Amherst News-Times, 2001-09-19

              Postponed art auction on — Page 5   I Another local Eagle Scout named — Page 10
Amherst News-Times
Wednesday, September 19, 2001
Amherst, Ohio
Amherst mourns with nation
by ERIK YORKE
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Nawa-Timas reporter
Tuesday, Sept 11 was a day that
■hook the United States to its core.
The entire world stood watching in
honor as terrorists crashed American passenger planes in the World
Trade Towers and the Pentagon.
The city of Amherst, like all American communities, went silent with
shock, grief and anger.
"It was the eeriest morning ever,"
said Kacey Thomburg, an employee
of Bayside Title and Escrow in
downtown Amherst Thomburg said
that she saw people driving through
town, both hands on the wheel and
staring straight ahead, a stark contrast to the usual of people singing
along with the radio or talking on
cellular phones. "I ran into work, I
was freaking out"
"We're probably going to war,"
said Jennifer Toolis, another Bay-
side employee, of her first thought
after watching the carnage on television. "I was scared, shocked, sick to
my stomach.''
The historian for the Amherst
Downtown Business Association,
and News-Times columnist, Fay Ott
was IS years old when Pearl Harbor
was bombed. She said the Sept 11
tragedy is very similar.
"It's pretty much the same feeling," Ott said. "But at least then we
knew who did it"
Ott said that like in World War n,
the United States must strike back
against its attackers.
"If one of me Arab nations is supporting this man (Osama Bin Laden,
the prime suspect in the tragedies),
they have no choice but to declare
war on them," Ott said.
Joe Huaar, another Amherst resident who remembers the day that
Japanese bombers strode Pearl Harbor, one of only a handful of times
in the history of the United States
that we've been attacked on our
own soil, said that if the country
could triumph then, it could triumph
again.
"(The Pearl Harbor attack) woke
CONTINUED on page 2
~,TlttniMri«riTantt—
Students at Marion L. Steele High School gather st the football field on Friday
morning in a ceremony to remember the tragedy of Sept. 11. The marching band
played the National Anthem and the choir sang "God Bless America" as the
American flag was raised and then lowered to half staff while a student played
Taps." School resource officer Les Carrendar is seen saluting the flag.
Station owner sorry for increased costs
Wyvill's Marathon gas station in downtown Amherst
raised prices on regular unleaded gasoline from $1.79 a
gallon to |2.73 a gallon on
Tuesday night after terrorist
attacks caused people to panic
about fuel supplies, according
to station employees.
At about 7:30 pjn., station
employee Amanda Pippert
said station owner Walt Wyvill decided to increase die
price.
He did so because of some
bad information he received,
infiiirahij'tilra em it would
soon be nIBch more expensive
to purchase enough gasoline
for hip station, according to
Bemice Wyvill, Walt's wife.
Bemice Wyvill said that
her husband did not wish to
reveal the identity of his informant, as he did not want
the person's job to be in jeo
pardy. According to Bemice
Wyvill, her husband did
panic, something about which
be now feels tctnble.
"People have been accusing*
him of being un-American,"
Bemice Wyvill said. "He has
returned the extra dollar a
gallon to anyone who has
complained."
According to Mrs. Wyvill,
her husband is so upset about
the whole situation that he
cannot speak about it
"He is a veteran of the
Korean War and has always
been committed to his oowntn
and Amhem," she said.
On the night of Sept 11,
Pippert said, vehicles were
backed up on Cleveland Avenue and Lake Street with
customers waiting to get gas.
The price remained elevated
until the station closed at 10
p.m.
"Everyone was in a mad
rush," Pippert said. She said
that she had worked earlier in
th*-*?, tout taed been celled
back to the station at 7 p.m.
because of the sudden increase in demand.
This price increase came
about two weeks after a customer appreciation promotion
at the gas station in which
CONTINUED on page 2
Students tap eight for gallery induction
The student council at Marion L.
Steele High School will host the
14th annual Amherst Schools Distinguished Alumni Gallery of Success induction ceremony on Friday.
Those to be honored include the
following:
Gary A.
Mead
Gary Mead is a graduate with the
Class of 1950, and is president
emeritus and co-founder of Lake-
bad Enterprises, Inc.
After serving four years as a
flight engineer on the B-29 and
KC-97 aircraft in the United States
Air Force during the Korean War,
where he served with the 307
Bomb Group and the 306 Air Refueling squadron, in the Korean
Theater. In 1959, he purchased the
Lorain Auto Body Company, a
small shop with six employees.
