Lorain County Community Guide - March 17, 2022

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AMHERST NEWS-TIMES • OBERLIN NEWS-TRIBUNE • WELLINGTON ENTERPRISE Thursday, March 17, 2022

Submit items to news@LCnewspapers.com

Volume 9, Issue 11

Shoulder to shoulder for Ukraine

Bruce Bishop | Wellington Enterprise

Carlota Derifai of Amherst is the co-owner of Mad Batter Pastry Emporium 129 West Herrick St., Wellington. She showed some of the special items made to help raise money for the war in Ukraine.

Baking sunflower cookies for peace JASON HAWK EDITOR

WELLINGTON — Packing on the pounds with a doughnut or three this past weekend went to a good cause, as Mad Batter Pastry Emporium donated a big slice of its proceeds to a Ukrainian relief fund.

Carlota Derifaj and daughter Sasha Ford, co-owners of the West Herrick Avenue bakery, said they couldn’t just sit idly and watch the death and destruction being rained down by Russian troops.

“We need to do something, even if it’s little,” Derifaj said, choked up by news of Ukrainian children dying in the invasion. “They need a lot of stuff and a lot of support.”

Mad Batter decided to forward 30 percent of its profits from the weekend to Sunflower of Peace. The Boston-based charity started in 2015 to provide humanitarian aid to people affected by violence in Ukraine, helping orphans and displaced families as well as those BAKERY PAGE A3

With no end to hostilities in sight, co-owner Sasha Ford said the bakery expects to continue its fundraising.

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News staff Jason Hawk news@LCnewspapers.com Phone: 440-329-7122 Submit news to news@lcnewspapers.com Deadline: 10 a.m. Tuesday Send obituaries to obits@chroniclet.com

Kristin Bauer | Community Guide

Toni and Alex Pohuliaj stand next to Alex's sister Larissa Reidy, owner of Richard J. Reidy Funeral Home, for a portrait. Pohuliaj and Reidy have parents who fled the Ukraine after her grandparents and aunts and uncles were put to death by Soviets.

Children of Konstantine Pohuliaj watch Russian invasion in horror JASON HAWK EDITOR

LORAIN — The ghosts of her family’s tragic past cry along with Larissa Reidy as she watches news reports of Russian soldiers rolling over her ancestral homeland.

She can’t look away, and doesn’t want to, even when she sees footage of Ukrainian mothers and

children dying as they defend their homes.

The 62-year-old funeral home owner said she is fixated on the television every waking moment, flipping from channel to channel.

“I’ve been having a hard time sleeping with everything going on,” she said Tuesday. “Just kind of praying and wishing something would happen to Putin to stop the

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rived at the homestead and announced it was forfeit.

The Pohuliajes refused.

Reidy said her grandparents, aunts and uncles were forced at gunpoint to dig their own graves before being executed on the spot.

“They just lined them all up in front of their graves and shot them all,” she said in a flat voice.

Her brother, Alex POHULIAJ PAGE A2

Oberlin students stand in solidarity KEVIN MARTIN THE CHRONICLE-TELEGRAM

OBERLIN — Oberlin College students stood in solidarity with the people of Ukraine on Sunday, protesting the Russian invasion and calling on the administration to take action.

Speaking outside Wilder Hall with Ukrainian flags covering the steps, two Ukrainian students offered their testimony.

David Nasr-Zalubovsky spoke of Russian President Vladimir Putin, referring to him as “Putler,” combining his name with that of Adolf Hitler, and said despite his “dirty tactics” Ukraine has not given up and surrendered.

“Ukrainians did not abandon their arms and run back home as Putler recommended and instead, they fought ferociously from the onset of hostilities, despite all the odds against them, and are still sustaining without surrendering, and as we speak,” Photos by Angelo Angel | Chronicle Nasr-Zalubovsky said. “This event today is about Ukrainian native Diana Tymochko, a student at Oberlin our collective attitude and interest in leveling the College, speaks to a crowd Saturday on Wilder Bowl SOLIDARITY PAGE A3 about the Russian invasion of her homeland.

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slaughter.”

Reidy is a first-generation Ukrainian immigrant, who grew up exclusively speaking the language at home.

Her father, Konstantine Pohuliaj, was born in 1913 in Donetsk, and worked the family farm, growing wheat and raising cattle.

He studied to become a dentist. Konstantine was away at school in 1936 when Soviet soldiers ar-

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Thursday, March 17, 2022

Lorain County Community Guide

County convention board meets to learn DAVE O’BRIEN THE CHRONICLE-TELEGRAM

ELYRIA — The Lorain County Convention Facility Authority board met last week to discuss plans to build a convention center in the county.

Proponents, including the Lorain County Board of Commissioners, say a convention center could attract more business to the county.

Board Chairman Garry Gibbs, who also is director of the Lorain County Visitors Bureau, presented board members with two examples of convention centers in Western Pennsylvania that are a comparable distance away from each other but serve different purposes.

The large David L. Lawrence Convention Center on the banks of the Allegheny River in downtown Pittsburgh, and the smaller Monroeville Convention & Events Center in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, about 10 miles east of downtown Pittsburgh,

are a comparable distance from each other as the IX Center next to Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport in Cleveland is from Elyria.

The proper size and access to the right markets also are key. Gibbs said it is up to the board to determine the proposed size of the convention center and what kinds of shows it wants to attract: consumer shows versus trade shows.

The Monroeville Convention Center has catering facilities and can host up to 5,400 people in 100,000 square feet of space, according to its website. It is strategically located close to the Pennsylvania Turnpike, like Elyria is to the Ohio Turnpike, Interstate 90 and state Route 2.

Building the convention center next to an existing hotel or very close to one would be beneficial, Gibbs said, noting that Monroeville's convention center is attached to a Double Tree hotel with 191 rooms to rent and additional banquet space.

The board has not recommended a

location for the proposed convention center. It is up to the board to decide whether to recommend building a new building or renovating an existing one.

The Lorain County Board of Commissioners created the 11-member board in February. Its purpose, besides planning a proposed convention center, is to help convince Lorain County voters to pass Issue 7, a 3 percent hotel bed tax on the May 3 ballot. If approved, the tax would raise about $700,000 annually from a tax on those who rent hotel rooms in the county.

Commissioner David Moore, who attended Thursday's meeting as a guest, said he and fellow board members Matt Lundy and Michelle Hung appreciate the Convention Facilities Authority's work.

He said numerous distractions last summer prevented commissioners from marketing and explaining the tax proposal to voters. Issue 4, an identical proposal to this May's Issue 7, was defeated by voters in the November election by a 2-to-1 margin.

OBITUARIES The Rev. Blake Pinson The Rev. Blake Pinson, 90, passed from this life on Friday, March 11, 2022, at the East Kentucky Veterans Center in Hazard, Kentucky.

Mr. Pinson was born Sept.

21, 1931, to Mose and Mollie Little Pinson in Pike County, Kentucky.

Blake proudly served his country in the United States Army for two years.

After his Military Service, he worked for Ford Motor Company for 30 years in Ohio. Mr. Pinson had been an Ordained Minister since 1976, during this time he has pastored at Eversprings Baptist Church in Amherst and Antioch Baptist Church and Community Baptist Church in Antioch.

He was preceded in death by his parents; wife, Pearl Swiney Pinson; brothers, Bobby Ray Pinson, Victor Pinson, and Donald Pinson; sisters, Patty Bowlin and Nancy Bartley and a son-in-law, Mark Dalton.

Mr. Pinson leaves behind to cherish his memory, his sons, Randy Pinson of Bronston and Michael (Katrina) Pinson of Somerset; daughter, Gina Dalton of Albany; along with several grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and a host of friends and family members.

Visitation for Mr. Pinson was held Tuesday, March 15, 2022, at 5 p.m. in the Chapel of Southern Oaks Funeral Home. Funeral Services were conducted on Wednesday, March 16, 2022, at 11 a.m. in the Chapel of Southern Oaks Funeral Home. Interment immediately followed in the Somerset Cemetery. Military Honors were performed

by American Legion Post 38 Honor Guard.

Southern Oaks Funeral Home was entrusted with the arrangements for the Rev. Blake Pinson.

TANYA S. KNOBLE (nee Novak), 59, of Henrietta, passed away Monday, March 7, 2022, following a long battle with cancer.

JANICE M. WOHLEVER LAPINSKI (nee Mulder), 80, of Amherst, passed away Sunday, March 6, 2022, at New Life Hospice following a brief illness. Arrangements

by Hempel Funeral Home.

HAROLDENE SMITH (nee Brock), 80, and a former longtime resident of South Amherst, passed away Tuesday, March 8, 2022, at her assisted living residence in Elyria following a lengthy illness.

Rodney William Greene Rodney William Greene, 56, of Wellington, died unexpectedly Thursday, March 10, 2022. On Jan. 31, 1966, he was born in Bay Village, to William and Vada (nee Terry) Greene.

Rodney attended Oberlin High School and worked many years as a truck driver, most recently for A&R Transportation. He enjoyed riding Harleys and was a talented woodworker. His time was often spent outdoors, where he liked hunting, fishing, and hiking. Rodney's kids and grandkids were the pride and joy of his life.

Rodney is survived by his wife of almost 29 years, Rhonda; children, Reiley (Taquan) Greene of Elyria, Rachel (Cody) Greene of Continental, and Ryan Greene of New London; grandchildren, Ma'leo, Mila and Malakai Kirk and Isabelle Ferguson; mother, Vada Greene; siblings, Loretta (Jim) Rowe, Suzy (Dan) Lawson and Nancy (Randy) Willbond; father-in-law and mother-in-law, John and Iva Sherwood and many nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his father, William in 2014, and his nephew, Josh Brown.

Friends and family will be received on Tuesday, March 15, 2022 from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. at Norton-Eastman Funeral Home, 370 S. Main Street, Wellington. Funeral services will be held Wednesday, March 16, 2022 at 11 a.m. in the funeral home with burial following at Rochester Township Cemetery.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy can be shared for the Greene family at www.norton-eastman funeralhome.com.

OLGA MITCHELL (nee Krause), 72, a longtime resident of Amherst, was called home to be with the Lord on Sunday, March 6, 2022.

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

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

Two small churches joining

WELLINGTON — Two small non-denominational congregations are preparing to merge.

Awakening Church, started in Fall 2019, has been meeting in a Maple Street office building and will move into the former Christ Community Church on West Herrick Avenue, according to an announcement Friday. Pastor Marty Slocum said he plans to hold the combined churches’ first service there on Easter Sunday, which is April 17.

