Lorain County Community Guide - March 18, 2021

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AMHERST NEWS-TIMES • OBERLIN NEWS-TRIBUNE • WELLINGTON ENTERPRISE Thursday, March 18, 2021

www.lcnewspapers.com

Volume 8, Issue 11

Mayors reflect on pandemic’s legacy JASON HAWK and LAINA YOST

Four hundred thirty-nine lives, snuffed out.

When mayors across Lorain County talk about the damage COVID-19 has done to cities and villages, they don’t start with dollars and cents. They start with the death toll — the constituents and neighbors and family members who are gone.

“The loss of life many families experienced will live with Elyrians forever,” said Elyria Mayor Frank Whitfield. “The inability to properly grieve and be alongside someone suffering will have lasting impacts that I hope our county, state and federal government invest the necessary resources to help our families heal.”

Lorain Mayor Jack Bradley also reflected on the void left behind by those lost to the virus.

“It’s disrupted families and caused pain and suffering for families in our community,” he said. “I think that’s the biggest impact, for people to pass away and not even be able to have family members by their side.”

The county has 16 mayors who lead towns of all sizes, from just 240 residents in Kipton to almost 64,000 in Lorain. Nearly all sounded tired in phone interviews over the past week as they talked about the weight they’ve shouldered over the past year.

Most — especially in the larger cities — are wary of how the pandemic has devastated businesses, from retailers to restaurants, dentists to dealerships.

MAYORS PAGE A3

Jack Bradley Lorain

Dennis Bring Sheffield Lake

Kevin Corcoran North Ridgeville

Mark Costilow Amherst

David DiVencenzo Grafton

Jim Forthofer Vermilion

John Hunter Sheffield Village

Bryan Jensen Avon

Cindy Kurpely Rochester

David Leshinski South Amherst

Robert Meilander Kipton

Hans Schneider Wellington

Linda Slocum Oberlin

Kim Strauss LaGrange

Frank Whitfield Elyria

Greg Zilka Avon Lake

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Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday 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 Send legal notices to jyoder@chroniclet.com Submit advertising to chama@chroniclet.com Copyright 2021 Lorain County Printing & Publishing Company

$60M in aid coming to the county Congress has approved a $1.9 trillion COVID relief package called the American Rescue Plan, and it is expected to provide $60.9 million in relief to Lorain County.

President Joe Biden unveiled the aid package on his first day in office.

It differs from the CARES Act, which under President Donald Trump allowed legislatures in Ohio and other states to divvy up the money as they saw fit.

“The American Rescue Plan will provide vitally needed support for Northern Ohio families, communities, essential workers, and small businesses,” said U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur in a written statement announcing the funding. “I fought for the inclusion of direct support to Northern Ohio cities and municipalities like Lorain County. The CARES Act, passed under a Republican Senate and White House, short-changed urban areas, often hardest hit by the pandemic, by funneling pandemic relief through state governments, which slowed down distribution and led to unnecessary hardship for hard hit communities."

The relief package will also provide $1,400 stimulus payments to Americans, and raises the child tax credit from $2,000 to $3,000.

It also increases unemployment benefits from $300 to $400 per week.

Part of the funding will be used to set up vaccination sites across the nation, with an emphasis on making COVID shots available to communities of color. They money can be used to scale up testing, address inequality in health care and shore up low stockpiles of personal protective equipment.

Oberlin Schools inch toward full return JASON HAWK EDITOR

OBERLIN — Students will return to school four days a week in person starting April 6 at the Oberlin City Schools.

Mondays will be the exception. They will continue to be set aside for online learning for all kids in kindergarten through 12th grade.

While some families are still choosing to learn online from home, a survey showed the vast majority want to

“We looked at how we'd space everyone out. And we saw we'd be able to give the OK.” Superintendent David Hall

return to classes in physical buildings, according to Superintendent David Hall.

The lowest interest was among Oberlin High School students. Only 63 percent said they wanted to go four days a week.

Hall said he had originally considered rotating two large groups, having students attend every other day to keep

class sizes limited.

"We don't have to do that now. Our numbers are exactly right for kids to go four days a week," he said.

"We looked at class size. We looked at how we'd space everyone out. And we saw we'd be able to give the OK." Oberlin had been one of the only school systems in Lorain County to spend all over

2020 in a 100 percent virtual learning model. That changed in late January, and now most students in the district are attending in person two days a week.

But Hall said teacher vaccinations have changed the game completely. About 85 percent of the district's employees chose to get the vaccine.

The second dose will be given to Lorain County school workers on Friday, March 26. Hall said that will allow for in-person classes to expand in Oberlin.

INSIDE THIS WEEK Special in-depth look

Wellington

Where can you can get a COVID-19 vaccine shot? And how can you schedule your vaccination appointment? • A5

Schneider, Dupee give State of Wellington address • B1

OBITUARIES A2 • CLASSIFIEDS A2 • CROSSWORD B2 • SUDOKU B2 • KID SCOOP B6

Page A2

Thursday, March 18, 2021

Lorain County Community Guide

Bar Association to mediate ahead of expected evictions

The Lorain County Bar Association will offer a program to help mediate issues between landlords and tenants.

It will be held at 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 18 via Zoom. Pre-register by emailing lcba@windstream.net or calling (440) 323-8416.

The program will address the coming onslaught of evictions that will follow the end of the federal government’s eviction ban, which is set to end March 31.

“We foresee a tsunami of evictions when the ban ends, adding to a backlog of eviction cases already filed, but stalled by the federal government’s action,” said attorney Zachary Simonoff, chair of the LCBA’s real estate section.

The economic disaster caused by COVID-19 measures has caused hardship for many renters. Some cannot pay all their bills, and the federal ban enabled them to put off paying rent, which makes up the largest part of most renters’ budgets. But the ban was only a temporary measure, and landlords continued to face the costs of mortgages, maintenance, and taxes.

Barring a solution, Simonoff said there will be literally thousands of evictions leading to thousands of uncollectible judgments against ordinarily unrepresented tenants.

"There will be hundreds of landlords who have wasted thousands of dollars in attorney and court fees in pursuit of these judgments," he said. "The courts will be overwhelmed. And the net result is a game of musical chairs where every landlord will necessarily be renting to another landlord’s former tenants. Ultimately, this results in move-outs, move-ins, tenants scraping together money for rent and security deposit and landlords paying for preparation of the rental unit. Everybody loses, except maybe U-Haul.”

The mediation program will try to mitigate these effects before they begin.

First, there will be the online landlord tenant information seminar for all parties, conveying neutral information about the problem and how the mediation program can help.

“Mediation is a process where landlords and tenants can work out a mutually beneficial solution with the help of a trained, experienced attorney-mediator,” said attorney Doug Henry, a member of the mediation ad hoc committee. “The mediators, attorneys from the LCBA, are not judges nor juries, but serve to aid communication between landlords and tenants.”

Mediation is completely voluntary, but the resulting agreement between the parties is enforceable, he said.

Easter food baskets

The Amherst Salvation Army Unit will provide food baskets for an Easter dinner for families in the 44001 area code that need a basket.

If you need a basket or know someone who does, call (440) 370-9403 and leave your name and telephone number.

OBITUARY ROBERT 'BOB' BURTON SHOBE, 85, of Elyria, passed away Sunday, March 7, 2021, at Main Street Nursing Home in Avon Lake, following a lengthy illness.

Arrangements by Hempel Funeral Home.

For information about placing an obituary or death notice in the Community Guide, call (440) 329-7000.

CLASSIFIEDS LEGALS PUBLICATION OF LEGISLATION The following is a summary of legislation adopted by Lorain City Council on March 1, 2021.

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 Nancy Greer @ 204-2050 (Nancy_Greer@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 13-21 Commending the life & legacy of Patrolman Les George for 50 years of dedicated public service.

14-21* Repealing Reso 42-20 previously adopted by City Council and removing the special assessments from real property in the City of Lorain (Norcare). Ordinance 26-21* Approving the repeal of Ords 173-20 & 174-20, previously

adopted by the City of Lorain and removing the special assessments (Norcare) 27-21* Auth the Auditor to pay an invoice submitted by the Utilities Dept. invoking the Then & Now Exception Process & to pay for said invoice. 28-21* Appropriation. 29-21* Temporarily increasing the compensation for the employees of the Lorain City Council office. (*Denotes legislation was passed as an emergency.)

L.C.C.G. 3/11-18/21 20678895

Fitch gets 5 years in prison for fatal crash DYLAN REYNOLDS THE CHRONICLE-TELEGRAM

ELYRIA — An Amherst woman who pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide for a fatal 2017 crash near downtown Elyria will serve five years in prison and never will be permitted to drive again.

Kristi Fitch, 43, was sentenced March 10 by Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Raymond Ewers.

The judge found Fitch not guilty on a second-degree felony count of aggravated vehicular homicide and a misdemeanor operating a vehicle while under the influence charge, both of which the defendant maintained not guilty pleas on.

Instead, Fitch pleaded guilty to the third-degree felony charge of aggravated vehicular homicide in September and was sentenced on that count alone.

She opted for a bench trial, leaving the verdict up to Ewers rather than a jury.

She is entitled to credit for 98 days spent behind bars, according to a court journal entry.

In addition to the prison time and permanent driver's license suspension, Fitch will be required to pay a mandatory $10,000 fine and $12,646 in restitution to the family of Vicki Hill, 58, who died as a result of Fitch’s reckless driving.

The fatal crash occurred the morning of Aug. 28, 2017, when Fitch’s speeding Buick Century slammed into the back of Hill’s stopped Kristi Fitch Jeep Liberty at West Avenue and Third Street, causing Hill's vehicle to become engulfed in flames.

Because of the fire, first responders were impeded as they tried to reach and assist Hill. Both women lived in Elyria and were on their way to work, according to testimony from the trial.

An investigation by police previously concluded that Fitch was under the influence of drugs when she wrecked the car, according to testimony. Toxicology reports taken after the crash, which were presented during the trial, showed multiple substances in Fitch’s system including tramadol and less than 0.20 nanograms per milliliter of the synthetic opioid carfentanil.

But evidence of those substances in a defendant’s system cannot alone prove that person was certainly impaired, testified Dr. Luigino Apollonio, chief toxicologist at the Cuyahoga County Regional Forensic Science Lab,

under the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office.

In January, Fitch had her bond revoked after she reportedly tested positive for fentanyl at the county Adult Probation Department while out of jail on bond.

J. Anthony Rich, defense attorney for Fitch, said Monday that there was “definitely probable cause” for his client to be charged with the second-degree aggravated vehicular homicide and OVI counts, but he believes the evidence and testimony presented in trial could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she was under the influence of an illegal narcotic at the time of the crash.

“We pled guilty to what I believe the defendant did and what the defendant acknowledged that she did,” Rich said.

In a sentencing memorandum signed by Lorain County Assistant Prosecutor Chris Pierre, he asked Ewers for a maximum sentence.

“Defendant Fitch chose to driver [sic] at excessive speeds of over 90 mph through residential and school areas in Elyria with frequent stops and cross streets, where the speed limit is 35 mph,” Pierre wrote.

“Ms. Hill had no choice when she was stopped at the intersection of West Avenue and Third Street waiting for the red light to change. Ms. Hill had nowhere to go.”

Oberlin Council debates fees for public electric car charging stations JASON HAWK EDITOR

OBERLIN — Three new electric vehicle charging stations have been installed this week, and Oberlin City Council is considering making drivers pay to power up.

The proposed rate to start would be 18 cents per kilowatt hour, said Doug McMillian, director of the Oberlin Municipal Light and Power System.

An average electric car — McMillan used a Nissan Leaf as an example — would get about 24 miles off an hour's charge.

With the cost of power, administrative fees and state-mandated energy taxes, that would cost about $1.30.

Oberlin installed its first public charging station back in 2014 in the parking lot next to City Hall on South Main Street.

In the past six years, it's been free to use.

McMillan said that model was based on what Bowling Green did — charging stations there were used as an economic development tool.

"People would come to town, park their cars, get recharged, go shopping and eat at the restaurants in downtown Bowling Green," he told Council on Monday night.

In its first full year of use, Oberlin's lone charging station was used for 1,630 kilowatt hours of electricity, costing Oberlin just $140. Last year, use grew to 15,919 kilowatt hours, costing local taxpayers $1,369.

With drivers turning more and more to electric vehicles, Oberlin's electric department replaced the original charging station, added another at the George Abrams Pavilion on South Main Street,

and put a third behind the police station. The Oberlin Police Department recently purchased two electric patrol vehicles.

Each charging station cost $7,275 and is expected to last 10 years.

A handful of Council members said they want even more charging stations.

"I'm very aware that downtown business owners are interested in attracting people to the downtown area," said Councilman Ray English, suggesting another be added in front of The Hotel at Oberlin on North Main Street.

Councilman Kelley Singleton said he'd like to see 10 stations installed downtown. "I think we should go bigger," he said.

He also objected to making electric vehicle drivers pay to use them.

Oberlin's Sustainable Reserve Fund could easily

be used instead of passing costs on to people who have switched from gasoline power to electric, Singleton said.

That's where opinions split. "That like, you know, we'll pay for people's gasoline," said Councilwoman Kristin Peterson.

She said most people who can afford to drive electric cars can also afford to pay the proposed $1.30 per hour fee to charge up.

English also said he was comfortable charging fees to "fill up" electric vehicle batteries.

He said additional charging stations in Oberlin should be placed with "who we would like to attract to Oberlin, and the like" in mind.

The issue was sent to a second reading by a 5-1 vote, with Singleton dissenting and Councilwoman Heather Adelman abstaining.

Trojan Trot 5K

The 6th Annual Trojan Trot 5K and 1 Mile Fun Run to benefit St. Joseph Parish School will be held Saturday, April 17. The race will start and finish at the school’s athletic fields, 175 St. Joseph Dr. On-site registration will start at 8 a.m., with the runs beginning at 9 a.m.

Pre-registration is $25 for the general public or $22 for parishioners. Race-day registration will be $30.

Register online at www.hermescleveland.com or send entry forms and checks payable to Hermes Sports & Events, 2425 West 11th St., Suite #2, Cleveland, OH 44113. Pre-registration must be received no later than Wednesday, April 14.

