Cold, colder, coldest ... ugh
Everybody’s talking about the weather
Flu not waning as it usually does in February
Garrett Looker
The Community Guide
Throughout Lorain County, residents have been stricken with the flu as cases continue to rise.
As most years, cases of influenza are prevalent in the winter months.
However, this year has been an unusual flu season, according to Mitch Dandurand, an epidemiology supervisor at Lorain County Public Health.
There’s no indication that flu cases will plateau in the coming weeks, local health experts said.
“This year, it is going the opposite direction, as of the start of February,” Dandurand said.
“It’s a little bit of an unusual season compared to other flu seasons. … We remain in very high flu activity.”
According to data from Lorain County Public Health, 52 individuals were hospitalized due to reasons associated with influenza in the final week of January.
“This is a later flu season peak, and it’s way more aggressive than usual,” said Dr. Philip Cataline, an infectious disease physician with the University Hospitals Elyria Medical Center.
Activity for respiratory illness throughout Ohio remains “Very High,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Abby Knapp poses Thursday with Blanche after she
Bruce Bishop and Garrett Looker The Community Guide
When Blanche the cow slipped on ice and fell last Thursday morning, Abby Knapp was worried there may not be enough help to get her vertical again.
“It was probably around 10:30 that Blanche had fallen on the ice,” said Knapp, who added that Blanche is “an extremely large” dairy cow.
“My dad was actually the first one out here, tried to get her up, she went back down,” continued Knapp, who takes care of a Grafton farm with her father, her grandfather and her fiancé.
That’s when Knapp contacted a veterinarian. But the news was not encouraging for Blanche the cow.
“He said ‘Really, there’s nothing that I can do to really, kind of, help
Dave O’Brien
The Community Guide
The driver of the Jeep involved in an accident on Burns Road in October in which a 9-year-old boy on his bike was killed and another seriously injured won’t be criminally charged, Elyria police said.
Nico Warner, 20, will be cited with speeding, a minor misdemeanor, for allegedly going faster than 25 mph in the 100 block of Burns Road when the crash occurred, Elyria police spokesman Capt.
Bill Lantz said.
her get up,’” Knapp recalled.
So Knapp turned to social media in search of help. Knapp posted in a Grafton community page, seeing if anyone in the area had the type of equipment that would be able to lift the cow up.
Heavy machinery brought in
An individual showed up to help with a skid loader, Knapp said, a construction machine often used for hauling heavy materials.
Knapp said the show of support in person and online meant a lot.
“It was just nice to see that there were, you know, people from all over willing to come out and help if they could,” Knapp said.
In the end, Blanche the cow was able to get up off the ice after being coaxed with food, Knapp said — no
Warner’s 2001 Jeep SUV hit Bryant
“Tide” Bartlett, 9, and Aiden Hellend, 10, as they rode their bikes in the road.
Lantz said the decision not to bring charges came after an investigation that involved “thorough crash reconstruction and (a) review of all available evidence.”
The Elyria City Prosecutor’s Office determined that while Warner was traveling above the posted speed limit, there is no evidence to prove speed caused the
need for the use of a skid loader.
“We ended up being able to kind of get her up with some food,” Knapp said. “Kind of a little incentive there.”
It’s been a dream of Knapp’s to have and work on a farm, she said.
It’s her second winter with heavy animals like Blanche, and this year’s ice has presented new obstacles.
“The good part is, you know, with learning as we go, we just make the changes as things happen, and you know, try to do our best and make sure our animals stay safe and care for them the best we can,” Knapp said.
“It’s good to see her actually back up and standing, so hopefully the prognosis will end up being good.”
Contact Bruce Bishop at bbishop@chroniclet.com.
Contact Garrett Looker at glooker@chroniclet.com..
accident.
“As a result, no criminal charges will be filed in connection with this incident,” he wrote. “However, based on the investigation’s findings, Mr. Warner will be cited for speeding.”
Police said a call came in just before 6 p.m. on Oct. 12, 2024, that two boys had been hit when Warner tried to maneuver around them. The boys changed direction on their bikes and collided with the Jeep, according to Elyria police.
The worst cold may be over, at least for now
The Community Guide
After a week in which Lorain County was blanketed in several inches of snow and overnight temperatures dropped to minus 9 degrees Fahrenheit, temperatures are expected to rise.
A bit.
“It’s going to be a slow climb through the week,” Brian Mitchell, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Cleveland, said.
“It’s going to be just a gradual warm up. By Sunday, it should touch at least freezing, maybe a couple degrees higher.”
The freezing temperatures come on the heels of five inches of snow that fell in Elyria on Sunday. In response to the “anticipation of extreme cold temperatures,” Lorain will keep three warming shelters open through Friday morning.
Two of the shelters will operate through the night; one at Lorain High School, 2600 Ashland Ave., and another at Stevan Dohanos Elementary School, 1625 E. 32nd St. The third shelter – Faith Ministries Christian Center, 1306 Euclid Ave. – will be open during the day. By this time of year, temperatures are normally near or above freezing.
According to the National Weather Service’s annual averages, the middle of February usually features highs of around 39 degrees and lows of around 24 degrees Fahrenheit.
be charged
Warner was not injured in the crash.
The Bartlett family and dozens of supporters held a memorial at Hilltop Park for the boy the week after his death.
Bartlett liked working and playing outdoors, worked and played hard and had a “huge heart,” his family said.
Bartlett died at the scene. Hellend was taken first to University Hospitals Elyria Medical Center and then flown by helicopter to UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital in Cleveland.
BRUCE BISHOP / COMMUNITY GUIDE
got back on her feet after slipping and falling.
OBITUARIES
Lois Veres Fridenstine
Food bank begins drive
Vince Guerrieri
TheCommunity Guide
then you’re probably picking your job,” she said.
