Amherst News-Times, 2001-01-10

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Players stage a mystery — Page 3
Amherst News-Tim€
Wednesday, January 10, 2001
Amherst, Ohio
Quarries make Weatherhead list of 1 (
by JASON TOMASZEWSKI
News-Times reporter
What was once a major supplier
of building stone for northeast Ohio,
once fell on hard times. The Cleveland Quarries, located on Rl 113 in
Amherst, watched as business
dwindled.
However, under new ownership,
the old quarry is making a comeback. Cleveland Quarries, now
known as American Stone, has been
selected to the Weatherhead 100
fastest growing companies in northeast Ohio.
"I was completely surprised when
I was notified about Weatherhead,"
stated Cleveland Quarries vice president of operations Steve Mason.
"But it was a pleasant surprise."
The Cleveland Quarries first
opened for business in 1868 when it
was discovered that the area had
large quantities of building stone.
By the 1920s there were more than
20 quarries operating in the area.
The businesses flourished due to the
high demand for building stone
which was used in the construction
of post offices, universities, and
other such buildings.
According to Mason, by 1929 the
Cleveland Quarries had purchased
all of the quarries in northeast Ohio.
From that time the company continued to grow. At its peak in the
1950s, the quarry employed over
500 people.
However, the sixties, seventies,
and eighties were less prosperous
for the quarries. Mason cited a decline in the stone industry as the
main reason for the decline. "The
influx of gas, steel, and precast material affected the stone industry as a
whole." explained Mason.
Today, the Cleveland Quarries is
enjoying a rcnassaince. On Feb. 5,
1996 the company reorganized
under American Stone Industries.
According to Mason, "Using funds
provided by a local venture capitalist, the company has been able to
purchase the equipment necessary to
increase production and lower the
costs for other fabricators as well as
our own finishing mills."
Looking at the Weatherhead list,
one will notice something about almost every company on the list
None of them have been in existence before the 1960s. In fact most
of the companies on the list weren't
around before the 1990s. That
makes the Cleveland Quarries by far
the oldest company on the list
"Our employees lake pride in the
age of the company," stated Mason.
"It builds morale to know that we
are directing the company in the
right direction."
Mason stated that while making
the Weatherhead list this year was a
surprise, he intends to make the list
again next year. "We set goals every
year," stated Mason. "Next year one
of our goals is to stay on the list and
improve our standing." This year
the Cleveland Quarries came in at
57 on the list of 100.
Some of the plans for the future
of the company will aid in the realization of the goal. The quarry will
be opening a retail store of their
own that will unci u. genua, contractors and landscapers from
Toledo to the area just west of Cuyahoga County. The quarry has also
signed a three-year contract with the
local veterans group to produce
grave markers. Mason stated the
company will also venture into the
sign making business.
"In the next five years we want to
double what we've accomplished in
the last five," stated Mason. "By the
end of the 10 years we want to making $10 million annually." With the
way the company is growing, as
long as they keep up the hard work,
those goals should be no problem.
Nord boy
had $50
in drugs
stashed
in locker
by JASON TOMASZEWSKI
__«________________-_-_---*__——p_—_
News-Times reporter
You would almost expect
this type of thing to happen
in a high school. After all,
high schools are quickly becoming dangerous places. But
when there is suspicion of a
gun in a junior high, people
take particular notice.
People took particular notice on Dec. 15. 2000, when
Amherst police were dispatched to Nord Junior High
School on a report of a student possibly being in possession of a weapon. When they
arrived, they found no gun.
but a bag of marijuana.
"Some of the students at
the school were concerned about a boy because he was always talking about a gun."
stated school resource officer
Les Carrender. "He never
threatened anyone or said he
would bring it in, but talking
about it made the kids
suspicious."
According lo Carrender the
concerned students went to
the school's administration
with the problem. Ron Hause,
dean of students at Need, felt
that a search of the student's
locker was necessary to determine if he indeed have a
gun. During the search school
officials found no weapon,
but a plastic bag filled with
marijuana and a homemade
wooden pipe.
There was about a quarter
ounce of marijuana in the
bag," staled Carrender. "That
is definitely a lot of marijuana for a junior high kid."
Carrender staled that the estimated street value of the
marijuana seized was $50.
"I don't know where these
kids get the money for it."
stated Carrender. "We are
talking about kids that are 12
to 13 years old."
It was after the drug was
found that the school contacted the student's parents
and the police. The student
was charged with possession
of drugs and drug paraphernalia. He is required to appear
before a juvenile court
"As far as the police are
concerned this is his first offense." staled Carrender. 1
understand that he has been
involved in a few argunfentt
in school, but I don't know a
kid who has gone through
school without a few scuffles.
He seems like a decent kid."
At-cording lo Carrender, k
is school policy for a situation 'Jke this to suspend the
student with a recommendation for expulsion. It is unclear what puni-hment he will
CONTINUED on paga 2
Woman saves state thousands of $$$
While the general public frets
over how much money the government is spending, Ohio residents
can rest a little easier.
Because of the efforts of one
local woman, the state of Ohio will
be spending $615,298 less this year.
Because of her cost saving ideas,
Terry Slovkovsky of Amherst was
awarded the Innovation Ohio Award
by the state auditor on Dec. 14.