LETTERS Letters to the editor should be: • Written to the editor. We do not allow open letters or those to specific residents, politicians, or groups.

• Concise. There is a limit of 350 words on letters.

• Polite. Letters that use crude language or show poor taste will be rejected.

• Opinions. We reserve space for letters that share a unique perspective. Press releases are not letters and will be considered for publication in other parts of the paper.

• Free of advertising, product or service endorsements or complaints, poetry, language that could raise legal problems, or claims that are measurably false.

• Signed. Include your name, address, and daytime telephone number for our records. Up to two signatures.

• The deadline to submit letters is 10 a.m. each Tuesday. They are used on a space-available basis. We reserve the right to edit any submission for length, grammar, spelling, and clarity, or to reject any submission.

SOLUTION TO CROSSWORD ON PAGE B2

SOLUTION TO SUDOKU ON PAGE B2

ABOUT THE COMMUNITY GUIDE LORAIN COUNTY COMMUNITY GUIDE (USPS 673-960) is published every Thursday, 52 weeks per year by Lorain County Printing & Publishing Company, 225 East Ave., Elyria OH 44035.

SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $40 for 52 weeks in Lorain County; $45 in Erie, Huron, Ashland, Medina, and Cuyahoga counties; $50 in all other Ohio counties; $55 outside Ohio.

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POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Lorain County Community Guide, PO Box 4010, Elyria OH 44036.

Thursday, March 18, 2021

SCHOLARS The following Amherst students have been named to the dean's list for the Fall 2020 semester at Bowling Green State University: KYLE MILNER, LAUREN MILNER, SYDNEY NOVAK, TYLER NAKONECZNY, DAVID BLOOM, HAYLEE GILLESPIE, SARAH HALLGREN, NOAH KAMNIKAR, RACHEL SZCZODROWSKI, RACHEL PRATT, MADELYN BOWLSBY, ANNE MARIE KORDELESKI, ANTONIO GONZALEZ, ADAM LOUGH, NATHAN BARTIZAL, CHAD CECIL, BENJAMIN KIRSCHNER, MEGAN JESKIE, REGINA WOLF, DEVAN HARMYCH, JILLIAN TERRELL, MADALYN LYONS, KASSIDY STEVENS, JOSHUA KELLY, STEVEN IWANEK, PATRISHA WILLE, KARA McCANN, GEHRIG GABRIE, NICHOLAS SQUIRES, MADISON PALMER, GRACE BOUCHER, ALYSSA YORKO and MORGAN NANCE. The following Amherst and South Amherst students have been named to the dean’s list for the Fall 2020 semester at Ohio University: ABBY FARLEY, KIMBERLY SIRB, ASPEN HANDY, ELIZABETH RAIDER, KATE ANDERSON, COURTNEY COGDELL, NOAH METZGER, OLIVIA LEWIS, STACEY MULLINS, EMILY EISCHEN, BRAD GOLSKI, GWEN MINUTE and MEGAN PARKS.

Lorain County Community Guide

Page A3

Milestone: golden anniversary

Runions celebrate 50 years together Ronald and Jean Runion of Wellington were married March 20, 1971, at Penfield United Church of Christ, and are celebrating their golden anniversary.

Ronald is retired from Verizon, formerly GTE/Northern Ohio Telephone, after 31 years. He is a 45-year member of the Wellington Masonic lodge, where he has held many local and state offices.

He is a 33rd Degree Scottish Rite Mason, Shriner, LaGrange Eastern Star Chapter and all York Rite Bodies. Ronald is a member of the board of governors for the Children's Dyslexia Center of Cleveland.

He is a member of Wellington First United Methodist Church and enjoys golfing, outdoor cooking, four-wheeling and spending time with his family.

Jean worked as an educational paraprofessional in the Keystone Schools for 22 years, retiring in 2010. She attends Wellington First United Methodist Church and enjoys spending time with her grandchildren and reading.

Together, the Runions raised five children: Edward (Diane) Runion, Carolyn (Ron) Clement, Elizabeth (JJ) Slone, John (Ann) Runion and Melissa (Christopher) Botson.

They have six grandchildren: Elena Runion, Luke Runion, Lydia Slone, Hudson Botson, Chase Clement and Allivia Clement.

Ronald and Jean Runion plan to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary with a family dinner.

MAYORS

FROM A1 Communities are going to grapple with getting shoppers back out and about, said Sheffield Village Mayor John Hunter.

He’s worried that customers are turning to online retailers more than ever instead of spending with local businesses that have invested in brick-and-mortar operations. Add limited inventory to the equation, and it spells trouble.

“A person used to be able to go to the store and see 30 dresses in different sizes, or 30 pairs of men’s pants in different sizes.

The shelves aren’t that full anymore,” Hunter said.

“Even a microwave — if you go to buy a microwave today, they’ve got a model in the store, but they tell you you can’t get one for three to five days until they ship it to you. People want things immediately, so they don’t wait that time period anymore.”

Kim Strauss, mayor of LaGrange, said that when businesses struggle, it also hurts local government’s income tax and revenue.

“So it’s a never-ending problem,” he said. “I can’t wait until they open things back up and people can operate everything normally. But we’re going to be paying for that lost year for a while.”

Strauss said having to wear masks to shop has been a turn-off for a lot of customers, and has kept some from patronizing local stores such as LaGrange IGA. The trickle-down effect is unemployment, said Dennis Bring, mayor of Sheffield Lake. Like others, he is concerned about the economic realities faced by residents who have lost jobs, or lost wages due to reduced hours.

“It’s affected their mortgages, their rent. It’s affected utilities and their ability to pay and keep up,” he said. “I don’t know how long this is going to last, and I don’t know whether some of these people will ever get their jobs back at all.”

Some businesses, said Hunter, have reacted to pandemic pressures by using more part-time workers instead of full-timers.

They’re not ready to restore pre-pandemic staffing levels, he said, worrying that they might never do so.

Bradley said it may be impossible to ever measure the true extent of damage done to restaurants, bars and other establishments — but it has clearly been dramatic.

Other mayors see silver linings. Bryan Jensen of Avon said customers have realized just how important

locally-owned businesses are, and have thrown incredible support behind them.

“They’re patronizing our businesses like they never have before,” he said.

Vermilion Mayor Jim Forthofer also saw positives for his city’s business community.

“We learned we can’t rely on only the festivals and the Third Thursdays, and all the things that drive people to town to shop,” he said. “We have to rely on our own value, and learn to survive on our own. We’ve done that.”

Mayor David DiVencenzo said he counts Grafton among the luckier towns in Ohio. That’s because its industries employ a lot of workers deemed “essential,” and were more insulated from the effects of last spring’s shutdown.

That trend was also measured in terms of municipal electricity sales to industrial customers, which he said barely budged at all.

“Here in Grafton we’ve fared very well compared to other cities and municipalities,” DiVencenzo said.

“Our workforce stayed pretty much open through the pandemic.”

Grafton still had to dip into its rainy day funds and drew down on carryover cash — he hopes mom-and-pop stores that have done the same will recover in the coming year.

Amherst Mayor Mark Costilow said he believes the economy will benefit from learning how to use technology more effectively during the pandemic.

“There’s good and bad in everything,” he said. “Our community events haven’t taken place and we haven’t been able to get together in big groups... but using Zoom, we can see a lot of people face-to-face on the screen with the click of a button.”

The COVID crisis forced people to adopt video calling so they could have some amount of human contact while remaining socially distanced, he said.

“We’re still able to see people, read their faces and socialize. If this had happened a decade ago, we might not have had the same comfort that modern technology has given us,” said Costilow.

A former technology teacher, Whitfield agreed with that assessment. He said it’s been a personal mission to get everyone he knows connected to the internet.

“After dozens of virtual meetings via Zoom and FaceTime, I believe those late adopters are convinced of the power of technol-

ogy and I’m hoping we can continue to offer opportunities to help our residents get connected to broadband internet and get the computer training they need to take advantage of the opportunity,” Whitfield said.

Eliminating face-to-face meetings has still been a blow to morale, said North Ridgeville Mayor Kevin Corcoran.

It’s also changed the way safety personnel respond to emergencies. “It’s changed the way we think about protecting ourselves when our firefighters go out on call, our police go out on call,” Corcoran said.

Bring said that’s especially true for ambulances and the paramedics who staff them.

“Our guys are so much more careful,” he said of Sheffield Lake’s emergency medical operations.

“I don’t think we can ever go back to transporting patients without masks and some of the other safety protocols we’ve had to put in place. We’re never going to take that chance again.”

Forthofer said his safetyrelated responsibilities took on a whole new meaning when the crisis began.

“I’m having a direct and indirect effect on people’s health, well-being and sometimes lives,” he said.

“I’ve had to do some very unpopular things, but I would do them all over again. It helps suppress the spread of the disease long enough for the vaccines to take effect, and I really think we’re on our way to a good result.”

Towns across the state are trying to play catch-up with capital improvements, including those that had to be put on hold in 2020.

“Government has been set back for a year,” said Rochester Mayor Cindy Kurpely. “There’s funding that didn’t get released for projects. Everything was basically put on hold.

We’re a year behind in moving the village forward.”

Her rural village in southwestern Lorain County is looking at making storm water system repairs. But Kurpely said it’s been difficult to get the right people to sit down for meetings.

“Things that the year before would have been much easier to do, in the past year they have been hard,” she said. “It’s been nearly impossible to get things done.”

Municipalities across the state did find relief from the federal CARES Act. Robert Meilander, mayor of Kipton, said his town got about $45,000, “which in my opinion was ridiculous for a small community

like ours.”

“But you don’t use it, you lose it, so we did upgrade with a new ventilation furnace system,” he said.

“There’s only so much you can spend, especially in a small village with a pretty limited population.”

He said Kipton had a handful of cases, but otherwise was barely touched by the pandemic — the benefit of living in a tiny town away from development.

That’s far from the story for the majority of Lorain County. Yet other mayors said they are positive about the direction it is moving, as cases fall and the number of vaccinated residents steadily climbs.

Much of the credit, they said, goes to Lorain County Health Commissioner David Covell’s guidance, and the logistical support by Emergency Management Agency Director Tom Kelley, who made sure there was personal protective equipment to go around.

Greg Zilka, mayor of Avon Lake, said he hopes residents have a newfound respect for science after living through the pandemic.

“I think the vaccination process now is going to instill more confidence in the local county health department and also (health experts) nationwide, statewide,” he said.

Zilka said he suspects Ohio’s statewide mask mandate has been responsible for also virtually stomping out seasonal flu strains this past year.

Any number of airborne nuisances didn’t have a chance to get a foothold, and more regular use of masks might be a good idea for halting future diseases, he said.

South Amherst Mayor David Leshinski formerly worked with the public health department and specialized in communicable diseases. He said even though COVID case

numbers are going down, “we can’t just drop on our heels and say everything is fine and well.”

It’s crucial to keep up mask, hand-washing and social-distancing discipline as new COVID variants spread, said Leshinski. Doing so — combined with getting vaccinated — will help get back to normal as fast as possible.

Then Lorain County residents and the rest of America can start healing the emotional wounds caused by the virus.

Hans Schneider, mayor of Wellington, said it will be a long path back in terms of socializing and trust.

Some traditions may never fully be in use again, he suspects.

“Are people going to shake hands? Are they going to hug? Are they going to gather?” he asked. “Or are people going to pull back a little bit? How are sporting events going to happen? How are graduations for kids going to happen? I think that will probably be the biggest change, the biggest kinds of questions we’re going to be left asking for a long time.”

Schneider said he’s missed holding weekend “coffee with the mayor” events, going to the Eagles Club and going to Cleveland Browns games with his kids.

But like many other mayors, he said spending much more time at home over the past year has also been a “great reset” for families.

For example, Schneider said he’s enjoyed spending more time with his wife and having real conversations over dinner, rather than the more superficial ones they had in passing when life was far more rushed.

Families are doing more together now, agreed Jensen: “They’re spending quality time, not just time.

They’re enjoying our parks more. They’re talking.”

Whitfield said he hopes that newly rediscovered closeness with family stays in place.

He said he found himself cooking more with family, going for neighborhood walks and craving nature and the outdoors.

“When you realize that you can’t anymore just pick up and go to visit your grandmother, or relatives in another town, it really makes you appreciate those people more, I think,” said Forthofer. “That type of realization — how we’re a community, how we affect each other, appreciating the people we weren’t able to see — those are good lessons to have.”

Linda Slocum, who as president of Oberlin City Council is also the ceremonial mayor, said the pandemic reminded everyone that people come first, and should be there to help each other.

When COVID-19 flipped everyday life upside down a year ago, Oberlin had just started working on a comprehensive plan that focuses heavily on leveling the playing field for people of different circumstances.

“We were just starting to get things in place,” Slocum said. “What I think this has shown us is just how important it is to work together to meet these goals — the inter-relatedness, how we have to stay constantly aware of who is falling behind, who needs help and the ways we can do that.”

Whitfield said working shoulder to shoulder through the crisis has led to an unprecedented camaraderie.

Residents understand they are “in this together, wearing our masks, doing parades every other week, delivering food to the shut in and supporting calls for racial justice and inclusion,” he said.

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Lorain County Community Guide

Future business professionals from JVS advance to state competition PITTSFIELD TWP. — Twenty-three Lorain County JVS students are advancing to the Business Professionals of America state competition.

These students participated and placed in the BPA regional competition in January.

"Despite the challenges of COVID-19, especially the decrease in contact hours, these students have risen to the challenge,” said Tim Reeves, cybersecurity and networking instructor at the county vocational school. “They are currently studying and preparing for the state level competition to put themselves in position to advance even further.”

For the podcast production team, scheduling the time to work together was the most challenging.

“We really only had one day a week when we could practice because of our split schedule this year,” said Damion Garcia, a junior in the web and graphic design program. “We needed all four (team members) together to record, so it took some figuring out with timing.”

Zachary Hart, a junior in the web and graphic design program, said his team decided to center their podcast on the pandemic: “We wanted to focus on how the COVID-19 virus has affected schools, whether high school or college, and talk about both short- and long-term effects.”

