Lorain County Community Guide - March 9, 2023

Wellington backs L3 Harris radio system

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Wellington Village Council recently passed a unanimous resolution calling for the Lorain County Board of Commissioners to reinstate a contract with Cleveland Communications Inc. for the L3 Harris emergency radio system.

The 6-0 vote on the four-page resolution took place Feb. 20, Mayor Hans Schneider wrote in a Facebook post.

“This is a public safety issue that has been taken over by politicians putting the worst of politics before health and the safety of the citizens they serve,” he wrote. “The process that led to the decision to purchase the L3 Harris system was open, thoughtful, researched and honest.”

The decision to go with CCI and the L3 Harris radio system was made Dec. 21 by Commissioners Michelle Hung and Matt Lundy. They voted 2-0 to enter into a contract with

Ross Incineration gets 40 tons of East Palestine debris

Some 40 tons of debris and materials containing trace amounts of vinyl chloride are to be burned to ash by Ross Incineration Services on Giles Road in Eaton Township, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday.

The Ohio EPA said that number was out of approximately 700 tons of solid waste removed from the site where a Norfolk Southern train derailed while carrying hazardous chemicals through East Palestine on Feb. 3.

Approximately 1.8 million gallons of liquid wastewater also is being disposed of at facilities in Sandusky County and in Michigan and Texas, the Ohio EPA said.

Trace amounts of vinyl chloride, a carcinogenic gas used in the manufacturing of plastics such as PVC pipe, are believed to be in the debris that Ross Incineration Services received, according to the Ohio EPA.

Andy Sedlak, chief spokesperson for Ross Environmental Services, said March 1 the amount of chemicals expected in the materials is “very small trace amounts” — in parts per million, he said.

All materials arriving at the company’s incinerator are subject to testing and verification before they are burned, Sedlak said.

Sedlak said the company, which has headquarters in Elyria and has been in business since 1949, has been fielding many questions since it was named late Feb. 27 as one of the recipients of the East Palestine debris.

CCI and spend nearly $8 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to provide the radios and associated technology to Lorain County sheriff’s deputies and Lorain County fire departments not already on the system.

Commissioner David Moore was not present at that meeting. On Jan. 9, he and newly elected Commissioner Jeff Riddell voted 2-1 over Hung’s objection to rescind the contract, saying the bidding process won by CCI

and its L3 Harris radios was improper.

Moore and Riddell have said they are restarting the bid process so it is fair to all parties. Riddell, who replaced Lundy at the beginning of the year, said it took the county two years to get through the bid process won by CCI, and asked for “a few months to do it right for the taxpayers.”

Following that vote, Parma-based CCI sued the county and the Lorain County Deputies Associa-

tion filed a grievance with Lorain County Sheriff Phil Stammitti over health and safety concerns.

The lawsuit is pending in Lorain County Common Pleas Court before visiting Judge Thomas Pokorny, a retired Cuyahoga County Common Pleas judge. The deputies’ grievance has not yet gone to arbitration, LCDA President Adam Shaw said.

Moore said Thursday that he is “committed to fixing the radio infrastructure in Lorain County.”

“We have a team working on this issue as we speak,” he wrote in a text message. Riddell said Thursday he had not heard the news from Wellington, nor had he read the resolution, so he wasn’t able to comment on it.

Because CCI has sued the county, “I can’t comment on what we would or wouldn’t do in response,” he said.

Riddell said critics of the vote to rescind the contract “lack an understanding of

Amherst to bring derailment training to Lorain County

AMHERST — It’s been a month since a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous materials derailed in East Palestine.

But long before that, an effort to bring hazmat training to Lorain County was underway.

Amherst Councilman Brian Dembinski, D-1st Ward, said he reached out to Norfolk Southern’s Operation Awareness and Response team last year, asking if the railway company had hazmat training for first responders.

Norfolk Southern’s hazmat training train will be in Lorain County in September, Dembinski said — available for free training for first responders throughout Lorain County and the surrounding area.

The railway’s training allows first

responders to practice on a rolling lab, simulating what would happen if a train carrying hazardous materials derailed in their area.

Since 2019, the “safety train” has visited 23 communities across 14 states, according to Norfolk Southern’s website.

Dembinski noted when Amherst had a derailment in December 2020, it was lucky all that train was carrying was grain. But the situation brought the need for training into focus — something the ongoing cleanup in East Palestine has brought to the forefront again.

“Everyone is committed to this,” he said.

During a news conference in East Palestine on March 1, Gov. Mike DeWine touched on the need for training echoed by East Palestine Fire Chief Keith Drabick.

DeWine said he’s spoken to fire chiefs throughout the state, and all

have expressed interest in training for derailments. He said he spoke to the CEOs of Norfolk Southern and CSX and both companies expressed a “desire to work with us to dramatically increase that training.”

Much of the state’s rail miles run through rural areas with volunteer fire departments — like those in East Palestine, DeWine said — making training a goal of his.

“This affects not only East Palestine, but every community (a rail line) goes through,” he said.

Jessica Fetter, director of the Lorain County Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, said that the county is always planning for train derailments that involve hazardous materials.

“Lorain County is highly industrialized and a lot of hazardous chemicals are present in both facilities as well as those that travel through as we are

BRUCE BISHOP | The Chronicle-Telegram Passing South Dewey Road, Amherst, a Norfolk Southern train hauls varied cargo including placard mounted tankers carrying Vinyl Chloride, Stabilized on March 1.

Communities awarded Ohio History Fund grants

Three Lorain County communities received funding from the state’s History Fund matching grant program. The competitive program awarded $185,624 in grants this year, with more than $40,000 coming to Lorain County.

Oberlin

Oberlin Elementary hosts Black History museum

OBERLIN — It’s taken Khalid el-Hakim more than 30 years to collect artifacts spanning the past 400.

From shackles and chains and Klu Klux Klan patches to N.W.A. CDs and Black Lives Matter movement T-shirts, elHakim’s Black History 101 Mobile Museum started as an effort to supplement his social studies classes in Detroit Public Schools.

