The back view of homes on Acorn Circle damaged by a tornado Monday night. Most of the debris in the backyard came from a home on Royal Oak Drive that lost the roof and one second floor wall when an EF1 tornado touched down on the street. (LOREN GENSON / GAZETTE)

Contractors sealed tarps onto homes along Royal Oak Drive and Acorn Circle on Tuesday morning as residents prepared their damaged homes for another expected round of storms.

The National Weather Service confirmed a tornado touched down in Brunswick shortly before 7 p.m. Monday, first hitting Marie Drive, and then striking Royal Oak Drive. The storm continued northeast about 1.7 miles, damaging homes on Clover Drive and Red Clover Drive.

The weather service said the severity of the damage indicated the storm varied between an EF0 and EF1 on the Fujita Scale. EF1 tornadoes can pack winds of up to 110 mph. EF0 tornadoes have a speed of between 65 and 85 mph.

The front of Paul McNamee’s home on Royal Oak Drive Tuesday morning is boarded up. An EF1 tornado touched down ripping the roof and a wall of McNamee’s home. He and three other homeowners have been told their homes are unsafe to enter until crews can stabilize them. (LOREN GENSON / GAZETTE)

The home with the most damage belongs to Paul McNamee, of Royal Oak Drive. The roof and second floor of his home were ripped off. His wife was home at the time, taking shelter in the basement.

When he arrived home, police and fire crews already had crowded the street.

“The first thing I said was ‘Where’s my wife,’ ” he said.

Firefighters escorted her to safety out the front door shortly after he arrived. But his family has only been able to take a few belongings from the home while crews work to assess the damage.

“They’re boarding it up and we’ll go from there,” McNamee said. “We don’t really know what’s next.”

Three doors down from the McNamee home, Molly Koenig called her children inside from playing only minutes before the tornado struck. Surveillance video from her backyard shows debris from McNamee and other neighbor’s homes being ripped off by a tornado at 6:48 p.m.

On the video, you can see her kids coming inside the door from playing outside just minutes before.

“When I watched the video, the timing scared me the most,” Koenig said. “They were outside running around minutes before it hit.”

Koenig said there was only a little rain before the tornado struck, and the only warning anyone had was a darkening sky.

“We always hear about tornado watches and warnings, and one never touches down,” she said. “This time there wasn’t even a warning.”

Dominic DiIorio carrys his suitcase down the driveway to his car as he and his wife prepare for a stay at the Holiday Inn while the roof to their Clover Drive home is repaired. DiIorio said water came pouring into the home after half his roof was ripped off by a tornado on Monday night in Brunswick. (LOREN GENSON / GAZETTE)

Most residents reported the tornado struck so fast, it was over by the time they got to their basements.

Rock Passalacqua, who lives next door to Koenig and two doors down from McNamee’s home, said he heard a familiar sound before the twister hit.

“They say you hear a train whistle noise when there’s a tornado and it’s true,” he said. He and his wife were standing in the kitchen at the back of their home and saw the roof coming off a home behind them on Acorn Circle.

“We saw the roof unraveling and headed downstairs,” he said. “By the time we got down there, it seemed to be ending.”

Passalacqua said the worst of it only seemed to last about 20 to 30 seconds, but the heavy rains came in behind it.

“It just poured after that, but the damage had already been done,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like that in my life. It was terrible.”

Mark Seidel, who lives between Passalacqua and McNamee, also lost part of his garage and had other siding damage.

His 9-month-old’s room is above the garage, but thankfully he and his family were not at home.

“You look at the damage to my garage and my neighbor’s house — that could have been my kid’s room,” he said.

When he arrived home, his first worry was about his neighbors.

“There were police and fire trucks everywhere,” he said. “The first thing I wanted to do is make sure all the people were OK.”

Seidel said it took some time to find his family’s cats, one of which had climbed behind a bed and was afraid to come out.

“They were hiding. They were pretty scared,” he said.

On Tuesday, residents mingled with one another, sharing stories, support and sympathy on front lawns, in garages and on streets.

Many contractors already were working to secure exposed roofs to help prevent leaks during rain expected Tuesday evening. Police and fire personnel also were on hand to help protect residents’ property and keep contractors and solicitors at bay.

“We’re sort of acting as a liaison for the residents today,” Brunswick Assistant Fire Chief Rick Barber said.“We just wanted to be here if they needed anything.”

More than 40 homes sustained some type of damage. Four homes have been declared uninhabitable by the Brunswick Building Department, and more than 10
homes sustained major roof and siding damage from the storm.

On Clover Drive, Dominic DiIorio, and his wife, Arti, packed their bags and headed up to the Holiday Inn. More than half his roof is gone and his house sustained water damage.

“They tell us it’s going to take about a month to fix it,” he said.

In the meantime, his insurance company is looking for a condominium to put the couple in while they await the repairs.

DiIorio, a retired Brunswick High School assistant principal, was at home with his wife when the storm hit. He raced down to the main floor and he and his wife tried their best to mop up the water that was pouring into their home.

“It was just coming in so fast, pouring over the walls,” he said. “We’ve never had anything like it.”

Contact reporter Loren Genson at (330) 721-4063 or lgenson@medina-gazette.com. Follow her on Twitter @lorengenson.

Weather watches and warnings: They are not the same

• A severe thunderstorm watch means that the potential exists for the development of thunderstorms that may produce dime-size or larger hail or winds of 58 mph or more.

• A severe thunderstorm warning means that a storm is occurring or is imminent based on Doppler radar. People should move indoors to a place of safety. Schools should think about delaying departure of buses and prepare to delay outdoor sports activities and other outdoor events.

• A tornado watch, like a severe thunderstorm watch, means that conditions are favorable for severe thunderstorms to form, but it also means that a few storms may be capable of producing a tornado.

• A tornado warning is the ultimate in severe warnings. It means that a tornado is either occurring or indicated based on radar. People should take cover immediately.

EF SCALE

The EF Scale has been used by the National Weather Service since Feb. 1, 2007, to rate tornadoes from 0 to 5. The rating is based on tornadoe’s three-second wind gust speeds estimated from the amount of damage caused by the twister.

Three-second EF rating gust speeds

EF0:  65-85 mph
EF1: 86-110 mph
EF2:  111-135 mph
EF3: 136-165 mph
EF4: 166-200 mph
EF5: More than 200 mph

SOURCE: National Weather Service

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Medina County got a lackluster grade in the state’s monthly jobs report.

The county’s unemployment rate was 5.5 percent in May — unchanged from April but higher than the state average of 5.3 percent.

Medina County’s civilian labor force, the total number of residents with jobs or looking for work, was 94,300 in May, unchanged from April, but 800 fewer than reported in May 2013. Last month’s count is 2,900 less than the May record of 97,200 workers reported in 2008. The county’s jobless rate in May, unadjusted for seasonal shifts in employment, was 5.5 percent, unchanged from the revised April number but much lower than the 6.1 percent reported in May 2013. (SOURCE: Ohio Department of Job and Family Services data, compiled by The Gazette)

The jobless rate improved in 55 of the state’s 88 counties last month, according to a report released Tuesday by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

Mercer County, in western Ohio, had the lowest rate — 3.0 percent. Monroe County, along Ohio’s southeast border was highest, with 10.8 percent.

Medina County’s rate tied with Montgomery and Hocking counties for 36th worst.

Among Medina’s five neighboring counties, the jobless rates improved in Lorain (6.6 percent, down from 6.7 percent in April), Ashland (4.9 percent, down from 5.4 percent) and Summit (5.0 percent, down from 5.1 percent).

The rate worsened in Cuyahoga (7.1 percent, up from 6.7 percent) and remained the same in Wayne (4.2 percent).

The report found Medina County’s civilian labor force, the total number of residents with jobs or looking for work, was 94,300 in May, unchanged from April.