Chase Lee, a junior from Elyria, said that even with this year's struggles, the entire process was enjoyable.

“It was a lot of fun doing this," Lee said. "It was the most amount of fun I’ve had, this whole year actually.”

Students who took part in the BPA competition: Amherst • Woody Decker Jr.,

event.

• Devon Nieves, a junior in the cybersecurity and networking program, placed second in the PC support event.

• Alexander Esser-Whidden, a junior in the cybersecurity and networking program, placed first in the PC support event.

Firelands • Eduardo Diaz, a senior in the cybersecurity and networking program, placed first in the computer security event.

Midview • Haden Weisenberger, a senior in the cybersecurity and networking program, placed first in the Cisco networking event.

Provided photo

The junior web and graphic design podcast production team includes (back row) Dawson Fries of Clearview, Chase Lee of Elyria, (front row) Zachary Hart of North Ridgeville and Damion Garcia of Clearview. a senior in the web and graphic design program, placed first in the advanced desktop publishing event.

• Tyler Laubenthal, a senior in the web and graphic design program, placed second in the fundamentals of desktop publishing event.

• Brandon Mullett, a senior in the cybersecurity and networking program, placed second in the Cisco networking event.

• Eleanor Tovo, a junior in the web and graphic design program, placed first in the fundamentals of desktop publishing event.

team event.

• Dezshanae Seagers, a senior in the marketing and entrepreneurship program, placed first in the extemporaneous speech event.

• Ryan Wicker, a senior in the web and graphic design program, placed first in the intermediate word processing event.

Clearview • Damion Garcia, a junior in the web and graphic design program, placed first in the podcast production team event.

• Dawson Fries, a junior in the web and graphic design program, placed first in the podcast production

Elyria • Kevin Darden, a junior in the cybersecurity and networking program, placed first in the computer networking event.

• Chase Lee, a junior in the web and graphic design program, placed first in the podcast production team

Columbia • Evin Elliott, a senior in the web and graphic design program, placed first in the website design team event.

• Elijah Rosas, a senior in the web and graphic design program, placed first in the website design team event.

North Ridgeville • Nick Harrington, a junior in the cybersecurity and networking program, placed second in the computer networking event.

• Zachary Hart, a junior in the web and graphic design program, placed first in the podcast production team event.

• Dylan Snoeberger, a senior in the cybersecurity and networking program, placed first in the Cisco networking event.

Oberlin • Cassandra Sircoky, a junior in the web and graphic design program, placed first in the digital media production event.

Wellington • Cheyenne Cartwright, a senior in the marketing and entrepreneurship program, placed first in the advanced interview skills event.

• Rachel Kropff, a junior in the web and graphic design program, placed first in the graphic design promotion event.

• Emily Krouse, a junior in the web and graphic design program, placed first in the interview skills event.

OPINION COLUMN

Cowboys, teachers and Father Fix-it Where do cowboys come from?

In my family’s case, they came from a farm in Ohio. My cousins Del and Dana were raised on that farm but had an itch to go to rodeo school out in Texas. And in due time they became cowboys, the real kind, cowpokes who fix fences, brand cattle and sleep soundly in a bunk house after a 14-hour work day.

When you’re young, you can do that kind of thing.

Time and necessity shape your work career. Del went from cowboy to making leather belts and fancy belt buckles while Dana taught school in Pecos, Texas, and later specialized in repairing tractors.

My grandfather, Charles W. Burns, had three sisters and no brother and was expected to take over our other family farm in Ohio.

But he had an itch to teach school and went to the Ohio Normal School for four years and then taught all 12 grades in a one-room schoolhouse. When a third child arrived, he had to find a better-paying job to support his family of five. He became a mailman.

Getting up early — say, 3 a.m. — must have appealed to another branch of my family. Uncle Dick went into the fruit-and-vegetable

PAST IS PRESENT JAMES BURNS

business and had to meet the early train at Union Terminal in Cincinnati to unload farm-fresh tomatoes for the grocery stores.

Another cousin became a baker, necessitating that 3 a.m. wake-up call to fill his ovens with rolls and bread for the early shoppers.

We had enough teachers — including my mother, sister, wife and myself — to shake a stick (or ruler) at. Yes, poor grammar, but none of us were English teachers.

I plead guilty to having such a poor aptitude for things mechanical that I couldn’t follow my father and brother into the motor repair business. In fact, whereas my father-in-law was known as “Father Fix-it,” most everything

I touched either broke or stopped working. I had the Reverse Midas Touch.

But note that none of us were bank robbers, blackmailers or bar bouncers, though the latter is an honorable profession that employed the current Pope in his secular youth. That thought of being good at what-we’re-not was contained in my cousin Percy Hosbrook’s letter to his father back in 1865.

“Respected Father, I believe there is not a drunkard or a vagabond or a beggar in the list of your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, And I now pledge myself that none of my children ever shall be.” Percy had strict standards — he was the county surveyor for Indianapolis, and it was said that he “let people know how far they could go,” literally.

Two other cousins were successful jacks-of-alltrades. Hervey Bates ran a store, managed a post-office and started a carding mill in Indiana.

Those were early steps on a career that saw Hervey become a builder, banker and co-founder of Indianapolis. In an era where honesty and respect were paramount, when a man’s handshake was his word, Hervey’s “rugged honesty

made his name a synonym for integrity.”

Cousin Burt Perrine, a man of small stature, ventured out west to the Snake River valley of southern Idaho. Burt started with a herd of milk cows but ended by building a dam and hydro-electric plant that transformed sagebrush desert into fertile farmland. His statue now stands near the Perrine Memorial Bridge over the Snake River. Burt’s tenacity and never-quit attitude prevailed over engineering challenges and powerful political opposition.

The disruption caused by our pandemic lock-down has reconfigured if not transformed what work is, and both how and where it’s done. The world of telemedicine, tele-anything and computers over commuters is painting a new picture of what a family’s work history may look like. But I believe that Burt Perrine, Hervey Bates and my cowboy cousins Del and Dana would still survive and thrive in this new world of work.

James Burns is an Ohio native, a retired professor at the University of Florida, and a frequent contributor. Email him at burns@ise.ufl.edu.

Thursday, March 18, 2021

Science lab gas leak causes HS evacuation AMHERST — The smell of gas caused Marion L. Steele High School to be evacuated after lunch Monday.

Firefighters were called out to the building at 12:56 p.m. and discovered a faulty gas pipe in the science wing on the south side of the building, said Amherst Fire Chief Jim Wilhelm.

"The valve was leaking, so the maintenance guys turned it off in the ceiling, and they're going to put new packing in it over Spring Break," he said.

Wilhelm described the incident as minor and said students weren't in great danger.

They only had to stand outside about 20 minutes before being allowed back into the building, he said.

Spring Break starts March 29.

Virtual networking luncheon

Join Oberlin Community Services for an hour of connection, reflection and strategic thinking starting at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, March 25.

In its first virtual networking luncheon, OCS is inviting people to share briefly how their work changed in 2020, to reflect on where the community is one year after COVID-19 shutdowns and to discuss strategies for 2021.

RSVP for this Zoom event at www.oberlincommunityservices.org/luncheon.

Love Cleveland baseball?

Learn about Cleveland baseball history in a virtual program through the Amherst Public Library at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, March 29.

Martin Gitlin, author of "The Ultimate Cleveland Indians Time Machine Book" will share videos and photographs of the greatest and most fascinating players, teams, events and moments in franchise history.

This program will take place on Zoom. Registration with an email address is required, and attendees will receive an email with a link to access the program.

To register, visit www.amherstpubliclibrary.org or call the reference desk at (440) 988-4230.

Wine and Chocolate Walk

Tickets are now on sale for Main Street Amherst's Wine and Chocolate Walk, which will be held from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday, May 16.

Spend time visiting more than 40 businesses in downtown Amherst while sampling chocolate and wine along the way.

Tickets are $30 each and all participants must be 21 or older. To order tickets, visit www.mainstreetamherst. org/tickets or visit the Main Street office at 255 Park Ave.

Historical society sales

Amherst Historical Society garage sales will be held from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, March 26-27; Saturdays, April 10 and 24; and Saturdays, May 8 and 22.

They will also be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Wednesdays, March 31, April 14 and 28 and May 12 and 26.

Call (440) 988-7255 for details.

Wellington wins challenge

With an average of 8,767 steps per day, Team Wellington has emerged victorious in Lorain County Public Health’s Winter Warm-up Step Challenge.

Members of neighboring Team Keystone put up a strong fight, averaging 7,856 daily steps.

The 115 challenge participants walked a total of 20,946,158 steps — that’s enough to walk from Keystone High School to Wellington High School more than 1,000 times.

Between Jan. 24 and Feb. 14, residents in the Keystone and Wellington school districts competed to see which group walked the most. They also earned steps through other physical activities, such as housework, shoveling snow and stretching.

They logged daily steps on Lorain County Walks, a free website created by the county health department.

In addition to bragging rights, Wellington will get another reward: LaGrange Mayor Kim Strauss will spend a day of shame wearing Wellington Dukes spirit gear.

Individual steppers will receive recognition and prizes in categories for most tracked steps, participation and spirit. The individual on both teams with the highest number of tracked steps will receive a gift certificate from a local business.

Individuals with the highest number of tracked steps were Mary Kay Gates (Team Keystone) and Deb Lansman (Team Wellington).

The Spirit Award goes to Amanda Johnson of Team Keystone for posting photos while engaged in healthy activity.

Learn about warblers

The Black River Audubon Society will present “The Story of Two Strange Warblers” at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 6 in a virtual program.

Courtney Brennan, a former BRAS board member and now senior collections manager for the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, will speak on newly discovered hybrid birds with redstart and magnolia warbler parentage.

Her research involves bird hybridization and migration studies in the Great Lakes regions. At the museum, she oversees the maintenance and development of the zoological collections. Brennan is also involved with Lights Out Cleveland, studying bird-building collisions in the city and processing bird casualties associated with the program.

For this and future Zoom meetings, visit www.blackriveraudubon.org and register at the bottom of the first page under “Subscribe.” A Zoom link will be sent to you.

Thursday, March 18, 2021

Lorain County Community Guide

New: Schedule your vaccine appointment A new online scheduling tool has been launched by Lorain County Public Health for COVID-19 vaccination appointments.

Visit www.loraincountyhealth.com/signup to choose an appointment by date, time, location and type of vaccine.

To be eligible, you need to be either age 65 and up, or have a qualifying medical condition: sickle cell anemia, Down syndrome, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, spina bifida, severe congenital heart defect, Type 1 diabetes (only if you've been hospitalized in the past year), phenylketonuria, Tay-Sachs disease, epilepsy with continuing seizures, hydrocephalitis, microcephalitis, Turner syndrome, fragile X syndrome, PraderWilli syndrome, severe asthma (only if you've been hospitalized in the past year), alpha and beta thalassemia or if you are a solid organ transplant recipient or candidate.

Also eligible now are bone marrow transplant recipients, pregnant women, people with ALS, or people who work in childcare, funeral services, and law enforcement and corrections officers.

If you don't have internet access, dial 211 by phone to speak to a scheduler.

Page A5

Centralized scheduling The state of Ohio has also unveiled a centralized scheduling website at gettheshot.coronavirus.ohio.gov.

It's intended to help residents confirm that they are eligible to be vaccinated, identify nearby providers and schedule vaccine appointments.

"As we continue to receive more vaccines, having a centralized scheduling website will streamline the process, reduce data lags and provide real-time information on vaccination progress across the state," said Gov. Mike DeWine.

The state's tool will also be used to set appointments at the Federal Emergency Management Agency's mass vaccination clinic in Cleveland.

Vaccines for veterans

All veterans who are enrolled and using VA health care can now get the COVID-19 vaccine from the agency, regardless of their age or pre-existing conditions.

Interested veterans can fill out a scheduling survey at www.tinyurl.com/LCVeterans, or sign up by calling (216) 707-7660.

The Veterans Administration gives vaccines at four Northeast Ohio locations, the nearest being the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center and the Parma VA Clinic.

The Lorain County Veterans Service Office is making transportation available to the Cleveland and Parma facilities for appointments, according to Executive Director Jacob Smith.

UH offers vaccine pre-registration

University Hospitals has opened pre-registration to eligible Ohioans at vaccine.uhhospitals.org.

Once a patient signs up, UH will contact them via text or email when appointment times become available.

A phone number will be provided so the patient can speak with a scheduler. Patients who do not have internet access can call (216) 844-3339.

At this time, UH is distributing vaccines by appointment only.

The Ohio Department of Health's vaccine distribution plan is still under development. Rules are made by state and local health authorities.

UH is generally notified by the state five to seven days before receiving a shipment of vaccines. In Ohio, quantities, location and timing of future vaccine shipments are currently unknown, and these logistical details may remain fluid for several months.

For now, UH patients will not be able to choose which type of vaccine they would prefer to receive, but they will be informed about what type of vaccination they are receiving and may choose to defer their appointment based on available information.

According to clinical trials, all authorized vaccines have been shown to be highly effective in preventing severe illness, hospitalization, and death from COVID-19.

