The Amherst news-times. (Amherst, Ohio), 1998-06-03

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students earn honors — Page 6
Feldkamp to run at state — Page 12
Vmherst News-Times
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June  3.   19C)B
Amherst. Ohio
50 cents
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Seniors to graduate Sunday
Doug Northeim
Todd Brown
June 7 marks the end of •
12-year academic trek through
the Amherst school system
for seniors at Marion L.
Steele High School.
At 2:30 p.m., 279 students
— 10 more than graduated
last year — will receive their
diplomas during the tilth
commencement ceremony held
at the Place Civic Center in
Lorain.
For some students, it may
be the last time they see
friends and classmates before
venturing off for summer
jobs, college, the military or
elsewhere in the world.
It also will be the last graduation ceremony presided
over by outgoing school
superintendent Howard Dulmage, who is retiring after
serving as the school district's
leader for more than a
decade.
And, it will be the last
time Robert Boyton will attend a graduation as high
school principal. He was
selected by the board of education three weeks ago to
succeed Dulmage as
superintendent
The baccalaureate address
will be given by the Rev. W.
Kent Joy, pastor of the Park
Avenue United Methodist
Church. Other graduation
speakers include senior class
president Douglas Northeim
and Lorain County Joint Vocational School student Todd
Brown.
The valedictorian, whose
name is expected to be announced by school officials
June S, also will address the
class.
Following student presentations, the Steele Academic
Hall of Fame will be presented by Boyton and the
Class of '98 addressed by
Dulmage.
Diplomas will be presented
by board of education president Carol Jajack and vice
president Sandra Freedman.
Each student has been given four tickets to the
1,400-seat civic center for the
commencement. Other tickets
already have been distributed.
As in the past, no reception
is planned after the commencement to avoid congestion, although school officials
said seniors are expected to
celebrate in a traditional way.
He's one
rockin'
kid with
a vision
by GLEN MILLER
News-Times reporter
Stephen Poprocki more than lives
up to his name — a lot more.
He loves rock music and playing
his guitar, so much so that at age 12
he has won more than a half dozen
contests and soon could be chosen
the best new guitar player in the
nation.
His talented fingers already have
beat those of competitors 18,19 and
20 years old who have been playing
a lot longer than he. He began picking away two and a half years ago,
but only out of curiosity when his
brother's (Mat) guitar was "just laying around.*'
Early last month, he won the
American Guild of Music'*: Ireat
Lakes regional competition in the
Detroit area and qualified to seek
the top spot nationally in Indianapolis on July 23-26.
A sixth grader at Shupe Middle
School, Stephen knows what a prodigy is and isn't shy about his gift
A judge at one of many guitar competitions he has entered told him so,
although his mother, Cindy Miller,
says lie often understates it
"I didn't really have that much inspiration, I've just always loved
music and just wanted to get into
it," Stephen said.
He was first introduced to music
at the tender age of one. It was then
when, at the urging of his mother,
he took piano lessons.
His mother, a secretary at Oberlin
College, taught him to read pnusic at
that young age and hoped her son
might become a piano virtuoso
someday.
Eventually, other childhood interests lured him away from the keyboard. Still, his love for music and
an unexplainable but untapped
mastery remained with him until the
first time he picked up his brother's
guitar. It was love at the first note.
Using his early knowledge of
music, Stephen began learning
songs from Mat's song and lesson
books that were around the house.
Mat Poprocki began playing the
guitar by accident. A natural born
. artist, the 16 year-old won free guitar lessons (hiring a local art contest.
His younger brother just happened to sit in during a few of the
leasons, absorbed a lot because of
his love for music and was picking
away at home unknown to his
family.
'Then one day Mat came home
and saw me playing the guitar and is
was like — Whoa, what's this?" he
explained. "By then, I was pretty
good and really surprised myself
and him and everybody."
Mat said it normally look htm ab-
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however, "just looked at the sheet
music and figured it out ia 10 air
notes," he added.
