The Amherst news-times. (Amherst, Ohio), 1997-06-04

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Wednesday, June 4, 1997
Amherst, Ohio
Seniors
graduate
Sunday
Ceremonies marking the
110th graduation of Amherst seniors will be held June 8 beginning at 2:30 p.m. at the Palace
Civic Center, 617 Broadway, in
Lorain.
The Reverend David Gross,
pastor of Sl. Peter's United
Church of Christ in Amhersl,
will deliver the baccalaureate
address. Two hundred and sixty-
nine Marion L. Steele High
School seniors are scheduled to
graduate as the Class of '97.
Other graduation speakers include senior class president
Karie Coffman and Crislie Lynn
Snyder, an Amherst student who
attended the Lorain County Joint
Vocational School. The valedictorian, whose name is expected
to be announced June 6, also
will address the class.
Following the student presentations, Steele principal Robert
Boy ton said an Academic Hall
of Fame will be announced.
School superintendent Howard Dulmage will then speak to
the students and Boynton will
present the Class of '97. Board
of education president Ron Ya-
cobo/./.i will hand out diplomas.
Each graduating senior is allowed to request up to four tickets for family members and
friends to attend the ceremony.
Seniors who have not already
made arrangements for additional tickets through a Steele
Parent Teacher Organization
(PTO) ticket bank should do so
by contacting PTO president
Sue Cotton al 984-2018.
The Palace Civic Center scats
1,400 people.
"Everything is pretty much
tradition like il has been in the
past. We're jusi hoping the rain
is gone," Boynton added.
As in the past, no reception is
planned after the commencement to avoid congestion. Instead, seniors can celebrate a
sense of closure by tossing their
graduation caps in a courtyard
outside the civic center, he
added.
Having
a ball on
field day
Students at Powers
Elementary School let
off steam during the
school's annual Field
Day last Friday.
Organizers planned
many events including a
three-legged race, an
obstacle course, and a
water toss.
Above, students use
a parachute to create
some special, and fun,
effects. At right, a girl
takes a swing at a T-
ball.
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Old i
tells |
Renovcu.w,.
unearths
50-year-old
News-Times
by KATHLEEN KOSHAR
News-Times editor
Call it coincidence, good timing,
or an eerie happening, but when
West Street resident Sue Cotton and
her family began remodeling their
home two months ago, they unearthed a 50-year-old News-Times.
The paper is dated March 20,
1947. The Cottons discovered it
April 12, just 50 years, three weeks
and two days after it was published.
Cotton admits the family had
planned to begin their dining room
remodeling project in March but
were delayed. Had they started on
lime, she said, they may have unearthed the paper on its 50th
anniversary.
The paper was found flat under
the drawers of a window scat; part
of the renovation included a new
floor for the dining room, she
explained.
The Cottons have lived in the
West Street home for 17 years.
Others in the community have told
her the home was built in the 1930s
as a parsonage for St. Paul Lutheran
Church, which was once located
next door.
She isn't sure who built the
house, bul Cotton said it has a lot of
character. She may someday do a
little more research on its history.
The News-Times she found is
eight pages in length and was published on a Thursday.
Il is printed in seven-column format, is yellowed and somewhat tattered but very readable and tells of
some interesting events of ihe times.
The big news story of the day, with
a seven-column front page headline,
was the possible organization of a
merchants division of the Amherst
Chamber of Commerce to address
problems faced by local merchants,
but not necessarily a concern for the
enure chamber.
A second front-page slory, which
would probably be the lead story today, was aboul the Cleveland
Quarries.
The story read, "The largest
single building order for sandstone
in the history of the Cleveland
Quarries company may result immediately in the erection of a 40-room
building development on the west
side of town...The record-breaking
order, for the John Hancock Insurance company building in Boston,
will necessitate additional employees at the company's cut stone division and some means of providing
housing must be made to attract the
labor...
"Erection of the pre-fabricated
houses will depend largely on obtaining sanitary facilities...Most of
the houses will be constructed at the
comer of Milan Avenue and Quarry
CONTINUED on page 3
Neighbors feud over fumes; paint expansion
by BILL ROSS
News-Times reporter
A Tenney Avenue man who said
his family has been bothered by
paint fumes from a neighborhood
auto body shop, look his case before
the planning and zoning boards last
week after receiving notice that a
variance to add a new paint spraying
booth was being requested by property owner Milad Abraham.
Steve Smith, 30, has lived at 293
Tenney Avenue with his wife and
two young sons since 1994. Their
backyard abuts Rich's Auto Body
and Smith told the News-Times that
while his family has smelled paint
fumes emanating from Rich's in the
past, it has nol been enough to warrant an official complaint.
But when he received notice lhal
No parking: CC may nQt buy lot now
The possibility of the city acquiring a lot on the comer of
Church Streel and Tenney Avenue to create a municipal parking lot that would hold up to 80
vehicles is coming into question
because property owner Milad
Abraham wants to use a significant portion of the land for the
expansion of Rich's Auto Body.
At a May 28 planning commission meeting, Abraham and
his nephew, Dennis Abraham,
requested variances on the property lhat would allow a new
spray-painting building to be
erected, which would use up a
portion of the lol thai is coveted
by cily officials for a downtown
parking lot.
In addition, Abraham would
like to add additional parking for
Rich's, who leases the property
from him.
Even if Abraham sells the remaining portion of the loi to ihe
cily, there will only be enough
land left over for aboul 25
spaces, according to mayor John
Higgins.
Complicating the issue is a request from the planning commission which wants Abraham
to provide an easement on undeveloped property he owns on
Cleveland Avenue to allow for
an access road to Leavitt Road
businesses in the vicinity.
"I kind of got into it with Milad at the meeting," Higgins admitted "He said he would never
allow an access road on his
property and I told him if he was
nol willing to cooperate, he
would have a hard time getting
city permission to develop that
piece of land."
The mayor said he is disappointed because he believed
progress was being made toward
acquiring the entire Church and
Tenney parcel and concedes ihc
cily is now unsure to whal, if
any, amount of the property it
will be able to acquire for
parking.
Repealed efforts to contact
Abraham for- comment were
unsuccessful.
Abraham was requesting the var-  would be closer to his property,   before the board.
iance for ihe new spray booih which  Smith decided to present his case       The variance requests were ap
proved, but there must first be an
EPA review of the proposal before
construction can begin. The case
will be heard again at the nexi meeting on June 24.
Rich Wolf, owner of Rich's, disputes the allegation by Smith that a
new building will pose any health
hazards. "I have been in contact
wilh ihe EFA and OSHA and we
will be complying with their guidelines," said Wolf, while suggesting
lhat Smith may have olher motives
for trying lo prevent a new building.
"The Smiths wanted to sell their
house to Milad (Abraham), but he
thought their asking price was too
high and refused to buy it. That is
when he (Smith) started complaining aboul us."
Bul Smith said it was Abraham
who came to him and said. "I need
your property so thai I can put in a
CONTINUED on peg* 2
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