Releasing kids for religion gets OK
DeWine has to sign bill approved by Ohio lawmakers
The Community Guide
The Ohio Legislature has passed a bill that would require schools to adopt a policy allowing religious release time during the school day and to out students’ gender identity to their parents.
Gov. Mike DeWine has 10 days to either sign House Bill 8 into law or veto it.
State law now allows for local school districts to adopt a policy allowing students to leave during the school day to participate in religious education programs, but the language of H.B. 8, called the “Parents’ bill of rights” by supporters, would make such policies a requirement.
The House passed H.B. 8 in June 2023 and would require districts to alert parents when content about
sexuality was to be taught in the classroom and offer alternative learning options.
According to the language of the bill, “‘Sexuality content’ means any oral or written instruction, presentation, image, or description of sexual concepts or gender ideology provided in a classroom setting.”
The bill offers no definition of “gender ideology.”
State Rep. Gayle Manning, R-Avon, said that she
had not seen any evidence, either on the House floor or in her local districts, of anything she would describe as “gender ideology” being taught in schools.
“I go into schools and talk to kids, parents and teachers,” she said. “We’re not having any issues. They’re teaching the core curriculum.”
It also completely bans teaching such topics in kindergarten through third-
Woman faces arson charges
The Community Guide
A Lorain woman who allegedly set her own Brownell Avenue home on fire, causing flames to spread to a neighboring residence, is now facing three felony arson charges in Lorain County Common Pleas Court.
A grand jury on Dc. 19 indicted Amber Bodnar-Kurta, 38, of 529 Brownell Ave., on three counts of aggravated arson in connection with the Oct. 20 fire.
Bodnar-Kurta is free on a $25,000 surety bond, according to court and jail records. Bodnar-Kurta is being represented by attorney Jenifer Berki.
The charges allege that Bodnar-
Kurta created “a substantial risk of physical harm” to a victim identified only by the initials I.H. and also “by means of fire or explosion knowingly cause(d) physical harm to any occupied structure,” namely 529 and 537 Brownell Ave. in Lorain.
The Lorain Fire Department, responded at approximately 4:30 p.m. Oct. 20 to a fire at 529 Brownell Ave., the home of Bodnar-Kurta and her soon-to-be ex-husband. The couple reportedly are going through a divorce, police wrote in a report.
The fire allegedly started in a firstfloor living room, spread throughout the two-story house and spread to a neighboring house at 537 Brownell.
Witnesses told police Bodnar-Kurta and her boyfriend sped away from the house as the fire started.
A state Fire Marshal investigator found Bodnar-Kurta walking on Euclid Avenue near Randall Street, and she allegedly told them she started the fire according to police.
A neighbor told police that Bodnar-Kurta told them her soon-to-be ex-husband wouldn’t get anything in the divorce and that “she was going to set the house on fire to make sure he didn’t,” according to a Lorain police report.
grade classrooms.
Additionally, the bill would require schools to notify parents if a student requests to identify by any gender other than what they were assigned at birth.
The language requiring religious release time was added into the bill by the Senate Education Committee last week.
The amendment language is similar to the language of House Bill 445, which was introduced earlier this year by state Rep. Gary Click, R-
Vickery and the bill, introduced by state Sen. Michelle Reynolds, R-Columbus. The Senate Education Committee added the religious release time language to H.B. 8 by a vote of 5-2 on Wednesday and the Senate as a whole then approved the bill by a vote of 24-7. Later that day, the House passed the amended language of the bill 57-31, sending the legislation to DeWine to be signed into law.
“In the end it’s parents who should get to make the
County sets 2025 budget
Dave O’Brien
The Community Guide
The Lorain County Board of Commissioners has set the 2025 county budget at just over $86.7 million.
“I’m pretty sure we can make payroll,” Commissioner Jeff Riddell, a Republican, said with a chuckle when asked if the county could meet its financial obligations.
The appropriation is for the full year, not a temporary appropriation for three months like there was last year at this same time, Riddell said.
Projected tax revenue for 2025 is just under $87.2 million, according to numbers provided at a board meeting Tuesday, leaving an estimated $430,000 unspent and unappropriated.
Commissioner David Moore, a Republican, on Tuesday said it took a lot of hard work under a tight deadline to get the budget balanced.
“Every elected official worked with this board,” he said.
Moore said when it comes to Prosecutor-elect Tony Cillo and Sheriff-elect Jack Hall, Moore’s fellow
Republicans elected in November, “we really want to give them some time to get their hands around their working budget.”
“I’m sure the prosecutor will be back and the Sheriff will be back,” he said, a statement Riddell echoed. Real estate conveyance fees are “way up” this year, even though sales tax is down, Auditor Craig Snodgrass said.
He said the budget is due to him by Dec. 31, and the board can’t present him a budget that’s out of balance. Under the law, judges in the county court system, including Common Pleas, Domestic Relations/ Juvenile, and Probate, can issue legal orders to the Board of Commissioners to give them their requested budget.
The 2024 budget was an approximate $84.4 million. For the second year in a row, the board did not hold public budget hearings with elected officials or departmental directors. Prior to 2023, the commissioners often called elected officials and department heads before them to present their budget requests.
