Amherst News-Times, 2002-05-01

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WIDNISDAY,  May  1, 2(102
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Teamwork aids
cops who nab
local burglars
for break-ins
by AMY PERSINQER
News-Times reporter
In a show of cooperation and
teamwork, both inside the department and with other municipalities,
Amherst police were able to make
an arrest last week in a case involving numerous vehicle break-ins in
Amherst and Vermilion.
Because of quick thinking on the
part of the Amherst police department, the man that Sgt Dan Jasinski
had suspected of committing the
thefts was arrested when he called
the department to report that he'd
been assaulted, according to captain
Dennis Seger.
Police are not releasing the name
of the man arrested, pending com
pletion of paperwork by the prosecutor's office. He could be implicated in as many as 140 break-ins.
Patrolman Diane Mahar responded to the Amherst Public Library because of the reported assault
on March 27. When Mahar arrived
at the scene she learned that the alleged assault actually took place in
Amherst Township, according to
Seger. She called dispatcher Sandie
Karpinski to contact the Lorain
County Sheriffs Department to
meet the complainant at the Amherst police facility to file a report
Karpinski recognized the name of
the person reporting the assault as
the Amherst man that Jasinski was
looking for. She immediately contacted Jasinski at home who in-
CONTINUED on page 3
Busy intersection
An employee of Amherst's utilities department works on the re pairs on the busy corner of Milan Avenue and S. Lake Street.
Joe brews over council's cash decision
by AMY PERSINGER
News-Times reporter
The bright spring sunlight
streamed in the large front windows
of Joe's Brewhouse on Church
Street while the tavern's owner, Joe
Gambish, swept the tile around the
huge horseshoe bar. He was cleaning up from the night before, a
Friday.
"It's not real bad," he said, commenting on the bar's cleanliness. "It
was pretty slow last night"
It's not usually slow at Joe's.
People come from all around, perhaps to the chagrin of some, to drink
and socialize in Amherst's downtown. Like many of the drinking establishments downtown, Joe's is
bright, open, clean and safe.
And that is the image Gambish
wanted to portray when he bought
the bar from Neil Dunfee and decided to renovate it before he
opened it Memorial Day weekend,
last year.
He invested more than $20,000 of
his own money into the tavern's renovation and therefore into Amherst's downtown" "to improve the
look and feel of his tavern. He said
he wanted it to be his, to represent
him.
The result was so good that
photographs of the building at different stages over the years and
Gambish's renovations are on display at the Main Street office located in the old Post Office where
Lesia Boytchuk-Schneider helps
downtown business owner-! who
want to apply for grant money to renovate their historic buildings.
It's also the office where Gambish went to apply for a grant to help
him with the more than $7,000 cost
of replacing the electrical wiring,
HVAC and ventilation of his building. It wasn't Boytchuk-Schneider's
office then. It was the office of
Gregg Balbierz, who was fired by
the city for failing to do his job.
Gambish said he was encouraged
by  Dunfee's  information about
Tavern
worker
serves
teenager
A local tavern employee was
scheduled to be arraigned at Oberlin
Municipal Court on Tuesday, April
30. for allegedly selling beer to a
customer who was under 21 years
old.
According to Julie Ehrhart the
public information officer for the
Ohio Department of Public Safety
Investigative Unit Bonnie Mis-
zczak, an employee of Amherst Inn,
sold beer to a confidential informant
for the unit
The informant entered the Amherst Inn around 5:30 p.m. on Friday, April 12, sat in the bar area and
ordered a Bud Lite from Miszczak,
according to Ehrhart
Miszczak reportedly asked the informant for identification and the informant provided her with an accurate driver's license, showing an age
of 18.
"It wasn't a fake I.D.," Ehrhart
said, "She didn't do the math."
After looking at the driver's
license, the woman reportedly
served the underage informant
Miszczak received a summons to
Oberiin Municipal Court to face the
criminal charges of providing or
selling beer to a person under 21
years of age.
If Miszczak is convicted the liquor permit holders, tavern owners
Thomas Flanagan and Michael
Thuraion, will have to appear before
the liquor control board, according
to Ehrhart She said that Flanagan
and Thurston, Inc. appeared to have
a clean liquor history and this will
be the first citation against their permit This will be taken into consideration at the liquor control bearng.
