Volunteers Chip in to Improve Tarpy Woods

Marble Cliff’s passive park in Tarpy Woods has been improved by two groups of committed citizens. When Village resident Wiley Elliott saw AEP in the Village trimming trees away from power lines, he spoke with the AEP Forestry Group and learned that they would be willing to dump the resulting wood chips near the trail in Tarpy Woods.

With free wood chips available, Elliott next looked for free labor. As the father of two Cub Scouts, he contacted Tara Stottlemire, leader of Cub Scout Pack 28, and Hal Schofield, leader of Boy Scout Troop 73, about working together to lay the chips on the park trail. They quickly agreed and “the dots were connected!”

Under Elliott’s coordination, more than 40 area residents and Scouts gathered at the park on Saturday, March 24 to move more than 25 cubic yards of chips to the well-worn path. “First we focused on safety since we had a lot of youth and tools. Then we came up with a system, assigning everyone to a task they wanted to do. That included loading tarps and wheelbarrows, pushing/ pulling and dumping, spreading and, lastly, picking out the larger and sharp chips that might be a hazard,” Elliott said. “Once we got going, we wished we had more to spread, as we were done in a few hours.”

To see a time-lapse video of their work, go to http://youtu.be/3G5nme2N1M.

A month later, the Friends of Tarpy Woods, led by Village residents Anne Jewel and Nate Rosenstein, met on Earth Day, Saturday, April 21 at Tarpy Woods. They performed their annual clean-up of the park and removed as much wild honeysuckle as time allowed. Jewel said her group was encouraged by the small amount of trash collected.

Local Youths Take State Title

A group of fifth- and sixth-grade boys from Grandview Heights and Marble Cliff recently won the Ohio Youth Basketball School Team State Basketball Tournament. Competing in Columbus against other Division III schools, the Bobcats defeated teams from Liberty Union and Miller in pool play. They defeated Maplewood in overtime in the semifinal match and Meigs County in the championship game to win first place. Pictured with the winner’s trophy are, left to right, (back row) Coach Kevin Richards, James Lachey, Eli Hall, Cameron Richards, Wes Ryan, Coach Steve Hall; (front row) Eli Evans, Manny Day, Aaron Cincione, Matt York and Luke Sterneker. Congratulations on a great season, guys!

“It’s nice to see that users of the park respect it and help keep it clean by not littering and using the waste receptacle at the trailhead,” she said.

The Village is most grateful for the initiatives taken by these groups. As Elliott said, “It is important for everybody to take a step back from daily life and see the opportunities to help the community.”

The Village could not agree more! Thank you to all involved.