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Staff Writer

HURON COUNTY- Dr. Yuh-lin Hung, Jen Hung and the practice of Dr. Yuh-lin Hung's preliminary exam scheduled for April 22 and April 23 in Huron County District Court is still being heard...just not in Huron County.

The case was transferred to Saginaw County 70th District Court when newly appointed Huron County District Court Judge David Herrington recused himself from the case.

"The doctor was his childrens' pediatrician," said Huron County District Court Recorder/Judicial Secretary Tammy Piotter.

Saginaw County District Judge A.T. Frank is presiding over the case beginning on April 22 with a second day, April 23, set aside for continuation.

All three defendants are facing 56 counts of health care false claims, one count of larceny of over $1,000 but less than $20,000 and one count of larceny over $20,000.

The charges stem from alleged misuse of vaccinations from the state government program Vaccines for Children (VFC). The VFC program is for children without health insurance or Medicaid.

The allegations claim Hung used the VFC vaccinations for patients with Blue Cross/Blue Shield and billed the insurance company for reimbursement. The questionable vaccination billing is from 2003-2004 according to the Michigan State Attorney General's Office in Lansing.

"This came to our attention after the Huron County Health Department discovered he (Dr. Hung) was using the VFC vaccines and billing Blue Cross/Blue Shield," said Michigan Attorney General's spokesperson Matt Frendewey in an earlier interview. "The health department turned it over to the insurance company... after an investigation they contacted us."

"This is not a criminal case," said Michigan Attorney General Office spokesperson Tom Lambert. "The health care division is handling this case."

According to the Michigan Department of Community Health, Dr. Hung has an active license. Their office was advised of the criminal conviction allegation on January 14 and set up a file. Dr. Hung's file is currently under an administrative review at the Michigan Department Community Health office in Lansing. According to their website, if a health professional is convicted of a misdemeanor or felony the department takes appropriate action.

Frendewey said Hung could face the maximum penalty with 10 years in prison.

"That's for the larceny charge of over $20, 000," he said. "The fine for this charge is $15,000 or three times the amount of the property stolen...depending which is greater."

The second larceny charge is punishable by $10,000 or three times the amount of the property stolen, whichever is greater.

Frendewey added the Hung's "could also face an additional $50,000 in fines for the 56 counts of health care false claims."

HURON COUNTY- If most people were asked about the Huron Area Technical Center, they could come up with a few basic answers, but nothing more: it's near the hospital, it's a pretty big building and students go to class their.

HATC Assistant Principal Doug Hassler hopes that will all change this Thursday, when the school hosts its open house from 4-6:30 p.m.

"The purpose of the open house it to educate people so they know what is going on here and the services we provide to the community," Hassler explained. "It is also designed to make the general public aware of the programs we provide here for their local high school students, the importance of those programs and how they coincide with their academics."

He added, "Many people don't know what happens here. In some ways, we are one of the area's Ôbest kept secrets.'"

Hassler hopes that secret comes out on Thursday, because he wants the area to know about the practical knowledge his students are learning that can be applied to the work force some day. "It is incredible the skills that our students have that are being showcased," he said.

"The things they do from marketing where they are running a store every day to the cosmetology program where the general public comes in and gets a hair cut," Hassler added. "We have a cafŽ where people can come and have lunch...we have a pre-school program and an Auto-Tech program where people can bring their cars in and get repaired...to name a few."

In order to showcase all the programs at the HATC, there will be a "Career Bingo" where patrons can get one sticker for every program they visit. Once they have filled up their entire card they can submit it to be entered in a drawing for prizes that include a TV, portable DVD player, Nano IPOD, as well as many other prizes.

"Sometimes in an open house people will walk by a program and not really take time to learn about it. What we are hoping with the "Career Bingo" is that it will get those people to initiate a conversation so there is some one-on-one time with instructors focused on what we are doing here and how we can serve that person, their child or grandchild," Hassler explained.

Aside from the "Career Bingo," a silent auction will be conducted by the marketing class. "We sent out over 100 business letters to over 100 local businesses requesting donations for our event. The reason we are requesting items and holding the silent auction is to raise money to fund some youth club events we are going to," Marketing instructor Amber Blackstock said.

One of the events that will be funded by the auction is the marketing classes' trip to Frankenmuth. "They do have an aligned curriculum and cover benchmarks from math to social studies and even some science while there," Blackstock explained.

"They give the students a tour of the facility and they talk about how they have really created an experience in Frankenmuth. They started with the idea of a chicken dinner in a small town with a family style meal and now people from all over the world come to Frankenmuth for that very specific experience and they pay a decent price for that," she added. "The students are able to go behind the scenes, talk to the workers and see what goes on."

Items already donated for the auction include: 36 holes of golf from both Ubly Heights and Verona Hills; a tanning package from the Hot Spot with tanning lotion; a business calculator (valued at over $150) and one hour of service from Monitors, Modems and More ($40 value), as well as many other items.

Blackstock was thankful that the community was so willing to give to their cause. "I think it is awesome to see we have support from our local community and they see really do see the value of our students here at the Tech Center and how that not only helps the students here but the community as a whole by supporting us."

Other programs will also be hosting special events at the open house including:

Food Service-bake sale and demonstrations on how to decorate a cake;

Construction-tours of the house that was built on site by the students;

IMS-examples of student projects and computer programs for the public to try out;

Health Sciences-taking pulses and blood pressures;

Early Childhood Professions-carnival for pre-school kids;

Power Tech-reps talking about future careers for Power Tech students;

Cosmetology-explain how academics tie into their program.

Invitations have also been extended to several post-secondary institutions, which includes: AIS Construction/Equipment Corporation, Alpena Community College, Baker College, Davenport University, Delta College, Ferris State University, ITT Technical Institute, Kirtland Community College, Lincoln Technical Institute, Michigan CAT, Nashville Auto-Diesel College, Ohio Technical College, Saginaw Valley State University, St. Clair County Community College, Universal Technical Institute, University of Northwestern and Wyoming Technical Institute.

For more information on the HATC or their open house, visit www.hisd.k12.mi.us or call (989) 269-9284.