Lois Veres Fridenstine passed on to her next life at Welcome Nursing Home Tuesday, February 11, 2025. She was the daughter of Andrew and Dorothy (nee Nuhn) Veres. She was a 1966 graduate of Wellington High School. Lois dedicated her life to helping people as a social worker and counselor. She studied at Aquinas College, Lorain County Community College, Bowling Green University, Case Western University’s Mandel School of Social Work and The Wellness Institute of Seattle.
Lois worked at Lorain County Welfare Department, Lorain County Children Services, Center for Children and Youth Services, and for the last 20 years as co-owner of Plum Creek Associates in Oberlin.
Lois was also known by her amateur radio callsignN8GTI, which she held for more than 40 years. She had contacts in many countries around the world. Lois was a life member of the American Radio Relay League.
During summer of 1968 between college years she worked as a waitress at Dariland Drivein south of Oberlin where she met her future husband Jack.
Lois is survived by her husband of 55 years, John (Jack) Fridenstine; son, Matthew Fridenstine; grandchildren, Brayden and Christina Fridenstine; son, Scott Fridenstine; daughter-in-law, Jessica; granddaughters, Adalyn and Anna Fridenstine; brothers, Thomas Veres and Ed Veres; and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.
In addition to her parents; she was preceded in death by her sister, Shirley Veres Linden (Craig).
A celebration of Lois’s life will be held Sunday, March 2, 2025 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the New Russia Township Lodge, 46300 Butternut Ridge Road, Oberlin, Ohio.
Donations in Lois’s memory can be made to The Blessing House, 6115 Olivet Ave., Elyria, Ohio 44035.
Expressions of sympathy may be shared online at www. norton-eastmanfuneralhome.com.
BISHOP / COMMUNITY GUIDE
Icicles make a beautiful scene on the cliffs in Mill Hollow Park in Vermilion.
The need for the work done by food banks like Second Harvest of North Central Ohio is as dire as ever.
And President and CEO Julie Chase-Morefield has that at the forefront of her mind as the food bank kicks off its annual Harvest for Hunger campaign, which provides for one-third of the food distributed by the food bank throughout the year.
A study last year revealed that two out of three people in the four-county area served by the food bank --
Lorain, Huron, Crawford and Erie counties, with a total population around 500,000 -- have had to skip meals as other expenses loomed. In Lorain County, it’s estimated that nearly 15 percent of the population is food insecure, not necessarily knowing where their next meal is coming from.
“If your choice is getting food or having enough gas to get to work,
The goal is to raise enough money to provide 3.6 million meals to help restock 160 food pantries, meal programs and shelters in the fourcounty area.
Last year’s drive raised enough money for 3.5 million meals.
Chase-Morefield noted that this year’s campaign comes at a time of uncertainty for the food bank’s own funding, noting that more than half the food purchased is done so with federal funding.
“There’s such a need now, and there’s so much uncertainty,” she said. “That’s why campaigns like this are so important. We want people to know we’re here to help.”
The food drive will kick off with a happy hour event 4-6 p.m. Thursday at the food bank on Baumhart Road, and runs through June. There are also plans for an event involving Chez Francois in Vermilion.
Attendees can also learn how to participate, from donations of food
and money to launching their own campaigns at church, schools or workplaces.
“There’s a great opportunity for campaigns,” Chase-Morefield said. “Anyone can do one.”
The campaign will be soliciting donations of non-perishable food items, collected at locations throughout the county, or money.
Chase-Morefield says $1 can buy up to six meals for the food bank.
“Any donation makes a huge impact,” she said. “But donating dollars gives you the most bang for your buck.”
The honorary chairman for the campaign is Vic Gregovits of Avon Lake. Gregovits, a longtime sports marketing and communication official, is president of the Lake Erie Crushers, as well as a partner in the ownership group that bought the Frontier League team last year. Contact Vince Guerrieri at (440) 329-7124 or vguerrieri@chroniclet.com. Follow him @vinceguerrieri on X.
Handcuffed escapee in Mich.?
The Chronicle-Telegram
Authorities in Michigan are now involved in the search for a man who escaped Elyria police custody on Feb. 3.
Crime Stoppers of Flint and Genesee County, Michigan, has reported that Donte Parker II, 23, and girlfriend Petra Pintar, 20, were believed to be in the area northwest of Detroit.
Parker is to be considered armed and dangerous, the Crime Stoppers group reported.
Pintar’s family has filed a missing persons report for her. It is unknown if Parker forced her to go with him or if she went willingly, but she is wanted on an obstruction charge.
Crime Stoppers of Flint
and Genesee County, Michigan, is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Parker and Pintar. The number to call in that area is (800) 422-JAIL.
Anyone who knows where Parker or Pintar are is asked to contact Elyria police Detective Jeb Larson at (440) 326-1211 or jlarson@cityofelyria.org, or call the Elyria Police Department at (440) 3233302. Anonymous tips can also be submitted at www. cityofelyria.org/tips. A message about the expansion of the search was left for an Elyria police spokesperson.
After a week of searching the area around the Black River for him or his body, Elyria police said that
Parker was alive and on the run. They did not say how they know. Parker is wanted on multiple felony warrants and an alleged federal probation violation. Elyria police have charged him with having weapons under disability, escape and obstructing official business, all felonies. Parker was taken into custody and handcuffed Feb. 3 after being found hiding under a bed in a Washington Avenue apart-
ment when officers went there on a welfare check call. He allegedly was in possession of a gun, which was a crime because Parker is a convicted felon.
Despite being handcuffed, Parker managed to escape and run from officers toward the Black River.
Even after losing his shoes, he managed to evade a search.
Fearing he had fallen into or jumped into the Black River, multiple first responders searched the area but couldn’t find him. Elyria police are reviewing officers’ actions that night, a police spokesman said previously.