Tke inn ia not expected to lose iu
To protect and serve
Amherst's brand new auxiliary police officers Rich Wolf and Ken
Bring were sworn in last week by mayor John Higgins and safety
service director Sherrill McLoda. Chief Lonnie Dillon joined them,
far right.
If Miszczak is found not guilty
_ will be no more acuc
bfc by **!*•* control
Player's to debut 'Mama's Veil'
The Workshop Players cast
and crew of "Mama's Veil"
are busily preparing for the
May 9 debut of this new
play by Teresa Lee Jenkins.
Cast in the title role of
Mama is Pamela Pickworth, a
veteran of the Workshop
Players' stage. Her daughter
is being played by three different actresses.
The young Betty Ann is
being played by Katie Warren
of LaGrange. who is making
her Workshop debut with this
role. Warren has worked
backstage with the troupe, but
this is her first time on stage
in front of an audience,
The "middle" Betty Ami ia
being played by Meghan
Wessell of Oberlin. Wessell
also played Lady Meghan in
"Once Upon a Mattress" last
fall.
The eldest Betty Ann will
be portrayed by another veteran Workshop Player actress,
Kathy Whitmore.
Through rewrites, the eldest
Betty An has becontt the
central character and Ihe
younger portrayals echoes
from her memory.
The biuret ^"Tt** lacing the ''Betty Anns" ia to
convince te
they are the
That will be
through
ing, and special interludes in
the script
The author has kept the
cast and director busy with
updates aad rewrites that have
fine-tuned the script This has
for the cast and crew; some
of the changes were readily
aft*f*fftnd. while others came
under scrutiny and debate
from the can. crew, director,
and others.
Dave Cotton ia directing
thai production and said he is
excited about wortung with
Jenkins on diis project Cotton
ia assisted by Mike Lmnler.
with Chariot* Nunis areeat-
bUag the cosums and Ueeel
on
and music. Jennifer Warren is
designing the set and gathering props.
Performance dates for
"Mama's Veil" are May 9.
10. 11. 17. IS. 24, and 25 at
8 pm. There win also he
matinee performances on May
19 and 26 at 3 pjn. Tickets
are $8.50 each and nay be
reserved by calling foe bo*
office at 988-5613.
Group discounts are avail-
Ale for groups of 10 or
more. Woricahop Pkyere
doohilddfc
ia located
Ridge Road, halfway
Rl 2 and Rt 58. TI
tittle
www;
available grant money for the renovations downtown. A little help sure
wouldn't hurt, he thought
He said he didn't want to wait on
grant money for the renovation of
the facade since he would have had
to open it the way it was to be able
to pay the bills while he waited, so
he applied far the help with the
HVAC and went ahead with the
CONTINUED on page 3
Committee
to study
bridge job
Residents aren't the only ones
anxious to see the work completed
on the Jackson Street bridge.
Amherst city council president
John Dietrich announced die formation of a Jackson Street bridge committee at last Monday night's council meeting.
Dietrich appointed law director
Ken Stumphauzer, mayor John Higgins, third want councilman Steve
P'Simer and himself lo the committee. Stumphauzer was appointed
committee chair.
The purpose of the committee is
to address the concerns citizens and
councilmembers have had concerning the slow progress of the bridge
replacement
Earlier in the month P'Simer met
with Dietrich and Higgins to voice
complaints he's been receiving about the bridge replacement The
bridge lies within his ward
He told council last Monday that
they discussed asking the contractors and subcontractors to come to
council and explain the project's
progress. He said they need to call
for a report and find out if there will
be added costs.
Jackson Street resident Alvin
Miller attended the rounril Tt-Tftiirg
and told council he'd seen some
workers around die bridge on one of
the recent nice days "looking
Miller told council that as a area!
business owner he couldn't ran Us
business the way the bridge replacement ia being handled. He told
council that It didn't mater who's
the city's and foe contractors job to
nuke tha tttttomer hippy, nd eon
The fort itare on the wiima's
aaareta is to meet wi* tha many
frmtrtctan waridag an fot project
and where* is ■