Salvation Army distributes gifts
The Community Guide
Rows upon rows of black bags sat on the floor of the gymnasium at the Salvation Army Elyria, some with odd shapes and corners to them, others with toys that didn’t quite fit poking out the top.
Volunteers walked up and down the rows, looking for the names labeled on the bags. After finding the ones they were looking for, they would take the bags out to the curb of Broad Street where families lined up to receive Christmas gifts.
At Elyria’s Salvation Army Thursday, thousands of Christmas gifts were distributed to more than 500 families, giving them the help they needed, said Capt. Jamal Agnewel.
“It’s very gratifying to know that whatever a parent or parents may be going through, they had the opportunity to do something for their child. Their child may never necessarily know that that was an issue, but they got to wake up to something wonderful,” James Agnewel said.
BRUCE BISHOP / COMMUNITY GUIDE
Damage to the neighboring house can be seen as the home is demolished.
Bodnar-Kurta
Owen MacMillan
Chuck Gamble, an officer from Grafton Correctional, loads a box of food into a waiting car at the Elyria Salvation Army offices on Broad Street.
BRUCE BISHOP / CHRONICLE
CHOIR VISITS WESLEYAN VILLAGE
Lorain, County find fix to fines
The Community Guide
The City of Lorain and Lorain County reached a settlement on overpayment from the municipal court to the county.
The city claimed in a lawsuit that it had overpaid the county from the fines collected by the State Highway Patrol.
The city said it overpaid the county $685,210 between Oct. 1, 2013 and Dec. 31, 2018, will result in returned to the city.
JVS makes cookies — 31,567 of them!
PITTSFIELD
— Sandra Burgess is a machine.
Meticulous and precise, Burgess and her classmates walked from row to row, placing holiday cookies in box after box — many of them clad in white smocks smudged with smears of chocolate.
Baking cookies and pastries can be tough work. Learning how to get things just right, both for flavor and presentation, takes time and practice. The order becomes even taller when there are tens of thousands of them to prepare.
The city, once receiving its payment, will then reimburse half the funds it receives to the state, or $380,622, as required by Ohio Revised Code.
Lorain City Council unanimously approved it.
Councilman Dan Nutt, D4th Ward, credited Lorain Municipal Clerk of Courts Ted Kalo for finding the mistake.
Fines collected by the Patrol in the city are supposed to be split 90-10 between the city and county.Instead, in that five-year period, all of the fines collected by the Patrol were distributed to the county — about $761,245. Under the settlement agreement, the county will retain $76,034 and reimburse the city the $685,210.
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Last week, high school students prepared 31,567 Christmas cookies at the Lorain County Joint Vocational School’s annual holiday cookie sale. JVS students filled 308 total orders.
“I feel great. I’m like a machine when it comes to this,” said Burgess, a junior at JVS. “Imagine doing 31,000 cookies.”
Burgess and the other students had to get in the zone to push through all the work.
“It is a pain though,” Burgess said, “but it’s really fun.”
As Burgess spoke, students pushed carts laden with baked goods past tables lined with hundreds of white boxes. In each box, students placed 24 different types of cookies — mint shortbreads, sand tarts and linzer jams, to name a few. One candy cane rounded out the bunch.
It was a full-scale operation that helped prepare the students to work in a professional environment one
day. At the helm was Chris Moore, a baking and pastry instructor at the JVS.
“With repetition comes mastery of skill,” Moore said. “That’s a big piece of it. The other piece of it is just the awareness that there’s something bigger out there. It’s not just all small things and you get to do different things everyday at school. You get to see kind of a bigger picture. So this is really good for them to experience those two things.”
At that scale, Moore said that baking becomes mechanical. To fill so many orders in time, students were faced with doing the same task over and over again.
“Just keep going until it’s done,” Burgess said. “It’s just cookies.”
The annual holiday cookie sale began 24 years ago when Moore started working at the Lorain Coun-
ty JVS. Aside from a year during the pandemic, the event has taken place annually since then, Moore said. For the school’s baking and pastry students, Wednesday’s sale was the biggest event of the year, Moore said.
“People are excited,” Moore said. “They actually get very upset if they miss it. … And we have a certain number. Once we sell out, we sell out.”
Moore estimated that up to threequarters of those who bought a box of cookies this year are repeat customers.
In fact, Moore said, some have been buying the JVS holiday cookie box for two decades.
“They’ve grown to expect them,” Moore said, adding that orders sometimes come months in advance. “They know what they’re getting.
CARISSA WOYTACH / COMMUNITY GUIDE
Children from the Lorain County Homeschool Carolers performed for residents at Wesleyan Village in Elyria on Friday.
Garrett Looker The Community Guide
TWP.
BRUCE BISHOP / CHRONICLE PHOTOS
Lorain County Joint Vocational School Culinary Academy student Sandra Burgess loads boxes of cookies last week .
Cookies, cookies and more cookies. All spoken for.
Kelly Soltis fixes daughter Kinsley’s headband so the 4-year-old can go back to performing as part of the Lorain County Homeschool Chorus.
Woman badly injured in head-on I-90 crash
Carissa Woytach
The Community Guide
ELYRIA — Janel
Dovala had just left her salon booth from finishing her sister’s hair, the back seat and trunk of her vehicle filled with Christmas presents and groceries.
