CHESTERLAND NEWS VOLUME 50 No. 14
Wednesday, November 15, 2017
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Chester Voters Opt for a Clean Slate Newcomers Mazzurco and Rogish Elected to Trustee Seats By Gwen Cooper Editor@geaugamapleleaf.com In an upset election, Chester Township voters ousted two incumbent trustees in the Nov. 7 general election. According to final unofficial results of the Geauga County Board of Elections, Robert Rogish received
36.44 percent, or 2,036 votes, and Joe Mazzurco garnered nearly 20 percent, or 1,104 votes, to win the two open seats. Another challenger, Patricia Jarrett, received 971 votes, or 17 percent, of the ballots cast, also topping incumbents Ward “Bud” Kinney and Michael Petruziello.
Kinney received about 15 percent of the vote with 864 ballots and Petruziello trailed with about 11 percent, or 613 votes. “I think the community is looking for a fresh start,” Rogish said. “I am humbled with the support I received. I’ve sat in nearly all of the township meetings this year and
have a good sense of the job that needs to be done.” Reached by phone Tuesday night, Mazzurco said the residents felt left out of the decision-making process and they wanted to be represented by people who were more active in the community. “Rogish is a good guy and we will work well together,” Mazzurco said. See Trustees • Page 5
WG Officials Scratch Heads Over Levy Failure By Jennifer Turkoc News@chesterlandnews.com West Geauga Schools was delivered a blow Nov. 7 when its 2.75mill, five-year renewal levy failed at the polls by 134 votes. According to the final unofficial results of the Geauga County Board of Elections, 2,677 people voted for the permanent improvement levy and 2,811 voted against it. In a telephone interview Nov. 8, West Geauga Schools Board of
Football Coach Out After One Season
By Brian Lavrich sports@geaugamapleleaf.com
West Geauga High School chose not to renew the contract of football coach Brian Craemer after just one season. West G athletic director Joe Leonette said Craemer was told on Friday and the job was posted publicly on Monday. “At the end of each season, we evaluate the entire program,” Leonette said. “We felt it was in our best interest to part ways. There are no hard feelings. “We’re always evaluating. It took a lot of time and thought and meetings. It was a process.” The Wolverines went 3-7 this season. They played four playoffs teams and six teams with winning records. Craemer, a Berkshire graduate, replaced Lou Cirino, a West G alum, who had a record of 46-28 in seven seasons leading the Wolverines including four trips to the playoffs. See Coach • Page 11
Education President Dan Thoreson summed up the levy’s failure by saying, “Perhaps we didn’t as a school board do an adequate job of informing the public of exactly what we wanted to accomplish and why those funds were needed.” “That because it’s one pot, if you will, we’ll have to look at some changes in what we’re doing as far as probably staffing and our longterm goals for our buildings,” he said. Thoreson pointed out the school
district’s buildings are aged and are going to need some repair. “This has been a very generous community and I think if they had a better idea of where these funds were going and what we were using them for, we might have had a different outcome,” he said. “I don’t know that we did (promote the levy) adequately to begin with and I’ll take responsibility for that.” Thoreson said as a board, they will look at the district’s budget. “We have commissioned some
firms for a long-term facility plan,” he said. “We’ll work with the funds the district has given us and make it work. I think that will feed into if we decide to go back to the voters and sort of do a better job of informing them of what we want to do and/or if we go in another direction.” He said he has no idea what the facility recommendation would be. “I don’t know if our facilities we have today are going to be adequate,” Thoreson said. “Because of See Levy • Page 5
Charity Wine, Beer Tasting is Nov. 17
page 6
Classifieds start on page 13
Chesterland News Publication Schedule Nov. 26 Dec. 13 Jan. 10
Gattozzi & Son Funeral Home Hosts Grand Reopening
Submitted A few months ago when Hurricane Harvey hit the coast of Texas, it left a lot of devastation and destruction in its wake. Next came the earth quakes, then more hurricanes and even now, there is still Red, Wine & Brew – Chesterland understands what it’s like to get your world turned upside down. After getting its roof put back on, cleaning up the damage inside the store, revamping the entire 6,000-square-foot space and reopening in June, its staff knows what it feels like to have to start over. As a result, Red, Wine & Brew Owner Sam Shah came up with the idea to host a fundraiser to support the American Red Cross’s Disaster Relief efforts. He wanted to do something to give back because of what the store and the employees went through the past several months and the toll it can take on a business and all its affiliates. “I wanted to do something,” Shah said. “So we contacted the American Red Cross to see if anybody was doing something in this
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Customer service associates Maddie Williams and Corrine Mann are holding two of the gift baskets that were donated for the raffle from Vintage Wine Distributor Inc.
area that we could contribute to, but there wasn’t.” Nancy Janis, philanthropy officer for the American Red Cross in Cleveland, thought a wine and beer tasting event to raise funds was a great idea, so “An Italian Thanks-
giving” was born. “We sincerely appreciate you collecting money on behalf of the Red Cross and those we serve,” Janis said. All tasting and raffle ticket See Charity • Page 5
Gattozzi & Son Funeral Home, a provider in the Dignity Memorial network, invites the community to a grand reopening ceremony and open house to highlight its expanded facility on Nov. 18. The ceremony will take place at 1 p.m. followed by the open house from 2-5 p.m. The expansion includes the addition of a large event room to accommodate catered events and life celebrations. Refreshments will be provided. “We have served the Chesterland community since 1972 and we are excited to continue doing so with a larger, improved facility,” said Jay Jones, manager of Gattozzi & Son Funeral Home. “We are confident this expansion will allow us to better provide personal, meaningful services for local families.” Gattozzi & Son Funeral Home is located at 12524 Chillicothe Road in Chester Township.
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