Counting the homeless in Lorain County
Carissa Woytach
The Community Guide
ELYRIA – An Amtrak train
whipped past as a group of women walked parallel to the tracks through the snow and slush, over discarded bottles
and windswept mounds of debris.
Bags of trash, covered by snow, crunched underfoot.
“Hello! Outreach — Is anyone there?” they called, flashlights bouncing through trees
and brush past where the dim streetlights illuminated behind the train station off Elyria’s East River Street.
The group peered into an abandoned storage shack, past a makeshift door of bro-
ARTISTIC STATEMENTS
Oberlin students artwork on display at FAVA for Black History Month
The Community Guide
OBERLIN — Oberlin High School and the Firelands Association for the Visual Arts opened their third annual Black History Month exhibit at the downtown gallery.
Students in art classes at Oberlin High School created portraits of Black historical and pop culture figures, from Diana Ross to John Legend and Oprah Winfrey.
Students picked the medium and the subject.
Local judges awarded first, second and third place prizes with cash awards donated by Oberlin residents and the city’s Heritage Center.
Carmen McFarlin, one of this year’s judges, was impressed by the students’ work
and thrilled to see the number of Black women whose portraits filled one of FAVA’s galleries.
Lucia Martin won first place this year with her portrait of Diana Ross and Ghost Kaminski won second with their portrait of Ella Fitzgerald.
Milou Boonekamp’s portrait of Rihanna and EJ Thomas’ portrait of Rosa Gadsden tied for third place.
Rosa Gadsden is the outreach and volunteer coordinator for Oberlin Community Services.
HOW TO SEE
The students’ art can be seen at FAVA, 39 S. Main St., from 1 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 1-5 p.m. Sundays.
ken plywood with a cardboard sign tacked to it that read
“Keep out! Take Shelter Emergency Only” scrawled in black marker.
Inside that shelter were piles of pillows and bed sheets, a
plastic tote bin with a bright yellow lid, a black trash bag and other belongings pushed into the tiny space to shield them from the weather. No one was there. Finding that shelter and
FAVA restarts residency with Oberlin professor
Carissa Woytach
The Community Guide
OBERLIN — The Firelands Association for the Visual Arts has restarted its winter artist residency.
Michael Boyd Roman, an Oberlin College assistant professor, will have his work
on display in one half of the gallery, while completing another body of work in the space beside it.
The program, which invites resident artists to create a new body of work or complete works in progress at the gallery while interacting with patrons,
has been on hiatus since the pandemic, FAVA gallery director Tirzah Legg said. To kick off his approximately month-long residency, Roman gave an artist talk on Saturday, explaining his process for creating the large-scale charcoal drawings at the center of his
series “Worth a Negus Wait in Gold.”
The series used mixed-media and charcoal drawings to combine religious iconography like gold leaf and doves with portraits of Black men in modern hip-hop and pop culture motifs.
See RESIDENCY, A2
other signs of Elyria’s homeless population throughout the city’s downtown was part of the annual Point-in-Time count, conducted by volunteers from local nonprofits to give a snap-
See HOMELESS A2
Oberlin honing in on new manager
Garrett Looker
The Community Guide
Oberlin officials are one step closer to finding a new city manager after meeting to review and evaluate the 18 firms that applied to help the city in its search. Members of the city manager search committee whittled down the list to four search firms they found promising.
“The ones we chose, I think really put some more work into it,” said Oberlin Council Vice President Michael McFarlin, regarding the effort put into crafting the proposal “and not just pulling it off, completely off the shelf.”
While no official choice has been made s made, “at least three of these have stood out to all of us,” Oberlin Council member Kristin Peterson said.
After a firm has been chosen, the committee will present its findings and suggestions to Oberlin City Council members during a special meeting in February.
Oberlin interim City Manager Jon Clark said, “I think we ought to take those two weeks to give some thought to it and make a recommendation to Council.”
Committee members said the range of quoted prices from the preferred companies was between $20,000 and $50,000.
Certain aspects and qualities of the companies that applied to aid the search for a new city manager stood out to members of the committee, such as responsiveness and commitment to searching for diverse candidates.
“The RFP (request for proposal) had evaluation criteria in it, and so that’s what a lot of us are looking at,” McFarlin said.
During the meeting, McFarlin said that applicants that specifically responded to details in the request for proposal “score highly for me.”
Whether a company had previously done work in Ohio or the surrounding region was another quality the committee discussed.
Contact Garrett Looker at glooker@chroniclet. com.
CARISSA WOYTACH / COMMUNITY GUIDE PHOTOS
FIRST PLACE: Lucia Martin’s portrait of Diana Ross.
SECOND PLACE: Ghost Kaminski’s portrait of Ella Fitzgerald.
THIRD PLACE (TIE): Milou Boonekamp’s portrait of Rihanna.
THIRD PLACE (TIE): EJ Thomas’ portrait of Oberlin Community Services’ Rosa Gadsden.