The mother of two left the strip mall off Abbe Road and picked up I-90 west on the evening of Dec. 16, headed back to her Lorain home.
But when another SUV went left of center, struck the median and then hit Dovala’s 2020 Mazda CX-5 head-on, it changed Dovala and her family’s lives in an instant.
Dovala survived the crash, extricated from her heavily damaged vehicle by Elyria firefighters that evening. She was driven to University Hospitals Elyria Medical Center, then — once weather conditions allowed — flown to UH’s main campus in Cleveland.
The driver of the 2011 Mazda CX-7 that struck Dovala, a 76-year-old man with an 80-year-old woman who as his passenger, were also taken to UH-Elyria with serious injuries.
Dovala’s sister, Briana Palacios, said Dovala told her she had “never experienced anything like that before.”
“She just remembers seeing the airbags and everything go off,” Palacios said.
“Luckily, she was wearing an Apple watch, which called my parents and her husband. And we also had a good Samaritan who stopped and waited with her the entire time, even after the tow truck and everything left.”
The crash left Dovala with a long road to recovery from two broken femurs, injuries to her
forearm, a broken rib, a fractured vertebrae and damage to her kidney, lung and spleen.
That has not stopped Dovala from cracking jokes and trying her best to text one-handed, her younger sister said, or watching the livestream of her older son Ashton’s orchestra concert on Dec. 19.
Though it will mean Dovala will spend her father’s birthday (Dec. 24), Christmas and Dovala’s 40th birthday on Dec. 26 in the hospital, Palacios is just happy she does not have to imagine a life without her sister in it after Monday’s crash.
“We think that somebody was definitely with her when this happened, just in spirit,” Palacios said. “There’s no way anyone else would have survived that. … When we were talking with her (Wednesday) night, she thinks that she was meant to be the one who got hit — if it was a small four-door (car) it would have been deadly.”
Dovala has been a hairstylist for more than 20 years — with Palacios often her test subject while growing up, she said with a laugh. She said her sister is passionate about her clients, and devoted to her family.
And that devotion spurred the eldest Palacios sister to go back to school to become an occupational therapist after her younger son, Atticus, was diagnosed as nonverbal autistic.
“My sister became interested in learning more about those on the spectrum and how she can help communicate (with Atticus) better,” Palacios said. “And then also finding ways to help people
Firm: waiting for wind to change dangerous
Nearby boutique business damaged in blast
Richard Perrins
The Community Guide
The Avon Lake Environmental Redevelopment Group imploded five buildings at the former power plant site last Thursday morning.
Around 5:35 a.m., charges went off and a loud boom reverberated down Lake Road. A large ball of flames was visible at the base of the plant, followed by another resounding boom as two smokestacks hit the ground.
A large plume of black smoke and dust from the implosion dissipated after about 20 minutes.
ALERG established a 1,700-foot exclusion zone for the implosion and had six air monitoring stations around the property.
Avon Lake police and fire departments and the Ohio EPA were at the site. The city closed Lake Road between Moore and Miller Roads for the implosion.
Shortly before 6 a.m., the city reported the area around the power plant was safe for normal activities to resume through its alert notification system.
with mobility issues — so she decided to go back to school.”
Dovala had just wrapped up her fall semester at Cleveland State University before the crash, and will graduate in the spring with her bachelor’s degree.
The injuries Dovala sustained will give her a new perspective as an occupational therapy patient, Palacios said, recognizing her sister has a long road ahead of her.
“She wants to walk at graduation,” Palacios said. “So we’re really hoping that she’s able to do that by then … I’ve seen people in these cases where it can be like three, four months (before they can walk), but I feel like my sister is going to be walking before we know it just because she’s that determined.”
When not working or studying, Dovala can be found crafting — including building an annual Midway Mall cemetery display for Halloween, Palacios said. She also takes Atticus to swim lessons at the Rocky River Rec Center
A GoFundMe at www. gofundme.com/f/supportjanel-on-her-road-to-recovery is in place to help cover Dovala’s medical costs, help offset the loss of her income from her household and eventually replace her vehicle.
As of Friday evening, the campaign surpassed its $10,000 goal, raising $15,489 for the family — leaving Palacios and her family speechless from the community outpouring. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@ chroniclet.com.
Lake Road remained closed until about 6:45 a.m. for street sweeping.
A business within the exclusion zone sustained minor damage but is working with ALERG on repairs, the city reported.
The business, Element LABS Body and Bath Boutique at 33465 Lake Road, posted on Facebook that it was closed for the day due to the damage.
Images attached to the post showed the storefront windows completely blown out.
The business’ owner did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a report presented to Avon Lake’s Council at its regular meeting Monday, the city’s environmental consultant Verdantas recommended executing the implosion when wind was blowing from the south or southwest.
But that morning, wind was blowing from the north and northeast at a speed of about 5-10 mph.
In an open letter to Avon Lake Mayor Mark Spaetzel on Wednesday, ALERG said it planned to conduct the implosion anyway because the forecast was unlikely to change in the next few days and buildings on the property were in an “unsafe condition” due to
the removal of structural supports.