Most counties reported increases in their labor forces, as spring weather fuels more economic activity.

Overall, Ohio added 33,000 workers to the statewide labor force last month.

Medina County’s May labor force total also was 800 fewer than reported in May 2013 and 2,900 less than the record for that month of 97,200 workers set in 2008.

The year-over-year comparison is considered more significant because — unlike the national, state and metropolitan employment statistics — county figures are not adjusted for seasonal factors, such as the decline in construction work with the onset of winter and layoff of retail workers after the holiday shopping season.

Mead Wilkins, director of the Medina County Department of Job and Family Services, said the failure of the county’s labor force to resume growing following the Great Recession is an indication that many workers have given up looking for jobs.

“It’s simply people are just giving up,” he said. “They just can’t get meaningful employment.”

Contact reporter David Knox at (330) 721-4065 or dknox@medina-gazette.com.

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Cleveland-area band Madison Crawl performed Wednesday evening in Sharon Township’s Gazebo, at state Routes 162 and 94, as part of the township’s “Music in the Circle” series. Still to come this summer are The Hit Men (classic 1960-90s rock), on July 9; MacKaren (traditional Celtic folk music), July 16; Paul Bryan and Kentucky Border (blue grass), July 23; and the Sharon Center United Methodist Church (contemporary Christian music), Aug. 6.

Madison Crawl features frontman Chris “The Crawl Daddy” Stovicek on upright bass, Jason “VooDoo” Walling on blues harp and harmonica, and Eric “BamBam” Bambic on drums. (DAVID KNOX / GAZETTE)

Elaine McLaughlin and Duane Hoyt, of Lakewood, dance the blues away to the boogie woogie swing music of Madison Crawl. (DAVID KNOX / GAZETTE)

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MEDINA — A Medina woman was arrested Wednesday after police said she left her two children home alone while she went to work.

Police said Vyasia Delaney, 23, of the 700 block of Miner Drive, was charged with two counts of endangering children, a first-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail.

Delaney was taken into custody at Burger King, where she works, on North Court Street, shortly after police found her 2-year-old and 5-year-old children alone in the apartment.

“The mother said she left the children unattended around 7 a.m. to go to work,” Medina Police Chief Patrick Berarducci said. “She also told our officers she had recently moved to Medina to get away from Children Services in Cuyahoga County.”

Police said the manager of the apartment complex called police when she was notified the children were playing in the halls of the apartments. One of the children was found standing on a chair looking out of a hallway window in the building.

The children had been left a pizza to eat, reports said. The 2-year-old was playing with a garbage bag over his head and the children had access to a knife.

The children were taken into protective custody by Medina County Job and Family Services.

Delaney was taken to Medina County Jail, where bond was set at $5,000 or 10 percent cash. She was scheduled for arraignment today in Medina Municipal Court.

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Brunswick maintains the south side of Boston Road, which is severely degraded. Strongsville maintains the north side of the roadway. (GAZETTE FILE PHOTO)

BRUNSWICK — City Council has taken the first steps toward green-lighting a repaving project on Boston Road slated to start as early as this fall.

Council voted unanimously on Monday to set aside $578,890 for the resurfacing of Boston Road.

The money was moved from a savings fund set aside in 2012-13 that has about $2.5 million in it, Finance Director Todd Fischer said. A little more than $1 million was set aside in each of the two previous years.

“We’ve been trying for the last several years to set aside money for this project,” Fischer said.

The city maintains the south side of the road, which is severely degraded. Strongsville maintains the north side of the roadway.

Monday’s action only moved the money from a savings fund into the general fund. The city will go out for bids on July 1, and when the bids come in the city will have to accept a bid in late July and formally appropriate the money. City Engineer Ryan Cummins said the project could get underway as early as August or September.

He said the proposed project would remove 2¼ inches of the current roadway and repave it from just west of West 130th Street to the line with Brunswick Hills Township in the 3800 block of Boston Road.

The city hopes to use other savings money to do repairs to North Carpenter Road. Councilman Brian Ousley, At Large, said it took planning and tough decisions to save up enough money for the roadway repairs.

“It wasn’t easy,” Ousley said. “We’ve been saving a long time to do this work.”

Contact reporter Loren Genson at (330) 721-4063 or lgenson@medina-gazette.com. Follow her on twitter @lorengenson.

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A federal appeals court ruled for the first time Wednesday that states cannot prevent gay couples from getting married, extending the movement’s legal winning streak and bringing the issue a big step closer to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The three-judge panel in Denver ruled 2-1 that states cannot deprive people of the fundamental right to marry simply because they choose a partner of the same sex.

“It is wholly illogical to believe that state recognition of love and commitment of same-sex couples will alter the most intimate and personal decisions of opposite-sex couples,” the judges wrote, addressing arguments that the ruling could undermine traditional marriage.

The decision by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel upheld a lower-court ruling that struck down Utah’s gay marriage ban. It becomes law in the six states covered by the 10th Circuit: Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming. But the panel immediately put the ruling on hold pending an appeal.

The Utah attorney general’s office planned to appeal the decision but it was assessing whether to go directly to the U.S. Supreme Court or ask the entire 10th Circuit to review the ruling, spokeswoman Missy Larsen said.

Wednesday’s decision “takes us one step closer to reaching certainty and finality,” the office said in a statement.

After the ruling, the couples named in the appeal hugged, cried and exchanged kisses at a news conference outside their attorney’s offices in downtown Salt Lake City.

“This decision is an absolute victory for fairness and equality for all families in Utah, in every state in the 10th Circuit and every state in this great nation of the United States,” said their attorney, Peggy Tomsic.

Plaintiff Derek Kitchen said he and his partner, Moudi Sbeity, are “so proud to be a part of history.”

The decision gives increased momentum to a legal cause that already has compiled an impressive record in the lower courts after the Supreme Court last year struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act. Since then, 16 federal judges have issued rulings siding with gay marriage advocates.

The latest of those rulings was in Indiana, where a federal judge threw out that state’s same-sex marriage ban Wednesday in a decision that immediately allows gay couples to wed. The Indiana and Utah rulings came just one day ahead of the first anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision striking down part of a federal anti-gay marriage law.

The Utah ruling is especially significant because it is the first appellate court to conclude that last year’s Supreme Court decision means states cannot deny gays the ability to marry.

In 2012, an appellate court struck down California’s gay marriage ban but said it was only ruling on that law, not the broader constitutional questions. There were no such caveats in Wednesday’s 65-page decision.

Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry, said Utah’s legal victory was sweeter because of where it originated — a conservative, deeply religious state in the heart of the mountain West.

“What is so powerful here is that we have the first federal appellate court and … it’s a case coming out of Utah affirming in the strongest, clearest, boldest terms that the Constitution guarantees the freedom to marry and equal protection for all Americans and all means all, including gay couples,” he said.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, based in Salt Lake City, said on its website that it maintains marriage should be between a man and a woman, but believes “all people should be treated with respect.”

In his dissent, Justice Paul J. Kelly Jr. said the 10th Circuit overstepped its authority and that states should be able to decide who can marry.

“We should resist the temptation to become philosopher-kings, imposing our views under the guise of the 14th Amendment,” Kelly wrote.

More than 1,000 Utah same-sex couples wed in December after the initial ruling in the case, before the Supreme Court issued a stay.

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MEDINA — Main Street Medina has been designated as an accredited program by the National Main Street Center, a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

To obtain accreditation, Main Street Medina, a nonprofit that schedules events year round on Public Square, had to meet standards for commercial district revitalization.

Each year, the National Main Street Center and its partners announce the list of accredited Main Street programs in recognition of their exemplary commitment to historic preservation and community revitalization.

