Amherst News-Times, 1998-03-18

              Nude dancing isn't for Amherst — Page 2
Girl goalie fights for fame — Page 8
Vmherst News-Times
March 18, 1998
icil
oves
contract
Editor's note: A story which
appeared in last week's News-
Times was incorrect in reporting
the results of a special city council
meeting concerning a police contract. The correct story follows;
the News-Times regrets the error
and any inconvenience it may
have caused.
Amherst patrolmen and sergeants
were awards a new three-year contract March 6 when city council
failed to overturn a factfinder's report on troubled negotiations with
their union.
Mayor John Higgins had recommended the rejection and permission to enter into federal arbitration
in an effort lo resolve stalled talks
with the Amherst Ohio Patrolman's
Benevolent Association (OPBA).
Bul ihe majority of council didn't
agree wilh him. Only five of council's nine members voted for an ordinance rejecting the report and giving him and safely service director
Shcrill McLoda permission to seek
federal arbitration in the labor
dispute.
Council member David Kukucka
was, and new council members
Steve P'Simer and Ed Cowger voted
against the legislation.
The emergency council meeting
was prompted by a federal labor law
that requires parties involved in negotiations to accept or reject a factfinder's report within seven days after it is mailed. The Amhersi report
was mailed Feb. 28.
Had council not met, the factfinder's report would have automatically become the basis for a new
contract
Higgins sought to reject the report
because il heavily favored union demands thai he claimed would cosl
the cily an additional Sl59,0(X) over
the length of the agreement.
But council's acccplancc of the
report gives sergeants and full-lime
patrolman a four percent pay increase retroactive to Jan. 1 and an
additional 3.5 percent in 1999 and
2000.
The OPBA originally had sought
a 4.25 percent raise this year but
lowered lhat demand during the
talks. It refusal to give in on u dozen other issues including pay for
lime served in court, call-in pay lor
off .duty officers, holiday pay, sick
leave, and shift differential.
"I was disappointed because wc
did not have the opportunity to renegotiate some of these points," Higgins said. "If wc had, 1 think we
would have won some."
The mayor said the cily had lo
consider the cost of other police
contracts lhat remain to be negotiated. They include talks with
OPBA bargaining units representing
full and part-time dispatchers. Contracts also remain to be negotiated
with pan-lime patrolmen, and the
department administrators, including chief William Hall, who are not
represented by the union.
Patrolman Walter Gould, local
OPBA director, called the fact finding report "fair and equitable" considering the contracts of other police
departments and the amount of time
Amhersi officers must often work.
Patrolmen have to put up with
"unreasonable working schedules
and conditions of employment" because the department is under
staffed, he said.
Under the Fair Labor Standards
Act, he said employers that continuously under staff their work force
must ''accept the responsibility of
paying a premium" to them.
Bul Higgins felt differenUy. In
the past two years, he said the city
has built a new police station and
hired additional full-lime and pan-
limc officers.
"But still the union said dial's nol
enough," he added.
In addition, about 40 percent of
the cily's $3.9 million general fund
will be spent on ihe police department this year. Of this, more than $1
CONTINUED on page 3
Amherst, Ohio
50 cents
What's old
will be new again
in local bridges
by GLEN MILLER
Window
Marion L. Steele High School students Lindsey Edwards (rear) and Alicia Horn place clothes
they have sewn for a class project in a display
window for everyone to see. The sewing was accomplished by three life skill classes under the
direction of teacher Judy Pozniak.
News-Times reporter
For more than a year, die city
has been sorting through old
steel beams no one wanted in
the hope of using them to help
refurbish a small but important
city bridge on Cooper Foster
Park Road.
In the process, it has chosen
the. best beams, those that show
no serious signs of deterioration,
thereby saving money in the
bridge's reconstruction.
Utilities superintendent Don
Woodings and mayor John Higgins have begged and bought
used steel bridge beams from the
Erie County engineer's office.
The used beams are not in bad
shape, but the bridge in which
ihey will be used is in poor condition. Its base is eroding, partially because of greater use and
normal deterioration over many
years, according to the mayor.
