FLAG CEREMONY
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Boy Scouts demonstrate how to properly fold and retire the American flag.
Your Community Press newspaper serving Miami Township and Milford Email: milford@communitypress.com Website: communitypress.com We d n e s d a y, J u n e 2 9 , 2 0 1 1
Vol. 31 No. 23 © 2011 The Community Press ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Vote for Community Choice Awards
From east to west, north and south, whatever community you’re in, we know you love your local pizza place, have your favorite beauty salon and won’t miss your favorite local festival. Now you can show all of your favorites how much you love them by voting for them in the 2011 Community Choice Awards. Vote online at www.cincinnati.com/communit ychoice. Everyone who votes is entered into a drawing to win a $250 gift card.
Independence Day images
The Milford-Miami Advertiser and Cincinnati.com want to share your Fourth of July photos. Post photos at Cincinnati. com/Share, and e-mail them to clermont@communitypress. com. Include your name, address (community) and phone number, and a description for each photo.
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 Milford-Miami Advertiser. Your carrier retains Zac half of this amount along with any tip you give to reward good service. This month we’re featuring Zach Malec. Zach is 16 and will be a sophomore at Milford High School. He is a Boy Scout, is a chaplain’s aide, quartermaster, patrol guide and is in the Engineering Club. He is saving his earnings for items he will need for Scouts, family gifts and things he wants. In a few months, he will have been a carrier for two years. For information about our carrier program, call Steve Barraco, 248-7110.
City works on incentives program
Staff members are working with city council to create an incentive program to attract new businesses and give existing businesses options for improvement. “It’s very preliminary at this point … but it’s my understanding council wants to implement something sooner rather than later,” said Jeff Wright, city manager. FULL STORY, A2
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Memorial Park: Gateway Milford Parks & Rec plan revitalization
By Kellie Geist-May
kmay@communitypress.com
MILFORD - Memorial Park is packed during the city’s Memorial Day celebrations, but what about the rest of the year? The corner lot nestled at Sycamore and Main streets in Milford is often overlooked – the entrance is just a pathway between the trees, a couple benches are settled among the overgrown underbrush and the memorial bricks are graying. It is across the street from the Coolest Toys on Earth store. Those are all things the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission are hoping to change with a twopart project to revitalize Memorial Park and use it as a gateway to Riverside I and II, said commission chair Charles Evans. Parks and Rec has been working with LTD Landscapes, which is the city’s contracted landscaper this year, to design a park plan that would do both. The concept is to spruce up the entrance from Main Street, build a new memorial, include parking on Sycamore Street, clean-up the underbrush and put-in new plants, and install new tables and benches. The plan also calls for some work to the front corner of Riverside at the corner of Sycamore and Water streets including installing a gazebo, trees and areas for seating. Parks and Rec has sent the plan back to LTD for some additional work – like including a
COURTESY OF LTD LANDSCAPES
This is what Memorial Park and the front corner of Riverside Park would look like according to the current concept plan. Main Street is on the right and Water Street runs through the center of the rendering. playground area near the gazebo – so the commission doesn’t have a cost estimate yet, Evans said. “We are waiting on an estimate, but Parks and Rec does have some money in the Parks and Rec fund to get started on something like this,” he said. Parks and Rec’s city council representative Laurie Walter said there’s about $250,000 in that fund for all of Parks and Rec’s activities, which includes building and revitalizing city parks. Walter said she likes the concept plan and is looking forward to making progress on some of the
commission’s priorities. “I think the idea is very exciting – we’re not only going to see new development at Riverside, but an upgrade of an existing park. Hopefully, in the coming years, we can look at each of our parks to see how we can better maintain and upgrade them,” she said. “I think starting that process with Memorial Park is perfect.” Evans said the concept maintains some existing green space for community events like Frontier Days, but creates a place to people to come together.
“Milford lacks that type of community gathering place – I think Riverside could be that place,” he said. Using Memorial Park as a gateway would help advertise the Riverside park area and create some green curb appeal in historic downtown, Evans said. “Memorial Park wasn’t part of the original (parks) master plan, but I think it’s the perfect way to bring people in,” he said. The next Parks and Rec meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Monday, July 11, at the city municipal building, 745 Center St.
Official oath Milford’s new City Manager Jeff Wright took the oath of office surrounded by family during the city council meeting Tuesday, June 21. In front, from left are: Nicholas, Jeff, Candi and Camden Wright, and Milford Law Director Mike Minniear. In the back are Wright’s parents Kip and Mary Wright. THANKS TO AMY BREWER FOR SUBMITTING THIS PHOTO
‘Muster’ brings veterans together July 2 By Mary Dannemiller mdannemiller@communitypress.com
MIAMI TWP. - The Spirit of ’76 Memorial Gardens & Arboretum Committee is inviting veterans, their families and members of the public to start celebrating America two days early. The group is hosting a Veterans Muster from noon until dusk Saturday, July 2, at the site of The Spirit of ’76 Memorial Gardens & Arboretum in Miami Meadows Park, 1546 Ohio 131 in Miami Township. A muster is a gathering of veterans. The event will feature a flag dedication, live music, wreath ceremonies and historical talks.
There also will be food vendors, but people can bring picnic lunches, said committee chair Bill Knepp. Troop Box Ministries also will be there accepting donations for care packages. “It’s close to home and there won’t be any alcohol, but there will be plenty of patriotism and patriotic music,” Knepp said. “It’s also a chance for families to join together and brush shoulders with those who have served.” Korean War veterans, local American Legion Post members, Boy Scouts and local church groups all have been invited to the event and Knepp said he expects a large veteran turn out. “We’ve sent out about 500
invitations and it’s open to the public,” he said. Since the groundbreaking last fall Knepp, R.J. Vilardo and Robert Sterling have been busy collecting donations and working on the logistics of the memorial and arboretum, focusing on the Korean War, will feature a 12-foot-by5-foot granite laser etching of a photo Knepp took during the war. The memorial will be a part of a larger area called The Spirit of ’76 Memorial Garden and Arboretum, built to honor veterans from many wars. “This is our first progress report on this phase of the park,” he said. “It’s above and beyond our expectations so we’re very
excited.” Once The Spirit of ’76 Memorial Gardens & Arboretum is completed, Vilardo said he hopes it will be used by the local school districts to teach children about history. “It’s not just going to be for the Korean War, but all the wars going back to the Revolutionary War,” he said. “There will be a memorial for every war with a short synopsis. The school system can use it for field trips in the future and families can take advantage of the picnic area and learn about what’s happened.” For more information about the Clermont County Veterans Muster, visit spiritof76memorial.org.