Metro 08/25/14

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The Press

Football Preview

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Since 1972

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Grievance filed

RESS August 25, 2014

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• Cardinal Stritch • Clay • Eastwood • Genoa • Gibsonburg • Lake • Northwood • Oak Harbor • Waite • Woodmore

A supplement to The Press Newspapers August 25, 2014

Football Previews See Second Section

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Questions raised on honor society membership By Larry Limpf News Editor news@presspublications.com

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Making healthy food taste good for cheap is not easy. Jill Richardson See page 8

Birmingham festival celebrates 40th

Hungarian food, music, and cultural merchandise were on hand at the Birmingham Ethnic Festival. At left, Louie Simon, Toledo, who immigrated from Hungary in 1967, makes Hungarian Turkey, a favorite at the festival. Top right, the finished product. Right center, the band Guanta from Toronto, perform. Bottom right, Balazs Honti finds that his T-shirts are a popular item. (Press photos by Ken Grosjean)

Toxic algae

Bihn calls for federal standards By Kelly J. Kaczala Press News Editor kkaczala@presspublications.com Former Councilwoman Sandy Bihn urged city officials on Monday to support the need for federal standards for acceptable levels of microcystin in the water. The acceptable level of microcystin in drinking water is 1 part per billion, according to the World Health Organization, but there are no state or federal standards. The issue has been heightened since microcystin, produced by blue green algal blooms in Lake Erie, was detected at 3 parts per billion in a sample taken at Toledo’s water treatment on Aug. 2 that prompted an advisory against drinking tap water for three days. Microcystin at levels exceeding 1 part per billion can cause abnormal liver function in humans and animals and can be lethal. Oregon has its own water treatment plant that provides water to many communities in the area, which were unaffected

Heartbeat Diamond Collection The Diamond Moves to the Beat of Her Heart

It is in the same vicinity and let me tell you, the algae was extremely dense and nasty.

Asking questions about whether a relative of a school administrator met the criteria for admittance into the National Honor Society has landed a Woodmore school board member in hot water. Joe Liszak said he intended to meet Friday (Aug. 22) with representatives of the teachers’ union to discuss what the union claims is a violation of its contract. The Woodmore Education Association filed a grievance Aug. 12 against Liszak, claiming he violated the complaint procedure of the contract. “On Tuesday, August 5 a high school teacher and advisor for the National Honor Society was contacted on her personal cell phone by board member Joe Liszak,” the grievance says. “Mr. Liszak proceeded to tell the teacher that 2 parents had contacted him regarding the National Honor Society admissions/appeals process. The Complaint Procedure in the contract clearly states that if a complaint is made it must be directed to the teacher by either the complaining party themselves, the principal, or the superintendent.” A board member isn’t to get involved in the complaint process until after the complaining party meets with the teacher or building principal, the grievance notes, and the matter hasn’t been resolved. A complaint then must be in writing. The grievance also alleges Liszak violated board policy and asks he apologize to the teacher and WEA president for “circumventing the negotiated procedure…” and “any other remedies deemed necessary to make the grievant whole.” The grievance was discussed during an executive session of the school board during its Aug. 19 meeting, Liszak said Wednesday. He confirmed he’d been contacted by parents who had questions about the admittance of a student into the NHS after the student was initially denied by a faculty screening committee. The student was then admitted after going through an appeal process to the high school principal. Liszak told The Press he asked the parents if they would be satisfied if he re-

by the toxin affecting Toledo’s water. Bihn, who is also Western Lake Erie Waterkeeper, has been sounding the alarm on the dangers of increased algae in Lake Erie for years. “We’re asking for federal standards for microcystin,” said Bihn at a council meeting on Monday. “There are no federal stan-

dards. There’s World Health Organization standards. There is a tougher standard in Minnesota, which is .041 for at-risk populations, which is really, really low. I talked to the researcher from there, she thinks the research is valid. It would be nice if this community supported federal standards and guidelines.” If the U.S. EPA can’t establish standards, then offering guidelines in draft form would be helpful, she said. Discharge limits Bihn also asked officials to look at the discharge limits at the wastewater treatment plant. Sewage is one of four primary sources of algae in Lake Erie, she said. Besides sewage, fertilizer (phosphorous), manure and storm water are primary sources of algae in the lake. “And those usually comprise in any watershed throughout the United States about 95 percent of excess nutrient sources,” she said. The National Pollution Discharge Continued on page 2


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