Luckily, communities have plenty of road salt
The Community Guide Road salt supplies in the county are holding out against the ice and the cold, county and city officials said as they prepared for yet another cold snap to hit.
Both salt and liquid brine are in use in the county to fight the ice and keep the roads clear and safe, and some communities have reported using more than in prior years due to this more-extreme 2024-25 winter season.
Assistant Lorain County Engineer Robert Klaiber said the county has a good supply of salt and hasn’t been in danger of running out yet this winter.
Lorain County orders its road salt through a state purchasing program, which Klaiber said is “the way to go” so communities can buy in bulk rather than put out bids on their own.
In a normal season, he said the county Engineer’s Office uses 12,000 tons of salt.
It carried some over from last year and didn’t have to order as much this year, Klaiber said. With the severe cold, the county has been using more this winter than in the past three to four years, he said.
The county “has a pretty big salt bin, we don’t get down to the
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bottom that easy,” Klaiber said.
Cities with less storage are in greater danger of using up all their salt supplies, especially if there are back-to-back snow events, he said.
Lorain Public Properties Manager Lori Garcia said the city has about 3,000 tons of salt remaining.
It has used 4,500 tons since November, she said.
“Before the last couple years, if it was a typical winter we would order about 5,000 tons.
“But we actually only ordered 2,000 this year, we had so much left over from the last two win-
ters,” Garcia said.
The city has eight large brine trucks, with large tanks to hold the liquid, “and we’ve been out brining before every single (weather) event,” she said.
Doing so helps the city not uses as much salt, Garcia said.
There are 23 big trucks in the city’s fleet and six small trucks. The brine trucks can convert to salt trucks after they put down brine ahead of storms.
Elyria Safety Service Director Chris Pyanowksi said the city’s road salt reserve was about threequarters full, and he did not expect any issues making it through
the rest of the winter season.
This year, Elyria was able to use less salt and put fewer chemicals on the road thanks to a new salt brine machine the city purchased with a $60,000 grant from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
The machine dissolves road salt in water.
The mixture can then be spread on roads ahead of a snow storm to prevent icing and make snow easier to clear.
Previously the city combined its salt only with chemicals, but introducing brine both reduces the need for both.
Fridenstine
Parker Pintar
Cold keeps hanging around
A page from the June 1946 edition of “The Western Round-Up” features workers from the Western Automatic Machine Screw Company in Elyria. Phil Gallo is fourth from the right in the bottom left photo and is featured as well in the bottom right photo.
Moen is leaving the state of Ohio
The Community Guide
More than 30 years after Moen Inc. departed from its Elyria headquarters, the faucet and plumbing manufacturer that rose to global prominence here is leaving Ohio altogether.
Moen’s parent company, Fortune Brands, has announced that it would relocate all of its offices across the U.S., including Moen, to Deerfield, Illinois. The move is expected to be complete by the summer of 2026.
The current Moen headquarters is located on Al Moen Drive in North Olmsted, where it employs roughly 600 people.
The company’s headquarters was moved to North Olmsted from Elyria in 1994, but Moen maintained a plant in Elyria until it finally closed in 2008.
Lorain County Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Tony Gallo said that he had spoken with officials in North Olmsted who told him the departure had come as a surprise, just as it did when Moen left Elyria over three decades earlier.
Gallo has an extensive personal history with Moen, as his father and uncle worked at the company which would become Moen and then continued with Moen for decades.
The final departure has been materialising for decades, and the jobs in North Olmsted were corporate, not manufacturing, but Gallo said it still comes as a blow to a region that once served as one of the key manufacturing hubs of the nation.
“It’s a bruise to our ego, you know,” Gallo said. “That’s who we are, Lorain County builds things. We build things here…
“Good-paying jobs, they’re harder and harder to come by now. It’s hard on our psyche, it’s hard on the economy. It takes 10 or 15 small companies to make up what they used to provide. It’s a shame, but it’s where we’re at in 2025.”
Founding & development
The company, or at least a major portion of it, which would become Moen Inc. was founded in Elyria in 1873 as The Elyria Tap and Screw Company.
In “A Chronology of the Industry of Elyria,” the Lorain County Historical Society wrote that the founding of this company could be said to have been the beginning of industrialization in Elyria.
For the next 118 years, Elyria Screw would be a central piece of the city and region’s industry, through many name and production changes.
The first change came in 1882 when the company was incorporated as the Western Automatic Machine Screw Company, continuing to produce a variety of screws and other fasteners, largely for use in the growing bike industry.
Western’s stock was acquired by Standard Screw Company of New Jersey with production exploding and reaching an estimated 1,100 employees during the First World War.
The company would shift back to nonmilitary production after the war, but would again take up military production during World War II and the Korean War.
Gallo’s father Phil worked at Western during high school as a stock boy, leaving when he was 17 years old to fight in the World War II
“When he (Phil Gallo) came back, they had a job waiting for him because Western Automatic was very good about that,” Gallo said. “If the men fought, there was a place for them to come back once it was over.”
While the men had been gone though, Gallo said, screw production was even more crucial, and the women of the community, including a number of the women
of the Gallo family, stepped in to work.
Gallo said that many of those women were able to continue to work at Western Automatic after the war ended and the men returned, giving Lorain County’s women a way to stay in the workforce and support their families.
“When you talk about immigrants coming to Lorain County to work in the steel plant, this allowed immigrant women to actually get a job because the steel plant was not gonna be a place where they could be on the line,” Gallo said. “But Western Automatic, it was taking burrs off of screws, you know. In other words, there was probably a job for just about anyone and everyone wanted a job there.”
Both the men and women at Western were predominantly immigrants or the children of immigrants like Gallo’s family, who were Italian immigrants.
That immigrant makeup was clear, Gallo said, when reading the “The Western Round-Up,” a newsletter which was produced by Western Automatic.
