August 4, 2011
Voters approve 5.5-mill school levy By NATE ELLIS ThisWeek Community Newspapers The Pickerington Local School District found favor with voters this time around, easily passing a 5.5-mill levy in a special election Aug. 2. The district will enter the 2011-12 school year without having to endure another $7 million in cuts, which likely would have included additional staff losses. On Tuesday, district residents approved the 5.5-mill new and continuing levy 6,003 votes (52.88 percent) to 5,349 votes
(47.12 percent), according to unofficial results from the Fairfield County Board of Elections. “What a relief,” PLSD interim superintendent Jim Sotlar said after the results were posted. “It’s nothing but excitement. It’s a great day for the Pickerington school district and a great day for the Pickerington community. Words can’t explain how grateful we are. Now we can focus on opening up the 2011-12 school year.” The new levy is expected to generate about $5.95 million per year, beginning in January 2012, according to the district. Annually, it will cost property own-
OPVBA
Aug. 6 flea market will feature ‘a little bit of everything’
ers $168.44 for every $100,000 of assessed property valuation. The levy’s passage comes after voters in November narrowly defeated an 8mill replacement levy that would have generated $7.586 million. It failed by 130 votes. Since then, the Pickerington Board of Education has approved nearly $13 million in reductions from its 2011-12 operating budget by laying off 125 employees, 82 of them teachers. The school board also approved reductions in district transportation, altered school hours for the 2011-12 school year and increased
pay-to-participate fees for students involved in extracurricular activities. In the weeks leading to the special election, district administrators said they would need to cut at least another $7 million from the 2011-12 operating budget had the Aug. 2 levy failed. They maintained that the levy is needed to balance the district’s budget, considering continued cuts in state funding and a drop in local property-tax collections because of the struggling economy. Now those cuts won’t be needed, they said. “I don’t foresee additional cuts right
See LEVY APPROVED, page A2
Red Cross says need for blood donations is ‘critical’
VIOLET FESTIVAL
By NATE ELLIS ThisWeek Community Newspapers
By NATE ELLIS ThisWeek Community Newspapers Everything from hand-me-downs and cast-off items to artisan crafts and local crops will be for sale in Olde Pickerington Village on Saturday, Aug. 6. For the second consecutive year, the Olde Pickerington Village Business Association will host a flea market in Pickerington’s historic A closer look downtown district. The Olde Pickerington This year’s Village Business Associaevent, which tion will host a flea market will be from 9 in Pickerington’s historic a.m. to 2 p.m., downtown district on Aug. will feature 6. This year’s event, which more than 30 will be from 9 a.m. to 2 vendors. Most p.m. will feature more of the action than 30 vendors. will take place on Columbus Street, Pickerington Plaza, Gazebo Park and along Center Street. Items for sale will include used household goods, handmade jewelry, original watercolor paintings, cornhole board and bag sets, pet clothing and totes. Additionally, baked goods and locally grown fruits and vegetables will be sold, and Olde Village shops will be open and hold sidewalk sales. Members of the Pickerington-Violet Township Historical Society also will be selling items to benefit its museum. “It gives a chance for people from our community to bring things they don’t want anymore, or bring their crops and creative art and sell them,” said Maggie Arendt, OPVBA secretary.
now,” PLSD treasurer Dan Griscom said. “We’ll always look for efficiencies and better ways to do things, but we’re thankful we don’t need to cut more programs and staff. We’ve got excellent programs and excellent staff, and we want to maintain those because, obviously, we want to maintain an excellent school district.” Following the levy’s passage, a representative of the anti-levy group, the Pickerington Patriots, said the new revenue source is a temporary Band-Aid for the
By Eric George/ThisWeek
Kya Thompson, 7, leaps into the air on a ride during the 14th annual Violet Festival at Victory Park on July 30. See more photos on page A8.
American Red Cross officials serving Fairfield County and all of central Ohio last week said area hospitals are in “urgent need” of blood donations of all types. Historically, the American Red Cross of Central Ohio — which serves a 27county region, including Fairfield County — has sought to maintain blood donations supplies sufficient to last more than three days. In recent months, however, a drop off in blood donations coupled with a greater need during the summer “trauma season” has left central Ohio hospitals struggling to maintain a one-day supply, according to Red Cross officials. “Anything less than a one-day supply is categorized as the region being in ‘urgent need,’” said Rodney Wilson, communications manager for the American Red Cross of Central Ohio. “Currently, we are in urgent need of all eight blood types.” Wilson said a recent spate of heat advisories throughout central Ohio may be keeping people who would donate blood from leaving their homes to do so. That’s particularly troubling, he said, because people who are active during the summer often engage in outdoor activities which can lead to serious injuries. “What we see in the summer is there are more traumatic injuries,” Wilson said. “It may not be more patients needing blood, but they’re patients needing more amounts of blood.” As a case in point, Wilson said a central Ohio youth battling cancer recently
See OPVBA, page A2
See RED CROSS, page A2
Pickerington woman on crusade to help area’s homeless children By NATE ELLIS ThisWeek Community Newspapers After seeing firsthand the impact of homelessness on children, a Pickerington woman has committed to “plant” herself and make a difference in central Ohio. Three years ago, Pickerington resident Laurie Juhl was on her way to celebrate a friend’s wedding reception at Confluence Park in Columbus when something she witnessed changed her outlook on life. That February day she saw homeless children with no hats, no coats and no boots — their only refugee from the cold and snow was tattered blankets —
image of those children burned into her consciousness. “I just couldn’t get that picture out of my mind,” Juhl said. “I realized that I I realized that I had spent had spent more on a wedding gift, dress more on a wedding gift, and accessories for one evening than dress and accessories these children had had in months.” The next weekend, Juhl recruited her for one evening than these husband, two children and friends and children had had in months. packed 75 brown-bagged lunches. She returned to the park with plans to feed those children, only to find they had LAURIE JUHL been “relocated” from the area. — Seeds for the Soul founder So they drove downtown and distributed the lunches to homeless in the huddled along the banks of the Olen- streets and at Faith Mission. tangy and Scioto rivers. See PICKERINGTON, page A2 Juhl drove on to the reception, but the
Laurie Juhl founded Seeds for the Soul, a nonprofit organization that provides clothing, school supplies, books and toys to homeless children and their families.
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By Eric George/ThisWeek
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