Amherst News-Times, 2002-06-19

              Resident is 106 years young — Page 5
Comets key West win — Pac
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t:I t)Nl SDAY, June  19, 2
Amherst hires
firm to boost
interest gains
by AMY PERSINGER
Naws-Timos reporter
Amherst city council has
voted to suspend council rules
and vote to pass an ordinance
an ordinance on first reading
that would authorize the
treasurer to sign a contract with
an investment advisor in an effort to boost the city's investment income.
Roger Cox, president of
Bond Tech, Inc. met with the finance committee last week to
explain what the company could
do to help the city.
Amherst treasurer, Kathleen
Litkovitz, told the committee
that she had been working with
Bond-Tech for about a year and
the need for expertise had become apparent to her.
The city needs to make sure
that funds stay liquid so the city
has access to its money at all
times. At this point the funds
are not earning what they could,
according to Litkovitz.
According to documents submitted by the treasurer to council, the city was earning 6.4S
percent interest in January,
2001.
The city earned $82,642 that
month. In January, 2002 the
city was earning 2.02 percent
interest with an interest income
of only $28359. In April the interest had declined to 1.92
percent
Litkovitz said the interest rate
declined sharply after the attacks on the Pentagon and the
World Trade Center on Sept
11. The chart created by her office showed that interest rates
had declined, but stabilized before the bombings.
The city's general fund depends heavily on the investment
income generated by the investing part of the fund not needed
for immediate expenses. In
1999 the city earned $835,126.
The city's year-long interest income topped out in 2000 with
$988,883 and declined to
$696,807 in 2001.
City auditor, Diane Eswine,
told council previously that the
city needed to find other ways
to bring revenue into the general fund.
She suggested charging more
for services that the city provides that do not benefit the city
as a whole, such as opening
gravesites. The city does not
charge residents what it costs to
open gravesites and therefore
loses money when it provides
the service.
Cox said that although it is
against the law to guarantee a
return on investments, Bond-
Tech would sign a contract with
the city that would include a
predetermined minimum interest perhaps based on the interest being generated by Star-
Ohio, the fund the city invests
in now.
He said if there is a lack of
satisfaction on the part of the
city, the city can decline to continue its contract with the company, giving a 30-day notice.
The company would provide the
city with documentation of all
of its investments and the city
could then make its own investment choices.
The company's president also
told council that the company
would waive its fees if the
city's return is lower than the
agreed on benchmark.
Litkovitz told council that the
city has $17 million available in
the fund, but she would only invest $5 million with Bond-
Tech.
"Just to get our feet wet" she
told council, "see how successful we are."
Council agreed that the city
would need to upgrade its investment policy in conjunction
with engaging the services of
Bond-Tech.
2nd suspect arrested
'n daylight breakin manhunt
The second man police suspect in
string of daylight robberies around
ie county last month was arraigned
riday in Oberlin Municipal Court
Police suspect that Hector Rivera
i the suspect who eluded them dur-
ig a day-long man-hunt that took
fftcers from five departments all
trough Amherst and resulted in the
rrest of Jose Ortiz. Ortiz's case has
een bound over to the grand jury
nd he is being held in the Lorain
!ounty Jail on a $500,000 bond.
Rivera was only charged with one
ount of burglary, but police suspect
e may be involved in at least nine
old daylight burglaries with Ortiz.
Sgt Dan Jasinski and Lt Joe Ku-
irek picked up 21-year-old Rivera
fter being notified that he'd been
pprehended and taken into custody
y Cleveland police.
Rivera allegedly escaped police
i a stolen Ford Contour after a resi
dent called police that two suspicious men were knocking on his
door. The resident said he didn't
recognize the men who claimed to
be looking for a man the resident
had never heard of.
Ortiz was captured by Ihe Lorain
County Sheriff's department with
the help of an Amherst Township
resident after eluding the police on
foot for several hours.
Police found items that had been
stolen from one of the houses that
the two men are suspected of burglarizing at Park and Pawn on Ndrth
Ridge Road. The items had been
pawned using Rivera's
identification.
A Chicago man was also arrested
in Michigan last month while driving a car that was allegedly stolen
by Rivera and Ortiz in Lorain
County on May 9.
Man injured in crash
An Ainherst man is still
-ed in stable condition at
lealth Medical Center in Cleveland
or injuries sustained ia a motorey-
le accident early Friday morning.
David Milk and a female pasaeo-
*x were traveling easd*c_nd of
-ooper Foster Park Road at about
: 13 a.at when Mills ejjftarendy loat
ontrol of the motcrcycle on a
urve. He crossed left of the center-
ine, according to a a_ta_wnt re-
Based by An-Jterat --dice, and con-
inued off the roadway oa the
lorthside.
Mills hit a large rock and was
brown from the tnotoreycle.
