One year after Ukrainian refugees arrive they face protections expiring

LORAIN — Oleg Tiurkin and his wife, Valentyna Tiurkina, left their home in Mariupol just over one year ago.

The young couple woke at 4 a.m., took suitcases and packed their car with friends, joining hundreds of thousands of other Ukrainians who headed west as Russian forces invaded their homeland.

The pair left behind a life in Mariupol: Tiurkin’s career as a well-known videographer and Tiurkina’s as a regional manager for a chain of stores, and close friends and family who chose to stay in the besieged city.

They, like so many others, had no set destination but knew they couldn’t stay once Russian bombs started destroying their city.

Sitting in the basement of St. Mary’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Tiurkin held up his phone and swiped through photos — a before and after of the city they’d left, showing bombed maternity wards and the remnants of his childhood apartment building.

“Our city’s very close to the Russian border,” Tiurkina said. “The war started in one day, all over the country in big cities, but we still knew the western part was safer. … We just knew we had to go west, we had no plan at all.”

It took days to make the drive, across blocked roadways, destroyed highways and winding local roads. By the time they reached the western border with Romania, it was cold, snowing and they piled into a two-room apartment with five children and eight adults.

“It was a horrible feeling because in the first days of war, Russians made a circle around our city and it was totally closed,” she said. “… So it takes a few days and then there was no electricity, no gas, no water in the city and no communication with them because there’s no electricity.” She said later, “It was a horrible feeling when you can’t help the people you love and they’re just stuck in the city and you don’t know whether they’re alive or not.”

It was a week before one of her friends was able to get enough of a cellphone signal to call for a few minutes, but when the phone cut off there was no way of knowing if it was a lost connection or something worse.

“I had a really bad panic attack; Oleg helped me to calm down a little bit,” Tiurkina said. It took another three weeks before the couple heard from their friends again.

“One after another they left the city and started to contact me and it was very emotional when they left the city and they were shocked and then they started to talk and cry,” she said. “They just recognized what happened with them when they left the city In the city they were closed from their emotions, surviving.”

The couple moved to Germany, then came to Ohio by way of a flight to Spain, then Mexico City, then Tijuana and waited at a gate there to be granted humanitarian parole into the United States. They came to Ohio because Tiurkin had a childhood friend in Sheffield who helped find them a temporary apartment in Lorain.

From there, they moved into Wesleyan Village in Elyria.

“But then you just look back and realized that there was no way back — you have no home, no job, no friends around you in your city like we used to live a comfortable, beautiful life we built,” Tiurkina said. “New life? What new life? We weren’t ready for something new.”

It’s a sentiment many of the families who came to Lorain County share. While grateful to be safe, they’d never planned to have their lives uprooted.

Nataliia Kobiakova had made a life with her husband and three children in Dnipro. They left it behind after their city was attacked.

“My family, the circumstances worked in such a way, they actually all came to the United States separated in different ways,” she said.

St. Mary’s the Rev. Dmitri Belenki translated for her at times.

“When you’re running for your life, you don’t care how you’re going to enter this country,” he said of her family’s different statuses. “You have a choice to get out, you’re just going to go … safety is your priority.”

First, Nataliia’s husband came on a travel visa in March. Then, her 18-yearold son made a similar trip to Oleg and Valentyna’s — Germany to Spain to Portugal to Mexico City to Tijuana where he gained humanitarian parole and crossed the border.

Last were Kobiakova and her two youngest children, who had planned to stay in Germany because her middle son is a star soccer player and German coaches wanted to work with him.

But that plan ended when she woke up one morning and their car, with Ukrainian plates, had been plastered with swastikas by pro-Russian vandals.

She said her husband

Commissioners OK grant for Amherst water, sewer project

The Lorain County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Feb. 24 to grant the city of Amherst $400,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds to aid in repairs to aging sewer, water and road infrastructure in a residential neighborhood.

The funds will help the city repair or replace sewer pipes, water mains and roadway in the Sharondale Allotment between Cooper Foster Park Road and state Route 2 in Amherst.

Amherst Mayor Mark Costilow told commissioners that the total project cost is more than $1.7 million, with at least $1.3 million of that going into improving water and sewer infrastructure.

The city will spend more than $633,000 of its own ARPA money, in addition to the county’s $400,000 share and additional funding from Amherst’s existing street improvement levy, he said.

