Amherst News-Times, 2001-11-21

              Historians plan holiday meal — Page 6      Secret Shop for kids opens — Page 10
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Amherst News-Time
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Wednesday, November 21. 2001
Amherst, Ohio
Captain leads
women to enter
'man's' world
of police work
by ERIK YORKE
News-Times reporter
Though sad, Amherst Police
Department captain Barbara
Cowger-Vilagi says she is
anxiously awaiting her retirement After 25 years as an
Amherst police officer,
Cowger-Vilagi went to work
for the last time on Friday,
Nov. 16, the same date that
she began on the force in
1976.
At that time, Cowger-Vilagi
said, the Amherst Police Department had female police
officers in title only. She said
that females at the time
served primarily as dispatchers
and did not have the certified
police training necessary to
work the field.
"1 was the first certified
woman police officer in Amherst,'' she said.
She herself worked as a
part-time dispatcher at the police department before deciding to take the test to become a police officer. She
said that in the 1970s, there
was still a lot of inequality
between genders.
_ 'There used lo be recruit-
mem posters, 'Can you measure up?'" die $akL The posters, die added, spouted height
and weight requirements more
suited to a majority of male
recruits than female. Shortly
thereafter, she said, the United States Supreme Court
stepped in, doing away with
the restrictive requirements
and allowing more women the
opportunity to pursue police
careers.
Still, having gotten into the
department, she did encounter
some insensitivity from her
male colleagues. One particular insult she remembers involves men making kissing
noises on the dispatch radio
when she would call in. She
remembers one such call she
made to a department outside
of Amherst that indicated to
her that things would indeed
get better. In the midst of the
kissing noises, another male
voice spoke up.
"I don't know who the
voice was, but I really wish I
did know," she said. "Someone said 'For crying out loud
guys, why don't you give the
lady a break. She's just trying
to do a job like the rest of
us are.'"
In 1979, she was promoted
to the rank of sergeant and
was moved «o Hie eight shift
She received a commendation
in 1980 by participating in
the arrest of robbery suspects.
Capt. Barbara Cowger of the Amherst Police Department takes a moment to thumb
through an album chronicling her 25-year ca
reer in police work. Cowger retires this month,
as the highest ranking female officer in the department's history.
wrote
%ll-l__
puoat.
She said that she
men acting suspicious*] at
Lawson's store in
was a iooi>er*^e*-**ee*«*aw«**> ~
son's in Amherst and the descriptions of the suspects
matched the men she had
seen earlier. Cowger-Vilagi
formed her fellow officers
and the suspects were caughi
She wasjxrombied to     ^*
lieutenant the following year
and then in 1983, on Nov. 16
once again, Cowger-Vilagi
promoted to the rank of
lice captain, the rank she
ed as until her retirement
^bbaMy held that
rank longer than any other
CONTINUED on page 6
	
Exchange student enjoys adventure here
by ERIK YORKE
News-Times reporter
Nice teachers, Ranch dressing
and a cat named Bluby are among
Julia Hils's favorite things since
coming lo Amherst Hils, 16, is a
German exchange student staying at
the home of Matthew and Maureen
Bernard and their three children,
Craig, 13, Madolin, 11 and Steve,
10.
Hils, from a small town in southern Germany near the city of Stuttgart, is an only child. She said that
it is nice to live in a house with
other children.
"It's fun living in a loud house,"
Hils said. "Having brothers and a
sister."
For the Bernard family, Hils is
the third exchange student to stay
with them. In the past they have
welcomed a young man from Mexico and another young man from
northern Germany. Matthew Bernard said that the family is excited
to host their first female exchange
student especially Madolin.
"She loves having an older sister," Bernard said. They've gotten
to be pretty close."
Hils said that she has also become
rather attached lo one of the Bernards' three cats, Bluby. The Bernard, also have a golden retriever.
One of the aspects of American
life Hils found to be most different
hi her high school experience at Marion L. Steele. She said that the
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Juia Hils, with Bluby the cat. is an exchange student from south-
em Germany attending Marion L. Steele High School. She is pic-
teachers there are much nicer and
more personable than her teachers at
her school in Germany, called Hans
Buldung Gymnasium.
tured with Matthew Bernard (left) and Craig Bernard, two members
of her host family.