“I used to collect and use artifacts in my classroom to engage my students, simply because of the lack of Black history in the textbooks and in the curriculum,” he said. “So I found myself supplementing what was missing with primary source material.”

From there, the collection grew, through flea markets, and thrift and antiques stores. Stereotypical advertising images were created by white imaginations, and mass-produced to be used by white people, he said.

As older people died, those boxes of toothpaste, syrup, advertisements and other items found their way to shops for el-Hakim to find in his own travels, both in building the museum and as a hip-hop manager and booking agent.

When the project started 30 years ago, some of the things may have been disturbing — but el-Hakim is no longer surprised by what he sees, he said.

The project started tour-

ing in 2006 and has since traveled to 42 different states and more than 1,000 institutions.

On Monday, a portion of el-Hakim’s collection visited Oberlin Elementary, after retired orchestra teacher Harriett Thomas and the fund established for her late husband, J.B. Thomas, through the Lorain County Community Foundation sought out the exhibit.

“Even when I was in the Oberlin Schools I was able to do different projects … so I’ve been gone for the past eight years,” she said. “It’s time to come back and try to do something. So I thought, well, let’s start with a Black history proj-

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ect. And I saw the mobile museum and got in touch with Khalid el-Hakim.”

Thomas, who worked for Oberlin Schools for 39 years, started the effort in August. And on Monday, she watched as students from Oberlin Schools walked past the tables, commenting on the items cataloged there.

Her husband was always involved with youth in Oberlin, she said — be it the athletes he coached, the students he tutored or the orchestra trips he chaperoned with his wife, Thomas said.

She plans to bring different projects to Oberlin Schools each year, in her husband’s name — and

the mobile museum made perfect sense for her first undertaking.

This year’s mobile history exhibit marks the 50th anniversary of hip-hop culture. While the first two tables of the exhibit are some of the oldest items, some dating back to the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the second half looked at the roots of hip-hop, not just as a musical genre, but tied to the social movements, el-Hakim said.

“That whole experience in Detroit shaped my worldview — from Motown to techno music, Martin Luther King first giving the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech there and Malcolm X’s roots being there … all of that helped shape who I am and how I look at this work as well,” he said.

Material from the anti-apartheid movement, 1980s Stop the Violence movement, 1995’s Million Man March, Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign, and the current Black Lives Matter movement are all highlighted.

The latter half of the exhibit was also a chance to carry forward the work of el-Hakim’s friend and former client, rapper Proof, who was in Detroit’s D12 and other groups with Eminem. He was shot and killed in 2006.

“I want people to walk away with a sense of being inspired, empowered and motivated to go do more research about aspects of Black history that they have not been exposed to before,” he said.

Oberlin’s Wilson Bruce Evans Home Historical Society received $18,000 for handicapped-accessible restrooms in a recent, historically appropriate addition to the rear of the home. Cabinetmaker Wilson Bruce Evans was a Black abolitionist and Underground Railroad operative from Oberlin. His home, finished in 1856, has been a National Historic Landmark since 1997 and is now a museum.

Wellington

The Southern Lorain County Historical Society received $17,419 for its

RADIO

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the main issue at hand” or simply disagree with the decision.

“In a few short months, I think this will all be resolved and it will no longer be news,” he said.

The deputies union, Lorain County fire chiefs and their supporters have alleged that the vote to rescind the contract was an underhanded attempt to favor the state-run MultiAgency Radio Communication System or MARCS.

Motorola had asked the county for more time to put in a bid on behalf of MARCS, but in the end, did not submit a bid for consideration. MARCS is used by the State Highway Patrol and by agencies in a majority of Ohio counties.

Fire chiefs, deputies and Stammitti said the quality of the L3 Harris system is clear and it’s the one they want, while MARCS radios might require millions of dollars in expensive equipment to be installed to work properly.

Wellington Fire Chief

Mike Wetherbee is among those who favor the L3 Harris radios and is critical of MARCS’ abilities in his communities.

The Lorain County AFL-CIO also backs the L3 Harris system, which is already in use by fire departments in Avon, Avon Lake, Sheffield, Sheffield Lake and North Ridgeville

Willard Initiative Phase 2, a continuing project to preserve a large Masonicthemed mural painted by Archibald Willard, of Wellington, in the 1870s. The mural is 11-by-13 feet and its conservation started in 2019. The grant will allow the historical society to hire professional conservators to restore a second mural that, once completed, will be on display at the Spirit of ‘76 Museum in Wellington.

Lorain

The Lorain Historical Society received $5,000 for shelving for its textile collection at the Moore House Museum. The society’s textile collection is stored in the 1906 home and overburdened the stationary shelving, in turn undermining the floor joints that support it, according to an Ohio History Fund news release. The grant will help Lorain Historical purchase new, movable shelving and pay the salary of an intern to assemble it and rehome the textile collection.

to great effect, officials in the majority of those cities have said.

Mayors and fire chiefs in Elyria and Lorain also publicly backed the L3 Harris systems in their cities.

Schneider wrote that the decision to revoke the contract “and attempt to steer the project toward an antiquated state-owned system preferred by those who have zero interest or investment in the people of this village, the surrounding communities and Lorain County, in general, was not” open, thoughtful, researched and honest as the bid process was.

“It’s politics at its worst — deceitful, uncaring, cold and dishonest,” he wrote. Schneider said Wellington “will be making sure our voice is heard on this issue and that the county commissioners erred when they put backroom politics over public safety.”

He invited village residents and those in Brighton, Huntington, Penfield, Pittsfield and Wellington townships served by the Wellington Community Fire District to contact the board of commissioners directly, drop a letter off at Wellington Town Hall at 115 Willard Memorial Square, or to email him a letter at hschneider@ villageofwellington.com so it can be delivered to county officials.

CARISSA WOYTACH THE CHRONICLE-TELEGRAM

BRUCE BISHOP | The Chronicle-Telegram

Emma Mason of Oberlin found herself getting emotional a she read a part of an exhibit describing the beatings a slave suffered. The Black History 101 Mobile Museum was at Oberlin Elementary School on March 6.

