Amherst News-Times, 2001-04-04

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New reporter joins N-T staff — Page 8 Class of 1951 plans reunion — P
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Wednesday, April 4, 2001
Amherst. Ohio
Council defeats bike helmet ordinan
cu
by YVONNE GAY
Newt-Time* reporter
City council last week defeated
an ordinance which would have established safety standards for children under 16 years of age requiring
them to wear helmets while riding
bikes, scooters, skateboards, and the
like.
The ordinance was voted down
5-2 during a regular meeting of
council held March 26.
Members who objected to the ordinance expressed concerns ranging
from parental responsibility to city
authority.
"I think parents are responsible
>l
enough to have their children wear
helmets," Ward 2 councilmember
Edwin Cowger said to fellow members of council. "Something like this
cannot be mandated."
Council president John Dietrich
agreed, but also expressed concerns
of city authority regarding the
ordinance.
"I don't see where we have the
power to mandate this. I don't see
how we could mandate a helmet
law," Dietrich said.
Other concerns centered around
the wording of the ordinance. The
age group targeted would have involved all children under 16, and
would have permitted the city of
Amherst to establish educational
programs and incentives for those
children to wear safety helmets.
The ordinance in question reads:
"... establishing safety standards
for all persons riding or operating a
tricycle, bicycle, scooters, skateboards, roller skates or in-line skates
on certain property in the City of
Amherst, Ohio and establishing educational programs and other incentives for children younger than 16
years of age to wear safety
helmets."
Although council members had
several concents, councilmember-
at-large David Williams, who voted
for the ordinance, said he is confident they will be able to work out a
compromise.
"I think, we really want to do
something,'so we'll rework it and
we'U fix it," Williams said.
Ward 4 councilmember Jennifer
Wasilk was disappointed by the outcome. She and Williams were the
only votes in favor of the ordinance.
"I thought we had more people
voting for it," Wasilk said. "I
thought we addressed a lot of their
concerns. But now, we'll go back
and (discuss matters further)."
Although the helmet ordinance is
not entirely new compared to surrounding cities', there are some differences in wording that sets it
apart City law director Kenneth
Stumphauzer said this was done to
create an ordinance that would be
more specific to Amherst.
The city of Shaker Heights in
Cuyahoga County passed a codified
ordinance concerning bicycle safety
in 1997. The Shaker Heights ordinance reads in part:
"..No person over the age of five
yean shall operate a bicycle within
the City unless such person is wearing a protective helmet on hismer
head, with the chin strap fastened
under the chin. Such helmet shall be
fitted to the size of the operator and
shall meet or exceed the standards
set by ANSI (American National
Standards Institute) or SNELL
(Sncll Memorial Foundation).
"..A violation... shall be consid
ered a civil infraction, punishable by
a penalty of $25 for any violation
occurring subsequent to a written
notice...."
Amherst's proposed helmet ordinance was prompted by the death of
10-year-old Carson Hamby-
Rittenour in October of last year.
Hamby-Rittenour was killed while
riding his bicycle along North Lake
Street The 10-year-old suffered severe head injuries. He was not wearing a helmet The car that struck
Hamby-Rittenour was determined
by police to be traveling at no more
than 35 mph.
After the incident several members of the community, including
council urged parents to have their
children wear helmets while btcj-
cling or skating.
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0m$i <t   WALTE". G. NORD   *
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BEST OF LUCK
6 SPELLERS  GOING
TO
REGIONALS
«^3»-~^S
Members of the Nord Junior High School Spelling Bee team     Gabrielle Giamboi, Alyssa Johnson, Joe Riley and Deleen
from left to right are: Jordan Murray, Kim Beight, Micah Bennett,     Holzhauer.
Nord speller takes second in bee
Congratulations go out to Nord
Junior High School student Gabby
Giamboi on a brilliant second place
finish in the Regional Spelling Bee
held Friday, March 30 at North-
wood Junior High School in Elyria.
The Nord Junior High School
team of competitors who qualified
for the regional test included Joe Riley, Jordan Murray, Kim Beight,
Gabrielle Giambio, Alyssa Johnson,
and Micah Bennett.
The Nord team spelled the following words correctly: waltz,
swerve, boycott, refuge, curious -
ness, armoire, chapter, epicenter,
dazzling, implosion, proximity, holster, insignificant, sauntered, parasite, nonchalance, cabriolet, chim
ney, albatross, spontaneous, crescendo, seaworthiness, circuitous,
and greedily.
Misspelled words were:'addenda,
morass, chalice, ancestral, truculent,
lineament, and beguiling.
Inventor fights carpal tunnel woes
by YVONNE GAY
News-Tim.* reporter
Who likes confrontation, especially on the job? Moat
people would rather ignore an
irritating co-worker, or grin
and bear the bottomless stack
of papers at the edge of the
desk.
But what happens when
soot-thing on the job is interfering with your health?
Well, you would invent a
cure, of course.
Joe Hambly, an Amherst
resident, has been employed
as a brazer for 17 years. The
occupation involves holding a
tool used to solder two pieces
of metal together. However,
after years of holding the
brazing instrument with a
tight grip, Hambly's aim began to show signs of carpal
tunnel syndrome.
"I was having problems,
and other people in the plant
were having problems too,"
the 45-year-old said. "I was
moved to setup and asked to
be placed back in the brazing
booth. After about 45 minutes
my hand started getting
numb."
That's when Hambly said
he knew he had to do some
thing. It took about two years
to develop, but months of
tinkering finally paid off.
Hambly came up with the
Tool Grip Glove. The glove
provides a surface on its
palm for a tool to adhere itself. The design means less
pressure is required to grip a
tool, without interfering with
job accuracy.