“(The buildings) cannot remain in this state for a very long time without adding risk to the people and environment we are trying to protect,” ALERG’s letter read.
“Delaying the event at this point adds risk that we can avoid by conducting the event tomorrow in a safe and controlled manner.”
ALERG previously imploded portions of the power plant in July as part of its ongoing remediation of the property.
The July implosion took down a building housing two boilers and a precipitator, while on Dec. 19, the targets were the plant’s two remaining stacks and boilers and its last remaining precipitator.
Restoration of the plant’s site is expected to be done in by the end of August.
The city plans to purchase a 23.22-acre parcel on the property to develop into a public park for an amount that does not exceed $15 million or 25 percent of the revenue from a tax increment financing program, which would be set up by a separate ordinance.
PHOTO PROVIDED
From left, Atticus Dovala, 8, Matt Dovala, his wife, Janel, and Ashton Dovala, 13, pose together around Janel Dovala’s hospital bed at the UH Cleveland Medical Center. Janel Dovala was seriously injured in a headon crash on I-90 west last week.
BRUCE BISHOP / COMMUNITY GUIDE PHOTOS
The controlled demolition of the Avon Lake power plant lights up the sky.
Street sweepers clean up Lake Road after the implosions at the former Avon Lake power plant on Dec. 19.
Boasting nearly 300 works spanning Picasso’s almost eight-decade career, the blockbuster exhibition — which was supposed to open in 2020 but was postponed due to the pandemic — was organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art and London’s Royal Academy of Arts in partnership with the Musée National Picasso-Paris.
Long before Pablo Picasso shifted modern art with his Cubism, the influential artist began experimenting with paper.
It’s that fascination that the Cleveland Museum of Art is exploring with new touring exhibit “Picasso and Paper,” which appears through March 23 in the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Exhibition Hall and Gallery spaces.
Boasting nearly 300 works spanning Picasso’s almost eight-decade career, the blockbuster exhibition — which was supposed to open in 2020 but was postponed due to the pandemic — was organized by CMA and London’s Royal Academy of Arts in partnership with the Musée National Picasso-Paris.
From expressive prints and drawings to colossal collages, Picasso’s works on and with paper showcase his extraordinary capacity to innovate and reinvent himself using a material with limitless possibilities.
In “Picasso and Paper,” these elements are juxtaposed with some of the artist’s celebrated paintings on canvas and bronze sculpture.
CMA Curator of Prints and Drawings, Britany Salsbury said the display reveals for the first time that paper was really at the core of all the Picasso’s experimentation.
“Picasso is known as one of the most innovative and creative artists to work with printmaking and drawings, so it’s been amazing to see the objects that we’ve been installing and just what an interesting way he was using paper,” she said.
“One of the things that is going to make the show really popular is that there’s really something for everyone. Certainly, if you are someone who loves paper, it’ll be a really happy place for you. But also even if you think paper isn’t specifically an interest to you, it’s sort of a once-in-a-lifetime experience to see these works together.”
The exhibition cleverly opens with paper cutouts made by 9-year-old Picasso that most gallery visitors will instantly relate back to their youthful days getting out scissors in art class and making connected snowflakes.
“The great thing about the show is that you can see him doing things that you could do yourself — and doing them in a really fascinating way,” she said. “Because there is a connection, the work is very accessible.
“People might think about Picasso and his work being too cerebral but a lot of work is really fun and easy to understand.”
Among the numerous “Picasso and Paper” highlights is the extraordinarily large cutand-pasted collage “Women at Their Toilette,” which is being exhibited for the first time in the United States.
Something else rare is the collection of the artist’s private sketchbooks, including studies for his best-known paintings — constructed paper guitars from the Cubist and Surrealist periods — as well as prints that reveal Picasso’s complex working process and an array of works related to his most celebrated projects.
The exhibition also includes the museum’s La Vie (1903), from Picasso’s Blue Period, featured with preparatory drawings and other works on paper exploring corresponding themes.
Then there’s a Picasso’s bronze, the “Head of a Woman (Fernande).”
“Picasso fundamentally changed the idea of what art could be through the invention of Cubism,” she said.
“He transformed the idea that art needed to be something straightforwardly representational, that it needed to depict an identifiable subject. And instead, that it could be about perception or vision or about breaking down the subject to component parts.
“Even if artists today aren’t specifically making Cubist work, they’re still influenced by the way that he really opened the doors to expanding the definition of what art could be.
“He’s someone who is still very much a part of popular culture and fine art, and something that lots of people still address in their work in different ways. Picasso definitely has a long shadow over culture.”
Reach John Benson at ndiffrence@att.net
‘Picasso and Paper’
Massive exhibit that spans eight decades includes 300 works — some that have never been shown in U.S. before — at Cleveland Museum of Art through March
“Picasso fundamentally changed the idea of what art could be through the invention of Cubism. He transformed the idea that art needed to be something straightforwardly representational, that it needed to depict an identifiable subject. And instead, that it could be about perception or vision or about breaking down the subject to component parts.”
Britany Salsbury CMA Curator of Prints and Drawings
John Benson The Community Guide
RMN-GRAND PALAIS (MUSÉE NATIONAL PICASSO-PARIS) / ADRIEN DIDIERJEAN
“Women at Their Toilette” was done in Paris in the winter of 1937–38. Made with cut wallpapers with gouache on paper pasted onto canvas, it is a massive 10 by 14 feet.
THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART
One of his later works, “Still Life Under a Lamp,” was done in 1962. Pablo Picasso was 83. It is color linocut on woven paper.
MUSÉE NATIONAL PICASSO-PARIS, PABLO PICASSO GIFT IN LIEU, 1979. Picasso painted “The Village Dance,” a pastel and oil on canvas, in 1922.
ÂMICHEL SIMA
Pablo Picasso drawing in Antibes in the summer of 1946.
Man accused of library stabbing charged with attempted murder
The Community Guide
A man who is accused of stabbing a person in the neck at the main branch of the Lorain Public Library in November is facing attempted murder, assault and related charges.
Roy Lee Fennell, 44, who’s had no listed address in court records, was indicted Friday by a Lorain County grand jury on one count of attempted murder, two counts of felonious assault and one count of tampering with evidence, all felonies, along with one count of resisting arrest, a misdemeanor.
The case had not been assigned to a Common Pleas judge as of Friday. Fennell was being held in the Lorain County Jail on $500,000 cash bond.
A message seeking comment on the case was left for Fennell’s attorney,
Neighborhood Alliance adds Rock ‘N’ Read
LORAIN — Neighborhood Alliance has added Rock ‘N’ Read to its partnership programs.
The group recently partnered with the organization to provide administrative support.
Alicia Foss, president/CEO of Neighborhood Alliance, said in a news release that Rock ‘N’ Read is a natural fit with its early childhood education and family support services.
Rock ‘N’ Read was started in 2017 by Tom and Meg Godlewski in memory of Anne Godlewski, a former Lorain Schools elementary teacher. Anne Godlewski planned to donate rocking chairs and children’s books to mothers in need upon her retirement in 2018, but Godlewski died unexpectedly in February of 2017.
Anne Godlewski’s husband, Tom, and their daughter, Meg, continued the longtime teacher’s plans, providing oak rocking chairs and a basket of books in English or Spanish to support kindergarten readiness and remove barriers from mothers reading to their children.
Meg Godlewski said Rock ‘N Read’s mission is to expose young children to literature.
“We are beyond excited and grateful for the opportunity to partner with Neighborhood Alliance,” Meg Godlewski said. “With similar missions and values, it seems to be the perfect fit. We are confident this partnership will enable Rock ‘N’ Read to make an even greater impact in the community.”
Since 2017, Rock ‘N’ Read has donated more than 180 rocking chairs and nearly 3,000 books to new families in need in Lorain County.
Vermilion woman killed in Erie County crash
A Vermilion woman was killed and two other people were injured in a crash Dec. 17 in Berlin Township.
According to a news release from the State Highway Patrol, Ashley Mouser, 33, of Vermilion, was driving a 2016 Chevrolet Suburban west on U.S. Route 6, heading toward state Route 61, around 6:20 p.m. Tuesday. She tried to turn left onto 61, and was struck by a 2018 Dodge Journey driven by Terry Green, 70, of Vermilion. The news release states that Mouser failed to yield to oncoming traffic. Green suffered what were termed incapacitating injuries and was taken to Firelands Regional Medical Center in Sandusky. His passenger, Alethea Green, 67, of Vermilion, was also taken to the hospital, where she died of her injuries. Mouser was taken to Fisher Titus Medical Center in Norwalk for her injuries. Conditions on Mouser and Terry Green weren’t immediately available.
The crash remains under investigation.
Mobile home on Delaware Circle destroyed in blaze
An Elyria mobile home was destroyed in a fire Dec. 16, the Elyria Fire Department said.
Fire Chief Joe Pronesti said in a release that the mobile home on the 100 block of Delaware Circle was unoccupied at the time of the fire,
Maggie Lieux. Fennell is accused of stabbing another person, listed in court records by the initials D.H., on Nov. 18 at the main branch of the Lorain Public Library at West 6th Street and Reid Avenue.
the alleged victim knew each other.
After Merritt handed Fennell over to Lorain police, he helped a library patron give first aid to the victim, who was then taken to Mercy Health — Lorain Hospital before being flown by LifeFlight helicopter to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland.
SUV damaged in front of house of Elyria officer
The Community Guide
ELYRIA — A driver was cited after a car hit an unoccupied Elyria Police Department auxiliary SUV parked outside an officer’s house on Friday.
Lorain police said the alleged victim was a 23-year-old man who suffered a stab wound to the neck and was treated at a hospital.
Library security guard John Merritt tackled Fennell and held him until police arrived. A knife was found at the scene.
Library officials said the stabbing happened between two people following an argument in the computer lab. Police said they believed Fennell and
Lorain police said the alleged victim was in stable condition three days after the alleged assault.
Fennell had been asked to leave both Lorain and Elyria libraries in the past due to violations of their conduct policies, directors of both systems previously told The Chronicle-Telegram.
Merritt was honored by the Lorain Public Library board of trustees and SEIU 1199, the library workers union, for his actions.
Elyria police Capt. James Welsh said the Chevrolet Tahoe was legally parked on Harwood Street when, at about 11:40 p.m., a car hit it.
