Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Gazette offers Christmas music on website Are you getting in the Christmas spirit? The Bellevue Gazette now can put you in the mood with streaming holiday music. Anyone with access to a computer may log onto the Gazette’s website — www. thebellevuegazette.com — and click on the large red button labeled “Unwrap Some Great Holiday Tunes from The Bellevue Gazette.” The music streams constantly 24 hours a day. The site is commercial free, and is brought to you by six enerous sponsors, including Copper Top Bake Shop, Bellevue Beverage Center, Bellevue ACE Hardware, Gibbs Equipment, Inc., The Brick Oven Bistro in Sandusky, and the Bellevue Masonic Jazzercise program.
Christmas parade set for Thursday The Community Christmas Parade will be Thursday, Dec. 5, beginning at 6 p.m. and will again be sponsored by First National Bank. The parade route will start at the intersection of East Main Street (U.S. 20) and Broad Street — next to Immaculate Conception School — then will head west along U.S. 20 turning right onto Northwest Street and then right onto North Street, concluding up at the old Bellevue Middle School parking lot. There is no fee to enter the parade. Please contact Joelle Fritz at 419483-1370 if your business, club, group or organization is interested in participating in the parade.
Today: A chance of rain, mainly after 3 p.m. Cloudy, with a high near 59. South wind 10 to 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. Tonight: A chance of rain. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 46. South wind around 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. Thursday: A chance of rain. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 49. West wind 10 to 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
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School district being sued
Mother claiming discrimination for two daughters SALLY BOYD A claim of racial discrimination has formed the basis of a lawsuit filed against the Bellevue School District by a former Bellevue woman who claims her two biracial daughters faced discrimination by staff and students at both the Bellevue High School and Bellevue Middle School during the two years they were enrolled here. Sabrina Reel, now of Sandusky, filed the claim in U.S. District Court,
Toledo, on Nov. 22, alleging her daughters, ages 15 and 17 faced a variety of discriminatory acts throughout their two years in the district. She is suing the Bellevue School District, the Bellevue Board of Education, Molly Porter in her capacity as BHS assistant principal, and BMS Principal John Bollinger. The suit states the two girls were “deprived of a constitutional right,” under the Fourteenth Amendment to the
Consultants deem kidnapper Castro’s death a suicide ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS AP Legal Affairs Writer
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Frustrated by conditions in his cell, obsessed with the quality of prison food and convinced that guards were mistreating him, Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro committed suicide as the reality of living out his life in prison set in, two consultants concluded Tuesday. The two, considered national experts on prison conditions, rejected suggestions that Castro may have died accidentally while seeking a sexual thrill, as an earlier review by the state prisons agency suggested. The Sept. 3 death of the 53-year-old inmate was likely not the result of autoerotic asphyxiation, in which individuals choke themselves into unconsciousness to achieve sexual satisfaction, according to the consultants’ report. The new report said all available evidence pointed to suicide, including a shrine-like arrangement of family pictures and a Bible in Castro’s cell, an increasing tone of frustration in his prison journal and coming to terms with spending the
rest of his life in prison while subject to constant harassment. Subsequent reviews by the Ohio State Highway Patrol and the Franklin County coroner reached the same conclusion, the report said. “Based upon the fact that this inmate was going to remain in prison for the rest of his natural life under the probability of continued perceived harassment and threats to his safety, his death was not predictable on September 3, 2013, but his suicide was not surprising and perhaps inevitable,” the report said. Fred Cohen, a retired professor at the State University of New York at Albany who helped monitor Ohio’s youth prison system as part of a federal court order, and Lindsay Hayes, who directs the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives and is an expert on prison suicides, conducted the review for the state. Castro pleaded guilty in August to imprisoning three women in his Cleveland home for a decade while repeatedly raping and assaulting them. He fathered a girl with one of the victims.