COVID-19 vaccine providers in Lorain County Charak Ceter for Health and Wellness 347 Midway Blvd., Suite 210, Elyria (440) 324-5555 www.charakcenter.com CVS Pharmacy 3230 Oberlin Ave., Lorain (440) 282-9189 www.cvs.com/immunizations/covid19-vaccine Discount Drug Mart 110 Chestnut Commons Dr., Elyria (440) 366-6785 www.discount-drugmart.com Discount Drug Mart 12289 Leavitt Rd., Oberlin (440) 774-5212 www.discount-drugmart.com Discount Drug Mart 2253 Colorado Ave., Lorain (440) 288-0191 www.discount-drugmart.com Discount Drug Mart 300 Leavitt Rd., Amherst (440) 984-2439 www.discount-drugmart.com Discount Drug Mart 33382 Walker Rd., Avon Lake (440) 933-2327 www.discount-drugmart.com Discount Drug Mart 33552 Detroit Rd., Avon (440) 937-4510 www.discount-drugmart.com

Discount Drug Mart 4208 Liberty Ave., Vermilion (440) 967-3000 www.discount-drugmart.com

Giant Eagle Pharmacy 31990 Walker Rd., Avon Lake (440) 933-9598 www.gianteagle.com/covidvaccine

Discount Drug Mart 500 Abbe Rd., Elyria (440) 365-8319 www.discount-drugmart.com

Giant Eagle Pharmacy 320 Market Dr., Elyria (440) 324-1742 www.gianteagle.com/covidvaccine

Discount Drug Mart 5298 Detroit Rd., Sheffield (440) 934-3840 www.discount-drugmart.com

LaGrange Pharmacy 540 North Center St., LaGrange (440) 613-1300 www.tinyurl.com/LaGrangePharmacy

Discount Drug Mart 814 North Main St., Wellington (440) 647-6634 www.discount-drugmart.com

Lorain County Health and Dentistry 1205 Broadway, Lorain (440) 240-2121 www.lorainhealth-dentistry.org

Giant Eagle Pharmacy 34325 Center Ridge Rd., North Ridgeville (440) 327-8085 www.gianteagle.com/covidvaccine Giant Eagle Pharmacy 2201 Kresge Dr., Amherst (440) 282-7651 www.gianteagle.com/covidvaccine Giant Eagle Pharmacy 5231 Detroit Rd.,Sheffield (440) 934-5377 www.gianteagle.com/covidvaccine Giant Eagle Pharmacy 4453 Liberty Ave., Vermilion (440) 967-1220 www.gianteagle.com/covidvaccine

Marcs Pharmacy 34800 Center Ridge Rd., North Ridgeville (440) 353-1601 www.marcs.com Marcs Pharmacy 170 Sheffield Center, Lorain (440) 233-7874 www.marcs.com Midview Drug Pharmacy 35053 Royalton Rd., Grafton (440) 748-2137 www.midviewdrug.com Rite Aid 267 North Main St., Wellington (440) 647-2121 www.riteaid.com/pharmacy/covid-

qualifier Rite Aid 4106 East Lake Rd., Sheffield Lake (440) 949-6239 www.riteaid.com/pharmacy/covidqualifier

www.riteaid.com/pharmacy/covidqualifier Sam's Club Pharmacy 5225 Cobblestone Rd., Sheffield (440) 934-4310 www.samsclub.com

Rite Aid 479 Main St., Grafton (440) 926-2126 www.riteaid.com/pharmacy/covidqualifier

Southside Pharmacy 2811 Fulton Rd., Lorain (440) 277-0655 www.facebook.com/Southside-Pharmacy-147446308616344

Rite Aid 142 Broad St., Elyria (440) 322-7780 www.riteaid.com/pharmacy/covidqualifier

Walgreens 33760 Center Ridge Rd., North Ridgeville (440) 327-1330 www.walgreens.com

Rite Aid 4580 Liberty Ave., Vermilion (440) 967-2018 www.riteaid.com/pharmacy/covidqualifier

Walgreens 5411 Leavitt Rd., Lorain (440) 960-7225 www.walgreens.com

Rite Aid 2709 Broadway, Lorain (440) 244-1950 www.riteaid.com/pharmacy/covidqualifier Rite Aid 2853 Grove Ave., Lorain (440) 277-6181 www.riteaid.com/pharmacy/covidqualifier Rite Aid 100 South Leavitt Rd., Amherst (440) 244-0593

Walgreens 32798 Walker Rd., Avon Lake (440 930-5873 www.walgreens.com Walgreens 2730 Broadway, Lorain (440) 244-0593 www.walgreens.com Walmart Pharmacy 35901 Chester Rd., Avon (440) 937-4760 www.walmart.com/store/5066-avon-oh Ohio Department of Health

-Advertorial-

Local Business Spotlight: Gutter Cover Co. Jim Carbone Elyria’s Gutter Cover Company

Gutter Protection products have many different designs, but the goal has always been the same- Keep the Leaves out and let the rainwater in.

Here are some strategic details to look for when choosing a gutter cover and who to call to install it. A good gutter cover needs to perform in certain areas in order to be successful: • Must allow debris like small leaves, needles, spinners, seedpods and roof shingle grit to naturally slide off the cover.

• Must handle heavy amounts of rainwater without overflowing.

• Must be wind resistant and strong enough not to “cavein” under heavy snow loads.

• Must not require any trips up the ladder to maintain performance.

• Cannot have vertical openings like screens or filters that can clog easily.

Don’t be fooled…All screens can clog!

The Gutter Cover Company has been installing Gutter Topper for almost 23 years.

Gutter Topper is proudly manufactured right here in Ohio and made to withstand our wicked weather. It is a smooth, solid aluminum cover that has no holes or gaps on top. A sloped, self-shedding design prevents spinners, pine needles, shingle grit or

seedpods from clogging the gutter. Gutter Topper can handle heavy downpours of up to 22 inches of rain per hour and 110 mph winds. It also features a lifetime transferable performance warranty. Many competing gutter guards require full replacement of both gutters and downspouts.

Gutter Topper installs over your existing gutters, and each installation includes cleaning, tightening, resealing and properly aligning your gutters. New seamless gutters are also available.

The Gutter Cover Company also offers a safe and effective way to stop big icicles and ice damming. An optional add-on product called Heater Cap can be installed with or without Gutter Topper that gently heats the gutter area with a self-regulated heat cable. Heater Cap can be installed on most existing gutter covers.

Hiring the right company to install the cover correctly is very important. The Gutter Cover Company has a proven track record of success in Northeast Ohio and the locals have been referring their friends and neighbors for years.

“Our company takes pride in solving gutter problems the right way. Our product, experience and attention to detail really make us stand out from the big box stores and other competitors. Free estimates are always punctual and

professional, but still friendly and casual.” -Jim Carbone, Owner You can reach The Gutter Cover Company at 440-3660688 or 1-800-335- 4367.

View short videos of Gutter

Topper and Heater Cap at: www.gutterguard1.com.

The Gutter Cover Company is your locally owned and operated source for the ultimate in gutter protection.

Schedule a free estimate by April 25, 2021, and receive a $400 discount on Gutter Topper or Heater Cap when you mention this story.

Additional discounts available for seniors and veterans.

Jim Carbone is the owner of Elyria’s Gutter Cover Company,

Shop Local and See the Difference!

SAFE & SOCIALLY DISTANT ESTIMATES!

INSTALLS OVER EXISTING GUTTERS

• Smooth, sloped and self-shedding profile works great for maple spinners, pine needles, roof grit and other small leaves.

• Lifetime Performance Warranty.

• NOT a screen or filter that can clog.

• Installation Includes: - Gutter & Downspout Cleaning - Resealing Seams & Tightening - Proper Slope Alignment

• Proven to handle heavy rains and 110mph winds.

• Patented “Bird Guard System” and comes in 14 colors.

• Proudly located in Elyria and locally owned since 1998.

FREE ESTIMATES • SENIOR DISCOUNTS • VETERAN DISCOUNTS

WINTER SPECIAL

$400 OFF

Your Order (Minimum footage required) Offer Expires 4/25/21

Always On-Time, Friendly and Professional

440-366-0688 gutterguard1.com

Heat Available For Open Gutters & Most Existing Gutter Covers

Page A6

Lorain County Community Guide

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Thursday, March 18, 2021

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Avon Mayor Bryan Jensen, who is afraid of needles, looks away and tries to stay calm as Lorain County Public Health registered nurse Jillian Spriestersbach gives him the COVID-19 vaccine on Friday, March 12, 2021. "I think I'm more sensitive to pain," he joked afterward. "I may have felt it even if I hadn't gotten a shot, if they had faked it."

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ELYRIA TWP. — Trypanophobia is an extreme fear of needles, and it didn't make getting the COVID-19 vaccine easy for Avon Mayor Bryan Jensen.

He tried to joke his nervousness away Friday morning at the Lorain County Public Health headquarters on Murray Ridge Road, turning his head and setting his jaw for the few second its took to be vaccinated.

"No one will be more terrified than I am, I can tell you that," Jensen said afterward.

"If I can do it, anyone can."

Jensen said his aversion to needles is more than just a quirk. If he watches while getting an injection, chances are he'll pass out.

That doesn't stop him from giving blood.

Sometimes he hasn't made it through the process without blacking out.

"But I still continue to give blood because it's the right thing to do. Same with this vaccination — it's the right thing to do," he said.

Lorain County Health Commissioner David Covell said some residents have fainted during their vaccination appointments — but not from the shot itself.

He said they've suffered "white coat syndrome," passing out from nerves as soon as a nurse entered the room.

The actual vaccine has caused no severe reactions to date in Lorain County, Covell said.

Probate Court Judge James Walther had no trouble at all. Like Jensen, he got the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine Friday morning.

Walther said he gets a flu shot every year, and sees the COVID-19 vaccine as just another preventative health measure.

"I'm 61. Someday I want to be 71 and 81 and all the rest of those," he said.

Walther said he had been "pumped up" since getting on the vaccination list. It will allow to finally hug his mother again, something the judge hasn't been able to do for a full year.

Now they can have Easter together, and Walther said he has the date circled on his calendar, two weeks after his shot.

Vaccinations will also allow people to start going to church together, seeing the Cleveland Indians play again and eating

Wearing an "I got the shot" mask made by his daughter, Lorain County Probate Court Judge James Walther is vaccinated Friday, March 12, 2021, by registered nurse Jillian Spriestersbach at Lorain County Public Health.

PROGRESS REPORT

About 2.16 million Ohioans have gotten at least one COVID-19 vaccination dose as of Friday, according to the Ohio Department of Health. That's nearly 19 percent of the state's population.

If you have had the coronavirus within the past 90 days, Lorain County Health Commissioner David Covell said you might consider stepping to the back of the vaccination line — that's because having the disease provides a degree of immunity already without the shot.

But as long as you've gone at least 10 days without symptoms, and are eligible under Ohio's phased rollout plan, you can get the vaccine, he said. out at restaurants, he said.

Walther said he is especially looking forward to the return of the Rockin' on the River concert series at Black River Landing in Lorain. "I think Lorain is right on the edge of a renaissance downtown, there.

Hopefully it's this year," he said. "It was supposed to be last year."

Covell, 56, got his COVID vaccination after becoming eligible by age.

He also opted for the newly-approved Johnson & Johnson shot, in part to show the public that it's safe and reliable.

Curiosity was also a factor — Covell said he wanted to see how the after-effects differed from those of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines his older family members received.

He was vaccinated around 9:45 a.m.

Tuesday, and almost exactly 12 hours later to the minute, he started to feel chills and extreme fatigue.

A night owl, he went to bed hours early.

When he woke around midnight, he felt fine again.

"I had a little soreness in my arm, a little bit of chills, a little bit of achiness. And that was pretty much it," Covell said.

Each of the vaccines will cause recipients to feel run down afterward, he said.

The onset is usually about 24 hours after getting the Pfizer or Moderna versions, and they tend to last another 18 hours.

Covell said he wasn't nervous about getting the Johnson & Johnson shot. All the vaccines approved for emergency use in the United States have been well-tested, he said.

OUR TOWNS

Lorain County Community Guide • Thursday, March 18, 2021

B

Pandemic center stage in State of Wellington JASON HAWK EDITOR

WELLINGTON — The COVID crisis was the 800-pound gorilla in the room Thursday during the annual State of Wellington address.

"Obviously, the year was dominated by the pandemic," said Village Manager Steve Dupee, in a virtual presentation live from the LCCC Wellington Center.

The town had significantly improved its finances in 2019, thanks to an income tax increase approved by voters. It appeared to be headed for more growth in the first quarter of 2020, Dupee said.

Then the virus surfaced, and industries across the state were shut down, delivering a brutal blow.

Anticipating $2.5 million in revenue, Wellington was hit with a $300,000 decrease. And sales of electricity, projected at $8.9 million, dropped by about $1 million as operations at the village's industrial park idled in April and May. Dupee said Village Council and administrators jumped to rein in spending. They also got $344,000

Photos by Jason Hawk | Wellington Enterprise

Wellington Village Manager Steve Dupee (left) and Mayor Hans Schneider detail how the COVID-19 pandemic dominated 2020, and their plans for 2021. in federal CARES Act relief, though it couldn't be used to pay for most day-to-day expenses or utility losses.

Dupee said Wellington's prudent response to the threat allowed it to not only weather the pandemic, but to improve its general fund cash position from $713,000 to $1.76 million.

"This is a very positive trend

for the village, and a demonstration of our financial stability and our credit-worthiness," he said.

Turning his eyes to the future, Mayor Hans Schneider said the looming question in 2021 is whether Wellington will become a city.

He expects the results of the U.S. Census to show the town's population has surpassed 5,000,

which is the key number under Ohio law. The reveal will have to wait until September when census results are made public, but Schneider said housing has grown in recent years.

The change won't mean as much as some believe. Wellington has a charter that requires all existing services to continue — as a city, its official name will

even continue to be the Village of Wellington.

There will be minor changes: financial audits will happen every year instead of every two years, and some employees will have to go through the civil service testing process.

But local government, from policing to road paving, won't fundamentally change, Schneider said.

In April, Wellington's charter commission will begin meeting twice each month to review potential changes, as is required every five years.

"I'm not aware of any major changes that need to go through, but this is part of our process," Schneider said.

Proposed changes that arise from the meetings must go to voters, who will have the final say.

In the meantime, Wellington has a slate of construction projects planned for 2021.

It includes replacement of a 1952 ground storage water tank at the end of Erie Street to enhance water quality. Four water pumps on Pitts Road, dating back WELLINGTON PAGE B2

Early release denied in cop shooting case STAFF REPORT

Jason Hawk | Wellington Enterprise

Jaqlyn Wallace and Steve Neff stand outside the new Tactical Equipment & Services in downtown Wellington, which uses signage from the Liam Neeson action movie "The Marksman."

Life imitates art at Wellington’s ‘Marksman’-inspired gun shop JASON HAWK EDITOR

WELLINGTON — Set dressers painted a simple "Gun Shop" sign outside Steve Neff's music store in downtown Wellington in late 2019.