“They would highlight some of the employees monthly, they put recipes in there, they would tell stories from the front if the war was still going on,” Gallo said. “... And if you read the names in there, it was a who’s who of immigrant names. Whether they were Italian names, or Polish names, or Hungarian names. There were a lot of the people who moved to Lorain County, um, who went to work there.”
It was common for later generations or younger siblings to follow family into work at the company, which Gallo’s uncle, John, did when he followed in Phil’s footsteps and went to work at Western.
John Gallo took a brief hiatus from his young career at Western to fight for his country. In John Gallo’s case, he fought in the Korean War and then also returned to find his job waiting. By the time John Gallo retired, he had worked for the company for 42 years and was its longestserving employee.
But, John Gallo did not retire from the Western Automatic Machine Screw Company, he retired from Moen Inc.
The name change, and the proliferation of a product which changed modern commercial plumbing, had seeds which were planted at just the same time that John Gallo was returning to Elyria following the Korean War.
Change and departure
Shortly after the Korean War ended, a small new subsidiary owned by Standard Screw moved production into Western’s Elyria facility.
Named Moen, after inventor Alfred Moen, and initially staffed by only about 10 people, the division would come to subsume all other aspects of Western under its name and become a global factor in faucet production.
While a student at the University of Washington, Alfred Moen invented a single-handle faucet system which could control both temperature and volume of water.
He spent years and went through the ownership of several companies trying to reach full consumer production, until 1956 when the Moen division was purchased by Western Automatic.
In the spring of 1956, just 10 employees traveled with Moen production to Elyria, and Alfred Moen himself joined them later that year. Two years later the Moen Single Handle Faucet fully launched as a consumer product, doubling Moen’s income within five years.
The Standard Screw Company would become Stanadyne and would eventually move its screw production to Chicago.
Stanadyne eventually moved all assembly and testing to North Carolina, but Moen remained.
Owen MacMillan
30 YEARS AFTER LEAVING ELYRIA FOR NORTH OLMSTED
Felons face more felonies in home invasion
Two Elyria men allegedly caught in the middle of an armed home invasion in December now face multiple felony charges in Lorain County Common Pleas Court.
Ramal Sitton, 21, of Case Avenue, was being held in Lorain County Jail on more than $1.5 million bond, while Johnny Rice, 21, with a last known address on Rosewood Drive. Rice was being held on $2 million bond in the jail.
Both are charged with two counts each of kidnapping, and one count each of aggravated burglary,
Rice Sitton
aggravated robbery, having weapons under disability and disrupting public services, all felonies with firearms specifications.
The firearms specifications could add multiple mandatory years in prison to each of their sentences if convicted.
The state also is looking to seize the a .223 caliber rifle and 9mm handgun Rice and Sitton allegedly
brandished at the victims, according to court documents. Their cases have yet to be assigned to a judge. Both men appear to have been on probation or parole supervision at the time of the alleged crimes.
Elyria police said that about 5:30 p.m. Dec. 17, officers responded to a burglary in progress in the Rosewood Park Townhomes and Apartment Suites, located in the 800 block of Rosewood Drive. Rosewood Drive is located off Abbe Road, south of Lorain County Community College.
Police said a male resident called 911 to report
seeing two armed men inside his apartment on an interior security camera.
The caller’s girlfriend and their 3-year-old child were inside, and police said a livestream of the video feed showed Rice and Sitton brandishing guns at the alleged victims and physically assaulting the woman.
Responding officers set up a perimeter and coordinated an approach to keep the victims and surrounding residents safe.
As they got into position, the woman was said to be in immediate danger or threat, police said.
Officers breached the apartment door and made
an emergency entry, arresting Rice and Sitton without harm or incident. Their guns were confiscated along with other evidence, police said.
A preliminary investigation revealed that Rice and Sitton went to the apartment to steal cash and property at gunpoint and threatened the victims’ lives, according to Elyria police.
Both men have faced felony charges before.
Sitton pleaded guilty in 2023 to felony charges of carrying concealed weapons and improper handling of firearms in a motor vehicle. Judge Mark Betleski granted him drug treat-
ment intervention in lieu of conviction and ordered Sitton to spend two years on probation, according to court records. Rice was convicted of felony escape in Stark County in 2023 and sentenced to one year in prison. That sentence was run concurrent to a nine-month prison term he received for attempted assault, also a felony, in Cuyahoga County that same year. Rice was released on parole in March 2024, and ordered to report to the Ohio Adult Parole Authority offices in Lorain County, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
County hires interim, part-time HR director
The Chronicle-Telegram
The Lorain County Commissioners hired a new, interim, parttime human resources director.
Elise Hara Auvil, an attorney and human resources consultant, started work Tuesday. She will be paid $88.46 per hour, according to board documents.
Auvil has a varied employment history in both private practice
and public service. She operates EHA Solutions, a human resources and risk management consulting firm in Bay Village; was chief administrative officer for Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb from 2022-2023; human resources manager for the city of Westlake from 20192021; executive director of the Bond Accountability Commission for the Cleveland Metropolitan
School District master plan from 2017-2019; and director of human resources and employment counsel for Cuyahoga County from 2011-2014.
Auvil was “of counsel” — affiliated with but not a partner or member — at the BauerGriffith law firm in Beachwood, and also previously worked for the Eliza Jennings Senior Care Network and for the Greater Cleveland
RTA, according to her public LinkedIn page and other publicly available websites.
Fluent in French and Spanish, Auvil is a 1988 graduate of Ohio State University and a 1992 graduate of the Case Western Reserve University School of Law.
Auvil is the first human resources director for the county since former HR director J.R. White left after reaching an employ-
John
Cupid’s arrows strike again
The Chronicle-Telegram
ELYRIA — Love was in the air at Wesleyan Village on Friday as five resident couples renewed their wedding vows in celebration of Valentine’s Day.
