Amherst News-Times, 1997-02-05

              Grad leads hygiene group — Page 9
Downtown parking in works — Pj
Amherst News-Time
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Wednesday, February 5, 1997
Amherst, Ohio
BOE will ask voters to approve $16 mill
i
.Ol I CAW
New classrooms, labs, cafet
needed to help aid overcrowding
by GLEN MILLER
Architect Dan Weaver explains proposed    herst schools needed to ease overcrowding in
plans for additions and renovations to the Am-    the Amherst schools.
News-Times reporter
The elimination of overcrowding
in the Amherst schools depends on
whether school district voters will
approve a $16.7 million bond issue
for additions and renovations on the
May 6 ballot
A recommendation to build 31
classrooms, 10 science labs, five
multipurpose/cafeteria rooms, one
library and one computer lab was
unanimously approved by the
school board Jan. 27.
The plan is based on the recommendation of a future planning task
force and presentation by Dan
Weaver, an architect with Clark &
Post Architects, Inc. in Lorain.
Based on treasurer Al Elhindy's
estimates, the bond issue will be
3.*>54 mills paid over the next 25
years. The exact amount will be set
by the Lorain County auditor's
office.
The decision followed months of
planning and architectural reviews
of Marion L. Steele High School,
Nord Junior High School, Shupe
Middle School and Harris and Powers elementary schools.
Pending voter approval, the construction probably would not begin
until March 1998 and be completed
in August 1999. Until, then superintendent Howard Dulmage said the
school board will have to cope with
overcrowding the best it can without
cutting back on educational
standards.
"This we what we want to do and
need to do to get us into the 21st
century,'' Dulmage said. "At this
point, I don't see many other
choices. We are continuing to have
children register here as houses are
completed and people move in."
Last year, he had said the addition
of new students is expected to reach
4,000 by 1999 if new homes continue to be built in the school district. The district now has about
3,600 students.
Amherst schools were originally
built to house 350 to 400 students
each. Because of the growing enrollment, Dulmage expects each
school to have between 400 and 450
students in the next few years.
In the past, he said a new teacher
was added to reduce classroom size
but the schools have had no classroom space for the teacher.
Dulmage said the only other
choice would be installation of additional modular classrooms as
schools become more crowded, although he wants to avoid it if possible. The mobile home-like classrooms were placed at Nord, Shupe
and Harris last year.
Dulmage said the additions could
be done piecemeal over several
years but might prove more cosily
because of rising construction costs.
In addition, it would only eliminate
overcrowding  in  the  completed
CONTINUED on page 2
Residents opposed to rezoning of Legion lot
by BILL ROSS
News-Times reporter
Members of American Legion
Post 118 have asked the city to
change zoning of the post's building
in order to facilitate sale of the
building but residents in the area say
they are opposed to the request.
The issue came to light during a
lively buildings and lands committee meeting on Jan. 21 when Legion
representatives requested a zoning
change from TZ (township zoning)
to C-2, which is a wide-ranging
commercial use zone.
Members of Legion were on hand
as well as a large turnout of residents who live on streets adjacent to
the complex. The Legion said that it
could no longer afford to make
mortgage payments and must sell
the property as commercial in order
to stay afloat.
LeRoy Kubuske, who has been a
member of the post for 51 years and
is a Legion adjutant, was first to
speak to the issue, and began by describing a bit of the Legion's
history:
Club says it must sell to stay solvent
by BILL ROSS
News-Times reporter
Losses incurred from repeated
violations of the stale's liquor
and gambling laws have tent
American Legion Post 118 into
a financial tailspin.
Post members say they have
no choice now but to sell the
Legion facility at 46501 Middle
Ridge Road and find more affordable accomodations.
The violations include selling
liquor to non-members, gambling and selling alcohol while
under suspension, and have resulted in a series of fines and
suspensions dating back to 1979.
Social service and fraternal
organizations often use gambling as a means to gain finan-
cM resources.
—-C—ibung in places wnete liquor is sold is prohibited by Ohio
State Law (which includes raffles and tip tickets), bat since
fraternal organizations rely on
that income in order to continue
tb sM the community, it becomes sort Of a cat-and-mouse
game with the state.
According to Patty Haskins, a
spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Liquor Control,
"Because we are somewhat limited in manpower, organizations
like the American Legion are investigated only after we have received a compLunt."
The complaints tend to come
in from disgruntled residents
who Bwe near vm sootil narwtcc
organizations, but Legion members say they do not understand
what they could have done to
make someone take aim at them.
LeRoy Kubuske, who has
been a member of Post 118 for
51 years, believes that someone
may be targeting the Legion
specifically.