Mandy Walusimbi with her sons Reihan, 9, and Omar, 13, of Wellington look over the chains and KKK items on display at the Black History 101 Mobile Museum.

STAFF REPORT

EAST PALESTINE

Ross is committed to openness and transparency with the community, he said. Eaton Township and Grafton-area residents have already expressed concerns — one protested at state Routes 82 and 83 on Tuesday — after learning late Monday that Ross would be receiving some of the East Palestine debris.

Of the materials cleaned from the East Palestine derailment, 200 tons were taken to Heritage Thermal Services in East Liverpool to be incinerated, and 400 tons shipped to U.S. Ecology Wayne Disposal in Belleville, Michigan, to be placed in a landfill, according to state officials.

Six U.S. senators — Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican J.D. Vance of Ohio, Democrats Bob Casey and John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Republican Marco Rubio of Florida and Republican Josh Hawley of Missouri — announced Wednesday that they plan to introduce the Railway Safety Act of 2023 in the Senate “to prevent future train disasters like the derailment that devastated East Palestine, Ohio.”

The bill is intended to enhance safety procedures, according to a news release.

“It shouldn’t take a massive railroad disaster for elected officials to put partisanship aside and work together for the people we serve — not corporations like Norfolk Southern,” Brown said. “Rail lobbyists have fought for years to protect their profits at the expense of communities like East Palestine and Steubenville and Sandusky. These commonsense bipartisan safety measures will finally hold big railroad companies accountable, make our railroads and the towns along them safer, and prevent future tragedies, so no community has to suffer like East Palestine again.”

“Through this legislation, Congress has a real opportunity to ensure that what happened in East Palestine will never happen again. We owe every American the peace of mind that their community is protected from a catastrophe of this kind,” Vance said. “Action to prevent future disasters is critical, but we must never lose sight of

TRAINING

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FROM A1 rich in highways, pipelines and railways,” she wrote in an email. “These factors are always part of the planning process.”

In a derailment in Wellington in May 2019, involved only a small diesel fuel spill, Fetter wrote. In such a case it’s up to local fire departments to evaluate the scene and request

the needs of the Ohioans living in East Palestine and surrounding communities. One day, the TV cameras will leave, and the news cycle will move on, but the needs of those Ohioans will remain. I will never stop fighting to deliver the support they need.”

According to Brown’s office, the bill has the support of unions including the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers’ Transportation Division, the Transport Workers Union of America, the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees, and the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen. Both Ohio senators have visited East Palestine to speak with the community. They also sent a letter to U.S. EPA and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention leaders this week to make sure that those with health concerns from the derailment are afforded medical care.

The Railway Safety Act of 2023 would enhance safety procedures for trains carrying hazardous materials by putting new safety requirements and procedures in place for trains carrying hazardous materials; require railroads to provide advance notice and information about what they are transporting to state emergency response officials; prevent blocked railroad crossings; set rules for train size and weight; and increase rail car inspections.

Also in the bill: Plans to require more detectors along tracks and scanning of trains carrying hazardous materials; an increase in fines for wrongdoing; expand hazmat training grants for local first responders; provide $22 million in Federal Railroad Administration funding for research and development into detection equipment; and provide $5 million to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to develop stronger tank car safety features.

Gov. Mike DeWine, first lady Fran DeWine and officials from the Federal Railroad Administration, U.S. and Ohio EPA, Ohio Department of Health, FEMA and the CDC were in East Palestine on Wednesday afternoon to answer questions.

During a news confer-

special hazmat units, state or federal EPA. County EMA officials have emergency operations plans and do what is called a “Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment,” to determine the most probable events that may occur, according to Fetter. “This would most defi-

ence, FRA Administrator Amit Bose said there is a need to “increase freight rail accountability safety.”

The FRA is in the process of inspecting all rail routes carrying hazardous materials both with human inspectors and technology, he said.

“The needs of East Palestine and the rail safety needs of all communities are at the top of my mind,” Bose said.

U.S. EPA Region 5 Administrator Debra Shore said more than 500 East Palestine homes have been screened for chemicals, and 16 stations in the area are monitoring air quality. Air quality standards haven’t been exceeded in any of the testings and outdoor air quality remains normal, but testing will continue, Shore said.

“We are not leaving East Palestine nor the wider community. We won’t leave until the work is done,” she said.

The CDC is continuing to monitor residents and workers for chemical exposure, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry team lead Jill Shugart said. FEMA Region 5 Administrator Tom Sivak’s staff has handed out more than 1,200 fliers in and around East Palestine with information on air, water and soil testing, he said.

DeWine said state officials will stay until the job’s done and “we’re going to continue to play our part in this.”

One thing he would like to see is increased training for firefighters, especially in rural Ohio communities, “who are the most likely to be the first on the scene,” he said.

“And that’s what we saw here. The need to have them trained, understand more information and have the railroad actively participate is a big goal of mine,” DeWine said.

He said he had been in touch with Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw, who is expected to testify before the U.S. Senate next week, and also CSX Railroad CEO Joseph Hinrichs.

Among the state’s goals, according to the governor: Holding Norfolk Southern accountable for the East Palestine derailment.

“It’s their railroad, their train, their responsibility,” DeWine said.

nitely include the possibility of a train derailment on the scale of what happened in East Palestine,” she wrote.

“I hope that we never have to experience that, but I am confident Lorain County is prepared to respond should we be faced with such a large-scale event.”

BRUCE BISHOP | The Chronicle-Telegram

The Ross Environmental gate off Giles Road in Eaton Township.

Endurance Challenge teaches teamwork at Wellington

WELLINGTON — Hatchet throwing, BB gun shooting, one-on-one soccer and cooking over an open fire may not seem like English class skills, but for 37 students at Wellington High School, they are requirements for the annual Endurance Challenge.

For more than a decade, teaching veteran Dave Conklin has used the Endurance Challenge to engage students and elicit understanding and empathy for British explorer Ernest Shackleton and his crew.

He first got the idea for the challenge after reading “The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition” by Caroline Alexander.

