ThisWeek Community Newspapers Canal Winchester
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March 17, 2011
Vote on district job cuts slated for March 21 Continued from page A1 tracts are expected to be approved for remaining employees. All teacher contracts are up for renewal in March, MillerSmith said. The reductions are part of a long list of cuts that have been made since 2009 to keep the Canal Winchester district fiscally healthy, she said. In May 2009,
voters approved a 14.82-mill, two-year emergency levy. “We are very lean already,” she said. “When I went back to look, in 2009, we were telling people, ‘here is what the reductions will be if the levy doesn’t pass.’ A lot of that was never brought back.” The district never brought back all of the supplemental contracts that were in place in 2009, Miller-Smith said. Sev-
eral programs, including the district’s marketing education program, were cut. The district had a second vocational agriculture teacher at the time whose job was eliminated, she said. “We never returned a second teacher to that program,” Miller-Smith said. “Just to stretch the money we did not return those programs.” While other school districts are grap-
pling with the potential effects of Senate Bill 5, Miller-Smith said, many of the elements of the bill are already in place in the Canal Winchester district. For instance, she said, S.B. 5 required public employees to pay at least 15 percent of health insurance costs. Canal Winchester school district employees pay 25 percent. In anticipation of losing state funds,
Canal Winchester school officials budgeted a 10-percent reduction in state aid, Miller-Smith said. “We were given guidance early in the year to (expect) 5 or 10 percent,” she said. “We have been working on this for a good two-year period prior to coming to this crisis.” tstubbs@thisweeknews.com
Comment sought on historic, preservation guidelines Continued from page A1 The aim is for residents to learn about preservation area guidelines, the approval process and the responsibilities of the Landmarks Commission. “What we would probably like to do is (dedicate) the first meeting to zoning code issues and invite members of the planning commission to talk about the zoning code and how it is ap-
plied downtown,” Strayer said. Commission members will share existing code with residents and gather feedback about what elements should be changed including lighting and setbacks, he said. The May 24 meeting will be dedicated to Canal Winchester’s preservation guidelines, Strayer said. Landmarks Commission members may be on hand
to talk about how those codes are applied to the downtown area, he said. Residents will be able to provide feedback about things like design material guidelines and architectural styles, Strayer said. He and zoning officer Andrew Dutton will take the input from the first two meetings and develop a rough draft of potential changes to be presented at the June 28 public forum. If resi-
dents at that meeting agree with the changes, the recommendations will be forwarded to council at its August committee-ofthe-whole meeting, Strayer said. If residents feel like more changes are required, a fourth public meeting will be held on July 26, he said. Several residents have asked that Canal Winchester’s zoning
code be compared with those in other communities, Strayer said. He said codes will be gathered from central Ohio and beyond. “If there is any community that you would like to compare yourself against as far as zoning codes and architectural standards, let me know so I can gather the information,” he said.
He said he may pull zoning codes from Florida and Massachusetts for comparison and Councilwoman Bobbie Mershon suggested the village might want to look at zoning codes in Virginia, too. “The sky is the limit,” Strayer said. “If residents have any ideas, we can go and pull the codes wherever we need to.”
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Cason retires March 18 as ThisWeek executive editor Continued from page A1 readership of our papers has grown by more than 200,000 people, which may be the most honest reflection of how valuable the public finds our coverage, which is the product of Ben’s leadership in the newsroom.” Zonars said Cason’s legacy is the team of journalists he has assembled at ThisWeek. “We are indebted to Ben for attracting bright and passionate reporters and editors who share his love of community news and sports, and to Ben’s high personal standards for quality, objective and, above all, accurate reporting,” he said. “No one checks more facts than Ben. Ben’s legacy will be that his brand of journalism will live on through our staff because Ben showed them the way as he coached, mentored and nurtured them. Ben leaves us in good hands.” Two of Cason’s first hires after he arrived at ThisWeek were Lee Cochran, now assistant managing editor and sports editor, and Sandy Wallace, news editor. “I came to ThisWeek from a small daily and it took some time for me to get used to the different pace and schedule of weekly papers,” Wallace said. “But Ben’s vision for the papers was very clear. It was all about better reporting, better editing, better writing. For Ben, content is key, regardless of whether it’s in print or online. “It will be very strange to walk in the newsroom on March 21 and know Ben won’t be there,” she said. “We’re losing a wealth of experience and institutional knowledge — but I think I can safely say that Ben’s influence will continue to be felt for a long time.” “Ben came to ThisWeek three months before
me,” Cochran said. “Soon after I started, he explained his plan for improving the papers, and it’s a vision he has followed ever since and one that will continue. The success we’ve had at ThisWeek is a credit to Ben and his vision. He knew what it took to be a successful newspaper and led us there. “He is a leader, a mentor and, most importantly, a friend. He will be missed by our readers and our newsroom.” After graduating from the University of Florida, Cason took a job at The St. Petersburg Times, where he met his wife, Carol. Cason was news editor at The Washington Post during the Watergate scandal that eventually toppled President Richard Nixon. He said the Watergate episode was one of the most interesting times in his career. As news editor of The Post during that era, he put together many of the paper’s historic front pages. Cason said working for newspapers that were family-owned has been important to him. “I feel fortunate to have worked for familyrun operations almost my entire career — the Wolfe family in Columbus, the Graham family at The Washington Post and Nelson Poynter at The St. Petersburg Times,” Cason said. “Journalism is almost always better when it’s run by families who live in the communities than by faceless large newspaper chains.” Cason said he remains a proponent of community journalism. “I think community journalism is the future of journalism,” he said. The Casons are the parents of two sons:Alexander lives in Charlotte, N.C.; David, his wife, Julie, and their two sons live in Worthington. jdonahue@thisweeknews.com www.ThisWeekNews.com
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