Amherst News-Times, 2000-08-02

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Amherst News-Tim<
Wednesday, August 2, 2000
Amherst, Ohio
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Board opts for new school constructio
Voters will decide fate
of $26 million request
by PAUL MORTON
News-Times reporter
After nearly two years of discussions on how to solve overcrowding
in Amherst schools, the school
board has a plan, but the hard work
is yet to come.
At their July 24 meeting, the
school board voted to ask voters for
a $26.3 million bond Issue to pay
for a new junior high school and additions and renovations to Steele
High School and Nord Junior High
School.
School treasurer Salah Elhindy
said the bond issue would amount to
a property tax levy of 4.4387 mills
for 28 years. It would cost the
owner of a $100,000 home about
$150 per year.
Board president Ron Yacobozzi
said the scope of the project and all
that it would accomplish for easing
the overcrowding makes the price
tag easier to bear.
'To get this whole project done
for under five mills is a bargain,"
Yacobozzi said
Superintendent Robert Boynton
said after all the discussions, com
munity meetings, and planning over
the last two years, the whole issue
will come down to selling the plan
to the voters.
"I think the plan is a good plan,
but the next step is the most crucial,'' Boynton said. "The next three
months are crucial to where we're
going to head.''
He said if the levy does not pass,
the schools would have to go to split
sessions at Steele High School for
grades seven through 12.
The plan calls for building a new
junior high school at the Harris
Elementary School property at an
estimated cost of about $15.5 million. It also calls for additions and
alterations to Steele and Nord at a
cost of $9.8 million, and $1 million
set aside for land acquisition for any
future expansion.
According to preliminary drawings presented by Bruce Whitehead
of Clark & Post Architects the new
junior high school would accommodate 800 students. Thirty-two classrooms would be arranged in "pods''
of four classrooms each for team
teaching, and another four pods
could be added to the south and
CONTINUED on page 2
This drawing shows how the new junior high school will be laid  out.
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All in a day's play
It's a swing, and a home run...well maybe not but that doesn't
stop Eric Hellinger and his friends from enjoying a sandlot game of
baseball on a sunny summer afternoon.
Book is first volume on Workshop
For more than 50 years
The Workshop Players have
been thrilling audiences with
their dramatic performances.
However, there has never
been a complete record of
their performances or participants. That is to say, there has
never been a complete record
until now.
On Aug. 1 Valerie Gerstenberger will release volume
one of a two-volume history
of The Workshop Players.
"We are excited because
this is the first complete history of the group to be published,'' Gerstenberger said.
The first volume will cover
all of the productions from
the group's inception in 1948
up to 1977, their 30th season.
i« When asked why the cutoff
for the first volume was
, made at the 30th season
rather than the 25th Gerstenberger responded, "We performed 180 plays in our 50
years, 90 of which were com
pleted from 1948 to 1977, so
we included half of the plays
in the first volume with the
other half to come in the
second."
Included in those 90 plays
are titles such as 'Teahouse
of the August Moon."
The book is broken down
into 10-year sections, with a
summary of each decade preceding the play descriptions.
Two to three pages are dedicated to each performance
with photographs accompanying the text.
"We were able to have
photographs with all of the
plays with the exception of
one," Gerstenberger said.
The book is arranged chronologically, but has an alphabetical list in the back
which lists authors, directors
and production dates for all
of the productions.
One of the difficulties with
putting together a book of
this type is contacting all of
the people who have been involved with the Players.
There have been over
1,000 people participate in
our productions over the years
and I have only been able to
locate about a third of them,"
Gerstenberger said.
She continues to look for
anyone who has been involved with the Players so
that they may be informed
about the book. She urges
anyone who has been in The
Workshop Players or knows
someone who was involved to
contact her.
Three people that Gerstenberger is especially trying lo
find are Mr. and Mrs. Ken
Riddell. Eloise Fowler, and
Sandra Humphery all of
Oberlin.
"Even with the internet it
has become very difficult to
find these people," she said.
The fast volume of The
Workshop PUyers history will
be available to members at
their annual banquet. The cost
of the book is $40 plus $3
for shipping and handling.
Fliers with an order form will
be available in libraries and
other locations.
Local libraries will also
keep a copy of the book on
White it has taken Gerstenberger nearly two yean to
complete the first volume, she
hopes the second will be out
sooner.
"I hope to have the second
volume out a lot quicker than
the first, but it takes quite a
lot of work to get it done,"
she said. No release date was
issued for the second volume.
This book will allow local
theater lovers to get their
hands on a little piece of
local theater history. Gerstenberger already knows the
value of that history; she now
hopes that everyone else will
shire that immense value.
Nick Crowther
Local singer hopes
Kiss 104.9 contest
launches his career
Everybody has already heard
of N'Sync and The Backstreet
Boys, but what about C1K?
That is Cleveland's 1st Kiss,
and they may be next in line to
dethrone reigning boy band
kings N'Sync. One young man
who is hoping they succeed is
Nick Crowther of Amherst who
is pan of the five-man group.
Nick sent a tape of himself
singing to Kiss 104.9 FM in
Cleveland for their contest to
create a new boy band. Although his was one of 800 tapes
the station received, it was one
of the best
This is fantastic. I can't believe that this has happened,"
Crowther said.
The band's first meeting was
nek) on July 24 and consisted of
vocal testing.
"We'll get into choreographing and singing in the next couple of weeks," Crowther said.
They will have to work very
hard in order to prepare for
their first show Aug. 14 at
Tower City. There they will be
opening for No Authority.
However, the fans are the least
of their worries.
"Maverick Recording executives are going to be there and
if they like us they may sign as
to a recant deal," Crowther
said. That would be one step
closer to making it to MTV.
For the Tower City show the
boys will be performing a cover
of IMX's song "Stay the
Night"
It's a medium pace song,"
CONTMUEDon page 3