Before his invention
Hambly said he would wear
out one pair of gloves a
week, and pointed out that
other workers sometimes used
one pair of gloves each day.
CONTINUED on paga 8
MLS actors stage two more shows
Two performances remain of the
Marion L. Steele High School
theatre company's prearniartnn of
"Because Their Hearts Wen Pure,
or The Secret of Mine."
A melodrama in three acts, with
comedy, music, singing and dancing, the company stages the performance on Friday and Saturday.
April 6 and 7, at 7:30 pm. in the
Powers   Elementary   School
Cost is $4 for the general public,
$3 for students, $2 for ttespians.
and senior citizens may attend foe.
Valerie F_-_chman, assisted by
senior Scott Dolan, directs this story
of the villain, Sebastian, in his attempts to steal the home of the
lovely widow. Melody.
Questions abound in this production: Will the secret of the mine ever
be revelaed? Will the hero. Goodwin, save the widow in time? Will
Patience Faithful find her lost hus-
band and child? Will Will the sailor
find bis lost memory? Will Mr.
Bleakly and Mr. Grimstooe tied
Cast  members  include  the
following:
• Seniors: John Stransky, Brad
Smith, Steve Stetak, Kate Anderson.
Ashley Mazurek, Carly Kosonovich,
Allison Toman, Andrew Baker and
Scott Ward.
• Juniors: Katie Primm, Dan
Starett, Elaine Muniga, Ruben Es-
cat-don, Lindsay Hopkins, Beth Turner, San Sevits, Rachel Dubord,
Colin Stipe, Justin Bilewicz and
Axel Homaa.
■ Sflphofnoffpt' Tim Friedman.
Jake Wachott. Lindsey GW>. San
Sevits. Kriati Yorks Md Alexis
Waahbura.
• Freshmen: Lizzy Druga,
Heather Kordeleski and Jeni Dolan.
Crew members include technical
director Pat Sanders, set designer
senior Kathleen Dobbins, props
freshman Lizzy Druga. costumes junior Justin Bilewicz end tophomore
Undaey Gibb, sound senior Adam
Miller, set iceJar Alkie Alfosd. makeup senior Allison Toman, house
senior Nick
pher junior L_a____y Hopk-SK.
ooordinator senior Megan Cem-
mina, piano player sophotnore Kriati
Yc_t_,and
Workers close
chapter on life
as Nordson's
wage earners
by YVONNE GAY
News-Times reporter
Chauffeur Jerry Grace stood
stiffly in front of his long
white limousine, braving the
cold and waiting.
"I've never done anything
like this before," he said.
"I've done retirements from
here, but never something like
this."
Grace was hired by six
employees at Nordson Corporation to make their last day
of work a classy send off.
The group was a part of 48
employees who were laid off
last Thursday as part of the
company's Action 2000 Plan,
announced in November 1999.
Initially the plan had called
for the dismissal of ISO employees from the Amherst and
Elyria facilities. However, that
number was reduced to 125
workers due to favorable forecasted business conditions.
In February of this year,
the company dismissed 60 assembly and material handling
workers at its Amherst and
Elyria facilities. Another five
employees opted for
retirement
Awarding to the Action
2000 Plan, the cuts were a
part of a series of operation
transfers from northern Ohio,
to Georgia and Alabama in
an attempt to make the company more efficient The plan
also hopes to stimulate the
company's financial growth.
At 3:30 pm. last Thursday,
woken filed out of the Amhent building for the last
time. Many of them armed
with boxes, shopping bags
and mixed feelings.
When Darlene Demachi
showed up for work earlier
that day, she knew it would
be her last She had been
preparing for it for more than
a year. Still, it was hard to
leave the place she had been
coming to for IS yean.
"When I left. I turned around and said, 'I'll see you
guys...' I had to stop myself,"
53-year-old Demachi said, her
eyes filling with tears. "When
you an at a place for a long
timt* __a ptrttp-fl btromf your
family. Theee people an a
part of my family."
Tom Eagles. 34. would
have been with the company
for 15 years on April 28, as
a material handler. Now he
will have to start over again.
"I'm getting new job training, and I'm looking for a
job on the internet," Eagles
said.
Kevin KrugeUk. 42. wet-ad
in the handling and assembling department* for 19
years. lie was optimistic about his future, and wm ready
to move on.
Tm in a good position,"
Krugelak said, joining his fellow co-workers for a group
picture. To help prepare himself for the layoff, the
42-year-old said he took several accounting courses.
Unlike Demachi, John Sek-
letar, 50, was a little less
sentimental about his recent
dismissal. He had been with
the company for 15 yean and
was appalled by what he
called, "corporate greed."
"Many of the people who
were laid off have up to 17
years on the job, some even
more. (Nordson) had a good
reputation. There is just no
limit to corporate greed," Sek-
letar said.
Assembler Chuck Anthony
stood on top of an outdoor
picnic table and took pictures
of his departing co-workers.
Almost two yean ago he said
he could have easily been on
the other side of the camera.
"I thought I was out the
door," Anthony said, watching
the limousine drive away.
"But some people took (the
packages), that's why I'm still
here."
Although Nordson said it
would only dismiss 125 employees, Anthony, a union*
employee, is still worried. He
said his contract is up in
November, and he can't help
wonder if he will be the next
to go.
According to a Nardsoa
press release, employees affected by the iatyofb
eligible to receive
earlier this year. __rap-oyees
were also offered
counseling services end out
placement assistance,
Nordaoo Corp.. headquartered in Westlake, Ohio, is
the world's -ending
of precisian
In 2000. the
tional company reported
in .excess of $740
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