COMMUNITY GUIDE
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LORAIN COUNTY
AMHERST NEWS-TIMES
Thursday, March 7, 2019
BULLETIN BOARD Thursday, March 7 • OBERLIN: A free musical performance by Oberlin College associate professor of flute Alexa Still and Conservatory students will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 7 at the Allen Memorial Art Museum, 87 North Main St. The First Thursday program features solo flute and chamber music related to the exhibition “Women Bound and Unbound.” Galleries will remain open until 7:30 p.m. with a reception. • OBERLIN: An opera preview of “Dialogues of the Carmelites” will be offered at 4 p.m. on Thursday, March 7 at Kendal at Oberlin’s Heiser Auditorium. Jonathan Field, director of the Oberlin Opera Theater, and student cast members will preview the opera, which is based on the martyrdom of Carmelite nuns during the French Revolution. There is no registration or fee; all are welcome. For tickets to full performances on March 13, 15, 16, and 17, call Oberlin College Central Ticket Service at 440-75-8169 or 800-371-0178. • HENRIETTA TWP.: The Falcon Showcase will be held from 6:30-8 p.m. on Thursday, March 7 at Firelands High School. Students in grades K-12 will share what they have learned in classrooms and clubs. Kids can also learn about classes, sports, or clubs they might want to participate in.
March 7-9 • WELLINGTON: The Friends of the Herrick Memorial Library Spring Book Sale will be held starting with a members-only presale from 5:307:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 7 at the library. The public sale will be held from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Friday, March 8 and Saturday, March 9. Shoppers using scanners will be charged a $25 fee.
Friday, March 8 • PITTSFIELD TWP.: A fish fry dinner will be served from 5-7 p.m. on Friday, March 8 at Pittsfield Community Church, routes 58 and 303. The cost is $10 for adults, $8 for ages seven to 12, and free for kids six and under. All are invited. • OBERLIN: The Oberlin Sinfonietta will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, March 8 at Warner Concert Hall, 77 West College St. Conductor Timothy Weiss will lead the chamber ensemble in Joan Tower’s “Flute Concerto” with soloist and flute professor Alexa Still, Kati Agocs’ “Devotion” and Stravinsky’s Danses concertantes. The concert is free. • OBERLIN: Rafiq Bhatia will perform at 9 p.m. on Friday, March 8 at The ‘Sco, Wilder Hall, 135 West Lorain St. Enjoy a globe-spanning mix of twisted rock, warped jazz, and electronics. Bhatia seeks to shatter preconceptions about how much can be said without a word and who can say it. General admission tickets are $5 at Oberlin’s Central BULLETIN BOARD PAGE A3
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Volume 6, Issue 10
Midway JCPenney to close JASON HAWK EDITOR
The latest casualty of the nation’s changing retail landscape is JCPenney. The company announced last week that it will close its Midway Mall location in Elyria as of July 5. JCPenney plans to shutter 18 department stores and nine home and furniture shops nationwide in 2019. That’s actually far better than some analysts had predicted — many thought the declining retailer would close more than 100 locations as shoppers increasingly shun the brick-and-mortar model in favor of online retailers such as Amazon.
JCPenney still operates more than 800 stores across the nation but malls have fallen out of favor since the heyday of the 1980s and 1990s. That’s a story wellknown by anyone who’s stopped at Midway Mall recently. The site suffered the closure of Dillard’s in 2007, Macy’s in 2016, and Sears in 2017. It will now be anchored by Best Buy and Dunham’s Sports. JCPenney was one of the four big tenants at Midway Mall when it opened in 1965, along with Higbee’s, Sears, and Woolworth’s. The new round of closures comes as the company reported its fourth quarter and fiscal
Jason Hawk | Lorain County Community Guide
The impending closure of JCPenney in Elyria is another example of the challenges facing the brick-and-mortar retail business that once dominated the American shopping experience. year 2018 earnings. It showed year-overyear sales down three percent with a full-year net income loss of $255 million. “As we forge a path
to sustainable profitable growth, our decisions included eliminating non-core and low gross margin product CLOSING PAGE A3
Author shines light on legacy of Moses Fleetwood Walker JONATHAN DELOZIER REPORTER
The legacy of Moses Fleetwood Walker, the fist black man to play professional baseball and a former Oberlin College student, was discussed Feb. 26 by a local author at the Lorain County History Center in Elyria. Walker played 42 professional games in 1884 as a member of the Toledo Blue Stockings while the team was part of the major league American Association. Author Kelly Boyer Sagert said the number of games he played is ironic, since the 42 was worn by Jackie Robinson, who is popularly credited with breaking baseball’s color barrier when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. “No black man every played professional baseball again until number 42 came along,” Boyer Sagert said. “I find that so fascinating. I think the universe was kind of conspiring on that, not that it was a good thing that it took 63 years for baseball’s segregation to be lifted.” As Walker recovered from a broken rib suffered due to a lack of protective equipment at the time for catchers, National Baseball Hall of Fame member Cap Anson led the charge in persuading team owners to ban black players. In 1887, the International League formally agreed to ban black players. The National League and American Association followed suit by the start of the 1897 season. Anson was a frequent thorn in Walker’s side during his playing days, going as far as refusing to play in an exhibition game against Walker until backing
Jonathan Delozier | Lorain County Community Newspapers
ABOVE: Local author and baseball historian Kelly Boyer Sagert shares some of her research Feb. 26 on Moses Fleetwood Walker (seen at right). In 1884, the bare-handed catcher became the first black man to play professional baseball.
down after learning he would have forfeited that day’s pay. “Some pitchers purposely ignored Walker’s signals,” said Boyer Sagert. “Can you imagine how good Walker could have been if his own pitchers would have been on his side? Walker also received death and lynching threats throughout his time as a
professional.” At Oberlin College, Walker was a member of the school’s first baseball team in 1881 before transferring to the University of WALKER PAGE A5
INSIDE Amherst
Oberlin
Wellington
Indoor track and field stars go to state meet
Schools hire architect to build dream PK-5 facility
Allergies put ‘leash’ on therapy dog program
OBITUARIES A2 • CROSSWORD C5 • CLASSIFIEDS C6