January 13, 2011
Change from earlier announcement
Paul willing to remain NCC president By KEVIN PARKS ThisWeek Community Newspapers
The president of the Northland Community Council in 2011 is going to be Dave Paul after all. Paul said last week that he is willing to serve another term, although if someone else wants to step forward and seek the job, they are welDave Paul come to do so. In something of a surprise, at the January monthly Northland Community Council it was announced that Paul had consented to serve yet another term as president. He’d previously announced he was not willing to serve a sixth consecutive year in the office.
Also agreeing to stand for election as officers of the council at the February meeting, according to nominating committee chairman John Kirkpatrick, are two other returnees and one new face. Emmanuel V. Remy, a Realtor and president of the Clinton Estates Civic Association, would replace Bob Thurman as the NCC’s vice president. Roseann Hicks would continue as secretary and Lyn Denney as treasurer. Kirkpatrick managed to round up one person for each of the four offices, but Paul pointed out that nominations will be taken from the floor prior to the election next month. “We’d still like folks to consider running,” he said. Hicks is scheduled to give birth to her first child, a son, on Jan. 28, so it’s unlikely she will See PAUL, page A2
NCC leader not among two new council appointees Columbus City Council is at full strength once again and Dave Paul won’t have to change councils. Paul, who recently announced that he had changed his mind and was willing to stand for election to a sixth term as president of the Northland Community Council in February, was not among the two people appointed Monday evening to city council. Paul was among the 17 finalists, whittled down from a field of 49, who applied to replace departed president Michael C. Mentel, who
subsequently was named general counsel for the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio, and Charleta B. Tavares, who was elected to the Ohio Senate. Instead, the two new members of council chosen by the five remaining ones are Michelle M. Mills, the 40-year-old president of St. Stephens Community House, and attorney Zachary M. Klein, 31. “From the very onset of the application
Graphics task force 2010 total: 6,356 illegal signs
See COUNCIL, page A2
By KEVIN PARKS
Mentors honored for role in lives of young people
ThisWeek Community Newspapers
By KEVIN PARKS
During the course of 2010, volunteers with the Northland Community Council’s graphics task force plucked almost 6,400 illegal signs from the public right of way. Task force coordinator William Logan, in his monthly report at last week’s inaugural NCC meeting of 2011, termed that figure “astounding,” and added that it was double the number of illegal notices removed by municipal employees in the rest of the city. Council president Dave Paul called for a round of applause to thank Logan for his past and ongoing efforts to reduce visual blight in the Northland area. “Obviously Bill is not the only person taking down illegal signs, but I think he took down most of them,” Paul said. Logan, an architect and active member of the Karmel-Woodward Park Civic Association, first proposed formation of the task force at the council’s annual holiday party on Dec. 1, 2009. Its purpose, according to a one-page proposal he distributed during the gathering, would be “to combat the placement of illegal signs in the public right of way in the Northland area through education of the public and business community, direct volunteer removal of signs and recycling of signs.” The task force was given the go-ahead at the Jan. 5 meeting. In addition to the 6,356 signs removed during the past year, Logan noted in his anniversary report that the task force also initiated 60 investigations by Columbus Code Enforcement officials of graphics violations and documented 30 major instances of graffiti “tagging” in the Northland area. Of the former, Logan said that about half have been resolved, generally by the owner or manager of the business or apartment complex taking down the oversized banners or non-permitted pennants when informed they were in violation of city code. On the graffiti front, the task force coordinator noted that one of the more notorious “taggers,” Seth M. King, had entered into a plea bargain and faced jail time for putting his “SEED” signature on buildings in not only the Northland area but also Clintonville, the University City area and the Short North. “Hopefully it will take him out of the See TASK FORCE, page A2
ThisWeek Community Newspapers
By Tim Norman/ThisWeek
Marilyn Pritchett, the executive director of the Northland-based Mentoring Center of Central Ohio, poses in her office at 1855 E. Dublin-Granville Road. The organization is celebrating 20 years of service.
Forest Park West resident Sue Scott knows that she’s in for a difficult conversation whenever her “little sister” says, “Don’t tell my mom this, but …” But after a dozen years of mentoring the young woman, Scott’s pretty much ready to roll with whatever the rest of the that sentence contains, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Scott, who works at the Ohio State University Medical Center for a “very busy leukemia doctor,” will be among those honored this evening (Thursday, Jan. 13) during an awards ceremony marking the start of the second decade for the Mentoring Center of Central Ohio. Also marking the 10th anniversary of January as National Mentoring Month, the gathering will take place in the Ohio Statehouse Atrium, with a reception starting at 5. The program runs from 6 to 7:30. Joyce Beatty, senior vice president of outreach and engagement at Ohio State University, will serve as moderator for the program. The panelists, chosen by Mentoring Center director Marilyn Pritchett because their backgrounds and endeavors might be of special interest to young people, include Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams founder Jeni Britton-Bauer, former Columbus Urban League president Samuel Gresham, now director of the Commission on the AfricanAmerican Male; Upper Arlington City Attorney Jeanine Amid Hummer, the daughter of immigrants; and Ron Stokes, a former most valuable player on the OSU basketball team, now a sports broadcaster and co-owner of a marketing firm. Three outstanding mentors will be recSee MENTORS HONORED, page A2
Library literacy program targets Northland By KEVIN PARKS ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Two women have been prowling doctors’waiting rooms, Laundromats, thrift stores and other gathering places in the Northland area since early November, looking for likely targets for the message: “We can help you help your child learn to read.” Learning doesn’t start in kindergarten,
for the newest Ready to Read Corps covering the Northland area, gave a brief presentation last week at the monthly meeting of the Northland ComTwo separate workshops are coming up on Monday, Jan. 17, at the Karl munity Council. Road Branch. One will be in Spanish from 5 to 6 p.m. and the other in She is assisted by Magaly Vazquez English from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. A workshop in English is also scheduled in trying to get across to parents and at the Northern Lights Branch for Monday, Jan. 24, from 6 to 7 p.m. caregivers of the very young the message: which is why the Columbus Metro- with three more on the way this com“Your are your child’s first teacher.” politan Library established three “Ready ing year. to Read Corps” operations in 2010, Jess Harshbarger, the program leader See LIBRARY, page A4
A closer look
DIRECTORY News: (740) 888-6100 editorial@thisweeknews.com Sports: (740) 888-6054 sports@thisweeknews.com Retail ads: (740) 888-6014 cmcmillian@thisweeknews.com Classified: (740) 888-5003 classified@thisweeknews.com Customer Service: 1-888-837-4342
Weekly newspaper. Daily updates. View exclusive videos, stories, photos and more. Connect with other fans, parents and athletes. CHAT WITH YOUR FRIENDS, CHEER ON YOUR TEAM.
Central Ohio’s choice for community news.
ThisWeekNEWS.com | ThisWeekSPORTS.com