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CLERMONT
Your Community Press newspaper serving Amelia, Batavia, Batavia Township, New Richmond. Ohio Township, Pierce Township, Union Township, Williamsburg, Williamsburg Township E-mail:clermont@communitypress.com Web site: communitypress.com We d n e s d a y, M a r c h 3 1 , 2 0 1 0
Vol. 30 No. 12 © 2010 The Community Press ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Collection time
In the next few days your Community Press carrier will be stopping by to collect $2.50 for delivery of this month’s The Community Journal. Your carrier retains half of this amount along with any tip you give to reward good service. This month Thompson we’re featuring Sam Thompson. Sam is a seventh-grade home-schooled student and enjoys music, singing and drama. He also is involved in his youth group at Anderson Hills United Methodist Church. He is very successful with his paper route. For information about our carrier program, call Steve Barraco, 248-7110.
B E C A U S E C O M M U N I T Y M AT T E R S
Blasting causes concerns
By Kellie Geist
kgeist@communitypress.com
The Clermont County Sewer Department is making some changes along Shayler Creek to protect the environment, but the construction is causing a some homes to shake. The Shayler Run Segment C Sewer Replacement project calls for the replacement of the sewer line in Shayler Creek between Ohio 32 and Baldwin Road, said Lyle Bloom, sanitary engineer with the Clermont County Sewer District. While this project is mostly in Union Township, residents in Batavia Township are nearby. “The existing sewer line runs through the creek. We’ve had
problems in the past where the pipe will come apart and overflow into the creek, especially when there is a heavy rain. We want to prevent that from happening in the future,” Bloom said. The current sewer line is 24inches wide, but the new line will be 42-inches wide. Bloom said the larger pipe is not needed for capacity, but for the type of pipe installation required for this location. That’s where the blasting comes in, he said. “The pipe is located in the creek and the valley walls are very steep, so you can’t replace it with conventional open cut methods ... We are using trenchless technology,” Bloom said.
When the Cincinnati Patriots Baseball Club took over the Tealtown baseball fields’ Memorial Day tournament, they knew they wanted it to be about more than the sport. So, with the help of the Clermont County Veterans Service Commission, the Cincinnati Patriots Baseball Club put on a four-day 21-Gun Salute tournament. FULL STORY, B1
June Bailey and the volunteers at the Yellow Ribbon Support Center have spent a year planning the April 9 Scholarship Fundraiser, and their efforts are earning rewards. The crew has been able to round up a number of large donations for the live auction, including a gold fiddle donated and signed by Charlie Daniels, and the proceeds will pay for scholarships in the names of fallen heroes from all across the country. FULL STORY, A3
To place an ad, call 242-4000.
“The whole house shakes when it goes off. It’s happened two times now and there are no signs about it in my neighborhood,” McGraw said. McGuffy Lakes is about two miles from the construction site, he said. Bloom said the construction company is working to revise the blasting to lessen the impact. He said the contractors are planning to do eight to nine more blasts between now and September and then another eight between February and July next year. The entire project is not expected to be done until May of 2012. The $15-million sewer replacement is being paid for with Water Pollution Control loan funds, Bloom said.
By John Seney
jseney@communitypress.com
New Richmond considers annex
April 9 fundraiser has lots to offer
That means the construction company has to blast open holes to build shafts, which will later be manholes. Those shafts, combined with tunneling, are used to install the new sewer pipes, he said. Those blasts are what’s causing the shaking, Bloom said. The sewer department sent letters to residents within a certain distance and signs are placed on nearby roads, but there may be residents who can feel the blasts who were not notified, Bloom said. John McGraw, a resident of the McGuffy Lakes subdivision in Union Township, did not receive a letter and said the unexpected blasting caught him off-guard.
Some Pierce Twp. residents object to new stop signs
Memorial team provides service
Officials in the New Richmond Exempted Village School District will spend the next six months planning for a music annex to the high school. The annex would house chorus and band students who now are split between the school’s cafeteria, auditorium and music room since the school was evacuated in early February after 11 students in the music room became ill. FULL STORY, A2
50¢
KELLIE GEIST/STAFF
Practice parade
Marlee Vespie models her Kings Island costume during a parade rehearsal Thursday, March 25, at St. Veronica School. The fourth-graders will participate in the Cincinnati Reds Opening Day Parade April 5. For more from the rehearsal, see page A6.
Eastgate Bigg’s to close by June Supervalu and Remke Markets have entered into an agreement for the transfer of ownership of six Greater Cincinnati Bigg’s stores and their pharmacies. The Eastgate Bigg’s store is not part of this agreement and will be closed by June. Prescription files from Eastgate Bigg’s will be transferred to another local company. The Eastgate Bigg’s is the original store that opened in 1985. Remke will purchase the following locations:
• Highland Ridge, 3240 Highland Avenue, Cincinnati. • Western Hills, 5071 Glencrossing Way, Cincinnati. • Skytop, 5218 Beechmont Avenue, Cincinnati. • Hyde Park, 3872 Paxton Avenue, Hyde Park. • Mason-Montgomery, 9600 South Mason-Montgomery Road, Mason. • Delhi, 5025 Delhi Road, Cincinnati.
Three-way stops were added to three intersections along St. Andrews Drive in Pierce Township earlier this year after residents circulated petitions requesting the signs. Now, some residents want the stop signs removed. Pat Kellison of Castlebay Drive told the trustees at their Knoop March 9 meeting there were too many stop signs in a two-block area. “It’s not logical where they are,” she said. Three-way stops were added at the intersections of St. Andrews and Castlebay, St. Andrews and Muirfield Drive and St. Andrews and Stillmeadows Drive. “It’s very dangerous.” Kellison said. “People don’t stop.” She feared someone would run a stop sign and cause a serious accident. Roy Collins of St. Andrews said he started the petition drive last year because of safety concerns. He said motorists often drove down his street, which has a 25 mph speed limit, at more than 50 mph. “My wife and I were very concerned for a long time about the safety of ourselves and our grandkids,” he said. He said cars drove over his lawn and caused thousands of dollars in damage to his landscaping. His mailbox was knocked down several times. Police increased patrols on the street, which slowed down cars for a while, but when the police were not there, motorists continued to
Police increased patrols on St. Andrews Drive, which slowed down cars for a while, but when the police were not there, motorists continued to speed. speed. So he organized a petition drive to get the stop signs put in and got about 100 people in his neighborhood to sign. The township forwarded the petitions to the Clermont County Engineer’s Office, which approved the plan. “I definitely think it’s an improvement,” Collins said of the new signs. He said most people are stopping at the intersections and motorists are slowing down. Collins said many of his neighbors thanked him for the effort to get the signs installed. Kristie Earl of Castlebay said she signed Collins’ petition, but now thinks the result is “a bit of overkill.” She thought the township should have added one new sign at a time to see if it helped, rather than all the signs at once. Earl said she is undecided on starting a petition drive to get the signs removed. Collins said if others want to circulate petitions to get the signs removed, that is their right. “Let them go through all the things we went through” he said. Township Administrator David Elmer said he received only a few complaints about the signs. Trustee Christopher Knoop said he would like to see residents in the area “get together and make up their minds.”
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