Rescue workers from the
herst police department fire
meat and North Owiral EMS
on the scene and Mills was
Lorain Commmuntoy Heakh
ners west campus. He waa
ferred to MettoHflaht
rvwtirlr-n  wag t*et-«f-f _|
tensive care unit
The
North CentralEMS to
munityHtMUhPartaetsir-ttat
AN.HI.KS'I . OHIO
Young citizens
Children from Amherst Safety Village pose while checking out     enue. last Tuesday. Safety Village started Monday with a variety of
Patrolman John Batog's cruiser at Beaver Creek Park on Lake Av-     activities for young children.
Firelands retiree was S. Amherst first
Aav  said
to
Part-
It's trie just a little encouragement Cawwork wonders in a child's
life — -»«lesson learned early by
one local teacher.
Marilyn Immler. a retiring
School District
wanted to be a teacher
when she was still a young girt After helping a neighbor child with
homework, the child's mother told
the young Marilyn she would make
a good teacher, Immler said. Those
were encouraging words the girl
took to heart
For 32 years she was the one encouraging children in the classroom
and on the playing field. She started
teaching at South Amherst Elementary School in 1971. immediately
after graduating from Ashland College. The South Amherst school district would not merge with the Firelands School District for another 17
-rears.
1 always wanted to be a teacher,''
she said.
Immler spent most of her years in
the classroom trar*-|'*ig third grade,
but she also taught second grade,
gifted students, remedial students
and junior high. She chose to leach
fifth grade this year, which is
housed in the South Amherst
Flpmftttary school **ir**ift*>g. so that
she could be ia the same building
where she'd started.
1 wanted to end my career where
I ststtod,M she said.
She also taught cheerleading for
16 years ia the Sooth Amherst district She coached junior high girls
and led Ihe -ranUy squad at South
Ainherst Ugh School. Under her
t-[%ir« South Amherst's squad
was the best ia Lorain County, according to her husband, Bill Immler.
"At Firelands. the moat fun was
the dance team," Immler said. She
said the Mam weat to "»*--*-'■
twice hi Jackaonville. Fla.
Immler's twin sisler, Marilee Le-
lak, was also aa sleai salary school
fftjfjt-a- before she chose to slay at
with her cltikhen, Iamler
nd her twin
fifth andes. She
got quite a laugh whan die
s-o-fht they had her again
m i*a*nn gn_e.
she taught elemouary, she was the
varsity cheerleading coach.
"When we hadp pep rally, it was
K-12," she said, "fWe wanted to create that kind of •jatmospherc."
' The junior higfT and high'schools
were housed in the same building,
and the elementary was within
walking distance.
The Immlers worked together on
other special events like the Little
Cavaliers Program. In it, older
children helped the little ones with
basketball and cheering. Mr. Immler
is a teacher in Westlake. Together
they have a son, Wes, who will be a
junior at Steele High School in the
falL
Education was clearly important
in Immler's home growing up. Her
father was on the original board that
created the Firelands School District A representative from each
community that would form the district was chosen to sit on the board.
South Amherst was not part of the
original district Immler's father
represented Kipton, where the fam
ily lived.
"A member from each community formed a committee to find a location for the new school,'* Immler
said. The committee chose the location of Firelands High School because of its central location for all
the communities it would be
serving.
When she was pregnant with
Wes, Immler found herself in a position she never expected, nor could
anyone else have expected. She
coached the varsity baseball team to
victory in the Inland Conference
Championships, the first championship South Ainherst had received in
any sport Remember, she was the
cheerleading coach, not the boys
varsity baseball coach.
Immler was the only South Amherst faculty member in the stands
watching the boys play for the
championships. South Amherst was
behind, but holding on, when Bill
Immler was thrown out of the game.
The team would have to forfeit
the game unless another member of
the faculty would step up and coach
the team. Only Immler sat in the
stands, seven months pregnant with
her first child.
Immler decided to rise to the
occasion.
"The team rallied and won the
game!" Immler recounted and
laughed. "All the men that coached
the team, it was the team with the
woman that won it!"
"There have been so many families we've been close to. Even kids
we've gotten close to," Immler said.
This year she had a little girl
whose parents were both students of
Immlers.
"When you worked with a child,
you worked with the whole family.
They were very supportive.'' Immler
said of the small district
Immler said she doesn't have
much planned for her immediate future — just to be a wife and mother.
Down the road, though, after Wes
has graduated, she said she would
like to help student teachers.
It looks like the encoutagernent
won't stop, if Immler has her way,
t-_t_-_*ta tie tiny So*e*h
Us
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"Wa
te l»ast of
to Bill
1983.
The accident is still
galion  by  Patrolman  Michael
..ado a i
The twoa-at
lead-** advisor aat to waste at_
letic daw tor at the high sdtooL
for -eaters to have i
of the* owa builds** In
a aMdl dta-ct Even though
Man/an Immlef b*girt* rtaf rttkenr-ant after 32    achooi dMriota. lmrr-fKtr4Mdah« lookatofWeVrito
yaare with tha South Amharat and Firelands
f,
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