Amherst News-Times, 2001-11-07

              Talking' bus will teach kids — Page 2        Comets fall to Fighting Irish — Page 7
Amherst News-
School board
buys property
for parking,
and expansion
by ERIK YORKE
News-Timos reporter
The board of education is hoping to buy some land on Dewey
Road to add to the school district's holdings for future growth.
According to superintendent Robert Boynton, there are no immediate plans for the land.
The school board voted to pass a resolution to purchase the land,
but the deal is not yet final Boynton said. He said the school board
is currently having the soil tested as well as other environmental
factors investigated. The deal cannot be finalized until those tests
are completed.
"There's no deal until we're satisfied," Boynton said. The current proposal has the school board purchasing about 38 acres for
$20,000 an acre.
Boynton said the move comes in light of the current condition of
some of the district's school buildings, like Powers Elementary
School, which he said are getting older. Boynton said that the land
where the new junior high school will stand was purchased by the
board about 30 years ago for the same reason the board wants the
land on Dewey Road. Boynton said the current board wants to
have that same kind of foresight.
That isn't the only land acquisition business that the school
CONTINUED on page 2
Halloween handout
Marion L. Steele High School faculty hand out candy to delighted students on their way home last Wednesday. The candy
was distributed by the faculty as a way to celebrate Halloween.
•*>.
1 Supporters rally for Main Street
■' designation to boost downtown
by ERIK YORKE
Look out below
Shupe Middle School students who sold the most magazines in
this year's fundraising drive, enjoy the fruits of their labors, jumping
on large, inflatable pieces of play equipment during a celebration
last week. Matthew Petek and Marilyn Miller were two of the top
salespersons.
News-Times reporter
The city hopes to take a major
step toward the revitalization of the
historic downtown district. For the
second year in a row, the city, in
conjunction with the Amherst
Downtown and Betterment Association (ADBA), has applied for designation as a Main Street Community,
a high honor according to Main
Street director Lesia Boytchuk-
Schneider.
Downtown Ohio, Incorporated, a
Columbus-based organization, takes
numerous applications every year,
in what has become a stiff competition for Main Street designation,
Boytchuk-Schneider said.
"They could pick four, or they
could pick none," she said.
If granted the designation. Downtown Ohio, Inc. would provide local
city officials and business owners
with numerous training opportunities. The training, which will mostly
be done in workshops, is geared
toward developing the skills needed
for the dowtown to thrive on its
own. The city will receive no funds
via this designation.
"The training is so that in the future, we can sustain ourselves by
CONTINUED on paga 3
Members of the Amherst Downtown & Betterment Association (ADBA) hear a presentation
during their weekly meeting. More people turned
out for last week's meeting than ever before, according to ADBA president Dave Fox.
I
to
Our town's high school kids stage 'Our Town'
by ERIK YORKE
News-Times reporter
Students in the Marion L.
Steele Theatre Company have
been hard at work preparing
'his year's fall offering,
Thornton Wilder'* "Our
Town." The staple of high
school drama will be performed oo Nov. 9, 10, 16
and 17 at 7:30 pm. at the
Powers Elementary School
gym. On Sunday, Nov. 11,
the students will put on a
special matinee performance
at 2 pan.
The play is being directed
by MLS drama director Valeria Fvschman. She said that
though the piay can at times
be quite challenging to the
student!, both those perform
ing and those working behind
the scenes, she is confident
that they will all give a solid
performance.
"It's a tough show,"
Farschman said. "It's going to
be done well. They're doing
a really good job."
Assistant drama director
Dave Anderson agreed, saying
that the students involved in
the production have worked
very hard, from building the
sets and an addition to the
stage themselves, to preparing
the lighting and sound
schemes.
"They've never failed to
amaze me," Anderson said,
adding that no matter what
goes wrong ia rehearsals the
students always pull everything together by showtime.
This is Anderson's second
year working with the theater
Theatre Company
production opens
Nov. 9 at Powers
group.
Anderson also said that because the students have to
build their own sets, among
other duties, that some students from bigger high
schools with more equipment
might not have to do, he
feels they get a real lag up
when applying to go to theater frlWTTtll.
They get •
here that most high schools
don't get close to," Anderson
said. "Sometimes I think these
kids leam more because we
have less."
One of the students working behind the scenes, senior
Jon Bluhm, said that he expects the show to go very
wall.
"Everything's coating
good," Bluhm said. "We haven't had any major
problems."
The play itself was written
by Thornton Wilder in 1938
and won the Pulitzer Prize. It
deals with the small New
Hampshire town of Gravers
Comer and the common people that inhabit it The ptay
features a sparse set, only a
few tables snd chairs, and
much of the scenery in Gravers Comers must be imagined
by the viewer.
Students involved in the
play's production an Assistant
Director Lindsay Hopkins (senior). Set Designer Katie
Primm (senior). Lighting Designer Katrina Robinson (senior), Light Grew Head Josh
Miranda (senior), Costume
Hands Justin BUswiss (senior)
and Lindsey Gibb (junior).
Sound will be done by sophomore Matt Butler. The
house heads are seniors
Elaine Muniga and Josh
Cornell.
The play's cast includes, in
order of appearance, junior
Jake Wachholz as the Stage
Manager, senior Jeff Lombardi
Bryan Ambrosio as Joe
QoweU/Joe Stoddard, sophomore Bill Anderson as Howie
Newsome, senior Katie Primm
as Mrs. Gibbs. senior Beth
Hobson as Mis. Webb, junior
Mike Andorka as George
Gibbs, freshman Alice Hyster
as Rebecca Gibbs, fmihraaii
Mike Gide as Wally Webb,
freshman Katie Bbancini as
Easily Webb, senior Kristen
CONTINUED on pate •