Amherst News-Times, 1997-12-24

              Letters to Santa on Pages 6-7       Shadylawn repairs are complete — Page 3
Amherst News-Time
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Wednesday, December 24, 1997
Former law
director
faces more
$$ charges
Former city law director Thomas
Sanborn can't seem to stay out of
the reach of the long arm of the law,
especially the county prosecutor's
office.
Sanborn, who was sentenced on
federal charges last year, was indicted by a Lorain County Grand
Jury last week on five counts of
ihclt, one count of forgery and one
count of tampering with evidence.
All seven charges stem from 1996
allegations that he allegedly defrauded his law clients out of more
than $273,(XX).
Sanborn pleaded guilty in federal
court in late 1996 to stealing more
than $230,000 from his clients between 1979 and 1996.
Lorain County prosecutor Greg
White said Sanborn escaped state
prosecution by confessing to federal
prosecutors without his office's
knowledge. In doing so, Sanborn
was charged with violating federal
banking laws in connection with the
case.
"Basically, he and James Burge
(his attorney) walked in their office
and admitted to a federal crime, and
(Burge) asked them to charge him
(Sanborn)," White explained. "They
did, but they didn't talk with us first
and we didn't find out until after he
was officially charged."
Even though his law license was
revoked by the state, Sanborn received a lesser sentence, or what
White called "a slap on the wrist."
Sanborn was sentenced to six
months of alcoholism rehabilitation
at a special Akron facility and six
months of house arrest in his Amherst home.
Nevertheless, White vowed to
pursue the case because of what he
called "sloppy investigation" by
federal officials. He said they failed
lo verify Sanborn's claims that only
S23O.OO0 had been taken from his
clients. No federal audit of Sanborn's records was done, he added.
He was indicted by the grand, jury
last week alter an audit of his financial records revealed about 542,500
in client funds were still missing.
The additional information was presented to the grand jury earlier this
month.
The audit was done by White's
office as part of a continuing
investigation.
"We never really closed this case
despite what the federal prosecutors
and the court did because it never
should have gone lo them in the first
place," he added. "This was an end
run on his attorney's part."
Sanborn pleaded not guilty lo the
new charges after voluntarily surrendering lo the Lorain County
Sheriff's Department last week. He
is free on $20,000 bond pending a
future court hearing in Lorain
County Common Pleas Court.
Neither Sanborn nor Burge could
.be reached for comment.
Amherst, Ohio
Powers Elementary School second graders get help in baking cookies   kie Caper
from Marion L. Steele High School students during the second annual "Coo-
Big kids, little kids learn in kitchen
by GLEN MILLER
News-Times reporter
Powers Elementary School kids
had a very busy two days last week
preparing for tomorrow.
On Dec. 16, about 27 second
graders ventured across Washington
Street to Marion L. Steele High
School lo pull off what school
teachers describe as a major "Cookie Caper." Twenty-two juniors and
seniors taught them how to bake
apple jack Christmas cookies.
The following day, 30 Powers
students enrolled in the extended
first grade program found out what
it was like to be Santa — or at least
one of his elves. Each brought an
old toy lo school that was donated to
needy area children by the Salvation
Army.
The bakc-a-thon was a learning
experience for both the second graders and students enrolled in Barbara
^picker's "Single Living" class.
High school students take the
class to learn how lo cook, sew and
do anything and everything that's
necessary to survive when a person
is living the single life.
It's especially helpful for college-
bound students or those with plans
to move away from the security and
comfort of mom and dad after high
school graduation.
"But its also helpful in helping to
learn to get along with and help people other than themselves or their
friends," Spieker explained.
Powers teacher Sue Naelitz had
another motive, one that would help
the younger students understand the
importance and use of weights and
measures in their daily Jives.
The "Cookie Caper" is held in
conjunction with a new math program started two years ago at Powers.
It includes instruction in dry and liquid measures.
"I just felt a good practical application would be to actually make
something, especially something
everybody would like to eat," Naelitz said. "Besides, they also learn
about baking. It's a fun learning
experience."
The cookies were either eaten or
taken home as a surprise for the second graders' mothers. They were
CONTINUED on page 2
Financier wants probation over jail
Chief assistant county prosecutor Jonathan Roscnbaum has
filed a motion with the Lorain
County Common Pleas Court
opposing probation for convicted investment advisor
Joseph Ncmchik.
Ncmchik was sentenced to 12
years in prison after being convicted in early October of defrauding   more  than   a  dozen-
clients of more than $1.5 million
in investment funds.
He currently is being held in
the Lorain Correctional Institution in Grafton pending the outcome of the probation request.
In his motion, Roscnbaum
argued Ncmchik does not deserve probation because he
"fleeced" clients out of their investments for his own personal
gain.
Ncmchik is seeking probation
so he can pay back the clients,
an offer James Burge, his Lorain
atlo/ncy, made at his sentencing
hearing. Burge is seeking a hearing before judge Thomas Janas
on the probation request.
In his motion, however,
Roscnbaum said the investment
advisor is attempting to manipulate the justice system as he did
his victims through offers of
restitution.
"There is no reason to prey-
upon the minds and hopes of
these (clients) by giving the. defendant a chance tq advance
more hollow promises at a hearing," he wrote.
