February 17, 2011
District expects $17.5M OSFC offer By TARA STUBBS-FIGURSKI ThisWeek Community Newspaper The Canal Winchester Board of Education could receive an offer from the Ohio School Facilities Commission as early as spring, according to district treasurer Joyce Boyer. The OSFC is expected to offer the district approximately $17,553,000 to be used to upgrade existing facilities or build new ones. Superintendent Kimberley Miller-Smith told school board
members at a Feb. 5 retreat that district officials now have to decide whether and how to proceed. “The question we need to think about is if we want to be able to collect on that money,” she said. “It’s owed to the community. We have to look at and do some calculating to find out if (the plan) would increase operating costs and if it’s a smart move to make.” The local district would have to come up with some matching money if it chooses to accept the OSFC funds. Boyer
said the district would need to request the money through a bond issue rather than an operating levy. Miller-Smith said district officials have looked at seven different options for using the state funding. These included everything from adding on to existing buildings to building new ones, she said. “We are down to the place where we have one option that we could afford and be able to do without needing more from voters other than an additional half-mill,”
she said. Miller-Smith said that option would create additional space at the middle school so it would house sixth through eighth grades. It also includes an eventual addition to the high school and construction of pre-kindergarten/ kindergarten facility. “At this point in time, that is our only option,” she said. Adding on to the middle school would cost $6,718,633, she said, while renovating and adding 49,898 square feet to
the high school would cost $21,824,121. Building a new elementary school for pre-kindergarten/kindergarten would cost $10,157,186. Board members need to decide whether to accept the OSFC money now or wait for future funding that may or may not be available, Miller-Smith said. She said the reason she announced the possible OSFC funding at the special meeting was to give board members See DISTRICT, page A2
Zoning change for dog-groomers headed to council
READY TO PERFORM
By TARA STUBBS-FIGURSKI ThisWeek Community Newspapers
By Tim Norman/ThisWeek
Canal Winchester sophomore Jenny Dihrkop twirls as she starts the dance performance by the Indianettes at halftime at their basketball game against Circleville on Feb. 8. Canal Winchester won the home game 67 to 56.
The Canal Winchester Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved a zoning amendment Monday, Feb. 14, that would revise the village’s dog kennel policy to allow doggrooming businesses to be located closer to residential areas. The amendment will be forwarded to Canal Winchester Village Council for a vote. Village officials said in January that Canal Winchester’s code only provides parameters for dog kennels, which can be located as a conditional use in a commercially zoned area or in limited manufacturing areas. The amendment “breaks out animal grooming and training from commercial kennels, so it’s separate,” zoning officer Andrew Dutton said. “It makes it a conditional use in a general commercial zoning district.” Commission member Jim Knowlton asked if there were any restrictions on training in regard See ZONING CHANGE, page A2
District emphasizes levy is Hope UMC renewal, not replacement Clothing ministry now By CHRIS BOURNEA ThisWeek Contributor At its monthly meeting Monday night, the Canal Winchester Board of Education approved a resolution to approve the collection of taxes for the current fiscal year, which began July 1, 2010. The resolution is a routine piece of business that the district must submit to the county auditor’s office every year to continue collecting on the current two-year, $6.4-million emergency levy that voters approved in May 2009, treasurer Joyce Boyer said.
Superintendent Kimberley Miller-Smith said wording in the A closer look resolution stating that a rate of 5 mills is attached to the levy is simply a formality. The resolution is a routine “Conversations about and the piece of business that the reporting around how many mills district must submit to the this levy approximates have been county auditor’s office every confusing to our voters,” she said. year to continue collecting “Such confusion stems from the on the current two-year, fact that discussing various mill$6.4-million emergency levy age rates as it relates to this levy that voters approved in May makes people believe we are ask2009, treasurer Joyce Boyer ing for new, additional funding. said. This is not the case. “In reality, the millage rate “Emergency levies collect a may fluctuate up or down based set amount, not a certain millage rate,” she said. See MAY LEVY, page A8
has permanent space By TARA STUBBS-FIGURSKI ThisWeek Community Newspapers
“
We see a lot of the same people come in every couple of months. They use it as a great recycling tool. They bring in clothes that their children have outgrown and take out other things.
In its second year, the Hope United Methodist Church free children’s clothing ministry is still reaching plenty of families, organizers say. The project has been so sucKIT LLOYD cessful that about six months —Hope United Methodist volunteer ago, it was moved to permanent space in the Hope UMC base“We used to keep it all in totes ing to accommodate individuals ment. “It was very time-consuming and fill a table up in fellowship with disabilities: If someone is to bring everything out every hall.” She said volunteers are willSee CLOTHING, page A8 month,” volunteer Kit Lloyd said.
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Interfaith program turns to scripture for understanding By TARA STUBBS-FIGURSKI ThisWeek Community Newspapers Local representatives of the Muslim, Christian and Jewish faiths are hoping to promote understanding through an examination of holy texts. The program “How Do We Understand Our Scriptures” is scheduled for 7 p.m. Feb. 21 at St. John Lutheran Church, 133 W. South St., Lithopolis. It is sponsored by the Canal Winchester-Lithopolis Ministerial Association, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and
the Columbus Jewish Federation. “The purpose of the meeting is that we should know each other,” said Mirza Ahmad, communications secretary of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. The program will look at scripture in the Koran, the Bible and the Tanakh, a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The word is an acronym based on the letters T (for “Torah”), N (for “Nevi’im,” the prophets) and K (for “Ketuvim,” the sacred writings.) Rabbi Idit Jacques of the Columbus
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Jewish Federation will address the importance of scripture for the Jewish community. She said the federation was approached by the ministerial association about speaking at the event. “They have been working with Mirza, who has approached me to have speakers come speak at his mosque,” she said. “Other rabbis in the synagogue have gone to speak in his mosque. We were very interested when they approached me about having this.” The scripture program provides a platform to discuss different texts in the
Muslim, Jewish and Christian beliefs and is a great way to build understanding of each other and generate some vocabulary to communicate with one another, Jacques said. Jacques said she was asked to make her presentation based on texts she considers to be sacred or have some significance in her religion. The program allows her an opportunity to explain Jewish scripture, what she considers sacred about Jewish scripture and the role scripture plays in life, she said. Ahmad said he hopes to dispel mis-
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conceptions about Muslims and to explain that the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community “does not believe in violence, terrorism and killing of the non-Muslims.” St. John Lutheran Church Pastor Joe Wolf said Ahmad visited his church last fall, shortly before Florida pastor Terry Jones had planned to burn a copy of the Koran as a protest against plans to build a mosque near Ground Zero in New York. Jones later called off his protest. See INTERFAITH, page A2
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