C o n t i n u i n g To P r o u d l y S e r v e C a r r o l l C o u n t y S i n c e 1 8 3 1 $1.00
14 Pages
Thursday, December 6, 2018
freepressstandard.com
Area businesses give special details to sheriff, police By NANCY SCHAAR FPS Correspondent Carroll County Sheriff Dale Williams and Carrollton Police Chief Bob Ellington received an unusual gift on Saturday. Danny’s Detailing of Carrollton belongs to a group called Detailers for the Community. One way to give back to the community is to apply Surpass. It is a coating applied to the body of a vehicle and is guaranteed for five years. It provides a hard coating beyond traditional coatings, repels dirt and contamination, cleans itself, is scratch resistant, and resists bird droppings, bugs, acid, rain, and water spots. It also helps reduce scratching and swirling. Danny Leggett, owner of Danny’s Detailing of Carrollton, said that it protects vehicles from the weather and is a ceramic coating.
“We usually apply one coat but for these cars we’re doing a double coat. We’re also doing the K-9 vehicle,” said Leggett. Other vehicle detailers that contributed their time and skills were Billy Smith of Akron Pro Detail in Akron, Seth Goss of Sunny Shine Detailing in Sugarcreek, Nicko Koutavas of Detailed Xpress in Twinsburg and Debbie Millis of Crystal Image Auto Detailing in Elyria. Each company is a certified installer and has received special training to apply this product. Each business offers this service in their own towns. “They did four cruisers for me and one for the police department today. I really appreciate Danny’s Detailing for putting this together for us. It will help our cars last so much longer. These good companies are providing this service to us at no charge. I know one coating for one vehicle is about $800, so this is a tremendous gift to our village and county,” said Williams.
Area businesses, including Danny’s Detailing of Carrollton, applied a special coating to the cruisers for the Carroll County Sheriff’s and Carrollton Police Department. Those donating their time are (from left) Billy Smith, Seth Goss, Danny Leggett, Nicko Koutavas and Carroll County Sheriff Dale Williams.
Property owner suing for damage caused by well pads
By DON RUTLEDGE FPS Staff Writer
A Carroll County property owner is suing two well drilling firms for alleged property and health damages caused by their well pads. In a 23-page complaint filed Nov. 29 by James Kiefer of 7070 Autumn Rd. SW, Carrollton, vs. Chesapeake Exploration LLC and Encino Acquisition Partners Holdings, Kiefer is seeking preliminary and permanent injunctions against the two defendants from engaging in the acts complained of and requiring the defendants to abate the nuisances, trespasses, wrongful acts, violations and damages created by them. Kiefer claims the two well pads constructed by the defendants have caused destruction of his water well on property he purchased in 1976 and vibrations to his house, allegedly caused by Chesapeake’s hydraulic fracturing operations in 2015. The plaintiff also alleges air emissions associated with the well pads, which have resulted in health issues to him. According to the complaint, Ches-
apeake constructed its Ellie Pad approximately 2,400 feet from Kiefer’s home. The pad contains eight production wells, a dehydration system, three internal combustion engines, compression ignition engine, a large flare and 15 storage tanks. Chesapeake also constructed its Delmar pad approximately 700 feet from Kiefer’s home, containing six production wells, ID condensate tanks, five produced water tanks, a dehydration system, diesel-fired compression ignition engine, internal combustion engine and two combustors. Due to the alleged operations at the Delmar pad, Kiefer says he began to lose cold water pressure in his home in November 2015 and was without running water in December 2015. However, Chesapeake installed a temporary water tank in his home in the form of a water buffalo next to Kiefer’s home later in December 2015. In addition to the water problem, Kiefer says he has experienced ongoing health issues since the well pads began operating. In the autumn of 2015, when Chesapeake was fracking from the Delmar pad, Kiefer experienced his home shaking on a daily basis, observed
objects on his dining room table vibrating as well as items hanging on the walls. He said he explained his concerns regarding the operation of the two well pads to Chesapeake who sited equipment issues and combustors at the Delmar pad as the cause to vibrations to Kiefer’s home. The plaintiff said he also expressed his concerns regarding air emissions, odors, noise and vibrations to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. In an email received in August 2018, regarding Kiefer’s vibration complaints, the state agency claimed the issue was that the flare can sometimes vibrate alot when they are trying to get the right positioning on the louvers so they get adequate combustion and that the company was well aware of the vibration issue. In addition to seeking the preliminary and permanent injunctions, Kiefer wants an award of compensatory damages for all harms suffered by him in an amount to be determined at trial, plus the requested medical monitoring relief and punitive damages. He also has requested a trial by jury on all the issues of the complaint.