Janas was expected to make a
decision on the hearing this
week.
Ncmchik closed his investment office on S. Main Street in
mid-fall. •. .'"'■•
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Move
force
senio
Golden Acres part
of commissioner's
study of land use
by GLEN MILLER
News-Times reporter
A county official is studying the
possibility of closing the Golden
Acres nursing home and moving it
to the old St. Joseph Hospital in
Lorain.
Lorain County Commissioner Michael Ross initiated the study as part
of an effort to find multiple uses for
the closed hospital.
He said relocation of the residents
of the old sandstone nursing home
could have several benefiLs for the
county. Not only does the hospital
provide room for expansion, the
county could benefit from the sale
of the nursing home land at the corner of N. Leavitt and North Ridge
roads.
Ross noted the land is ripe for development because of its location
and proximity to Rt. 2, and a new
interchange planned by the Ohio
Turnpike Commission on Rt. 58.
Golden Acres administrator William Glowacki said he, his staff and
the residents would prefer to remain
in the building.
"I'd hate lo leave this building
because the residents are happy and
we have such nice grounds here,"
Glowacki added. "If they decide to
move, ihen we'll do it, like it or
not."
Ross said he expects the study to
take at least 90 days, after which the
proposal will have to be reviewed
and discussed by fellow commissioners Belly Blair and Mary Jo
Vasi. Neither could be reached lor
comment by the News-Times, although Glowacki said ihcy have expressed reservations in conversations with him.
The 82-bcd county-opcraicd nursing home has been located in Amherst for aboul 30 years. Prior to the
late 1960s, the 70-year-old building
was a tuberculosis treatment center.
The South Shore Development
Corp., a nonprofit development
firm, has laken over the redevelopment of the old hospital.
"This is nodiing more than an
idea — a proposal to look at the
feasibility. Nothing is going lo happen overnight or anytime soon,"
Ross said.
One of the redevelopment ideas
under consideration for the old hospital is what Ross called a "condo
concept." Under it, the county
would purchase space in the'building for the nursing home rather than
lease it on a long-term basis.
Ihe county should own the facility in which the nursing home residents live, he added.
CONTINUED on page 2
Higher tax bills will be county's present to us
by GLEN MILLER
News-Times reporter
The Lorain County auditor has an
unwelcome but inevitable present
for Amherst and South Amhersi residents: higher properly taxes.
The increases come in two different packages for homeowners.
The value of homes built within
the last few years will increase 10
percent resulting in aboul a three
percent higher tax bill. The owners
of older homes will receive a bigger
present, a 20 percent increase in valuation and tax bills thai are around
five percent more.
The difference in Valuation and
lax bills is based on the auditor's
knowledge of the value of homes,
according to chief county real estate
appraiser Sieve Birch.
The appraised value of newly
built homes is close to or the same
as the current value. It usually is
It's a sure thing: taxes and death
by GLEN MILLER
News-Times reporter
Henry Kowal and Robert
Becker live about five miles
apart. The men don't know each
other although they share a common fate: their property taxes
arc going up more than they
would like.
Kowal, of 642 Greenlawn Avenue, and Becker, of 209 Artnis
Road, South Amherst, will be
paying between five and six per
cent higher property taxes starting in 1998. The change is due
to a state required revaluation of
residences throughout Lorain
County by the county auditor's
office.
Becker's increase will be
higher than Kowal's because he
lives in South Amherst, where
home values will jump 25 percent. His taxes will increase
close to six percent while
Kowal's will go Up about five
percent. That's because his
home is among those in Amherst
whose valuation has been increased 20 percent.
People living in new homes
built within the last few years
will pay less, .only three percent
more in taxes. That's because
the value of their homes is
closer to the actual cost of con-
sttuction and market value.
Their valuation will increase 10
percent, according to the auditor's office.
The value of older homes is
large! y unknown because the auditor's office does not know if
they have been remodeled unless a county appraiser has
walked ihrough them within the
last Tew years. .
Kowal, an air traffic controller in Oberlin, said an appraiser did inspect his home
when he purchased it in 19%.
Nevertheless, its current value of
more than $192,000 increased
' by aboul 20 perceni because his
home is not new, according to
the auditor office.
CONTINUED on page 5
within   10   percent   of 'it,   he
explained.
The value of older homes, especially thosethathavj
eled and .sold, is not accurately
known.
'These are the ones we arc off
modeled and we're not aware of it,"
he added. "It's hard to keep up with
the value because you can't gel.into
Valuation updates for taxation
purposes are a must under stale law.
The last was done in 1991, he said.
Based on com
private appraisals, home valuations
ih Amhersi and throughout most of
Lorain County have increased due
to the influx .of new residents and
demand for homes.
Valuations in South Amherst
have increased 25 percent, the highest in northern Lorain County. It
shares the distinction of having the
biggest increase with Wellington,
where property values also rose 25
percent. Tax rates in the two communities will increase an estimated
five to six percent, Birch said.
With the exception of Lorain and
Elyria, where valuations  rose  15
percent, most other communities in '
ihe county will receive a 20 percent
valuation hike.
Several factors have fueled the
higher valuations, according to
county.auditor Mark Stewart. They'
include lower mortgage rates, the
movement of people from Cuyahoga lo Lorain counties, and the
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