“The expedition was a total failure,” Conklin said. “They never made it to the continent. But the book was a real page turner for me. The author pulled information from crew members’ journals and they had an incredible photographer with them. I shared it with another teacher at Wellington, and it was a page turner for her as well. But for students, they just couldn’t get through it. It was such a great story that I knew I needed to try to get the message across.”

The message: Failure created this incredible survival story, Conklin said.

Shackleton and his crew were stranded for months, first on their ship, the Endurance, which was trapped by ice, then later on the ice itself, once the ship was crushed by the ice and sank. Eventually, the crew set out in lifeboats for salvation. Miraculously, everyone survived.

So did the brave sophomores in Conklin’s classes, who on Friday battled the winter weather, rugged terrain and survival challenges set up at Conklin’s farm.

The first task of the day was to build a sledge and pull it, loaded with at least one team member, equipment and supplies, to Endurance Camp.

Students built fires without matches and cooked meat over an open flame; built a shelter to fit all its team members using a tarp, string and sticks; and participated in various challenges, such as the above-mentioned hatchet throwing, target shooting and soccer, as well as synchronized skiing, rowing, and a hill ascent/descent — a grueling relay at the end of the day up a steep incline and back down. Of course, there were some more traditional English class challenges as well, such as reciting a team poem, making a journal entry and a fine-arts performance.

But students are likely to tell stories of the weather conditions, the fatigue and the overall ruggedness of the event much longer

than they recall in their journal entries.

Still, 15-year-old Baron Turner, who along with his team the Meat Munchers tied for first place, said he would do it all again, if he could.

“I’d heard of the challenge as a freshmen, but no one would ever say what it was about,” he said. “All they’d say was, ‘You just have to wait and find out.’”

Olivia Ramirez, 15, had two older siblings to warn her about the challenge — one who did it and one who did not.

“They just said it required a lot

of physical and mental strength,” she said. “It made me nervous, but I still wanted to do it.”

As part of the Beefy Warriors team, Olivia’s group of four had their struggles from the beginning.

“It caught me by surprise how hard it actually was,” she said. “Pulling the sledge uphill was hard for us. It took us an hour to complete and we came up to that final hill and saw other teams with their tents already up, that was hard. We definitely knew at that point we weren’t winning, but it changed my perspective.

Instead of trying to win, we had to make the best of what we had.”

Baron said building the sledge was easy, but pulling it required more endurance than he realized.

“You really had to dig deep and apply your strength,” he said. “I enjoy being outdoors and using different survival skills and building relationships, but it was hard.”

The crew of the Endurance had many more challenges in 1915 than the students — and for a much longer period of time, Baron realized throughout the challenge.

At the end of the day, as he climbed back on the bus to return to school, he was excited to rest his legs, but also pleased that he was able to participate in the challenge.

“It’s something you only get to do one time in your life,” he said.

Olivia was surprised by how hard the challenge was.

“We made the most of it and it was fun for everyone to go through it,” she said. “You really felt like you were part of a team. It brought us all closer together. What we did was not nearly as much as they did on the ice, but no matter how hard it was, they didn’t stop. There were times when we wanted to quit, but for them it was life or death.”

From a teaching perspective, it seems as if Conklin’s lesson was learned.

CHRISTINA JOLLIFFE THE WELLINGTON-ENTERPRISE

PHOTO PROVIDED

Wellington High School students participated in the annual Endurance Challenge on Feb. 24

Second Harvest kicks off Harvest for Hunger campaign

LORAIN — For thousands of residents in Lorain, Crawford, Erie and Huron counties, food insecurity is a real concern.

Standing on stage, Nordson Corp. President/ CEO Sundaram Nagarajan noted one in six children face hunger, and Ohio ranks 10th in the country for food insecurity.

But Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio’s Harvest for Hunger campaign hopes to fill in those gaps.

The effort, which hopes to raise food and funds for at least 3 million meals, kicked off March 2 at the Nordson Distribution Facility at Second Harvest Food Bank.

Outside of the 3 million meal effort, Nordson Corp. presented Second Harvest Food Bank President/CEO Julie Chase-Morefield with a check for $500,000.

“The company is really proud to get this whole campaign kicked off with a lead gift of $500,000,” said Nagarajan, this year’s honorary campaign chair. “I think we’re proud to inspire others to join and help make (the campaign) an even greater success because we do believe the need is going to be tremendous. We as a community need to come together and make this happen.”

Those funds will help fill what Chase-Morefield predicts will be a roughly 30 percent spike in need now that pandemic-fueled expansions to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Pro-

gram benefits have ended.

In March 2020, the federal government expanded SNAP benefits to the maximum allotment for individuals and families, but those allocations returned to normal Wednesday.

“This campaign is critical to helping us be able to meet that need going forward,” Chase-Morefield said. Nordson Corp. has a 40year history of addressing food insecurity in Northeast Ohio, founding the Lorain County Community Cupboard in the 1980s, which gave way to Second Harvest Food Bank.

Beyond the company’s financial commitment is its employees’ volunteerism year after year, Nagarajan

noted. In a video for the campaign kickoff, Nordson retired Executive Vice President Doug Bloomfield and his son, Ryan, both talked about their time working for Nordson and volunteering at Second Harvest.

It’s a tradition that started when Ryan Bloomfield was a child and has continued on as he’s followed in his father’s footsteps at the manufacturing company.

For Chris-Ann Hakeman with Christ’s Community Meals at First Presbyterian Church in Huron, the need her group serves is great, but its volunteers’ passion is greater.

She said 13 years ago, God began nudging her to cook, and the next day she was on the phone with Sec-

Oberlin Schools’ Eastwood Elementary could be housing

OBERLIN — Eastwood Elementary School could see a second life as a housing project.

Liberty Development Vice President Dru Siley came before the Oberlin School Board on Feb. 28 to discuss the possibility of the development company turning the former school into a housing project.

Superintendent David Hall said Westlake-based Liberty Development has experience in disposing of schools, comes with outstanding references and has goals aligned with the city and community to bring housing to the area.

ond Harvest to partner with the food bank.

