Amherst News-Times, 2002-10-30

              Turnpike needs to buy land — Page 2 South Amherst loses chief — Pac
Amherst News-Time
WHDNLSDAY, October 30, 2002
AMHhRST, OHIO
Rock Creek residents oppose brid
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by JASON HAWK
News-Times reporter
Disgruntled residents of Amherst's Rock Creek Run subdivision
argued last Monday night against
the construction of a bridge they
feel will turn their neighborhood
into a throughway for dangerous
traffic.
Nearly 40 residents showed up to
voice their concerns that a local
contractor might build a bridge
across Beaver Creek on Spruce Tree
Lane, stating that the bridge would
allow drivers to use the route as a
shortcut between North Ridge and
Leavitt roads.
They also brought with them a
petition, originally filed on Oct 7
by IS Rock Creek Run residents,
asking city council to stop the construction of the bridge by vacating
the street on either side of the creek.
An attorney for the group, Garrett
Murray of Elyria, said that Spruce
Tree Lane met the criteria for vacation because residents found safety
issues to be good cause, and because
the measure would not be detrimental to their well-being.
He also slated that 31 lots would
be directly affected by the attempt
to build a bridge on the road.
"(The residents) feel that it's a
safety issue," said Murray. "It's a
highly residential area with a large
number of children.*'
A bridge across the creek would
not only cause traffic flow problems
on Spruce Tree Lane, but would
also create considerable backup on
Leavitt Road, he said.
"If you think that it's backed up
now, wait to see how bottle-necked
that intersection will' be should a
bridge be added,*' he said. "The results would be disastrous."
CONTINUED on page 3
Thousands of little ghosts, ghouls, gobblins, clowns, superher- eluding (from left to right) little firefighters, the Yu-Gi-Oh cartoon's Athletically-geared Amherstonians put the pedal to the metal
oes, and princesses and their parents turned out at the Amherst blue-eyes white dragon, and Spiderman. The festivities were fol- (below) Sunday morning, running in the annual 5K "Run for Your
Halloween parade near city hall last Sunday evening. Some of the lowed by the holiday's traditional trick-or-treating actvities all ar- Bones" event, sponsored by the Cleveland Clinic,
most popular, fun, and creative costumes are pictured above, in- ound town.
Do you believe in 'haunted'
houses? This family sure does
by JASON HAWK
News-Times reporter
It was a dark and stormy
late afternoon near Halloween,
and probably the worst possible time for me to be sitting
across from the a cemetery in
what its owner assured me
was a very haunted house.
"We've always had ghosts
in our house. It's just something we kind of grew up
with," Liz Szefcyk told me as
we sat in the old house at
619 Cleveland Avenue which
was built in the 1850s.
"We've got them, and
they're friendly," she said.
"They don't bother us. We
know we've got them and it's
kind of nice."
Szefcyk has owned the
house for 12 yean, and spent
.time mere as a child when
her grandmother moved there
in the 1950s.
"You always feel like
there's somebody here.
There's always somebody    t
moving around constantly.
You can feci them," she said,
"I'm never alone even when
I'm alone, if that makes
Szefcyk claims to have first
the ghost of her great-
Liz Szefcyk's family believes thai ghosts share the house at 619
Cleveland Avenue with its currant living owners. From left to
right, top to bottom, they are: Lb, Isabels. Mary, Aly, snd Mad
Hey - who's that shadowy figure hi Ihe background?
grandfather, Lewis Hatchet,
when she was very young.
According to her story, she
was sitting on the front porch
of the house when she saw
him walk down Cleveland
Avenue and into the cemetery
across the street before he
simply faded away.
"I don't think he's here as
a ghost, but there are definitely ghosts in the house,"
she told me, and I couldn't
help but check over my
shoulder.
Stories about sightings of a
whole host of paranormal
phenomenon abound in the
Szefcyk household, and they
haven't all come from her.
"My uncle. Harry Powers,
said he was always annoyed
by the ghosts upstairs," Szefcyk said. According lo her,
Powers beard frequent unexplained knocking and would
often find objects moved around in his loom with ao
plausible cause.
Szefcyk's lister. Julie, began to recognise the distinctive traits of Ihe ghost in that
particular room and gave it
the name Genie.
One of Ssefcyk's grandee also clshned lo
ghosts in the old Victorian
CONTINUED on page S
City must submit
plan to EPA; face
$10,000 a day fine
without correction
by JASON HAWK
News-Times reporter
As if Amherst's problems with
the Environmental Protection
Agency weren't enough, city councilmembers learned last Monday
night that they'll have to jump
through more hoops when new regulations are put into effect in March.
Representatives from the Ohio
EPA told councilmembers on Oct
21 that the city must comply with a
new mandate to submit a plan to establish six new control measures.
The decree came from federal
EPA officials, who decided in December of 1999 lo expand the existing National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination Storm Water Program
in order to better protect water
quality.
The regulation affects four
categories of storm water dischargers, <nflwrf**g small municip—lities
such as Amherst, and the EPA official said the city can be fined up to
$10,000 per day if it does not sub-
mk a plan for implementing the new
measures before the March 10,2003
1. Public education and outreach
program to study the impacts of
storm water pollution, and must
target both the general community
and commercial, industrial, and institutional dischargers;
2. Public involvement and participation in developing and implementing a local Storm Water Management Plan;
3. Elimination of illicit
discharges;
4. Construction site storm water
runoff ordinance, including site inspections for compliance;
5. Post-constractioa storm water
management ordinance;
6. Pollution prevention and good
housekeeping for municipal opera-
tions such as efforts lo reduce storm
water pollution from the maintenance of open space, parks, and
vehicle fleets.
Utilities department workers wil
alio be fr-*f_ked lo nap the city'a
MS4 sanitary sewer system in its
entirety.
The ultimate purpose of the measures, according lo EPA literature is
to protect sensitive
wetlands, minimize the
of soils SM
the amount of
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