Amherst News-Times, 2000-02-16

              Mayor marries Valentine's — Page 3
Collector's dreams stolen — Pag<
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Amherst News-Time
Wednesday, February 16, 2000
Amherst, Ohio
a
Forest Street is site of sewer improvement
by STEVE BARRY
News-Times reporter
Eight proposed ordinances, took
council three hours to resolve at the
Feb. 7 council committee meetings.
Committee sent an ordinance to
the council floor concerning a proposed improvement in the Forest
Street sanitation sewer system. But
getting the ordinance to the floor
was not as easy as one might think.
Residents from West Street, who
had sewer work done on their street,
complained to council members about the length of time from when the
pipes were laid and functional, until
the road crews resurfaced their
street
Unforeseen  snags delayed the
project on West Street, according to
mayor John Higgins. Council
seemed moderately concerned that
such a problem didn't occur with
the sewer work on Forest Street
That is not something the mayor
or anyone else can promise, especially since the Forest Street project
has known problems that could
cause delays. The line was originally laid on top of a sandstone
ledge, and there is no fall to the line.
According the Higgins, when
contractors first installed the line
years ago, they encountered the
sandstone ledge. There weren't the
number of houses back then, and
there may not have been the necessary equipment to deal with such a
problem, so rather than remove the
ledge and install the line properly,
contractors set the line on top of the
ledge.
For a drain pipe to operate efficiently, there must be drop or fall,
so that one end of the pipe is lower
than the other end. The degree of
fall dictates how much water a line
can handle, and with Forest Street
having an almost horizontal lay of
the line, the flow is virtually
nonexistent
Adding to the problem is the
large number of residents whose
downspouts discnarge airecuy into
the sanitation sewer. Downspouts
discharging into the storm or sanitary sewer violates city code, Higgins explained.
The problem develops when rainstorms dump water on the city and
roof runoff flushes into the sanitation sewer. The rainwater causes a
CONTINUED on page 3
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Mayor John Higgins and his dog Torrie. Torrie is a daddy's dog
who will not tolerate someone sitting in her spot next to the mayor.
Police chief Bill Hall enjoys a special friendship with his dog,
Polly.
Cats Cherokee and Scooter belong to safety/service director
Sherrill McLoda.
Best friends do come in all shapes and sizes
by STEVE BARRY
News-Times reporter
It has been said that people get
pets with personalities like their
own and that some pets and their
owners start to look alike. A person
who purchases an iguana will probably debunk that theory...then again,
maybe not
Family pets do tend to end up part
of the family. Often a child will
have a pet then go off to college
and then the pet becomes his or her
replacement
The concept of a dog and his or
her owner looking alike has its first
major setback when you look at
Torrie. Torrie is mayor John Hig-
gins's 13-year-old sheep dog (somewhat of a champaign color) with so
much fur it flows down over her
face and eyes. She is the Higginses'
third dog inJJ5 years. „
There is no" question however,
that Torrie is a daddy's dog. Probably most dogs get a little nervous
during a thunderstorm but during
one particularly rousing thunderstorm, Torrie, who normally sleeps
at Higgins's feet clawed her way
under the sheets and right up next to
his nonor.
Higgins awoke with a start, "I
though I woke up next to vjplf
man."
Torrie refuses to go outside for
anyone but the mayor and even Higgins can raise his voice toward his
wife Marilyn, without a warning
bark from Torrie.
If you visit the mayor, don't try to
sit next to him — that's Torrie's
spot She will slide between visitors
and the mayor, wiggle and squirm
until she has moved them out of her
spot
Bed time doesn't escape her
either. She will stand in front of
Higgins and give a whiny growl as
if to say — "Hey do you know what
time it is?" The pup isn't fond of
anyone cutting in on her beauty rest
A small male mixed breed dog
named Peanuts happens to own utilities superintendent Don Woodings
and family. How else can you explain a grown man wrapping a little
dog in a baby blanket and smuggling him into a Charleston hotel
where dogs are not permitted?
"I was patting and talking to the
dog like it was a baby," Woodings
CONTINUED on page 6
(■«
Area vet honored
by French consul
for his role in war
by STEVE BARRY
News-Times reporter
The French government
hasn't forgotten the American
World War II vets, who ultimately freed France from
German occupation.