Christ’s Community Meals serves lunches every Monday and dinners the second and fourth Wednesdays. Last year, the band of 15-30 volunteers served 11,461 people, and — like Second Harvest — expects to serve more as inflation continues to rise and SNAP benefits decrease.

“I understand this year is going to be hard, but with Second Harvest, we can do anything,” Hakeman said, pledging to stop hunger in her community, one person at a time.

The Harvest for Hunger campaign runs through the end of May. For more information or to donate, visit secondharvestfoodbank.org.

Siley said Liberty Development is a build-develophold developer, meaning it would work to either rehab the site or build new on the land, and would retain the property in the long term.

He said the company would like to begin the process by talking to the community and discussing options for the site, including what is allowed by its current R-1 zoning.

He compared it to an ongoing project his company has in Berea near Baldwin-Wallace University. Berea’s former St. Mary School on Front Street is slated to become 30 apartments.

After meeting with the community and city leaders, its former gymnasium will become a community gathering space.

He said the input from the district, and the city, is going to be important if the project moves forward.

The board has not voted to transfer the property.

Eastwood Elementary has been vacant since 2021. It, and Prospect Elementary, were replaced by the $17.8 million Oberlin Elementary School, which opened that fall.

The building was originally slated for a trade with Oberlin College, to house offices, classrooms and storage space, but the project died when City Council rejected its rezoning in June 2022.

Lorain County service agencies are bracing for impact as the expanded federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits come to an end.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government expanded the benefits, providing a lifeline for families. On March 1 the expanded benefits ended, with local service providers aiming to fill the gaps.

As of December, Lorain County had 35,918 people receiving SNAP, according to Julie Chase-Morefield, president and CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank of Northeast Ohio.

Second Harvest has been operating at 30 percent above pre-pandemic levels in requests for service, and the impact of ending the SNAP expansion will heighten the need with the lingering effects of inflation, she said.

“Seniors, families and disabled individuals in Lorain County have relied on the SNAP Emergency Allotments to provide stability in tough economic times. While we knew the benefits would eventually end, the current timing will hit even harder due to historic inflation which has led to sharp increases in the cost of groceries, fuel, goods, services and living expenses,” Chase-Morefield wrote in an email.

The additional SNAP benefits for seniors increased the monthly allotment from $23 to a maximum of $281.

Chase-Morefield said Second Harvest is expect-

ing an additional 20 percent to 30 percent increase in need with the loss of household purchasing power resulting in a loss of $6 million to $6.5 million in Northeast Ohio alone.

“As an organization, we are purchasing additional food and procuring donated food along with packing extra food pantry boxes to be prepared for the increase. We’re extending hours at some mobile pantries and have added an additional mobile pantry at LCCC on March 21. The reality is that for every one meal food banks provide, SNAP provides nine meals,” Chase-Morefield said.

Oberlin Community Services said people who rely on its food pantry already have started turning out in higher numbers after being warned that SNAP cuts were coming.

On March 3, the nonprofit gave food to 116 households, some small and some large. Cars were

backed up along South Professor Street for hours waiting to get prepackaged food boxes, said Food Programs Coordinator Liv Hanson.

Inside, more than 70 households “shopped” for necessities at OCS’ choice pantry, by far its busiest day since reopening from the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown.

“People knew the SNAP cuts were coming and tried to prepare. They’re scared,” Hanson said.

“We’re seeing a serious jump in numbers, and I think it’s only going to keep going up from here.”

Just like grocery store shoppers, food pantries have to roll with shortages and sky-high prices, she said.

That means OCS and counterparts across Ohio will be looking for ways to stretch their supply of food.

Statewide, all 738,000 households that rely on SNAP will have benefits reduced due to the fed-

eral rollback of emergency funding. On average, those households will get $172 per month less.

A working parent with two children will go from $740 per month to $180. A single senior will go from $258 per month to $23.

“That’s a significant drop for someone with already limited income,” Hanson said. “And those seniors? What are they going to be able to buy with just $23 at today’s supermarket prices?”

Neighborhood Alliance, an Elyria-based nonprofit offering support in food assistance and housing among other programs, expects to see need increase.

“Neighborhood Alliance will continue to provide support for those in Lorain County who find themselves in need. The Neighborhood Nutrition Kitchen by Neighborhood Alliance will be opening in the next few weeks. We will be prepared for a

possible influx of requests for home-delivered meals as a result of this reduction in benefit support,” said Jadera Patton, director of creative marketing for Neighborhood Alliance.

The Neighborhood Nutrition Kitchen is set to open in Elyria at the former YMCA building on Washington Avenue. The project will enable the agency to streamline its process in consolidat-

ing the five kitchens across Lorain County into one larger facility in support of the home-delivered meals program.

Second Harvest is asking the state of Ohio to approve a request from the Ohio Association of Food Banks of $100 million over the 2024-2025 biennium to help food banks direct the maximum amount of funding to Ohioans who need it most.

hartblacktop@yahoo.com

CARISSA WOYTACH THE CHRONICLE-TELEGRAM

CARISSA WOYTACH THE CHRONICLE-TELEGRAM

CARISSA WOYTACH | The Chronicle-Telegram

Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio CEO Julie Chase-Morefield speaks at the nonprofit’s Harvest For Hunger campaign kickoff event Thursday, March 2, 2023.

Clarence and the Beekeepers places second at Tri-C High School Rock Off

JOHN BENSON FOR THE COMMUNITY GUIDE

The buzz surrounding this year’s Tri-C High School Rock Off “Final Exam” was Lorain County-based outfit Clarence and the Beekeepers, which came in second.

The country quartet — Christian Gendics (guitar, vocals), Daniel Durant (guitar, vocals), Lincoln Garrett (bass) and Ethan Meszaros (drums) — put on quite the show during its performance held last weekend at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

“It was great getting country music to place in that competition,” said Gendics, 17, a junior at Amherst Steele High School. “It’s crazy because usually you don’t see that style of music being played. We kind of rock it up a little bit. We played a rocked-up country song called ‘Take me to the Top.’ It’s a song we wrote with a great chorus and good harmonies. I think they appreciated that.”