HOMELESS
From A1 shot of what homelessness looks like on a winter night.
Lorain County’s PIT count is part of a larger national effort, with volunteers from social services trekking to known encampments and checking abandoned buildings, parks, under bridges and hospital emergency rooms to better estimate the number of people experiencing homelessness.
Rebecca Haywood, Neighborhood Alliance’s chief of staff, led last week’s overnight effort in Lorain County.
From about 8 p.m. onward, two teams of a half-dozen volunteers scoured dozens of locations in Elyria, Lorain, Amherst, Avon, LaGrange, Oberlin and Wellington.
“We want to count them, we want to know where they are, but we also want to try and keep them safe,” Haywood said.
Before leaving the Haven Center Tuesday night, volunteers filled the back of Neighborhood Alliance’s vans with supplies to be handed out to anyone
unsheltered who wished to stay outside, including hand warmers, backpacks, tents and blankets. Those wishing to come inside would be connected to the county’s intake for a bed at Haven Center or Catholic Charities’ St. Elizabeth Shelter, both in Lorain.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires a PIT count at least every other year, occurring one day in the last 10 days of January.
Last year, Ohio’s count estimated more than 11,000 sheltered and unsheltered homeless across the state’s 88 counties, with an estimated 178 in Lorain County.
That count is used, in part, to funnel resources to social services in the state, Haywood explained.
“Some of the bigger metropolitan areas they’re going to have more homeless, more encampments so they’re going to get the bulk of funding,” she said. But for smaller counties, it does matter because they want funding continued.
The PATH team, or Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness, includes six people at Neighborhood Alliance
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who provide outreach services to unhoused residents in Lorain County.
Marcus Roth, Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio’s director of communications and development, said, “People don’t stand up and want to be counted on probably the worst experience in their lives. It’s hard, it’s always an undercount and it’s kind of impossible to comb the entire country to find everybody.”
While the state’s unsheltered homeless population only makes up about a quarter of Ohio’s homeless, they are the most visible and their numbers have grown.
Ohio’s overall homeless population increased about 10 percent from January 2020 to January 2024, Roth said, but its unsheltered population has jumped about 29 percent during that same time.
Additionally, homelessness is often not a permanent condition, he said.
Many get evicted and may move in with friends or family, bounce to a shelter and get back on their feet — leading to “churn” in the system and different ways of looking at home-
lessness.
In Lorain County, last week’s count will not be finalized for some time.
Housing crunch
PATH outreach worker
Lisnelia Ramos directed workers’ efforts in Elyria beyond the list of eight suspected sites based on where she had previously spoken to people staying outside in the city.
She hopped out of Neighborhood Alliance’s passenger van, a small flashlight beam shining underneath storage trailers near the Dairy Mart and down an alleyway off Second Street.
As she and other workers began walking toward that alleyway, a small red car pulled out and left. Inside was an elderly couple Ramos knew were homeless.
Outreach workers tried to flag them down, but the couple kept driving.
Cassandra Marr, Continuum of Care coordinator for United Way of Greater Lorain County, said the couple, including a woman in her 70s who uses a wheelchair, lived in their home for 30 years.
“The landlord raised their rent by $300 (per month) and they were no longer able to afford that,”
RESIDENCY
From A1
Roman said he often uses himself as a figure in is works out of necessity — he is able to take his own reference photos at any time. He also uses images available publicly on social media, he said.
His pieces start as drawings in a sketchbook before being transferred over to larger pieces of paper attached to masonite. From there, it takes about a dozen different types of charcoal and charcoal pencils for him to finalize the drawing.
Once the charcoal drawing is finished, he completes the painstaking process of filing the backgrounds in with gold leaf, gilding the images to resemble religious iconography, he explained.
Gilding the images can take about two weeks, he said, as each small sheet of gold leaf must be laid individually before being buffed into the paper with a large, soft brush.
“It’s about value,” he said of the use of the painstaking medium. “(An) indication that we are looking at spiritual beings.”
Roman will be in residence at FAVA through
Marr said. “We were just discussing that they have income, they have a fixed income, but can we find something affordable for them?”
According to 2023 American Community Survey estimates, nearly half of Lorain County’s renters spent upward of 30 percent of their monthly income on rent, with the county and state showing similar trends.
Nationally, more than 21 million renters spent more than 30 percent of their income on housing.
Roth noted rising rents and a loss of affordable housing in Ohio have made it more difficult for housing advocates.
“One of the things that’s tracked overall is how long people are homeless before getting housed,” he said. “And that number has gone up on average … just because there’s fewer landlords willing to work with homelessness programs.”
The homeless population is also aging, he said, and talked about an anecdote from a southern Ohio shelter that scrambled to find enough extension cords to plug in residents’ oxygen machines during the night.
March 9. During that time, he will be working on a piece for an upcoming group exhibition at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens.
The group exhibition “In Loving Memory,” curated by Deep Roots Experience Art Gallery, explores the connection between flowers and plants and concepts of loss, he said.