The move comes “after a year of un-decision” and prayer, Christ Community Church said on its Facebook page.

It’s been reeling since Pastor Gary West, 64, died of COVID-19 in January 2021.

The church had voted to dissolve, but West “never wanted to see the church doors close,” said his daughter, Candice Regal.

POHULIAJ

FROM A1 Pohuliaj, also of Lorain, said his father was pressganged and forced to dig tank trenches for the Russians for years. In 1943, Konstantine was sold to the Nazis and enslaved as an army dentist.

He survived despite beatings. Alex said his father was tortured when he insisted on giving Russian prisoners the same medical care afforded to the Germans.

After the war, while working for the British, Konstantine met his wife Elizabeth and Alex was born in a camp for displaced prisoners of war.

The family emigrated to the United States in 1952 when Alex was just a baby. He only has one memory from the trip — being given milk and doughnuts when stepping of the gangplank of a troop carrier in Brooklyn, New York.

Konstantine, who died in 1999, never talked about how his parents and siblings were murdered. Alex said he pieced together the family story later, as a college student studying history, government and the Russian language. His father talked about other horrors he’d witnessed, though.

“My dad always talked about the bombing of Dresden, and how the ground shook,” he said. “You can’t imagine the noise, the crying, the kids screaming, and you didn’t know if you were going to get hit.”

Likewise, Alex said few Americans can imagine how today’s Ukrainian refugees have been walking 30 or 40 miles to the Polish border to escape bombing by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces.

“We should support the Ukraine any way we can,” he said. “It was a free country. For thousands of years it fought for its independence, and now they’re trying to take it away again.”

Alex’s wife, Toni, is also Ukrainian and has family trapped there. Those relatives were safe as of last week, he said. His daughter also married an ethnic Ukrainian with family believed to be hiding in bunkers in Kharkiv, the nation’s second-largest city.

“Everyone is hunkering down and afraid,” Reidy said.

“The women out there are bearing arms right beside their husbands, defending their country.”

She isn’t sitting idly by.

Reidy has signed up to be a translator, and is on a list waiting to be called to Eastern Europe. She could be flown to Poland or a dozen other countries if needed.

In the meantime, she’s been collecting medicine and food to go to Ukraine, delivering loads to Pokrova Ukrainian Catholic Church in Parma.

Members of Disabled American Veterans Chapter 20 of Lorain pitched in Tuesday, loading down a truck with canned goods, clothing, wheelchairs and strollers. They used $350 in cash donations Monday night at Sam’s Club to fill up a cart with diapers, baby wipes, feminine products, toothpaste and deodorant, all being trucked to Richard J. Reidy Funeral Home and then on to Ukraine.

“It saddens me that we have to watch something like this in the 21st century. Our hearts go out to the Ukrainian people,” said veteran and DAV Commander Don Attie.

He’s especially angry that half of refugees are women and children — not soldiers — being purposefully targeted by Putin’s forces to demoralize the Ukrainian citizenry.

“This man is just absolutely ruthless, bombing places that have no military presence at all,” Attie said. “He has the whole world’s attention.”

Reidy also called Putin “an evil tyrant” who “must be stopped at all costs.”

She said she can’t pick up arms, but can pick up medicine and food, the two most-desperately needed items right now, and won’t stop until the Russian military has been turned back and Ukraine is once again free.

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Ohio getting ready to take in Ukraine refugees JASON HAWK EDITOR

Would you open your home to Ukrainian refugees?

Frederick James would — the Disabled American Veterans Lorain Chapter 20 member said his family has already discussed making room in its Berlin Heights house for people fleeing the Russian military’s assault.

“We talked about taking in a female with a couple of kids, you know?” he said. “We have room.”

James has tried contacting Ukrainian churches in Cleveland to offer his help, and found the phone lines tied up.

At St. Mary’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Lorain, the phone has been ringing off the hook with people looking to help Ukrainians through donations, and some have expressed an interest in opening their doors to refugees, said V Rev. Dmitri Belenki.

“I’m spending a lot of time talking to people in Ukraine,” he said, and his feeling is monetary gifts are doing the most immediate good, especially when directed to the people who are defending their homes from invaders.

Belenki said he’d like to see the city of Lorain partner with a suburb of Kyiv called Brovary, which has been under attack since the beginning of the Russian invasion.

He said he wants St. Mary’s to be involved in aiding refugees at every step, including welcoming them to Ohio if the opportunity arises.

“It’s not just an obligation, it’s our people,” he said. “It’s our

Photos by Kristin Bauer | Community Guide

Don Attie, commander of Disabled American Veterans Chapter 20 in Lorain, rallies fellow veterans who collected donations for people fleeing Ukraine. Frederick James, who owns the truck, is on the far left. family.”

Those efforts are about to get some assistance from the state of Ohio. Gov. Mike DeWine has directed the Department of Job and Family Services to convene a March 17 summit of service organizations to prepare to welcome refugees from Ukraine, if asked.

“Like many Ohioans, I am disgusted by the senseless aggression of the Russian military and want to support Ukrainian families being driven out of their country,” he said in an announcement Tuesday. “While we do not yet know what role Ohio will play in helping these families, I want us to be prepared when the time does come.”

Refugee programs are federally run. But Job and Family Services has a program that works as a bridge between

local resettlement agencies and the federal government, and also helps refugees adjust socially and economically once they arrive.

The United Nations Refugee Agency helps screen and direct candidates to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which conducts face-to-face interviews with applicants. Those who are approved are assigned to non-government organizations such as churches that help them find places to live, jobs and support systems to make sure they become self-sufficient.

Belenki said he suspects refugees that are brought into Ohio will be placed in cities like Parma or Lorain that have large Ukranian populations.

“There is somebody there who can a prayer in their own language, who can hear good words

Interested in Lorain County historical heroes?

Amanda Davidson of the Lorain County Historical Society will talk about the heroes of Lorain County at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 19 at the Ritter Public Library, 5480 Liberty Ave., Vermilion. The event is sponsored by the Sons of the American Revolution Firelands Bicentennial Chapter. The public is invited to attend.

BAKERY

FROM A1 most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Right now, with space on Ukrainebound flights extremely limited, Sunflower of Peace is making medical supplies its top priority.

Ford said the nonprofit is known for making tactical first aid kits for people on the front line, where the worst of the fighting is underway.

To do its part, the Wellington bakery sold sunflower cookies and cupcakes to celebrate Ukraine’s national flower.

“We stand with the people of Ukraine,” Mad Batter posted to its Facebook page with a yellow-and-blue flag icon.

Customers were eager to help. Though Ford stuffed the bakery to the ceiling with 12 dozen of everything, the stock was nearly sold out in the first three hours of business Friday, and she was preparing to spend the night replenishing the supply.

Derifaj said it breaks her heart she cannot do more to directly help the victims of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression in Ukraine.

While news footage of women and children being attacked should be enough to move anyone, Derifaj said there is a deeper reason why she is disturbed by the invasion. She remembers what happened to her father, who grew up in Italy during World War II. “My dad used to tell me when he was a child what was happening in Italy when he was little,” and the parallels between the playbooks used by former dictator Benito Mussolini and Putin are unmistakable, she said.

Derifaj said her great-grandparents fled to another city to escape the Axis onslaught. “To think about it, how everything was going then and compare it to what we’re seeing now, it’s scary,” she said.

Warnings have been passed down through the generations about dangers in Eastern Europe, Derifaj said. Now her extended family in Croatia, Hungary and Romania and seeing Ukrainian refugees as worries of a wider-spread conflict grow.

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in their language,” he said.

But while the U.S. has a long history of welcoming refugees — “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” proclaims the poem inscribed on the Statue of Liberty — the number has dwindled to an all-time low in recent years.

Unless there is a drastic change in policy in response to Russia’s aggression, only 125,000 refugees will be allowed into the country this year, according to the U.N. That’s the highest number since 1993. Last year, only 11,411 refugees were welcomed through the “golden door” Lady Liberty proclaims to hold open.

About 500 Ukrainians have been resettled in Ohio since 2018, mostly in Cleveland, DeWine’s office said.

Now more than 2 million

Ukrainians have fled their country since the Russian military attacked, according to the U.N. — and that number is growing by the day.

That’s about 4 percent of the country’s population, mostly women and children, that so far has left in search of safety.

It would be comparable to 1.3 million Americans flooding over our borders into Canada or Mexico.

A Reuters and Ipsos poll fielded after President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address showed 74 percent of Americans believe the U.S. should take in Ukrainians forced from their homes by the Russian attacks.

For many, like James, their support stems from seeing the issue as black and white, good versus evil.

“We’ve got to stop Putin. He’s an evil man,” James said while talking about the decision to open his house to refugees.

An army veteran who served from 1968 to 2012, with tours in Vietnam, the Middle East and Germany, he said he’s seen the destruction war can bring.

In his March 1 speech, Biden also reflected on the destruction being rained down on the Ukrainian people.

“From President (Volodymyr) Zelenskyy to every Ukrainian, their fearlessness, their courage, their determination literally inspires the world,” he said.

“Groups of citizens blocking tanks with their bodies. Everyone from students to retirees, to teachers turned soldiers defending their homeland. And in this struggle — President Zelenskyy said in his speech to the European Parliament, ‘Light will win over darkness.’”

SOLIDARITY

FROM A1 playing field and strengthening Ukrainian’s defense capabilities to sustain the fight until the aggressor comes home with no return.”

Born in a free Ukraine, Nasr-Zalubovsky said he would like to see the country’s future continue on a path of self-determination, “neither a satellite state of Russia nor hostage of the new East-West Cold War.” He called on the International Court of Justice to take action against Putin for war crimes, noting his historical record.

“Although his ultimate goal is unclear, there seems to be little doubt that he is bent on redrawing the map of Europe,” Nasr-Zalubovsky said.

Diana Tymochko, a native of western Ukraine, said while no one expected the war to reach this part of the country due to the proximity to NATO countries, her hometown was the one that got covered in smoke and fire from exploding missiles underscoring the situation.

However, she added the wars between the territory making up Ukraine and Russia have been happening intermittently for centuries and with the war being used as an attempt to destroy Ukrainian identity, culture and nationhood Ukrainians still feel abandoned despite the world taking notice after staying silent until 18 years ago.

For Ukrainians abroad, there is, she says, a feeling of guilt for not screaming louder to force the world to take more action.

