Amherst News-Times, 1997-09-10

              Vintage cars fill restaurant lot — Page 7 Family learns new language — Pac
Amherst News-Time
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Wednesday, September 10, 1997
Amherst, Ohio
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4s Ford goes, so go the Middletons, tO(
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by GLEN MILLER
News-Times reporter
Katie Middlcton watched from
her bedroom window as her father
hammered a for sale sign in the family's front yard last Thursday.
"Dad, don't do it. Don't do it,"
the 15-ycar-old sophomore cried
out.
Bul her father, Bob Middlcton,
knew he had to, even though it
pained him. The closing of the Ford
Motor Assembly plant in Lorain
didn't leave him much choice.
It was as hard on him as it was on
the Marion L. Steele High School
student and the rest of the family.
"We've talk and talked about this
as a family. I thought that we were
all agreed this is what we have to
do," Middleton said. "Her true feelings showed up and it bothered me,
but the decision has been made.
There's no going back."
A Ford employee for more than
21 years, Middlcton, 41, is among
more than 600 company workers
who have opted to accept a transfer
to Louisville, Ky. in order keep his
job.
He has nine more years before he
can retire and devote more time to
selling real estate, a second career
he began about a year ago with
Anchor Realty. In the meantime,
he's hoping to sell the family's
home at 449 Oak Knoll Drive.
Neither he nor his wife, Debbie,
40, Katie or their two other daughters, Julie, 17, and Amy, 13, want to
move south but realize the auto
maker has left them little choice.
Middlcton thinks Ford could have
The Bob Middleton family is ready to sbwly say goodbye to Amherst due
to the closing of Ford's Lorain assembly plant. At top from left are Debbie
and Bob Middleton, and brother-in-law Larry Mamrak. At bottom from left
are the Middleton's daughters Julie, Katie and Amy.
handled the plant closing much better by making another vehicle at the
facility, an alternative lhat now
seems farfetched at best.
Some new employees remain optimistic about the plant's future.
They believe Ford will continue to
make Econolinc vans al the plant
and   eventually   may   replace   the
Thunderbird wilh another vehicle.
Among them is Middleton's brother,
Denny, of Vermilion, who works in
the Avon Lake van plant.
Middlcton doesn'L
"We're going to make the move
because I don't feel secure here and
I don't have the same faith some of
the other guys do," he explained.
The plant is running at half capacity. Based on his own 21 years
with Ford, he believes Econolinc
manufacturing may leave Lorain in
the coming years.
The Middletons aren't sure how
many Amherst residents who work
al Ford will be moving with them,
bul they know of about least a half
dozen.
It means they'll have plenty of
company in Louisville. It will be
what Debbie Middleton called an
Amherst-Lorain County group that's
likely to band together until they become adjusted to Louisville and its
people.
The family recently visited Louis
ville to look at ai
like to live. Good^
jor factor, Debbie Miaaieiuu mm.
Ford is giving Middleton and
other transferees a $45,000 bonus
over two years to help case the difficulty of moving south. The money
will help in moving and possibly the
purchase of a new home somewhere
in the Louisville area. It won't ease
Debbie Middleton's anger and hurt
or their daughters' pain of saying
goodbye to friends with whom
they've grown up.
"It's devastating and a slap in the
face because this is where the children have grown up, where we've
worked on this house and where our
friends and relatives are, she
explained.
For 21 years, the Middletons have
had to live by the layoffs imposed
by Ford's production demands and
car sales.
Bob Middleton worked as a
roofer during an 18-month layoff in
1981. He only had been working at
Ford for 24 weeks when he was laid
off due to slumping car sales, two
weeks shy of the 26 weeks needed
for unemployment eligibility.
There have been other periods of
unemployment lhat have affected
the family's life.
"It's been a roller coaster ride every two or three years," she added.
"You kind of have to hold your
breath and adjust your life around
Ford because you never knew what
Ihey would do until the last minute."
The bonus was not enough of an
incentive to leave, but the worry about the family's future was. Even
CONTINUED on page 2
New home permits down as building levels off
by GLEN MILLER
News-Times reporter
New home building in Amherst
seems to be leveling for Ihe first
time in about two years, according
to statistics from the city building
inspector's office.
To date, 38 new homes have been
built compared lo 45 in both 1995
and 1996.
Mayor John Higgins doesn't
know why but said he believes it
may be related to the closing of the
Thunderbird Ford assembly plant in
Lorain and the number of existing
employee homes that may be put up
for sale in Amherst and Lorain.
Several hundred Ford employees
have been offered transfers to an assembly plant near Louisville, Ky.
Those who accept are likely to sell
their homes, he added.
Higgins said the city does not
know how many Ford employees
live in Amherst. Some may sell their
homes, others may not.
"Whatever happens, the potential
of homes going up for sale will wa
ter down new construction here, in
the township and elsewhere," the
mayor added. "It's your traditional
supply and demand factor coming
into play."
Higgins said he doubts if this
year's home building in the city will
match 1995 or 1996 figures. The
number of building permits usually
declines in the fall because of the
changing weather, he explained.
