Amherst News-Times, 2001-11-28

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Amherst News-Time
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Wednesday, November 28, 2001
Amherst, Ohio
High school principal Dixon resigns.
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by ERIK YORKE
News-Times reporter
Marion L. Steele High School's
principal Michael Dixon — on the
job only three months — has resigned, stunning district officials. Dixon cited his responsibilities at
home as reason for his resignation.
In a letter to superintendent
Robert Boynton, Dixon explained
that he had been named the court-
Relative's illness forces him to quit
appointed guardian to his 94-year-
old grandmother. The letter stated
that the drive from his home in Plymouth, Ohio, to Amherst and back
again, approximately one hour each
way, put a strain on his family life.
Reached by telephone last week,
Dixon said that it was his original
intention to sell his family's home
in Plymouth and move to Amherst
"In all my years as a coach and
principal, I've always lived within
walking distance of the school I've
worked at," Dixon said. Dixon, who
was the principal at Plymouth High
School prior to taking the job in
Amherst, explained in his resignation letter that it was impossible to
sell his home in Plymouth for fair
market value with only two years of
home equity.
All in all, though, Dixon said, the
decision came down to his personal
priorities.
"If I want to be responsible and a
good role model for my children, I
have to make a stand," Dixon said.
"When I'm on my death bed, my
girls are going to be there. Amherst
isn't going to be there."
Dixon said that his 9-year-old
daughter would often cry when he
was home late, putting an added
emotional strain on him. Together
with his 60-hour work weeks and
the 11 hours a week he spent in the
car driving to and from Amherst,
Dixon said that he felt the decision
lo resign had to be made.
'•Family has to come first," Dixon
said. "I appreciate the fact that Mr.
Boynton and (assistant superintendent Bob Wiersum) were understanding of that fact."
Of his grandmother, Dixon said
that nurses believe her to be in the
third stage of Alzheimer's dementia,
a debilitating neurological disease.
CONTINUED on page 14
A kind of pilgrimage
Second-graders at Powers Elementary School take part in Pion-      facets of pioneer life, including the way pioneers dressed and
eer Day on Wednesday, Nov. 21. The children learned many      games they played.
Tree lighting,
Santa's visit
Friday, 6 p.m.
in downtown
Amherst's annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony will
take place at Town Hall on Friday, Nov. 30. Mayor John
Higgins will turn on the lights at 6 p.m.
Also at the ceremony will be the Amherst Four Square
Choir, who will be singing Christmas carols, and Santa Claus
will also be making an appearance.
Right after the ceremony, the Amherst Downtown and Betterment Association and CenturyTel are sponsoring 'Trees,
Trains and Treats." This event will go from 6-9 pjn. on
Friday night and then from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 1 at both the Old Post Office and the CenturyTel
building right across the street on Park Avenue.
Numerous train exhibits will be on display and cookies and
hot chocolate will be served. Present at the event will be the
mayor of Santa's village, Santa Claus himself and Mr. Jing-
A-Ling. a
Later in the month, the Amherst Community Chorus will
perform its annual holiday concert on Sunday, Dec. 16 at
2:30 p.m. in the social hall at the St. Joseph Church. This
year's concert features "Gloria" by Vivaldi and "A Season of
Carols."
Tickets are available for this event at the door. Prices are
as follows; adults-$4, senior citizens-$3, students-$2. Children
under S years old will be admitted free. For more information call 988-7396.
Higher water
costs to mean
rate increase
for customers
by ERIK YORKE
News-Times reporter
Residents may soon see an
increase in their water bills,
according to city utilities
superintendent Ron Murphy.
Amherst, which buys water
from both Lorain and Elyria,
now has to pay those communities more after a rate
increase.
The city of Amherat has
been paying an additional 29
cents per 100 cubic feet of
metered water to the city of
Lorain since May, 2000, without passing that increase on
to the city's residents. The
prior agreement with Lorain
had Amherst paying $0.75 per
100 cubic feet of metered
water, whereas they now pay
$1.04 per 100 cubic feet
Lorain justified the rate increase as being due to a
$12.6 million 'renovation of a
water purification plant and a
replacement of city water
lines costing $9.5 million.
