GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS • WEEK OF WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9, 2013 • 5A
2012 Year in Review: Jefferson Compiled by Stefanie Wessell Throughout the next four weeks, the Gazette will present “A Year in Review,” detailing the highlights of the year in the newspaper’s Jefferson coverage area. This week’s review will cover January through March 2012.
January Jan. 4 Lawsuit filed regarding referendum petitions JEFFERSON - A judge will decide whether the citizens who attempted to place a referendum on the November ballot regarding a property purchase by the Jefferson Village Council followed the proper steps or not. In late December, village officials deemed the referendum petitions invalid after Jefferson Village Clerk/Treasurer Patty Fisher said the referendum committee missed a step during its petition process, so she was unable to certify the petitions. The citizens who circulated the petitions disagree that they missed this step, and attorney Kyle Smith has filed on lawsuit on their behalf, under the names of Concerned Citizens of Jefferson Village and Ken Fertig, to determine who is correct and whether the petitions can move forward and thus have the matter placed on the November 2012 ballot. The committee wants the citizens to decide whether the property purchase should go through. The lawsuit surrounds council’s decision to purchase the building and property at the old Jefferson Elementary School on 104 E. Jefferson St. for $300,000. The deal consisted of $150,000 in cash and an additional $150,000 credit package for in-kind labor and improvements spread over an unspecified period of time. The village intends to use the property for the police department, which needs the additional room.
Jan. 11 Jefferson Council passes first reading of meth-lab ordinance JEFFERSON - Jefferson Village Council passed the first reading of an ordinance dealing with the clean up of clandestine drug labs and assessing costs to land-owners during its meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 4. With this ordinance, Jefferson Council wishes to follow in the footsteps of Geneva-on-the-Lake Village Council, the members of which passed legislation last year that makes the property owners responsible for the clean-up costs of a meth lab, not the municipality. The need for such legislation began when the Jefferson Police Department took down a methamphetamine lab on Elliot Avenue in the Village of Jefferson on Friday evening, Dec. 2. The Jefferson Police Department had to contact the Bureau of Criminal Investigation to assist with the cleanup of the lab. Mayor Judy Maloney said the cleanup will cost the village between $4,000 to $6,000.
Dorset widow accused of hiring a hit man DORSET TOWNSHIP - The widow of an Ashtabula County man killed after hitting a runaway horse with his vehicle in November is accused of hiring a hit man after allegedly fearing she would lose insurance money. On Friday, Nov. 19, Daniel R. Posey-Brown, 46, of Dorset, was killed in a car crash after his 1998 Honda struck a runaway horse, which also was killed, headed southbound in the northbound lane of Route 193 in Dorset Township, OSHP Trooper Jason Hayes said at the time. Moments later, another driver, William L. Gibson, 33, of Geneva, was killed when he swerved to avoid the accident debris in the road. The horse had wandered loose from an Amish event at the Dorset Community Center. A group of people, including some in a minivan, were trying to catch and coral the horse when the crash occurred. Now Posey-Brown’s widow, Angel Brown, 34, of the 3400 block of Mells Road in Dorset Township, has been accused of orchestrating a murder-for-hire plot. Brown is suspected of hiring a hit man to kill her late husband’s first wife because she feared the family would try to claim a share of his estate and the death benefit on his insurance policy, according to Ashtabula County Sheriff’s Department officials. The alleged scheme didn’t come to pass, however, as the wouldbe hit man informed the Sheriff ’s Department of the plot and told the sheriff Brown had given him $4,000 to murder the first wife, according to Sheriff ’s Department officials.
Jan. 25 KEN Heart Foundation donates life-saving devices to JALS JEFFERSON - Thanks to some teachers willing to volunteer their time once a week, the Jefferson Area Local Schools Board of Education received a special donation from the Kids Endangered Now Heart Foundation during its meeting last week. Rebecca Black and Linette Derminer of the KEN Heart Foundation donated two portable automatic external defibrillators to the school
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February Feb. 1 JALS administrators pleased with new building JEFFERSON - Jefferson Area Local School District officials are now settled into their building, and the transition went smoothly for them. Over the winter break in December, Superintendent Doug Hladek and other staff members moved out of the Jefferson Area Local Schools Board of Education office on 45 E. Satin St. and into a new administration building right on the campus of the Jefferson Area Junior/Senior High School, also just down the road from the Jefferson Elementary School. The 8,000-square-foot administration building is off to the end of the football field at 207 W. Mulberry St. The move mostly was made all in one day, Hladek said. The move is a positive one for the school district in a few ways, like how the old building likely would have needed some more care and repair to remain a building for school purposes, Hladek said. Hladek said the district would have had to spend a considerable amount of money to make the upgrades necessary to keep the house usable as a public building. “The board of education just felt it was prudent to build on the new campus,” Hladek said. The biggest bonus is having the new administrative building on the same cam- pus as the schools, he said. He said the location will help with connectivity and having the buildings on the same Internet network.
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district. The AEDs are used to provide the necessary electrical shock to restore proper heart rhythms when someone is having a cardiac arrest. Derminer founded the KEN Heart Foundation after the death of her son, Ken, who collapsed during a football clinic at Geneva High School in 2000. Ken, only 17 years old, died from a sudden cardiac arrest. The foundation donates portable automatic cardiac defibrillators to schools and organizations in the hope of raising awareness and preventing sud- den cardiac arrest from occurring among young athletes. The donation came about after District Nurse Peggy Savarese called attention to a shortage of AEDs in the district, with two at both elementary schools and only one for the high school and athletic complex combined. “They’re very expensive,” Savarese said. Black happened to be teaching a CPR class at the schools at the time, and she told Savarese the school district could earn an AED donation if staff volunteered once a week at the bingo game organized by the KEN Heart Foundation. Bingo is held at 6:30 p.m. every Thursday at the Moose Lodge 3001 at North Bend Road in Saybrook Township, with the proceeds going to the foundation.