"I'm not saying there won't be
new homes, bul with more existing
homes going on the market here,
Lorain or elsewhere, the demand for
new ones will be less."
Area realtors have computerized
lists of all homes on the market regardless of what firm is representing
the seller.
According to Joan Park, a realtor
with Lehman Johnson in Amherst,
131 homes were on the market in
Amherst and the surrounding area
last week. Of those, only 13 are
newly constructed.
"This is more than normal, but
not usual," ReMax realtor Joe Crisp
CONTINUED on page 2
Father does an impromptu nail inspection
of some of the children in Workshop Players'
production of "Cheaper by the Dozen,
show opens the Players' 50th season.
The
Players open 50th season
in 'Cheaper by the Dozen'
Workshop Players is kicking off
its 50th season with a production of
Christopher Serquel's "Cheaper by
the Dozen."
This play was first produced by
Workshop in 1956 and directed by
founder Valerie Jenkins
Gerstenberger.
It is Ihe autobiographical story of
the Gilbreth family, as told by two
of (he children (played by Allie
Jenkins and Jonathan O'Toole).
Their father (played by Chris
Dalton) is an efficiency expert who
uses his career expertise to leach
his wife (Brenda Turner) and 12
children — Amelia Inge, Chris Dalton, Connie Osborne, Sarah Woz-
niak, Mikio Akagi, Meredith Dalton, Justin Durrell, Kori Akagi,
Shellbee Turner and Sarah Turner
— the value of saving time.
Rounding out the cast are Donald
Butchko as Joe, Alan Gardinsky as
Larry, Jimmie Looney as Miss Brill
and Tim McHenry as Dr. Burton.
The director this time is Teresa
Jenkins.
Performances will be Sept. II,
12. 13, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26 and 27 at
8 p.m. Sunday matinees are presented on Sept. 22 and 28 at 3 p.m.
Tickets are $7.50 and may be re-,
served by calling ihe box office at
988-5613.
Season tickets are still available
al $37.50 for all six shows or any
combination of six tickets. Workshop Theatre is located on.Middle
Ridge Road, halfway between Rts.
58 and 2.
Wanted: few good resident
planners to help city grow
by GLEN MILLER
News-Times reporter
Wanted: people willing to
help envision how Amherst can
become a better community in
the coming years.
It's not a classified ad, but it
is the goal of a 25-member
steering committee being recruited by Amhersl residents
Judy Alexander and Steve
Simon.
Alexander, director of the
Marion L. Steel High School
media center, and Simon, owner
of Stagecraft audio store, have
been asked by Mayor John Higgins and other city officials to
help form the committee and
oversee an ongoing community
envisioning process.
The goal of the process is to
recruit ideas from residents on
how to solve- community problems and improve Amherst.
The process was conceived
about a year ago by Higgins and
others but wasn't launched until
recently because Alexander and
Simon nave been busy with unrelated projects.
Five people each are being
asked by Simon, Alexander and
three other volunteers to serve
on the steering committee. It
will hold an organizational
meeting Sept 25 at 7 p.m. in the
high school library. The community goal setting process will
be explained at the meeting.
Once the steering group is
formed, it will organize a series
of community meetings for residents who want to make suggestions  on the future of the city.
In the meantime, the steering
committee will be busy raising
money to possibly hire a part-
time coordinator to do administrative work involved in the envisioning process, Alexander.
Most committee members are
will be Amherst residents, although a few Amherst Township
people will be asked to join because many of the concerns of
city and township residents are
related, Alexander said.
Group members will be
trained in the community envisioning process by Lorain
County 20/20 executive director
Fran Bostwick.
"It's a way of getting people
involved in everything from
downtown improvements to
parks or whatever concerns or
ideas they have," Alexander
explained.
Future planning is among the
issues members of advisory
committees set up by the steering groups will take on.
'The whole idea is to get
community input and get people
involved rather than only depending on elected and government officials to come up with
ideas and do planning," she
added.
The steering group's job is to
design the process for getting
people involved in the smaller
groups. Bostwick, who implemented a county envisioning
process five years ago, will act
as a consultant lo the Amhcrsl
groups.
Community envisioning is a
community planning process
that began about five years and
is spreading nationwide.
Vermilion is among the local
cities where the envisioning process has been started and action
teams have been formed. Elyria
has completed its envisioning
process and is in the midst of
implemeniing-goals set by it, according to Bostwick.
"Bul this is not an overnight
process. It's a five, maybe 10-"
year process aimed at getting
ideas, setting goals and reporting
tp the community on their implementation and success," she
said. "It takes a commitment on
the part of many people."
Ideas will come from what residents are interested in pursuing. Others will be needs of the
community.
Alexander foresees possible
groups being formed for streel,
park, water and sewer and
downtown improvements'.
Others could work wilh the
school, district in some capacity.
"We have a whole lot of new
people irr the community. It will
help them become involved in it
and learn more about it," she
added.
Eventually, large community
meetings will be held from
Which ideas will be solicited. A
possible informal poll of residents could he conducted to determine, the best ideas to pursue,
she said.