“That is why I'm standing here right now

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in front of you and speaking to you. I am grateful to everyone who reached out to me and is checking in on me and asking me how I feel. But unfortunately, the question is irrelevant, because like every one of you, I'm here right now. And when I go to bed today, I don't have to worry from waking up from the explosions; I don't have to worry that Russian missiles will be the hole in my roof or wipe away my existence,” Tymochko said.

This is reality for 45 million people who have to constantly worry about what tomorrow will bring and if they will have to flee or fight to find resources.

“And instead of asking me how I feel, please ask me how can you help,” she said.

Student organizers have been collecting donations in support of Ukraine in addition to drafting two petitions.

The petitions call on Oberlin College to contribute a dollar for dollar match to all donations made by Oberlin College students in addition to divesting from the Russian military industrial complex. The petition also asks for the establishment of a fund by Oberlin College to support Ukrainian students whose livelihoods are in jeopardy.

Additional requests include supporting financial aid packages to bring Ukrainian students to Oberlin College and support for Ukrainian scholars to come teach and work at Oberlin College.

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Thursday, March 17, 2022

Lorain County Community Guide

Two members pulled from Underground Railroad panel

OBERLIN — In a rare move, Oberlin City Council chose last week to remove two members of its Underground Railroad Center commission.

Barbara Mehwald and Joseph Peek were voted off the board at the request of Chair Jessie Reeder and Secretary Chris Yates.

Law Director Jon Clark said the city charter allows board and commission members to be removed from their jobs under two circumstances — for wrongdoing, in which case they are entitled to a public hearing, or if they fail to attend three straight meetings.

The latter is the case here, according to Clark and a memo sent to Council requesting Mehwald and Peek be removed.

In a follow-up vote, Courtney Cannon Scott and Carol Lasser were appointed to replace them on the Underground Railroad Center commission.

Terms on that body are open-ended and do not expire.

Easter Bunny and pancakes

A pancake breakfast with the Easter Bunny will be held from 8 a.m. to noon on Sunday, April 3 at the Marion L. Steele High School cafeteria in Amherst.

Sponsored by the Comets girls cross country team, the event will include all-you-can-eat pancakes. Carry-outs will be available on request. There will also be baskets for raffle. Be sure to take a camera for photos with the Easter Bunny.

Tickets can be purchased from any member of the team. The cost is $8 for adults, $5 for ages 3-10 and free for kids ages 2 and under.

State of the City

Amherst Mayor Mark Costilow has announced he will deliver his annual State of the City address to Council when it meets at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 28 at Town Hall.

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Retired Marine turned barber is packing for Ukraine relief mission JASON HAWK EDITOR

WELLINGTON — Jason Keith’s wife had to stop him from picking up arms under a blue and yellow flag.

The retired Marine Corps corporal, who served in Desert Storm and then Somalia from 1989 to 1993, said he was ready to fight on the front lines to defend Ukraine.

Now the 51-year-old Avon Lake native and owner of Colonial Barber Shop in Wellington plans instead of fly to Warsaw, Poland, and then to Ukraine on a humanitarian mission.

“I wanted to go over and help in one way or another,” Keith said Monday, with harsh words for Russian President Vladimir Putin. “I don’t think the big bully should go in and push everybody out just because he wants it. And all the civilians who are stuck in the middle, it’s not fair to them, either.”

Keith is waiting for his departure date next week to be set in stone. He’s packing to go with volunteers from Church of Evangelic Faith to help feed, cloth and transport some of the millions of refugees fleeing war-torn Ukraine.

The Parma church was founded by immigrants who left Ukraine and other

Applications and information are available on our website:

Bruce Bishop | Wellington Enterprise

Jason Keith, a retired Marine Corpsman and owner of Colonial Barber Shop in Wellington, is heading to Ukraine.

Iron Curtain nations after the fall of the former Soviet Union. They resettled in Northeast Ohio, and now their sons and daughters are watching as their ancestral lands are once more invaded.

The plan had been to push into Kyiv to provide aid there, but that plan was scrapped due to bombing and missile strikes.

Because of his military background, Keith said he has some idea of what to expect.

“Complete and total chaos,” he said. “People are going to be looking for aid in any way they can get it,” while others will be skeptical and won’t accept help even if

they’re desperate.

Mykola Kachaluba is director of the church’s Brook of Hope ministry, which has been collecting warm clothing, shoes, hygiene items, medicine and even military equipment such as vests and helmets to forward on to Ukraine.

So far, the ministry has collected 110 pallets full of goods, which is enough to fill three shipping containers. Kachaluba said he expects to fill another four by next week.

Ukrainians are leaving their homes with just one suitcase in hand, or in many cases none at all, he said. Millions have fled without so much as a toothbrush.

“The most important to address is the medical need. They have such a big medical need,” he said.

Plasma, bandages and over-the-counter painkillers are in huge demand, said Kachaluba.

Keith and others will join up with volunteers from a network of churches to deliver the supplies in unfriendly terrain, he said.

For Keith, sending a $100 check to clear his conscience wasn’t enough. He felt he had to go and use his hands.

“I have to go help these people,” he said. “It seemed to me like nobody else was helping.”

PRAYING FOR PEACE

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LEGALS LEGAL AD The City of Lorain is seeking proposals for the City of Lorain Pellet Terminal Redevelopment Project and Brownfield Program.

A complete proposal information packet can be obtained at https://www.cityoflorain.org/ Bids.aspx Firms interested in being considered for an Agreement to provide the required services should reply with a formal proposal no later than 12:00 PM, April 1, 2022. Proposals received after this deadline will not be considered.

Proposals shall be transmitted to: City of Lorain Engineering Department 200 West Erie Avenue, 4th Floor Lorain, Ohio 44052 Name: City of Lorain Pellet Terminal Redevelopment Project and Brownfield Program As required by Ohio Revised Code §153.65-71, responding firms will be evaluated and ranked in order of their qualifications. Following this evaluation, The City of Lorain will enter into contract negotiations with the most highly qualified firm.

By order of the Director of Safety/Service L.C.C.G. 3/10-17/22 20698427 LEGAL AD The City of Lorain is seeking

proposals for the City of Lorain Former St. Joseph Hospital Assessment and Brownfield Program.

A complete proposal information packet can be obtained at https://www.cityoflorain.org/ Bids.aspx Firms interested in being considered for an Agreement to provide the required services should reply with a formal proposal no later than 12:00 PM, April 1, 2022. Proposals received after this deadline will not be considered.

Proposals shall be transmitted to: City of Lorain Engineering Department 200 West Erie Avenue, 4th Floor Lorain, Ohio 44052 Name: City of Lorain Former St. Joseph Hospital Assessment and Brownfield Program As required by Ohio Revised Code §153.65-71, responding firms will be evaluated and ranked in order of their qualifications. Following this evaluation, The City of Lorain will enter into contract negotiations with the most highly qualified firm.

By order of the Director of Safety/Service L.C.C.G. 3/10-17/22 20698487 LEGAL AD The City of Lorain is seeking proposals for the City of Lorain Stove Works Brownfield Revitalization and Brownfield Program.

A complete proposal information packet can be obtained at https://www.cityoflorain.org/ Bids.aspx Firms interested in being considered for an Agreement to provide the required services should reply with a formal proposal no later than 12:00 PM, April 1, 2022. Proposals received after this deadline will not be considered.

Proposals shall be transmitted to: City of Lorain Engineering Department

200 West Erie Avenue, 4th Floor Lorain, Ohio 44052 Name: City of Lorain Stove Works Brownfield Revitalization and Brownfield Program As required by Ohio Revised Code §153.65-71, responding firms will be evaluated and ranked in order of their qualifications. Following this evaluation, The City of Lorain will enter into contract negotiations with the most highly qualified firm.

By order of the Director of Safety/Service L.C.C.G. 3/10-17/22 20698486 PUBLICATION OF LEGISLATION The following is a summary of legislation adopted by Lorain City Council on March 7, 2022.

The complete text of each item may be viewed or purchased in the Clerk of Council Office @ Lorain City Hall, 200 W. Erie Ave., Lorain, OH, during normal business hours or contact Breanna Dull @ 204-2050 (Breanna_Dull@cityoflorain. org). The following summary of legislation passed has been reviewed/approved by the Law Director for legal accuracy as required by state laws.

Resolution 14-22 Supporting the people of Ukraine and condemning the invasion of the democratic independent country of Ukraine. 15-22 Designating the first Monday of March as COVID-19 Victims & Survivors Memorial Day. Ordinance 31-22 Auth the S/S Director to apply for, accept & enter into a WSRLA Agreement for the construction of the 2022 Lead Service Line Replacement Project. 32-22 Auth the S/S Director to enter into contracts w/ the lowest & best bidder for the rehab of certain roadways in connection w/ OPWC Round 35. 33-22* Appropriation. (*Denotes legislation was passed as an emergency.)

L.C.C.G. 3/17-24/22 20698710

Photo by Kristin Bauer | Community Guide

V. Rev. Dmitri Belenki, head priest at St. Mary’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Lorain, speaks to a group gathered in front of Lorain City Hall and leads it in prayer during a candlelight vigil on Wednesday, March 9. A large Ukrainian flag was displayed for the country and those affected by the Russian invasion. The vigil was attended by Lorain city officials, community leaders, residents and others who held signs and candles showing their support, many of whom are from Ukraine or of Ukrainian decent.

Council to free up 1990s mystery cash AMHERST — About $8,500 has been sitting in a city bank account for more than two decades, untouched, and no one remembered quite what it was for.

Now Amherst City Council is taking steps to free up that long lost cash, which it turns out had been left over from a park project in the late 1990s.

“I’ve looked at those accounts

the whole time I’ve been mayor, and wondered why the money is there,” Mayor Mark Costilow said after asking the Finance Committee last week to move the funds.

While working on the 2022 budget with help from Amherst Auditor Derek Pittak, he found the money was part of about $313,000 in combined grants and city cash.

It had been set aside almost a

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quarter-century ago for construction of a kiddie pool at Maude Neiding Park on Cleveland Avenue, and a parking lot expansion there.

When that project was finished under budget, the remainder was left in limbo. Pending a Council vote, it will be moved into the city’s General Fund, where it can be used however it’s needed.

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Thursday, March 17, 2022

Lorain County Community Guide

Page A5

Firelands moving to crack down on Falcons branding Gibson. “We’re not ‘The Lands.’”

The variant has appeared on Firelands baseball and basketball uniforms, he said. It’s on warm-up gear. It’s used on Athletic Director Ty Stillman’s Twitter account.