“The partnerships we have with the city of Medina, Medina County, the Greater Medina Chamber of Commerce, the Medina Visitors Bureau, and so many others, have made it possible to collaborate on our common shared goal of making Medina the best and most authentic it can be,” said Matt Wiederhold,
executive director of Main Street Medina.

The local organization’s performance is annually evaluated by Heritage Ohio, which works in partnership with the National Main Street Center to identify the local programs that meet ten performance standards.

The standards establish benchmarks for measuring an individual Main Street program’s application of the Main Street Four Point Approach to commercial district revitalization, Wiederhold said.

Evaluation criteria determines the communities that are building comprehensive and sustainable revitalization efforts and include standards such fostering strong public-private partnerships, securing an operating budget, tracking programmatic progress and actively preserving historic buildings.

“Main Street Medina has grown into a respected community development organization in Medina, and has helped revitalize our historic district through special events, targeted marketing, and business recruitment,” Wiederhold said.

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Daniel Archer

A Medina County jury Thursday found a 34-year-old Lodi man not guilty of raping a family friend. Daniel Archer was acquitted after the jury deliberated about five hours.

If convicted, he could have faced up to 11 years in prison.

Archer’s attorney, David Gedrock, said the jurors made the right decision.

“The evidence didn’t prove the case,” he said.

Archer was accused of raping the 31-year-old wife of a friend in a camper trailer in Litchfield Township on Aug. 4 last year following a graduation celebration.

After returning in a “party bus” from a night of drinking in The Valley bar district of Akron, she told police she went to sleep in the camper and awakened to Archer raping her.

During opening arguments Tuesday, Gedrock told the jurors that his client got in the wrong bed by mistake, but there was no sex.

“Two people — (the woman) and Dan — got in the wrong bed. That’s what happened,” he said.

Gedrock said physical evidence and expert testimony that “was most crucial” to the prosecution’s case was flawed.

County Assistant Prosecutor Scott Salisbury told the jury during opening arguments that investigators with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation discovered semen on the woman’s underwear that matched Archer’s DNA.

But Gedrock said that during cross-examination, the BCI expert said the DNA match could have come from sweat, saliva or skins cells.

“I got them to admit it wasn’t conclusive,” Gedrock said. “If it isn’t conclusive, how does that prove beyond reasonable doubt that my client was guilty?

“That’s not evidence of sexual conduct and they need that to prove rape.”

Gedrock said he understood allegations of rape must be thoroughly investigated. But he questioned the decision to prosecute his client.

“I really think they should have been more realistic in his case,” Gedrock said. “The evidence was weak.”

County Prosecutor Dean Holman said he had no regrets about going forward.

“We put on the best case we could, and the jury decided the verdict of not guilty,” Holman said. “We accept the jury’s verdict.”

Archer’s brother, Greg Archer, of Chatham Township, argued the case never should have gone to trial.

“They had no hard evidence,” he said. “That prosecutor just got up and lied to the jury, and they didn’t buy it.”

Greg Archer said his brother’s friends and family planned to celebrate the verdict Thursday night.

The trial began Monday with jury selection.

The case was handed to the seven men and five women on the jury Wednesday afternoon.

Contact reporter Nick Glunt at (330) 721-4048 or nglunt@medina-gazette.com. Follow him on Twitter @ngfalcon.

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The back view of homes on Acorn Circle damaged by a tornado on Monday night. Most of the debris in the backyard came from a home on Royal Oak Drive that lost its roof and a second-floor wall when an EF1 tornado touched down on the street. LOREN GENSON / GAZETTE

There was no warning before a tornado tore through a Brunswick neighborhood earlier this week, weather experts said, because some freak twisters are impossible to predict.

“It just developed instantaneously,” said Gary Garnet, a warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Cleveland. “It’s very difficult to put out a warning for something like this.”

Garnet said the tornado that formed with a severe storm on Monday was not part of a super-cell system — the system meteorologists usually monitor for tornadoes. Garnet said it’s more unusual for tornadoes to develop outside of super-cell systems.

“We occasionally get them here in this area and Brunswick was a good example,” Garnet said.

In a way, the tornado that developed over Brunswick was the result of a few unique weather events colliding over the city. There were thunderstorms moving east and north. There also was a breeze blowing south off Lake Erie.

“It was sort of the perfect storm,” Garnet said. “The lake boundary and the cold air boundary coming out of the thunderstorms collided over Brunswick.”

The collision of air moving in three directions began to rotate, and pulled upward, creating the tornado that first touched down near Marie Drive, south of state Route 303 in Brunswick.

Garnet said the storm pulled the warm air upward, moving the rotating system into a funnel very quickly. He likened the movement to the way a figure skater rotates in a spin while crouched down, and when they straighten up, they begin to rotate much, much faster.

Garnet said that by the time the rotation showed up on radar, the tornado already was on the ground, meaning advance warning was impossible. The weather service did issue a severe thunderstorm warning at 6:53 p.m. for the Brunswick area, noting the storm was capable of producing strong winds and hail. The agency estimated the tornado touched down about 6:55 p.m. and lasted approximately 5 minutes.

He said even with the conditions of two thunderstorm boundaries present, there was no way to predict a tornado would develop. Garnet said the Brunswick tornado is a good example of why people should take severe thunderstorm warnings seriously.

“Anytime there’s a severe thunderstorm warning, tornadoes can, and do, sometimes occur,” he said.

But he said when his office issued the warning, the primary concern was hail and winds of up to 60 mph.

The freak tornado that hit Brunswick on Monday packed winds of up to 110 mph and was rated an EF0 and EF1 on the Fujita scale — the two lowest ratings assigned to tornadoes.

Unlike a super-cell tornado that develops top to bottom, the tornado that struck Brunswick formed differently.

Garnet said a super-cell tornado generally develops slowly, with rotation of storm clouds high up in the air before a funnel begins to form and then slowly reach toward the ground.

“It usually shows up on radar clearly and works its way down,” he said. “We can usually warn about 10 or 15 minutes before the tornado hits.”

But the tornado that hit Brunswick formed in a matter of seconds.

“It formed right there on the ground where the boundaries collide,” he said.

In a report of the Brunswick tornado published by the National Weather Service, meteorologists said the probability of detecting a nonsuper-cell tornado is 46 percent. The probability was based on a two-year study of tornado warnings completed in 2013 and means less than half of nonsuper-cell tornadoes studied by the National Weather Service were covered by a warning when they occurred.

The weather service also reported that a collision of thunderstorm boundary lines is what may have spawned a deadly tornado that struck Moore, Okla., in 2013, killing 24 people.

In that instance, the tornado was part of a super-cell system, but the system collided with another line of thunderstorms spawning the strong and deadly tornado that reached speeds of more than 200 mph across more than 17 miles.

Contact reporter Loren Genson at (330) 721-4063 or lgenson@medina-gazette.com. Follow her on Twitter @lorengenson.

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A surveillance video from June 15 outside of Eli’s Kitchen on Public Square in Medina shows an adult and a child exiting through the back door of the diner after breaking in and smashing the cash register on the floor around 2:15 a.m. PHOTO PROVIDED

MEDINA — The video looks like a scene from Charles Dickens’ tale of Oliver Twist.

An adult, wearing a dark-colored hooded sweatshirt, is seen knocking on the back door of Eli’s Kitchen, 115 Public Square, in the middle of the night.

After the second knock, the person is let in.

Nine minutes later, the back door reopens. But it’s not the adult who emerges; it’s a small child followed by the adult.

Medina police say they suspect the adult used the child to break into Eli’s Kitchen about 2:15 a.m. June 15.

A surveillance video, shot from a security camera behind the diner, captured the action.

Sgt. Scott Marcum said it is possible the adult used the youngster to gain entrance into the diner by breaking the glass on the front door and shoving the child through the broken glass.

“They were obviously looking for money,” he said. “They had smashed the register and it was on the ground.”