Mat took off on his skateboard
coMTMUfO en eaaa t
Parachuting at Powers
Children have fun playing with a colorful parachute canopy during Powers Elementary School's annual field day. The day com
bines physical education with lots of fun. About 150 parents volunteered their time to make the fun filled day a success.
Council
doesn't
oppose
license
By keeping quiet, city council
gave its approval to one phase of an
$800,000 makeover of what used to
be the Travel Lodge at 934 N. Leavitt Road.
In addition to the building permits
that already have been issued, council ievided not to voice any objection to a liquor permit sought for the
motel, which has been renamed the
Country Hearth Inn.
James DeVine, vice president of
operations for Lodge Keeper Group,
Inc., the motet's owners for more
than 10 yean, said there are no
plans to add a lounge to the motel
Instead, beer and wine will be
served in a hearth room, a continental breakfast area where evening receptions for guests will be held once
the motel's extensive remodeling ia
complete.
The price of the evening drinks
will be included in room fees, he
explained.
Council members, including
Nancy Brown, expressed concern
CONTINUED on page 2
A little Amherst goes long
way in teaching kids safety
by QLEN MLLER
News-Times reporter
On June IS, a miniature Amherst will sit beside the police
department on N. Lake Street
with dozens of tiny people bustling abouL
No one will have shrunk the
kids or the town. It'll be the debut of the brand new Safety
City, a small version of the
Sandstone Capital of the World
built with lots of donations of
materials and manpower.
The tiny people will be Safety
City Class of '98.
Led by youth and DARE
(Drug Abuse Resistance Education) officer Les Carrender, dozens of volunteers have built
more than a dozen buildings that
look like small versions of those
found throughout the city, including city hall.
The small city's builders have
included Carrender, firefighter
Chris Niehait, councilman Terry
Traster and "Time and Talent,"
a group Nordson Corporation
employees who volunteer their
time and construction talents to
community projects.
"We have a lot of people and
companies to thank for this. It
shows they care about kids and
based on photographs. Details
such as windows and architectural features will be painted on
before June IS opening
ceremonies.
Amherst Safety City will have
19 buildings, 10 of which are
complete. Among them are the
Rini Rego grocery store and
Taco Bell restaurant on Cooper
Foster Park Road, the Crystal
Mortgage building on Mam
Street, Mullinax Ford on Rl 58
and the Fifth Third Bank on
Cleveland Avenue.
"We wanted it to look as
much like the city as possible to
add some realism to the classes
and some of the things we do in
Safety City," Carrender explained. "We think it'll help
bring things home for the kids if
they can better relate to their
surroundings."
, Until this year, Safety City
was held at Powers Btanentary
School. Several months ago,
Canender thought a permanent
location for it was needed and
began making rough drawings
on a note pad.
Chief William Hall gave him
the go ahead and local architect
Jim Yorks turned the patrolman*! doodles Into a reality.
With the jxraisatoe of city officials, city land adjacent to the
H	
tatty designed soled down versions of buddings in the city
she and a
mtavity
smaB group of oonv
for the $25,000 project
Lots of people and companies
chipped in. Although costs have
yet to be finalized, Carrender
said it appears as though they
will total about half the original
estimate thanks to dozens of material and equipmont donations
by local and area companies.
Carrender has spent the he*
few Saturday afternoons helping
to build some of die buildings
uta will be used by four classes
of youngsters this year.
So far, roughly 135 children
have enrolled in die classes
scheduled for June 15-19 and
June 22-26. although there's
room for more during the second
week of classes.
In addition to Carrender, instructors will be Marion L.
Steele High School students.
The younger learners win be
broken into three groups, reds
green and yellow — traffic light
By breaking classes of up to
45 kids into groups, one will be
able to learn traffic safety while
the others are taught podttetrian
or Dos avety.
The dperent kinds of safety
instructidn are rotatad among
the groups during the five days
of cusses.
Panass can enroll ** '*"*■«■
■Mil classes banin. Than is
nmpvateaTiSOsSeo.
to help pay
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