Amherst News-Times, 2000-03-01

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Society needs your quilts — Page 3
Residents balk at rezoning — Page 14
Amherst News-Time
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inesday, March 1, 2000
Amherst, Ohio
I
Shupe student, 12, kills self with shotgur
by KATHLEEN WILLBOND
and KEITH GRIBBINS
News-Times staff
Local police say they have no
idea what prompted   12-year-old
Matthew Wright, a sixth grade student at Shupe Middle School, to kill
himself last Tuesday.
Wright was found dead shortly
after 5 p.m. after a train engineer
spotted his body near the railroad
tracks under Middle Ridge Road.
The case is being handled by the
county sheriff's department, but
Matthew Wright's story begins at
school that day when police chief
Bill ill said his department got a
call ae'-ing for assistance after some
threats iiad been made against prin
cipal Stephen Dcmko.
Wright had been sent to the principal's office because his teacher
suspected he was chewing tobacco,
according to school superintendent
Robert Boynton. But the boy was
sent back to the classroom ai'ter it
could not be determined if the boy
was chewing tobacco or beef jerky
in class, stated Boynton.
"He then tells some students that
his father has talked about getting a
gun and shooting Mr. Demko."
Boynton   explained.   "And   that
1
bothered the stu<
that to."
The news evenrtmny —-vuc»-f>e-
mko, who conferred with Boston
about the situation. The two decided
to call the Amherst Police Depart-
CONTINUED on page 2
Color her
a winner!
Chestnut
is Crayola
top pick
You're coloring a picture
of a horse, and you decide
that Indian red would be the
perfect color for the reddish-
brown animal. But you look
through all 64 colors in your
box of Crayola crayon,' but
you can't find Indian red, and
you settle for chestnut.
Actually, you've found the
color you wanted, but it has
been renamed. And Abbey
Simmons, a seventh grade
student at Nord Junior High
School, had a hand in changing tt.
Simmons was one of ISO
people to suggest "chestnut"
to replace Indian red in the
box of 64 Crayola crayons,
after Birney & Smith, Inc.,
the company that owns the
Crayola brand, asked for suggestions to rename the color.
Stacey Gabrielle, a market-
' ing communications specialist
for Birney & Smith, said the
color was originally named
for a pigment from India.
The feedback we were receiving was that people were
confused, thinking this was
supposed to be the color of
Native Americans' skin," Ga-
r «brielle said. "And we're a
brand so closely linked to
children and schools we
wanted to avoid any
confusion."
The move is not entirely
unprecedented. Crayola has renamed colors two other times
in its history.
In 1958- the company
changed Prussian blue to midnight blue, and four years later, in 1962, the color flesh
was renamed peach.
Gabrielle said the company
received more than 250,000
name suggestions from more
than 100,000 different people.
. Of that number, 150 people,
including Simmons, suggested
chestnut
Abbey Simmons may
not have as much use
for Crayola crayons as
she did as a child, but
she still enjoys artwork
and calls on her old
friends from time to
time, including the color
chestnut, which she
helped to re-name.
Gabrielle said the company
recognized everyone who submitted the winning name.
The recognition included a
certificate, confirming Simmons 's place in Crayola history, a box of 64 crayons, including the renamed "chestnut" crayon, and other Crayola products.
Simmons said her name
suggestion came as the result
of a class project. Her teacher
at Shupe Middle School last
year, Mary Jo Mumford, had
heard about the Crayola contest and organized all the
sixth grade classes to submit
names.
"Everybody came up with
names and she'd write them
down," Simmons said. "She
came up with 600 or 700
names from every kid. And
they were all different
names."
Simmons said she had submitted between 15 and 20
names herself.
"It's amazing that I won,"
Simmons said. "But it was
Miss Mumford. She was the
one that started it"
She said at 13 years old
she is past the age when she
would color much with crayons, although sometimes she
uses them to illustrate poems
she writes. She said she enjoys drawing, and would like
to become a fashion designer,
cartoonist, or an illustrator.
Man killed, cop
injured as truck
plows into Rt. 2
accident scene
A Vermilion truck driver was
killed and an Amherst Police Department patrolman was seriously
injured when a Ford F150 forced the
two men to jump off an overpass
bridge while on the scene of an accident on RL 2 Friday evening, Feb.
25.
James Hunt and officer Marc
Zappa fell 24 feet from the bridge to
the roadway below to avoid being
struck by the pickup truck, according to information released by the
Amherst Police Department.
"We continue to receive telephone calls and information -om citizens and are following up on all
tips received," the report stated.
The incident began when a first
accident, involving minor injuries to
one of the drivers and vehicle damage to both cars, caused Zappa to
arrive on the scene to investigate.