There was “significant damage to the unoccupied Tahoe,” Welsh said in an email.
The car’s driver, whom Welsh identified as Kevin White Jr., 18, with no address given, was not injured. He was cited with no operator’s license, failure to maintain reasonable control and leaving the scene of an accident, all misdemeanors.
A 17-year-old passenger in White’s car complained of a rib injury, but was checked by LifeCare paramedics and released, according to Welsh.
but one firefighter was “slightly injured” while fighting the blaze. The firefighter remained on duty, Pronesti said.
When fire crews arrived just after 11 p.m., they said they “found a trailer well involved in fire.”
Firefighters put out the fire out and searched for victims before learning that the home was vacant; they were at the scene for about two hours.
The mobile home was a total loss and damage was estimated at $22,000. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Elyria woman cited after dogs bite delivery driver
An Elyria woman was cited Dec. 16 after police said two of her dogs bit an Amazon delivery driver outside a residence on Sonesta Court.
Jennifer Jerome, 33, was cited with dog at large, a minor misdemeanor, according to Elyria police. She was ordered to appear in Elyria Municipal Court on Dec. 26.
Officers responded to the 100 block of Sonesta Court when the delivery driver, whose name was redacted in the police report, said she was bitten by two large dogs that came running around the side of the house while she was dropping off a package. When she tried to get away from them, she slipped and fell. The dogs then jumped on her and bit her on the left arm and shoulder, she told police.
The driver screamed. Jerome came out of the house, got the dogs and put them inside. The dogs were described as being two great Pyrenees.
The victim, who declined to be transported to a hospital, had bite marks on her left forearm and left shoulder that broke the skin, according to a police report, along with pain in her hip, buttocks and on her right hand from the fall.
Jerome told police the dogs were outside in the backyard and were wearing collars for an invisible electric fence, but officers said they didn’t see any signage about an invisible electric fence or signs that there were dogs on the property..
Catholic Charities names new president/CEO
Catholic Charities Diocese of Cleveland announced its new president and CEO.
Jim Mullen will lead the health and human services organization starting in January. Mullen succeeds Patrick Gareau, who retires next month.
Mullen has served as president/ CEO of United Way of Summit and Medina since 2015.
Catholic Charities Diocese of Cleveland is one of the nation’s five largest Catholic Charities agencies. It provides multigenerational services for families and children, emergency food and housing assistance, behavioral health services and other programming in Northeast Ohio.
Rep. Bob Latta to chair subcommittee on energy
Rep. Bob Latta, R-Bowling Green, has been named as the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy. Energy and Commerce ChairmanElect Brett Guthrie, R-Kentucky, had tapped Latta for the position.
“Next year, the Energy and Commerce Committee will lead the way in delivering tangible solutions to our nation’s most pressing issues, which includes restoring U.S. energy dominance to strengthen our national security and lower costs for the American people,” Latta said in a release.
Latta had previously served as chair for two other Energy and Commerce subcommittees; the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology and the Subcommittee on Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection.
“I look forward to working with Congressman Latta in his role as Chair of the Subcommittee on Energy,” Guthrie said in the release. “Congressman Latta will lead the way to fuel domestic energy pro-
duction and ensure Americans have access to reliable energy while expanding the use of innovative proven sources, like nuclear.”
Nominations sought for Living Angel Award
The American Cancer Society is seeking nominations for the Dr. Alex and Maria Zolli Living Angel Award.
The award is given annually at the Life Savers Ball, which will be March 1 at the Spitzer Conference Center at Lorain County Community College. The nominee can be a patient, nurse, volunteer, researcher, social worker, physician or anyone else who has direct involvement with cancer, be it with personal experience or in treating cancer patients.
Submissions should describe what inspired the nomination, how the nominee has made a difference, and what the nominee’s most notable accomplishments are.
Nominations are due Jan. 10. They can be mailed to the American Cancer Society, Attn: Living Angel Nominee, 10501 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, OH 44106, or sent online to bit.ly/LivingAngel25. For more information, contact Suzi Piskur at Suzan.Piskur@cancer.org or (216) 859-9896.
Lawmakers OK charges for police and jail videos
People seeking copies of police and jail videos in Ohio may have to pay up to $750, or $75 for each hour of video released, if Gov. Mike DeWine signs a measure approved by the state Legislature this week. The fee was included in an amendment to the state’s sunshine laws that was quietly introduced and passed last week by the GOPcontrolled Legislature. It now heads to DeWine. First Amendment and government transparency advocates said they were blindsided by the measure, which would give state and local law enforcement agencies the option to charge people for making copies of records that most departments now provide for free.
Fennell
Rock ‘N’ Read provides a basket of books and an oak rocking chair to new mothers in need in Lorain County. The program recently partnered with Neighborhood Alliance to continue its work.
Send sports news to news@lcnewspapers.com.
In the girls game of the doubleheader, Amherst scored first, never to lead again. After that, Avon Lake took control and cruised to a 29-4 halftime lead and a 50-18 final.
Wellington hosted Brookside in their first meeting of the season and picked up a 4840 win. Wellington led the game from start to finish. Brookside trailed 18-16 at the end of the second quarter, but never took a lead throughout the game.