Amherst will cover all the engineering costs, Costilow said, and the project will benefit more than 100 homes in the area.

“This will help a lot of people, it will help our sanitary system and puts the ARPA dollars really to good use,” he said.

More than 1 mile of sewer pipe will be replaced, rehabilitated or realigned. Another 2,000 linear feet of water mains will be replaced along with 35 water taps containing potentially dangerous lead, Costilow said. Amherst also will resurface more than 4,400 feet of roadway, he said.

Columbia Gas recently started repairing some of its lines in the same area, and Costilow said the city and the utility are working together and aligning their work schedules to make sure that Columbia Gas doesn’t have to remove or redo any of the city’s planned work.

The city previously found a number of sewer and water lines in the area were 70 years old or older,

REPAIRS PAGE A2

Russell Clyde Fox

Russell Clyde Fox, 82, of Wellington, died Tuesday, February 21, 2023 under the care of New Life Hospice. A son of the late Clyde Allen and Agnes (nee Lentz) Fox, Russell grew up in Kipton and was a 1959 graduate of Firelands High School. He proudly served in the United States Marine Corps for 28 years, obtaining the rank of First Sergeant. Russell served two tours in Vietnam and was stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina for most of his career. After retiring from the Marine Corps, Russell remained in North Carolina for several years and worked as a boat builder for Carver Yacht and Christ Craft. After moving back to Ohio, he worked for Wolf Envelope in Oberlin and then worked security at Ridge Tool in Elyria. Russell was a life member of the Wellington VFW and was a previous member of the Wellington Eagles and American Legion.

He enjoyed gambling and could often be found mowing his yard. He took great pride in his grandkids and loved his dogs.

Russell is survived by his sons, James Allen (Pamela) Fox, of Wellington and Russell Curtis (Colleen) Fox, of LaGrange; grandchildren, Chris (Megan) Barson, Trent and Hayden Fox; great grandchildren, Colton and Lucas; his former wife and dear friend, Cheryl (nee Pope) Fox; Russell had three sisters as well, Carol Fidler, Patricia Murray, Margaret Switzer.

Friends and family will be received on Wednesday, March 1, 2023 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Norton-Eastman Funeral Home, 370 S. Main St., Wellington.

Funeral services will be held on Thursday, March 2 at 10 a.m. Burial at Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery, Rittman will take place at 2:30 p.m.

The family would like to thank the caring and compassionate staff, nurses, and doctors at the Avon Cleveland Clinic Hospital and Mercy New Life Hospice. Expressions of sympathy may be directed online at www.norton -eastmanfuneralhome.com.

Our condolences go out to families that have suffered the loss of a loved one.

To place an obituary or death notice in the Community Guide, call (440) 329-7000.

deteriorating and breaking down. Stormwater was getting into the sanitary sewer lines and manholes, causing “quite a few of the failures,” Costilow said.

Commissioner Jeff Riddell called the city’s plan “responsible government.” He said sewers are “not a sexy topic,” but the combination of ARPA money from the city and county, plus levy or assessment dollars, can bridge the funding gap.

Commissioners also voted to create two tax increment financing districts within Amherst Town-

Barbara Ann Jennings

Barbara Ann Jennings, 64, a lifelong resident of Wellington, died Thursday, February 23, 2023, at the Elms Retirement Village. Born February 20, 1959, in Oberlin, she was the daughter of the late Vernon and Carolyn (nee Gilley) Remines.

Barbara worked for many years at the Wellington Eagles as head bartender for 15 years. She also was the head of Medical Records at Good Samaritan Hospital in Ashland. Barbara was a member of the Eagles Women’s Auxiliary, and was very involved in organizing the weekly Bingo events. Barbara enjoyed spending time outdoors, walking, fishing, and gardening. She was also a talented crafter and was passionate about interior decorating. Most of all Barbara cherished her family, especially her children and her grandchildren. She was also very passionate about her dogs, Lucy and Daisy.

Survivors include her children, Jeff (Shamika) Mason, of Las Vegas, Nevada, and Dana Vance, of Wellington; grandchildren, Brandon Bess, Alexandria Hayes, Sabrina Mason, Robert Parsons, Elizabeth Vance, and Olivia Vance; sisters, Patricia Hardy and Lori DeWitt; as well as numerous cousins and aunts and uncles.