The offshoot nickname was even worn on the floor of Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in February when the Falcons took on the Vermilion Sailors at the home of the Cavaliers, causing some confusion.

“We’re not Cleve-lands, we’re Fire-lands,” Gibson said.

The Falcons’ colors are red and white, and arguably black.

Even those colors have started to be diluted recently, mainly with uniforms bought by private donors, said board member Ellen

JASON HAWK EDITOR

SOUTH AMHERST — Are they “The Lands” or “The Falcons”?

There are too many team uniform designs for the Firelands Board of Education’s taste, and a slew of versions being used for its iconic falcon mascot.

And now some teams have even started going by the name “The Lands,” which is clouding the district’s identity, board members complained last week.

“It’s getting out of hand, and the last thing I want to see is ‘The Lands’ on the wall of our new building,” said board member Ben

◄ The use of this “The Lands” name and logo in place of the traditional Firelands Falcons has the Board of Education moving to make sure its branding is consistent.

Gundersen.

“When I talk to people who are alumni, they don’t like it,” she said.

The goal isn’t to upset donors or insult them by rejecting expensive gifts, the school board said — but big-ticket donations should be vetted far in advance to make sure

they fit Firelands’ branding.

That would avoid another situation where the Falcons wear red, white and black camouflage uniforms as they did a few years back, which put a bad taste in Gibson’s mouth.

Booster clubs should be able to continue selling fans gear with whatever designs and colors they wish, said board President Mike O’Keefe. That’s not the focus.

Instead, board member Dan

Pycraft is calling for a branding protocol to be put in place, and to be enforced with Stillman and coaching staff.

There can still be exceptions to the official color scheme and logo, so long as they go through the proper channels, he said.

Gundersen said all donations should go through the board, not athletic staff, and donated uniforms should be approved in advance by either the board or its designee.

But donors shouldn’t get to reshape Firelands’ identity, she said.

“If a private donor wants to decide the uniforms, I want Admiral King,” she said, facetiously. “Give me blue and gold. Blue and gold, is that OK?”

Firelands talks plans Admitted voyeur Paul Churchill for bus garage, field gets early release from prison house, future schools state of Ohio without permission of his probation officer and must pay $1,200 in supervision Paul fees, accordChurchill ing to court records.

Churchill pleaded guilty to 12 felony and misdemeanor charges in Cook's courtroom in September 2021. The guilty pleas came after authorities charged him with planting hidden cameras in his bathroom.

The cameras were found to have recorded eight adults and four children.

Cook sentenced Churchill to 18 months in prison in December, saying at the Dec. 15 sentencing hearing that he didn't know "how this community wouldn't think some prison sentence is warranted."

At least two of Churchill's victims agreed. One called his conduct "inexcusable and irreversible" in a statement to the court, while another said she continues to be nervous using public restrooms because she

STAFF REPORT

JASON HAWK EDITOR

SOUTH AMHERST — A new bus garage and district office are top priorities as the Firelands Board of Education tries to map out the future of its Vermilion Road campus.

As part of their master planning process, elected officials debated options last week for how they could someday soon fit both facilities to the east of the new Firelands High School, which will open in August.

The entire school system is preparing to go through an incredible evolution this summer. Not only is it preparing to open the $23 million high school, but teachers are also getting ready to vacate the old South Amherst Middle School on Route 113.

They’ll be moving into the old high school in nearby Henrietta Township, which is being retrofitted for middle-schoolers.

“It will be new for everybody,” said Superintendent Mike Von Gunten.

There will be open houses for the families of Firelands’ roughly 1,000 students in grades six to 12, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the brand-new FHS is being planned for 5-6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 31 so the general public can see the building, too.

Changes and additions to the Vermilion Road property will continue for years to come. The board has discussed multiple maps that show how a field house, parking, practice fields and transportation offices could all be placed.

Tentative plans to someday tear down the old Firelands Elementary on the south side of the property and construct another school on the north side are informing how the puzzle will fit together, said board President Mike O’Keefe. Practical considerations are steering that vision.

“We need a bus garage way before we tear down the elementary school,” he said.

It’s Firelands’ top priority, he said.

No budget, concept drawings or engineering have been green-lighted yet, but the board is looking at putting the transportation hub’s foot-

LUNCH DEAL

print just to the northeast of Falcons Stadium.

A field house for football, soccer, baseball, softball and track and field teams is also in the works.

O’Keefe said it’s being planned in two phases — locker rooms and restrooms first, and an indoor turf field second.

“We’re looking at getting prices now,” he said, estimating the price at between $500,000 and $1.2 million, based on pre-pandemic numbers.

Board member Ellen Gunderson pressed hard on how the setup would be built out, and whether previous boards had attempted to sell naming rights to athletic facilities.

She was particularly concerned with the traffic pattern as students walk back and forth to athletic facilities.

For now, O’Keefe said the focus isn’t on the details, but on a general plan for where buildings should go, and how to best spread out facilities to avoid clutter.

“I know it’s a living thing and ideas are going to come up,” he said.

Preserving the past The Firelands Endowment Fund has approved $90,000 toward the creation of an outdoor classroom and alumni wall, Von Gunten reported.

The idea is to create a semicircular courtyard half-ringed with a 60-foot-long stone bench that can seat 30 to 35 students, he said. The outdoor learning space could also be used for community get-togethers, and will have lighting and power.

While a designed has yet to be finalized, the alumni wall will have inset screens to display class photos and other digitized images from not only the district’s past, but also the former South Amherst Schools.

The districts were merged in 1988.

Von Gunten said he’s been in contact with the South Amherst High School Alumni Association and South Amherst Historical Society about taking trophies, old uniforms, photos and other relics to preserve.

Many of those items have been on display or in storage for years at South Amherst Middle School, but will need a new home when the 112-year-old building closes this summer.

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A Henrietta Township man who admitted planting a hidden camera in a bathroom that captured images of nude children and adults has been released from prison early.

Paul Churchill, 32, of state Route 511, filed a motion for early release in Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Chris Cook's court in January, according to court records, less than one month after being sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Cook granted the motion on Thursday and ordered Churchill released Friday, March 4, according to court records.

He placed Churchill on five years' probation, to be supervised by Lorain County Adult Probation officers through March 4, 2027.

Churchill ended up serving 48 days in prison. A message seeking comment was left for Churchill's attorney, Michael Kinlin, but was not returned.

By Cook's order, Churchill is forbidden from leaving the

ODOT working on Route 2 Paving of state Route 2 from just east of Baumhart Road in Brownhelm Township to just east of Route 58 in Amherst, has kicked off this week and will continue through May, the Ohio Department of Transportation announced.

It will require daily and nightly single-lane closures.

Traffic will be maintained in 11-foot lanes at all times.

Safety Town registration

Registration for Amherst’s 2022 Safety Town program is now open.

This year’s classes will be held the weeks of June 6 and June 20 for children who will be entering kindergarten in the fall at an Amherst school, or who reside within the city of Amherst.

Registration forms will be available at www.amherstpolice.net and will be included in the Amherst Schools’ kindergarten registration packet given out during school sign up.

Hospice seeks volunteers

Volunteers are needed at Hospice of the Western Reserve. It is seeking new volunteers to serve patients and families in hospice and palliative care programs throughout northern Ohio. Various opportunities are

feels like she is being watched.

"I can't take that pain back," Churchill said in court Dec. 15. "I regret every step of what I did."

Under Ohio law, Churchill had the right to file for judicial release immediately upon being delivered to state prison because his sentence was under two years.

Churchill also was labeled a Tier II sex offender, meaning he must register with his local sheriff's office every 180 days for the next 25 years.

Churchill's wife filed for divorce in Lorain County Domestic Relations Court in August 2021.

Churchill was convicted of installing hidden cameras in two different counties.

After one of Churchill's friends found a camera in their Erie County home and alerted the Erie County Sheriff's Office, Churchill pleaded guilty to felony possession of criminal tools and misdemeanor voyeurism. He was sentenced to six months in the Erie County Jail and five years' probation by Erie County Common Pleas Judge Tygh Tone in May 2021.

available and may vary by location; there are also virtual and non-clinical opportunities to serve.

To start the process of joining the team, visit www. hospicewr.org/volunteer or call (216) 255-9090.

Red Cross asks for blood

For a limited time, the American Red Cross has resumed testing all blood, platelet and plasma donations for COVID-19 antibodies.

Plasma from routine donations that have high levels of the antibodies may be used as convalescent plasma to help meet the needs of COVID-19 patients with weakened immune systems.

At the same time, the blood supply remains vulnerable, and the Red Cross is urging people to schedule a blood or platelet donation so hospital patients can receive the care they need. To make an appointment, use the Red Cross Blood Donor App, visit RedCrossBlood.org or call (800) 733-2767.

All who give blood or platelets in March will get a $10 Fanatics e-gift card and will automatically be entered for a chance to win a trip for two to the 2022 MLB All-Star Game in Los Angeles. The package includes two tickets to the game, All-Star Saturday and the Home Run Derby, round-trip airfare, fournight hotel accommodations for July 16-20 and a $750 gift card for expenses.

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Page A6

Lorain County Community Guide

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ESP Brewery ready to open on Route 58 JASON HAWK EDITOR

AMHERST TWP. — A chemist whose passion is turning hops into liquid gold, Larry Esper Jr. had big dreams in January 2020 of building a brewery.

But the COVID crisis was lurking just around the corner. Just like everyone else, Esper found his plans suddenly on hold.

“COVID really slowed us down. I thought everything was going to go real smooth and quick, and then everything was delayed,” he said. “We got locked down, and one delay led to another.”

After a long two years riddled with supply chain headaches, the Lorain native and business partner Jim Oesterman of Wellington were found last week sweeping floors and moving stools into place in front of the bar at ESP Brewing Co. If all goes well, they were hoping to do a soft opening for St. Patrick’s Day, with doors thrown wide open by the end of March.

“It took way longer than we thought it would take,” Oesterman said. “But it’s been a lot of fun.”

Located at 8055 South Leavitt Rd., next to the Lorain County Visitors Bureau, the 4,000-square-foot brewhouse is designed to let customers see the beer-making process in action.

Esper uses a five-barrel system, capable of making batches of about 1,240 beers, “and it’s going to get bigger quickly,” he said, showing off the large vats where ingredients were being fermented.

ESP will feature wheat beers, ales, and a few lagers, porters, stouts and IPAs. “We’re here for the beer. That’s what the sign says,” said Esper. “And I enjoy making it. I think it’s quite fascinating,

LB.