Wellington’s Mallory Pickering gets fouled on her way to the basket by Brookside’s BriAnna Slaughter.
Amherst’s Grace Bender tries to move past Avon Lake’s Olivia Miller.
Amherst’s Abby Broaddus hits a three point shot to give Amherst the first three points of the game.
Amherst’s Ainsley Hunker gets two points over Avon Lake’s Frankie Persia.
Amherst Boys, playing a double-header at home with the girls against Avon Lake Friday night, had much more action in their game. But Amherst led much of the game and finished with a 81-71 win.
Amherst’s David Dudziak brings the ball up the court pressured by Avon Lake’s Ezra Jones.
Wellington’s Grace Knapp hits a three point shot from the corner over Brookside’s Octavia Gonzalez.
Wellington’s Brooke Lehmkuhl scores over Brookside’s Avery Davis.
AL girls bury Amherst
Wellington beats Brookside
Amherst’s Jack Coleman gets two points on a layup against Avon Lake.
Amherst’s Eli Solak gets two points in the paint over Avon Lake’s Luke Gillespie.
Amherst beats Avon Lake
Photos by Russ Gifford The Community Guide
Kendal honored for its trees
The Arbor Day Foundation has named Kendal at Oberlin a 2024 Tree Campus for its dedication to enhancing community well-being through tree education, investment, and community engagement.
This is the third year Kendal has been recognized by the Arbor Day Foundation.
The Tree Campus program recognizes schools, universities, and healthcare facilities that utilize trees to improve their communities.
Trees and green spaces are proven to improve health outcomes and reduce stress for both patients and caretakers.
Trees also provide profound layers of good for the greater community, including combating extreme heat, improving air quality, and reducing flooding impacts.
To earn Tree Campus recognition from the Arbor Day Foundation, a healthcare institution must uphold five core standards including establish a tree advisory committee, maintain a facility tree care plan, complete a community forestry project, sponsor a celebration event that highlights the connection between trees and human health, and invest in a campus tree program.
Russia Twp. meeting Monday
The New Russia Township Board of Trustees will conduct its 2024 Year End and the 2025 Organizational meeting on Monday at 5 p.m. at the township offices, 46300 Butternut Ridge Road, Oberlin.
Amherst Historical potluck Jan. 11
The Amherst Historical Society’s annual Potluck Luncheon and Meeting will be Jan. 11, 2025 from 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m.
Volunteers, members and supporters are invited to the event at the Amherst Historical Society Hall, 113 South Lake Street, Amherst.
There is no cost but reservations must be made by Jan 7 at (440) 988-7255 or office@amhersthistoricalsociety.org
The main dish will be provided.
Please contribute your dish to the potluck by last name category:
A through E — soup or salad
F through K — vegetable side dish/casserole
L through R — starch side dish/casserole
S through Z — dessert
Amherst Historical Super Bowl
Its Super Bowl Fundraiser will be held Feb. 9 at the Amherst Historical Society Hall, 113 South Lake Street, Amherst.
Doors open at 5 p.m. Kickoff is at 6:30. It is $10 per person.
The game will be shown on a 10-foot screen. There will be tailgate food and a 50/50 raffle. BYOB with pop and water available; RSVP by Feb. 1 at (440) 988-7255 or office@amhersthistoricalsociety.org
SCIENCE FICTION
BULLETIN BOARD
Amherst Library Board to meet
Amherst Public Library Board of Trustees will hold a regular meeting at the library at 5:45 p.m Jan. 13. The meeting is open to the public.
Lorain County Dems to meet
The Lorain County Democratic Women’s Club will hold its monthly meeting at 6 p.m. Jan. 7 via zoom.
The meeting link will be sent to members via email.To learn more about the group, visit LCDWOhio.com or find it on Facebook.
Audubon Society to go ‘batty’
Marne Titchenell, Extension Wildlife Program Director for the Ohio State University, will present “Bats: What you didn’t Learn Watching Batman” at the Black River Audubon Society’s Jan. 7 meeting. It starts at 7 p.m. at the Carlisle Reservation Visitor Center, 12882 Nickel Plate Diagonal Road, LaGrange.
She will discuss the lives of Ohio bats, including common myths, ecology, and how to help Ohio’s bat populations.
Marne helped establish the Ohio Bat Working Group and co-authored the Ohio Bat Conservation Plan. She also works to provide a variety of educational programs centered on wildlife ecology and biology. or wildlife, and managing nuisance wildlife species. This program is free to the public. Please visit www. blackriveraudubon.org for more information on programs, hikes, volunteering or becoming a member. And remember to LIKE them on Facebook.
People’s Project begins
The Community Foundation of Lorain County has launched The People’s Project, a community-driven initiative designed to empower residents to bring their ideas for local improvement to life. Whether it’s revitalizing green spaces, strengthening neighborhood connections, or creating welcoming public gathering spaces, The People’s Project offers individuals and volunteer-led groups the tools, coaching, and resources needed to make a lasting impact across Lorain County.
This new initiative replaces the previous residential engagement program, ioby (In Our Backyard), with a refreshed focus on local partnerships and deeper community engagement.