Roman’s piece will not be about a personal loss, he said, but a loss of culture.
“Like many Black Americans, I know nothing of my past,” he said. That disconnection from a larger historical context often leads Black communities to reach for aspects of African culture that resonate, he said, and his piece plans to focus on what that looks like when there is no compass or direction to guide that cultural exploration.
FAVA, 39 S. Main St., Oberlin, is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1-5 p.m. Sunday.
Roman plans to be in the studio most Friday and Saturday afternoons, and some Tuesday and Thursday evenings through March 9. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 3297245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.
The only bright spot in the state’s trends Roth shared was a decrease in Ohio’s homeless veterans.
The state saw a 19 percent decrease in the number of homeless veterans from January 2020 to January 2024 — though the number of homeless families and children continued to rise.
He said programs targeted to provide supportive housing through joint programs with HUD and Veterans Affairs have helped many find housing — and lend those like Roth hope the same funding tactics could be applied to help other groups in need.
“If we really want to address the problem of homelessness, the fact that we’ve been able to dramatically reduce the number of homeless veterans (shows) if we have the will, we can do the same with the rest of the homeless population.”
Even empty encampments will help inform PATH of the possible numbers.
“They’re looking for these people, they know where they are,” she said. “... You have to have a passion for this work to come out at 8 o’clock at night and do this.”
CARISSA WOYTACH / COMMUNITY GUIDE
Michael Boyd Roman, an assistant professor of design and Black visual cultures at Oberlin College, gave an artist talk on Saturday to kick off his winter residency at Firelands Association for the Visual Arts.
Januzzi’s remodels as 100th year nears
Christina Jolliffe
The Community Guide
AMHERST — More than just a shoe store, the nearly 100-year-old familyowned Januzzi’s Footwear Solutions offers customers help with a variety of foot, walking and balance issues, recently revamping its interior to provide even more solutions.
Owners Roland and Connie Januzzi remodeled the interior of the business, which included moving the service desk, creating two fitting rooms and expanding the foot care corner. Additional finishing touches, such as a television area and coffee station, are being completed.
“Our goal is to make sure people are better off when they leave than when they came in,” Roland Januzzi said. “People come in every day and they are astounded by what we can do. They say, ‘I wish I would have come in before.’” Founded as a shoe repair shop by Januzzi’s grandparents in 1926 in Lorain, the business has transitioned several times over the years.
“In 1948, my dad (Al Januzzi) started the retail business,” Januzzi said. “He was the driving force behind the retail. I went to college and ended up coming back to Lorain in 1977. My wife came into the business around the time we got married in 1980. My dad was a very good mentor. I worked with him until 2003 when he passed away. I learned more from him in four months than four years in the business program.” One of the lessons Januzzi learned was to know what the customers need, which is part of the reason for the company’s recent evolution.
“The type of business environment that exists today with social media and big box stores, we need to help people get things they can’t get in other places,” Januzzi said.
The renovations and improvements have been made to correspond with the increasing coordination of services with the local health care community, plus the increasing number of clients who are seeking therapeutic shoe fitting services.
“We’re like the pharmacist to foot doctors,” Januzzi said.
But you don’t need a prescription to be seen, just an appointment.
An appointment with Januzzi, a state licensed pedorthist, can help with foot ailments or conditions, such as hard-to-fit sizes and widths, diabetic feet, arthritic feet, edema and swelling issues, help with stability and balance, and relief for pain and discomfort of the foot, ankle, knee hips and back.
Additional conditions which are accommodated and relieved include bunions, hammer toes, plantar fasciitis, arch pain, heel pain, heel spurs, tendonitis, neuromas, metatarsalgia, callusing, corns, overlap toes, accommodation for orthotics, braces, AFOs and all issues relating to standing, working and walking.
Januzzi’s also has the largest selection of over-the-counter shoe orthotics, most priced from $50 to $80 a pair.
Appointments run about 45 minutes with fittings taking place in a comfortable, semi-private fitting room. The fitting includes a foot and ankle alignment assessment, an arch-type evaluation, foot imprinting and measuring of both feet.
And he does it for 90-95 percent less than what some larger chains charge, he said.
“Why settle for good when you can get better or the best at so much of a lower cost,” he asked. “People really need to be able to discern between marketing hype and what is going to help them.” While the Januzzis do see a lot of clients who have been referred by doctors, a recommendation is not necessary for an appointment. Insurance is not accepted.
Located on North Leavitt Road in Amherst, Januzzi’s specializes in providing the best value in properly fit therapeutic shoes and shoe inserts designed for extra support, stability and overall comfort.
The store features quality and medical grade performance products from New Balance, Brooks, Orthofeet, Drew, Xelero, Powerstep, Carolina, Dunham and more.
“The phase we are entering is simply the next phase in the evolution of our 99-year business as we make the adjustments required by building upon the strength of the foundation built over those years,” Januzzi said.
