Husted promotes deregulation, shares vision for Ohio, country

AVON — Lt. Gov. Jon

Husted spoke to the AvonAvon Lake Republican Club March 9 about his vision for Ohio and the U.S., how social media and education impact young people, and America being in an “internal and external war,” among other topics.

Early in his speech, Husted, a Republican, told the roughly 160 people in attendance that he came to Northeast Ohio to talk about how social media and technology affect kids.

“We did a news conference earlier today in Independence about the effects of social media on our kids,” he said. “Companies like TikTok, that are

Chinese companies, addict our kids, collect information on them and in many cases isolate them and lead (to) them seeing content about suicide, gender transformation, eating disorders and are really harming our kids.”

Transgender identity is not classified as a mental illness, nor spread by “social contagion,” according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Husted relayed the story of James Woods, a 17-yearold from Streetsboro who was tricked into sending inappropriate photos to a stranger and extorted using those photos. Woods committed suicide in November.

Tamia and Tim Woods, James Woods’ parents, were present at the meeting in Avon on Thursday night after also attending Husted’s earlier news conference in Independence.

At that conference, Husted spoke about the Social Media Parental Notification Act, which has been included in the executive version of the state budget and would require parental approval for use of some social media sites for those under 16 years old.

“We are up here today to talk about legislation that we’re trying to do to force these companies to the table to help protect our kids,” Husted said Thursday night. “We gotta protect our kids. That’s what brought us here today.”

Husted also described his vision for the economy of Ohio and the U.S., talking about his desire to bring back manufacturing jobs while also making Ohio a leader in technology and automation.

He said that the U.S. needs to internalize its supply chain so as to not rely on other countries for necessary goods.

“We’re now realizing that we, for our national and economic security state, we can no longer make products in other countries and import them here and depend on it,” Husted said.

Specifically, Husted focused on computer chips and the need to build them in the U.S. He said there was a great opportunity for Ohio to become the destination for that type of high-tech manufacturing within the Midwest.

“It’s in our interest that

Oberlin, Wellington power officials attend legislative rally

Representatives from Oberlin and Wellington public power departments, alongside officials from Delaware, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, rallied in Washington, D.C., earlier this month to support municipal electric systems across the country.

The American Public Power Association hosted the legislative rally from Feb. 27 to March 1.

Officials from municipal electric utilities, like those in Oberlin and Wellington, focused discussions on local control, grid security, supply chain issues, climate and regulatory activity and other issues, according to a news release.

we make the things we need in America once again,” Husted said. “And Ohio is also rewriting that story. … There are a lot of companies that left America and left Ohio, the industrial manufacturing base, but now hightech manufacturing is coming back. I said earlier, I want to go to a ribbon-cutting every year.”

In September, Intel Corp. broke ground on two computer chip plants in Central Ohio that are expected to bring 7,000 employees and expedite the development of America’s domestic chip production capacity.

Husted said that the major reason Ohio was receiving new projects like Intel or the expansion of the Ford Ohio Assembly Plant in Avon Lake was a process of tax and business reform from Ohio Republicans.

He said that this deregulation and tax-cutting would continue under his leadership of economic development as lieutenant governor.

“One of the things I’m undertaking, we’re eliminating one-third of all the regulations in the state of Ohio and the administrative code to make it easier for you to comply,” Husted said. “Keep your business here. You don’t have to go to Columbus to go to meetings. You can do them on video. You don’t have to go to Columbus, you don’t have to sign paper forms. We can do it electronically. We’ll save tens of millions of dollars a year by doing it that way.”

The announcement of further deregulation comes as Ohio continues to deal with the cleanup of the East Palestine train derailment, a crash that critics such as Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Cleveland, say occurred due to deregulation of the cargo train industry.

Near the close of his speech, Husted told the audience what he sees as the stakes in the U.S. today.

“We are in a war for our way of life,” he said. “There’s both an internal and external war, and maybe that’s too strong a word, so pardon me if it appears that way to you. But we have adversaries outside in the world.”

Husted pointed squarely at China, and a struggle for technological dominance, as the adversary on the international front.

He said the U.S. “cannot concede that ground” in competing with China on a global scale.

“There’s also a little bit of a battle here in our own backyards, sometimes it’s in our schools or colleges or universities,” Husted said. “What’s happening on a lot of our college campuses is they don’t want to hear a conservative point. They don’t really want free speech. They want to do what I call viewpoint discrimination.”

Husted closed his speech with a call for unity among Republicans, saying they were together in their opposition to such things.

