Amherst News-Times, 2002-01-23

              Dairy Mart robbed of cigs, beer — Page 3   Author points out our oddities — Page 16
Amherst News-Times
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W ll)NF.SI)AY, JANUARY 23, 2
AMHI RSI , OHIO
Trading spaces:
Frombach's new
dean of students
by DIANA HOUGLAND
News-Times reporter
It was moving day last Wednesday for newly-appointed high
school principal Jeff Riesen and
newly-appointed dean of students
Erich Frombach.
It was a little tough for Riesen to
move his stuff out of the office he
has occupied for such a long time at
Marion L. Steele High School, and
it was a little exciting for Frombach
to move in.
"This is something I care very
deeply about," Riesen said about his
former position as athletic director.
"The extracurricular activities are a
big part of the kids' education and it
Board
okays
school
hockey
teaches a lot of life lessons."
"And while it will always be
close to my heart," he continued,
"it's time to move on to the principal's job."
"I'm pretty excited about it,"
Frombach said. "It's going to be a
great learning experience to work
with such a great school. I'm looking forward to working with Mr.
Riesen and Mr. (Tom) Lehman (associate principal), the coaches and
the rest of the staff."
When Riesen was originally
promoted to the principal of the
high school, it was apparent that he
would not be able to do everything
that he was previously doing while
taking on the new role. The decision
CONTINUED on page 5
club
Erich Frombach
by DIANA HOUGLAND
N-T sports reporter
The list of sports activities is
growing at the high school, but the
most recent addition could land
some kids in the penalty box.
First thiere was the debut of a
girls' golf team at the beginning of
the school year, then a bowling club
was added, and now the school
board has approved the school's
first hockey club.
At the school board meeting held
Jan. 14, the board of education recognized the sport as a new club to
begin next winter. And depending
on how things progress, by March,
2003, the club could be recognized
as a school team sport
While parents and students in the
community have been wanting to
create a hockey team for the last few
years, it took the pleas of Scott
Heinlcin, the son of Karen and Lee
Heinlcin, to get the ball, or puck,
rolling.
"Scott started on me last spring,"
Karen said. "He wanted to go to
Elyria Catholic to school. I gave
him all the reasons that I wanted
him to go to .Amherst and asked him
to give me the reasons he wanted to
go to Elyria Catholic."
"He was torn," Karen continued.
"He wanted to go to EC so that he
could continue to play hockey in
high school, but he didn't want to
leave his friends."
So Karen told Scott that if he
would do the work, she would see
what she could do about getting a
hockey club started in Amherst
"He went on-line and did all of
die research," she explained.
.After her son got the information
to her, Karen ran a newspaper ad,
looting for anyone else in the area
that might be interested in high
CONTINUED on page 3
Eighth grade boys from St. Joseph School   enjoy pizza at lunchtime with Father George and Father Larry in the St. Joseph rectory.
St. Joe's gives
students inside
view on 'career'
Last week, children at St
Joseph School had the opportunity to get to know men
and women who serve the
church full-time in
conjunction with their "Vocation Week."
Father Steve, a Byzantine
Priest visited the students on
Monday and introduced them
to his life as a priest When
he asked a room-full of sixth
graders who wanted to be a
priest, no kids raised their
hands, but when asked what
value a priest had, the children were full of answers.
When asked why anyone
would want to be a priest
one child answered "It's good
to be a priest" Another child
answered "Because you're a
nice guy." Other children responded that one would become a priest for God and
other people.
After explaining to the
class that married men can
become Orthodox priests, one
girl asked the priest a tougher
question. She wanted to know
why women cannot become
preists. She seemed satisfied
by Father Steve's answer that
Jesus called no women to be
apostles although He could
have had He wanted to.
He then engaged the class
in a discussion of what woman He would have chosen.
He told the class that to
CONTINUED on page 5
Father Steve, an Orthodox priest from Lakewood, shares with
St. Joseph students his experiences as a priest, in hopes of encouraging them to give the ministry some thought.