Contact Christina Jolliffe at ctnews@chroniclet.com.
The
family and business through the years
PHOTOS PROVIDED
Third-generation owners, Roland and Connie Januzzi with photos of his dad, Al, and grandfather, Enrico.
Second-generation owner Al Januzzi.
The original Januzzi retail store at 26th and Broadway in Lorain.
Founders Enrico and Stella Januzzi.
Founder Enrico Januzzi sits at a Singer cobbler’s sewing machine.
One of Januzzi’s locations was on North Ridge Road in Lorain.
Januzzi shoemakers in an undated photo.
Expert: Homicide rate, unrest related
Rotary, Elyria YWCA host Community Peace Summit
Carissa Woytach
The Community Guide
ELYRIA — Rotary District 6600 and the Elyria YWCA hosted this year’s community peace summit on Saturday at Lorain County Community College.
More than 200 attendees representing dozens of Rotary Clubs and other organizations met to discuss the history and causes of violence in the United States and efforts to combat it.
Ohio State University professor Randolph Roth discussed the history of homicides in the country, including a correlation between social unrest and an increase in the homicide rate.
A professor of history and sociology, Roth has studied homicide rates in the country for years. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and co-founder of the Historical Violence Database. His work earned him the inaugural Distinguished Scholar award from the Historical Criminology division of the American Society of Criminology in 2022.
Roth discussed a link between how divided the country is — socially, economically and politically — and its homicide rates.
Having a gun changes a person’s mentality, he said, but they are not to blame for the country’s fundamental problems.
“I look over hundreds of years, lots of different places to see if I can find repetitive patterns,” he said of his research.
One of those patterns was a spike in homicides
by 60 percent from 2014 to 2021, he said — a period stretching through Barack Obama’s second term, Donald Trump’s first term and into Biden’s time in the White house. It was not a partisan issue, he said, and COVID-19 was not to blame.
He pointed to a historical correlation between protests and riots that resulted in fatalities and an increase in homicide rates — from the period leading up to the American Revolution to protests ahead of the Mexican-American War in the 1840s.
In more modern terms, the same correlation played out from the 1960s to the early 1990s — from the Watts riots to the Los Angeles riots after four Los Angeles police officers were acquitted of beating Rodney King.
And he predicted the same shift after Black Lives Matter protesters were met with violence and a woman was killed at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville.
It is not about the number of people killed in those instances, he said, but about crossing the line into instability — and hostility. nstable, that leads to less trust among ourselves,” he said. “It also leads to a belief that the government isn’t legitimate … but when we believe that government is stable and legitimate, when we feel that strong bond with our fellow citizens, when we believe that our social hierarchy is just and that violence isn’t necessary for respect, our homicide rates can drop dramatically.”
College professor
held by the Rotary
The question is how to get there, he said.
“When we think about how we want to build a different world, it’s very hard to build a nation,” Roth said. “It’s not just about institutions, it’s about our feelings, our emotions, our beliefs, our sense of one another.”
A panel of professors from several Northeast Ohio colleges’ peace and nonviolence centers followed Roth’s presentation. Oberlin College professor Meredith Gadsby, Ashland University professor Craig Hovey and Kent State University professor Neil Cooper each answered questions from moderator Myesha Watkins, executive director of the Cleveland Peacemakers Alliance, on their schools’ programs and how they relate to their surrounding communities.
Gadsby — associate professor of Africana Studies and Comparative American Studies, president of the Caribbean Women Writers and Scholars Association and former co-chair of the college’s presidential initiative on racial equity and diversity — noted many social justice movements start on college campuses. She touched on the Black Panther Party and its signature school lunch program born of Huey Newton and Bobby Seale’s time at Oakland’s Meritt College.
“Too often there are folks that make a distinction between scholarship and activism in ways that don’t actually work and actually never really existed,” she said, adding much of her department’s work informs public policy. She said there are many opportunities for academic
institutions to engage with the community, and for the community to support the college in its midst.
Similarly, Hovey, executive director of Ashland’s Center for Nonviolence, said his organization tries to be equal parts community and campus-based. Kent State’s School of Peace and Conflict Studies has hosted a dialogue between Muslim and Jewish communities and worked with disadvantaged youth on a peace mural, Cooper said.
When discussing peace and what it means in communities, Gadsby said the definition of it is subjective, but it starts with a place where people are able to thrive and express their personal views without violence or persecution — an agreement that everyone is human.
Watkins noted sometimes
peace and poverty do not coexist.
“One of the drivers of gun violence or violence in our communities is the lack (of ability) to handle interpersonal conflict,” Watkins said, and highlighted a mediation program Ashland’s Center for Nonviolence had. That program, which no longer exists, provided trained mediators to work through low-level conflict between neighbors or community members. The Peace Summit continued into Saturday afternoon with breakout sessions for further discussions on gun safety and violence interrupter training and a presentation on food deserts by Yvonka Hall, executive director of the Northeast Ohio Black Health Coalition.