The former me, agreed to in
1995, was subject to review
and adjustment every five
yean.
The city of Elyria also increased the cost of water sold
to Amhem. According to
Murphy, the prior rata of ap
proximately $0.85 per 100
cubic feet of water was increased to $1.08 per 100
cubic feet. The city has been
paying this elevated {nice
since the beginning of this
year, also without passing the
added cost on to Amherst
residents.
That may change, however,
Murphy said as he is currently having a rate study
done to determine if an increase to residents' water bills
is necessary to cover the increased costs to the city.
"We're going to have to
move on this pretty quick,"
Murphy said. "We don't
know exactly what the increase will be if there is an
increase."
He said an increase may
not be necessary as the utilities department is also looking to see if they divert water in onler to get more from
the lowest cost provider,
Lorain.
Murphy also said that if
that doesn't work, there isn't
much else the city can do.
"If you have to pay that
higher rate, then you have to
do it," he said.
According to numbers from
the department of utilities, the
CONTINUED on page 2
Young politician hopes to lead
his hometown as CC newcomer
by ERIK YORKE
News-Times reporter
For most 20-year-olds, the most
important issue on their minds is
where the next party will be or how
many days are left before they turn
21 years old and can drink legally.
Nick Brusky, however, is more
concerned with how the city of Amherst spends its money.
Brusky will be the newest member of Amherst city council come
January, winning one of three at-
large council seals on the ballot in
this month's election. This was his
second attempt at running for city
council, having lost in a three-way
race for the fourth ward council seat
in 1999.
"I didn't have high expectations,"
he said of that election. He added
that he had intended to run. mostly
to gain experience.
"I was pleased to see Jennifer
(Wasilk) win," Brusky said. "I just
think she's done a really good job."
Brusky makes no claims to have
the experience of'those currendy on
council. He said that during his
campaign, he dealt with the issue
directly.
"I'm sure some people have objections to my age," Brusky said. "I
an inexperienced."
. He continued, "When it comes to
the age issue, the voters should look
at the character. I felt I brought a lot
of character and I felt I brought a lot
to the community."
Despite his age, Brusky said that
he has learned many of life's lessons. Two years ago, while he was
running his first campaign for city
council, Brusky'. parents divorced.
This left his mother, Vicki. near
poverty. Brusky said that he thea
went lo work to help his mother fi-
payments."
Another financial problem Brusky had to deal with happened around that same time, as he left for
his freshmen year at Malone College in Canton. He had been counting on a football scholarship to help
pay for his education, but when he
was redshirted, that scholarship disappeared. It was too late for him to
file for financial aid and Brusky was
left in quite a lot of debt.
It was then that he decided to return home to Amherst and attend
school at Lorain County Community College (LCCC). He began there
studying political science but would
soon switch gears.
Brusky, whose mother is a
teacher at Nord Junior High School,
said that teaching runs in his family.
It wasn't long before he loo began
feeling the call to teach. He still attends LCCC, but is now pursuing a
degree in education.
"I teach Sunday school at my
church and I enjoy working with the
kids," Brusky said.
He said that he plans to apply for
the university partnership program
between LCCC and Ashland University. With this move, he will be
able to stick clow to home and i
throe his duties on city
Amherst councilman-elect Nick Brusky rests tor a minute outside
town had. Brusky, at age 20, hopes thai the citizens ot Amherst wil
see past his youth and corns to him with whatever problems they
might have.
they got back on   'well
aanciaily until
"A lot of people
night think.
he's never even made a house
■ad actuaty I've
my mother auto a couple of
One aspect of his job as a dty
conweflman that BnHfcy is especially enthusiastic about is the progress ia the historic downtown ana.
"I really am enthusiastic about the
downtown development," Brusky
said. 1 think the revitaliza-an of
downtown Amherst is sae top priority of the city council.''
Aaottor high priority, to
looking at city s-iisctog.
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