A key feature of The People’s Project is its crowdfunding model, which allows the Community Foundation to match every dollar raised by participating projects, up to $2,000.
Main Street Lorain will serve as the fiscal partner for The People’s Project. Main Street Lorain will manage the matching grant funds provided by the Community Foundation.
An early example of the program’s potential is the Outside Circle Theater Project, which brings an inclusive and creative theater experience to Lorain County, encouraging residents to connect and express their voices through the
arts. The Community Foundation will host a free informational webinar from noon to 1 p.m. on Jan. 15 for those who want to learn more. Register at peoplewhocare.org.
For more information about The People’s Project, including how to start a project campaign, visit patronicity. com/ThePeoplesProject.
Columbia Gas offers cold-weather tips
As the weather turns colder and the potential increases for hazards such as ice, snow and plummeting temperatures, Columbia Gas of Ohio is reminding customers to prepare now so they can help keep their families safe and warm this winter.
Outside your home:
— Clear snow and ice from your intake and exhaust vents. Keeping those vents clear can help you avoid carbon monoxide buildup and operational issues with your appliances.
— Keep your natural gas meter clear and visible at all times so it is accessible for maintenance or in the event of an emergency; never let snow completely cover the meter and don’t use a shovel or hammer to hit the equipment to break up snow or ice.
Inside your home:
— Use space heaters with caution. Place them on hard, level surfaces and keep anything flammable bedding, curtains, rugs, etc. at least three feet away.
— Ensure heating appliances and equipment are inspected and operating properly. Operate all pieces of equipment according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
— Never use a stove or oven as a source of heat in your home; ovens are designed to heat food and should only be operated with the door closed.
— Don’t burn charcoal or run a generator indoors or in an enclosed space.
— Clean your chimney and check for blockage at least once a year before using your fireplace. What to do in case of a potential gas leak:
— If you smell the “rotten egg” odor of natural gas or think there may be a gas leak, stop what you are doing, leave the area immediately, then call 911 and Columbia Gas at (800) 344-4077.
For more safety tips, visit columbiagasohio.com/safety/ home-safety.
Amherst Library hosting school supply drive
The Friends of the Amherst Public Library group is hosting a monthlong drive in January to collect supplies to benefit students at Powers Elementary, Firelands Elementary, and St. Joseph School.
The most-needed school supplies are crayons, pencils, thick and fine-tip dry erase markers, glue sticks, 2-pocket folders with no prongs, colored pencils and thick and fine-tip markers. Supplies can be dropped off in the drop box just inside the Amherst Public Library front door, and monetary donations to go toward supplies can be made at tiny.cc/100DayRestock.
Grafton approves revised zoning code
The Community Guide
GRAFTON — Village Council has voted unanimously to approve an ordinance to accept the revised zoning code.
“It will now go into effect in the new year,” said Grafton Administrator Andrew Lipian.
“This makes the village of Grafton more userfriendly and government in general less opaque.”
The new zoning code will focus on building design standards and allow Grafton to preserve “the spirit of downtown,” Lipian said.
“In regards to the downtown, it enables the village of Grafton to establish certain codified protections for facade, for cornices, for architectural design,” Lipian said.
“It enables there to be a respect for the historical, traditional quality of the buildings that we have and protect those.”
The zoning study was conducted by Kleinfelder. That study had been under consideration by the Grafton Joint Planning Commission for two weeks as Council reviewed it.
MerryChristmas
from Germany
The advent calendar is long part of the German tradition to help children countdown the days until Christmas Eve. The calendar has 24 doors with littlesurprises inside and starts December 1. Each day, children open acalendar door until Christmas Eve arrives.
Nearly everyone celebrates some sortof holidayin the winter. Formany people, it’s Christmas.Let’s takeatripto celebratewith kids around the globe! e l
Color one spaceon the advent calendar belowevery daythrough Christmas Eve!
Merry
Christmas
from France
In France, some families find alarge log to burn. They call it the Yule Log and light it on Christmas Eve using apiece of unburned log from the year before. Some save the ashes from the Yule Log, believing these ashes can ward off sickness and other misfortunes.
Today, instead of burning aYule Log, many French people make and eatabeautiful chocolate cake in the shape of alog.
Merry Christmas from Sweden
On December 13th, the eldest daughter plays the role of St. Lucia and serves coffee and sweet rolls to the family.She wears alighted holly wreath on her head and
Explore the World
Germanyiscreditedwithstarting the Christmastreetradition over four centuries ago.ChristiansinGermanybroughtdecorated trees into their homes. Some builtChristmas pyramids of wood anddecorated them with evergreensand candlesifwood wasscarce. Race afamily member to the Christmas tree!
Merry Christmas from Mexico
On Christmas Eve, children celebrate with a piñata.The children are blindfolded and take turns trying to break it withastick. When it breaks open, there are lots of goodies for everyone!
Can yo atatha han the sings carols. for C piña th t
Can you find examplesin your local newspaper of gifts peoplecan givethat don’t costmoney?
With hundreds of topics,every KidScoop printable activitypack features six-to-seven pages of high-interest extra learning activities forhome and school! Getyour free sample todayat:
©2024byVickiWhiting,Editor Je Schinkel,Graphics Vol. 41,No. 4