Amherst News-Times, 1999-06-16

              .11
Local professor is top teacher — Page 5   I  His trips lift their spirits — Page 2
Amherst News-Times
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Wednesday, June 16, 1999
Amherst, Ohio
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MLS graduate
killed from fall
off moving car
in parking lot
by QLEN MILLER
News-Times reporter
Christina Johnson should have
been celebrating her recent high
school graduation on June 12. But
instead, her family buried her.
Johnson, who turned 18 June S
and graduated from Marion L.
Steele High School the following
day, died June 9 of severe head injuries after falling from the trunk of a
car as it was being driven about the
parking lot of the Country Hearth
Inn on Leavitt Road.
The incident, which police say
apparently started out as horseplay,
ended in tragedy for Johnson's family and dozens of friends, many of
whom graduated with her. Many
had left flowers and cards at a traffic
sign not far from the parking lot
where she died.
According to Lt. Lonnie Dillon,
Johnson was with fellow MLS graduate Melissa Niskey, and Carl
Brandon Mercer, 18, of Lorain,
early in the morning at a nearby
Taco Bell drive-in restaurant. They
then drove to the motel parking lot
in Mercer's car and began eating
and talking about 1:14 a.m.
Both Johnson and Niskey were
sitting on the trunk of Mercer's car
when he began to drive around the
parking lot at about IS or 20 mph.
Both women apparently were unaware of Mercer's plans and were
thrown from the trunk to the pavement as he made a quick right turn
around the corner of the motel, Dillon said.
Niskey was not seriously injured,
although Johnson struck her head.
Mercer and an unidentified friend
then placed the two injured women
in' his car and were reportedly en-
route to Amherst Hospital when
Mercer's speeding car was slopped
by police on Leavitt Road near Rt.
2.
Library's
addition
falls short
of money
Higher than expected construction costs have forced the Amherst
Public Library trustees to shelve
plans to build a new two-story entrance facing its expanded south
parking lot.
The decision to cancel the project
in favor of a future larger expansion
was made during a special June 11
library board of trustees meeting.
Library director Judy Dworkin
said the decision was prompted by
construction bids that were higher
per square foot for a small addition
as opposed to those anticipated for a
larger expansion that is likely to be
done within the next five years.
Dworkin said she could not discuss future expansion plans because
they have not been finalized. The
new entrance only was the first
phase of an overall expansion project, she added.
The decision also was partially
prompted by space problems that
may have resulted on the second
floor if the two-story addition had
been built.
The new entrance was seen as
one of way of alleviating traffic
congestion that often occurs along
Spring Street near the library's entrance as motorists pull up lo drop
off books or pick up patrons.
Some of the funds allocated for
the canceled project will be used to
meat other library patron needs, including the possible coMtniction of
a drive-up book drop. l>w>rkio said.
Christina Johnson
Police were called by motel employees, who heard screams and shouts from the parking lot and believed a fight or domestic dispute
was in progress, Dillon said.
"I think what they heard probably
were cries for help either before or
after she fell, but that's not what
they thought was happening," he
said.
After learning what had occurred,
officers began administering CPR to
Johnson until an ambulance arrived
at the scene.
She was pronounced dead at the
hospital about 2:30 am. and died of
an extensive skull fracture at the
base of her skull, according to the
Lorain County Coroner's Office.
Mercer was charged with aggravated vehicular homicide, driving
under the influence, underage consumption and reckless operation. He
pleaded not guilty to all charges in
Oberlin Municipal Court June 10
and is free on $5,000 bond pending
a pretrial hearing set for June 17 at
10:30 a.m.
"This sort of thing is such a
Josh Sailer, a friend and co-worker of Christina Johnson, looks over the many (lowers and
cards placed by friends near the site where the
young woman was killed.
tragedy, such a waste considering
her birthday and graduation were
back to back. ThwiMa happened,"
Dillon said.      "mri"
Johnson's sudden and tragic
death shocked many friends and
classmates. Some solemnly wrapped
pink ribbons around a traffic sign at
the front of the County Hearth Inn
parking lot. A Raggedy Ann doll
and bouquets of flowers were at the
base of the sign's metal posts.
The young woman's death was
especially hard on Dick and Rose
Currier, the owners of the Amherst
Party Shop for which she had
worked part-time since last fall.
"She was like one of our own.
She really cared about her job and
liked working with people, and customers liked her," said Rose Cuaflet.
From behind the counter the Curriers pulled a photo of Johnson taken with a prom date.
"We're certainly going to miss
her. She had a lot on the ball and
was very honest and outgoing," she
added. "We're trying to make sense
out of all of this."
Not long ago, Johnson discovered
a costly mistake made by a video
company that supplies videos to the
store and quickly brought it to her
employers' attention.
"That's the kind of person she
was and that's why we'll really miss
her here," Dick Currier added.
Johnson's death was especially
hard on the people who worked with
andj-new the best, including Josh
Sailer, another part-time Amherst
Party Shop employee.
"We're all like family here, so
this hurts bad," said the MLS junior.
Sailer worked with Johnson until
the shop closed June 7 and had a
chance meeting with her and Niskey
at the beverage store about three
hours before her death.
"She was very happy and upbeat
like she usually is, and was looking
forward to her (graduation) party,"
he said. "I'll always remember the
last time I saw her. This (the accident) shouldn't have happened. It's
all so stupid and senseless."
Nature's steps
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Rezor
raises
ruckus
among
residents
by GLEN MILLER
News-Times reporter
An effort to limit the type
of restaurants that can be
built along a 1,000-foot section of Rt. 58 has rekindled a
controversy city officials
thought had been settled
months ago.
Pauline Cyran, one of several property owners living
along the east side of the
highway, bitterly complained
to city council's buildings and
lands committee June 7 about
rezoning of the property from
residential (R-l) to commercial (C-l) use.
Her complaint arose after
councilman John Mishak introduced a proposal limiting
the construction of new drive-
through or fast food restaurants to areas zoned for C-2
use.
The plan is part of the
city's efforts to restrict the
kinds of businesses that can
be located between Spruce
Tree Lane and Discount Drug
Mart.
The area was rezoned from
C-2 to C-l late last year as
the result of complaints from
residents living in neighboring
Rock Creek Run, located to
the rear of the land.
Last year, Cyran and about
a dozen other property owners
petitioned council to rezone
their land from residential
(R-l) to C-2 so they can sell
it for commercial
development.
They claimed their homes
and properties were surrounded by businesses to the
west and south, and could not
be sold unless the area was
rezoned for commercial
development.
Council agreed, but in doing so, compromised with opposing Rock Creek Run residents by later rezoning the
area from C-2 to more restrictive C-l use.
Motels and bed and breakfast inns were then prohibited
from C-l zoned areas. Mishak
said the proposal to limit
drive-through restaurants in a
C-2 zoned area is the next
step in the process designed
to protect adjacent property
owners from excessive noise,
traffic and property devaluation. It would not prohibit
family restaurants from being
built in the area.
He said a survey of nearby
communities found they also
prohibit drive-through eateries
from being built near
residences.
Cyran, however, complained
the rezoning was unfair and
noted two fast food restaurants are located across the
road from her properly.
"All the time we were led
to believe we were going to
be zoned C-l because that's
what we came in and petitioned for. We thought this
was all behind us. Now we
are starting all over again,"
she added.
She accused council of
underhandedly making tte
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