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Jason Hawk | Amherst News-Times

Larry Esper Jr. of Lorain and Jim Oesterman of Wellington stand behind the bar at the new ESP Brewing Co. on Route 58 in Amherst Township, which after a long delay caused by the pandemic is set to open this month.

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Military history fair

The Wellington High School Civil War History Club will hold a military history fair from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, March 19 at the school 629 North Main St. See static displays and re-enactors. Tentative exhibits will focus on the Civil War, the Spanish flu of 1918, the battle of Thermopylae, women in the Civil War, Confederate soldiers, the Pennsylvania “Bucktails,” General Ulysses S. Grant and more. There will also be a bake sale.

Admission is by $4 suggested donation.

Children ages 10 and under are free. Proceeds will benefit the club for Gettysburg field study.

No military artifacts will be for sale.

‘Death in Yellowstone’

The Wellington Reservation Book Club will meet at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 14 at the Lorain County Metro Park’s visitor center on Jones Road.

Readers will discuss “Death in Yellowstone: Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park” by Lee H. Whittlesey.

Learn about the 1890s Willard-Wells feud

“Truth Telling: Frances Willard and Ida B. Wells” will be presented by the Oberlin Heritage Center at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 29.

This free Zoom event will focus on journalist and anti-lynching activist Ida B. Wells, who made headlines in the mid-1890s for her public

the chemistry and the microbiology that has to happen.”

That’s his area of expertise. While COVID-19 pushed back the launch of his brewery, it also kept him busy in his other line of work, lab-testing hospital patients for the virus.

But his true love is beer, and Esper has the travel receipts to show for it. He’s toured the country, visiting more than 300 breweries over the years — and has incorporated some of the best features he found into the new Route 58 business.

A big one is a garage door that opens onto a fenced patio with picnic tables, planter boxes and space for cornhole tournaments.

Another focus was on sustainability.

Being environmentally-friendly helps to keep the costs down, said Esper, so overhead lights are high-efficiency LEDs and reclaimed materials have been used to finish the interior.

Among them is a 100-year-old mahogany bar found in Canton. Salvaged wood on one wall adds a rustic feel.

There’s even a section of old bowling alley flooring that’s been repurposed as a countertop.

A small and simple kitchen sits off to the side for making lighter fair — no fryers — such as flatbread pizza, paninis, hot dogs, bangers and brats.

Hidden around the taproom are tiny totems placed by the builders. Customers can grab a scavenger hunt sheet at the bar and hunt for a small Yoda, Tinkerbell, concrete mixer, replica ship and other items placed by those who built the brewery.

“That’s really what this is all about,” said Esper. “I want to make the taphouse a community place.” criticism of Frances Willard, president of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. Wells accused Willard of making racist remarks and not denouncing lynching. The two women, one Black and one white, were drawn together in the cause for women’s rights but divided by race, privilege, age and priorities.

Lori Osborne, director of the Frances Willard House Museum and the Center for Women’s History and Leadership, will deliver a 45-minute presentation in honor of Women’s History Month. It is based on the award-winning exhibit “Truth Telling: Frances Willard and Ida B. Wells,” which explores the context, timeline, and impact of this dispute. Locals may know that Willard lived in Oberlin as a very young girl while her parents attended Oberlin College, a claim she later used to try and defend herself against the accusations of racism.

The presentation will be followed by Q&A session. Register at www.tinyurl.com/ WillardWells to receive the Zoom link.

School is back on

Reminder: Due to a change to the district calendar, Wellington students will have school on Friday, March 18.

Park gates open

South Amherst Community Park is now open for the season. Hours are from dawn to dusk.

Pets are allowed but must be leashed at all times and their waste must be deposited in the appropriate receptacle.

B

OUR TOWNS

Lorain County Community Guide • Thursday, March 17, 2022

Vaping rises as schools deal with ‘risky behaviors’ JASON HAWK EDITOR

Growing complaints about bathrooms being used as vaping lounges have Firelands Superintendent Mike Von Gunten worried.

In the past several months, e-cigarette use among Firelands High School students and even middle-schoolers has become the No. 1 cause of suspensions, he told the Board of Education last week.

“We’re seeing more and more risky behaviors at a younger and

younger age,” he said, describing how the pressures of the past two years are causing once-model students to backslide.

Firelands hasn’t seen the boom in expulsions that other Lorain County districts have, Von Gunten said. But the vaping problem has gotten so out of hand that the district is launching a pilot program with The LCADA Way to help kids break the habit.

Some students have told teachers they can go into any vape shop in the county and buy what they want without hassle, even

though it’s illegal under Ohio law, he said. Others say they want to quit but are so addicted that trying makes them sick.

“When we have kids coming and saying, ‘I want to quit but I can’t. Help me,’ we have to do something,” Von Gunten said.

Telling a story about a child caught throwing carrots at a substitute teacher, Firelands board member Ellen Gundersen said the culture of disrespect plaguing schools “is unacceptable.”

But as fellow board member Tom Meyers put it, “This is not a

Firelands issue.” Schools all over the nation are reeling as kids try to deal with their stress and often fail miserably.

Joe Tellier, principal at Marion L. Steele High School in Amherst, said vaping is a huge concern in his building as well.

“We get together, the (Southwestern Conference) principals, and I don’t know one school system where vaping isn’t a problem,” he said.

If he were to suspend everyone caught vaping, Steele would be a lot emptier, he said: “If I wanted

to get somebody every day, we could.”

Instead, Tellier sends cases that break state law by using tobacco in e-cigarettes before a magistrate to be prosecuted. Others are sent to Saturday school, “which everybody hates” but is designed to teach a lesson, he said.

With so many households where both parents work, suspending students isn’t always effective, Tellier said; kids just spend the day sleeping, playing VAPING PAGE B2

Helping build Tiguans Proposed Airbnb rules killed over questions JASON HAWK EDITOR

Photos by Kristin Bauer | Oberlin News-Tribune

William Wallace, 18, explains the 3-D printing process. Students in the Lorian County JVS precision machine technology and welding and fabrication programs are working on 3-D printing products for NN Inc., based in Wellington. The pieces they are making will be used to hold parts for a Volkswagen Tiguan.

NN Inc. enslists JVS students’ help with making parts for Volkswagon JASON HAWK EDITOR

PITTSFIELD TWP. — When Volkswagen came calling with a new contract, Ricky Scheman decided he needed help filling the auto maker’s order.

Supply chain issues are causing slowdowns for NN Inc. in Wellington, where he serves as business unit manager. Scheman said he needs hundreds of small, tooled blocks used on the conveyer line where pinion gears are made for the

new Volkswagen Tiguan.

But he couldn’t afford to wait up to 10 weeks for those parts to be shipped — so he looked 7 miles north to the Lorain County JVS instead.

“We looked at our options when we were looking at this project, and it was either make them out of steel component or have them 3-D printed,” said Scheman.

The vocational school’s precision machine technology and welding and fabrication students have TIGUAN PAGE B3

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AIRBNB PAGE B2

Fair bd. member faces charges in cops’ online trap DYLAN REYNOLDS THE CHRONICLE-TELEGRAM

Have you scheduled your annual hearing evaluation?

Protecting What’s Important

OBERLIN — A flawed plan to regulate how short-term rental units can operate was killed last week in a unanimous Oberlin City Council vote.

The legislation had taken aim at homes and rooms that are listed on vacation rental websites like Airbnb, VRBO and HomeAway.

Airbnb is the largest of the bunch, with 31 listings in the city of Oberlin.

A long list suggested by the Oberlin Planning Commission called for the city to inspect rental properties, mandate fire extinguishers, issue permits, put limits on the number of visitors allowed and require two off-street parking spots and a paved driveway for each unit.

Law Director Jon Clark asked Council to reject the proposed ordinance “so that we can spend the time necessary to really take a look at this and perhaps totally revamp it.”

The plan had raised several red flags, he and Planning and Development Director Carrie Handy said.

“The way we presented it to begin with, it went wrong.

People saw us trying to regulate something, but we were trying to allow something that wasn’t on the books,” said Council Vice President Kelley Singleton in a follow-up interview.

He led Council discussion of the Airbnb ordinance after President Heather Adelman, who operates a short-term

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Josh Bowyer, Au.D., Doctor of Audiology

FREMONT — A Camden Township resident who is an elected member of the Lorain County Fair Board was arrested in Fremont on March 2 and charged with importuning and attempted unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, according to police.

A report from the Fremont Police Department stated that Thomas Adams, 53, offered to engage in sexual conduct with a police officer posing online as a 15-year-old female.

The officer posed as the girl on a social networking platform, according to the report. Police say Adams initiated contact with the officer’s social media Thomas account.

Adams After he allegedly offered to engage in the sexual conduct, Adams was reported to have traveled to the area of a prearranged location in Fremont, where he was arrested and held at Sandusky County Jail.

According to a section of the police report written by the arresting officer, Adams signed a waiver of rights and allegedly mentioned that he was previously arrested for solicitation of prostitution last April.

It was not clear where the alleged April 2021 arrest occurred or what the outcome of the situation was.

The officer wrote that while in the police station, Adams said he “traveled to the city of Fremont to talk some sense to the girl. Adams however decided not even to do that and left the area.”

Adams is a director on the Lorain County Fair Board,

SUBMIT YOUR NEWS TO: NEWS@LCNEWSPAPERS.COM

CHARGES PAGE B2

Page B2

Lorain County Community Guide

Hog Island scholarships to be offered by Audubon Society The Black River Audubon Society is offering scholarships to educators and naturalists.

The successful applicants will acquire additional skills to educate students and the public about bird identification, wildlife in general, conservation and the environment.

Scholarships will cover tuition, room and board and

$500 in travel expenses.

The goal is for recipients to follow the example of others who have returned from Hog Island as ambassadors for conservation and environmental education in our communities. Reservations have been made for the scholarship winners for the camp, July 17-22, but other camp

topics are also possible, if available.

Those interested should visit www.hogisland.audubon. org to review the information provided about the various camps and the schedules for this summer. All applicants must indicate that they are vaccinated for COVID-19 and agree with the requirements

spelled out in the Hog Island Camp Guidelines page.

All application materials must be sent to Black River Audubon

by March 25. Individuals interested in applying for a scholarship should contact Charlie Weil at (440) 864-1617 or email him at blackriveraudubon@ gmail.com for the application materials.

VAPING

FROM B1 games or finding other trouble.