The French Consul General
in cooperation with U.S. Congressman Paul Gilmor held a
ceremony on Feb. 11, in Napoleon, Ohio, honoring veterans involved with the D-Day
invasion of Normandy.
D-Day Veterans could
purchase a medal commemorating their achievement (the
French government ran out of
medals to give to vets), and
they received a certificate of
appreciation from the French
government
One local man saw action
at Normandy, and received
his award at Napoleon last
Friday.
Don Krebs, who will celebrate his 76th birthday in
March, was the sonar man (or
ping jockey) on a Navy destroyer supporting landing forces at Omaha and Utah
beaches.
Krebs had just recently
been assigned to a brand new
destroyer, the USS Harding.
He was a crew member when
the ship was'commissioned.
After the shakedown cruise,
they were assigned to cover
convoys destined for North
Africa.
When the invasion of Nor
mandy was imminent, the
Harding was assigned to shell
German gun emplacements
firing on Army Rangers who
were scaling the cliff at
Pointe de Hawke.
After the cliff was secure
they were given another assignment Germans tanks,
equipped with large cannons,
were returning fire on the allied support ships from the
yard of a church.
The Germans placed a
spotter in the steeple of the
church, to assist tank gunners
in accurately dropping their
rounds onto allied ships. The
Harding was assigned the job
of removing the advantage the
spotter had, by removing the
steeple from the church. Then
they were to take out the
tanks.
The mayor of Vervilles
owned a house direcUy behind the church. The Germans
had run him and his family
out of the house, and converted it to a headquarters.
During the batde the Harding
took off the steeple, and destroyed the mayor's house as
weU.
While the battle raged.
Krebs kept advising his captain on water depth. The water depth was dropping appreciably, and Krebs kept informing the CO. that water
depth was getting critical.
The intensity of the conflict
and mission of the ship kept
the captain's attention. Krebs
raised his sonar gear juat bo-
World War II veteran Don Krebs is still able to wear his dress
uniform from the Navy,
fore the ship ran aground.
The ship had to back off the
rocks. The Harding sustained
enough damage from going
aground mat she had to return to England to replace the
sonar dome and one of the
ship's screws (propellers).
Krebs's quick action saved
the sonar equipment and
saved him countless hours of
repair.
Aler Nocmandy, Krebs and
the Harding supported the invasion on Toulon and
Marseille in Southern France
from positions in the
Mediterranean.
Once the beach heeds were
established the Harding was
reassigned and refitted. She
was converted from a destroyer to a destroyer mine
sweeper and renumbered the
DMS 28.
The Harding was sent to
Okinawa, in support of the
invasion there. During the
battle, a Kamikaze pilot broke
through the air defenses and
crashed into the ship just below the second five inch gun
on the bow of the ship. The
force of the explosion went
downward, blowing off 30
feet of the can's (slang for
destroyer) keel, and opening
up the bow like an air scoop.
The ship was full speed
ahead when the explosion
CONTINUED on page 2
Teens get chance
to 'shadow' along
on business days
by STEVE BARRY
News-Times reporter
Shadowing employees of the
work world was the assignment recently for Nord Junior High School
students who set out to learn more
about their favored professions.
The day picked for shadowing
observation is Groundhog Day, and
a correlation between the project
and observance of Groundhog Day
emerges. Shadowing day is an extension of the school's Career Education Program.
A number of students found people to shadow in some interesting
fields.
Fourteen-year-old Brian Deitz
would like to enter the field of
sports broadcasting, and found
WTAM (1100 AM) radio station in
Cleveland, a willing mentor.
He learned about technical difficulty at the outset of his experience.
The computer that controls the timing and playing of WTAM's commercial spots had crashed, and the
ah* personalities had to wing commercials the old fashion method —
by hand.
"It's a lot more difficult then you
think it would be just listening to the
radio," said Deitz.
Brian was behind the scenes with
air personalities Tom Moore, who
brings the news at the top and bottom of the hour, and Bob Frantz.
France's show keyed on the salary
of players and pending free agency
of Indian's slugger Manny Ramirez.
Brian's favorite air personality is
WTAM's Bruce Drennan.
Not long ago Brian did a play-by-
play of an Indian's baseball game at
the Jake. It wasn't aired, but k was
taped and Brian kept the tape. That
Ross Javornik
Brian Deitz
the Rangers pounded
Tribe something like 15-3.
CONTINUED on page 3