Nothing was reported stolen from the diner.

The incident was reported 45 minutes later when a man walking down East Liberty Street noticed the shattered glass on the sidewalk and went to the police station.

Marcum said it is unclear whether the adult is a man or a woman.

He also said Eli’s Kitchen has been the victim of previous break-ins in the past year.

Anyone who has information on this incident is asked to contact dispatch or Detective Sara Lynn at (330) 725-7777.

Contact reporter Andrew Davis at (330) 721-4050 or adavis@medina-gazette.com.

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Music therapist Brenda Wise conducts a “drum circle” at Camp Paradise, a facility in southern Montville Township that provides a variety of services and programs for developmentally disabled individuals. Camp Paradise is operated by SHC-The ARC of Medina County, which lost most of its United Way money this year because of a change in the way the agency funds nonprofits. (DAVID KNOX / GAZETTE)

Last year the United Way of Medina County changed its system to fund nonprofits. Executive Director Seth Kujat said after 86 years in the old model that it was time for a change.

“It’s not about just giving to who we gave to last year,” Kujat said. “It’s about giving to the programs that are meeting the greatest needs in Medina County.”

Kujat said the new system aims to use data to determine the county’s most serious social needs: early childhood development, mental health programs for teenagers and job training for adults.

“The old model asked ‘How many people did we help?’ “ he said. “The new model is all about ending problems. It has to be looked at quality over quantity.”

Some nonprofits getting help from United Way for the first time are applauding the change. But other groups, which have seen their United Way funding reduced or eliminated, are scrambling to make up the lost dollars.

“We are going to have to go fundraise twice as hard because our budget got cut,” said Deborah Poland, executive director of Faith in Action, which provides transportation for senior citizens to medical appointments.

More than half of Faith in Action’s total revenue last year came from a $51,250 grant from United Way.

This year, the group will get no money in the new funding cycle, which starts Tuesday. United Way has not yet released the amounts of this year’s grants.

Poland is confident her nonprofit will survive, but said he felt misled by United Way.

She said Kujat told her during the application process that “no one would be left behind” as a result of the new funding system.

The SHC-The Arc of Medina County, which operates Camp Paradise in southern Montville Township and other programs for developmentally disabled individuals, is losing $51,000 it received last year.

United Way cut $25,000 to Camp Paradise and $26,000 to the Resource Center. The only grant approved was for a $4,000 scholarship.

“We’ll make up for it by fundraising, grant writing and donor support,” Executive Director Melanie Kasten-Krause said.

Kasten-Krause said she was surprised by the cuts.

“We knew the change of direction,” she said. “We did hope and think that some of our programs would fall into those areas.”

Kujat said the cuts were necessary to free up money for new programs and the agencies that lost out shouldn’t be upset.

“It’s not that they aren’t serving a good purpose, but that they aren’t serving the specific needs of Medina County,” he said.

Kujat said the new funding system is the result of the process that began three years ago that involved all of United Ways grant recipients and major donors, as well as school and government officials who concluded United Way had spread itself too thin to achieve significant change in the community.

In 2012, United Way hired The Center for Community Solutions, a Cleveland-based research group, to help design the new funding system.

Kujat said the new model is not about how many people United Way is helping, but how it can help people better.

“We’re focusing on populations where we know that if we get it right now,” Kujat said, “we won’t have those problems in the future.”

As an example of the new approach, Kujat cited a study that found 20 percent of high school students in Medina County seriously considered attempting suicide, while 30 percent felt sad or hopeless every day.

To address this problem, Kujat said United Way will team up with Alternative Paths, Solutions Behavioral and Catholic Charities to provide full-time mental health therapy to three of the five high schools in the county.

“The goal is that in three years we will be in all five high schools,” Kujat said.

Other studies indicated that the county’s poverty rate rose almost 3 percent from 2010 to 2011. Additionally, almost 24 percent of households in Medina County make less than $35,000 per year.

That’s why United Way is providing more money to help adults find good-paying, long-term employment, Kujat said.

“Its one thing to give someone utility bill pay,” he said. “But it’s another thing to give them the training they need to become self-sufficient.”

Kujat said the final area that will see additional money is early childhood development, focusing on pre-kindergarten through third grade with the primary goal of preparing children for school and helping them learn to read.

Kujat said 10 percent of the county’s third-graders have not met the Ohio Department of Education reading standards.

“We want to get every kid ready for kindergarten,” Kujat said. “We want to make sure every student is reading on grade level by fourth grade.”

Contact reporter Andrew Davis at (330) 721-4050 or adavis@medina-gazette.com.

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Summa Wadsworth-Rittman Hospital will stop admitting patients for overnight care in mid-July — several months earlier than expected.

On Friday, Summa Health System announced the hospital in Wadsworth would close as an inpatient facility on July 13 and stop admitting patients a few days before.

A Summa spokesperson said the facility, renamed the Summa Health Center at Wadsworth-Rittman, will continue to offer emergency room and other health care services for outpatient care.

Dr. Thomas Malone, chief operating officer of Summa Health System, said Summa had planned to close the hospital in the fall, but moved the date up to allow employees who would be affected by the change to move on to other career opportunities.

“Some have taken other jobs with the facility, some within Summa, and a number of employees were able to get jobs elsewhere,” Malone said.

As a result, the hospital would have difficulty caring for overnight patients past July, he said.

The hospital had 52 beds, including eight intensive care beds, but Malone said the hospital was seeing less than 20 inpatients a day and would prefer to use the space to increase other health care offerings.

“We’ve had a geriatric physician that’s been coming down once a week, and we’d like to expand those visits,” he said.

Malone said the organization is working with local physicians in the Wadsworth-Rittman area to try to offer the services the community needs most. He said they’d like to increase the number of primary physicians available in the area with the extra space at the health center.

“We know there’s a need for four or five primary care physicians in the community,” he said. “We’d like to be able to serve that need.”

Services that will be offered at the Summa Health Center at Wadsworth-Rittman include:
• cardiology
• diagnostics imaging
• emergency medicine
• general medical and surgical services
• geriatric medicine
• gynecology
• outpatient infusion services
• neurology
• oncology/hematology
• orthopedic services
• pain management
• plastic surgery
• podiatry
• primary care
• pulmonary care
• sports medicine
• vascular surgery
Contact reporter Loren Genson at (330) 721-4063 or lgenson@medina-gazette.com. Follow her on Twitter @lorengenson.

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Highland officials are hoping residents will attend a school board meeting tonight to learn more about the district’s plans to replace and repair aging buildings.

Highland School Superintendent Catherine Aukerman will give a presentation on the current state of school buildings within the district, based on an assessment from the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission. She also will outline the steps the district will take to engage residents in a discussion about how they would like the school to replace older buildings.

Aukerman and the board will outline the multiphase research process to determine the next steps for the aging elementary and middle school buildings. The district’s three elementary school buildings are about 90 years old.

At a December meeting, Aukerman said the cost to replace the buildings would be about $16 million each, and will likely cost more than what the district gets from federal, state and local tax dollars.

Aukerman’s remarks came when the district announced plans to build a new $7 million to $8 million stadium just south of the current high school grounds.

At the December meeting, board members voted to start design work on the stadium and said it would be financed over 20 years using $400,000 from the about $1 million the district receives in sales tax money each year. That money can only be used toward capital expenditures.

While a formal plan for replacing the buildings has not been decided, in December, Aukerman said she was certain it would require more taxpayer money.

“In time we do believe we’ll be going to the community to ask for funds for the new elementary schools,” Aukerman said.

The board meets at 7 p.m. in the Media Center at Highland High School, 4150 Ridge Road.

Contact reporter Loren Genson at (330) 721-4063 or at lgenson@medina-gazette.com. Follow her on Twitter @lorengenson.