The couples who renewed their vows had been married between 34 and 65 years. The ceremony was led by the Rev. Kurt Walker, chaplain at Wesleyan Village. The long-married couples renewing their vows were Jeannette and Judson Billing, married for 42 years; Clare and John Coulis, married for 34 years; Eleanore and Dick Lehto, married for 65 years; Martha and Irwin Wason, married for 62 years, and Theresa and Carl Zimmerly, married for 63 years.
“It was a lot of fun,” Clare Coulis said.
Coulis and Eleanore Lehto both said with a smile that the key to a long marriage was simply “patience.”
The ceremony was followed by a cocktail hour, organized by the Wesleyan Village activity department.
ment settlement with the Board of Commissioners in 2024.
An attorney with expertise in employment law and also a former Lorain County administrator, White had alleged harassment, abuse and bullying by his successor, current County Administrator Jeff Armbruster, and Commissioner Jeff Riddell, a Republican, among his reasons for leaving county employment.
Plea agreement offered to man accused of rape
Sheffield Lake resident was concert violinist
The Chronicle-Telegram
A Sheffield Lake resident charged with more than a decade of child rape offenses in Pennsylvania has been offered a plea agreement by prosecutors there that would prevent him from serving the rest of his life in prison.
PennLive.com reported that the Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office gave Odin Rathnam, 59, the chance to plead guilty to all 28 charges against him in exchange for 15 to 30 years in prison and five years probation upon release.
He is facing 21 felonies and seven misdemeanors including child rape resulting in serious bodily injury, child rape, aggravated indecent assault and unlawful contact with a minor among others, PennLive.com reported.
If he declines and is convicted of all charges at trial, he could get life in prison plus 70 years, the news site
The Community Guide
Rathnam
reported. Rathnam has until the end of March to make his decision, according to PennLive. com.
Rathnam allegedly sexually abused the victim from 2008 to 2019 at multiple locations in Pennsylvania. The victim suffered physical injuries from the assaults that has never fully healed, PennLive.com reported.
Rathnam was concertmaster and lead violinist of the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra from 1991 until 2012. He then moved to Sheffield Lake and taught stringed instruments parttime at Cleveland State University until he was fired following his arrest in July 2024.
After a year of analyzing traffic safety throughout the county, the Lorain County Public Health published a comprehensive safety action plan of guidelines and recommendations to prevent serious traffic crashes and deaths and secure future safety funding. The plan, which can be accessed at LorainCountyHealth.com/SafeRoads, recommends studies to be conducted on traffic speed, improvements to crossings, on-street bike lanes and educational campaigns for transit safety.
From left, Clare and
Coulis and Jeannette and Judson Jennings listen to the Rev. Kurt Walker renew their wedding vows at Wesleyan Village in Elyria on Friday. Five resident couples renewed their wedding vows in celebration of Valentine’s Day. Couples who made renewals were married between 34 and 65 years.
OWEN MACMILLAN / CHRONICLE
Dave O’Brien The Community Guide
Glimpsing history with Mr. Fitch
Ron Jantz
Imagine if you could have an audience with history.
Would you do it?
Would you sit in the same room with the Great Depression and World War II, lean in and listen? I did.
My story today is on Bob Fitch. He’s 102 years old. He’s living and breathing history. Come sit with me. And him. The setup
The walls in the simple room are decorated with reminders of life.
The man in the chair in front of me sits. A blue flannel shirt, blue corduroy pants and black shoes. His hands should be the subject of a photo essay. Weathered and strong. They are big. His hair is silver and full. I’m envious. He wears glasses, but he didn’t need them until he was in his 80s. He wears no hearing aids. He fell once and broke his hip, but he has no artificial hip or knees and the only medication he’s on is a blood thinner. His resting heart rate is consistently in the 50s. He doesn’t drink or smoke.
“Do you have ANY vices,” I asked? He smiles and his eyes squint and for a moment, he looks like a little boy as he sheepishly said, “Sherbet ice cream. Orange sherbet ice cream.” He laughs, and I do too. The evidence is on his kitchen counter top. Stacks of empty sherbet containers.
The Great Depression
In 1922, two days before November turned to December, Robert Fitch was born in his parents’ home on Center Road in Avon. His boyhood home was in its place thanks to the engineering of the era, jacked up off its original foundation and pulled by horses as logs rolled underneath, rotated by strong arms and backs and rested in the spot it sits today.
“We didn’t have much,” Bob said. The family had a coalburning furnace in the basement to keep the home warm. “We were the last house on Center Road to get electricity,” he said. “And that didn’t happen until the late 1930s.”
The Fitch family turned a garden on the property to help feed the family. That garden would eventually grow into a 60-acre farm of feed corn, grain, tomatoes, strawberries, peppers and pigs. They harvested their own ice from a property pond to keep their food cold through the spring, summer and fall.
One month before Bob’s seventh birthday, on Oct. 24, 1929, the stock market crashed and the country soon fell into the Great Depression. His father’s business at the time was moving oil derricks with a team of draft horses. Tractors
wouldn’t take over for horses fully for another 15 to 20 years, but the value of his father’s business changed and not for the better.
By 1933, at the height of the Great Depression, 25 percent of the American workforce was unemployed. That was nearly 13 million workers and the worst economic disaster in American history.
Bob’s father still transported oil rigs, but he made a commitment to farming, too, starting his son in what would soon become the family business. It was difficult to make a living as a farmer. Some farmers used a percentage of their corn crop to burn in their furnaces because it was cheaper than coal. “Things were tough,” he said. Then he smiled, shrugged and added, “We didn’t have much choice. Money was very, very short but we were always OK. We always had enough to eat but very little other stuff.” Agriculture was taught in school in the 1930s, but Bob got all the education he needed on his family farm.
