June 9, 2011
City to collect Creekside defaults By MARLA K. KUHLMAN ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Gahanna City Council approved legislation by emergency on June 6 for the mayor to enter into a letter of agreement with Huntington National Bank regarding a lease agreement between the city and Gahanna-Creekside Investments (GCI) for money owed from lease payments dating back to 2008. Gahanna has been working with Huntington National Bank since a re-
ceiver was appointed for GCI to resolve outstanding issues regarding money due to the city. Alleging a default of more than $30 million worth of loans on the Creekside property, lender Huntington filed suit in late February against Mo Dioun’s development firm, Stonehenge Co., and its affiliate GCI. Huntington has agreed to advance funds to Mark S. Froehlich, director of asset restructuring services at Ohio Equities, as the court-appointed receiver
in the foreclosure proceeding, captioned “The Huntington National Bank v. Gahanna Creekside Investments LLC, Case No. 11 CVH-2-2320,” pending in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, to pay the city any and all defaults of GCI under leases. According to the agreement, the city has agreed to accept $179,564 for rent, interest and late charges for leases for 2008, 2009 and 2010. The payment amount includes a total base rent of $148,590 for 2008, 2009
and 2010, plus interest of $3,974 and late charges of $27,000. City attorney Tom Weber told ThisWeek the city is making out as reasonably as possible, concerning the foreclosure. “I think we’ve been made reasonably whole,” he said. “I think we’ve done as well as we can as a city to collect some of these funds.” He said the late charges were subject to negotiations. Weber said he couldn’t estimate a
Batke, Mangia selected to Hall of Fame
HAPPY HIGH JUMPER
By MARLA K. KUHLMAN ThisWeek Community Newspapers
By Tim Norman/ThisWeek
Gahanna Lincoln’s Jacob Blankenship hugs his father, Rob Banhagel, and his grandfather, Bob Banhagel, after he cleared 17 feet on his first attempt at the Division I pole vault competition at Ohio State on June 4. See Sports, page B1.
Gahanna class of 2011 includes 26 valedictorians By MARLA K. KUHLMAN ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Gahanna Lincoln High School graduated 550 seniors June 4 at the Jerome Schottenstein Center, along with 24 Gahanna Community School students. A breakdown of graduating seniors’ future plans shows 83 percent will attend two- and four-year colleges, 2 percent will enter a trade school, 2 percent are
pursuing military opportunities, and 4.5 percent will enter the workforce, said Jenny Savakinas, of the high school guidance department. The class of 2011 had 26 valedictorians, one National Achievement Scholarship finalist and seven National Merit Commended Scholars. In addition, 15 percent of the class received honors diplomas and nearly $10 million in higher-education scholarships.
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date for the city to receive the money due, but he said there’s no reason for any protracted time frame. “We’ve done what we have had to do to get the process going,” he said. “The receiver is the vehicle for the payment of the monies, technically done by court order, with the judge assigned to the foreclosure suit. Everyone has to sign off on it and go through the procedure.” mkuhlman@thisweeknews.com www.ThisWeekNEWS.com
The valedictorians who achieved a 4.0 accumulative grade-point average or higher and their parents are as follows: Kathryn and Kristen Auletto, daughters of John and Marybeth Auletto; Mark Batke, son of Gary and Beth Batke; Emily Brown, daughter of Steve and Katie Brown; Ingram Bowsher, daughter of John and Tamara Bowsher; Derek Cox, son of DonSee GRADUATES, page A2
Seniors Mark Batke and Matt Mangia have been named to Gahanna Lincoln High School’s Hall of Fame. A committee selected the two from 10 finalists out of the 550-member class of 2011. Batke, son of Gary and Beth Batke, plans to attend Ohio State University in the fall to double major in communications and marketing, with a minor in psychology. Mangia, son of Mike and Laura Mangia, also will attend Ohio State to study leadership education. “It’s a huge honor for me,” Batke said. “I can’t put it into words. It’s something I’ve dreamed about for four years. I was excited about being a finalist. I thought that was as far as it was going to go. It was totally unexpected.” The 17-year-old is a two-year member of the advanced television class, served as an officer on student council, was a three-year member of the theater program and was involved in Performance Studio, a theater group. In March, he was runner-up in the Arnold Sports Film Festival out of 160 students nationwide for his 13-minute documentary on “Gahanna Bill.” Batke, a class valedictorian, also was involved in about 15 theater productions during his high school career. Mangia, who’s also a class valedic-
torian, said it’s an amazing honor to be named to the hall of fame. “This honor is a great way for me to remember the four years of hard work I Mark Batke have put into making high school an enjoyable experience for as many students as possible,” he said. “I feel so honored to have been selected from the 10 finalMatt Mangia ists, all of whom were extremely qualified. The other finalists have had a tremendous visible impact on the school, so it means even more to me that I was chosen from amongst this extremely impressive group of 10 seniors.” During high school, Mangia was involved in student council for four years, See HALL OF FAME, page A2
Blues & Jazz Fest volunteers needed By MARLA K. KUHLMAN ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Donate a few hours of time and enjoy a weekend filled with jazz and blues music for free. Karen Eylon, Gahanna Convention and Visitors Bureau director, told ThisWeek on June 6 that organizers are concerned about the low number of volunteers for the June 17-19 Creekside Blues & Jazz Festival. “We need volunteers,” she said. “The festival is run by the CVB, a nonprofit organization that’s small on staff, and
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our committee is small on staff. We rely on anywhere from 400 to 600 volunteers a year to put the festival on.” In the past, at least 200 to 300 volunteers would come from Gahanna Lincoln High School. “The challenge now is that we’ve worked with the schools in a different manner than in the past to be able recruit and engage 300-plus students,” Eylon said. “We went about it in a different way, and as of today, there are only 34. That’s way off from the past.” See FESTIVAL, page A3
Still looking for fun things to do with your money? Find things to do for $10 or less with the Cheap Thrills blog at www.ThisWeekNews.com.
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