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Don Thomas and Steve Minnick take a break from registration to pose for a photo with the bras they decorated for the poker run. (LOREN GENSON / GAZETTE)

Motorcycle riders traded in drab black and leather for bright pink, feathers and tutus on Sunday to participate in a poker run aimed at raising awareness about breast cancer.

The “Scooters for Hooters” poker run circled the county on Sunday afternoon before ending the day at Buffalo Wild Wings on state Route 18 in Medina. The first such run in Medina was organized by a group of women who participate in Susan G. Komen events.

“Everyone got really into it,” said Bobbi Havrilla, who lost her mother to breast cancer in 2011. Havrilla, who lives in Wadsworth and rides a Harley-Davidson, knew her fellow riders would support the event, but she never expected the men to get competitive about the bra decorating contest that followed the ride.

Eileen Smith, left and Vickie Curry, right, wave goodbye as they prepare to embark on the Scooters for Hooters Poker Run on Sunday in Medina. The two traveled from Columbus to participate in the Poker Run to raise money for Susan G. Komen For a Cure Foundation. Eileen will be walking with a group from Medina in a Race for the Cure event in Georgia later this year. (LOREN GENSON / GAZETTE)

“They were so secretive, they didn’t get any help from the women and we were so surprised to see what they came up with,” she said.

Vickie Curry, who drove from Columbus in her pink Mini Cooper to ride in the event, said the publicity of wearing pink bras around town is fun, but educational.

“We stopped at a gas station, and of course people are asking about the outfits,” she said.

She said it’s a good way to remind women to perform breast self-exams and raise awareness that breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for women ages 20 to 59

“So many people have been involved with this in some way, or they know and support someone who’s had breast cancer,” Curry said.

Curry drove in her Mini Cooper with friend Eileen Smith, who lives in Columbus but walks with the Medina group in the annual event. This year, the group plans to travel this fall for a Susan Komen walk in Atlanta.

The group has participated in the Cleveland walk for the last seven years, but in 2013 the walk was canceled and the women traveled to Seattle to walk for the foundation. This year, although the race is back in Cleveland again, the group has decided to travel to Atlanta to walk with a friend, Fran Smith, who is originally from Medina and now lives in Atlanta.

After the ride, the group gathered at Buffalo Wild Wings for auctions and prizes and the men and women with decorated bras were judged for cash prizes. Buffalo Wild Wings gave the bikers space for the bikes and issued coupons for their food purchases that donated 20 percent of their food sales back to the Susan G. Komen fund.

Contact reporter Loren Genson, who served as a judge in the bra decorating contest, at (330) 721-4063 or at lgenson@medina-gazette.com. Follow her on Twitter @lorengenson.

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Kids in the Passport to Fishing program came away with more than just the basics of rigging a line and casting for fish.

“We try to give them the skills to be independent when they fish,” said Shelley Tender, an interpretive services manager for the Medina County Park District. “And the parents who stay for the classes also learn a lot, too.”

Cody Bednar, 12, of Wilmington, Ohio caught a fish on Friday during a Passport to Fishing class at Carolyn Ludwig Mugrage Park on Windfall Road. Bednar was attending the three day fishing class while visiting his grandmother, who lives in Hinckley Township. (LOREN GENSON / GAZETTE)

The park district program ran Thursday through Saturday at Carolyn Ludwig Mugrage Park, 4985 Windfall Road, Granger Township, is sponsored by the Ohio Department of Development.

Tender said the program taught four key components of fishing. Children ages 7 to 12 learn about knots and rigging, water quality and water pollution, casting a line and safety and what kinds of fish are in local ponds.

There are a number of places within the park district for recreational fishing. Parents are allowed to fish with their children without a license at Carolyn Mugrage Park, Green Leaf Park, Buckeye Woods Park, Lake Medina, Letha House and Plum Creek Park.

The Letha House Park and Mugrage Park are catch and release only because the park district is trying to grow the fish population.

Fishing also is permitted at Hubbard Valley and Chippewa Lake parks, but anyone older than 16 needs a fishing permit.

For more information on the parks, visit www.medinacountyparks.com.

Contact reporter Loren Genson at (330) 721-4063 or lgenson@medina-gazette.com. Follow her on Twitter @lorengenson.

 The following is a list of Medina County Park District programs and activities for the month of July. All events are free unless otherwise noted. For more information or to register, visit www.medinacountyparks.com or call (330) 722-9364.

Thursday

• Stroller Hike, River Styx Park, 8200 River Styx Road, Guilford Township, 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. On this guided hike, participants will explore different parks and investigate nature happenings in ways both oldsters and little ones can understand. Children can be in strollers, backpacks, or can toddle along on their own. Mid to full-size or jogger-type strollers recommended. Ages newborn to 7. No registration required.

Saturday

• Hiking for the Health of it, Happy Days Visitor Center, Cuyahoga Valley National Park, 500 W. Streetsboro Road, Peninsula, 8 to 10 a.m. This is a hike for those adults who can hike four to five miles at a brisk pace. Walking trails can be mildly strenuous. Hikers are advised to dress for the weather and be sure to have appropriate footwear. Ages 10 to adult. No registration required.

• Walk With a Doc, Carolyn Ludwig Mugrage Park, 4985 Windfall Road, Granger Township, 9 to 10 a.m. Walk With a Doc combines a casual one- to two-mile walk beginning with a brief, informative talk by a Cleveland Clinic doctor or other health provider. Topics are based on the provider’s specialty and requests of participants. Ages 10 to adult. No registration required.

Saturday and Sunday

• Wild Weekends: TYOT, Susan Hambley Nature Center, 1473 Parschen Blvd., Brunswick, 12 to 5 p.m. The nature center is home to many turtles — some aquatic and some live on land. Drop in to meet them and for a variety of “Take Your Own Turtle” crafts for all ages. All ages welcome. No registration required.

Tuesday, July 8 through Thursday, July 10

• Self Reliance in the Woods, for Women, Hidden Hollow Camp, 8672 Richman Road, Harrisville Township, 6 to 9 p.m. There is no distinction between men and women in terms of self-reliance, but this class is geared specifically for women. The workshop is designed to fit into summer schedules by breaking up wilderness survival topics into segments that are presented over a three-day series. The topics during these sessions will cover all of the basics you need to know to survive and even thrive in an emergency situation most anywhere in North America most anytime of year. Shelter, fire, water, and food with additional topics such as knife sharpening and awareness in the woods also being discussed. This is described as a fast-paced, hands-on class that will provide opportunities to not only learn these skills but to pass on to family members. The instructor is Tom Laskowski, director of Midwest Native Skills Institute, an outdoor wilderness self-reliance school in Northeast Ohio that has been in business over 17 years teaching non-military survival techniques. For more information and to register for the program, visit his website at www.SurvivalSchool.com or call him at 1-888-886-5592. For adults. Women only please. There is a $79 fee per person.

Tuesday, July 8

• Cycling Makes Sense Fitness Ride, Lester Rail Trail, 3654 Lester Road, York Township, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. This program, offered by Medina County Park District and Century Cycles, is a way to get out on bicycles for a non-aggressive ride and experience the park district’s multipurpose trails. Before the start of the six- to 10-mile ride, Lynne Nawalaniec of Century Cycles will share basic tips on how to keep riders and bikes fit. Helmets are required. Meet at the Lester Road trailhead. Ages over 16. Register by July 7.

