Amherst News-Times, 2000-02-23

              Revival at Good Shepherd — Page 2        Biddy wrestlers give it their all — Pac
Amherst News-Time
Wednesday, February 23, 2000
Amherst, Ohio
a
Nordson struggles with layoff probabilities
by STEVE BARRY
News-Times reporter
Nordson's Action 2000 global
optimizing program has already had
far reaching effects. Nordson's plant
in .Sweden will close next month
and Nordson California has already
been shut down.
While Nordson head Ed Campbell will not say the Elyria facility is
going to close, he did say last week
that the handwriting is on the wall
for the Elyria facility.
"I'm not satisfied with the (current) performance of the corporation," Campbell said. "We failed to
hit the targets we have set for
ourselves in 1999."
Campbell went on to say that the
Elyria plant is primarily an extension of the Amherst facility, and after the adhesives division moves to
Georgia,  there  will  be adequate
Company hires TRW executive
by STEVE BARRY
News-Times reporter
Nordson Corporation has
announced the addition of Peter S. Hellman to its executive staff. Hellman will fill
the newly created position of
executive vice president, chief
financial and administrative
officer and will serve as the
company's number two man
under CEO Ed Campbell
Before coming to Nordson,
Hellman was with TRW and
served as president and chief
operating officer. Hellman has
spent 20 years in senior man
agement and financial management positions.
"I have many of the administrative responsibilities for
Nordson on a global basis,
including the Amherst facilities. A very important facet
of my responsibilities would
be corporate development," he
said.
"At the same time (we are)
focused on competitive cost
structure and operations, we
are also addressing ways to
enhance the company's
growth," said Hellman.
"Nordson has an excellent
market position and a long
history   of innovation and
customer focus. I am pleased
to join Ed and the Nordson
team as they capture the
company's full potential in
terms of growth and shareholder value," Hellman added.
Hellman also serves as
chairman and trustee for
Cleveland Today, a group
whose mission is to convince
corporations and individuals
outside of Northeastern Ohio
the benefits of investing in
Northern Ohio. Hellman is a
trustee of Nordson Corporation Foundation, the Cleveland
Zoological Society, the Cha-
CONTINUED on page 3
Peter Hellman
room is Amherst to house all of the
operations currently performed at
both plants.
The transfer of the adhesives division to Atlanta will cost some 120
local jobs. The Sweden operations
are being brought to Amherst, but
even with the influx of the additional work, no jobs are going to be
saved. Campbell did say that some
of the people at Amherst would
have the opportunity to follow their
jobs to Atlanta. There are no plans
to recall anyone axed through Action 2000 streamlining.
While no one is happy about the
loss of 120 jobs, for the moment at
least, Amherst is still a key part of
Nordson's overall game plan for the
corporation, according to Campbell.
"Amherst is the headquarters for
four of our 11 businesses. Our objectives for all of those businesses is
to grow, prosper and to be success-
CONTINUED on page 3
'S»
Royal presence
Members of the winter homecoming court included freshman attendant Kristin
Massimino, sophomore attendant Margaret OeFilippo, junior attendant Jessica Kil-
dow, senior queen candidates Ashleigh Long, Brooke Sterling, Katie Stitak and
Jenny Gonzalez. The king and queen crowned during the recent homecoming
game are Katie Stitak and Jason Voss.
Two MLS
athletes
go state
Two Marion L. High School
student athletes will be representing the school, their teammates, classmates and community in state competitions in the
coming weeks.
Chris Coffin, a star swimmer
on the Comet boys swim squad,
will be a competitor in the state
swim meet in Canton this
weekend.
Coffin qualified to compete
in the 100 and 200 freestyles.
He'll approach the 200 freestyle
on Friday and the 100 freestyle
on Saturday.
MLS wrestler Jake Percival is
no stranger to the pressure of
the state tourney which will
take place March 3-4 in
Columbus.
He's been there before and
he'll be back this year in the
140 pound weight class. Percival is ranked number one in the
Southwest Conference and is
undefeated and has been given
national recognition.
Home construction
stalls but expected
to pick up this year
by STEVE BARRY
Christina Wade, Jo Toth, Donna Jean PhHHpe and BM Fitch from    manager Loma Balmart and owner LoWa Mock at the grand opening
the Lorain County Chamber of Commerce flank Jamie's general    ceremonies for the new building at Jamie's Flea Market.
Tears wash away arson memory
by STEVE BARRY
News-Time* reporter
The longer Loma Balmart read
her prepared statement, the mote
misty eyed she became. Balmart is
the general manager of Jamie's Flea
Market and is also the granddaugh-
ter of its founder.
Batmen's joy bubbled up in the
form of teen at they cut the ribbon
last Wednesday, ie-opned a newly-
constructed building that last year
had been destroyed by arson.
"I know they are both smiling
down on ut right now, and are very
proud of what we have accomplished, so that we may continue to
serve the people of Loom County
their needs/ said Balsuart, fprriM^g
of her grandparents.
For Balmart, who had been up
since about 1 sun. before the grand
opening at 9:30 ajn., the festivities
ended a six-month headache.
Last summer the center building
was the victim of arson and both the
building sad main office were lost
to the flames, started by two young
juvenile girts. They moved the main
office in a crimped "fish bowl"
space in the cast building. Nearly all
of the venders in the burned building lost everything in their
inventories.
After the ribbon cutting, pieces of
the ribbon were given to each of the
vendors present
Many well-wishers and members
of the media were on band. Jo Toth,
Donna Jean Phillip*. Bill Filch and
lUEDon page I
CONTWii
News-Times reporter
Amherst's new home construction has once again come close to
the 100 mark, for homes built in
1999.
New home construction was on
the rise from 1993 through early
1996, when flooding became such a
problem that a moratorium was
placed on building new homes in
mid-1996 through late 1998.
Amherst's sewer systems were
originally built to service about half
the present number being serviced.
The flooding became a problem
soon after the first subdivisions
sprang up in AmhersL Ecologists
speculate that the new developments
destroyed the natural runoff recovery system, unleashing their storm
water discharge, into the sewer systems that would have naturally been
absorbed into the ground.
One solution to reduce flooding
was mandating developers to put in
retention or detention ponds in their
developments. The ponds detain
rainwaters long enough to allow the
runoff to course through she storm
sewer system at a manageable rate.
In addition to detention ponds,
new ordinances mandatrd that all
downspouts connected to either the
or sanitary sewer be
ud that they dis
charge water onto the home owner's
property instead of directly into the
sewer systems. These efforts have
greatly reduced much of the flooding problem. The number of effected homes has dropped from a
high of about 400 homes effected by
flooding to about 100 homes.
"But don't forget we haven't had
a 'gully washer' lately to test the
system," said mayor John Higgins.
According to Mike Bramhall,
who does engineering work for both
Amherst and Avon, every new development increases the amount of
runoff, and it will be simply a matter of time until even detention
ponds won't be able to stop enough
runoff to prevent sewer flooding.
Studies are still being conducted
to discover what impact subdivisions are having on runoff water.
Changes are needed, but until the
impact studies are complete and
analyzed, no one is sure exactly how
extensive those changes will need to
be.
Meanwhile, there is the potential
for 1S2 new homes to go up this
year, according to building secretary
Kaye Browning. Utilities superin-
tendent Don Woodings informed the
News-Times that there are 700
available building sues inside die
Amherst corporation limits. How
much constructing hosnes on assse
sites will effect water runoff is set
CONTINUED on page 3