“You have to get them where it hurts, which is being at Steele at 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning until noon,” he said.

Ann Schloss, superintendent of the Elyria Schools, said she’s seen vaping gradually replace smoking inside her walls. It’s a giant worry, because of the damage it does to the lungs, she said.

The district has responded by placing vape detectors and bringing the hammer down on e-cigarette use at football games. “I don’t know if it’s our No. 1 suspension, but it’s a big part of it,” Schloss said.

Elyria Schools have seen social and emotional problems manifest in physical violence between students as well. Schloss said police under Chief William Pelko have helped tremendously in monitoring and preventing threats.

The school system has also hired professionals to address the underlying issues that result in discipline: “We put a lot of support in the buildings. We hired social workers, and we knew mental health was going to be an issue,” said Schloss.

In her mind, today’s disciplinary trends were set in motion long before the COVID-19 pandemic. She blames it far less than she does social media, where she believes 99 percent of Elyria Schools’ issues originate.

Schloss said parents desperately need to monitor their children’s social media accounts, or cancel them al-

together. Every day she is briefed on some sort of investigation stemming from online wrangling.

Platforms such as Snapchat have proven especially frustrating, since problematic content posted there — squabbles, name-calling and threats among them — quickly disappear and are hard to recover, she said.

Schloss said companies like Facebook and Twitter need to better police inappropriate content.

Both Tellier and North Ridgeville Superintendent Roxann Ramsey-Caserio know that content all too well.

This past fall, their districts dealt with scares that originated on the popular video platform TikTok. First came videos in which students dared each other to steal or vandalize restroom equipment such as soap dispensers. Then in December police across the nation were put on alert after the “take your gun to school challenge” made the rounds.

Afterward, North Ridgeville principals visited classrooms to talk with students about the consequences of their choices, said Ramsey-Caserio.

Both she and Tellier reported that TikTok fads appear to have since fallen by the wayside.

Von Gunten also noted how social media has caused issues. He’s working on putting together an event to talk with the parents of kids in grades four to six about digital dangers, and help them navigate the question of when children should be given smartphones.

Not all districts have been coping with the same problems. Superintendent Graig Bansek said the Columbia Schools on the east side of Lorain County have not been hit with fighting or vaping, and have had little issue with smoking or drugs.

“Principals are working their butts off trying to help kids before it explodes into those kind of problems,” he said.

Columbia kids have the same social and emotional problems as anyone, of course, he said. The district has a social worker and guidance counselors to shepherd them through their growing pains.

Ramsey-Caserio said the data shows North Ridgeville is also in a great position. Suspensions and expulsions are on pace this year to be lower than they were before the start of the pandemic.

Yet the unmistakable signs of emotional drain are there among both students and staff, she said.

“I won’t try to tell you we don’t have any problems. That would be absurd,” she said, but they seem to be in check for now.

A focus on teaching kindness has helped, said Ramsey-Caserio. Kids need to be taught how to be compassionate, and what they expectation are for their behavior.

Tellier and Bansek agreed that the pandemic ratcheted up anxiety among students, adding to the normal adolescent difficulties they already face.

DOWN 1. Do like Drake 2. Eye up and down 3. Bangkok native 4. Like preserved peaches, sometimes 5. Sharpened

Mercy opens new behavioral health access center

LORAIN — Mercy Health Lorain Hospital opened its new Behavioral Health Access Center on Feb. 17.

Located in the hospital’s emergency department, it provides compassionate, specialized care to patients with mental health and addiction emergencies.

In 2019, the hospital was awarded a $325,000 grant to refresh its existing BAC to provide improved facilities and services to behavioral health patients. The grant was administered by Lorain County Community College.

“The BAC is the first point of contact for patients who are experiencing a behavioral health emergency and need of mental health services,” said Psychiatric Medical Director Balaji Saravanan. “The improvements made to the BAC, including a new virtual skylight, enhance the therapeutic milieu of the facility, focusing on the structural design to create a comfortable environment for patients.”

The six-bed facility is supported by round-the-clock psychiatrist services and staffed by team members who are trained in behavioral health assessment.

CHARGES

FROM B1 rental unit, recused herself.

Singleton said he is split on whether and how regulations should be put in place. On one hand, owners should be able to use their properties as they see fit — but on the other, Oberlin has a critical shortage of housing already.

Airbnbs are profitable, but they lock up affordable housing that should be available to local residents, especially those who can’t afford to buy a $300,000 or $400,000 home, he said.

“We have good rentals in Oberlin, and we need them,” said Singleton. “It’s not easy… I want to see more housing in Oberlin is what I want to see.”

The Ohio Legislature is moving to craft its own rules for short-term rentals, said Clark. House Bill 563, introduced by state Reps. Sarah Fowler Arthur, R-Geneva-on-the-Lake, and Ron Ferguson, R-Wintersville, seeks to limit what controls cities can place on Airbnb and other vacation units.

“I don’t know where that’s going to go. It raises constitutional questions,” Clark said.

He objects on the grounds that Oberlin and other cities and villages are entitled to “home rule,” meaning the Ohio Constitution grants them the right to choose their own local laws.

Councilman Ray English said the Ohio Municipal League “thinks (the bill) is a clear violation of home rule authority” that would prevent locally-elected leaders from choosing how short-term rentals should operate in their own communities.

CHARGES

FROM B1 the body that oversees the annual fair in Wellington. Fair Board President Rick Ternes said the fair board is aware of Adams’ March 2 arrest, but he was unaware of the alleged April 2021 arrest.

Ternes said he was hoping Adams would contact the fair’s executive board, but they had not spoken with him as of last Tuesday afternoon, when the Chronicle learned of the charges. The fair board is waiting to see how the legal process plays out, Ternes said.

Under the Lorain County Agricultural Society constitution, a fair board director can be removed for cause by a vote of two-third of the board of directors. Included among the causes that are grounds for removal are conviction of a felony offense and conviction of “any other criminal offense involving moral turpitude.”

Adams was last elected to a three-year term on the board in 2020. When individuals run for election and re-election to the fair board, Ternes said they are required to complete both the FBI and BCI background checks.

Ternes said both of Adams’ background checks came back clean when he ran in 2020.

Adams had a preliminary hearing scheduled this past Tuesday after the Lorain County Community Guide’s press time, according to Fremont Municipal Court records. He was arraigned by video on March 3.

The records state that Adams was released on own recognizance bond at the state’s recommendation, on the conditions that he remains law abiding and has no contact with any minor children not related to him by blood.

WHO AM I? ACROSS 1. Campus military org.

5. Pilgrimage to Mecca 8. 1968 hit “Harper Valley ____” 11. Turkish honorific 12. *I captained the Millennium Falcon in “Star Wars” 13. Inlet in Greenland 15. Map out 16. Pharaoh’s symbol 17. Austin Powers and Shrek to Mike Myers 18. *I developed the theory of relativity 20. Sailor’s hail 21. Lyric poem 22. Solar System center 23. Portable stairs 26. *I am Sgt. George Baker’s inept comic strip character 30. Mine deposit 31. Shape 34. Fairy tale cannibal 35. Feline sneakers 37. Lawyer group 38. *I have a coiled shell and eyes on stalks 39. Very dark black 40. Free from obstruction 42. ____ Aviv 43. Most buffoonish 45. Rest or hydration for common cold, e.g 47. Hot springs resort 48. “...he found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked ____” 50. Japanese stringed instrument 52. *I am a runaway slave, an abolitionist, and a best-selling author 55. Email destination 56. Jasmine of “Aladdin,” e.g.

57. Food fish 59. Silly 60. Self-cleaning appliance 61. Ad staple 62. O in IOU 63. P in m.p.g.

64. Affirmative, colloquially

Thursday, March 17, 2022

6. Like Huck Finn’s dad, e.g.

7. *Some people call me the Rocket Man 8. *I starred as Pam in the “Meet the Parents” movies 9. *I used to host a sports show with Mike Golic 10. Commercials 12. Buddhist’s enlightenment 13. Sham 14. *I am a WWE Champion, an actor, and my nickname is geologyrelated 19. Vision correctors, colloquially 22. Greek letters on campus 23. *My résumé includes Fly Girl and “American Idol” judge 24. Curaçao neighbor 25. Evil one 26. Fence board 27. Popular gemstone 28. Shed tears

29. *I am an American who became Princess of Monaco 32. Harangue 33. Network with an eye 36. *My TV role became synonymous with a hair style 38. Perform at the bee 40. Canada’s neighbor 41. Beginning 44. Strong adhesive 46. Contemptibly small 48. Dry white Italian wine 49. Radio receiver 50. Dr. Seuss: “The more that you read, the more things you will ____” 51. Piercing woodwind 52. Water quantity 53. Loafer, e.g 54. Adventure story 55. United Nations labor agency 58. Homer’s catchword

SOLUTION CAN BE FOUND ON PAGE A2

SOLUTION CAN BE FOUND ON PAGE A2

Thursday, March 17, 2022

Lorain County Community Guide

Latino, Black populations were undercounted in the 2020 census CARISSA WOYTACH THE CHRONICLE-TELEGRAM

The 2020 census failed to accurately count Black and Latino populations throughout the country, according to two reports released last week.

The U.S. Census Bureau released two analyses of the quality of 2020’s counts, noting historically underrepresented groups remained hard to count — with Hispanic or Latino populations undercounted by almost 5 percent, a steep jump from a roughly 1.5 percent undercount in 2010.

State or county-level data was not available.

The two reports show the total population count was consistent with recent censuses, Census Bureau Director Robert Santos said in a news release, but continued to undercount historically challenging groups and overcount others.

The department’s Post-Enumeration Survey showed Black, and Hispanic or Latino communities, as well as American Indian or Alaskan Native communities, were overlooked at substantially higher rates than a decade prior. The country’s Hispanic or Latino population was undercounted by 4.99 percent, compared with 1.54 percent in 2010; Black or African American individuals were undercounted by 3.3 percent compared with 2 percent in 2010; and American Indians or Alaska Natives living on reservations were undercounted by 5.6 percent, compared with 4.8 percent in 2010.

Even with the undercount, census data shows the country's non-Hispanic white population is shrinking. The Associated Press reported the country's non-Hispanic white population dropped for the first time on record. In Lorain, non-Hispanic whites are in the minority, with the population at about 49 percent — the largest population in the county. Hispanic communities in Oberlin, Elyria and Amherst also grew over the decade.

Hispanic is an ethnicity and can include individuals of any race.