Through her day-to-day activities
at the Lorain unemployment office
Slovkovsky, who has lived in Amherst for the past 11 years, found
herself filling out form after form
with the same information. Thinking
this was very tedious, she decided to
do something about iL
The state of Ohio has a program
called Q-Step which allows state
employees to offer ideas on ways to
improve their jobs. "If we find
something that can make the job a
little easier we'll say we want to Q-
Step it," explained Slovkovsky.
Slovkovsky had recognized the
problem -w too many forms requiring the same information — now
she needed to assemble a Q-Step
team to put together the proposal. "I
called people that I knew from around the state to see if they wanted
to do it," slated Slovkovsky. "I got
people from all over Youngstown.
Lima, Canton. Akron, and Zanes-
ville. I had to twist a few arms, be
cause this is extra work that we
don't have to do. but they all agreed
it was a good idea."
Slovkovsky eventually got six
people to join her Q-Step team. She
was then assigned a facilitator to
make sure that things ran smoothly.
"We met once, maybe twice a
month to work on the project,"
stated Slovkovsy. "We traveled to
Canton to meet because it was kind
of centrally located."
The conclusions that Slovk-
ovsky's Q-Step team came to were
simple: eliminate and consolidate.
One of their recommendations was
to combine two of the forms previously used into a single form.
The team came up with a form
that could be accessed on the imaging system by everyone in the department This saved filing time in
the local compliance office as well
as the central office. It allowed
workers to view the work without
leaving their desks, and cut down on
the lime it look to prepare all of the
forms.
The second part of the recommendation was to eliminate the auditor's daily field report. This report
was to be filled out on a daily basis
by each auditor. Ail of the items on
the field report were also listed on
other forms, and in many cases were
listed in as many as three different
places.
Terry Slovkovsky, third from the right, is seen
during a ceremony In Columbus accepting an
award for saving the state thousands of dollars
by consolidating paperwork.
Once the proposal was completed
and submitted, it was only a matter
of time before Slovkovsky and her
team would know if their ideas
would be adopted. Several weeks
ago she received the good news.
Slovkovsky was invited to Col
umbus for a ceremony at the State
House. "We were all in the atrium
of the State House and Jim Petro
presented all of the winners with
certificates," explained Slovkovsky.
Her award hangs proudly on the
wall of her Lorain office.
Slovkovsky stated that this was
the first time she ever •submitted
anything to the Q-Step program and
was pleased that her idea was accepted. So is the person who previously had to shell out $600,000 a
year for paperwork.
Retailers picked tops by lottery folks
The Ohio Lottery has been
selling instant tickets since
the 1970s, and since then the
place to purchase them is the
Amherst Party Shop. The
Party Shop was recently honored for their efforts to support the Ohio Lottery by being named Retailer of the
Week.
Richard Currier and his
wife of 10 years, Rosalie,
were notified by Lottery officials of the award last week.
"We got a telephone call
and a letter telling us that we
had received the award," explained Currier. "They said
that they were going to send
other things like balloons, but
I guess the roads were too
bad because we never got
them."
As part of their recognition,
the Curriers were featured on
last Saturday's episode of
Cash Explosion. Cash Explosion is a game show operated
by the Ohio Lottery and can
be seen on ABC.
"They Oottery officials)
came down and took a picture," staled Currier. "They'll
show that on T.V. on
Saturday."
Carrier staled that he has
supported the Ohio Lottery by
Richard and Rosalie Currier have been selling lottery tickets for years, and some of their
customers think they've found a streak of
selling tickets ever since they started in '74. I thought it
were available. "I've owned was a good idea so I signed
this store since 1972," ex- up. I was the 20th store in
plained Currier. "The Lottery '  Ohio to have a lottery ticket
good luck in the downtown shop, particularly
those who have won thousands of dollars.
machine."
While people often buy
ticket after ticket without ever
winning anything but more
tickets, patrons of the Party
Shop have walked away with
big money.
"The biggest winner we
ever had was $100,000."
staled Currier. "Then we had
a woman win an appearance
on Cash Explosion where she
won $50,000. We've had a
$10,000 winner and two
$5,000 winners."
Some patrons feel that the
store is lucky and refuse lo
purchase their tickets anywhere else. "We have quite a
few regular customers," stated
Currier. "There were people
who came in here and said
that they didn't buy a ticket
for the entire nine months we
were closed because of the
fire."
A few years back, residents
will remember that the downtown building where the Party
Shop is located was nearly
destroyed in a fire. But the
Curriers rebuilt
Each week, the Ohio Lottery recognizes one outstanding retail partner who offers
courteous service and sales
enthusiasm. Retailers of the
Week are chosen on recom-
rncnrtsrtoas by their Lottery
sales representative and regales office staff.
Library's willing to forgive, forget, for now
The Amherst Public Library is
extending its fine foregiveness period through Jan. 31.
; Feb. 1, fines will.
again be incuned oo aay overdue
l-fce Has time to check
those school lockers and books
shelves and return items to the library's temporary location at 2SS
Parte Avenue.
While Ihe main library kt closed
for renovation, the
Pari. Aveoue is
i of items including books, videos. «--y»-»*-i and software.
Library officials say they regret
aay k-conveokoce the move has
caused aad hope *e ftae forgiveness time, «d the tptfitfae of a
thiva sp book drop i
entrance, will help patrons get their
books back.
The lobby of the temporary location is al_o fitted with many tale
items. Stop by snd see how the _e-
terior of the post office has been remodeled and check oat al the ate-
teris-s available for toan.
If the library does not have what
patrons need, k can probably he
accessed at othar libraries m
through the  interlibrary  Mb
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