Amherst News-Times, 2000-01-12

              [__
Percival leads grapplers — Page 6        MLS academic team is online — Page
Amherst News-Time
C   X
00   <
■ r  >-n
»   9
,-n
]
Wednesday, January 12. 2000
Amherst, Ohio
I
Students arrested for making bomb threa
A female called Marion L. Steele
High School on Monday, Jan. 3, and
reported there was a bomb in the
school. Police were called and the
school was cleared while investigators checked the building.
CenturyTel and other phone companies have a feature that can trace a
phone call. If someone receives a
prank or threatening phone call,
they can press —star— 57 and the
phone company will put a trace on
the call. If a report is filed with law
enforcement, the authorities can
then access the phone company's
trace and begin an investigation.
Calling in a bomb threat is a felony.
According to Joanette Romero, a
phone supervisor for CenturyTel,
K-9 units detect drugs in MLS cars
The old axiom "when it
rains it pours" once again has
proven to hold water, and
Marion L. Steele High School
has been its victim lately.
On Monday Jan. 3, a senior girl called in a bomb
threat forcing educators to
suspend classes for several
hours. Last Friday, police had
K-9 units at the high school
parking lot and found drug
paraphernalia and marijuana in
two vehicles.
K-9 units from the Lorain
County Sheriffs Department,
Vermilion, Avon Lake and
Amherst police departments
were on a training exercise at
the Steele High School parking lot, when the dogs alerted
to two different vehicles. Officers asked the high school
student drivers for permission
to search the vehicles. Both
gave their consenL
CONTINUED on page 2
the school employed the service immediately after the bomb threat was
received, and phone company traced
the number.
The investigation revealed that
the bomb threat was placed inside
the school on a cell phone belonging
to 18-year-old Ronald Gargiulo of
230 Sleepy Hollow Drive. A juvenile female actually placed the call,
and another juvenile male was also
involved.
All three were transported to the
police station and charged The perpetrator of the call and cell phone
owner were charged with inducing a
panic. The juvenile male was
charged with failure to report a felony in progress. The minors were
released into the custody of their
parents.
Gargiulo was arraigned in Oberlin Municipal Court on Jan. 4. All
three are seniors at MLS.
On top of the legal ramifications,
the students still have to face school
officials concerning the matter. According to school superintendent
Bob Boynton, the three students are
suspended and recommended for
expulsion.
There is an 80 day maximum on
expulsion,  and  no  school  work
CONTINUED on page 2
Meals on Wheels
gives area seniors
care, good lunch
that fits budgets
by STEVE BARRY
News-Times reporter
The Sandstone Area Office
on Aging provides area seniors, 65 years and older,
with a host of services.
They provide transportation,
home safety assistance programs, yard work assistance,
income tax preparation, information and referral programs,
escort assistance services, help
with insurance claims, housekeeping, visiting, minor home
repair and form assistance
(such as Golden Buckeye).
There are some restrictions
in each program, which service coordinator Nina Loran-
deau will be happy to clarify
for anyone interested in signing up a senior citizen for
the programs and services.
Most of the services and
programs for the office are
carried out by its mainly volunteer staff. Of the 24 staff
members only four receive
pay, and at least one is part-
time.
Laurie Knobbe was a volunteer delivery driver for Meals on Wheels for the past
seven years. She has recently
become the part-time coordinator for the Meals on
Wheels Program.
There are 20 volunteer
drivers who take turns deliv- -
ering hot meals to seniors.
The delivery program is
comprised of four different
delivery routes, Amherst, Amherst Township, South Amherst and Brownhelm/
Henrietta. One driver normally
covers one route. There are
between 10 to 14 stops per
route and it usually takes an
hour to complete.
Meals are served Monday
through Friday, and the recipient is required to pay $4
per meal, since the program
is not government subsidized.
Route drivers start at Amherst Manor, which is the
food service contracted to
prepare the meals for seniors
on the wheels program. Each
driver matches the meals
(which have the name of the
recipient on it) to the list given to them. The meals are
packed in a picnic sized thermos container, loaded and
lunch is served...or at least
"on the road" to being
served. Specialty meals, such
as for diabetics or people
with allergies are also prepared at the manor.
Recently, one of the volunteers became ill at the last
moment and part time coordinator Laurie Knobbe had to
run two routes. Rich Huhn
and Cathy Miller ran the
other two routes.
Huhn is a retired teacher
from the Lorain school system. He graduated from Wes-
CONTINUED on page 5
Above, area senior
Rose Szuchs talks about how much she appreciates the Meals on
Wheels volunteers.
And at right, volunteer
Rich Huhn hands
Floyd Studd of South
Amherst his hot lunch.
The cost for the service is only $4 per
meal, but new volunteer drivers are always
needed to keep the
service intact.
Council,
mayor
sworn in
by judge
During die Jan. 3 organizational meeting of city council.
Common Pleas Court judge
Edward M. Zaleski was on
hand to swear in nearly
everone, but the press.
John Higgins was reaffirmed mayor, re-elected
council members David Ku-
kucka. Nancy Brown, Steve
P'simer. Edwin Cowger, and
Terence Traster were also
worn in for the 2000 city
council.
John Dietrich became the
new president of city council,
replacing retired president
Wayne Whyte.
Attorney Ken Suimphauzer
was sworn in as Amherst's
new law director, replacing
CONTINUED on page 2
Judge Zaleski swears m counci-at-large members David WHams, Nancy Brown, and David Kukuoka.
Flu bug
takes bite
that packs
a punch
Y2K Bugs have passed with little
effect so far, and government officials will keep their fingers crossed
for several more weeks. The real
Y2K Bug is taking a bile out of
many people's schedules, and
comes complete with its own TV
commercial — influenza.
Across the north coast of Ohio,
emergency rooms have filled op
with people looking for medical relief from d*e flu symptoms.
According to an emergency room
nursing supervisor at Amherst Hoa-
pital, "Most of our staff has had the
flu shots and we have not had modi
lirknffli p*"P"g the staff — fr*wfir
on wood."
Every hospital in the area is fall,
and at Amherst, a patient moat be
released before a new one can be
OONTtttUED on page 3
re.'v.j..*—,
!*«-