Amherst News-Times, 2001-06-27

              E
Local girls part of winning team — Page 8   Players audition for new show -   iIPs 10
Amherst News-Tim
n m o o
O (O I I
r 00 M M
c ai o o
■   <  X  M
c m m
M r- co is
3>   O -^.
37  si
<  O-v.  ^
mi*®
r* co
Wednesday, June 27, 2001
Amherst, Ohio
CO
o
o
-<
I
50 cents
Beaver Creek Reservation to prem
to
The Amherst Beaver Creek Reservation will open officially next
month.
According Dan Martin, director
of the Lorain County Metro Parks,
as of June 18, the park was nearly
complete. A check list showed that
the trails were 95 percent complete,
tree planting was 50 percent complete, and die soccer field was the
largest project to be completed because of complications that arose
during last fall's grass planting.
Rocks were found in the playing
grounds and the contractor will have
to redo the entire field.
"Although we are a little behind
schedule we hope everyone will join
in the opening of the new park,''
Martin said during last week's committee meeting.
According to Martin, park officials will also place a barrier between the park ami the police station
because residents have been using
the area as an unofficial entrance
into the park.
"I believe we will get 150,000
visitors there per year," Martin told
After attending a surprise party held in honor of
their retirement, Lawrence Lalonde and Ray Be-
ran take a minute to pose behind the awards presented to them by the South Amherst Fire Depart-
r firefighters retired after
n them stands their
Elizabeth Kangas shows off her framed letter from President George W. Bush.
Young Republican gets
letter from her President
by YVONNE GAY
New*-Time* reporter
Elizabeth Kangas, 10, may
look like a typical little girt,
but first impressions can be
deceiving.
As the fifth-grade Shupe
Middle School student sat in
the living room of her South
Lake Street home last week,
she smiled while admitting la
being a stanch Republican
and said she and her family
watched the nitrrr* of me
presidential nee unfold last
ill, end was ifcUgJunl to
kern mat final results placed
W.
Bush in the While House.
In met, she was so pleased
with the results that she felt
compelled to write the 43rd
President a letter, thanking
him for a job well-done.
But Elizabeth's involvement
with President Bush didn't
end there. To her surprise an
envelope from the While
House arrived to me Kan-
gases' home four weeks later.
"I was nervous,'' the
10-year-old said, remembering
the day she opened the letter
several weeks ago. Inside the
large envelope was a signed
picture of President Bush and
a typed ssassage, which was
also signed end written on
White House stationary. The ,
letter thanked Elizabeth for
writing, and encouraged her
to tap into her own special
talents. It reads in pare
Thank you for sharing
your thoughts with me.
"I am pleased to hear from
young people like you who
am canning) enough to take
the time to write. All of us
have God-given talents that
we can use to make the
world a better place. m
"Remember that trading is
one of urn best ways to expand your views of the
world.. J hope that you will
CONTWUfO on page 3
council members. "These spaces become family places."
According to Martin, $700,000
was donated from the community
for construction of the park, and
those people who donated monies
will be recognized on the day of the
opening.
Signs will also be posted through
out the park regarding the newly
passed bicycle helmet ordinance, recommending children wear their
safety gear.
"It's been a pleasure working
with you Dan," mayor John Higgins
said during the meeting.
Safety and service director Sher-
rill McLoda also thanked Martin for
a job well done. She also asked residents to donate rocking chairs for
use in the main building. Chairs are
typically $150, and plaques will be
placed on the chairs in honor of
their donors.
Festivities will begin at 4 p.m.
Sunday, July 1.
on
SA firefighters give up
'family' for retirements
Ray Beran and Lawrence "Larry"
Lalonde joined the South Amherst
Fire Department at the same time 31
years ago.
The men live in close proximity
of each other, and are even somewhat related as Lalonde's niece is
married to Beran's son. And recently, the two firefighters did something else together, they retired.
Last Sunday, firefighters, EMTs
and family members gathered at the
South Amherst station to honor the
two retirees by throwing a surprise
party. And, after, receiving accolades from Chief Scott Faight, a
long line of fellow volunteers in full
dress, as well as the EMTs, lined up
to shake the hands of the men who
have given so much to their community for so many years.
"Being a volunteer fireman is not
like a job." Raight said. "And it's
not a hobby. I is a way to help your
fellow man. / nd, after you've been
here a whil<, it turns into your
family."
