July 3, 2011
Board tables decision on teachers’ contract By BRITANY BYERS ThisWeek Community Newspapers
The Marysville Exempted Village School District Board of Education voted 4-1 June 27 to table an offer by the Marysville Education Association to freeze teachers’salaries for two years and forgo a scheduled 1-percent pay increase, sav-
ing the school district $2.78 million. A plan to freeze classified and administrative step increases and salary schedules was also tabled. MEA representatives did not comment on the board’s action at the meeting. Five attempts to reach union members by phone and email before ThisWeek’s press time on Friday, July 1, were unsuccessful.
The board postponed its voting to allow members time to discuss the terms and impacts of each measure. “I move that we table this item until this board has an opportunity to look at the long-term effect of this on our bottom line for our budget and for … the overall effect that it’s going to have on the district,” board president Jeff Mabee said.
If approved, the agreement will save nearly 40 positions that were due to be eliminated during the 2012-2013 school year, but will not save more than 20 others that will be cut for the next school year. The new contract would nullify the terms of the previous teachers’agreement, which was set to expire Dec. 31 and would extend the contract between the district
and the teachers union for two years. Board member Doug Lassiter said since the board didn’t know about the MEA offer until last week, it needs to take its time before making a decision. “I don’t think there’s been a district in 40 years that has offered up step freezes,” See SCHOOL BOARD, page A5
Uptown Friday Nights will return July 8 By BRITANY BYERS ThisWeek Community Newspapers
By Lorrie Cecil/ThisWeek
Dorothy Liggett-Pelanda is seen here in her yard, which features several gardens. Her home is one of five that will be part of the Union County Master Gardeners 2011 Tour of Gardens to be held on Sunday, July 10.
Garden tour to feature eight stops By BRITANY BYERS ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Garden enthusiasts will traipse their way through Marysville July 10 during the Union County Master Gardeners 2011 Tour of Gardens from 1-5 p.m. The tour, titled “The West Side Garden Story,” will be a walking
or driving tour that consists of five private gardens on the west side of Marysville. Three public locations will also be featured on the tour, including the gardens at the Union County Veterans Monument, the Union County Historical Society and McCloud Park. The Tour of Gardens started in
1996 and was an annual event through 2006. After a four-year break, master gardeners and tour co-chairs Laurie Lowe and Melissa Henry decided to bring the event back to life in 2010. “A lot of people have been regular tour-goers and we’re so glad that we started doing it again,” Lowe said. “Each year it’s a little
different, so you don’t know what you’re going to see. “ The 2010 Tour of Gardens highlighted out-of-town homeowners with acreage. This year, the tour will stay in town and focus on “people who don’t have a lot of acreage, so you get a chance to
The finishing touches are being put on this summer’s first Uptown Friday Nights event, scheduled for July 8. Marysville event promotion coordinator Amanda Morris, who started in the newly created city position in May, has focused A closer look her efforts on Uptown Friday Nights in order to bring the event back Three Uptown Friday Nights events have been planned this summer. The theme of the July for this summer on July 8, event is a community Aug. 12 and Sept. 9. All events will be held between block party. “Marysville has such 6 and 10 p.m. on Court a great community and Street, between West Fifth small-town feel,” Mor- and West Sixth streets. ris said. “The goal is to sort of heighten the awareness for the Uptown businesses to make it more of that unique destination.” As a Marysville native, Morris remembers going to Uptown Friday Nights as a youngster and is excited to bring the event back. “I think it’s become something that we appreciate as a memory,” she said. “If we let those events go away or we forget to put that little effort into them, then what are the kids going to have to do? What are the parents going to have to do?” Morris said Uptown Friday Nights can be used as a way to break a family’s normal routine. “Sometimes you get stuck in a rut and you go to a movie every Friday night,” she said. “It’d be kind of nice to go somewhere different or do something different. “It’s just a nice way to start the weekend on a Friday night,” she added. Uptown Friday Nights was popular in the past for its live music and atmosphere, Morris said. Sticking with tradition, Arnett Howard and the Creole Funk Band and local trio Fever will perform on July 8.
See GARDEN TOUR, page A4 See UPTOWN FRIDAY NIGHTS, page A3
Legion Post 79 members ‘Still Serving America’
MHS robotics team part of runner-up alliance
By BRITANY BYERS
By BRITANY BYERS
ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Although chartered in August 1920 by World War I and Spanish American War veterans, the American Legion’s motto remains “Still Serving America.” The American Legion is the nation’s largest organization of wartime veterans, and Marysville’s Union Post 79 serves more than 300 members. “As far as the qualifications for membership in the American Legion, you had to have been in the service during a wartime era, but not necessarily seen battle,” explained Rolly Rausch, Union Post 79 adjutant and a former Army commander who served during the Vietnam War era. “The majority of our members now are World War II and Korean War veterans,” Rausch said. In 1927, 24.3 acres were donated to the Legion. Since then, a portion of the land was deeded to
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ThisWeek Community Newspapers
That’s our whole purpose. To promote patriotism.
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ROLLY RAUSH
Union Post 79 adjutant
the city of Marysville to create a city park, which is now the American Legion Memorial Park. Due to certain requirements in the contract, the park land can never be developed, said Max Amrine, the Legion’s finance officer. He is a former Navy commander who served during the Vietnam War era. “It has to remain a park,” Rausch added. Rausch said one of the Legion’s most important roles is providing a place for camaraderie. He deSee LEGION POST 79, page A2
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By Eric George/ThisWeek
Marysville High School sophomore and robotics team member Isaac Luther works on the robot, Wilson, during a break during the second annual Connect a Million Minds Robotic Invitational at South High School in Columbus June 25.
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The Marysville High School robotics team, Short Circuits, and their robot, Wilson, finished second after a daylong competition of brains, sport and strategy on June 25. High school robotics and science teams from across Ohio gathered at South High School in Columbus that day for the second-annual Connect A Million Minds (CAMM) Robotics Invitational. Sponsored by Time Warner Cable and its CAMM program, and hosted by the Central Ohio Robotics Initiative (CORI), the event involved 24 teams. Ann Ralston, one of the CORI committee members, said the competition was originally created in an attempt to “make science cool.” “Sports stars (and) rock stars get more credibility and limelight and are held up more highly than some of our scientists and astronauts,” Ralston said. The purpose of the competition was to boost awareness of competitive robotics as well as science, technology, engineering and mathematics education (STEM) in the community. Five students — senior Devin Burge, sophomore See MHS ROBOTICS TEAM, page A4
The 2011 Special Olympics Ohio Summer Games were held June 24-26 at various locations in the Columbus area. To view a multimedia presentation on opening day, visit ThisWeekNEWS.com.