Contact Carissa Woytach at cwoytach@chroniclet.com.
Lake’s frozen shore pretty but beware ice shelves
Garrett Looker and Bruce Bishop
The Community Guide
After weeks of near-constant freezing temperatures, parts of Lorain County’s shoreline are frozen.
But what may look like waves of ice fixed in place could be an ice shelf — large pieces of ice and snow that form a ledge out over the lake water.
Because it is a collection of pieces of ice, the thickness and durability of the shelf can vary.
Throughout the shelf of ice could be potential pockets of air, which could lead to an individual plummeting through to the cold water below.
“Ohio’s winters offer unique opportunities for outdoor recreation, but safety must always come first,” said Ohio Department of Natural Resources director Mary Mertz in a news release. “Even when ice looks stable, conditions can change quickly, and no ice is entirely without risk. By staying informed and prepared, we can enjoy the season responsibly and reduce the likelihood of accidents.”
According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, people should avoid exploring ice formations over any body of water, including lakes and rivers.
“Frozen lakes, ponds, and rivers may appear inviting for recreational activities, but ODNR urges all Ohioans to prioritize safety while enjoying winter pastimes,” according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resource’s Jan. 10 news release.
Contact Bruce Bishop at bbishop@chroniclet.com. Contact Garrett Looker at glooker@chroniclet.com.
Ice shelves off Lakeview Park in Lorain look like frozen waves but they are often hollow and can collapse under a person’s weight. It’s nearly impossible for someone to escape the near-freezing water in time if they fall through one.
Ham radio event to be held at LCCC
The Northern Ohio Amateur Radio Society will present its Winter Hamfest 2025 from 9 a.m. to noon March 9 in the Reaser Grand Room in the Spitzer Conference Center, 1005 Abbe Road N., Elyria. This gathering of amateur radio enthusiasts is a social event and swap meet. Tickets are $10 at the door, cash only, and children under 11 get in free. For more information or to rent a table, call club President John Dolinar at (216) 276-8871 before 9 p.m. or send an email to winterhamfest@noars.net. — from staff reports
BRUCE BISHOP / COMMUNITY GUIDE
CARISSA WOYTACH / COMMUNITY GUIDE
Oberlin
Meredith Gadsby speaks during a panel at the 2025 Community Peace Summit
District 6600 and Elyria YWCA at Lorain County Community College on Saturday.
Bar association ‘irregularities’ probed
Dave O’Brien
The Community Guide
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the investigative arm of the state Attorney General’s Office, is in the midst of an ongoing investigation into “financial irregularities” at the Lorain County Bar Association that was first reported last year.
BCI spokesman Steve Irwin confirmed that the agency received a request from the Elyria Police Department to investigate.
The investigation is active and ongoing, and once completed will be sent to the Lorain County Prosecutor’s Office for review, Irwin said Monday.
He declined further comment as the investigation remains ongoing.
The Bar Association, a membership organization for attorneys and the legal community, reported last year that it had discovered internal “financial irregularities.” Its executive committee fired Executive Director Jeannie Motylewski and her son, Bar Association employee Michael Motylewski.
Jeannie Motylewski’s husband and Michael Motylewski’s father is Charles Motylewski, a Lorain County sheriff’s lieutenant. He has been on paid administrative leave since Jan. 6 pending the outcome of BCI’s investigation, Sheriff Jack Hall said Friday.
Charles Motylewski is not suspected of any criminal activity, nor is the Sheriff’s Office investigating him for that, Hall said. When the “financial irregularities” first were announced, then-Bar Association President Giovanna Scaletta-Bremke said she couldn’t give more details nor put a dollar figure on them. She was elected to the Lorain County Common Pleas Court in November.
Current Bar Association President Adam Bryda on Saturday told The Chronicle-Telegram that members of the organization’s leadership recently were interviewed by authorities with the state Attorney General’s Office. In a letter he sent to members of the
bar late last year that he also provided to The Chronicle-Telegram, Bryda wrote that he was aware “many of you have been met with uncertainty regarding the state of the LCBA’s affairs.”
He wrote that he appreciated members’ “patience and understanding” and that the organization’s leaders were “continuously working to ensure the best interests of this organization and its membership.”
Jeannie Motylewski’s firing left “a significant vacancy” because of all the job duties the executive director has, he wrote, but other leaders picked up the slack until another director could be chosen.
The Bar Association has since hired
Laura Lamb as its new executive director. It also hired attorney Margaret O’Bryon as its new bar counsel to handle complaints made about members to the bar’s Ethics and Grievance Committee.
She replaces attorney Matt Dooley, who stepped down from that role late last year.
The Bar Association also hired a formal payroll/bookkeeper “to ensure financial transparency and oversight,” updated its outdated email system and is in the process of rebuilding its website, Bryda wrote.
Contact Dave O’Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.
... while Elyria VFW back under local control
Owen MacMillan
The Community Guide
Elyria’s Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1079 is back under local control after a suspension was lifted, but local police are investigating “financial discrepancies” reported there by the state VFW.
