The Amherst news-times. (Amherst, Ohio), 2000-12-13

              Prepare indoor soil, too — Page 4
Amherst News-Time
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Wednesday, December 13, 2000
Amherst, Ohio
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Amherst Township has no fire contract
by JASON TOMASZEWSKI
News-Times reporter
Fire safety is a very important issue.
Obviously one of the most
important things you should .
do in the case of a fire is to
call the local Tire department
But what if your town
doesn't have a fire department? What if the fire department that normally services
your towne will no longer provide this essential service.
What do you do?
This is what residents of
Amherst Township are wondering. For years they received fire protection from
the Amherst Fire Department
However, the current fire
contract between the city and
the township is set to expire
at the end of the year and it
looks as though a renewal is
not in the near future. What
that means is that after Dec.
31 the city of Amherst will
not be responding to fires in
Amherst Township.
Instead, township residents
who need help will have to
wait for firefighters from
cither Elyria Township or
south Lorain to arrive and
battle the blaze.
According to mayor John
Higgins, this has been an
issue for some time now.
"The original contract was
up in October," stated Higgins. "We granted them a
three-month extension. Now
that has expired. We are willing to negotiate a new contract but they (the township)
seem to be dragging their
feet. After Dec. 31, I'd hate
to live in Westwoods or Hidden Valley and have to wait
for a south Lorain fire department to come and help me."
At the center of the fire
contract issue is the controversy surrounding a Joint
Economic District or JED.
The city and township had
tried to develop a joint economic district but negotiations
fell through. Then when the
city offered to accept the
county's "sewer to nowhere,"
CONTINUED on page 8
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Committee to pick name
for junior high school
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by PAUL MORTON
News-Times reporter
"What's in a name? That which
we call a rose, by any other name
would smell as sweet"
By the time this year's fifth and
sixth grade students at Shupe
Middle School learn that Juliet said
those lines to Romeo, they'll be the
first classes in the Amherst schools'
yet-to-be-built yet-to-be-named junior high school.
At the Nov. 27 meeting of the
Amherst board of education, the
school board discussed a plan for
naming the building. The plan, submitted by superintendent Robert
Boynton would appoint a committee
to select a name to be announced at
the state of the schools meeting in
April, 2001.
The original plan would have had
each boanl member and the president of the parent-teacher organization for each of the current buildings
appoint a member to the committee.
Junior high principal Michael Diamond would serve as chairman, for
a total of 11 members.
: When board members said they
thought the committee would be too
cumbersome with 11 members,
Boynton suggested a seven-member
committee. The school board would
select five members, and Diamond
would still chair the committee, but
Boynton would appoint one member
after consulting  with  the  PTO
presidents.
Once the committee is chosen, it
will select a name from among the
74 names in the Steele High School
Gallery of Success. Boynton said
limiting the committee to those
names would make their job easier.
"We thought if we leave it open
we would give the committee a difficult task. I mean, how would they
come up with names?" Boynton
said. "We felt if we give them a narrower focus, we could give them an
easier job in making the selection."
He said the plan would also satisfy any request for community input since the inductees for the Gallery of Success are nominated by
the community.
Boynton said each spring the high
school student council advertises for
nominations. The only limitation on
nominees is that they must have graduated from the Amherst schools.
Student council advisor Tom
Lehman discusses each nominee
with a committee consisting of one
student council representative from
each grade at the high school. Tbe
committe then votes to select the
inductees.
Five inductees are chosen each
year, although 12 were chosen in
1986, die first year, and six were inducted in 1988 and 1992. There
were no inductees added in 1998.
Two of the names, Fred Powers
and Marion L. Steele, would not be
considered for the new junior high
school, since other buildings are already named for them. And Eric and
Evan Nord could have a hard time
being considered, since the current
junior high school is named for
Walter G. Nord, a long-time member of the board of education.
Board member Sandy Freedman
suggested naming the building Amherst Central Junior High School, in
honor of the former Central School,
which served as the high school before Steele was built James Berth-
old said he and other graduates of
Central School could not go along
with that name.
"There's enough of us that went
through Central School that it
wouldn't be right" Berthold said.