Hunt is thought to have stopped to
offer assistance to the police force
on the scene.
According to witnesses' reports, a
newer model, full size F-150, silver
and gray truck with a chrome grill
and bumper entered the first accident area. Reports stated that the
driver of the Ford may have lost
control of the vehicle and. was
headed in the direction of Zappa and
Hunt. It is believed, according to the
police report, that the two men went
over the side of the bride in order
not to get hit by the truck.
"There are conflicting statements
as to whether the pick up truck
struck the bridge abutment; however, it did flee from the scene,"
stated the police report
The buck may have a white cap
or small camper top, and the letters
FORD are on the tailgate of the
truck, stated the report
The Amherst Fraternal Order of
Police, Lodge 122, is offering a
$2,500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of
the individual or individuals involved in the accident that resulted
in the death of Hunt and serious injury to Zappa.
On Monday, local police said
Zappa remained in the critical care
Marc Zappa
unit of Cleveland Metro Hospital.
His injuries, they said, while severe,
are not life threatening.
On Monday, Zappa faced the first
of many surgeries. It is expected he
was going to undergo several hours
of surgery, with several more surgeries scheduled over the next few
days.
The police publicly extended
their condolences to Hunt's family
and friends over his death.
Also, Ohio Vending has pledged
to match the $2,500 reward and an
Amherst business man has pledged
another $500.
Dorlis Blankenship, Hunt's aunt,
has contributed $5,000 to the reward
fund, along with a $5,000 donation
for Lorain Music, and a $5,000 reward from Lorain County prosecutor Greg White's Futherance of Justice Fund.
The reward total is now up to
$20,000. The fund has been established at the Lorain National Bank,
1175 Cleveland Avenue; contact
person is Dale Rosenkranz who can
be reached at 988-4423.
If anyone has any information regarding the accident that occurred
on Rt 2 at Crosse Road in the City
of Amherst on Feb. 25, at about 9
p.m. contact the Amherst Police Department at 988-2625.
Lent yourself go, and eat
till you're full of tradition
by KEITH GRIBBINS
'    News-Times reporter
' Lent and the Paczki Ball go hand
in hand for the Polish community.
j Trie Paczki is a tradition that goes
hack to the old country where the
little dough ball sweets were gorged
on before the religious fasting that
began the Christian days of Lent be-
bre Easter.
Thanks to -the tradition of Kied-
owski's Simply Delicious Bakery,
he Paczki Ball now goes hand in
band with the Amherst community
or some of the sweetest days of the
rear, culminating on Tuesday,
tfuch 7 with the bakery's annual
•aczki Day.
The Amherst hometown bakery
i old 17.000 of the little round
loufhnuts last year.
Store owner Tim Kiedrowski sees
! limself providing Amherst and the
tHote of northern Ohio with the
ethnic tradition of Polish society and
taking the Ohio natives with Polish
backgrounds back to those memories of family and polka.
"I am into the tradition. When
people eat Paczki, they taste a memory in every bite," explained Kiedrowski. "It reminds me of being a
kid and growing up, a special time
with my mom when we would eat
Paczki till our bellies were full. It
reminds me of everything good."
Since 1984 the bakery has celebrated the sort of Mardi Gras that
surrounds the beginning of Lent
with the delicious Polish treat.
Paczki,.pronounced "poonch-key",
are hole round doughnuts filled with
apricot, lekvar (prune butter), poppy
seed, or plain with no filling at all.
According to Kiedrowski, since the
Polish religious beliefs required
them to have no sweets for the
whole of Lent, Polish women would
gather in their kitchens to make
these round sweets; the family
would then devour the little morsels
in a final festive farewell before
fasting.
"The tradition runs in your blood.
And you pass it on," Kiedrowski
stated. He learned the tradition from
his mother and has gotten his four
boys involved in the ethnic side of
their heritage.
The bakery becomes a frenzy of
customers, media, and performers
for the days the store sells the Polish
pastries. The bakery will have radio
station WEOL on Tuesday to do
their entire morning show, and invited Eddie Klimczak to perform
live accordion. Also, the Polish
Princess from the Lorain International Festival will take time out
Tuesday to attend the popular event,
adding to the Polish appeal that captivates the attention of the entire
Cleveland area.
"It's traditionally exuberant," explained Kiedrowski about the atmo-
COMTMUED on page 6
Bakery clerk Misty HakNk helps
Paatki bUs, Milt round doughnuts (Med
prepare    cot, lekvar (prune buKer), poppysssd, or
5rt-    atai. PaozW Day *■ be r»W Tuesday. I