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Expansion progressing at Jefferson businesses JEFFERSON - Two businesses in the Village of Jefferson are either in the midst of expanding or are considering it. Village Administrator Terry Finger shared some positive business news during the Jefferson Village Council meeting on Mon day, Feb. 6. “Presrite Corporation’s plant expansion is progressing as planned,” Finger noted in his report. Presrite is in the process of finishing an 80,000-square-feet addition at its facility on 322 S. Cucum- ber Rd. in Jefferson. In 2011, Presrite had received a 75-percent tax exemption for five years on the $2.2 million that will be invested in the project. The $2.2 million will be invested solely in the 80,000-square-foot addition. Presrite expects to retain 334 jobs at the project site because of the addition, with an estimated corresponding payroll of $7.8 million, according to the tax-abatement application. The warehousing, processing and shipping departments are moving into the addition, which is needed because of an increase of business from its customers. “Management advised us that the expanded plant is already planned to be fully occupied,” Finger said. “They recently placed an order for 19 million pounds of various types of steel bar stock to meet additional orders.” Finger also shared some news coming from King Luminaire. He said the company is thinking ahead for a possible expansion. “King Luminaire management met with village officials to discuss the need for attachment to the sewer to accommodate future expansion currently in the planning stages,” Finger said.
Feb. 22 Council passes ordinances dealing with multiple-family dwellings JEFFERSON - Jefferson Village Council passed an ordinance dealing with multiple-family dwellings in the village during its meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 21.
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Council held a hearing about the change in mid-January, giving people a chance to comment if they so desired. The ordinance approves the Planning Commission’s proposal to modify an ordinance to allow multiple-family dwellings within planned unit developments in the village. The village had not previously permitted these multiple-family dwellings to be constructed within planned unit developments, something council wanted to change. The change modifies the ordinance in a few ways, namely by specifying that the planned unit developments may contain both single-family detached dwellings and multiple-family dwellings, provided that no single building contains more than three dwelling units, instead of just the single family dwellings. The changes also involve specifying that the district cannot exceed a gross density of five dwelling units per acre, instead of just four.
Feb. 29 Jefferson man chases Chardon shooting suspect from building JEFFERSON - A Jefferson resident helped capture a suspect in the shooting at Chardon High School on Monday, Feb. 27. Witnesses have reported that assistant football coach Frank Hall, a Jefferson resident, put his life on the line to save Chardon students. Hall confronted and chased the gunman out of the Chardon High School cafeteria after five students were shot, witnesses said. Hall is a 1992 graduate of Ashtabula Harbor, where he was a standout lineman whose team qualified for the state football playoffs, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. Hall and his wife, Ashley, adopted four boys. The oldest, Quincy, lettered on the Jefferson football team last fall.
March March 14 Falcons swim for a good cause ROAMING SHORES - Over 35 Jefferson Area High School students and staff took “the plunge” Saturday, March 10, in Roaming Shores. Under the direction of Assistant Principal Jeremy Huber, Falcon supporters gathered sponsorships to take quick dip in the cold waters. JAHS students also raised over $274.50 by sponsoring a hat/pj day. For every $50 raised, the Falcons added one additional jumper. “The idea for the Plunge in the Shores was inspired by Jeff Meddock’s friends,” Huber explained. Huber was the assistant principal at Pymatuning Valley while Meddock was principal. “Jeff lived in Roaming Shores and was very active in the Polar Bear Plunge at Geneva on the Lake. When Jeff passed, his friends at Roaming Shores decided to bring the Plunge to Roaming Shores to raise money for the scholarship given in his name,” Huber said. The event has now expanded to Jefferson and Grand Valley schools. “Because Roaming Shores is close to all three school district, a competition has started to see who can send the most students into the freezing water or raise the most money,” Huber explained. Jefferson raised over $1,800 and Huber said all of that money will be donated to the Academic Booster Club.
March 28 March named 2011 Citizen of the Year JEFFERSON - The Jefferson Area Chamber of Commerce presented Jerry March with one of its most prestigious awards during its annual dinner on Tuesday, March 27. In a room full of his peers at the Jefferson Community and Recreation Center, 2010 Citizen of the Year the Rev. Fred Grimm presented March with the 2011 Citizen of the Year award. “The 2011 Citizen of the Year is a Jefferson native who has dedicated his life to serving his country, his county and his community in significant ways,” Grimm said. A 1987 graduate of Jefferson Area High School, March went on to enlist in the Air Force and served in Desert Storm. He returned to Jefferson with his wife and family in 1997. As for his community service, March is a member of Jefferson United Methodist Church and serves as the church business manager and the Sound Coordinator. As he accepted the award, March joked that he suspected something was up when his wife, Virginia, told him to change his clothes before going to the dinner. “I couldn’t do this without my wife,” March said. “Thank you.” March said they “switched jobs” sometime after their children, Jenna and Melanie, were born, with Virginia going off to work while he became a stay-at-home dad, which allowed him to become involved with many of the activities he’s participated in. “I’m very humbled to be honored among all the other recipients,” March said.
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