Jazz Fest coming to PC
Lakers Vince Manuella breaks record
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THE FREE Since 1983
CIRCULATION AUDIT BY
®SM TM 1992
Ottawa County’s Largest Circulated Newspaper Published by Schaffner Publications, Inc.
VOLUME 27
NUMBER 49 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2010
Standard Mail U.S. Postage Paid Port Clinton, Ohio Permit #80
www.thebeacon.net
TellTales Silgan closing highlights local U.S. Census Bureau hiring BY JOHN SCHAFFNER
I will never cease to be amazed at how our community comes together for a cause. Last Saturday night was awe-inspiring, as some 650 people showed up to eat a spaghetti dinner, bid on silent action items and listen to some rock ’n’ roll all to help one family! It was an event thrown together in a very short period of time (like three weeks) by Don and Terri Rodwancy along with Jeremy and Vicki Sneath and a dedicated committee that made it happen for John Waite and his family. Job well done! ——— If you didn’t get enough last weekend, let’s do it again! The Simon Mercurio benefit spaghetti dinner will be held this Friday night at Port Clinton High School prior to the Redskin game with St. Mary’s from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Also, at 8 p.m., the Mercurio Family will be the beneficiary Mercurio for the First Friday Bash at Mango Mama’s featuring the Travelin’ Lounge Lizards. Tickets can be purchased in advance or at the door … just $10! ——— We had only 22 correct entries in our Find Wylie contest last week. Our winner is Connie (Woolley) Hetrick, of Fremont, who correctly found Wylie in the Catawba Interiors ad on page 7A last week. Connie wins a $20 gift card from Friendship Convenient Stores. We’ll hide Wylie again this week. If you find him, drop us a note at our office … or click on the Find Wylie icon online at www. thebeacon.net. ——— The Port Clinton Chamber of Commerce is holding its monthly Business After Hours tonight (Thursday) at NOMS on Strub Road in Sandusky from 5 to 7 p.m. Door prizes will be available for all in attendance. RSVP at 419-7345503. ——— The Oak Harbor Chamber is sponsoring a free Small Business Seminar from noon to 1 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 18, in the multipurpose room at the Riverview Healthcare Campus on Ohio 163 east of town. The seminar will be presented by Bill Auxter, director of the Small Business Development Center at Terra Community College. Among his topics will be tips for surviving and thriving in an economic slowdown. ——— Sandusky Central Catholic School will hold an information night at Catawba Island Club at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 10. The focus will be for students entering middle school and high school. RSVP to Cindy McClung at 419-6261892, ext. 266. Refreshments will be served. ——— Bobby Polidan, grandson of John and Margaret Mizla, of Marblehead, was selected for the 2010 All State Symphonic Band in Florida. He recently performed with the ensemble for the 2010 Florida Music Educators’ In-Service Clinic in Tampa. Bobby started playing trumpet in fifth grade at Danbury Elementary under the tutelage of Richard Price.
By John Schaffner Ottawa County’s unemployment rate is tied for second highest in the state of Ohio at 17.3 percent and it took yet another hit on Tuesday when Silgan Plastics in the Lake Erie Business Park announced it was closing its doors. According to Ottawa County Improvement Corp. Director Jamie Beier Grant, the announcement Tuesday morning came as a complete surprise, not only to her office but to the 150 full-time employees and 27 part-time at Silgan as well. An unconfirmed date for the final closing has been reported to be June 30. Silgan’s closing follows a series of blows to the manufacturing community in Ottawa County since the early 1990s. First
Various Sizes Available
with the census, particularly with the unemployment rate being what it is,” said Peto. Jobs with the Census Bureau range from $8.25 per hour for an office clerk to upwards of $19.50 for a field operations supervisor. The most common Field Staff positions will be local “enumerators,” who will earn in the mid-range of $10.75 to $16.50 per hour. Peto confirms that the actual work of counting will begin soon and will go into high gear in the spring. Applicants must be 18 to be hired. They will also have to take a basic skills test that is administered locally by Peto. For information on the hiring of local census workers, the U.S. Census Bureau can be contacted by calling 866-861-2010 or online at www.census.gov/detroit.
PCMS gets $500 for student fitness Port Clinton Middle School students will have a new opportunity this spring thanks to a new program developed by school nurse Angela Reineck and physical education teacher Jenifer Dackermann. They applied for and received a $500 grant from the Ohio Action for Health Kids Zone 1 Coalition to be used for improving the health status of children in local schools. The grant-funded program will be an after-school running and fitness program for students in grades six, seven and eight. During the program, participants will meet twice each week to walk, run, circuit train and learn about core strengthening in an effort to increase physical activity in middle school students. A simple survey taken by all students at PCMS stated that 37 percent of the students would be interested in joining an after-school fitness program. By expanding physical education program beyond the school day, students will have the opportunity to become healthier and more physically active. The ultimate goal is to provide students with the knowledge and skills for proper running and circuit training and continue the activity at the end of the organized program.
See FITNESS, 2A
Pat Martin (left), president of FTMC; Trace Devanny, Cerner President, and Cliff Harmon, Magruder Hospital President and CEO.
Magruder Hospital going all-digital
Magruder Hospital in Port Clinton and Fisher-Titus Medical Center in Norwalk are expanding in a non-traditional way. While over the past decade, expansion has been in the form of buildings and square footage at both hospitals, in 2010, the focus will be on expanding and integrating patient-focused technology to create an environment that enhances patient experiences and helps providers make the best and safest health care decisions possible. In a joint project, Magruder and FTMC are collaborating with Cerner Corp. to upgrade and integrate information technology systems making them the first
two all-digital smart hospitals in the nation when the technology goes live in late spring. This leap forward will rank FTMC and Magruder among the top 5 percent of hospitals in the nation for the level of technology offered. “FTMC and Magruder Hospital have an 11-year history of collaborating on information technology projects,” said FTMC President Patrick J. Martin. “We are continuing that collaborative effort by partnering on this project, maximizing our investments to bring this state-
See MAGRUDER, 2A
Decked out for the dance This group of young ladies and gentlemen were on their way to the Port Clinton High School Winter Formal when they stopped for dinner at the Dr. John Waite Benefit dinner at Port Clinton Yacht Club where some 650 dinners were served. photo by john schaffner
Inside This Week…
Records ...........................2A SoundOff ........................2A Community Calendar ....3A Beacon Bits ....................4A Schools ...........................6A
came Standard Products and its 500-plus jobs, followed by UniRoyal, Celotex and now Silgan. So, with local unemployment so high, and another major local employer closing its doors, news of an entity that is hiring at decent wages becomes BIG news. Every 10 years the federal government must count to see how many people there are in the United States. One of the people who has become involved with the U.S. Census Bureau is Denny Peto, a longtime local resident. Peto is the local “test giver” for applicants for a variety of positions available for temporary employment in the census process. “I have been amazed at how difficult it has been to find and test people in this community interested in taking on a job
Around Ottawa Co ........8A Sports .............................1B Classified ........................3B Business .........................4B Real Estate Transfers .....6B
Riverview gets five star rating Ottawa County Riverview Healthcare Campus received five stars in the Medicare Five Star Rating System for the final quarter of 2009. This rating is an improvement over the previous rating of four out of five stars the facility received. The present rating also makes Riverview Healthcare the first and currently the only long-term care facility in Ottawa County to
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achieve this top honor. The Five-Star Quality Rating System was created to help consumers, their families and caregivers compare nursing homes more easily. Nursing home ratings are taken from the following three sources of
See RIVERVIEW, 2A 4789 E. Muggy Rd. Port Clinton, OH
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