Volume 52, No. 6
Wednesday, August 21, 2019
Your Community Newspaper Since 1967
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CHESTERLAND NEWS Landscaper Resurrects Japanese Garden By Ann Wishart ann@geaugamapleleaf.com
Half an acre near the Rockefeller Park Greenhouse around Martin Luther King Drive was badly overgrown last spring when Mike Hetman and MaryAnn Thesing collaborated in renovating the area. Four months later, the Japanese Garden, a haven for reflection, complete with Japanese maple trees, the traditional bridge, tea garden, a wisteria-covered trellis and a bamboo shed, draw crowds along its white lucky-stone paths. Hetman, owner of Estates Landscaping at 8015 Mayfield Road in Chester Township, said he and Thesing, a landscape designer with GardenPHD in Cleveland, met at the city-owned park several times to strategize. “I call MaryAnn the Japanese maple queen,” he joked, adding Thesing knows everything about the many varieties of Japanese maples. See Garden • Page 5
BEFORE SUBMITTED
Estates Landscaping of Chester Township, owned by Bainbridge Township resident Mike Hetman, worked with landscape design firm GardenPHD in July to reclaim the overgrown Japanese Garden near Rockefeller Park Greenhouse in Cleveland. These are before and after pictures of the work done. Pictured are, from left, Estates Landscaping employees Brandon Markiewicz, Ramon Ramos and Jae Wills and landscape designer MaryAnn Thesing.
Russell Trustees Hesitate to Start Facebook Page By Ann Wishart ann@geaugamapleleaf.com Circulating information to residents is a challenge Russell Township officials face regularly. Road closings, tire collection days, changes in township policies and reasons for the decisions made are just a few examples of information trustees would like to disseminate throughout the township. Social media might hold the solution to this problem, but it could also lead to additional problems, trustees said Aug. 7.
During their bi-monthly meeting, Trustees Assistant Melissa Palmer asked trustees to approve a social media policy that would allow her to send information via Facebook to township residents. “We’d use Facebook purely as a bulletin board. We don’t need comments back,” she said. “They can email us with any questions. There will be buttons (on the Facebook page) to contact us directly.” The system would not allow posting of comments or political opinions by individuals accessing the township Facebook page, Palmer added.
“Any good quality communication is a lot of work and responsibility, but it’s worth doing.” – Melissa Palmer She already maintains the township website and creates and sends out a township newsletter, but the problem is getting residents to access the website or read the newsletter, she explained. She also said current news could go out on Twitter. “Facebook is aging out. The newest thing is Twitter,” said Palmer. Posting township announce-
ments on Facebook puts the information right in front of residents as soon as it comes out, she said. Residents don’t always think of going to the website when they have questions or for daily updates on various township-related matters. Trustees, however, had various concerns about social media use. “We all want to do communication as much as possible,” said See Russell • Page 3
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