It's still there, long after filming wrapped on the Liam Neeson actionthriller "The Marksman," which was

released in theaters this January.

Now Neff is making the most of the village's touched-by-Hollywood fame, as well as the "Gun Shop" sign.

He and manager Jaqlyn Wallace now run Tactical Equipment & Services from the space on West Herrick Avenue, selling an assortment of pistols, rifles and ammunition — just like Neeson's character used to fend

off deadly cartel assassins.

"Every single day I have someone come in asking, 'Is this where the movie was made?' So it only made sense to go ahead and do it," Neff said.

Standing near photos of Neeson in action and a signed guitar, Wallace said she's talked to plenty of starGUN SHOP PAGE B2

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AKRON — Ohio's Ninth District Court of Appeals has denied a request for early release from prison by a man who shot and wounded an Amherst police officer during a 2018 standoff.

A three-judge panel ruled that Martin Robinson's petition "does not comply with the mandatory requirements" of Ohio law and dismissed it in a 3-0 ruling announced March 8.

Martin Robinson Judges Lynne Callahan, Jennifer Hensal and Thomas Teodosio ruled that Robinson — who filed the appeal without being represented by an attorney — is required to file an affidavit of indigency stating that he is unable to pay filing fees and must have his affidavit notarized.

Robinson's petition for release "only states that he is illegally incarcerated and that he earns no money," Callahan wrote. "It does not provide the balance in his inmate account for any period of time," which is a requirement under the law.

Robinson, a former corrections officer, was convicted of attempted murder and felonious assault charges following a trial in Lorain County Common Pleas Court in March ROBINSON PAGE B2

Oberlin College named a voter friendly campus For the third consecutive year, Oberlin College has been designated a "Voter Friendly College" for its efforts to get students involved in the political process.

The designation was given by the Fair Elections Center's Campus Vote Project and NASPA Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education.

The initiative holds its more than 200 participating campuses accountable for taking steps to encourage students to register and vote.

Oberlin College was evaluated on how it turned out student voters in 2020, and its on- and off-campus voter engagement efforts.

They included Yeo the Vote, which sought to register all student athletes, and OC Votes, which provided space to learn about ways to take part in the democratic process, and ways to learn about complex issues raised by candidates.

"Our political system depends on the rigorous examination of diverse perspectives, which is also critical to the academic and artistic mission of the college," said Vice President and Dean of Students Meredith Raimondo in a post on the college's website.

SUBMIT YOUR NEWS TO: NEWS@LCNEWSPAPERS.COM

Page B2

Spring brush collection

EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR

The city of Oberlin will begin brush collection for residents on April 12. It will run through May 16.

Given social distancing protocols and staffing levels, this work will be performed as a two person operation, two or three days a week.

Brush must be cut to lengths no longer than six feet and should be neatly stacked in the same direction at the curb.

Limbs larger than six inches in diameter should not be placed out for city collection. Brush must be free of wire, metal, stone, nails, rope or other foreign materials.

Japanese knotweed (which looks like bamboo), stumps, brush with root balls, grape vines, rose bushes and nonwoody yard waste will not be collected. Brush resulting from tree removal or major trimming projects is the responsibility of the property owner. The city reserves the right not to collect excessive amounts of brush.

For more information, call the Public Works Department at (440) 775-7218.

Mayor Hans Schneider recognized Christa O'Brien as the Village Employee of the Year.

A 25-year veteran of the Public Works Department, serving as administrative assistant, O'Brien is also Wellington's Clerk of Council.

WELLINGTON

FROM B1

ROBINSON

FROM B1

2019 and sentenced to 55 years in prison.

Jurors found Robinson, 42, guilty of shooting and severely wounding Amherst police Officer Eugene "J.R." Ptacek during a standoff at Robinson's Sheffield Lake home on May 31, 2018.

The Lorain County SWAT team had gone to Robinson's house to assist the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force with serving a warrant on Robinson. He was convicted of shooting Ptacek with a 20-gauge shotgun.

A lawsuit filed by Robinson's girlfriend over the incident was dismissed by Judge Chris Cook in May 2020.

In January, Cook also denied Robinson's request to dismiss more than $61,000 in restitution, fines and costs Robinson currently owes.

Cook wrote in a Jan. 27 court docket entry that "there is nothing in the record to suggest that (Robinson) is not 'able-bodied' or capable of paying his fines/costs upon his release from incarceration."

GUN SHOP

FROM B1

struck visitors who love the idea the town has appeared on the silver screen.

"They're happy just to see that the little, small town you grew up in is involved with something from a big name actor," she said.

Signs inside were also used in "The Marksman," and Neff said he has no plans to change the facade producers painted.

"It's another way to publicize the village," he said.

"It's a good thing for Wellington."

Tactical Equipment & Services' biggest customers are local police departments and sheriff's offices. Neff said he also supplies officers with everything from body armor to traffic radar.

Provided photo

Legislative aide Emily Greene and Amherst Steele High School freshman James P'Simer meet.

Free lunches part of talk with Jordan's aide AMHERST — James P'Simer, a freshman at Amherst Steele High School, met March 10 with a legislative aid for U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan to talk about school lunches.

He talked with aide Emily Greene as part of the School Nutrition Association’s 2021 Legislative Action Conference.

The potential of permanently offering free meals to all students was among the issues P'Simer advanced.

“James did a fantastic job of telling Emily the impact free meals has had on his life, and the life of his peers,” said Deanne Pastva, nutrition services supervisor for the district.

A registered and licensed dietitian, Pastva also serves as legislative chair of SNA Ohio.

P'Simer practiced his public speaking skills and was eloquent, Pastva said.

Palm Sunday breakfast

The Wellington Eagles Auxiliary will serve its annual all-you-can-eat Palm Sunday breakfast from 9 a.m. to noon on March 28 at the Eagles Aerie, 631 South Main St. The menu includes breakfast pizza, scrambled eggs, cheesy hash browns, bacon, sausage, French toast, biscuits and gravy, coffee, orange juice and milk.

The cost is $9 for adults, $4 for children ages four to 12 and free for kids ages three and under.

IN THE GARDEN ACROSS 1. Great divide 6. World’s oldest national broadcaster 9. Pasturelands 13. Chinese fruit 14. #9 Across, sing.

15. Clemency 16. One in advertising 17. “____ the land of the free ...”

18. Characteristic of birds 19. *Ongoing job in the garden 21. *Without synthetic fertilizers 23. 2nd tallest bird 24. Theatrical production 25. Curiosity killed it?

28. Additionally 30. Capital of Poland 35. Passage into a mine 37. Prefix in levorotary 39. Mid-century modern, e.g.

40. Toothy wheel 41. *Some are heirlooms 43. Make like a cat 44. Erasable programmable read only memory 46. Stanislavski’s rifle, e.g.

47. Unwanted correspondence 48. Motionless 50. Catch-22 52. “Are you sure?” in a text 53. Freight horse cart 55. Opposite of don’ts 57. *6 or more hours of sunshine 61. *Radicchio or frisée 65. On foot 66. Negative vote 68. 2020 NFL MVP 69. Morrison’s “The ____” 70. Hockey great Bobby 71. Respectable and quiet 72. Sports award 73. Affirmative response 74. Infernos DOWN 1. Old bathtub foot 2. Opposite of seek 3. Ne plus ultra 4. *Opposite of #57 Across 5. Minimum, pl.

6. Influencer’s journal 7. *Stinging pollinator

Thursday, March 18, 2021

Lorain County Community Guide

to 1968, will also be replaced; they move raw waSILVER ter from Charlemont Creek LINING to Wellington's Upground The pandemic created Reservoir. some opportunities in The estimated of the two 2020, Wellington Village projects combined is $1.7 Manager Steve Dupee million. said during the State of Wenner Street will be reWellington address. paired this year, with conThe Johns Street reccrete sections and joints reation park was closed getting replaced. The enmost of the year, which tirety of South Street and a allowed for long-needed section of Dickson Street improvements to be will get new asphalt. made, he said. Workers Design work for the created a dedicated softnew Union School Park ball field and a new youth on South Main Street was football field. delayed in 2020 by the pandemic. "We are hopeful to resume this effort in 2021 if tax revenues show NEW a rebound," Schneider said.

OFFICER Expect fundraisers to Police officer Jeff Mecksupport development of lenburg was promoted to the park. Already, the Welsergeant in 2020. lington Kiwanis Club has He also suffered a loss established a fund to help when his K-9 partner, pay for a small playground Argos, died in June, just there. weeks after being diagThe biggest project in nosed with cancer.

Wellington this year will Later in the year, Meckbe construction of a new lenburg acquired a young police station on East HerGerman shepherd named rick Avenue, where properDuke to ensure that Welty was purchased in 2018. lington would continue Officers long ago outto have a police dog on grew the tiny station next patrol. to Town Hall. The new Duke is trained in station will exceed 5,000 narcotic detection, tracksquare feet and include a ing, article recovery and sally port, jail facilities criminal apprehension. for both men and women, an evidence room, showers and lockers, storage areas, a place for the police auxiliary and other considerations.

Schneider said the village is awaiting a facility review by the Ohio Bureau of Adult Detention. When it is complete, Council will accept final plans and put the project out to bid.

The total cost is estimated at $1.75 million.

The Wellington Kiwanis Club sponsored the State of Wellington address. It will hold a State of the Wellington Schools address at noon on Thursday, March 18, featuring Superintendent Ed Weber and Treasurer Mark Donnelly.

You can watch both addresses by visiting www.facebook.com/KiwanisWellingtonOhio.

QUIET ZONE

After working many years, Wellington established a quiet zone in 2020, barring trains from sounding their horns in the village limits.

Doing so required the installation of safety equipment at crossings. CSX installed power out indicators and additional signal bells at its railway crossings, and village workers built a new concrete median and curb and barrier strips over the summer.

Train horns stopped blowing in November — for the most part. Village Manager Steve Dupee said they can still be used under special circumstances, such as when there is a safety issue or emergency on the tracks.

8. Holiday song 9. Bulgarian money 10. Julia Roberts’ Academy Award-winning role 11. Popular smoothie berry 12. Update an iPod 15. Inhabitant of Hungary 20. Nothing, pl.

22. Like sashimi 24. Lack of money 25. *Tomato supports 26. Highly skilled 27. Miss America’s headdress 29. Slowly leak 31. Moves at the gym 32. Monument to Buddha 33. Orderly arrangement 34. *Wiggly plowers 36. Faster than a walk

38. *Some plants and flowers emit a good one 42. *Type of digger 45. Centers, old-fashioned 49. French vineyard 51. *Last of 3 numbers on a bag of fertilizer 54. Be a pest 56. Washington, e.g.

57. Grow dim 58. Extraterrestrials’ rides 59. Pilot’s stunt 60. Type of parrot 61. “Musical” constellation 62. Russian mountain chain 63. *Type of garden hose that saves space 64. Goes with “odds” 67. Am is to I as ____ is to we

SOLUTION CAN BE FOUND ON PAGE A2

SOLUTION CAN BE FOUND ON PAGE A2

Thursday, March 18, 2021

Lorain County Community Guide

Page B3

One dead after truck goes into Mill Hollow Wellington man

dies in apparent garage accident

STAFF REPORT

BROWNHELM TWP. — A 23-year-old Vermilion resident was pronounced dead after his vehicle reportedly broke through a guardrail at North Ridge Road and Vermilion Road and fell off a cliff late Sunday morning.

Troopers found a severely damaged 2020 Ford F-150 on the bank of the Vermilion River and the driver, Alec A. Koutsopoulos, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to a news release from the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Elyria post.

The single-vehicle crash is under investigation by the Highway Patrol.

Initial reports to the

STAFF REPORT

Angelo Angel | Chronicle

A damaged guardrail is shown Sunday at the intersection of Vermilion and North Ridge roads near where a severely damaged 2020 Ford F-150 was found on the bank of the Vermilion River.

Patrol’s Medina Dispatch Center indicated Koutsopoulos’ pickup was traveling westbound on North Ridge Road when it drove through the Vermilion Road intersection,

struck the guardrail and “vaulted” over the steep cliff there, according to the release.

The incident was called into the dispatch center at 11:03 a.m. Sunday.

Troopers responded to the scene along with Lorain County Metro Parks rangers and the Vermilion Fire Department.

The Mill Hollow portion of the Lorain

County Metro Parks’ Vermilion River Reservation was closed for several hours following the crash and reopened to the public by about 4 p.m.

A Wellington man died last week after being trapped under a car at his Fairgrounds Road home.

According to a release from the Lorain County Sheriff's Office, emergency workers were called to a home on the 22000 block of Fairgrounds Road around 6:22 p.m. Wednesday, March 10 for a man trapped under a blue Honda coupe.

The 34-year-old man, unresponsive at the time of the incident, was pronounced dead shortly thereafter, the release said.

An investigation by sheriff's deputies found that apparently the man had been working under the car, which was elevated by two jack stands and two car ramps.

At some point in the 90 minutes before 911 was called, the car had shifted backward off the jacks and stands and onto the man.

Deputies did not release the name of the victim.

POLICE REPORTS AMHERST

• Feb. 14 at 12:31 a.m.: Jasper Kennedy, 29, of Lorain, was served with a warrant through the Amherst Police Department.

The original charge was domestic violence.

• Feb. 14 at 2:46 a.m.: Ronnie Justice, 45, of Vermilion, was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated, state refusal, marked lanes and no headlights.

• Feb. 17 at 12:39 p.m.: A man was found deceased in his Royal Drive home.

• Feb. 18 at 8:07 p.m.: Officers responded to a domestic disturbance on Woodhill Drive. Robert Faecking, 39, of Amherst, was arrested on a warrant through Lorain County 911; the original charge was possession of dangerous drugs.

• Feb. 19 at 3:40 p.m.: A resident reported being the victim of an unemployment scam.

• Feb. 20 at 1:22 a.m.: Nicholas Hruschak, 27, of Amherst, was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated, state refusal, failure to stop after a crash, open container, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

• Feb. 20 at 6:25 p.m.: An unemployment fraud complaint was filed.

• Feb. 21 at 1:03 a.m.: A juvenile boy who was out past curfew was returned to his father.

