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Smooth Move and Little Delights Retail and Consignment
Your Community Press newspaper serving Loveland, Miami Township, Symmes Township E-mail: loveland@communitypress.com We d n e s d a y, M a r c h 2 3 , 2 0 1 1
Volume 93 Number 5 © 2011 The Community Press ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Opening (Day) lines
Opening Day is two weeks away, and for the first time in more than a decade, that is more a cause for celebration than for dread. The Cincinnati Reds begin the 2011 season as defending National League Central Division champions, and even more is expected this year. We want to hear your Opening Day stories, and what Reds baseball means to you. Have you met any Reds players? Do you have a Reds shrine in your home? Do you still find a way to sneak out of school or work to watch the game? What is your favorite Opening Day or Reds memory? Email us your thoughts to loveland@communitypress.com. Include your name, community and a daytime phone number.
Northern exposure
Through the generosity of The Manuel D. and Rhoda Mayerson Foundation and individual donors, Northern Hills Synagogue-Congregation B’nai Avraham has enhanced the accessibility of its facility for people with disabilities. Although the congregation has been in its new building for less than seven years, and the facility met building code requirements for accessibility, experience taught the Conservative congregation that additional improvements would benefit members and guests. SEE LIFE, B1
Men down under
Four Moeller High School students took their studies overseas this semester. Juniors Gee Mensah of Anderson Township, Zack Flint of Loveland, Tommy Sullivan of Anderson Township and Michael Rojas spent six weeks in Australia as part of an exchange program with two schools, St. Joseph’s College Gregory Terrace and St. Patrick’s in the state of Queensland, Australia. SEE SCHOOLS, A5
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Mayor unswayed by anti-tax group
Group blasts city for estate repeal stance By Jeanne Houck jhouck@communitypress.com
Loveland City Council is lambasted in a mass E-mail sent statewide to people and groups fighting to eliminate Ohio’s estate tax. The E-mail was sent March 14 by Citizens United to End Ohio’s Estate Tax, to update people about its petition campaign. The group is unhappy that Loveland City Council agreed March 8 to pay $5,000 to join the Council to Protect Ohio’s Communities, a new coalition formed to fight proposed cuts in state funding - including the repeal of the estate tax. Glendale resident Dan Regenold, a local leader of Citizens United to End Ohio’s Estate Tax, wrote Loveland Mayor Rob Weisgerber two days after city council joined the Council to Protect Ohio’s Communities. “It is an outrageous and inappropriate use of taxpayer money to lobby General Assembly members for this purpose,” Regenold wrote in his March 10 letter to Weisgerber. “There were about 11 hours of hearings on this topic before the House Ways and Means Committee by over 30 organizations and individuals. The House is not operating with any deficiency of information on issues concerning the repeal of Ohio’s estate tax.” Regenold asked that Loveland immediately rescind “this ill-conceived and uninformed appropriation” or face its decision being
JEANNE HOUCK/STAFF
Loveland City Council joined the Council to Protect Ohio’s Communities, a coalition formed to fight proposed cuts in state funding – including the repeal of the estate tax – because the city says it stands to lose 14 percent of its general fund budget. That would force Loveland to make deep cuts, perhaps including in police service, city officials say. Here, Councilwoman Linda Cox stands with Loveland Police Officer Chad Caudell. publicized statewide. Weisgerber wrote in a March 11 letter to Regenold that Loveland was not budging. “The elimination of the estate tax of an already lean city budget means that public safety and public infrastructure will be the next to be cut,” Weisgerber wrote. “I do not believe the cuts necessary from the end of the estate tax without replacement revenue will be in the long-term interests of Loveland citizens. “The city is happy to support the repeal of the estate tax if you will work with us to ensure the state of Ohio replaces the lost revenue,” Weisgerber wrote. Loveland was nevertheless
See MAYOR on page A2
Dueling letters From the Citizens United to End Ohio’s Estate Tax, to Loveland: “It is an outrageous and inappropriate use of taxpayer money to lobby General Assembly members for this purpose. There were about 11 hours of hearings on this topic before the House Ways and Means Committee by over 30 organizations and individuals. The House is not operating with any deficiency of information on issues concerning the repeal of Ohio’s estate tax.” “Do we want to stand by and let our local governments use our hard-earned money to work against us and against what’s best for Ohio?” Mayor Rob Weisgerber, in response: “The elimination of the estate tax of an already lean city budget means that
public safety and public infrastructure will be the next to be cut.” “I do not believe the cuts necessary from the end of the estate tax without replacement revenue will be in the long-term interests of Loveland citizens. “The city is happy to support the repeal of the estate tax if you will work with us to ensure the state of Ohio replaces the lost revenue,” Weisgerber wrote. “The city of Loveland has taken tremendous steps already to do more with less,” Weisgerber wrote. “The state appears unwilling to endure necessary pain to balance its own budget, but instead will simply keep for itself local government sharing revenue it has shared with local government since the mid-1930s.”
Superintendent: Levy failure would mean teacher, busing cuts
By Jeanne Houck
jhouck@communitypress.com
Some 58 Loveland City Schools employees – including as many as a dozen teachers – could lose their jobs if voters do not approve a 3.5-mill operating levy in 2011. Only first- through eighthgrade students living more than two miles from their schools and kindergartners would be bused. Students would have to pay fees to participate in band, choir, theater, student council, the student newspaper and the yearbook – and higher fees to participate in sports. That was the grim prediction presented by Superintendent John Marschhausen at the March 15 board of education meeting.
Inside
A Loveland man says he can save the school district hundreds of thousands of dollars, but officials are skeptical. See Story, A3. “I don’t want this to be perceived as a threat, because this is just a reality,” Marschhausen said. Marschhausen outlined a list of reductions he said he will be forced to recommend to balance the budget unless the school district gets an infusion of revenue. The school district is asking voters to approve the 3.5-mill operating levy May 3. If it passes, the levy will cost homeowners an additional $107 per $100,000 of home valuation a year and gener-
ate about $2.7 million annually for the district, which is facing a deficit of more than $5 million by June 2013. Marschhausen invited the public to a town hall meeting about the levy at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 24, at the Loveland Intermediate School media center, 757 S. Lebanon Road in Loveland. If the levy fails in May, Marschhausen said, the school district will put a 3.5-mill operating levy before the voters in November and if that fails, return to voters in 2012 with a request to approve a 5.5-mill operating levy. “We run a tight ship,” Marschhausen said. “We provide an amazing bang for your buck,
See LEVY on page A2
JEANNE HOUCK/STAFF
Superintendent John Marschhausen announces cuts that will be made if residents in the Loveland City School District do not approve an operating levy this year.