The state VFW placed the Elyria post, 500 S. Abbe Road, under administrative suspension in November “to assist the post with operations and procedures,” VFW Department of
Ohio Quartermaster Richard Curry said at the time
On Monday, Curry said that the post was no longer under suspension and was back under local leadership, after new officers were elected by post members in January.
John Betterson was elected commander of Post 1079, Chris Loman was named senior vice commander and Santos Sanchez was named junior vice commander.
“The post is no longer under
administrative suspension, new officers have been elected, trained and put in place,” Curry said by email on Monday.
“We have improved business practices in place and systems to keep this from happening again in the future. The post should be able to make a full recovery with time and I believe their new leadership will be very successful.”
Elyria police Capt. Bill Lantz,
who heads the department’s Detective Bureau, said that it is actively investigating “financial discrepancies” at Post 1079, which were first reported by the state VFW.
“The investigation began on Jan. 15, 2025, after concerns were brought by a representative of the state VFW, citing unusual transactions discovered during an internal audit,” Lantz said in an email. “At this time, the matter
Man charged with stealing donation jar
The Community Guide
A Michigan man is in custody in the Ottawa County Jail after allegedly stealing a donation jar from the Quaker Steak & Lube in Vermilion on Saturday, then leading police on a chase prior to his arrest.
Chandler Willis, 23, of Garden City, Michigan, was arrested Saturday by Oak Harbor police on unrelated charges. Vermilion police have filed charges of receiving stolen property, a felony, theft and possession of criminal tools, both misdemeanors.
“Once he is ready to be released, he will be picked up and served with his charges stemming from the Quaker Steak incident,” Vermilion police said in an email.
According to Vermilion police reports, Willis went into the restaurant at 5150 Liberty Ave. just before 2:30 p.m. Saturday and asked employees for a table for one.
An employee told police Willis was seated, then walked up to the host and asked to order to go instead. He ordered, paid with a gift card, gave his name as “Chandler” then sat on a bench and waited.
Willis used the restroom “a few times” while he waited, then when there were fewer people around grabbed the
donation jar and walked away.
When an employee yelled after him, he ran, got into a gray Ford Flex with a white vinyl sticker on the back window and drove
off, according to a police report.
Employees got pictures of the car and gave police pictures of Willis taken by surveillance cameras inside the restaurant,
according to Vermilion police.
Within 15 minutes of Vermilion police putting photos of Willis and his car up on their Facebook page on Sunday, the Oak Harbor Police Department — approximately 50 miles west of Vermilion in Ottawa County — called Vermilion police to let them know Willis was in custody after a chase.
Oak Harbor police told Vermilion police they hadn’t recovered the donation jar, but Willis had thrown “multiple items” from his car during the pursuit, according to police reports.
The amount of money in the donation jar wasn’t known, but it was for the Corpsman Maxton W. Soviak Memorial Foundation, in memory of the 22-yearold U.S. Navy corpsman who was killed in action by a suicide bomber at the gates of the Kabul Airport in Afghanistan on Aug. 26, 2021.
The foundation was created “to honor his memory and continue his legacy,” and aims to help veterans and their families “by linking them to services tailored to their unique needs,” according to the foundation’s website and the police report.
Contact Dave O’Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.
remains under investigation, and no charges have been filed.” Lantz asked that anyone with information related to the investigation contact Detective James Homoki at (440) 326-1215. Neither Lantz nor Curry disclosed any details about what the alleged unusual transactions were or who could have made them. Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet. com.
COURTESY OF VERMILION POLICE
A surveillance camera image shows a man identified by police as Chandler Willis, 23, of Garden City, Michigan. Willis, who is in the Ottawa County Jail on other charges, is alleged to have stolen a donation jar in Vermilion.
shown
ment Home, which just completed a major renovation. Guests toured the facility during an open house last week.
Val Stephens, director of rehabilitation, does a balance test with guest Linda Stahl, of Parma, while her friend Janice Querin, of Wellington, takes a grip strength test with the help of James West, director of program development for therapy.
Columbia’s Natalie Miller knocks the ball away from Firelands’ Addie
Keystone loses its first game of the season
Keystone traveled to Padua in a non-conference game.
Keystone scored 22 points in the first quarter, but only managed 2 in the second.
Keystone saw its 22-15 first quarter lead turn into a 24-22 deficit at halftime. Keystone briefly regained its momentum to lead 31-28 with 5:06 left in the third quarter, but then again had trouble scoring. Padua retook the lead in the third quarter and went on to a convincing 57-42 win to hand Keystone their first loss of the season.
Firelands celebrates its seniors as it loses a close one to Columbia
Firelands celebrates its four seniors: Isabell Bermudez, Kendra Hardwick, McKenzie Janosik and Aubrynn Reichle, but Columbia spoiled the night by defeating Firelands 47-44. Columbia led by 10 at halftime and by 9 at the end of the third quarter.