“I started by picking strawberries,” he said, and he laughed again, almost as if the mind’s eye vision of his youthful self, brought on the chuckle. “Sometimes, I’d walk home from school early to work on the farm,” he said. The walk was three miles long. “We did whatever had to be done.” Bob, his parents and his younger sister, Margaret worked the farm. “We raised pigs. We’d plant or pick our crops. We kept one cow for the family milk and my mother would make butter, too. In the winter, we would slaughter one pig for meat to eat.”
Falling in love
She was round and a dirty brown, and he could hold her in his hands.
She was Bob’s first love. She was basketball.
“So let’s talk basketball,” I said to him. His face lights up, his smile grows wide, and he moves in his seat in excitement.
“I had a rim but no net.’’
The basket was nailed to the outside of the barn, which was shouting distance from the back door of his boyhood home. Bob’s mother would open the door, ring a dinner bell and call out “Red, time to come in for supper now!”
Bob’s hair was red in his youth. There was no backboard, just the barn siding, a collection of old floorboards. You didn’t get a smooth bank shot. Dribbling in the dirt was an adjustment.
Bob rolls back and forth in his wheelchair wearing an “aw shucks” smile as we “remember when,” and I have no doubt he’s probably running in his mind, again, after a loose ball off the dirt court of his childhood. “I try to walk every day with my walker,” he told me, “but always with someone by me.”
To his right of his wheelchair is a radio, and in front of him is a television. He listens and watches Cavaliers games every night the team plays. When the Cavaliers play late, the sounds of the games are his bedtime stories.
His sons, Bill and Dick, who are seated nearby as we talk, told me they often find their dad asleep in his chair with the game still on the radio or TV. Also in his room is a computer monitor connected to the internet. On it, he watches his great grandchildren play for Avon High School or his grandsons coach at Avon and Avon Lake when he’s not at the games himself.
Basketball has been a thread in his life
“Could you shoot it,” I asked? He shrugs again. “I played,” was his answer. Bob
played a lot. He was a member of the Avon High School basketball team from 1938 to 1941. The court at Avon High School was 39 feet wide and 63 feet long. The court was tiny and at that time, the rules of the game called for a center jump after every made basket. “That really slowed the game down,” I said to him. He grinned, causing his eyes to squint and he laughed through his answer of, “yea, lot of 23-20 games.”
I asked him if he had a jump shot or a set shot in the late 30s and early 40s? He leaned forward, put both hand between his knees and thrust them up. “You shot it underhand?” I said with surprise. He laughed again. “Yes,” he said and then he proceeded to tell me about a full court underhand heave one of his teammates made against Penfield to win a game back in the day. World War II and the American farmer
Bob graduated from Avon High School in May 1941. There were 28 in his graduating class.
On Dec. 7, 1941, one week after Bob turned 19, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and the president of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt entered America into World War II. Shortly after, in 1942, Congress established military deferment for farmers deemed essential to the war effort. America needed farmers to increase crop production of food and fiber for soldiers and for the country. Not all farmers were deferred. The military still drafted nearly 1 million farm workers. It is estimated that about 16 million Americans served in the armed forces during World War II.
“Everyone had to register,” Bob said. He received a deferment. “Most of my classmates went to the war,” he said. “Several didn’t come back.”
The war changed everything. Americans were first issued ration cards in May 1942.
Among other things, food staples like meat, dairy, dried fruits, oils and coffee were rationed. Access to gasoline, tires and tractors were also limited. Companies making farm implements transitioned into making military goods, which changed the availability of farm equipment. “My dad had a plow and a drag to work the ground,” Bob said. “We pulled everything with our horses. Dad had the last working team of horses in Avon.” The Fitch Farm had a horse-drawn planter that they are still using today. They can’t get parts for it anymore. Bob’s son, Dick, is a fabricator, so he makes the parts to keep the planter working. Bob and his dad raised pigs for slaughter. They’d have a half-dozen or so hanging at a time for buyers. They farmed field corn and oats to feed the pigs. As their farm grew, they planted soy beans and increased their vegetable output. They’d take their vegetables to market in Cleveland.
Farmers during the war were asked to produce record harvests, and they had to do it with shortages in labor, equipment, seed and fuel.
Prisoners of war were often used on American farms to help the labor shortage. Ohio had a P.O.W site at Camp Perry in Port Clinton. “We didn’t have any prisoners of war helping us farm, but we did have teenaged girls from the local YWCA planting and picking,” Bob said. A salute to the farmers’ efforts can be found on a bas-relief sculpture panel on the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Embossed is an image of men and women working on a farm chafing wheat. There is a uniformed serviceman leaning on the back tire of the tractor.
America had to eat, and farmers were essential to the survival of our country.
The finish Bob and his wife Frances, who passed in 1982, have four children, 14 grandchildren, 33 great grandchildren and a great, great grandchild will be born in March.
The sixth generation of Fitch farmers currently cultivate the same 60 acres on Center Road that Bob was born on 102 years ago. At their market, you’ll find strawberries in the spring and asparagus, lettuce, potatoes, peppers, pickling cucumbers, onions, squash, melons, tomatoes and sweet corn throughout the summer and fall.
Bob quit running a tractor when he was 70 years old, but he was still cultivating crops into his 80s.
For years, the family played full-court basketball on the second floor of the old hay barn. “The walls,” said the 102-year-old with his signature grin, “are out of bounds up there.” He attends about a dozen Avon High School basketball games a year to watch his great-grandchildren Colten, Emily and Emma play. His grandson Mike is Avon’s head boys varsity coach, and his grandson Kevin is Avon Lake’s longtime boys varsity assistant coach.
If you’re looking for Bob, he’s easy to find. He’s either courtside at a game or greeting you during summer days at the family market.
Near the end of our conversation, I ask him about being a farmer, and he said “It’s all I’ve ever done. I don’t know anything else.” I said to him, “nothing” and he smiled again, “well, basketball” was his answer.