Judges meet with commissioners Collection of Santa discuss their 2019 budgets letters begins at Dodd’s to By NANCY SCHAAR
A bright red mailbox sits in front of Dodd’s Funeral Home waiting for good little boys and girls to drop off their letters to Santa Claus. Owen Parker, 2, gets ready to drop off his and his baby brother Holden’s letters into the box. The children are the sons of Chelsey Bond and Travis Parker. Dodd’s Funeral Home has been helping Santa collect area children’s letters for several years. The letters must be dropped off by Saturday, Dec. 8, for them to reach the North Pole in time for Christmas. Parents are reminded to make sure they have their return address on the letters so Santa has the proper address to send a letter back.
Ice sculptor inspires
Andrew with Ice ‘N Dice Ice Art and Design cuts into a block of ice to form a reindeer at Sandy Springs Brewery Saturday during Minerva’s Winter Wonderland Celebration. See more photos on page 10.
more inside
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FPS Correspondent Carroll County Common Pleas Court Judge-Elect Michael Repella met with commissioners to review the budget for his court for next year. Repella said he will not be sure what is available and what he will need until he actually gets into his office and courtroom. “I looked at the 2017 actual expenditures and at the 2018 appropriations. I don’t know what is reasonable or not since I haven’t been up there yet. But I want to reduce this budget,” said Repella. One expense that will increase will be for the use of a Foreign Judge. Repella will not be permitted to be involved in any case that involves someone he represented in his private practice or had court proceedings while he was with the county prosecutor’s office. An outside judge will have to be brought in for those cases. Repella said he expects to be able to reduce travel costs and supply costs. Repella does expect to apply for numerous grants to help develop his Drug Court. He hopes the Drug Court is established by June. There may be a need to hire an additional bailiff or probation officer. That is still to be determined. Commissioner Jeff Ohler said that Repella can check in with commissioners after three months to see how the proposed budget is working out and if changes need to be made for the rest
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of the year. “It’s a relief that you plan to do more with less,” said Commissioner Bob Wirkner after Repella advised that several areas would have the budgets reduced. Repella’s budget request for appropriations is $493,131. Funds for 2018 that were appropriated were $499,223. Carroll County Municipal Court Judge Gary Willen also met with commissioners to review his budget for 2019. Willen proposed the hiring of a new probation officer to be used with both his court and the Court of Common Pleas. “Our probation officer is currently handling about 300 cases a year. The average in Ohio should be 120 to 140,”said Willen. Willen explained that with three probation officers they should handle 50 to 70 cases each per year. Willen has put more people on probation because of the limited space in the jail. He said the huge increase of drugs coming into the county from Stark County to the north and Jefferson County to the south has changed the number of drug cases coming into his court. The largest increase has been seen in opioid and methamphetamine use. Funds received to the court from the buy out of community service is being placed into the security fund. Willen’s courtroom had a power surge this summer that damaged cameras and they were immediately replaced and have been in continual use. The budget for Municipal Court was
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reviewed and commissioners were shown how Willen has been able to save money and will be able to fund the new probation officer. His court budget for 2018 was $308,950 and for 2019 will be $320,450. Commissioners heard a presentation from Tori Sinclair, Cebco Wellness Coordinator. Sinclair updated commissioners on the 2018 wellness program report. Sinclair reported that 52% of county employees are over the age of 45 and 18% are under 45. She also supplied details regarding how appointments were made, how often the website for each employee was accessed and the health risks that were noticed. County employees seem to be at the most risk of diabetes. Sinclair said that the company calls each employee who show a tendency towards diabetes, in hopes they take active steps to deter the disease. 30 employees were diagnosed with pre-diabetes. “The health assessments are very important. Over one third of the employees found new conditions during routine tests,” said Sinclair. Looking to next year with maintenance for county buildings, Maintenance Supervisor Ed Eick will meet with Ohler to interview the applicants chosen for a part time maintenance worker. Commissioners agreed to increase the pay rate for that position to $9.50 to start with a 90 day probation
See BUDGETS, PG. 3
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