"When you have had as many
complaints as we have, that's
the conclusion you come to," he
said, adding that the Legion has
always tried to be 8 good neighbor and to help out tbe cornmun-
ity, but now is finable to donate
as it has in the past.
"We seed kids to Buckeye
Boy's Sate, mate fii*jiiiiiinir>
nations to the Red Cross donation, but sow we're not able to
do so much — when the pot
goes dry, you have to reconsider
what to do with what's left,"
Even though the most recent
suspension ended more than a
year ago, Legion members say
they still have not been able to
get back on their feet.
Reggie Cameron, the canteen
CONTINUED on page 3
"As a child growing up in Amherst, there was Clifford's Greenhouse on that property. Later on, the
property was..used by a mason contractor and the American Legion
bought that property in 1952 — and
it's been more or less commercial
since I can remember."
Kubuske went on  to say that
when the Legion built on the prop
erty in 1954, it was part of Amherst
Township and there were no building ordinances in effect at that time.
In about 1970, according to Kubuske, the Legion wanted to add an
addition and went before the zoning
board for a permit: "Well, lo and behold, we found out that we were
non-conforming in a residential
area, which we didn't even know
about...and we were paying commercial taxes on the property all this
time — we just took for granted that
we were a commercial
establishment"
When the township zoned the
property, they mistakenly classified
it as residential, and then had to
come back later and designate it as
non-conforming use, according to
Kubuske, when it should have been
designated as commercial all along.
The township subsequently gave
the Legion the permit for the addition, and after the area was annexed
by the city of Amherst about 12
years ago, another addition was requested by the Legion. Members of
post 118 were told by the committee
that they should ask for a variance
as soon as possible.
Kubuske finished his remarks by
saying there was an oversight at the
time and the variance was never applied for, now that the Legion finds
itself in a position necessary to sell,
it wants to obtain the proper zoning.
Councilperson Nancy Brown said
CONTINUED on page 2
Inauguration was more fun
than work for teen diplomat
by BILL ROSS
Kari Schmidt relaxes at home after her trip to
Washington, DC, for the Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference. She brought back pictures, me
morabilia and memories that wW stay with her the
rest of her life.
News-Times reporter
As an alumni representative
of the National Young Leaders
Conference held last year in
Washington, D.C., a young Amherst woman had the once-in-a-
lifeiime opportunity to witness
the inauguration of the president
on Jan. 20.
Kari Schmidt, 17, a senior at
Marion L. Steele High School,
was one of 380 outstanding
alumni from across the country
who were chosen to participate
in The Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference, which is
sponsored by the Congressional
Youth Leadership Council, a
nonprofit, nonpartisan educational organization.
"Students were chosen from
those who were participants in
the National Young Leaders
Conference and I was nominated
because of my interest in leadership and history," Schmidt said,
adding she still is not sure who
provided the nomination, but she
guesses it was one of her teachers at Steele.
The NYLC is a six-day interactive leadership conference that
is designed to teach students
leadership skills and give them a
greater understanding of how
the political process works.
Schmidt was thrilled to be
able to make another trip to
Washington, but she first had to
raise $965 dollars to pay for the
conference tuition.
The money was supplied by
area businesses, family and family friends. Although Schmidt is
reluctant to name them all because "some of them are uncomfortable having their names in
the paper," she reports that she
is extremely grateful to all of
them for their support of the
projecL
The conference lasted from
Jan. 16-21. and the students
were kept on a whirlwind schedule during their entire «tay.
They were housed at the 4-H
Center in Maryland, which
Schmidt describes as "a cross
between a college dorm sod a
hotel room." "What was really great was that one of my
roommates and I got really close
and we ended up in a group of
about seven friends who shared
some great times together,"
Schmidt said.
The students had an intense
itinerary for each day, but
Schmidt said that each day had
something special to offer. On
day one, they attended a keynote
address by former Olympic gold
medalist Jeff Rouse, a swimmer
from both the '92 and the '96
Olympics. "He was a great
speaker and taught us to turn failures into setbacks — meaning
that if you fail at something, you
can learn from hand use that to
your benefit in the future,"
Schmidt said.
One of the highlights of day
two was a behind-the-scenes
tour of the Armed Forces Inauguration Committee — a group
representing all factions of the
armed ibices involved in planning the inaugural parade and
other events.
Later that evening, Schmidt
was chosen to publicly thank
presidential press secretary Mike
McCurry, for delivering a leadership speech to the members of
Presidential Youth Inaugural
Conference.
The following day, the students were treated to a breakfast
meeting with members of the
National Press Club, including
such journalists as Helen Thomas (UPI) and James Carney
(Time Magazine).
In the afternoon, the students
took a walk along the mall, but
because they had dressed for the
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