NORTH CLERMONT
BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT B1
Your Community Press newspper serving Goshen Township, Jackson Township, Newtonsville, Owensville, Stonelick Township, Wayne Township E-mail:clermont@communitypress.com We d n e s d a y, J u l y
Web site: communitypress.com B E C A U S E C O M M U N I T Y M AT T E R S
1, 2009
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Clermont in better shape than others Tim and Wanda Ferree with the barn loom at Windy’s World in Williamsburg.
Vol. 29 No. 25 © 2009 The Community Press ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
New trail could help businesses
Clermont County Commission President Ed Humphrey was one of the many officials and dignitaries who spoke at the ribboncutting ceremony for the first phase of the Williamsburg to Batavia Hike-Bike Trail June 19. What made Humphrey different from most of the other people at the ceremony was his personal experience with a bike trail. He lives a block and a half from the Little Miami Scenic Park and Trail in Miami Township. “I know how much this will be used,” he said. FULL STORY, B1
Wayne Twp. wants new fire station
Wayne Township is hoping they’ll get to build a new fire station sometime in the near future. Fire Chief David Moulden applied for an $800,000 Fire Station Construction Grant through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to build a new fire station next to the township hall on Ohio 133. FULL STORY, A2
Goshen Twp. poll
The Community Journal posted a question on the Web last week: Goshen Township is in need of extra money for the fire and police departments. Should the trusteees ask for a levy soon? The results are: Yes, 336 votes, 59.26% No, 231 votes, 40.74%
To place an ad, call 242-4000.
Libraries could cut programs
By Mary Dannemiller
mdannemiller@communitypress.com
In March, seniors gathered at the Williamsburg Senior Center and learned how the Nintendo Wii video game systems could help them exercise. The program was sponsored by the Clermont County Public Library. However, programs such as this one will be discontinued if Governor Ted Strickland’s proposed 50-percent cut in library funding is approved by state legislators. “Governor Strickland has to balance his budget and part of his remaining regiment is to cut library funding by 50 percent by July 1,” said Clermont County Public Library Executive Director Dave Mezack. “What that would mean for Clermont County is most of the public outreach programming is going to go away.” Also, plans for a new multimillion dollar branch in Union Township would be scrapped. “We’re still in the process of trying to acquire property and we would stop that process immediately,” said Joe Braun, president of the library’s board of trustees. Mezack said he is “aggravated” with Strickland’s proposed cuts and with more people using the libraries, now is not the time to make radical cuts. From 2007 to 2008, circulation rose three percent, but from 2008 to today, circulation has increased by 17 percent across the 10 Clermont libraries. “With the economic situation really bad, a lot of people are relying on libraries for services during
Lisa Allen of Goshen Township spends time at the Goshen branch library with her daughter, Megan, 12.
JOHN SENEY/STAFF
their unemployment like writing resumes and doing research to seek employment,” he said. “It makes us all very aggravated that we won’t be able to provide these services that are necessary for the public.” While Mezack would not speculate, he did say all of the libraries would be looked at closely. With circulation of 360,104 so far this year, the Milford-Miami Township branch is the county’s
What users say
Alexis Polly, 16, is an avid reader who checks out and reads about 15 books a week at the Goshen branch library. She lives in Morrow but comes to the Goshen library because her grandparents live in Goshen and because the library is bigger and has a better selection of books than the one near her house. “I use the library all the time. It’s the way I can read new books,” she said. She said going to a bookstore to buy books would be too expensive and not as convenient for her. Alexis said she also is involved in a mentoring program at the library in which she helps younger children read. Lisa Allen of Goshen Township said she and her daughter Megan, 12, come to the Goshen branch library to find books for Megan’s summer reading program at Goshen Middle School. Megan also meets with a tutor at the library to help with her studies. Allen said they have been coming to the library a lot more recently, probably about once a week. Rich Reiter of Stonelick Township recently lost his job and comes to the MilfordMiami Township branch library to work on his resume and look for jobs online. “There are better things they can cut than the libraries,” he said. Reiter said he mostly comes to the library now to do research and use the computers. He said he used to work for General Electric helping design jet engines.
JOHN SENEY/STAFF
Alexis Polly, 16, of Morrow finds a wide selection of books at the Goshen branch library. busiest, with the Owensville branch, circulation 87,076, and the Felicity branch, circulation 46,653, being the county’s least used. “It depends on the percentage of the cuts,” Mezack said. “I don’t even want to venture a guess on what would happen and have people go into a panic when we don’t have all the facts and figures yet.”
Braun said libraries will not be hit as hard as those in neighboring counties because of smart budgeting. “In Clermont County, we’ve budgeted conservatively for decades and as a result of that conservative budgeting, we won’t be hurt nearly as bad as some of the other systems in the state of Ohio,” he said.
CNE High School principal put on leave Community Press Staff Report The principal of Clermont Northeastern High School is on paid leave while an investigation is conducted. Clermont Northeastern Local School District Superintendent Neil Leist said Principal Frank Chapin was sent home June 22.
“I’ve been told by the lawyers not to comment,” Leist said of the investigation. He said the investigation is being handled by the law firm of Ennis Roberts & Fischer. Leist said Chapin was escorted from the high school building by members of the administration, but would not go into any details. Leist said he would not address
any rumors in the community concerning the reason for the investigation. School board member Cindy Huxel said that because the matter was a personnel issue, she was not at liberty to comment. She did say that Jason Tackett, dean of students at the high school, is in charge while Chapin
is on leave. Tackett said he had just returned from vacation and did not know any details of Chapin’s departure. Board member Mike Freeman said he has been on vacation and did not want to make any comment at this time. 0000343808