The only races not statistically undercounted were non-Hispanic whites and Asians, which were both overcounted. White communities were overcounted at 1.6 percent, compared with 0.8 percent in 2010, and the country’s Asian population was overcounted by 2.6 percent in the 2020 census while it was not overcounted in 2010.

The Bureau’s other report, Demographic Analysis Estimates for race, was not yet available Thursday. The DA estimates the population using vital records and other data, while the PES estimates the population using a sample survey.

The political climate surrounding the

2020 census, rushed deadline and heightened COVID-19 pandemic made the project all the more challenging.

In August 2020, the Census Bureau announced it would end counting efforts a month earlier than originally expected, leaving local Complete Count Committee members scrambling to get Lorain County’s headcount as accurate as possible.

Lorain County ultimately pushed its selfresponse rate up to 75.6 percent. Local Complete County Committees turned to faith and community leaders and nonprofits to break down barriers and reach hard-to-count communities, including the larger Hispanic and Latino population in South Lorain.

Hispanic and Latino populations were possibly harder to count in 2020. Former President Donald Trump had wanted a citizenship question on the 2020 census, with the item ultimately shot down by three federal judges, but it didn’t stop the concern in some communities that census reports would not be kept confidential.

Lorain County Complete Count Committee Chair Matt Lundy said there were some individuals who may have been concerned about whether their reporting would lead to an arrest or other interference in their lives.

“I think there was some reluctance or some hesitancy by members of the Hispanic/Latino community, I guess they just didn't really want to engage the federal government because of some things that were being said about them and the way they felt they were being treated,” he said.

“Underreporting hurts every community and there are just some people who just don't trust the government.”

Other undercounted groups, regardless of race, were children under 18 years old (0.83 percent) — a persistently undercounted group — and renters (1.4 percent), according to the Bureau’s Post-Enumeration Survey. Homeowners were slightly overcounted.

“Taking today’s findings as a whole, we believe the 2020 Census data are fit for many uses in decision-making as well as for painting a vivid portrait of our nation’s people,” Santos said in a news release.

“We’ll be exploring the under- and overcounts further. That is part of our due diligence, our pursuit of excellence, and our service to the country.”

The 2020 census data is used to redraw local, state and congressional districts and allocate federal funding at the state and county levels.

Interim Community Surveys conducted on odd years are used to capture trends, but do not impact political districts or fund distribution.

TIGUAN

FROM B1 been learning to use 3-D printers, so they were “hired” to design and manufacture about 300 of the blocks for NN Inc. They showed last week how they are using ABS plastic, which is about 90 percent lighter than steel, much faster to make and won’t cause nearly as much wear and tear on NN’s machinery.

“Now that I know how to do all of it, it’s pretty easy.

Just getting it set up was difficult,” said senior Leo Briere.

It took about three days to design the factory part and get the perfect prototype, working through an estimated 50 failed attempts that weren’t quite right. Each was a learning experience.

There were flaws to be fixed, but students also had to ways to cut down on the production time, said senior Oskar Velazquez.

He experimented with how many blocks could be printed at once and in what configurations.

Last Thursday, there were four 3-D printers humming along in instructor Tony Tyree’s lab, each printing five parts every six hours.

“It’s really nice getting to work with all this,” said senior William Wallace, sitting in front of one of the machines and explaining how different materials have varying strengths.

The project was his first exposure to 3-D print-

Page B3

MAD RUSH FOR CHICKEN

Angelo Angel | Amherst News-Times

A long line of cars waits in ranks on opening day, Thursday, March 10, at Chick-fil-a on Route 58. After months of waiting, customers rushed to the try new restaurant on the Amherst-Lorain border. It is the franchise’s first location in Lorain County.

Insulate, rebate and save: POWER wants to make Oberlin energy efficient JASON HAWK EDITOR

OBERLIN — The nonprofit POWER is trying to persuade renters and landlords to work together to weatherize older homes in Oberlin, lowering energy bills, increasing property values and cutting carbon emissions.

Of the roughly 2,500 households in the city limits, about 1,000 live in rentals.

Many of those homes are in disrepair, said Cindy Frantz, secretary of Providing Oberlin With Efficiency Responsibly, in February during a report to City Council.

Her group, which was formed in 2008, has used city grants to help residents insulate their homes and make other upgrades. But Frantz said it's had trouble convincing rental owners to invest.

"If the renters are paying the utility bills, the property owners don't have any incentive to spend the cash" because they don't get the benefit of lower bills, she told Council. Those savings go to the renter.

Oberlin College's Green Edge Fund is now funding a pilot program to mail both parties in hopes of pitching the benefits of energy-efficient upgrades. Frantz said investments recommended by her nonprofit increase property values, make housing more affordable and make tenants happier, which results in less turnover.

Under the pilot, rebates are being offered to both sides, using money from Columbia Gas, Efficiency Smart and POWER. Low- to moderate-income

tenants can basically get energy projects done for free.

Frantz said a future goal is to promote installation of heat pumps, which is a newer technology and has a big upfront cost.

A heat pump is a "fancy air conditioner that will save you lots of money," said Oberlin Councilman Bryan Burgess, a professional electrician.

"So often I'll see a window air conditioner in a bedroom that is probably 10 or 20 or more years old" and struggling to keep up, he said. Those older units can cost homeowners and renters hundreds of dollars each month in electricity costs.

Frantz said air conditioning used to be viewed as a luxury. With the changing climate, it shouldn't be viewed that way anymore.

"Heat can kill people in their homes," she said.

Climate change means more extreme temperatures, she told Council, resulting in three times more days with temperatures above 90 degrees than just a few decades ago.

Last year, POWER did 44 home walkthroughs in Oberlin, resulting in 25 insulation and weatherization projects at far-reduced prices to homeowners. A handful of others made minor upgrades at the nonprofit's recommendation. Frantz said POWER provided $35,000 worth of work for free to Oberlin residents.

She estimated another 1,000 homes in the city need attention. They are mostly units built before the 1980s, when new energy standards were put in place.

FFA MAKES BREAKFAST

Provided photos

Members of the Future Farmers of America chapter at Wellington High School prepare their annual appreciation breakfast for teachers, staff and alumni during National FFA Week in late February. Students shared the responsibility of providing the food and supplies, and cooked the food themselves. The breakfast is a thank you for the support the chapter receives for contests, conventions and its many other activities.

Oskar Velazquez, a senior at the JVS, examines a part being 3-D printed on Thursday, March 10. ing. At just $190 per unit, Tyree and Scheman said they foresee the printers becoming standard for manufacturers like NN Inc. that want to quickly fabricate cheap parts inhouse.

“Now that we’re working on it, it’s amazing to see all the different things you can make,” said Wallace.

The exposure helps students gain some insight into how industrial companies operate, and for NN provides a cost savings, said Scheman.

He said business at the Wellington plant has

rebounded and surpassed pre-pandemic levels, in large part due to the Tiguan contract. It has NN making some 500,000 parts per year for the next half-decade or more.

“Things are coming back strong. We’ll see if that continues,” he said, eyeing how the Russian invasion of Ukraine could hurt business in coming months.

Ukraine-based companies supply any number of parts for the auto industry.

They are caught in the violence, so Scheman said supply chain headaches could intensify.

85 SOUTH MAIN STREET OBERLIN OHIO 44074 MARCH 17, 2022 BOARD AND COMMISSION MEETING DATES ALL MEETINGS WILL BE Live Streamed @ http://oberlinoh.swagit.com/live MARCH 19, 2022 ............COUNCIL RETREAT– 9:00 P.M. – OBERLIN FIRE DEPARTMENT - PURPOSE: To discuss vision, goals and direction for the future of the city MARCH 21, 2022 ............REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING – 7:00 P.M. COUNCIL CHAMBERS MARCH 21, 2022 ............OPEN SPACE COMMISSION – 5:00 P.M. NOTICE: DISABLED MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY WHO MAY NEED ASSISTANCE, PLEASE CALL 775-7203 OR E-MAIL: banderson@cityofoberlin.com NOTICE REQUIRED: TWO (2) WORKING DAYS IN ADVANCE OF MEETING (48 HOURS) CLERK OF COUNCIL’S OFFICE.

Page B4

Lorain County Community Guide

SPORTS

Thursday, March 17, 2022

Send sports news to news@lcnewspapers.com. Deadline for all submissions is 10 a.m. each Tuesday. Printed as space is available.

March mayhem

Photos by Russ Gifford and Angelo Angel | Community Guide

Lorain County’s best and brightest-shining players gathered this weekend for high school basketball all-star games, with boys at Lorain High and girls at North Ridgeville. In the Gene Legeza Cage Classic for the boys, the red team rallied from 22 points down in the second half to win 108-107.

Amherst’s Jordan Koury scored a game-high 26 points for the blue team and his Comets teammates, George Gotsis and George Fayer, had 16 and 14 points, respectively for the red team. Wellington’s Jayden Roberts put up 20 for blue. Midview’s Aden Gregory, who scored 12 for the winning team, was named Lorain County Mr. Basketball. In the girls game, the Dick Esser Plumbing team defeated Soul on Fire Pizza 55-41. Firelands had big representation in the all-star showing, with Falcon Abbey Schmitz hitting for a game-high 16; she teamed up with Avon’s Abby Liber to lead the winners.

Liber was named Lorain County Miss Basketball.

TOP LEFT: Wellington’s Tori Paramore drives baseline against Audrey Peterson of Vermilion.

TOP RIGHT: Amherst’s Nick Hamrlik goes over George Fayer in the dunk contest.

ABOVE: Firelands’ Abbey Schmitz gets two points.

LEFT: Wellington’s Jayden Roberts makes the dunk in the slam dunk contest.

RIGHT: Firelands’ Riyley Etherton moves with the ball in the first Senior Game.

BELOW: Lorain County Mr. Basketball Aden Gregory of Midview and Lorain County Miss Basketball Abby Liber of Avon.

Thursday, March 17, 2022

Lorain County Community Guide

Page B5

Velasquez is county’s first state bowling champion STAFF REPORT

Amherst senior Makayla Velasquez rallied to defeat junior Payton Hargrove of Westerville Central on Saturday and take home the OHSAA Division I girls singles state title.

She rolled a 664 series (235, 192, 237) at Webb Bowl in Columbus, passing Hargrove by a single pin.

With the victory, Velasquez took home Lorain County’s first state bowling champion trophy since the sport was sanctioned in the 2006-2007 season.

She also claimed a 1st Team All-Ohio selection.

“It’s the dream,” she said.