Influenced by Marty Stuart and the Fabulous Superlatives, Brad Paisley, Keith Urban and Ricky Skaggs, Clarence and the Beekeepers earned a second-place cash prize of $1,500 with an additional $100 going to their respective high school music programs.

“We’ll probably going to buy a new piece of gear,” Gendics said.

It turned out playing the Rock Off is nothing new for Gendics and bandmate Durant, who were in not one but three “Final Exam” bands including Antimatter and Skippy’s on the Run.

Put in context, Gendics over the last few years has played in 11 Rock Off bands leading to a total of more than 15 Rock Hall performances.

When asked for the secret of playing

so many Rock Off dates, Gendics said, “I think it’s the attention to detail and timing for the covers and originals we do.”

As far as Gendics’ interest in performing, the apple doesn’t fall too far from the rock ’n’ roll tree considering his dad, Brad, is not only a local gigging musician but also owns Ron Zehl Guitar Center.

“Oh, it’s great,” Gendics said. “It’s like walking into a candy store every day. You can’t ask for a better setup than that.”

More so, the Avon Lake business in recent years has produced a cottage industry of High School Rock Off bands as part of its Rock Academy program.

“We’re very fortunate to have good families and students that believe in what we do,” Brad said. “We work very hard and put a lot of time and effort into our Rock

Senior honored for character, service

SARAH COLSON OBERLIN HIGH SCHOOL

Each month the Oberlin Rotary Club honors select students as “Senior of the Month.” These young people are recognized for their good character and positive attitude. They have contributed their time and energy to helping the school and community and are excellent role models. The Oberlin Rotary Club will donate $25.00 to a charity or project of the student’s choosing in their name.

The Oberlin High School senior honored for the month of February is Nathaniel Malakar.

Malakar has played varsity soccer throughout his Oberlin High School career. He has also played saxophone in the school band since 7th grade. For his International Baccalaureate (IB) personal project he formed a small ensemble with other sophomore friends. Despite the pandemic shut down, they were successful in recording three songs, though the logistics were very tricky. Malakar has also studied saxophone with Will Tabar at the Community Music School. He served as Class Treasurer for his junior and senior years, helping to organize the prom. He quickly learned that serving as a class officer involved serving the entire school population. He was involved with several fundraising projects to benefit the school. He is also active in the OHS ski club.

Outside of school, Malakar has worked in the Kendal at Oberlin dining room for the past two

years. He has enjoyed working at Kendal and interacting with the residents. He credits this experience with making him more thoughtful about the needs of others and more consciously aware of wanting to help others.

During the pandemic shut down, and at his father’s urging, he joined with Zooniverse to contribute to a couple of online citizen science projects, including classifying star orbits and image processing for selfdriving car technology.

Believing in the Rotary motto, “Service Above Self,” Malakar has been an active member of the Interact Club, sponsored by Oberlin Rotary, throughout his OHS career. He is currently serving as Interact Club Treasurer.

Malakar says being part of the BackPack Program, through Interact, has made him aware of food insecurity in his own community and provided him with an avenue to address that issue on a regular, weekly basis. Malakar has also served as the student representative on the Oberlin Schools Endowment Fund Board. He said helping to review grant proposals for the Board has been very interesting and allowed him to be part of funding programs that improve the student experience in the Oberlin schools.

Malakar has already been accepted to Ohio University and Cleveland State University, receiving that school’s President’s Scholarship.

He is still awaiting decisions from other colleges. He plans to major in mathematics or economics, with an eye toward teaching math or pursuing business administration.

Following years of altered plans due to the pandemic, Malakar says he is looking forward to a healthy and fun life after high school including lots of skiing!

Academy program. I think that shows.”

The Rock Academy puts bands together based on age, musicianship and musical genre.

The weekly hourlong rehearsals cover everything from timing and playing in tune to performing together as a band, stage presence and booking gigs.

The results speak for themselves with eight of this year’s 31 High School Rock Off bands having ties to Ron Zehl Guitar Center. The “Final Exam” included Rock Academy groups Clarence and the Beekeepers, as well as Antimatter and Skippy’s on the Run.

Brad Gendics said he wasn’t surprised Clarence and the Beekeepers placed among the tough competition.

“They’re a very good band that made

the finals last year and had very good comments and scores from the judges in the first round this year,” he said. “What makes them so special is Christian and Daniel are good guitar players.

“They can really pick. Ethan does a great job with the country feel on drums. Lincoln holds down the bottom end on bass very well. Country music has a different feel, and it has to be played correctly in order to sound good.”

As far as Christian is concerned, Brad Gendics is naturally a proud father.

“He practices and works so hard at it,” Brad said. “I’m so glad he can see his efforts rewarded.”

Considering how many bands he was in, not to mention playing baseball for the Comets, it turns out the young guitarist’s practice schedule as it relates to homework was a concern in the Gendics household.

“Yeah, that’s a problem,” Christian Gendics said. “My parents get on me for not doing school work. After baseball, I’ll come home and practice my stuff. Then once a week we have an hour practice with the band at the store.”

That Saturday practice schedule for him and his three Rock Off bands would end up being a three-hour affair, but he didn’t complain.

“This is what I want to do for a living — play music,” he said.

In the meantime, he’s thinking about next year’s High School Rock Off, which with Durant graduating means Clarence and The Beekeepers will need another guitarist in the fold.

“We’re always trying to look for ways to improve our performance,” Gendics said. “Hopefully we’ll get first place next year at the Rock Off.”

Scholastic Art Show ‘mini gallery’ opens at UH Elyria

ELYRIA — The walls of the UH Elyria Medical Center will be a lot more colorful for the next month, after representatives from the Lorain County Region Scholastic Art Show set up a traveling gallery there.

The temporary gallery opened March 5, with 65 works of art which were selected to be a part of the Region Scholastic Art Show hanging on the walls on the first floor of the center.

The works were selected by Beth Bryan, operations coordinator and gallery coordinator for Lorain County Community College’s Stocker Arts Center, and Christen Schneid, regional Scholastic affiliate and Vermilion High School art teacher.

