:48-05
WXYZ DETROIT â Our station editorial about USA Today honoring Detroit for having the best Riverwalk in the nation triggered a flurry of comments.
Mary Ann Budd said:
John Doyle wrote on Facebook:
âKinda think some of that had to do with Canada not being an immediate cesspool across the river.â
Another TV-7 viewer wrote:
âGreat views, even see kayaks along the edge. Ships dock, boat rides, and yes, the carousel too.â
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Pat Clarkson responded:
Patrice M. Ticknor sent us this message:
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By Brianna M. Lane
Thanks to a spongy M&M-like technology, contaminated soil in the Detroit River downstream of the MacArthur Bridge has been contained.
Powdered activated carbon was used to absorb the contaminated soil in the $3.6 million Detroit RiverWalk project that finished in December.
“Activated carbon is a pure form [of carbon] that’s used to absorb contaminants,” said John Collins, the general manager for AquaBlok, the Ohio contamination remediation company that created the carbon under the brand name of AquaGate +PAC.
The project was a partnership between the EPA and the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy. The contaminated sediment was within the Detroit River Area of Concern, one of the binational toxic hotspots that federal agencies have identified on the Great Lakes.