Saturday, July 12

• Wild Edible and Medicinal Plant Workshop, Wolf Creek Environmental Center, 6100 Ridge Road, Sharon Township, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Which plant will stop a cut from bleeding? Which one takes the hurt out of a bee sting or itch away from a mosquito bite? How to make “coffee” out of a dandelion? These questions and more will be answered in one of the most comprehensive edible/medicinal plant workshops available. The class begins with a detailed slide presentation about the plants available in Northeast Ohio, followed by a discussion of what plants look like throughout the different seasons and how to prepare them to make teas, medicinal tinctures and decoctions, and simple meals. There also will be a field walk to see the plants in their natural environments. The class will end with a hands-on project using wild plants. Depending on plant availability, each person will help prepare a project such as a jam or jelly, dandelion wine, or a medicinal salve. The class is presented by Tom Laskowski, director of Midwest Native Skills Institute, Inc. (MNSI), a survival, wilderness, and self-reliance school located in Northeast Ohio. To register for this class, contact MNSI by phone at (888) 886-5592 or online at www.SurvivalSchool.com. For adults only. Register by July 11. There is a $50 fee per person.

• Goin’ Mobile with Nature: Forest, Carolyn Ludwig Mugrage Park, 4985 Windfall Road, Granger Township, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. The Medina Library Bookmobile will be visiting the parks this summer. Join library staff and park naturalists for this opportunity to discover nature. Participants can listen to nature themed stories read by library staff, and join a naturalist for a hands-on nature experience centering on the day’s topic. Participants are asked to bring a library card. All ages welcome. No registration required.

• Starry, Starry Nights at Letha House, Letha House Park West, 5800 Richman Road, Chatham Township, 9 to 11 p.m. Deep-sky objects, planets, and the moon up close can be seen using the Cuyahoga Astronomical Association’s telescopes. The observatory will be open for public viewing, and members will be available to answer questions. Activities and displays will be set up inside the barn for cloudy/rainy nights. The program will be canceled only for severe thunderstorms. Ages 6 to adult. No registration required.

Wednesday, July 16

• Nature Through the Seasons, Susan Hambley Nature Center, 1473 Parschen Blvd., Brunswick, 10 to 11 a.m. The Nature Through the Seasons series consists of easy walks that explore our different parks while observing the unfolding of nature from the first spring wildflowers to the last days of winter. Ages 7 to adult. No registration required.

Friday, July 18 through Sunday, July 20

• Wild Weekends: Avian Architects, Susan Hambley Nature Center, 473 Parschen Blvd., Brunswick, noon to 5 p.m. Birds build a wide variety of nests from stretchy hummingbird nests to woodpecker holes in trees to enormous eagle nests. Visit the nature center this weekend to see a variety of nests and learn what birds build them. All ages welcome. No registration required.

Friday, July 18

• Name That Tree Workshop, Wolf Creek Environmental Center, 6100 Ridge Road, Sharon Township, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. This one-day workshop is designed to give participants in-depth training and practice on identifying trees using leaves and other common characteristics. The class begins indoors with some introductory identification clues and samples that we use to work through a dichotomous key. The afternoon is spent outside practicing. Lunch is included in the registration fee of $35 fee per person. Registration and payment information can be found online at http://woodlandstewards.osu.edu. There are no refunds for cancellations received after the registration deadline. There will be a $10 cancellation fee. For adults only. For more information, contact Mary at (614) 688-3421 or ohiowoods@osu.edu with questions. This class qualifies for five hours of continuing education credit for the Ohio Forest Tax Law program.

Saturday, July 19

• Hiking for the Health of it, Pine Lane Trail, Cuyahoga Valley National Park, 1281 Pine Lane, Peninsula, 8 to 10 a.m. This is a hike for those adults who can hike four to five miles at a brisk pace. Walking trails can be mildly strenuous with a limited amount being off trail. Participants are advised to dress for the weather and be sure to have appropriate footwear. Ages 10 to adult. No registration required.

• Walk With a Doc, Hubbard Valley Park, 8600 Hubbard Valley Road, Guilford Township, 9 to 10 a.m. Walk With a Doc combines a casual one- to two-mile walk beginning with a brief, informative talk by a Cleveland Clinic doctor or other health provider. Topics are based on the provider’s specialty and requests of participants. Ages 10 to adult. No registration required.

Sunday, July 20

• K-9 First Aid, Wolf Creek Environmental Center, 6100 Ridge Road, Sharon Township, 2 to 4:30 p.m. This Red Cross-based K-9 first-aid class teaches the basics needed to keep your injured dog alive until professional assistance arrives. Instruction in this one-day, two-hour course includes bandaging techniques, splinting methods, immediate first aid for burns and frostbite, and more. Also covered, with the aid of a dog mannequin, is proper mouth-to-snout resuscitation, K-9 CPR, and how to find and check for your dog’s pulse. There is no fee for instruction and class handouts, but a first-aid book with DVD will be available to purchase for $20. Dog mannequins provided. Do not bring your dog to class. Ages 16 to adult. Register by July 20.

Thursday, July 24

• Tales for Tots, Letha House Park West, 5800 Richman Road, Chatham Township, 10 to 11 a.m. or 1 to 2 p.m. Investigate the lives of ants through a story, fun activities, and outdoor exploration. For ages 3 to 6 with an adult companion. Some or the entire program will be held outdoors so participants are asked to dress accordingly. Register between June 19 and July 24.

Friday, July 25

• Tales for Tots, Letha House Park West, 5800 Richman Road, Chatham Township, 10 to 11 a.m. or 1 to 2 p.m. Investigate the lives of ants through a story, fun activities, and outdoor exploration. For ages 3 to 6 with an adult companion. Some or the entire program will be held outdoors so participants are asked to dress accordingly. Register between June 19 and July 24.

• (Rain date is July 26), Food and a Flick in the Park, Buckeye Woods Park. 6335 Wedgewood Road, Lafayette Township. Corkscrew restaurant and Cool Beans Café will be in the park at 5:30 p.m. The movie is the animated feature, “The Croods,” the story of a caveman family that “must trek through a fantastical world with the help of an inventive boy,” according to imdb.com. Bring lawn chairs and blankets. No admission fee. All ages welcome. Movie begins at 9 p.m. Other activities will be available until start of the movie.

Sunday, July 27

• Photographers of the Parks Club Meeting, Wolf Creek Environmental Center, 6100 Ridge Road, Sharon Township, 3 to 4 p.m. This is an opportunity for nature photo enthusiasts to share knowledge with like-minded folks, gain special access to programs and events related to photography and support the park district. Both beginner and advanced photographers are invited to participate. The club will emphasize but not be limited to nature photography. No registration required. For more information, please contact Shelley at (330) 239-4814 or stender@medinaco.org. Ages 16 to adult. No registration required.

Thursday, July 31

• Cycling Makes Sense Fitness Ride, Chippewa Rail Trail, parking lot on south side of Chippewa Road, east of Lake Road, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. This program, offered by Medina County Park District and Century Cycles, is a way to get out on bicycles for a non-aggressive ride and experience the park district’s multipurpose trails. Before the start of the six- to 10-mile ride, Lynne Nawalaniec of Century Cycles will share basic tips on how to keep riders and bikes fit. Helmets are required. Ages over 16. Register by July 30.

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Road maintenance projects are in high gear across Medina County this week. The Medina County Engineer’s Office has announced three road closings:

• West Smith Road, between Bryenton Road and Avon Lake Road (state Route 83), in Medina Township, will be closed Monday through Wednesday, from about 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., for bridge maintenance work.

• Hamilton Road, between Pearl Road (U.S. Route 42) and Sutton Lane, in Litchfield Township, will be closed Tuesday through Thursday for road repairs in the 4100 and 4200 block.

• Grafton Road, between Columbia Road (state Route 252) and Liverpool Drive, in Liverpool Township, will be closed Wednesday and Thursday because of a culvert replacement.

The Ohio Department of Transportation has announced a closing and a reopening:

• Wadsworth Road (state Route 57), just south of Sharon Copley Road (state Route 162) in Montville Township, will reopen Tuesday. The road was closed last week for a culvert replacement.

• On Tuesday, Ridge Road (state Route 94), a quarter-mile south of Medina Road (state Route 18) in Sharon Township, will close for a culvert replacement. The road is expected to reopen on Thursday.