• Feb. 21 at 1:13 a.m.: Adam Pinero, 30, of Lorain, was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated and driving the wrong way on a one-way street.

• Feb. 21 at 1:32 p.m.: A counterfeit bill was turned over to police.

• Feb. 21 at 4:31 p.m.: Investigating a complaint of suspicious activity at Days Inn on Route 58, involving blood and possible drugs.

Police used a search warrant to enter and collected evidence for processing.

• Feb. 21 at 10:37 p.m.: Christopher McKay, 48, of Tippecanoe, was arrested on a warrant. When officers made contact with him, he allegedly fled on foot, and was later taken into custody with the help of Lorain K-9 officers. McKay was charged with obstructing official business and resisting arrest.

• Feb. 21 at 10:39 p.m.: A counterfeit bill was turned over to police by staff at Papa Johns on Kresge Drive.

• Feb. 22 at 6:48 p.m.: A woman said her husband started sending her text messages despite a tempo-

rary protection order.

• Feb. 23 at 6:04 p.m.: Jeffrey Orozco, 51, of Lorain, was charged with domestic violence.

• Feb. 25 at 4:09 p.m.: Police attempted to arrest Javon Gage, 25, of Canfield, on a felony warrant through the Lorain County Sheriff's Office; he was wanted for contempt of court on an original charge of burglary. Officers said that after stopping Gage's vehicle and speaking with him, Gage sped off. That resulted in a short chase that was called off due to rush hour traffic.

• Feb. 25 at 6:02 p.m.: Ramsey DeJesus Jr., 24, of Lorain, was charged with getting into a hit-and-run crash and driving under suspension.

• Feb. 26 at 2:04 a.m.: A 16-year-old girl was charged with unruliness at Motel 6 on Route 58.

• Feb. 26 at 7:30 a.m.: David Williams, 33, of Elyria, was arrested on a warrant through the Amherst Police Department for failure to appear in court.

The original charges were possession of drug abuse instruments and criminal damaging.

• Feb. 26 at 4:38 p.m.: Terrance Brown, 30, of Cleveland, was arrested on a warrant through the Amherst Police Department for failure to appear in court.

The original charge was theft.

• Feb. 26 at 7:15 p.m.: Torry Butler, 28, of Columbia Township was arrested on a warrant through Lorain County 911 for contempt of court.

The original charges were possession of dangerous drugs, resisting arrest, drug paraphernalia, possession of criminal tools, theft and drug trafficking.

• Feb. 26 at 7:37 p.m.: Police responded to a Pyle-South Amherst Road residence to assist sheriff's deputies with a drug overdose. A 19-year-old man from Lorain was revived and treated by LifeCare Ambulance paramedics.

• Feb. 27 at 10:02 a.m.: A juvenile was reported missing.

• Feb. 27 at 12:37 p.m.: Police investigated a suspicious condition at a Crocker Street home where it appeared someone may have attempted to pry a window open.

• Feb. 28 at 9:56 a.m.: Officers responded to a domestic dispute on Spruce Tree Lane.

• Feb. 28 at 10:46 a.m.: The walls of a room were damaged at Days Inn on Route 58.

• Feb. 28 at 2:58 p.m.: Police responded to Lancer Drive, where a man died in bed.

• Feb. 28 at 3:12 p.m.: Police investigated a suspicious condition involving mail.

• Feb. 28 at 8:55 p.m.: Mindy Anderson, 34, of Sandusky, was arrested on a warrant through the Erie County Sheriff's Office for contempt of court. The original charges were theftrelated.

• Feb. 28 at 11 p.m.: Police responded to a singlevehicle crash at North Ridge Road and Linn Road following a domestic dispute.

• March 1 at 3:45 a.m.: Devonte Watkins, 26, of Lorain, was arrested on a warrant through the Amherst Police Department for failure to appear; the original charge was financial responsibility license suspension. Alexander Lee, 26, of Lorain, was arrested on a warrant through the Amherst Police Department for failure to appear in court; the original charge was theft.

• March 1 at 9:13 p.m.: A woman was unresponsive from a suspected overdose at Days Inn on Route 58. She was revived with naloxone and taken to the hospital.

• March 1 at 11:19 p.m.: Connie Jones, 48, of Lorain, was arrested on a warrant through the Ohio State Highway Patrol for failure to appear in court.

The original charge was trespassing.

• March 3 at 8:11 p.m.: A woman was taken to the hospital for a medical evaluation after she was spotted stumbling in front of cars on Route 58.

• March 4 at 5:31 p.m.: Kipp Young, 33, of Sandusky, was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated, driving outside marked lanes, following too closely and failing to use a turn signal.

• March 4 at 10:59 p.m.: Officers responded to a domestic violence complaint on Linn Road. A police report was sent to the prosecutor for review of possible charges.

• March 5 at 11:02 p.m.: Nathan Blinco, 18, of Lorain, was charged with aggravated menacing and theft following a complaint about a sale of shoes using fake money.

• March 6 at 2:47 p.m.: Marquesha Price, 25, of Amherst was charged with assault, possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia following an alleged fight at Motel 6 on

Route 58.

• March 6 at 10:27 p.m.: Patrick Meyer, 53, of Amherst, was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated, state refusal, driving outside marked lanes, weaving and failure to reinstate a license.

• March 6 at 11:29 p.m.: A man said political signs were removed from his yard on Spruce Tree Lane — one was stolen and another was thrown in the driveway.

OBERLIN

• Feb. 18 at 12:13 p.m.: Danielle Glass was served with a warrant for contempt of court.

• Feb. 19 at 7:10 p.m.: A firearm was reported missing from the glovebox of a vehicle. The front passenger window had been broken.

• Feb. 21 at 1:29 p.m.: Officers investigated a domestic dispute on East Lorain Street.

• Feb. 21 at 3:25 p.m.: Two glass smoking devices, three medicine bottles containing suspected marijuana, a foil bag with suspected marijuana, two knives, a glass syringe and other varies items were turned over to police by Oberlin College security.

• Feb. 23 at 1:21 p.m.: A used tire and battery cage at Walmart on US Route 20 was broken into. Batteries were reported stolen.

• Feb. 23 at 2:07 a.m.: A man allegedly tried to gain access to a North Pleasant Street home.

• Feb. 23 at 4 p.m.: A report was made involving a fraudulent unemployment claim.

• Feb. 23 at 4:41 p.m.: A fraudulent unemployment claim scam was reported.

• Feb. 24 at 5:10 p.m.: Brandon Gorham, 37, of Lorain, was arrested on a

warrant through the Oberlin Police Department for failure to report to jail.

• Feb. 25 at 6:36 p.m.: A 17-year-old employee at Walmart allegedly stole about $30 worth of food items from the US Route 20 store on several occasions. A police report said he also admitted to stealing headphones worth $130.

The matter was forwarded to Lorain County Juvenile Court.

• Feb. 26 at 11:20 a.m.: An unemployment claim fraud case was reported.

• Feb. 26 at 8:43 p.m.: Officers responded to a domestic dispute on Lincoln Street. Wade Yarber Jr., 28, of Oberlin, was arrested on warrants for failure to appear in court on a domestic violence charge, and failure to report to jail.

• Feb. 28 at 4:20 p.m.: A delivery driver collapsed due to a suspected seizure in a yard at the corner of East College and Spring streets. He was taken to Mercy Health Allen Hospital.

• March 1 at 9:17 a.m.: A woman reported a wind chime, cross and a photographer were stolen from her door on South Main Street.

• March 1 at 9:47 a.m.: Kaitlyn Rose, 20, of Elyria, was arrested on a warrant through Oberlin Municipal Court for failure to appear in court.

• March 2 at 2:06 p.m.: Chocolates, a bicycle and other items were reported stolen from a West College Street garage.

• March 2 at 5:50 p.m.: A suspicious handwritten note was placed on a South Main Street door. It followed a Feb. 27 incident involving a woman wearing a backpack with a "strange device" in it, according to a police report.

• March 4 at 12:15 a.m.: Jason Brown was arrested

on a warrant through Oberlin Municipal Court for contempt of court.

• March 5 at 3:30 p.m.: Anton Boulware of Oberlin was arrested on two secret indictment warrants through the Lorain County Court of Common Pleas on a charge of child nonsupport.

• March 8 at 3:11 a.m.: Legna Figueroa was arrested on a warrant through Oberlin Municipal Court for failure to appear for a probable cause hearing.

WELLINGTON

• Feb. 26 at 1:33 p.m.: A theft was reported at Apples Market on East Herrick Avenue.

• Feb. 27 at 11:07 a.m.: A woman said an unknown person fraudulently applied for a debit card in her name.

• Feb. 28 at 2:25 a.m.: Jeffrey Wright, 47, of Wellington, was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated, state refusal, having weapons under disability and driving outside marked lanes.

A police report noted officers used caution because Wright is a martial arts expert. A number of firearms and ammunition were found.

• Feb. 28 at 8:41 p.m.: James Moore, 39, of Wellington, was charged with aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon following a complaint at Mickey Mart on East Herrick Avenue.

A knife and several types of drugs were taken as evidence, according to a police report.

• March 1 at 6:51 p.m.: Officers went to Brookside Drive for a drug overdose.

Editor's note: Though charged, defendants are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

85 SOUTH MAIN STREET OBERLIN OHIO 44074 MARCH 18, 2021 BOARD AND COMMISSION MEETING DATES ALL MEETINGS WILL BE Live Streamed @ http://oberlinoh.swagit.com/live MARCH 19, 2021 ..........COMPREHENSIVE PLAN COMMITTEE – 8:00 A.M. MARCH 23, 2021 ..........OPEN SPACE COMMISSION – 5:00 P.M. MARCH 23, 2021 ...........RESOURCE CONSERVATION & RECOVERY COMMISSION – 6:30 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

Thursday, March 18, 2021

Lorain County Community Guide

COVID-19 PANDEMIC ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY

New developments in the fight against COVID-19 So far, March has delivered huge news for Lorain County, Ohio and the nation as Americans struggle toward the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Biden unveils plan

Angelo Angel | Chronicle

Dawn Yannie, shown at Avon Oaks Caring Community, is one of nearly 48,600 residents of long-term care facilities across Ohio who have been diagnosed with the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic.

Nursing homes are ready for healing process to begin DYLAN REYNOLDS THE CHRONICLE-TELEGRAM

AVON — Dawn Yannie’s fight against the coronavirus began Jan. 2, when she woke up with bad chills.

Two days later, the long-term care resident at Avon Oaks Caring Community was only becoming colder and sicker.

A nurse visited her room and administered a rapid COVID-19 test. The results came back positive.

“The first thing I thought was, ‘Am I going to die? What is going to happen now? What symptoms am I going to get?

Am I going to get over this?' " Yannie said.

At age 56, Yannie is younger than many other residents at Avon Oaks. But she is diabetic, and she knew her health problems put her at greater risk of suffering more severe symptoms.

Though her experience was frightening, it was far from unique among residents in long-term care, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers and other such facilities.

Nearly 48,600 residents of long-term care facilities across Ohio have been diagnosed with the coronavirus since the pandemic began, according to preliminary Ohio Department of Health data.

In Lorain County, there have been about 1,042 resident cases. And that is just since April 15, the earliest date for which data is available on the state health department’s online dashboard.

Yannie’s road to recovery included two weeks on oxygen after she was unable to breathe while trying to get to the restroom, and she had little appetite. She described the illness as being like the flu “but 10 times worse.”

But she was fortunate. As time went on, Yannie was able to breathe easier. Sometimes she still feels lingering symptoms like slight weakness, but she said she has been encouraged in her recovery by a nurse practitioner, who previously had been sick with coronavirus herself and spoke about healing from her own experience.

For thousands of other long-term care residents across the state, the outcome was different. Preliminary state data shows that at least 6,790 Ohioans in longterm care have died from COVID-19 since last March. Lorain County’s toll of 204 deaths is the ninth-highest in the state, in line with its population.

Long-term care deaths account for nearly half of all COVID-19 fatalities the state has reported in Lorain County, according to preliminary data.

Light at the end of the tunnel The threat from the virus has not been forgotten a year into the pandemic, although the arrival of the COVID-19 vaccine and decreasing case counts now have long-term care facilities eager to heal.

Donations and gifts for residents have poured in from the community over the past year, said Avon Oaks administrator Colleen Costello. But she said the vaccine has played just as critical of a role in lifting the spirits of not only residents, but also their family members and staff.

“The vaccination truly was life-changing here,” Costello said, adding that 100 percent of Avon Oaks residents and 71 percent of staff have now been vaccinated.

Many facilities are allowing family members to schedule indoor visits, as permitted by current health mandates and recommendations. As more family members are being vaccinated themselves, Costello and administrators elsewhere are optimistic for a future where more frequent visits are safe.

Seventeen miles west of Avon Oaks at the Kingston of Vermilion rehabilitation and long-term care facility, administrator Patricia Cromer said a “huge” step in moving toward normalcy was reopening the in-house beauty salon recently.

Both practically and symbolically, she said it is an important piece for residents’ well-being.

“That makes you feel good, especially the ladies but the gentlemen, too,” she said. “Having your hair cut, having it done and colored, it gives you that extra pep in your step.”

A trying time for staff Staff members at long-term care facilities have not had it easy during the past year either — state data shows 788 have tested positive in Lorain County since April 15.

Costello said stories like Yannie’s and other residents’ have been a source of strength and hope amid the constant uncertainty she and her staff have faced since last March.

“The patients, they have been through so many things in their lives: the Great Depression, the Korean War, Vietnam War, segregation, civil rights, the loss of spouses and children and friends,” Costello said. “Their resilience and strength has helped us all come through this past year as well.”

The light at the end of the tunnel that many now are seeing was nonexistent a year ago for some workers in the longterm care industry, including Costello.

As the pandemic took hold last spring, she was preparing herself for the possibility that half of Avon Oaks’ residents would be lost to the virus and staff would be too sick to care for them.

“I literally packed a bag and had it in my car for the first probably three months, because I thought if we don’t have people to take care of people, we’re going to have to stay there,” she said.