"We think of Central School, and
going by that building wouldn't be
the same."
Boynton said the he felt the community expects the bniHa.gr iftJE
named after a person. The other two
current buildings in the district are
named after Josiah Harris and Jacob
Shupe.
"I don't disagree that Amherst Junior High School, initially would
probably work," Boynton said. "But
think there is a tradition in this community, whether it's formal or informal, to name schools after people.
So the board could name it Amherst
Junior High School, but at some
point in time there would be an expectation in the community to name
it after somebody."
i*eV99»t£
Ho Ho Ho
Employees of Hot Dog Heaven work to secure
the giant Santa Claus greeting customers in the
front of the restaurant. Hot Dog Heaven has
been erecting the giant Claus for 18 years. The
restaurant purchased the fiberglass statue from
Eric Lehman, an employee who discovered It
laying on the roof of his father's insurance building in Lorain. Santa is 14 feet tall and is a local
sign that Christmas is right around the comer.
Visiting dentist?
Perhaps her video
can ease anxiety
Claudia Mtfter-Srrvxtortalcjwlmchldren in her daughter's first grade
class at Powers Elementary about going to lha dentist. Mler-
Snyder has produced a vtdex> "Ptoatta's View- helping cWWren overcome fears about visiting the dentist.
by JASON TOMASZEWSKI
News-Times reporter
A kid's first trip to the dentist can
be a scary thing if he doesn't know
what to expect
For that matter the first time you
do anything can be scary if you
aren't sure exactly what is going to
happen.
That is why Claudia Miller-
Snyder said she co-founded Boggle
Goggle Enterprises. Along with co-
founder Martha Seely, Miller-
Snyder has produced a video that
helps prepare children for the first
trip to the dentist entitled "Pinatta's
View: A Trip to the Dentist."
The video is unique because it
takes the viewers through the experience of going to the dentist from
the perspective of a child. All of the
camera shots in the dentist's office
am tint 40 inches from the ground.
This shows the audience how inti-
ng a routine checkup can be
for a six-year-old.
The video opens with introductions of Pinatta and her friends. In
the video, these puppet-like characters host a talk show. Once the characters are introduced to the audience, Pinatta brings out her guests, a
young girl and her mother.
The girl is nervous about making
her first trip to the dentist but she
and her mother have been practicing. This is where Pinatta uses s
song to get across the importance of
practicing.
Once the song ia over Pinatta presents the child with a pair of Boggle
Goggles. When worn, the Boggle
Goggles allow the audience to see
through the eyes of the child. From
there everybody follows along on
the trip 10 the dentist
Aside from coming sp with Ike
idea for the video. Miller-Snyder
CONTINUED on page 2
Locals find their way to Canada for drug deals
by JASON TOMASZEWSKI
News-Tim ee reporter
Believe it or not, but Amherst is
to s pair of Canadian drag
but two women who
about die ftrtltring
scription drags in the
ousts of pm*.
They are not narcotics
KlfD  rDCCBOV jOssOBfl
Sherrod Brown aad 45
oa s trip to Caoadito
at a
"We beard about the trip while
It was there that they were greeted
"I .hough* that be would just sit
glad to answer any question (km
we were visiting the democratic
by Congressman  Brown. "Once
up at the front of the bus aad not my
fgw-pqHf  had."
eMadojuarters," staled Cummins.
everyone was them we sB got on
much," staled fammtaa  "But he
In Windsor the seniors were M
Them was a sign op sheet sad I
board Has otg touring style bus." ex-
espial to everyone why we ware
imo toe pharamcy. ftmwlhit lo
thought k night be wank k."
plafond Cummlni "nam atom we
doing this, and exactly what wes go
Cwnatins the phsmarist took tke
Ctoaauas and her daughter were
made the long ride up to Windsor."
ing to happen when we arrived at
time to fully explain pvnryaatoj a)>
totf to ateet la the parking lot at
Cammias wee surprised at how
the phanaacy. Hs even kid a qnee-
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Saul Abbe Road in Syria* tarn.
tioa sad aeawar atastoa. Hi stmasd
CONTMUtO en page •
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