March 17, 2011
Sister city
Sayama, Japan was shaken, not damaged, by earthquake By CANDY BROOKS ThisWeek Community Newspapers
By Adam Cairns/ThisWeek
Demolition of one of Worthington’s oldest schools, Flint School, continues on March 14. The three-room schoolhouse was built in 1924 and closed in 1963.
Flint School demolished by Columbus By CANDY BROOKS ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Flint School came tumbling down last week, the victim of a city of Columbus demolition crew. “It was in very poor condition,” said Alan McKnight, director of Columbus Recreation and Parks Department. The long-vacant school stood at the corner of Flint and Park roads in Flint Road Park. Columbus purchased the school and land from Worthington City Schools about 15 years ago. Columbus had originally planned to turn the school into a recreation center. Instead,
Lazelle Woods Recreation Center was built to serve Far North residents. The land will become green space, but McKnight said there are plans to eventually erect some kind of memorial. Those plans must be altered because items to be used were either stolen or vandalized over the weekend, according to Tina Mohn, property manager for the Recreation and Parks Department. Original columns were pushed over by vandals, she said, and an 800-pound cornerstone was stolen. The memorial may now include only a plaque and the school’s original bell, which is currently located on the grounds of Thomas
Worthington High School. “We would still like to do something to recognize the location of the school,” McKnight said. He said he had been in contact with the Far North Columbus Communities Coalition about plans to tear down the school about two years ago. The city offered the school to anyone who wanted to move it, but no one stepped forward, McKnight said. “We did go out and talk to the community,” he said. “I can’t say all the neighbors knew about it.” Worthington schools facilities director See FLINT, page A2
Worthington’s Sister City in Japan escaped serious damage from the earthquake and tsunami that ravaged the country last week. Worthington spokesperson Anne Brown and other members of Worthington International Friendship Association (WIFA) have ex c h a n g e d email with friends in Sayama, Worthington’s Sister City. “Please tell our old friends that people in Sayama area all safe and we will stick it out,” wrote Shigegyoshi Yasutomi on Sunday. He is former exchange coordinator for SIFA, the Sayama International Friendship Association (SIFA), which works with WIFA to set up exchanges between the two cities. The earthquake occurred in the northeast region of the country, about 240 miles from Tokyo and about 300 miles from Sayama.
Still, the quake was felt in Sayama, people were stranded and forced to find alternate transportation because trains were not running, and telephone service was interrupted. That caused some uneasy hours for Sayama residents as they waited to hear from loved ones. In an email to WIFA member Ryan Hoover, Keiko Ogawa told of her family members walking home from work and school. Her husband stopped and bought a bicycle to make it home. Her daughter walked five hours to get home, stopping to pick up her daughter from nursery school. “We were very worried about them,” she wrote. The city is also experiencing rolling blackouts as the country attempts to conserve energy, and there are shortages of gasoline and other supplies in the stores. They are also worried about the dangers of the damaged nuSee SAYAMA, page A2
Council upholds ARB decision on Ben Cason retires addition to Oxford Street house asThisWeek End of an era
executive editor By JEFF DONAHUE ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Friday, March 18, marks the end of an era at ThisWeek Community Newspapers. Late that afternoon, vice president and executive editor Ben Cason will shut down his computer, gather his cell phone and coat and quietly stroll out of the newsroom the way he has every week since 1993. However, come Monday morning, for the first time in 18 years, he won’t be leading a newsroom discussion on politics or the NCAA basketball tournament. Cason announced his retirement to ThisWeek staffers March
11, concluding a career that spanned the height of the Watergate era as an editor at The Washington Ben Cason Post to building one of the nation’s most respected community newspaper organizations. Under Cason’s leadership, ThisWeek Community Newspapers have won hundreds of state, regional and national awards for journalistic excellence. More importantly, general manager Stephen Zonars said, See CASON, page A2
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A closer look
The outcry of Old Worthington neighbors will not halt construction of an addition to the house at 849 Oxford St. After more than two hours of testimony before a standing-room-only crowd, Worthington City Council March 14 granted architectural approval that will permit the construction of the controversial addition. By a 4-2 vote, council refused to overturn a Feb. 10 decision by the Architectural Review Board. The ARB granted, and council affirmed, an architectural certificate permitting Allison Gentile McGarry and Brian McGarry to build a small entry addition on the front and a larger addition on the rear of the home. An appeal was filed by Sue and Jerry Kneubel, 108 W. Stafford Ave. The reasons for the appeal were that the design was not compatible with the existing house or other homes in the district; the negative impact on two trees in the backyard; and drainage. Neighbors supported the appeal with let-
The ARB granted, and council affirmed, an architectural certificate permitting Allison Gentile McGarry and Brian McGarry to build a small entry addition on the front and a larger addition on the rear of the home.
ters, testimony, and a petition. Monday’s discussion focused on compatibility issues, particularly those involving materials, massing and windows. The 750-square-foot addition and the original house will have a metal, standing seam roof. A chimney on the south side of the addition will be large and visible because of its light color. And the windows on the addition will be box-style bay windows clad in zinc. They do not match the small-paned windows in the original house. Council member Scott Myers asked Al-
lison Gentile McGarry if she would be willing to compromise on the windows. “This town has a window fetish,” said Myers. McGarry said she and her husband followed the guidelines of the Architectural Review Board in designing the house, and had made changes based on the board’s concerns. “I’m paying for this,” she said. “I like the windows, and don’t want to change them.” Dave Foust, who sat on the ARB for 30 years and until a few months ago was a council member, led the charge against the addition. “This decision is not consistent with other decisions of the ARB,” he said. He echoed concerns of neighbors who said the elements of the original house and of the other houses in the neighborhood should have been used in the addition. His concerns included shingles, siding, brick, roof and windows. “You’re bastardizing a house that is one See ADDITION, page A2
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