In 1969, Mead and his partner,
Nick Discenzo of South Amherst,
formed Lakeland Enterprises Corporation which purchased a vacant
building at Broadway and 38th
streets in Lorain. The company
started primarily as aa auto retail
business specializing in body shop
work, glass replacement, audio
electronics, upholstery and similar
work.
By 1980, the company was fitting the Ford Motor Company's
econoline vans for commercial use,
fitting the vans with racks, bins.
ladder racks, and a variety of accessary add-ons.
* By 1993, the company expanded
by adding a aew division, the Lake
Track and Van Equipment Company, to become distributors for the
Adrian Sieel Company of Michigan
and the Reading Track Equipment
Manufacturing Company of
Pennsylvania.
Kerry Campbell
In 1995, Ford honored Lakeland
Enterprises with its Modified Vehicle Engineering certification for
meeting Ford's strict engineering,
training process and quality control
standards.
Today, Lakeland Enterprises has
50 employees, occupies 38,000
square feet of space, and last year
did more than $5 million in
business.
Mead has also been an outstanding example of community involvement, having contributed both money and time to the Amherst public
schools, youth sports activities, the
area parks system, and to facilities
for the aging.
He has served as a board member of the Amherst Community
Chest, on the park commission, tin
planning commission, president of
the Lorain County Automotive Service Council. He is currently the
president of the Sandstone Office
on Aging advisory board. He has
coached scores of Little League
baseball players, has been a Cob
Gary Mead
Scout leader and active church
member at SL Joseph's.
Mead was nominated for the
Gallery of Success honor by a farmer inductee, Dale Brace. Class of
'48, who was inducted into the gal-
lay in 1987.
Marie
Robinson
Marie Robinson graduated with
the Class of 1948. the same year
she married.
She had served as secretary of
her class during all four years of
high school and was a member of
the girls' athletic ejeoriarion
She and her husband had eight
children; together the Robinsons
co-owned a local business but when
her husband died in 1971. Marie
was left a single mother with eight
kids and a business to run.
She operated Marie's Timbers
for the next 25 years, successfully,
while becoming an endless volunteer for the cay of Amhem.
Maria Robinson
Robinson became a vocal supporter and hard-working volunteer
for the Potato Festival while it was
held in Amherst, even creating the
Potato Pal doll in a different style
each year. '
She created the Golden Ager
King and Queen pageant at the fes-
tival, as well as the Tator Tot
Prince and Princess pageant
Though retired from her business, Robinson is still secretary of
(he Amherst Democratic Women's
Club, a group to which she has belonged since 1950. She sUo serves
oa the board of Lorain County
Children's Services.
A volunteer at the annual Amherst Jamboree celebration, Robinson could often be seen selling her
famous roast beef sandwiches at the
festival. She has also been an active
member of the local Business and
Professional Women's Club and
was voted Wosaaa of the Year ia
1997 by the BFW.
She was nominated for the I
by one of bar
Frank DeSantia
Frank
DeSantis
Frank DeSantis is a graduate
with the Class of 1959. Since, he
has played a major part in high
school athletics, having been named
Indiana State Athletic Director of
the Year in 1998.
DeSantis is an active member of
the Indiana High School Athletic
Association board of directors,
serving at one time as the group's
president. He has played a major
part in starting class sports in the
Indians whooJSi
DeSantis served as a boys tennis
coach for 35 years and as s girls
tennis coach for 10 years.
Tennis conns at a park near their
home are named for him and his
wife, Shirley.
DeSantis was named the
one girls referee and number
boys basketball official in tits
of Indiana at one time and he was
COHTBIUED on nana *
Downtown
coordinator
fired in June
The city's downtown coordinator, Greg Balbierz, ia
gone. He was fired in June
by the city and bas also left
his duties as interim executive
director of the Amherst Historical Society, according to
AHS board president Ruth
Haff.
According to city safety
service director Sherrill
McLoda, there is currently a
lawsuit regarding the matter,
making it difficult for her to
discus it She did confirm
that Balbierz was fired.
Haff would not speculate
on why Balbierz was fired
from the downtown coord ina-
tor's position, but said that it
was made clear to him for
the entire eight months he
served as the historical society's interim executive director that they would eventually
look to hire someone to permanently fill the position.
"We made it clear to him
mat we were looking," Haff
said. She added that Balbierz
had never shown any interest
in taking the fall-time position st the historical society.
The dty of Amherst's
acts both wife city officials
and fee Amherst Downtown
Bcaanimnt Association Bay
Ott, fee historian for feat organization said feat she remembers feat Bafeiera was
often hard to get s hold of,
aptittaats time between his duties ss oowaaowa
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