At Avon Oaks, that dark prediction never came true. No residents were diagnosed with COVID-19 until December, and as of early this month, there had been 14 residents who tested positive.

Why were some facilities so much harder hit? The answer is not always clear, but even with staff and residents following extensive safety precautions, long-term care facilities had to live with the knowledge that they could follow every protocol and still suffer a coronavirus outbreak.

“I’ve said all along, even once we had cases here, that we were careful and we were lucky,” Costello said. “I don’t think the other facilities were doing anything terribly wrong, and I don’t think we were doing anything magical.”

For Cromer, the ability of Kingston of Vermilion to limit the number of residents who tested positive for COVID-19 is a reflection of how seriously staff members took the pandemic.

“They made those sacrifices of not seeing their own loved ones, their own families. I know I didn’t see my family, still haven’t seen plenty of them for this whole time,” she said.

State data shows Kingston of Vermilion nursing home has reported seven resident cases, as of the most recent reporting period.

Looking ahead to a brighter future but realizing they are not there yet, Cromer said Kingston of Vermilion is planning a staff appreciation day today to celebrate the resilience they’ve shown in staying strong through an entire pandemic year in the long-term care facility. It was a situation no one could have seen coming.

“I don’t feel like anybody would understand it,” Cromer said.

President Joe Biden has announced his plan to deliver more than 81 million vaccinations in the coming seven weeks, saying all Americans will be eligible for vaccinations by May 1.

In his first televised prime time address, Biden told the country the goal is to get as close to "normal" as possible by the Fourth of July.

The plan calls for increasing the number of places people can receive the vaccine, and reaching both the hardest hit and hardest to reach populations. That means doubling the number of federal mass vaccination sites and doubling the number of pharmacies taking part in the federal vaccination program.

It will also mean deploying about 4,000 more active duty troops to support vaccination efforts, bringing the total to around 6,000.

Biden also laid out steps for reopening the nation's schools, using $130 billion from the recently-passed American Rescue Plan.

The address acknowledged the sacrifices Americans have made in the past year, including the 527,726 people who lost their lives to the virus.

Others lost jobs, closed their businesses, faced eviction and hunger and a loss of hope, Biden said.

"It’s the details of life that matter most, and we’ve missed those details. The big details and small moments," he said. "Weddings, birthdays, graduations — all the things that needed to happen but didn’t. The first date. The family reunions. The Sunday night rituals. It’s all has exacted a terrible cost on the psyche of so many of us. For we are fundamentally a people who want to be with others — to talk, to laugh, to hug, to hold one another."

He urged Americans to "follow the scientists" and work together to restore the country to normal in coming months.

"My fellow Americans, you’re owed nothing less than the truth," said Biden. "And for all of you asking when things will get back to normal, here is the truth: The only way to get our lives back, to get our economy back on track is to beat the virus."

Staying red for now

Nine Ohio counties moved from red down to orange status last week on the state's COVID-19 advisory map.

Lorain County was not among them — it remained red, but could be reclassified today when the map is once again updated.

Counties showing improvement are located mostly in rural western and southeastern Ohio: Adams, Darke, Guernsey, Harrison, Knox, Morgan, Preble, Putnam and Van Wert.

No county is currently designated as purple, which is the highest alert for the spread of the virus, hospitalizations and deaths.

New milestone set at UH Elyria, inspiring hope

For the first time in a year, University Hospitals Elyria Medical Center has recorded a 24hour period in which no new positive coronavirus patients were identified.

That breath of fresh air came Monday, March 8, hospital President Kristi Sink said.

The facility is continuing to see inpatient COVID-19 volume decline along with falling positivity rates, Sink told members of the Lorain County Community Protection Team in a virtual meeting.

Reaching the milestone of zero new cases over 24 hours offers “lots of hope for the future,” she said.

Even with new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations generally declining, Lorain County Health Commissioner David Covell said safety measures are still wise for now.

There is concern around another potential wave of the virus that some projections say could arrive in late March or early April, he said.

“We want to get as many people vaccinated before that as possible, so that the impact on hospitalizations and deaths will be minimized,” he said.

Lorain County Public Health is administering about 6,000 vaccine doses weekly in the county, and other partners including pharmacies continue giving shots as well.

— Reporting by Dylan Reynolds

Day of Remembrance

Gov. Mike DeWine observed March 9 as a day to remember the 17,500 Ohioans who have died from COVID-19.

The day marked the one-year anniversary of the first confirmed coronavirus cases in the state. It was also the day in 2020 when DeWine declared a state of emergency, and within that week life had gone from normal to chaos as schools and colleges shut down, and the first pandemic restrictions were put in place.

In the course of the following year, more than 979,000 people in Ohio tested positive for the virus.

Size and scope of the problem Just how large a threat COVID-19 posed is being thrown into relief by new research published last week by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Looking back, it found that during April 2020 — the first full month of the pandemic — the United States death rate increased by 2.4 deaths for every 10,000 residents nationwide.

That number may sound small, but it's

a 33 percent increase in national mortality when compared to historical trends.

In the earliest days of the pandemic, the rise in deaths was heavily concentrated among older age groups and in just a few states, the Census Bureau said.

All half of all deaths due to the pandemic were in New York and New Jersey to start. That changed as time went on.

Growing access to vaccines Nearly 4.4 million Ohioans are now eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines.

Access was expanded last week as people ages 50 and older, those diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and patients with end-stage renal disease were made eligible to receive shots.

Age is the biggest factor in vulnerability to the virus, according to Gov. Mike DeWine.

The Ohio Department of Health said slightly more than 98 percent of those who died from COVID-19 have been age 50 or older.

In a televised address Sunday, DeWine said

20.23 percent of the state's population has now had at least one vaccine dose — that's more than 2.3 million Ohioans.

Another 53,000 residents of other states had gotten a COVID-19 shot in Ohio as of Sunday, the governor said, and more than 66,000 did not report their residency.

Ohio counties show signs of recovery Fifteen of Ohio's 88 counties were downgraded last week, no longer considered "high incidence" areas for new COVID cases.

That means each had fewer than 100 new cases per 100,000 residents over the prior two weeks.

The benchmark was reached by some of the state's smallest, most rural counties. For example, Vinton County,

which has fewer residents than any other, also had the lowest incidence rate at 22.9 cases for every 100,000 people who live there.

Lorain County weighed in at 157.5 cases per 100,000 people.

Gov. Mike DeWine has said he will lift all pandemic-related restrictions when the state's rate drops to below 50 per 100,000 for two straight weeks.

— Information from Ohio government agencies and staff reports

Thursday, March 18, 2021

Lorain County Community Guide

SPRING VARSITY SPORTS SCHEDULES AMHERST COMETS Baseball • Saturday, March 27 at 2 p.m.

— vs. Elyria at home • Monday, March 29 at 4:45 p.m. — at Vermilion • Wednesday, March 31 at 5 p.m. — vs. St. Ignatius at hom • Thursday, April 1 at 5 p.m. — at Strongsville • Monday, April 5 at 4:45 p.m. vs. Midview at home • Wednesday, April 7 at 4:45 p.m. — at North Olmsted • Thursday, April 8 at 4:45 p.m.

— vs. Olmsted Falls at home • Saturday, April 10 at 2 p.m.

— vs. Lorain at home • Monday, April 12 at 4:45 p.m.

— at Avon Lake • Wednesday, April 14 at 4:45 p.m. — vs. Berea-Midpark at home • Thursday, April 15 at 4:45 p.m. — at Westlake • Monday, April 19 at 4:45 p.m.

— vs. North Ridgeville at home • Wednesday, April 21 at 4:45 p.m. — at Avon • Saturday, April 24 at 2:30 p.m. — at Mentor (at Massillon Jackson High School) • Monday, April 26 at 4:45 p.m.

— at Midview • Wednesday, April 28 at 4:45 p.m. — vs. North Olmsted at home • Thursday, April 29 at 4:45 p.m. — at Olmsted Falls • Friday, April 30 at 4:45 p.m.

— vs. Twinsburg at home • Monday, May 3 at 4:45 p.m.

— vs. Avon Lake at home • Wednesday, May 5 at 4:45 p.m. — at Berea-Midpark • Thursday, May 6 at 4:45 p.m.

— vs. Westlake at home • Saturday, May 8 at 11 a.m. — vs. Lakewood at home • Saturday, May 8 at 4 p.m.

— vs. St. Francis DeSales at home • Monday, May 10 at 4:45 p.m.

— at North Ridgeville • Wednesday, May 12 at 4:45 p.m. — vs. Avon at home • Friday, May 14 at 4:45 p.m.

— at Elyria Catholic • Saturday, May 15 at 11 a.m.

— vs. Normandy at home Softball • Saturday, March 27 at 11 a.m.

— vs. Glenoak at LaGrange Community Park • Saturday, March 27 at 3 p.m.

— vs. Keystone at LaGrange Community Park • Tuesday, March 30 at 4:45 p.m. — at North Ridgeville • Saturday, April 3 at 4:45 p.m. vs. Avon at home • Monday, April 5 at 4:45 p.m. vs. Midview at home • Wednesday, April 7 at 4:45 p.m. — at North Olmsted • Thursday, April 8 at 4:45 p.m.

— vs. Olmsted Falls at home • Saturday, April 10 at 11 a.m.

— vs. Medina at home • Saturday, April 10 at 3 p.m. — vs. Walsh Jesuit at home • Monday, April 12 at 4:45 p.m.

— at Avon Lake • Wednesday, April 14 at 4:45 p.m. — vs. Berea-Midpark at home • Thursday, April 15 at 4:45 p.m. — at Westlake • Friday, April 16 at 5 p.m. — vs. Elyria in the Wendy's Classic at Cahn Park, Ashland • Saturday, April 17 at 10 a.m. vs Norwayne in the Wendy's Classic at Cahn Park, Ashland • Saturday, April 17 at 2 p.m.

— vs. Madison in the Wendy's Classic at Cahn Park, Ashland • Monday, April 19 at 4:45 p.m.

— vs. North Ridgeville at home • Wednesday, April 21 at 4:45 p.m. — at Avon • Friday, April 23 at 4:15 p.m.

— vs. Perry in the Prebis Tournament at LaGrange Community Park • Saturday, April 24 at 10 a.m. — vs. Holland Springfield in the Prebis Tournament at LaGrange Community Park • Saturday, April 24 at 2 p.m.

— vs. Olentangy Liberty in the Prebis Tournament at LaGrange Community Park • Monday, April 26 at 4:45 p.m.

— at Midview • Wednesday, April 28 at 4:45 p.m. — vs. North Olmsted at home

• Thursday, April 29 at 4:45 p.m. — at Olmsted Falls • Monday, May 3 at 4:45 p.m.

— vs. Avon Lake at home • Wednesday, May 5 at 4:45 p.m. — at Berea-Midpark • Thursday, May 6 at 4:45 p.m.

— vs. Westlake at home Boys Tennis • Thursday, April 1 at 4:30 p.m.

— vs. Brunswick at home • Monday, April 5 at 4:30 p.m.

— vs. Midview at home • Tuesday, April 6 at 4:30 p.m.

— at Strongsville • Wednesday, April 7 at 4:30 p.m. — at North Olmsted • Thursday, April 8 at 4:30 p.m.

— at Medina • Friday, April 9 at 4:30 p.m. — at Vermilion • Monday, April 12 at 4:30 p.m.

— vs. Olmsted Falls at home • Wednesday, April 14 at 4:30 p.m. — at Avon Lake • Friday, April 16, time TBA — LCAAA Tournament at Avon Lake • Saturday, April 17, time TBA — LCAAA Tournament at Avon Lake • Monday, April 19 at 4:30 p.m.

— vs. Berea-Midpark at home • Tuesday, April 20 at 4:30 p.m.

— vs. Elyria at home • Wednesday, April 21 at 4:30 p.m. — at Westlake • Thursday, April 22 at 4:30 p.m. — vs. Bay at Bradley Park, Bay Village • Friday, April 23 at 4:30 p.m.

— vs. North Ridgeville at Home • Monday, April 26 at 4:30 p.m.

— at Avon • Wednesday, April 28 at 4:30 p.m. — at Lakewood • Friday, April 30 at 4:30 p.m.

— vs. Vermilion at home • Saturday, May 1 at 8 a.m. — SWC Tournament at Avon Lake • Monday, May 3 at 4 p.m.— SWC Tournament at Avon Lake • Wednesday, May 5 at 4:30 p.m. — vs. Huron at Fabens Park, Huron Track and Field • Thursday, April 8 at 4:30 p.m.

— at Berea-Midpark • Wednesday, April 14 at 4:30 p.m. — vs. Westlake at home • Friday, April 16 at 3 p.m. — Lorain County Invitational at North Ridgeville • Wednesday, April 21 at 4:30 p.m. — at North Ridgeville • Saturday, April 24 at 9 a.m. — 65th Comet Relays at home • Wednesday, April 28 at 4:30 p.m. — Senior Night at home • Friday, April 30 at 3 p.m. — Berea Relays at Brunswick • Friday, May 7 at 3:30 p.m.— Medina Relays • Wednesday, May 12 at 4 p.m. — SWC Championships at Amherst • Friday, May 14 at 4 p.m.

— SWC Championships at Amherst • Wednesday, May 19 at 4 p.m.

— District meet at Amherst • Friday, May 21 at 4 p.m. — District meet at Amherst • Wednesday, May 26 at 4 p.m.

— Regional meet at Amherst • Friday, May 28 at 4:30 p.m. — Regional meet at Amherst

OBERLIN PHOENIX Baseball • Saturday, March 27 at 11 a.m.

— at Open Door Christian School, Elyria Township • Thursday, April 15 at 5 p.m.

— at Brookside in Sheffield Village • Friday, April 16 at 4:30 p.m.

— at Lake Ridge Academy in North Ridgeville • Wednesday, April 28 at 5 p.m.

— at Brooklyn • Friday, April 30 at 4:30 p.m.

— at Lutheran West in Rocky River Softball • Tuesday, March 23 at 4:30 p.m. — at Elyria • Monday, April 5 at 5 p.m. — at Columbia • Tuesday, April 6 at 5 p.m. — at Black River • Saturday, April 10 at 11 a.m.