"It's a lot different" Hils said   easier."
"It's a lot more strict but I think it's CONTINUED on page 6
k.
Local cable channel gets upgrade check
Amherst cable viewers will soon
notice a change to the channel 12
government access station. The
channel that broadcasts city council
meetings lo the homes of Amherst
residents will be getting some new
equipment some of which has not
been replaced since 1986.
city
at
the cable television funds for the
purchase of new equipment According to Pat Sanden, who is in
charge of programming at channel
12, the equipment at Amherst Town
Hall used to broadcast council meetings and other municipal business
has been there since 1986 aad has
never been replaced.
reaction to an equipment shortage,
but a rather a money shortage.
"We bought some big expensive
equipment and we ran a hide short,"
Sanden said. He added that the
funds are still being taken from
cable television money and not borrow ing  from   any  other  city
ter that will run the
bulletin board. The
notifies Amherst
iad of civic news
12
$8,136 in
don of
by council is not a is
One particalar itetn
atai
add
twelve
board
of amyr-
*Tt says when the polls open, if a
road or bridge is closed, ••pedal
council meetings," Sanden sail
"It's fenenl infon-tadon for the
dtp."
m
old generic page," and can only be
programmed about three weeks
ahead of time, the new computer
will allow for much better graphics
and will allow him to program ia in-
formation for specific dales as far as
a year in advance.
He added that they try to nuke
improveaaeau ia die channel's
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News-Times reporter
An Amherst city ordinance states
that residential dwellings in the
downtown commercial district must
be located on the second floor of a
building or higher.
That ordinance was questioned in
September, when it came to the city
building inspector's attention that
someone was living on the first
floor of a downtown building.
According to building inspector
Ron Konowal, he learned of the unlawful tenant in early September after receiving complaints on the
subject
"I started getting calls from a few
people downtown," Konowal said.
The man, who could not be
named by sources, was living on the
first floor of the building at 135
Park Avenue. The building is owned
by David and Gerri Rice, who also
rent the top floor of the two-story
building as an apartment
David Rice said that the man had
been living there for about a month,
and that he and his wife did not
know that they were in violation of
the city ordinance.
"My wife, I think, had misunderstood what the building inspector
had said," Rice said. He added that
he and his wife thought that they
had gotten permission to rent the
bottom floor as an apartment until
meeting with the zoning board,
something Rice said they had every
intention of doing from the start.
"We knew we were going to have,
to go before the zoning board of
board of appeals." Rice said. Rice, a,
former city councilman, said that he
did know about the city ordinance
prohibiting first floor residency in
the downtown district
He continued, saying that he and
his wife knew that they needed to be
granted a variance by the zoning
board of appeals to continue renting
the property as residential. He said
that they had rented the property for
"around $600" per month.
Rice said that the first floor of the
building used to be a show room for
a tile business and already had a
bathroom, originally created to
show to potential customers. He
added that there was also a small
kitchenette on the first floor, nuking
it easily convertible from retail to
residential space.
"(Possible tenants) really had
little to do to use it as a residence,"
Rice said. He said that his wife
wished to seek a variance and convert the first floor to an apartment in
order to save money on the cost of
removing the remnants of the tile
business. That he said, would be
necessary to make the space suitable
for another retail business.
The variance was voted down
unanimously by the zoning board of
appeals at their Sept 25 meeting.
The variance met strong opposition
at die meeting from several key
Amherst figures including Dave
Fox, president of the Amherat
Downtown ft Betterment Association and at-large city council member Nancy Brown. Walt McDowell,
head of the zoning board of appeals
gave a history of apartments downtown, including the ordinance restricting downtown apartments to
upper floors.
McDowell said that is was his belief that someone was living in the
building for quite some time and
that he personally had •tpoken with
the building inspector on the subject
prior to the Sept 25 meeting of the
zoning bond of appeals.
At the meeting, Rice argued that
it was difficult to rent the property
as oommeicial snd that he could
lent the apace at a much higher rate
as a studio apartment He added thai
he did not expect the property to he
According to Rice, the lean
no longer there and his wife is i
to beat «a» the
"The person pot a let
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