Neither Lalonde or Beran have
been jumping on the firetruck when
the siren sounded for a while. Beran
has been the radio man for the last
two years, only going out when the
department was short on help. And
Lalonde has been in California visiting his sister.
But the two have spent a lot of
time fighting fires and reporting to
accidents, and between them have
many stories to tell.
"We've got too many to tell," Beran laughed. "We would be here for
a long time."
"But I do remember when I was
on the church roof with another fellow on New Year's Day and the
roof blew up," he continued. "The
smoke was a puffin' and a puffin'
and the next thing I knew we were
blown off."
When asked if he and the other
firefighter were injured, Lalonde
laughed.
"Yeah," be laughed, "they landed
in the shrubs."
Lalonde thinks more about the
many different car crashes that the
department was called out to.
"I remember this one out of Rt
58," he recalled. "There was one
just after midnight when some kids
were killed, and then the next morning there was another one when a
couple of school teachers were
killed. The two accidents happened
about 100 yards from each other."
But, regardless of how horrible
some of the memories are, they both
agree that they had some good ones
and they both agree on one more
fact.
"We're sure going to miss this
place," Beran said sadly as Lalonde
shook his head in agreement
While the celebration was going
on and the food was being dished
out, the inevitable happened, a siren
went off. Dress jackets were removed, the turnout gear went on,
and the trucks drove away, sirens
blaring.
But, as they will do from now on,
Lalonde and Beran stayed behind.
man loses identity
to credit card scam artist
A Cleveland Heights man is suspected of stealing the identity of a
local Amherst CEO, and several
other high profile professionals.
Amherst officials closed die case
three weeks ago on a 34-year-old
suspect who they believe stole the
identities of several Cleveland doctors, lawyers, and one company
head from Amherst.
The Secret Service, Cleveland
Heights Police Department, and the
United States Postal Service, along
with the Amherst Police Department
all took part in die case.
There was no paper trail," detective James McCann said. There
was a lot of stuff done through the
internet He was using a cell phone,
so I found his phone records and
was able to find him that way."
McCann, who spearheaded the investigation, said he could not discuss specifics or the suspect's name
because die Cleveland Heights resident has not been formally charged.
However, after officials were able to
track the man down, he did say that
the man confessed to the crimes.
According to McCann, police
started the investigation after an
Amherst businessman filed a complaint on March 30. The man told
police that he had received several
phone calls from credit card companies concerning purchases that were
made in his name.
"He, (the suspect) would get credit cards in someone else's name,"
McCann explained. The suspect
had attempted to get checks in the
(Amherst) man's name. I worked on
this case and nothing else for one
month."
According to McCann, the suspect targeted high paid professionals
because in many cases those professionals are either too busy to notice
a change in their credit line, or not
paying full attention to every bank
statement or credit card bill
He also said the suspect was an
employee of a prominent Cleveland
hospital, and was able to retrieve the
Amherst man's credit cards
other pieces of credit while he was
being treated at the hospital.
Further investigations led officials to obtain a search warrant on
the suspect's home where they
found numerous papers and medical
records that linked the 34-year-old
man to other identity theft crimes.
When McCann and other officials
confronted the man at his place of
work in Cleveland on May 22, he
confessed to the crimes. While
searching the man, officials also recovered two stolen credit cards front
the suspect
According to McCann, the investigation remains open while officials
continue to gather other charges
against the 34-year-old. Meanwhile
he said he will turn information he
has gathered surrounding the case
over to federal authorities, where
the suspect could face possible indictment in federal court
CONTINUED on page 2
Community police
will put cops back
program
on beat
A new community policing
program will put Amherst officers back on the beat
According to Lt Dennis
Seger of the Amherst Police
Department in decades past
officers were assigned to
cover certain areas of their
community known as lieats."
By walking moss areas officers became familiar with
the people in their assigned
section of town, and the resi-
feltsafe
they
wish was keeping
But with the passage of
police
bated to
and for me asost part
■p losing BMV
nection with their community.
However, a similar program
jchfdulfd to start this month
plans to switch the tocos of
polking back to the streets.
There are no major problems with crimes here," Soger
said about (he Amherst community. However, he arid getting back to basics, and being
present before a problem
grows out of control can be
helpful to the city and iu
g&&ft«S
Like the old beat
menu of yesteryear, dm aew
program will place individual
officers on assignments to
specific areas throughout me
city. Those areas win be the
CONTINUED on page t
Oaganjs) tfljjMT
tamtam