“Having state champ behind your name is something I’ve been looking for. It still doesn't feel real. I'm just proud to bring this back to Amherst with me.”

The Comets as a team finished in ninth place at the state bowling tournament, with a score of 2,998.

Sophomore Allison Taylor rolled a 604 series to finish in eighth place and earn a 2nd Team All-Ohio spot.

Junior Hannah Aschenbach finished 63rd with a 483 series, freshman Melissa Nunez finished in 74th place with a 439 series and sophomore Amanda McElheny finished 77th with a 394 series.

Amherst had baker games of 128, 134 and 154.

Leading with heart

Photo by Kristin Bauer | Community Guide

James Knight of Leading with Humility speaks to students from eight Southwestern Conference school districts on Monday during the “With Heart” conference at Lorain County Community College.

The summit was aimed at helping teens find their voices and develop self-awareness, then join together to create a more welcoming environment for their peers. Olmsted Falls organized the event, which included Amherst, Avon, Avon Lake, Berea, Elyria, Midview and North Ridgeville.

“Today is meant to encourage and strengthen your ability to listen, to learn, be curious, kind, compassionate to yourself and others,” said Olmsted Falls Superintendent Jim Lloyd. “We want to build a movement of students and educators who will work together and make schools a place where all students are seen and heard — a place that not only teaches students academic content, but serves as a safe place to talk about and figure out a very diverse world.”

— Reporting by Kevin Martin

Kristin Bauer | News-Times

Amherst Comets bowlers Makayla Velasquez, Hannah Aschenbach, Amanda McElheny, Allison Taylor and Melissa Nunez stand for a photo.

Velasquez won the Division I state bowling title this past weekend in competition in Columbus.

Trailblazing WJTB broadcaster is honored for his lifetime of service DYLAN REYNOLDS THE CHRONICLE-TELEGRAM

OBERLIN — Many longtime Lorain County residents who own a radio would recognize the voice of James Taylor.

And if his voice was not familiar, then surely one of his on-air catchphrases would ring a bell.

“It is the spirit that makes the difference,” multiple family members and former colleagues repeated Saturday evening during a gathering held at the Welcome Nursing Home in Oberlin, where Taylor now resides.

Taylor owned WJTB 1040 AM, a 5,000-watt, clear-channel gospel and jazz radio station with a reach stretching all the way to Canada and Painesville. The daytime station broadcast from 1984 until 2017.

Daughter Aretha Taylor said James Taylor got the station licensed in 1983 and began broadcasting the following year using a tower that had been built in North Ridgeville.

WJTB’s offices were moved from North Ridgeville to Lake Avenue in Elyria after the station was the target of racist acts and burned twice in the 1980s, Aretha Taylor said. The Elyria studio became the station’s longtime home but burned in an electrical fire in 2017, she said.

James Taylor was presented Saturday with a Hometown Hero Community Service Lifetime Achievement Award from the Elyria Black Legacy Project Committee, as well as proclamations from the City of Elyria and the Lorain County Commissioners.

“You’re not that person to have done life on its terms. When it said no, you said yes,” Taylor’s eldest daughter, Robin Fenn, told him in a video message. “You have to shake up and move some things around and rally together a group of people

OBERLIN CITY COUNCIL CLERK’S OFFICE

Angelo Angel | Chronicle

James Taylor is honored at Welcome Nursing Home in Oberlin. to make some things happen and come into fruition.”

Fenn, who herself was an on-air personality at WJTB, said her father’s life story has been like a good book, and she believes the best is yet to come.

In addition to Taylor’s legacy on the air, he was celebrated Saturday for the impact he has made on his community and loved ones away from the microphone.

“He has always been involved in civic activities. He has been involved in entertainment, big on getting information to people,” Aretha Taylor said.

Those achievements include starting the Speak Up, Speak Out program on his show and connecting with the local Hispanic community by offering Spanishlanguage programming on WJTB. Elyria Mayor Frank Whitfield presented Taylor with the proclamation from the city, in part commending him for his service with the NAACP, the Community Action Agency, Jobs and Family Services, the Broadcasters Hall of Fame, the Urban League, the

United Way and others.

Whitfield credited WJTB with helping transform his taste in music when he was younger.

“I was putting on 1040 (AM) and then driving, and learning these gospel songs. Some of these old-school songs that you all were playing got stuck in my head,” he said. “It was a really good experience for me though, because I got a chance to fall in love with gospel music through that.”

Aric Bowens presented the award from the Elyria Black Legacy Project. He said the group has been doing research on African American trailblazers in the community. Multiple speakers at the event Saturday thanked Taylor for blazing a trail that empowered them to go into broadcasting.

Lorain County Commissioner Matt Lundy presented the county’s proclamation, signed by all three commissioners. The proclamation said Taylor “took pride in the Black community throughout northeast Ohio, and promoting unity in the community is his ultimate goal.”

NOTICE OF BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS VACANCIES

The following City commissions have vacancies for terms expiring on the dates provided below. Applications for interested parties are available at the Clerk of Council’s office, located at 85 South Main Street, Oberlin, Ohio 44074, or by submitting a form via the City’s website, at https://www.cityofoberlin.com.

Applications will be received until filled.

# OF CURRENT VANCIES

DATE TERM EXPIRES

Oberlin Community Improvement Corporation

1

12/31/2023

Resource Conservation and Recovery Commission

1

12/31/2023

Underground Railroad Center Implementation Team

1

Unlimited

BOARD NAME

Page B6

Thursday, March 17, 2022

Lorain County Community Guide

© 2022 by Vicki Whiting, Editor Jeff Schinkel, Graphics Vol. 38, No. 15

The Riddle of the Sphinx

Throughout history, heroes in tales must solve riddles to save others or travel to certain places.

In one Greek myth, the hero must solve the riddle posed by the Sphinx guarding the city of Thebes.

What is a riddle? Simply put, riddles are something challenging to understand. Sometimes they are a question with a surprising answer. Riddles make you think. And when you find the answer to the riddle, you just might feel a little smarter, or start laughing!

The Sphinx was a mythical creature with the body of a lion, the head of a human and the wings of an eagle. And as the guardian of Thebes, it ate the people who could not answer this tricky riddle!

Write 3-4 statements describing a door:

“What animal walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs at night?”

Riddles have been entertaining and challenging people for at least 4,000 years!

The oldest riddle that was written down is from Ancient Sumeria, where Iraq is today. It was written about 1900 B.C.

Think about it. Then, circle every other letter to reveal the answer.

ABHCUYMJASN VBWELIKNCGB

No, the OTHER Sphinx!

Sphinxes appear in the art and legends of both ancient Greece and ancient Egypt. Ancient Egyptians made many large statues of sphinxes. The largest and most famous Egyptian sphinx was carved near the the pyramids of Giza in about 2500 B.C. Do the math to see how big it is.

Ancient Sumeria is also the civilization with the oldest surviving writing system that we know of!

Here’s the world’s oldest riddle.

Can you figure out the answer?

“There is a house. One enters it blind and comes out seeing. What is it?”

99 + 99 + 42

ANSWER: A schoolhouse!

Clever, right? And a reminder of the importance of school!

22 + 22 + 22

King Odin’s Riddles

feet long feet high

Riddle Poetry

Look through the Thirty white horses on a red hill, newspaper for words first they champ, that start with each then they stamp, letter in the word, then they stand still.

RIDDLE. Cut out the King Heidrek, words and then make guess my riddle. a little poem using words that describe riddles and start with each of the letters in RIDDLE.

In ancient Viking myths, riddles are used to test intelligence and wisdom. A Norse myth about three mythological characters, King Odin, King Heidrek and Gestumblindi is a tale full of riddles.

Use King Odin’s Secret Code to solve the riddles.

But he also figures out that it is Odin and not Gestumblindi asking the riddles.

King Heidrek becomes furious and tries to kill Odin. Odin magically turns into a hawk and flies away.

Write some riddles for each of these topics:

How can this be? Hold this page up to a mirror for the explanation. sa ,sruof lla no lwarc ew seibab era ew nehW ew ega dlo ni ,sgel owt no klaw ew tluda na .)kcits gniklaw a( gel driht a deen

Odin’s Riddle #1

din is the Norse god of wisdom, poetry, death, and magic. Odin is also the king of the mythological land of Asgard.

(You may remember from comic books or movies that his sons were Thor and Loki.)

=E =F =G =H

REBUS: A PICTURE RIDDLE A rebus is a word or a phrase spelled out in pictures and letters.

One of the most famous is:

Can you figure out what these rebuses say?

=O =S =T =V

Odin’s Riddle #2

Who is that great one who grasps the earth, swallowing wood and water?

Bad weather he dreads, wind, but no man, and picks a fight with the sun.

King Heidrek, guess my riddle.

Standards Link: Language Arts: Understand that poetry has multiple forms.

MYTHICAL REMINDER ANCIENT RIDDLE OLDEST ANSWER SPHINX HEROES SOLVE TALES REBUS WALKS BEING HUMAN LION

Standards Link: Reading/Writing: Draw evidence from informational text.

L A C I H T Y M C O

R I T N H E R O E S

E B O N T S E D L O

D E S N E L K T U L

This week’s word:

MYTHICAL

N I P N D I A L D V

The adjective mythical means based on a legend.

M G I R E W S N A W

Some mythical beasts could shoot fire out of their mouths.

I N H D R L C U A E

E R N S U B E R A M

R S X H U M A N A H

Standards Link: Letter sequencing. Recognize identical words. Skim and scan reading. Recall spelling patterns.

Try to use the word mythical in a sentence today when talking with your friends and family members.

Sweet Talk

Make a Rebus!

Cut pictures out of the newspaper and arrange them to create a word or a short message, such as “I love you” or “Do you see me?”

Can a family member figure it out?

ANSWER: Fungi!

Standards Link: Visual Arts: Understand that art can convey feelings or ideas.

Here’s an example: Start with an answer to your riddle: DOOR

Can YOU answer it?

World’s Oldest Riddle

To save Gestumblindi’s life, Odin asks King Heidrek 35 riddles. To do this, Odin poses as Gestumblindi. King Heidrek gets them all correct.

Make a riddle and challenge friends and family to solve it. Start with the answer to your riddle.

Then make a list of things that describe the way your “answer” looks, smells, sounds or behaves.

Write statements that describe several little things about your answer. Share the statements and then end with “Who and I?” or “What am I?”

Have you ever sweet talked someone into helping you with a chore or into simply doing it for you? How did you do it?