Constitution and that “defendants’ actions… resulted in severe and debilitating emotional distress.” Reel, who is represented by attorneys David Forrest of the MKFMlaw offices, Cleveland, and Robert Zelvy of Robert Zelvy and Associates, Sandusky, is requesting a jury trial in the case. District Court Judge Jack Zouhary and Magistrate Judge James R. Knepp II have been assigned to the case. In her suit, Reel alleges
her two daughters, identified as “J” and “S,” who enrolled in the district in August 2011, faced ongoing racial discrimination, were “good and competent students with excellent physical appearances, demeanor and neat and appropriate attire.” In addition, “J” was said to be “an exemplary straight-A honors student.” According to the claim, “From the time that J and S arrived as new students in the Bellevue City Schools until their with-
drawal… in August 2013, they were subjected to a course of racial discrimination, harassment, bigotry, racist comments and actions from administrators, teachers and students despite their and their mother’s pleas to end the disparaging treatment.” Reel’s suit states that shortly after J became a new Bellevue Middle School student, she was “singled out by Principal John Bollinger” during See LAWSUIT | 2
Copper Top celebrates new owners
Photos by Daniel Moyer | Gazette
Bellevue’s Copper Top bakery, North Sandusky Street, celebrated a “grand reopening” Saturday with a ribbon cutting and specials offered to customers who gathered throughout the day to not only congratulate new owners, Amy and Ray Tea, but to sample some sweet treats and warm drinks from the shop. The Teas are joined by their daughter, Megan, and employees Jesse Jacobs, Barb Keller, Shanda Smith, Rick Straub and Sydney Straub.
‘Steampunk’ takes over BSA
U.S. Postal Service use only
From Staff Reports
Contributed photo
Faith Ferkel, of Fremont, portrays Queen Gertrude in the Bellevue Society For the Arts production of “Hamlet - Steampunk Version” over two weekends: Dec. 6-7 and Dec. 13-14, all at 7 p.m.
Bellevue Society for the Arts presents William Shakespeare’s timeless tragedy, “Hamlet,” Fridays and Saturdays, Dec. 6, 7, 13 and 14 at the special time of 7 p.m. Widely known as one of the most powerful and influential tragedies in all of English literature, Hamlet will feature select ‘Steampunk’ costumes and accessories, many designed and created by Elisabeth Martin of The Blonde Swan boutique, Fremont. ‘Steampunk’ is a sub-genre of speculative fiction, usually set in an anachronistic Victorian or quasi-Victorian alternate history setting. It can include fiction mixed with science fiction, fantasy or horror themes. Although the setting and costumes are non-traditional, the story and the dialogue remain true to Shakespeare. Only literature of the very highest level can maintain its quality while the context is interpreted via Steampunk. This is what makes it interesting
and very attractive. Set in the Kingdom of Denmark, the play dramatizes the revenge Prince Hamlet exacts on his uncle Claudius for murdering King Hamlet, Claudius’s brother and Prince Hamlet’s father, and then succeeding to the throne and taking as his wife Gertrude, the old king’s widow and Prince Hamlet’s mother. The play vividly portrays both true and feigned madness — from overwhelming sorrow to seething rage — and explores themes of treachery, revenge, moral corruption, family and more. The cast includes Anthony Gardner, Bellevue, in the role of Hamlet; Ray Sizemore III, Norwalk, as King Claudius; Faith Ferkel, Fremont, as Queen Gertrude; Charlene Gardner, Bellevue, as Ophelia; Ben Archer, Clyde, as Horatio; Ian London, Sandusky, as Laertes; Ethan Mandeville, Sandusky, as Polonius; Laura Horn, Bellevue, as Guildenstern; Sean Welch, Norwalk, as
Rosencrantz; Scott Romance, Bellevue, as Reynaldo; Felicia Girdner, Clyde, as Osric/Marcellus; James Merritt, Sandusky, as Francisco; Teri Sizemore, Norwalk, as Player Queen; Phillip Hartsoe, Sandusky, as the Ghost; Joy Ferkel, Fremont, as Voltemond; David Ailing, Sandusky, as Bernardo/Gravedigger; Jennifer Gilbert, Clyde, as Gravedigger; Luke A. Siegel-Schaefer, Bellevue, as Player King. The production will also feature sound and original live music arranged and performed by Paul Markus, Sandusky. “Hamlet” is directed by David Ailing, with Jennifer Gilbert assisting. Patrick Bennett, Huron, serves as stage manager. Stage design is by Megan Kauffman, Avon Lake. Property manager is Sara Kusser, Norwalk. Call 419-484-ARTS (2787) for reservations. Visit bellevuearts.net. Like Bellevue Society for the Arts on Facebook. Follow @BSftA on Twitter.