Barbara was preceded in death by her parents, Vernon and Carol; brother, Richard Remines; and a sister, Catherine Mudrick.

A private service will be held. Donations in Barbara’s memory may be made to the Lorain County Animal Protective League at www.friend shipapl.org.

Norton-Eastman Funeral Home is assisting the family and expressions of sympathy may be directed online at www.norton-eastmanfuneralhome.com.

Alma Faye Hall

Alma Faye Hall (nee: Phillips), 75, and a resident of Brownhelm Township, passed away Thursday, February 23, 2023, at her home. Arrangements by Hempel Funeral Home.

Marilyn A. Wilhelm

Marilyn A. Wilhelm (nee Foor), 89, of South Amherst, passed away Tuesday, February 21, 2023 at New Life Hospice in Lorain, following a full and meaningful life. Arrangements by Hempel Funeral Home.

Rescued Lorain chihuahuas at APL

LORAIN — Fourteen Chihuahuas removed from a Lorain home on Feb. 21 are receiving care from Friendship Animal Protective League.

Lorain police were called to an address in the 4200 block of Riverview Lane for a welfare check after a call from a concerned neighbor, which revealed an extreme hoarding situation now being investigated by police and city officials.

According to an incident report by Lorain police, officers arrived at 11:41 a.m. to find numerous dogs loose in the front yard and barking.

Entering the residence through an open door, officers noted “mounds of garbage from floor to ceiling in every room” with no sign of the owner. The floor of the home was filled with dog feces and a strong odor of urine.

Additional dogs were found inside running tions Inc. last month. ship, in cooperation with township trustees and the Amherst school district.

A TIF exempts the value of private property improvements from property taxes to help fund public infrastructure improvements. Plans are for at least 660 new residences to go in as part of the Sandstone development on 264 acres bordered by the Ohio Turnpike, Route 58, Route 113 and Oberlin Road.

The county previously installed sewer in the area to serve future development.

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Reese Dunton, an economic development coordinator with the Lorain County Community Development Department, said the time was right to create the TIFs. Property owners in the district will make payments in lieu of taxes to the county for infrastructure improvements — primarily, for a connector road linking Oberlin Road to Route 58, Dunton said.

He said the area will be open for further commercial and residential development, bringing construction jobs and tax receipts.

Commissioners also entered into two different compensation agreements with the Amherst schools and the township, so that “everyone gets 80 percent of what they want and the world gets 100 percent of what it needs,” Riddell said.

In other business, commissioners:

● Hired the law firm Dooley Gembala McLaughlin Pecora Tucker Attorneys & Counselors of Sheffield to defend them in a breach of contract lawsuit brought by Cleveland Communica-

The Parma-based company has alleged the county breached its contract when Riddell and Commissioner David Moore rescinded an agreement to provide county first responders with a new radio system less than a month after it was approved and signed by Commissioners Matt Lundy and Michelle Hung.

Over Hung’s objection, Moore and Riddell voted to rescind the 19-dayold agreement on Jan. 9, saying they had concerns about how CCI won the through garbage and inside furniture, prompting police to contact Friendship APL, Lorain County Public Health and adult protective services. bid. The county Fire Chiefs Association, Deputies Association, Elyria and Lorain mayors, city officials and Sheriff Phil Stammitti have all since criticized the commissioners for their decision.

A total of 14 dogs were removed including one newborn Chihuahua still nursing.

Lorain ordinances allow a maximum of five dogs per residence and the woman was cited in Lorain Municipal Court.

Lorain police Lt. Jake Morris said the department typically works with Friendship APL and the Lorain County Dog Kennel in hoarding situations. After dogs are removed from a home, the courts have the authority to keep custody of animals until certain conditions are met.

Photos released of the home’s interior showed the dogs and debris inside.

Lorain police officials said they are unsure if prosecution will continue due to the accused woman’s alleged mental state. The health department is investigating multiple health code violations.

● Entered into an agreement with the Ohio Department of Transportation Office of Aviation for a $239,878 grant to rehabilitate runway 7/25, reconstruct airfield lighting, guidance systems, a rotating beacon and lighting work at the Lorain County Regional Airport in New Russia Township.