Firelands made a run in the fourth quarter, but Columbia foul shots secured the win in the end.
Columbia’s Auderey Goebel (left), Natalie Miller (center) and Kaitlyn Miller celebrate their win over Firelands after the final buzzer.
Columbia’s Sadie Schulke steals a pass meant for Firelands’ Kendra Hardwick late in the fourth quarter.
Keystone’s Vivian Cassell gets two points as she gets between Padua’s Darlene Jaidah (4) and Ally Tonsing.
Keystone’s Brooklyn Barber works to get past Padua’s Mady Rees in the first quarter.
Photos by Russ Gifford The Community Guide
Schrader.
Keystone’s Madyson Sokolowski drives against pressure from Padua’s Darlene Jaidah.
BULLETIN BOARD
Can you help remember tornado of 1965?
The Pittsfield Township and LaGrange Historical Societies will host an event to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the 1965 Palm Sunday Tornado that destroyed Pittsfield’s Center then traveled to LaGrange, Grafton and Columbia Station, taking many lives.
The event will take place April 26 at Pittsfield Town Hall at the intersection of routes 58 and 303.
We are asking for public assistance to provide pictures and/or newspapers of the destruction that you would be willing to share. Or if you’d like to participate or be interviewed about your memories you can contact one of our members or send an email to pthshistory@gmail.com.
Outside Circle holding auditions
Outside Circle Theater Project (OCTP) is holding auditions for its April 2025 production of “Nine Dinners In October,” a play about friendship, life, love and loss written by Rachel Zake and directed by Truth Taylor, from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday at the Mad Factory, 39 S. Main Street, Oberlin.
Auditions are by appointment only and will consist of cold reading from the script. No acting experience is necessary. All are welcome. Audition participants may sign up for slots at: signupgenius.com/ go/5080F48A5A62FA4FA7-54503614-auditions or at outsidecircletheaterproject@gmail.com
Outside Circle Theater Project is dedicated to educating and generating discussions about history, social justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion through producing live theater works that reflect the diverse and under-represented voices of the Lorain County community. All interested actors are encouraged to audition. Consideration for all roles is open to any age, race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, body type, abilities, or other identities. Learn more about the Outside Circle Theater Project on Facebook, Patronicity.com/OCTP or by contacting Outside Circle Theater Project at outsidecircletheaterproject@gmail.com or (440) 258-0704.
Amherst Historical Super Bowl
Its Super Bowl Fundraiser will be held Sunday at the Amherst Historical Society Hall, 113 South Lake Street, Amherst.
Doors open at 5 p.m. Kickoff is at 6:30. It is $10 per person.
The game will be shown on a 10-foot screen. There will be tailgate food and a 50/50 raffle. BYOB with pop and water available; RSVP by Feb. 1 at (440) 988-7255 or office@amhersthistoricalsociety.org
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
IDIOMS
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.
Amherst library board to meet
Amherst Public Library Board of Trustees will hold a regular meeting at the library at 5:45 p.m. Monday. The meeting is open to the public.
LCCC seeking hall of fame nominees
Nominations are open for Lorain County Community College’s Commodore Hall of Fame.
The honor recognizes “outstanding alumni of LCCC who have demonstrated exceptional achievements in their careers, made significant contributions to their communities, and shown a deep commitment to the values” of the college, according to a release Friday.
This year’s class of alumni will be the second in the Hall of Fame, with inductees to be honored at an event in June.
“LCCC alumni are the heart of our institution’s success, and their accomplishments reflect the power of education to transform lives,” LCCC President Marcia Ballinger said in the release. “The Commodore Hall of Fame is our way of recognizing the many ways our alumni continue to inspire our community and serve as role models for the next generation of students.”
Nominees will be evaluated on their professional achievements, leadership, community service and their “ongoing commitment to the values and mission of
LCCC,” the release said.
Nominations are accepted through Feb. 28. Criteria and nomination forms are available at www.lorainccc.edu/ HallOfFame.
Padua new Leadership president
Margarita Padua has been chosen as the new president & CEO of Leadership Lorain County, effective Feb. 24. Current president Troy Chaffiin said that after an extensive search, Padua emerged as the clear choice to lead the leadership group into its next chapter, to strengthen its mission and expand its reach.
A South Lorain native with deep ties to the Latino community, Padua brings a lifelong passion for leadership and service. Over the years, Padua has advocated for vulnerable populations as a licensed social worker and her expertise as a funding strategist has helped secure critical funding for local nonprofits.
From registering voters at age 12 to an impactful internship at El Centro de Servicios Sociales, advocacy and community service have been woven into the fabric of her identity from a young age.
The community is invited to celebrate leadership in action at the Difference Makers Gala on Feb. 21. This premier event honors individuals and organizations making a lasting impact in Lorain County.
Tickets are on sale now at leadershiploraincounty.com.