“We’re so excited,” Bryan said. “Really honored is the better word.”

Although the show opened Sunday, most of the pieces have been up for around two weeks and Bryan had been there intermittently to set things up.

She said that over those couple of weeks, patients frequently wandered in to ask about the art and enjoy the gallery.

“I’ve been in the presence of people waiting for X-rays or other medical

procedures and gotten to hear their responses,” Bryan said. “They are loving it. It’s making them happy, it’s making them feel good when they might be nervous or struggling.”

Bryan and Schneid selected from the 650 works displayed at the full Region Scholastic Art Show which was held at the Stocker Arts Center. They said it was the first time that artwork from the show has traveled to be displayed elsewhere.

Members of the public were invited to the opening of the gallery, along with the students who made the pieces on display as well as their families.

“Some kids couldn’t make it to the big show, but they could make it to this,” Schneid said. “So they were really excited to come.”

Bryan said that the teachers she had

spoken with said their students were thrilled to have their art on display even after the Scholastic Art Show had closed.

An employee at UH visited the gallery at Stocker and came up with the idea to do a smaller additional show at the UH Elyria Medical Center. Bryan, Schneid and the other educators who help organize the regional Scholastic Show jumped at the chance to continue to show off what their students had done.

“It’s a great show and we’re happy to do it,” Schneid said.

The Scholastic Art Show Region headed by Schneid covers 22 schools in Lorain, Huron and Erie counties and the main show was sponsored by Nordson Corp. The gallery will remain open until the end of March.

PHOTO PROVIDED Beekeepers, from Left: Ethan Meszaros, Christian Gendics, Daniel Durrant, Lincoln Garrett

NATHANIEL MALAKAR

OWEN MACMILLAN THE CHRONICLE-TELEGRAM

OWEN MacMILLAN | The Chronicle-Telegram

Student artists and their families explore the art gallery at UH Elyria Medical Center on March 5.

Tax preparation

Oberlin Community Services will offer free federal tax help from 12-4 p.m. March 21, 28 and April 4 at Oberlin Community Services, 85 S. Professor St. Families and individuals making less than $60,000 per year can file for free through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program. Those with higher income may qualify for AARP’s Tax-Aide.

This clinic is open to Lorain County residents by appointment only — appointments last about 30 minutes and can be made by calling (440) 774-6579 during OCS business hours.

Amherst VFW Post 1662

165 Cleveland Ave. Amherst, OH 44001

(440) 988-8823

● Fish Fry Fridays March 10 to April 7, except March 17

Open to the public, serving 4:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Cash only and carry-outs available, call ahead to order.

● St. Patrick’s Day Dinner Open to the public, serving 3:00 - 7:00 p.m.

Corned Beef Dinner $12.00

Reuben Sandwich $10.00

Cash only and carry-outs available, call ahead to order.

C.S. Lewis and Friends

C.S. Lewis & Friends

BULLETIN BOARD

Book Group will meet at the Amherst Library at 7 p.m. March 14 in the DeLloyd room on the second floor. We will briefly finish our discussion of “A Grief Observed” and then discuss a sermon C.S. Lewis gave entitled “A Slip of the Tongue.” For more information on the group, and to receive a copy of the sermon via email, contact Marcia Geary at 440-9889803 or mgeary@geary lawllc.com

4-H

Lorain County 4-H clubs will host an open house 6-8 p.m. today at the Lorain County Joint Vocational School. 4-H is for youth ages 5-19, with a variety of programs and projects available including animals, computers, public speaking, cooking, art, gardening and STEM.

4-H Clubs meet nine to 12 months out of the year, one to two times per month. Lorain County has nearly 60 clubs. For more information visit lorain. osu.edu or call the Ohio State University Extension office at (440) 326-5851.

4-H week is March 5-11.

Herrick Memorial Library

The Herrick Memorial Library Board of Trustees will hold their next monthly board meeting on 10:30 a.m. March 13 in the Library’s Community Room. This meeting is open to the public.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

The Lorain County Community Guide Bulletin Board is for local nonprofit and not-for-profit events. Items are published on a space-available basis and will be edited for style, length, and clarity. Send your items to news@lcnewspapers.com

Amherst Golf League

The Amherst City golf league has openings for players for the upcoming season. Two man teams or singles to play as subs or regulars are needed. This is a men’s league, mostly retirees, for fun with competition. We play Tuesday afternoons at Forest Hills. Please contact Gregg at 440-277-7349 if interested.

Pancake breakfast

The Amherst Cross Country Girls team will host a pancake breakfast fundraiser from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. March 26 at the Amherst Eagles Club, 1161 Milan Ave. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for youth ages 3-10 and children 2 and under are free. Tickets can be purchased at the door or from any member of the girls team. Checks should be made payable to Amherst Athletic Boosters. Pancakes are all you can eat.

Oberlin Library

The Oberlin Public Library Board of Trustees will hold a regular meeting at the library at 5:00 p.m.

today. The meeting is open to the public.

Avon-Avon Lake Republican Club

At 6 p.m. today he AvonAvon Lake Republican Club is proud to present Lt. Gov. Jon Husted who will speak about Lorain County’s Role in high-tech manufacturing opportunities. Also speaking are state Reps. Gayle Manning, R-North Ridgeville, and Dick Stein, R-Norwalk at the Knights of Columbus Ragan Hall, 1783 Moore Rd. Avon. The Club meets on the second Thursday of each month. Snacks and Refreshments will be available. Members free and guests $5.

Knights of Columbus

● University Hospitals

Fitness Program Introduction will be presented at 7 p.m. March 16 in the Knights of Columbus Ragan Hall, 1783 Moore Rd. Avon. Renee Barrett, Fitness Professional with the Fitness Center, will present on Cardiovascular and Strength Training benefits, training methods and ways to keep you motivated. The 60,000 sq. ft. award-

winning UH Fitness Center has state-of-the-art fitness equipment, two pools, racquetball, a full-size gymnasium, tennis courts, more than 70 weekly group fitness classes and an indoor walking/running track. Please RSVP by 3/13 to rudybreglia@gmail.com.