Yea, that and orange sherbet.
Thanks for my history lesson, Mr. Fitch.
Contact Ron Jantz at ronjantz@ chroniclet.com.
RON JANTZ / COMMUNITY GUIDE
Bob Fitch, 102, smiles as he attends a basketball game at Avon High School.
Bob Fitch was born in November 1922 and grew up on the family’s property on Center Road in Avon, living through the Great Depression and World War II.
PHOTOS PROVIDED
Bob Fitch plays on the family property as a child.
Bob Fitch and his family have been working their farm of 60 acres for six generations.
Amherst loses to Brunswick on Senior Night
Amherst honored its four Seniors (Jayla Cruz, Brooke Vorhees, Ainsley Hunker and Anna Phelan) against Brunswick.
Amherst and Brunswick battled back and forth with several lead changes to finish the third quarter with Amherst holding a one point lead over Brunswick at 38-37. However Brunswick took control of the game in the fourth quarter and defeated Amherst 52-43.
Columbia advances in Division VI tournament
in the third quarter on three 3-point shots but Columbia wins easily 45-28.
Keystone wins crucial game against Wellington to
Wellington traveled to Keystone for their final regular season game.
Keystone needed a win to claim the Lorain County League championship.
Wellington stayed close in the first quarter, trailing 16-11, but Keystone took control of the game in the second quarter.
Keystone led 32-14 at the half and Wellington couldn’t get its offense going as Keystone won the game, 59-27, and the Lorain County League championship.
At left, Keystone’s Rylee Jedrzejek gets to the
Wellington celebrated its basketball and cheerleaders on Senior Night.
Wellington kept pace with Clearview in the first quarter, tied at 13.
Wellington could only manage 3 points in the second quarter, trailing 31-16 at halftime.
Wellington couldn’t overcome this deficit and fell to Clearview 56-43.
Photos by Russ Gifford, The Community Guide
Amherst’s Abby Broaddus brings the ball up the court pressured by Brunswick’s Bri Sigmund.
Amherst’s Jayla Cruz drives past Brunswick’s Olivia Moats.
Columbia’s Kaitlyn Miller hits a 3-point shot over McDonald’s Juliana Krumpak.
At right, Columbia’s Alyssa Goebel steals the ball from McDonald’s Bailey Bosheff.
No. 6 Columbia opened Division VI sectional play by hosting No. 18 McDonald. Columbia scored 14 points in the first quarter, while McDonald scored none. The game was over by halftime as Columbia held a 24-2 lead. McDonald did have a flurry of points
Wellington’s Landon Whitehouse gets to the basket past Clearview’s Deacon Delgado.
Wellington’s Landon Wright steals the ball from Clearview’s Jeffery Ball.
Wellington loses to Clearview on Senior Night
Wellington’s Grace Knapp hits a 3-point shot with less than a minute left in the first quarter to close the gap to 5 at Keystone.
basket past Wellington’s Mallory Pickering.
capture Lorain County League championship
Learn about the deadly 1916 train crash
Amherst historian Tom Jewell will give a presentation on the tragic train wreck that took place in Amherst, one early foggy morning on March 29, 1916.
Three trains collided, resulting in 27 people being killed and 47 injured. Countless people heroically assisted that day. This crash even has a connection with silent movie actress Mary Pickford.
The free comunity presentation will be held at 7 p.m. March 18 at the AHS Hall, 113 South Lake Street, Amherst. Donations are gratefully accepted.
Please RSVP at (440) 988-7255 or office@amhersthistoricalsociety.org.
Seeking actors for ‘Sister Act: The Musical’ Lorain Community Music Theater is holding auditions for “Sister Act, The Musical!”
The role of Deloris Van Cartier has been cast but there are many other roles to fill.
Auditions will be held from 2-4 p.m. March 9 and 6-8 p.m. March 11. Callbacks will be made March 16. Sign up at loraincommunitymusictheater.org starting Saturday. The auditions will be held at St. Peter School Gym, 3655 Oberlin Ave., Lorain.
Talented performers of all ethnicities ar sought for the roles of Mother Superior, Sister Mary Robert, Sister Mary Patrick, Sister Mary Lazarus, Eddie, Curtis Jackson, TJ, Joey, and Pablo (Curtis’s Henchmen), The Sisters of the Convent and Ensemble. A complete list of characters and more information can be found at loraincommunitymusictheater.org or from the director, Luke Scattergood at lukescattergood@yahoo.com.
Black History Month artwork to be honored
The City of Oberlin has once again partnered with the Oberlin High School Art Department and FAVA to coordinate an exhibition of artwork depicting historical figures created by Oberlin High School art students.
The Black History Month Gallery Exhibition will be on display at FAVA, 39 South Main St., Oberlin through March 2.
Regular gallery hours are Tuesday-Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1-5 p.m. All are free. For more information, please contact City of Oberlin Communications Manager Diane Ramos at (440) 775-7217 or DRamos@CityofOberlin.com.
Beekeepers offer intermediate class
The Lorain County Beekeepers Association will hold an Intermediate Beekeeping Class from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at Life Church. 1033 Elm Street, Grafton.
The “Swarm Prevention and Queen Management” class offered by the Lorain County Beekeepers Association is designed for beekeepers who have successfully kept bees for over one year. Cost of this class is free to all 2025 LCBA members. Non-member cost will be $10 or $20 to include a 2025 LCBA membership. Info at loraincountybeekeepers.org/intermed-beekeeping-class.
THE OSCARS
BULLETIN BOARD
Oberlin sets PreK/Kindergarten enrollment
Enrollment for Oberlin City School District’s PreK/ Kindergarten for the 2025-2026 school year will begin on Monday. Parents/guardians are required to stop by the Board of Education Office, located at 153 North Main Street, Oberlin, to pick up the enrollment packet.