Had the city not located the
salvaged steel beams, Higgins
said it may have had to spend up
to S500.000 to fix the bridge.
Instead, the work only will
cost 5354,000, $200,000 of
which is money from a state
public works Issue II grant. The
city's share is $154,000. Of that,
$44,000 is permissive tax money, funds collected with the
city five percent tax on new vehicle license plates.
The key find was span beams
purchased from construction
companies that worked on re
placing or repairing bridges
throughout the state.
In most cases, the bridge span
beams were nol in bad condition
but- usually had to be replaced to
accompany the wider bridges
and roads built on them, according lo Higgins.
Ihe refurbished Cooper Fos-
ICf Park Road bridge will be
hmli this spring and also will be
wider. In addition to the two-
lane roadway, it will hold sidewalks for increased pedestrian
traffic in the area, Higgins said.
The Quarry Road bridge used
lo be part of an old railroad
bridge. It also supports a 12-inch
water line that feeds most of the
cily's soulh and west sides, especially the new subdivisions located off S. Lake Street, according to Woodings.
The Quarry Road bridge also
eventually will be rebuilt wilh
used steel beams that have yet to
be purchased. Instead, the city
will spend about $250,000 this
year to build a walkway bridge
lhal also will support the water
line.
The bridge is not expected to
be replaced ihis year but probably will be within the next few
years. When il is, the cily may
save thousands ol dollars by using good quality salvaged steel.
Woodings said.
The cosl of a new bridge has
been estimated at S1.3 million.
The city thinks it can save al
lasast half the cost by using used
CONTINUED on page 3
Hobby turns golden for local egg lady
Family's heritage reflected in intricate designs of color and wax
by GLEN MILLER
News-Times reporter
Beverly Boiwka is an artist who
produces a rare but beautiful and
fascinating art form from something
most people toss into the garbage.
The Amhersi woman is becoming
renowned for the designs she painstakingly puts on egg shells of all
sizes and shapes, whether they come
from chickens or rheas, a small
ostrich type of bird.
Her fascination with egg design
started 20 years ago when she
learned aboul a design class through
her church and decided to see what
it was all about.
Her teacher used Ukrainian designs and patterns. Thai ended up
suiting her fiimily heritage just fine.
Her husband, Steve, is Ukrainian.
Ukrainian designs arc symbolic
and have survived over many
generations.
"There is a symbolism in every
single pattern they do. It's mind
boggling and beautiful," she added.
"They never threw iheir patterns
away."
The sun, wh>3ai, stars and flowers
that are commonly found have religious or agricultural significance.
At first, she just created egg designs for her family and friends.
Boiwka didn't think she would
become firmly attached to it because
she liked lo "dabble" in several
kinds of craft work.
Bui lhal changed when a friend
saw her egg art and suggested she
iry selling il at craft shows. Il was a
concept lhal had never occurred lo
Boiwka.
She did, but look along other
crafts. They didn't attract near as
much attention as did her egg designs.
"People came to a screeching halt
and become rooted in place. There
Ukrainian egg artist Beverly Boiwka shows off <i small sample of    throughout the year,
her intricate and often time-consuming art work that she makes
was kind of a magnetism. Il was
then I realized what I had and whal
fascinated people," she explained.
Over the years, what started out
as an occasional hobby has mushroomed into a business, Country
Lane Crafts, thai site operates out of
her Slick Koad home wilh the help
of her husband.
It's his job lo remove egg whites
and yokes wilh a special tubing and
loots lhat carefully blow oul the in-
sides. The thin tubing is the width of
a small nail.
"It's just kind of taken over, so
over the years I keep trying to create
more challenging and complex designs," Boiwka said.
She's lost count of how many
eggs on which she has created designs, but over the years it's been in
the thousands.
January to Easier is her busiest
lime of the yisar. Every year she creates designs for 20 to 30 dozen
eggs. Some sell for as much as $35
at craft shows, depending on the in
tricacy of her designs and the num
ber of colors used.
She normally participates in four
to 10 shows a year, including the
Avon Lake Homespun Fsur April 4
at Lorain Counly Community
College.
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