Below are updates on other ODOT maintenance projects in Medina County:

Brunswick Hills Township

• Sleepy Hollow Road, at the bridge over Interstate 71, is closed for a bridge rehabilitation project. Motorists are encouraged to use U.S. Route 42, state Route 303 and County Road 17 around the closure. The road is expected to be closed through October.

Medina Township

• Remsen Road, at the bridge over Interstate 71, is closed for a bridge rehabilitation project. Motorists are encouraged to use Weymouth, Ledge and Ridge roads as alternates around the closure. The road is expected to be closed through mid-September.

Hinckley Township

• State Route 303, between West 130th Street and the Summit County line, is reduced to one lane of traffic as part of a resurfacing project. One lane of two-way traffic will be maintained with flaggers at all times. The project is expected to be complete in mid-August.

• Also in Hinckley Township, state Route 3, one-half-mile north of state Route 606 is closed as part of a slide repair and for culvert replacement. The suggested detour for motorists is Routes 606 and 303. The road is expected to reopen at the end of August.

Spencer Township

• State Route 162, between the Lorain County line and the village of Spencer, has intermittent lane closures for pavement repair work. One lane of two-way traffic will be maintained at all times with flaggers. The project is expected to be completed this month.

Wadsworth

• Interstate 76, from State Route 57 west to the Summit County line, has intermittent lane restrictions as part of a rehabilitation project. All paving work is complete, but the contractor has some miscellaneous work to complete. Motorists are advised to use caution in this area and watch for slower moving traffic as it merges in to the open lane. The project is expected to be completed this month.

For updates on projects across the state, visit www.dot.state.oh.us/services/RoadConstruction.

The post This week’s road closures throughout Medina County appeared first on The Medina County Gazette.

The first “Rockin’ the Court” featured 17 musicians playing an array of folk, country, jazz and rock on six porches in the South Court Street Neighborhood. The Saturday event on South Court Street was organized by the South Court Historic Neighborhood Association. Here, Grady and Cathy Miller perform during the event, which was free and open to the public.

(PHOTO PROVIDED)

(PHOTO PROVIDED)

The post PHOTOS: Musicians rock South Court Street on Saturday at free event appeared first on The Medina County Gazette.

The Brunswick Summer Celebration runs today through Sunday. The celebration includes rides, contests, live music and food. Admission to the celebration is $3 per person and free for children age 2 and younger. The annual event is in the parking lot near Brunswick High School, 3643 Center Road. There will be a fireworks display at 10:30 p.m. Saturday. The grand parade will travel down Center Road starting at 2 p.m. Sunday. (ANDREW DAVIS / GAZETTE)

Summer will be celebrated today through Sunday in Brunswick. The 2014 Brunswick Summer Celebration Festival is produced by Brunswick Productions Inc., a community organization that is not affiliated with the city.

The festival is staffed by area volunteers and profits are donated to local charities. A schedule of events, subject to change, follows:

5 to 11 p.m. today

Sponsor of the day: Waite & Son Funeral Homes
• 5 p.m., rides open
• 6 p.m., Bob Gatewood, Liberty Ford Beer Grotto
• 6:30 p.m., Pooch Pageant, RPM Contest Tent
• 6:30 p.m., Smokin Fez Monkeys, Giant Eagle Stage
• 6:45 p.m., opening ceremony, Information Booth
• 7:30 p.m., The Sunburners, Serpentini Chevrolet Stage
• 8:15 p.m., Mike Bishop, RPM Contest Tent
• 8:30 p.m., Pet Parade, Midway
• 8:30 p.m., Bob Gatewood, Liberty Ford Beer Grotto
• 8:30 p.m., Smokin Fez Monkeys, Giant Eagle Stage
• 9:30 p.m., The Sunburners, Serpentini Chevrolet Stage
• 9:30 p.m., Mike Bishop RPM Contest Tent
• 11 p.m., Festival closes for day

5 to 11 p.m. Wednesday

Sponsor of the day: RPM Inc.
• 5 p.m., rides open
• 6 p.m., Haywire, Liberty Ford Beer Grotto
• 6:30 p.m., Chardon Polka Band, Giant Eagle Stage
• 6:30 p.m., Concession Contest, Midway
• 7 p.m., Student awards, RPM Contest Tent
• 7:30 p.m., Faction, Serpentini Chevrolet Stage
• 8:30 p.m., Bike Parade, Midway
• 8:30 p.m., Haywire, Liberty Ford Beer Grotto
• 8:30 p.m., Chardon Polka Band, Giant Eagle Stage
• 8:30 p.m., Best Pizza Contest, RPM Contest Tent
• 9:30 p.m., Faction, Serpentini Chevrolet Stage
• 11 p.m., Festival closes for day

5 to 11 p.m. Thursday

Sponsor of the day: ABC Rentals
• 5 p.m., rides open
• 6 p.m., Bobby Ray and Night Train, Liberty Ford Beer Grotto
• 6 p.m., Ice Carving Demo, RPM Contest Tent
• 6:30 p.m., Cruisin’, Giant Eagle Stage
• 7 p.m., Big Wheel Race, Outside Contest Tent
• 7:30 p.m., Simba Jordan, Serpentini Chevrolet Stage
• 7:30 p.m., Ice Carving Demo, RPM Contest Tent
• 8:30 p.m., Baby Parade, Midway
• 8:30 p.m., Bobby Ray and Night Train, Liberty Ford Beer Grotto
• 8:30 p.m., Cruisin’, Giant Eagle Stage
• 9 p.m., Pie-Eating Contest, RPM Contest Tent
• 9:30 Simba Jordan, Serpentini Chevrolet Stage
• 11 p.m., Festival closes for day

5 to 11 p.m. Fourth of July

Sponsor of the day: Diamond Event Center
• 5 p.m., rides open
• 6 p.m., DJ Gary Perl, Liberty Ford Beer Grotto
• 6:30 p.m., Yearbook, Giant Eagle Stage
• 7 p.m., Watermelon-Eating Contest, RPM Contest Tent
• 8:30 p.m., Parade of Uniforms, Midway
• 8:30 p.m., DJ Gary Perl, Liberty Ford Beer Grotto
• 8:30 p.m., Yearbook, Giant Eagle Stage
• 8:30 p.m., MR. SPEED – KISS Tribute Band, Serpentini Chevrolet Stage
• 9 p.m., Talent search, RPM Contest Tent
• 11 p.m., Festival closes for day

1 to 11 p.m. Saturday

Sponsor of the day: Giant Eagle
• 1 p.m., rides open
• 2:30 p.m., Nickel Find, RPM Contest Tent
• 3 p.m., Brunswick Community Band, Serpentini Chevrolet Stage
• 3 p.m., Pageant, Brunswick Community Recreation and Fitness Center
• 4 p.m., Cupcake Contest, Giant Eagle Stage
• 4 p.m., Water Balloon Toss, Outside RPM Contest Tent
• 4:30 Brunswick Community Band, Serpentini Chevrolet Stage
• 5 p.m., Queen and court crowning, RPM Contest Tent
• 6 p.m., Renegade, Liberty Ford Beer Grotto
• 6:30 p.m., Cold Blue Steel, Giant Eagle Stage
• 7:30 p.m., Columbus Horns and Elvis, Serpentini Chevrolet Stage
• 8 p.m., Karaoke Contest, RPM Contest Tent
• 8:30 p.m., Renegade, Liberty Ford Beer Grotto
• 8:30 p.m., Cold Blue Steel, Giant Eagle Stage
• 8:30 p.m., Cupcake Auction, Serpentini Chevrolet Stage
• 9:30 p.m., Motorcycle Light Parade, Midway
• 9:30 p.m., Columbus Horns and Elvis, Serpentini Chevrolet Stage
• 10:30 p.m., Fireworks
• 11 p.m., Festival closes for day

1 to 8 p.m. Sunday

Sponsor of the day: The Gazette
• 1 p.m., rides open
• 2 p.m., Grand Parade, Center Road
• 2 p.m., Joy Unspeakable, parade route
• 3 p.m., Strangers from the Street, Giant Eagle Stage
• 4 p.m., WIXY 1260 Band, Serpentini Chevrolet Stage
• 5 p.m., Parade awards, RPM Contest Tent
• 5 p.m., Cutest baby photo winner announced, Information Booth
• 5 p.m., Strangers from the Street, Giant Eagle Stage
• 6 p.m., WIXY 1260 Band, Serpentini Chevrolet Stage
• 6 p.m., Photography winners announced, Information Booth
• 7 p.m., Bike drawing, Information Booth
• 8 p.m., Festival closes

The post Brunswick Summer Celebration kicks off, to last through Sunday appeared first on The Medina County Gazette.