Snacks and refreshments will be served. Public is welcome.

● “Knights at the Races” Event Takes Place at 7 p.m. March 25. Doors open at 5 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus Father Ragan Hall, 1783 Moore Rd. Avon.

Tickets are $25 per person for dinner and access to betting. Mail Checks to Father Ragan Hall, PO Box 224, Avon, OH 44011and Make Payable to Fr. Ragan Council #3269. For Reservations/Information Call Pete Catanese at (440) 4654946 RSVP by March 7 for Ads with Your Name(s), the Number Attending, Your Phone Number, email Address and Check.

● St. Patrick’s Day Corned Beef Dinner-ToGo cooked and served by Genuine Irish Leprechauns. $18 for Corned Beef Sandwich with Swiss Cheese on Rye; Kosher Dill Pickle, Cole Slaw, Horseradish, Mustard & Cake. Contact Pete at 440-465-4946/ pcatanese7@gmail.com or John at 440-725-7369 or john.pabin@gmail.com with #meals and pick up time from 4-7 p.m. March 17 at Father Ragan Hall, 1783 Moore Rd. Avon. Since only a limited number of meals are prepared, preorders are strongly recommended.

Avon Democratic Club

Join the Avon Democratic Club for our meeting on 6:30 p.m. April 13 at the Avon Senior Center at 36784 Detroit Rd. All are welcome.

Candidates Geoffrey Smith and Wayne R. Nicol will discuss their campaigns for Municipal Judge of the Avon Lake Courts. The Avon Lake Municipal Court serves Avon Lake, Avon and Sheffield Village.

To learn more about the ADC, visit our website at www.avonohdems.com.

Black River Audubon Society

● The Black River Audubon 65 Year Anniversary Outstanding Speaker program will feature wellknown naturalist, author

and birder Scott Weidensaul and his program “A World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds” at 3 p.m. March 25 at the Carlisle Reservation Visitor Center, 12882 Diagonal Rd., LaGrange. This program is free for members, $10 for nonmembers. Pre-registration for attendees is required and tickets can be purchased by following the link at www.blackriver audubon.org

Connecting for Kids

Connecting for Kids will host a resource fair 6-8 p.m. March 14 at Lorain County Community College, 1005 N. Abbe Rd., Elyria.

The organization hopes to bring awareness to providers in the community offering help to those struggling with ADHD, learning issues, autism spectrum disorder and other developmental delays.

The free event will feature more than 70 local providers including therapists, mental health professionals, funding sources, transition services, adapted summer camps and more for children birth through 22-years-old.

Families who pre-register and attend in-person will be entered to win a $100 VISA gift care. Pre-registration is available at connectingforkids.org/lorainresource-fair or by calling or texting (440) 570-5908.

Amherst

Public Library

● The Amherst Public Library Board of Trustees will hold a regular meeting at the library at 5:45 p.m. March 13. The meeting is open to the public.

● An Oscars Trivia Contest is now underway at the Amherst Public Library. Entry forms are available in the first floor Adult Services area through March 13, with statuettes throughout the first floor to find answers.

Correct and completed forms will be placed in a grant prize drawing for a Movie Night Pack, and bonus entries are available to those who find and check out a specially selected item. The contest is for those 16-and-older.

● Tabletop game time will meet at 5:30 p.m. March 14. The group, for teens and adults, meets the second Tuesday of every month.

for everyone’s health boys and girls, men and women.

Today, girls and women can play sports for fun. They also can compete and become professional athletes. But that was not always the case. Imagine being told that you can’t do something you love to do. Or that you are forced to wear clothing that

to do. Or that you can’t find anyone to play a sport with you. Or that you aren’t allowed on a golf course, a tennis court or other sporting fields.

How would all of that make you feel? Frustrated? Lonely?

That is how girls and women who enjoyed sports felt before the year 1972, a year of important change.

Would you want to play tennis dressed like this?

In the early 1900s, women wore long, heavy skirts that made it hard to run after a tennis ball.

It wasn’t just the skirts that were a problem, they also wore and blouses made with long sleeves and stiff collars. They were expected to wear jackets, heavy shoes, and even broad-brimmed hats.

What’s a corset?

A corset is a tight-fitting undergarment worn under a blouse.

Title IX Changes Girls’ Lives

Today, girls have equal access to playing sports at public schools because in 1972, the United States Congress signed into law that everyone in the United States, regardless of their gender, has equal rights to play sports. This law is called Title IX (Title IX is the same as Title 9. The number 9 is written in Roman numerals.)

Before and After Title IX

Before 1972, less that 300,000 girls participated in school sports in the United States. Write down the numbers on the correct path through the maze to discover how many girls participate in school sports.

Picture Puzzles

Women in Sports Collage

For one week, look through the newspaper for pictures and articles about women in sports. Cut these out and make a collage with everything you find.

1800s Today How many di erences can you nd between these two baseball players from di erent

Women’s Sports Moments

Babe Didrikson Zaharias is considered one of the greatest athletes of the last century. Few, if any, have matched her achievements in sports.

Babe was born on June 26, 1911. When she was young, most girls did not participate in sports. Babe loved sports. In her lifetime, she was an Olympic gold medalist in track and field, an All-American basketball player, a champion golfer and an extraordinary baseball player, swimmer, bowler, diver and tennis player.

A Running Start

When the news of the 1928 Olympic Games filled the newspapers, Babe decided to begin her own training. She practiced hurdles by soaring over seven hedges in her neighborhood. When one of the hedges was a bit too high, she asked the people who lived there to cut it down to the right size, and they did!

How many di erences can you nd between these two pictures?

win medals in two different sports at the same Olympic Games. She medaled in both swimming and diving. Some say she was the first athlete, male or female, to win two medals in the same Olympic Games.

Roman

Gol ng Great

Babe was an excellent golfer. From 1946-47, Babe won 13 tournaments in a row. Babe would go on to win 113 golf tournaments.

Standards Link: Read biographical text.

The Woman I Most Admire

2023 by Vicki Whiting, Editor Je Schinkel, Graphics