“You’re on the same team against all that,” he said. “You’re on the same team against all that because this group of people has a lot more in common than they have … different from one another. And we all have to work together as people who are God-fearing conservatives who want to advance the cause of the Republican Party in this state and beyond.”

Cameras

FROM A1

Police Chief Ryan Warfield said Amherst, Lorain, Elyria, North Ridgeville, Avon and Avon Lake all have Flock systems.

He said he wants four cameras in Oberlin: one north of town on state Route 58; one south of town on route 58; and the others coming into town from Elyria.

The potential cost of the system was not immediately available at press time.

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Lauretta Mae (Lindsey) Wright

Lauretta Mae (Lindsey) Wright, mother and grandmother, passed away peacefully on the morning of Thursday, March 2, 2023 in Lakewood, Colorado. The 84 year old had been in hospice care for several days prior. She was born on August 10, 1938.

She was preceded in death by her second husband, Glen Fannin; grandmother, Laura Belle Lindsey; father, William C. Lindsey and her brothers, William and Robert Lindsey.

At the age of 14 she moved from Elyria to Wellington, where she was a 1956 graduate of Wellington High School. Just prior to her divorce from Maynard Wright, in 1967, she moved with her four children, Bill, Eddy, Laura, and Michael ‘out west’ to Colorado. The thinner air was believed to be beneficial for Eddy’s asthma condition.

Her working life was spent at JC Penny’s prior to hiring on as an overseas phone operator with AT&T. A position that transitioned her into other capacities within the Mountain Bell Phone Companies. She enjoyed travelling to the Northwest for work up until her retirement in 2001.

In 2007 Lauretta entered into a second marriage with former high school classmate, Glen Fannin. They were

William ‘Bill’ Robert Stanley

William ‘Bill’” Robert Stanley, 57, of Lorain, went home to be with His Lord and Savior on Tuesday, March 7, 2023 at his home, following a sudden illness. Arrangements by Hempel Funeral Home.

married until his passing in 2015. She never met a person she could not communicate with. Strangers would strike up conversations with her that were known to elevate into asking for and receiving advise on personal problems. She enjoyed puzzling, especially with her daughter and a glass of wine and had a passion for anything connected with the country western singer-songwriter, Alan Jackson. Lauretta loved her friends and family. Family was of the utmost importance to her. To say she will be missed by family and friends is an understatement. She hoped to be remembered as a loving mother, grandmother, and loyal friend.

In addition to her four children; she is survived by three grandchildren.

A Celebration of Life service will be hosted at Olinger Crown Hill-Pavilion of Reflection, in Wheat Ridge, Colorado at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, March 16, 2023.

Lavonne ‘Vonnie’

Edith Wasem

Lavonne ‘Vonnie’ Edith Wasem (nee Mueller), 90, passed away Thursday, March 9, 2023. Vonnie was born August 26, 1932 in Amherst, where she lived all her life. Hempel Funeral Home is handling the arrangements. Our condolences go out to families that have suffered the loss of a loved one. To place an obituary or death notice in the Community Guide, call (440) 329-7000.

Jeffrey Moore

Jeffrey Moore, 63, of Lorain, passed away Tuesday, February 28, 2023, at his home.

Hempel Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.

Lorain dance students practice with Oberlin College artists

LORAIN — With less than a year of lessons under their feet, dance students at Lorain High School already are training with artists from Oberlin College.

Lorain High dance teacher Emilio Noriega met Michal Schorsch and Jacqueline de Melo Silva, both with Oberlin College, during a dance jam in the nearby college town.

Noriega knew his students in Dance II at Lorain High would love contact improvisation — silent weight sharing between two dancers to keep both upright and moving.

“It’s the idea of trusting someone and how you weight-share and listen without using your voice.

… Listening to your body rather than words,” he said. “It’s a really cool form.”

From there, it was just a matter of asking Schorsch and de Melo Silva to come to the International City to work as guests with the students.

Lorain Schools started its dance program in the fall, hiring new educators to have classes offered kindergarten through 12th grades. Noriega, originally from Arizona, had never even thought of living in Ohio when he first graduated from Southern Utah University with his bachelor’s in dance education.

But after interviewing with the district, he packed a bag and moved across the country to teach modern dance to high schoolers. Originally, the district hadn’t planned to offer Dance II until the 2023-24 school year, but enough students from Noriega’s first-semester course were advanced enough to force Lorain Schools to accelerate its plans, Assistant Superintendent Ross May said.

After watching Schorsch and de Melo Silva for a minute March 10, students quickly broke off into pairs and practiced with what they’d just absorbed.

Noriega hopes to be able to take some of his students to one of the jam sessions he’s attended at Oberlin to get the students on a college campus, and to further their improvisation skills.

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