A sharply divided Supreme Court ruled Monday that some companies with religious objections can avoid the contraceptives requirement in President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, the first time the high court has declared that businesses can hold religious views under federal law.

The justices’ 5-4 decision, splitting conservatives and liberals, means the Obama administration must search for a different way of providing free contraception to women who are covered under the health insurance plans of objecting companies.

Justice Samuel Alito wrote in his majority opinion, over a dissent from the four liberal justices, that forcing companies to pay for methods of women’s contraception to which they object violates the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act. He said the ruling is limited and there are ways for the administration to ensure women get the birth control they want.

But White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the decision creates health risks for women, and he said Congress should take action to make sure they get coverage.

“President Obama believes that women should make personal health care decisions for themselves rather than their bosses deciding for them,” Earnest said. “Today’s decision jeopardizes the health of the women who are employed by these companies.”

Contraception is among a range of preventive services that must be provided at no extra charge under the health care law that Obama signed in 2010. Nearly 30 million women receive birth control as a result of the health law, the government has said.

Some benefits experts say they expect little impact from the ruling because employers use health benefits to recruit and retain workers. But one constitutional law scholar, Marci Hamilton of Yeshiva University, cautioned that more than 80 percent of U.S. corporations are closely held and she said they could “now be able to discriminate against their employees.”

Two years ago, Chief Justice John Roberts cast the pivotal Supreme Court vote that saved the law in the midst of Obama’s campaign for re-election. On Monday, Roberts sided with the four justices who would have struck down the law in its entirety, holding in favor of the religious rights of closely held corporations, like the Oklahoma-based Hobby Lobby chain of arts-and-craft stores that challenged the contraceptives provision.

Hobby Lobby is among roughly 50 businesses that have sued over covering contraceptives. Some, like the two involved in the Supreme Court case, are willing to cover most methods of contraception, as long as they can exclude drugs or devices that the government says may work after an egg has been fertilized.

But Monday’s ruling would apply more broadly to other companies that do not want to pay for any of the 20 birth control methods and devices that have been approved by federal regulators.

Alito said the decision is limited to contraceptives.

“Our decision should not be understood to hold that an insurance-coverage mandate must necessarily fall if it conflicts with an employer’s religious beliefs,” he said.

He suggested two ways the administration could deal with the birth control issue. The government could simply pay for pregnancy prevention, he said. Or it could provide the same kind of accommodation it has made available to religious-oriented, not-for-profit corporations.

Those groups can tell the government that providing the coverage violates their religious beliefs. At that point, creating a buffer, their insurer or a third-party administrator takes on the responsibility of paying for the birth control. The employer does not have to arrange the coverage or pay for it. Insurers get reimbursed by the government through credits against fees owed under other provisions of the health care law.

That accommodation is the subject of separate legal challenges, and the court said Monday that profit-seeking companies could not assert religious claims in such a situation.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, who was part of the majority, also wrote separately to say the administration can solve its problem easily.

“The accommodation works by requiring insurance companies to cover, without cost sharing, contraception coverage for female employees who wish it,” Kennedy said. He said that arrangement “does not impinge on the plaintiffs’ religious beliefs.”

Houses of worship and other religious institutions whose primary purpose is to spread the faith are exempt from the requirement to offer birth control.

In a dissent she read aloud from the bench, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg called the decision “potentially sweeping” because it minimizes the government’s interest in uniform compliance with laws affecting the workplace. “And it discounts the disadvantages religion-based opt-outs impose on others, in particular, employees who do not share their employer’s religious beliefs,” Ginsburg said.

Leaders of women’s rights groups blasted the decision by “five male justices,” in the words of Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund.

The administration said a victory for the companies would prevent women who work for them from making decisions about birth control based on what’s best for their health, not whether they can afford it. The government’s supporters pointed to research showing that nearly one-third of women would change their contraceptive if cost were not an issue; a very effective means of birth control, the intrauterine device, can cost up to $1,000.

The contraceptives at issue before the court were the emergency contraceptives Plan B and ella, and two IUDs.

A survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found 85 percent of large American employers already had offered such coverage before the health care law required it.

It is unclear how many women potentially are affected by the high court ruling. Hobby Lobby is by far the largest employer of any company that has gone to court to fight the birth control provision.

The company has more than 15,000 full-time employees in more than 600 crafts stores in 41 states. Hobby Lobby is owned by the family of David Green, evangelical Christians who also own Mardel, a Christian bookstore chain.

The other company is Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. of East Earl, Pennsylvania, owned by a Mennonite family and employing 950 people in making wood cabinets.

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Nicholas Sutherland

MEDINA — A Medina County judge on Tuesday sentenced a 26-year-old Marine Corps veteran to five years in prison for sharing child pornography.

Nicholas Sutherland, of Sharon Township, pleading no contest in May to six counts of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material and three counts of pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor.

Sutherland faced up to eight or more years in prison.

His court-appointed attorney, Michael Ash, said Sutherland served in the Middle East, where he was in a vehicle that was destroyed by insurgents.

“Mr. Sutherland went through a lot of trauma while serving with the Marine Corps in the Middle East,” Ash told the judge, adding that Sutherland received treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Ash asked the judge to give Sutherland probation, even though Ohio law suggests prison time for the charges.

Sutherland’s ex-wife, Sarah Maximovich, told the court Sutherland’s activities with child pornography began long before his time in the Middle East.

“We got married when we were 18,” said Maximovich, of Lakewood, “and I began finding black-and-white pictures of child pornography shortly afterward.”

She said she found the pictures in a closet when he was away on duty and showed them to Sutherland’s parents. She said the man’s parents told her it was a “phase,” and then destroyed the pictures.

“I was very naive, and I was scared,” she said. “If I could go back, I would immediately turn him in.”

In the years that followed, she said she began to suspect he was sexually abusing their daughter and reached out to police in Cuyahoga and Medina counties.

Medina County Assistant Prosecutor Scott Salisbury said Sutherland was investigated by Cuyahoga County Children and Family Services, but the accusations couldn’t be substantiated. He said in court that charges may be brought against Sutherland as a result of additional investigations.

Medina County Common Pleas Judge Christopher J. Collier said he only considered Maximovich’s statements about child pornography in sentencing Sutherland.

“These images represent children who are real people and who were sexually exploited,” Collier said of the images, adding that Sutherland showed no remorse and refused to take responsibility for his actions.

In addition to prison time, Collier labeled Sutherland a Tier II sex offender, meaning he must register with his local sheriff’s office every six months for 25 years after his release from prison.

Sutherland’s ex-wife said she wanted him to get more prison time than five years.

“It’s not what I wanted,” Maximovich said, “but it’s better than nothing.”

Contact reporter Nick Glunt at (330) 721-4048 or nglunt@medina-gazette.com. Follow him on Twitter @ngfalcon.

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