Amherst News-Times, 1998-05-06

              Councilman barks at bad dogs — Page 16   I Three promoted at AFD
Page 5
Amherst News-Times
i
May 6, 1998
Amherst. Ohio
50 cents
New program
aimed at boost
for downtown
Small donation could reap
big benefits for businesses
by GLEN MILLER
Powers Elementary School extended lirst grade teacher Patti
Wegehaupt demonstrates to her class how big a tree being planted
by maintenance man Jim Dodson will grow. About three dozen
Powers children attended a special tree planting ceremony at
school in honor of Earth Day.
News-Times reporter
The city is expected to embrace a
privately-funded downtown rehabilitation and renovation program for a
mere $700 pending the approval of
city council.
The advantages of joining the
Ohio Street Program for $200 a year
were explained to city council's finance committee May 4 by mayor
John Higgins.
In addition to the annual membership fee, council will be asked to
spend $500 for an assessment of
downtown Amherst by Main Street
development experts on June 30.
Based on the assessment, the nonprofit group will provide the city
with information on how to maintain, renovate and give the downtown area an economic shot in the
aim.
Started in Ohio last year. Main
Street has been adopted by several
area communities, including Oberlin
and Wellington, as part of an effort
to restore and maintain the economic vitality of downtown business districts using historic
preservation.
The program will provide the cily
with the type of guidance on downtown revitalization Higgins said he
has been seeking since taking office
more than two years ago.
Membership in Main Street will
help provide the city with the expertise its does not have because of its
lack of a planning or economic development director.
"The hardest part about revitalization is learning about how to go
about it," Higgins explained. "Wc
are trying to become educated about
it and this will be a big step in doing
CONTINUED on page 6
Former law director pleads guilty before trial
by GLEN MILLER
News-Times reporter
Former Amhersi law director
Thomas Sanborn pleaded guilty
April 27 to stealing money from
clients and could face more than 26
years in prison when he is sentenced
in six to eight weeks.
Sanborn pleaded guilty to five
counts of grand theft and one count
each of theft, forgery and tampering
with evidence rather than be tried in
Lorain County Common Pleas
Court for the offenses.
He also faces up to $35,000 in
fines pending the completion of *"•
background report for visiting judge
Robert Barney.
The former law director's plea
brought to an end a nearly two-year
effort by Lorain County "prosecutor
Gregory White to prevent Sanborn
from escaping imprisonment for the
theft of more than $200,000 from
former clients.
The trial is the result of an investigation ordered by White last year
after Sanborn pleaded guilty to theft
'wfiniit "lie surrendered to federal
authorities.
A federal judge sentenced him to
serve six months in a closed Akron-
area alcoholism treatment facility
and placed him under an additional
six-month house arrest.
In doing, he avoided prosecution
by the state. It was then when
White's office audited Sanborn's financial documents and discovered
he allegedly stole more money from
i ,!cmc than prt^Wfflyifrlbwn.
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Although he says he has paid
back money stolen from his clients,
Sanborn pleaded guilty after Ford
refused to quash the use of his financial records, statements and
other evidence gathered by White's
investigation.
His Lorain attorney James Burge,
filed the motion to suppress the evidence April 21. He argued Sanborn's rights of self-incrimination
were violated two years ago because
he was threatened with jail if he refused to turn over documents and
records.
But White's office successfully
argued Sanborn could not make that
claim because of his prior confession of guilt to federal authorities.
Assistant  prosecutor  Jonathan
Rosenbaum argued the confession
prevented him from turning over the
evidence to the prosecutor's office
and allowed him to negotiate a plea
without going to prison.
Based on his federal guilty plea,
Sanborn's law license was indefinitely suspended by the Ohio Supreme Court last month. He is working as business manager for an unidentified area trucking company
pending his sentencing.
i
I
What year Is it?
Check Amherst's
history against
the world's
by GLEN MILLER
Historical timeline creator Vivienne Bickley dresses a mannequin   timeline exhibit through Dec. 20. The exhibit is part ot the museum's
that will be on display as part of the Amherst Historical Society's   25th anniversary events.
News-Times reporter
Amherst wasn't always Amherst
Prior to 1909, it was known as North Amherst to differentiate it
from neighboring South Amherst Long Ixefore that, it was originally called just "The Corners" between 1811 and 1827.
The names the city has known over the last 187 years are just a
few of the many interesting tidbits Vivienne Bickley dug up while
creating a timeline display for the Amherst Historical Society.
On display at the Quigley Museum through Dec. 20, the timeline
correlates the city's history with events that have happened in the
rest of the world over more than five generations.
It gives people a "truer feeling of life" from the time of the first
setder, Jacob Shupe in 1811, until the early 1970s, when the Amherst Historical Society was first organized, Bickley said.
Based on her research, the city was called Plato between 1827
and 1869 — at least that's what postmarks she found indicate.
No one knows where the name came from, although Bickley
said there was a Plato family that apparendy lived in the area.
Plato overlaps with 33 of the years the city also was known as
Amherstville, a name given it by residents in 1836. Thai's the
same year Davy Crockett lost his life in Texas at the Alamo.
The city remained Amherstville until 1872, when it was changed
to North Amherst. "North" wasn't officially stricken from the record until 1909 — the year plans for a huge luxury ship called the
Titanic were first conceived.
CONTINUED on page 3
Council to oppose additional liquor sales at BP
i
Concern about the sale of wine
and packaged mixed drinks at a gas
station has prompted city council to
oppose the granting of a liquor
license to the British Petroleum outlet on Leavitt Road.
Council members agreed to oppose  the  license  when   it  was
brought to Uieir attention at an April
27 meeting. As a result, law director
Alan Anderson and councilman
John Dietrich are expected to voice
the city's objections during a public
hearing to be held by the Ohio Division of Liquor Control.
No hearing date has been set, al
though it is likely to be held in
Elyria sometime within the next two
months, according to division
officials.
Beer is currently sold in (he gas
station's small carryout and convenience store. The new permit would
also allow it to sell wine and certain
pre-made mixed drinks in bottles
unlil 1 a.m.
Police chief William Hall or
another police officer is expected to
be asked to join Dietrich and Anderson in explaining the city's
opposition.
Several council members noted
the area around the Amherst Plaza
and the intersection of Leavitt and
Cooper Foster .Park roads has been a
constant source of complaints for
police during the lasl two to three
years.
According to mayor John Higgins, a growing number of drivers
and other people have been arrested
in the area during special traffic blitzes conducted by the police and
Lorain Counly Sheriff's
Department
Charges have included disorderly
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