Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023
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Volume 10, Issue 45
High voter turnout driven by statewide issues CARISSA WOYTACH THE COMMUNITY GUIDE
THOMAS FETCENKO | The Community Guide
Kyle Cooley, of Amherst, has his photo taken by his wife Alisha in front of a painting of his father Richard Cooley at the Amherst Veterans Mural on Saturday, November 11. Richard Cooley was an US Army veteran from 1942 to 1945, Amherst longtime crosscountry and track coach winning five state titles, and official at the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta
Hundreds attend Veterans Day commemoration
OWEN MACMILLAN THE COMMUNITY GUIDE
AMHERST — Well over 500 people gathered at Patriots Park on Saturday for the city’s annual Veterans Day commemoration. Saturday was the 13th iteration of the ceremony, and its first year as the formal regional Veterans Day commemoration site, as designated by the Department of Veterans Affairs. The event last year was delayed a week by rain and bitter cold limited the crowd size, so Cathy Sekletar of the Veterans Mural Association was happy to see the number of those paying their respects to veterans swell again. “It means a lot to us to see everyone out here,” Sekletar said. “We kind of consider this a community project. Even though we are kind of the caretakers of it … every year new people come forward and want to be a part of this. That’s the beauty of it, it really is a community builder.” The ceremony is held annually by the association and is highlighted by the addition of 11 new paintings honoring veterans to the Patriot’s Park wall, next to the Veterans Mural. “All of their (veterans’) stories are important,” Sekletar said. “So we try to honor them as best we can.” Many of the veterans honored on the wall fought in wars decades ago, but the one that now sits at its center served much more recently. PAINTINGS PAGE A3 Mike Sekletar hugs Elena Ostheimer in front of a painting of Maxton Soviak, who was medic in the US Marine Corps. and close friends with Ostheimer’s son before getting killed by a suicide bomber on August 26, 2021 while rendering aid to a mother and child in Afghanistan, while at the Amherst Veterans Mural on Saturday, November 11. During the ceremony, commissioned paintings honoring veterans were unveiled.
Voter turnout in Lorain County was just over 50 percent, according to the Lorain County Board of Elections on Wednesday. Board Director Paul Adams said the turnout Tuesday was the kind they would expect in a gubernatorial election. However, this time, statewide Issues 1 and 2 and scores of local races brought people to the polls. “The state issues created the floor of an overall higher turnout,” he said. “What got us up over 50 percent is what you saw in places like Avon Lake and North Ridgeville.” In Avon Lake, nearly 65 percent of registered voters cast ballots this election, with voting up above 60 percent in the vast majority of the city’s precincts. Avon Lake voters shot down a construction bond for the school district and selected City Councilman Mark Spaetzel as its new mayor in a landslide decision. In North Ridgeville, about 62 percent of voters turned out, with the bulk of its precincts reporting a turnout of more than half of the registered voters. North Ridgeville residents passed a bond issue for its schools to build a new high school and sent incumbent Mayor Kevin Corcoran back to City Hall for another fouryear term. Statewide Issues 1 and 2 both passed in Lorain County and across Ohio. Issue 1, a constitutional amendment to enshrine reproductive rights, carried 68,071 votes or about 62 percent of ballots in the county. It passed TURNOUT PAGE A5
Former Crime Lab Assistant Director charged with forgery, tampering DAVE O’BRIEN THE COMMUNITY GUIDE
The former assistant director of the Lorain County Crime Lab has been charged with falsifying and tampering with records while working at the lab. Mark Vandevender, 34, of Westlake, was indicted by a Lorain County grand jury on three counts of tampering with records,
three counts of tampering with evidence, and three counts of forgery, all felonies, by a Lorain County grand jury in June. MARK He was not VANDEVENDER taken into custody until he was booked at the Lorain County
Jail on Oct. 4 and released on a personal bond, according to court and jail records. Vandevender pleaded not guilty to all the charges in Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James Miraldi’s courtroom on Oct. 12 and remains free on bond. He hired attorney Joseph Grandinetti of Broadview Heights to represent him, according to court records, and is due back in court on Dec. 15.
A message seeking comment on his client’s case was left for Grandinetti on Monday. It remains unclear if the accusations against Vandevender, whom authorities said no longer works for the county, will affect any ongoing cases using evidence tested at the Lorain County Crime Lab. The Lorain County Prosecutor’s Office alleges that Vandevender “knowingly” altered information while working at the
crime lab in the basement of the County Administration Building in Elyria, Chief Assistant Prosecutor Chris Pierre said Monday. Vandevender’s charges “are related to allegations that he knowingly altered and forged signatures on submission and evidence receipt forms and chain of custody reports on three separate occasions during his employment with the Lorain County Crime CHARGES PAGE A2
INSIDE THIS WEEK Amherst
Oberlin
Sports
Vietnam Vets honored ● A3
Students protest College ● A5
‘Powderbuff’ volleyball ● A6
OBITUARIES A2 • CLASSIFIEDS A4 • CROSSWORD A7 • SUDOKU A7 • KID SCOOP A8