Farm Bureau offers grad school scholarships
Lorain County Farm Bureau is offering scholarship opportunities to students pursuing post-secondary education. The scholarship amount is determined by the number of acceptable qualifying applications.
Applicant’s parent/legal guardian or themselves must be a resident of Lorain County, a current Lorain County Farm Bureau member at the time of application and payout.
They must be a full-time enrollee of an accredited two or four-year college, university, or technical school working towards an undergraduate degree. Applicants must show a 2.5-grade point average.
A General Scholarship, an Ag-Related Scholarship, a Continuing Education Scholarship and the Al DiVencenzo Memorial Scholarship are all available. A major in agriculture or a support field is required for both the Ag-Related, Continuing Education and Al DiVencenzo Memorial Scholarships.
For more information, contact the county Farm Bureau office at (440) 877-0706.
Three Oberlin artists get state awards
Three Lorain County artists were among 75 who received $5,000 rewards from the Ohio Arts Council’s through the OAC’s Individual Excellence Awards program. Award funding totals $375,000 for state fiscal year 2025.
They are Donna Coleman, Myles Dunigan and Rachel Mentzer, all of Oberlin.
The IEA program recognizes outstanding accomplishments by artists in a variety of disciplines.
Awards give artists the resources to experiment and explore their art forms, develop skills and advance their careers, and receive affirmation and acknowledgment for outstanding work. For more information about the OAC’s grant programs, visit oac.ohio.gov/grants.
Connecting for Kids has drop-in playgroup Designed for caregivers and their children and open to families and their children ages 0-6, with or without concerns about development.
Caregivers will have a chance to get hands-on support, meet other families and connect to community resources while kids play Feb. 19 from 6:30-7:30 p.m. at the Oberlin Library.
Led by an experienced Early Childhood Specialist and CFK staff, caregivers will also have the opportunity to learn strategies for dealing with behavior challenges, communication concerns and sensory issues.
Connecting for Kids provides resources, support and community to families in Northeast Ohio who have concerns about their child. We support families who have children with mental health concerns, developmental delays and disabilities as well as those facing major life changes.
Registration is welcome but not required at connectingforkids.org/play. For more information, contact lorilynn@connectingforkids.org.
BlackInventors andScience Pioneers Touching LivesEvery Day
Have you ever ridden in an elevator,worn shoes, played with a Super Soaker or used amicrophone?Then your lifehas been touched by an African-Americanscientist.
Followthe maze to matcheachinventor with their invention.
If you love to pick up a microphone andsing out a song, youwillbegladthis scientistloved electricityand physics. He inventedasmall microphone. His technology is used in 90 percentof microphones today and in cell phones, laptops,baby monitors and hearing aids.
He inventedamachine that couldquicklyattachthe top of ashoetothe sole. The machine made shoes ten times faster thanby hand making shoes more affordable.
doorEarlyelevatorshad sthathad to be opened and closed by hand. Elevator doors thatopen and closemadautomatically elevatoreridingan safer
This NASA engineer is bestknownfor inventing the Super Soaker water blaster The success of hisinvention has funded his own research and he now hasmorethan 100 inventionstohis name Usethe code to discover this inventor’s name.
Areyou an eagle-eyed reader? Read the story below and circle the seven errors you find. Then rewrite the story correctly.
Peanut Professor
GeorgeWashington Carver was borninto slavery,but he grew up to be oneofAmerica’s greatest scientist. He invented more than 300 productsmade frompeanuts!
it was hard for aBlackchildto get into school when Carver was youngbut.Henever gave up. He eventually finished skooland gota job as ateacher at aschoolinAlabama
Carverwantedto help poor farmers. He told them to grew peanuts. The farmers thought peanuts were weeds.
Carverinvitedsome farmto lunch. They hadsoup, mock chicken, creamed vegetables, bread, salad,ice cream, cookies and coffee
INVENTOR CODE
In 1914,this inventorcreated a “safety hood”which made polluted air safertobreathe. This was an early version of the gas mask.
Replace the missing words.
Mae Jemison hasalways had big Her big dreamstook herinto space! She is thefirst African-American female .In 1992, sheflew aboardthe space shuttleEndeavor
Mae loved_ and dancing as achild.In college shedecided to medicine. After becominga doctor,she went to Africa with the PeaceCorps. Whenshe returned_ ,she decidedto follow another dream—to be an astronaut.
Look throughthe newspaper forten wordsthat describe inventors. Usethese words to write apoem or a paragraphabout inventors.
Standards Link: Research: Use the newspapertolocate information
Imagines their surprise when Carvertoldthem thateverything wasmadewith peanuts!
The grocery store doors opened automatically as Iwalked toward them. MICROPHONE AMERICAN AFRICAN
ANSWER:
adjective automatic means a device that acts or is set in motion by itself.
Tryto use the word automatic in asentence today when talking with your friends and family members.
people accomplish great things. Tell about atimedetermination or perseverance helped you.
©2025byVickiWhiting,Editor Je Schinkel,Graphics Vol. 41,No. 10