City Hall's old auditorium to be renovated
Plans are in the works to renovate
the auditorium located oo the second floor of City Hall so that it can
be used by the community and by
city council for their meetings.
The theater was last used in 1951
and has fallen into disrepair. It's
jy being used for storage,
entire project will be corn-
without the use of any tax
according to mayor John
About $450,000 has al-
i  been  committed,   with
$225,000 of it already received from
the Nord Foundation, Nordson
Corp., and Eric and Evan Nord. The
committee will also be looking into
securing other grants for the projecL
The Auditorium Renewal Committee chairman, Marty Sofia, estimated the cost of the project at around $800,000. He said they have
invited four architects who have experience with this type of restoration
to make bids and they would know
more accurately what the project
cost will .be alter they've met with
Sofia indicated that several of the
people en the committee have experience within the theater and they
are being advised by people who
have experience renovating this type
of auditorium. Both Sofia and Higgins indicated that it will be important to secure contractors, advisors
and architects (hat have experience
in historical renovation.
Sofia said he got involved with
the renovation while having a casual
conversation with Mayor Higgins.
The two were discussing how well
the renovation of the first floor of
City Hall had gone and Higgins decided to show Sofia the theater.
"I noticed how well the bottom
went" he said. "I know this will be
a gem for the city."
Sofia said that the intent of the
committee is to provide Amherst
with a acditorium that the entire
community can use. He said in ad
dition to being used for council, snd
allowing for a much lager community attendance, k could be used
by other community groups for their
meetings, by preschool* for graduation and for shows. He said that after the renovation, which includes
elevators, the antiunion will be
made folly accessible to all men-
ben of the community.
Sofia said he'd like to begin the
early «agn of the project before
What started as an idea to
make a videotape to thank
their peers for supporting
them has taken, or almost taken, the wind out of the
Comets varsity boys' basketball team.
It has also resulted in a
public flogging of their coach,
Mitch Gillam; teammates said
they are getting tired of the
publicity.
Marion L. Steele High
School senior Tom Hamel
said he just wants to play basketball. He doesn't want to
talk to reporters, and he
doesn't want to relive the
past He just wants to play
ball.
"We just want to play
ball," he said about his entire
team last week. "We keep
getting sidetracked by everybody. I'm sick of the media,
but I want the truth to come
out about my coach."
The "truth" that created the
outcry last week was a nine-
second tape made by three
senior members of the basketball team, showing the three
boys apologizing for embarrassing themselves and their
community. Controversy prevailed when the tape was
made public.
On top of the video was a
statement made by Gillam immediately following the
team's loss to Avon Lake on
Tuesday, Jan. 8, where the
coach was quoted as saying
"We totally embarrassed our
basketball team, our school
and our community."
According to Gillam and
his players, this was not the
intent nor was it supposed to
be humiliating to the players.
"Several times last year the
seniors went on TV at school
thanking the community for
their support whether we had
won or lost" Gillam explained. "We had a good
crowd at the Avon Lake
game and the intent of the
suggestion was to thank the
crowd for their support Obviously I didn't make myself
clear on the intent"
"And that's my fault" the
coach admitted. "I'm not trying to hide from my
mistake."
What has the coach, as
well n the players, upset it
die way that people outside
what he calls the "basketball
family" at the high school are
interpreting the tape.
"This is personal, in-family
business," Gillam said. "And
our badrrtball family inside
has a solid idea of where I'm
coining from. They know thn
I have their best interest at
heart"
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not intend to riubaii'tn the
lean snd he thinks that the
teen's performance tint night
was poor.
"We had to apologize for
playing so badly." he arid.
"We played realty bad. Bat
our coach meant no homilia-
iion. He's an excdlen coach,
he has turned oar progmn sr*
ound. We weren't even a ba-
feketbal torn before. Aad we
have a lot of respect for
"The outside
CONTIMMDot