To be considered for preschool, your child must turn 3 by August 1 and be toilet trained.
In order to enroll for kindergarten, your child must be 5 by August 1.
For more information, contact mcoffaro@oberlinschools.net or call (440) 774-2213.
Wellington Kiwanis plans two breakfasts
Wellington Kiwanis Club annual Pancake Day will be Friday at the Wellington Eagles Hall, 631 S. Main St. The club will serve from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. and then reopen from 4 to 7 p.m.
Pre-sale tickets are $6 and can be purchased at Bremke Insurance, 104 S. Main St.; Fifth-Third Bank, 161 E. Herrick Ave., Main St. Wellington, 118 W. Herrick Ave., Colonial Barber Shop,121 W. Herrick Ave. or the Office on Aging on the third floor of the Town Hall. Meals are $4 for children 8 and under. Tickets purchased at the door will be $7. Take-out service will be offered.
Purchase tickets at wellingtonkiwanis@yahoo.com or www.wellingtonohkiwanis.org.
Proceeds support Wellington Kiwanis’ service leadership programs – the Wellington High School Key Club, McCormick Middle School’s Builders Club and Westwood Elementary School’s K-Kids. Proceeds also help support Kiwanis’ scholarship program and the club’s signature project, raising funds for community playground equipment, including Union School Park.
Tickets are also available at the same locations for the seventh annual State of Wellington breakfast on March 27 at the Wellington Eagles. Tickets are $15 and available at the same locations as the Pancake Day tickets. Wellington Kiwanis has been serving the youth of the community since 1924. It meets on the first and third Thursdays of the month, usually at the South Lorain County Ambulance District, 179 E. Herrick Ave. Wellington. The location of the second meeting each, month varies depending on availability.
Oberlin Schools selling memorabilia
The Oberlin City School District Athletic Department is holding a fundraiser by selling Indian and Phoenix championship banners and trophies dating back to the 1960s. Championship banners will be sold in a silent auction. To make an electronic bid on a championship banner, email auction@oberlinschools.net through Saturday. Trophies will be available for sale at Friday’s boys basketball game. Only cash or check will be accepted.
Yearbooks are also available. Yearbooks from before 2020 are $10 and yearbooks from 2020 are $20. For more information, email dzillich@oberlinschools. net or call (440) 776-4578.
Lorain teen vying for Youth of the Year
De’Shawn Gore, 16, a sophomore at Lorain High School, is one of six Northeast Ohio teens vying for the Boys & Girls Clubs Youth of the Year. The candidates were chosen from four counties. The winner, who will be announced March 6, advances to state competition.
Youth of the Year is one of the Boys & Girls Clubs signature leadership programs, with opportunities to advance to state, regional and national competition.
Teens are judged on community, school and Club service as well as on a series of essays. Scholarship money is awarded to the top finishers.
De’Shawn is a member of the Westview Terrace Club in Lorain. He enjoys interacting with the staff and other Club members. De’Shawn’s goal is to attend college, major in theater and become a famous actor.
Work to start on new bridge on Route 83
Work will start on Monday to replace the Route 83 bridge over Route 10.
One lane of traffic will be maintained by temporary traffic signals. The bridge is expected to be completed by November.
Western Reserve Toy/Collectible Show returns
The annual Western Reserve Toy and Collectible Show will have its 34th year from 9 a.m to 3 p.m. March 2 at Western Reserve Elementary School, Collins, Ohio at 3851 US Route 20, three miles west of Wakeman.
Sponsored by the Western Reserve Ruritan Club, the show features new farm toys, old farm toys, railroad, antique, construction, dolls, Nascar, wood toys, sports cards, Pokemon, signs, books, manuals, die cast, Matchbox, Hot wheels, action figures, Tonka, Buddy L, pressed steel, peddle cars, Hallmark, custom made trucks, Marx play sets, as well as many other unique, some strange, and interesting toys, collectibles and other miscellaneous items. Vendors will have sought-after Oliver toy tractors and new Ertl farm toys.
Admission is $3; children under 12 are free.
For more information, contact Rich Ruess at (419) 7069612 or Steve Zimmerman at (419) 744-0796.
Traveling troupe to tell Harriet Tubman story
Spark Theatre 4 Youth, a traveling children’s theatre troupe, will bring its historical story of “Harriet Tubman: An American Moses” to Workshop Players at 7 p.m. Saturday.
Honor Black History Month while inspiriting your children or grandchildren to join the ranks of those of us who long to bring joy to others by entertaining. Children who become involved as audience members may very well end up on stage themselves.
To reserve your tickets ($12 adults, $10 children under 12) call the box office at (440) 634-0472.
Oberlin black business owners remembered
The Oberlin Public Library, the Oberlin Heritage Center will present the program “Remembering Oberlin Black Business Owners” at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
The program will feature the histories of several of Oberlin’s Black business owners of the last 100 years through discussions with a panel of individuals and family members who remember them.
The program will be held at the Oberlin Public Library and will include photos, oral histories, and objects from the Oberlin Heritage Center’s collection.
Those who have their own memories and stories of Oberlin Black-owned businesses, past and present, are invited to come and share.
This event is presented by the Oberlin Heritage Center and co-sponsored with the Wilson Bruce Evans Home Historical Society and Oberlin African-American Genealogy and History Group.
It is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served thanks to support from the library.
Next week will be the last publication
The Feb. 27, 2025, issue of the Lorain County Community Guide will be its last.
Please send in any final announcements you would like to have published here to news@lcnewspapers.com.
Garlicky mayonnaise
Acne, technically
Famous frat house
Crack
Grassy mound
De’Shawn
©2025byVickiWhiting,Editor Je Schinkel,Graphics Vol. 41,No. 12
How much do you know about presidents of the United States? Did you know the following facts?
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