— at Magnificat in Rocky River • Saturday, April 10 at 1:30 p.m.

— at Magnificat in Rocky River

• Monday, April 12 at 5 p.m. — vs. Firelands at home • Tuesday, April 13 at 5 p.m. — at Keystone • Thursday, April 15 at 5 p.m.

— at Brookside in Sheffield Village • Monday, April 19 at 5 p.m. — vs. Clearview at home • Tuesday, April 20 at 5 p.m. — vs. Columbia at home • Thursday, April 22 at 5 p.m.

— vs. Black River at home • Monday, April 26 at 5 p.m. — at Wellington • Tuesday, April 27 at 5 p.m. — at Firelands in South Amherst • Wednesday, April 28 at 5 p.m.

— at Brooklyn • Thursday, April 29 at 5 p.m.

— vs. Keystone at home • Friday, April 30 at 4:30 p.m.

— at Lutheran West in Rocky River • Saturday, May 1 at 10 a.m. — at Rocky River • Saturday, May 1 at noon — at Rocky River • Monday, May 3 at 5 p.m. — vs. Brookside at home • Tuesday, May 4 at 5 p.m.— at Clearview Boys Tennis • Monday, March 29 at 4:30 p.m. — at Midview • Tuesday, March 30 at 4 p.m.

— at Elyria • Tuesday, April 6 at 5 p.m. — at Wickliffe • Thursday, April 8 at 4:30 p.m.

— at Lakewood • Tuesday, April 13 at 4:30 p.m. at North Olmsted • Thursday, April 29 at 4:30 p.m. at Midview • Thursday, May 6 at 4:30 p.m. — at Berea-Midpark in Middleburg Heights Track and Field • Wednesday, April 7 at 4:30 p.m. — at Brookside • Wednesday, April 14 at 4:30 p.m. — at Keystone • Wednesday, April 21 at 4:30 p.m. — at Firelands • Friday, April 23 at 4:30 p.m.

— at Brookside • Wednesday, April 28 at 4:30 p.m. — at Black River • Friday, April 30 at 4 p.m. — at Lutheran West in Rocky River • Friday, May 7 at 4:30 p.m. — at Vermilion • Tuesday, May 11 at 3:30 p.m.

— at Firelands • Thursday, May 13 at 3:30 p.m. — at Firelands

WELLINGTON DUKES Baseball • Saturday, March 28 at 1 p.m.

— at Chippewa in Doylestown • Saturday, April 3 at 11 a.m. — at Mapleton in Ashland • Saturday, April 3 at 1 p.m. — at Mapleton in Ashland • Friday, April 16 at 5 p.m. — vs. South Central in Greenwich • Tuesday, May 4 at 5 p.m. — at Brookside Softball • Thursday, March 18 at 4:30 p.m. — at Strongsville • Thursday, March 25 at 4 p.m.

— at Avon • Saturday, March 27 at 1 p.m.

— vs. Elyria Catholic at home • Monday, March 29 at 5 p.m.

— at Vermilion • Wednesday, March 31 at 5 p.m. — vs. Avon Lake at home • Thursday, April 1 at 5 p.m. — vs. Lorain at home • Saturday, April 3 at 11 a.m. — at Mapleton in Ashland • Saturday, April 3 at 1 p.m. — at Mapleton in Ashland • Saturday, April 17 at 11 a.m.

— vs. Rittman at home • Saturday, April 17 at 1 p.m.

— vs. Rittman at home • Tuesday, May 4 at 5 p.m. — at Brookside • Thursday, May 6 at 5 p.m. — at Perkins in Sandusky • Friday, May 7 at 5 p.m. — vs.

New London at home Track and Field • Saturday, March 27 at 10 a.m.

— at Seneca East in Attica • Wednesday, April 7 at 4:30 p.m. vs. Columbia at home • Wednesday, April 14 at 4:30 p.m. — at Keystone

• Saturday, April 17 at 10 a.m.

— at Edison in Milan • Wednesday, April 21 at 4:30 p.m. — at Brookside • Wednesday, April 28 at 4:30 p.m. — at Keystone • Friday, May 7 at 4:30 p.m. — at Vermilion • Tuesday, May 11 at 3:30 p.m.

— at Firelands • Thursday, May 13 at 3:30 p.m. — at Firelands

FIRELANDS FALCONS Baseball • Tuesday, March 30 at 5 p.m.

— at Avon Lake • Wednesday, March 31 at 5 p.m. — vs. Lorain at home • Monday, April 5 at 5 p.m. — vs. Keystone at home • Tuesday, April 6 at 5 p.m. — at Brookside • Wednesday, April 7 at 5 p.m.

— vs. Midview at home • Thursday, April 8 at 5 p.m. — vs. Clearview at home • Saturday, April 10 at 11 a.m.

— vs. Vermilion at home • Saturday, April 10 at 1 p.m. — vs. Vermilion at home • Monday, April 12 at 5 p.m. — at Oberlin • Tuesday, April 13 at 5 p.m. — vs. Wellington at home • Thursday, April 15 at 5 p.m.

— at Columbia • Friday, April 16 at 5 p.m.— at Huron • Saturday, April 17 at 11 a.m.

— vs. Perkins at home • Monday, April 19 at 5 p.m. — at Black River • Tuesday, April 20 at 5 p.m. — at Keystone • Thursday, April 22 at 5 p.m.

— vs. Brookside at home • Monday, April 26 at 5 p.m. — at Clearview • Tuesday, April 27 at 5 p.m. — vs. Oberlin at home • Wednesday, April 28 at 4:30 p.m. — at Lutheran West in Rocky River • Thursday, April 29 at 5 p.m.

— at Wellington • Monday, May 3 at 5 p.m. — vs. Columbia at home • Tuesday, May 4 at 5 p.m. — vs. Black River at home • Saturday, May 8 at 11 a.m. — at North Ridgeville • Thusday, May 13 at 4:30 p.m.

— at Avon • Friday, May 14 at 5 p.m.— vs.

Open Door at home Softball • Tuesday, March 23 at 4:30 p.m. — vs. Amherst at home (South Amherst) • Tuesday, April 6 at 5 p.m. — at Brookside • Friday, April 9 at 4:45 p.m. — at Edison in Milan • Saturday, April 10 at 1 p.m. — vs. Vermilion at home • Saturday, April 24 at 11 a.m.

— vs. Sandusky at home • Saturday, April 24 at 1 p.m. — vs. Sandusky at home • Saturday, May 1 at 11 a.m. — opponent TBA at home • Saturday, May 1 at 1 p.m. — opponent TBA at home • Saturday, May 8 at 11 a.m. — vs. Fairview at home • Saturday, May 8 at 1 p.m. — vs. Fairview at home Track and Field • Thursday, April 1 at 4:30 p.m.

— vs. Avon at home • Tuesday, April 6 at 4:30 p.m.

— vs. Edison at home • Wednesday, April 7 at 4:30 p.m. — vs. Black River at home • Wednesday, April 14 at 4:30 p.m. — vs. Brookside at home • Wednesday, April 21 at 4:30 p.m. — vs. Columbia at home • Friday, April 23 at 4:30 p.m.

— at Brookside • Wednesday, April 28 at 4:30 p.m. — at Keystone • Friday, April 30 at 4;30 p.m.

— vs. Margaretta and Huron in Casalia • Friday, May 7 at 4:30 p.m. — vs. Vermilion, Oberlin, North Ridgeville and Keyston at Vermilion • Tuesday, May 11 at 3:30 p.m.

— vs. Black River, Oberlin and Keystone at home • Thursday, May 13 at 3:30 p.m. — vs. Black River, Oberlin and Keystone at home

Page B5

Audit shows pre-COVID financial stability for fair WELLINGTON — A financial audit of the Lorain County Agricultural Society shows its cash balance improving from 2018 to 2019.

The not-for-profit organization, which runs the Lorain County Fair, ended 2019 with $789,380 on hand, up more than $200,000 from the previous year, according to a report released this month by Ohio Auditor of State Keith Faber's office.

The fair took in $1.31 million in 2018 and $1.55 million in 2019.

Expenses also rose marginally, but enough to recover from a year of deficit spending, the audit showed.

The audit acknowledges that the COVID-19 crisis will undoubtedly have an effect on the fair's finances in upcoming audits.

It also pinpointed one tiny problem — the gift of $28 worth of beer from board member Kim Meyers to a retiring longtime vendor.

Faber's office found the purchase of alcohol with public funds to be illegal. Fair Board Director Brian Twining paid back the $28 in January to right the situation.

Fair officials told the state auditor the situation was an oversight, and checks and balances are being put in place to prevent similar missteps in the future.

Nine deadly crashes

The Lorain County Traffic Fatality Review Committee met virtually March 3 to review nine fatal traffic crashes that killed 10 people between Nov. 29 and Feb. 6 in Lorain County.

It found that five crashes involved high speed, three people were under the age of 25 and two crashes involved drugs and alcohol.

One crash involved a motorcycle. No helmet was worn at the time of the crash.

Two crashes involved people who were not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash.

One crash involved a drowsy driver.

Last year, 15 crashes resulted in 17 deaths. A seat belt was not used in 22 percent of the incidents, alcohol was a factor in 20 percent and drugs were confirmed in 20 percent.

Three of the crashes involved a motorcycle. Six involved someone under the age of 24. Nine of the crashes occurred in rural areas of Lorain County.

Second Connect to a Cause planned by foundation The Community Foundation of Lorain County is planning its second Connect to a Cause fundraiser for Sept.

16.

Nonprofits interested in taking part must register by March 31.

“Connect to a Cause is an opportunity to highlight the great work our nonprofits are doing in our community,” said Community Foundation President and CEO Cynthia Andrews.

In the inaugural event this past fall, donors stepped up to raise more than $147,000 to support 56 local organizations. The funding helped provide emergency services and address social issues created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Connect to a Cause is a 12-hour virtual fundraising event that rallies community support for organizations serving Lorain County. All participating organizations must have an agency endowment fund at the Community Foundation by May 31.

The foundation is also looking for local businesses to join the campaign, and help double the $21,000 proportional match to participating nonprofits.

For more information, visit peoplewhocare.org/ c2c2021 or contact Marketing and Communications Officer Brittany Lovett at (440) 984-7390.

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Page B6

Thursday, March 18, 2021

Lorain County Community Guide

© 2021 by Vicki Whiting, Editor Jeff Schinkel, Graphics Vol. 37, No. 15

Replace these missing words.

Can you replace all 13?

That might be good luck!

What is luck? On St. Patrick’s Day people like to talk about LUCK! Does wearing green bring you luck that day? Or are four-leaf clovers really lucky charms?

Walking under a ladder is supposed to be bad luck.

But this old superstition may just be a good safety tip!

The idea of luck has been around for centuries. It is a marvel and mystery.

And people all over the world have come up with ideas of what brings good luck and bad.

How many four-leaf clovers can you find?

Once there was a farmer who had three _________ children. When the old _____ lay dying, he called the children to him and said, “My whole __________ lies in one square foot of _________ on this farm.”

Can you get through this maze without walking under any ladders?

Mirrors and Luck

So, the three children began to _____. They dug together. They took _______. They dug and dug. Each one turning over one square _______ of soil with every _________ of the shovel.

Finally, every square foot of the farm had been dug up and turned over.

Many believe that breaking a mirror dooms you to seven years of bad luck.

The superstition may come from the belief that mirrors don’t just reflect your image, they hold bits of your soul. That belief led people in the old days of the American South to cover mirrors in a house when someone died, for fear that their soul was trapped inside. Yikes!

They did not find a ________. There was no box of money or _________. Nothing buried anywhere on the farm.

Luck in School

Below are some of the ideas kids around the world have come up with to be lucky in school.

Black Cats Some people think it bad luck for a black cat to cross your path.

But it is lucky to own a black cat and very lucky to sleep with one.

Can you find the two black cats that are exactly alike?

Wear your sweater backward, or wrong side out, for luck during exams.

Some ildren believe if they use thech sa m e p e ncil the when they did well on a prevyioused test, it will help u them pass s a new test.

In England, some children say if you see a spotted dog on the way to school, cross your fingers and you will pass your exams.

Best Lucky Charm for Tests Circle every third letter to discover the best way to have good luck for any test at school.

DFSCBTLKUZRDVWY If you want to live and thrive, Let the spider run alive!

Lucky Leprechaun Patterns

Draw the coin, horseshoe, wishbone, clover or leprechaun that continues the pattern in each row.

Standards Link: Writing Applications: Students provide a context for action.

Good Luck Scavenger Hunt

Look through the newspaper for images of things you think are lucky or unlucky. Here are some ideas: Shamrock A black cat The number 13 A penny A wishbone The number 7 Standards Link: Research: Use the newspaper to locate information.

BACKWARD SWEATER PATRICK CLOVER MIRROR CHARMS LADDER RABBIT GREEN CROSS BLACK PATH COIN LUCK WIN

But that year, because the ground had been turned up, it yielded more _______ than ever before.

Then they ____________ what their father meant, that their fortune was in the _______.

Children are born curious.

From their earliest days, sensory exploration brings delight and wonder. New discoveries expand their minds. When they unlock the joy of reading, their world widens further.

Magic happens.

Kid Scoop opens the doors of discovery for elementary school children by providing interactive, engaging and relevant age-appropriate materials designed to awaken the magic of reading at school, at home, and throughout their lives.

For more information about our literacy non-profit, visit kidscoopnews.org

G R E E N H A P P D R E C H A R M S R R

E D Y S K W I N A A

T D T C C B R P B W

This week’s word:

SUPERSTITION

E L T O R A O R I C

W I C S T C R V T A

The noun superstition means a belief based on magic or chance.

S K D S A K A Y E B

Tossing coins into a fountain is a common superstition.

I H T A P C O I N R

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

A A U R I L R A B K

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

Is luck a point of view?

Find examples of luck in the newspaper. Write two sentences. This is lucky for __________ because ___________. This is unlucky for __________ because____________.

ANSWER: A rash of good luck!

Standards Link: Writing Applications: Students provide a context for action.

How did the leprechauns get their gold? What do they do with it?