Events Calendar
In This Section
Group recommends merging Akron, Summit County health agencies
Jewell Cardwell: LeBron fans cooking up fundraiser
Citizens and public officials question wetlands proposal in Lake Township
Canton school board won't seek operating levy
Downtown Akron restaurants serve up 79,000 pounds of cardboard for recycling
Most Read Stories
Another winter punch heading toward Ohio
Man robbed at Tallmadge Avenue eatery
Complaints against officer keep coming
Police: Ohio girl dies after fall into snow bank
Four teens restrain man, take items from his Akron home
Police: Man tries to buy crack with credit card
Police say couple had 50 stolen hubcaps
Blogs:
First Bell - On Education:
No City of Akron basketball tonight
Pets:
Pet telethon re-airs
The Heldenfiles:
Chipmunks "Squeakquel" on DVD/BD March 30
Akron Zips:
Zips favored on road against MAC West leader
Tribe Matters:
Blogmail response on Hafner
Cleveland Browns:
Stallworth's contract terminated
Balanced Ledger:
QB in Browns future: another mock draft
Kent State Sports:
KSU Notes – February 9
Cleveland Cavaliers:
NBA Power Rankings from Around the Internet
Buckeye Blogging:
Buckeyes grab 18 players on signing day
Varsity Letters:
Five local gridders to play in Big33
All Da King's Men:
Palin At The Tea Party Convention
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Republican Pre-Conditions
Akron Law Café:
Law, Love and Chocolate
Car Chase:
Collector Car Hobby Loses One of the Best—Jim Roll
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Decisions Decisions: Credit Cards or Your Mortgage?
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Loucile is looking for a Lake Erie getaway in June for three kids, ages 1, 3, and 5.
Sound Check:
Talk of the Town – Top entertainment picks for the weekend
HRLite House:
OFCCP Report
Akron Gamer:
Makers of 'Castle Crashers' unveil 'BattleBlock Theater'
See Jane Style:
Do IT this week: Layering
Published on Thursday, Jul 02, 2009
AKRON
Candlelight vigil
AKRON: The family and friends of Jeffrey Stephens Sr. will have a candlelight vigil to mark the first anniversary of his death.
The vigil will be 4 p.m. Sunday at West Thornton Street and Celina Avenue.
Stephens, 42, was shot 22 times by Akron police July 5, 2008, after officers said he refused their order to get on the ground. He instead reached for a gun in his waistband, police said.
Investigators found the shooting to be justified, but Stephens' family and friends have called it an example of excessive force by local law enforcement.
For more information, contact Johnson Stephens Jr., Jeffrey Stephens' brother, at 330-762-4468 or by e-mail at jsteph960@yahoo.com.
Activist to speak
AKRON: Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan will speak on the future of the anti-war and peace movements at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Akron-Summit County Public Library, 60 S. High St.
Sheehan began her anti-war campaign after her son was killed during his service in the Iraq war in 2004. She attracted widespread attention in 2005 for her extended protest at a makeshift camp outside President George W. Bush's ranch in Texas.
In 2005, Sheehan was one of nine founding members of Gold Star Families for Peace, which sought to end the U.S. occupation of Iraq and which supports the families of soldiers killed in Iraq.
Sheehan's visit is free to the public. It is sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee, Progressive Democrats of America and First Grace United Church of Christ in Akron.
For more information, call 330-928-2301.
BOSTON HEIGHTS
Road closes
BOSTON HEIGHTS.: The Ohio Department of Transportation on Wednesday closed Boston Mills Road at state Route 8.
The closing, which had been postponed several times, is part of the ongoing effort to turn Route 8 into a nonstop freeway from Akron to Interstate 271.
Boston Mills will remain closed for 12 to 16 months when a new bridge over the highway opens.
ODOT has built a detour on the east side of Route 8 that uses Chittenden Road and state Route 303 to connect with Route 8.
On the west side of Route 8, Boston Mills will dead-end at the highway until the bridge opens.
The closing also is part of a $68.4 million project to create a new Route 8 interchange with the Ohio Turnpike. That work is ongoing.
The entire project is to be completed by June 2011.
BRECKSVILLE
Auto dealer to run
BRECKSVILLE: Tom Ganley, who runs Ohio's largest group of automobile dealerships, announced his candidacy Wednesday for the U.S. Senate.
Ganley, a Republican, will try for the seat held by retiring Sen. George Voinovich. He will be up against former U.S. Rep. Rob Portman in the GOP primary.
Ganley, 65, of Brecksville, started with a single car dealership in Euclid in 1968 and now is chief executive officer of Ganley Auto Group, which has 32 dealerships. He has never before run for political office.
''Maybe that's what's needed in Washington now — someone who understands financial responsibility and what it takes for a business and a country to be competitive,'' Ganley said.
CUYAHOGA FALLS
Two held in drug raid
CUYAHOGA FALLS: Two people were arrested Wednesday morning after Cuyahoga Falls police and federal authorities raided a 25th Street home where they said heroin was being sold.
The Falls police narcotics unit teamed with the U.S. Marshals Violent Fugitive Task Force in executing a search warrant at a home in the 2000 block of 25th Street.
Two people inside the home were charged with possession of heroin. Neither is accused of trafficking, although police said the investigation is continuing and additional charges are possible.
Nathan J. Dial, 25, was charged with possession of heroin and drug abuse instruments. Amber L. Harvey, 23, faces the same charges.
During the search, police said they seized marijuana, drug paraphernalia, hypodermic syringes, multiple plastic sandwich bags, smoking devices, items with white powder residue, miscellaneous papers, a digital camera and cell phones.
CUYAHOGA VALLEY
Walk your bike
CUYAHOGA VALLEY: The National Park Service wants bicyclists on two boardwalks along the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail to get off their bikes in construction zones.
The request concerns the Beaver Marsh north of Ira Road in Cuyahoga Falls and Stumpy Basin north of Peninsula.
The repairs to the two boardwalks will take place from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays through September.
REVERE SCHOOLS
Depression program
BATH TWP.: A program about depression, piloted by Johns Hopkins University, has been offered to Revere at no cost.
Sue Chute, Revere director of student services, said she was approached about incorporating the Adolescent Depression Awareness Program into the district's curriculum.
Revere and Nordonia were the two Northeast Ohio schools selected for the program. At Revere, school counselors will teach the program as part of the health curriculum with materials provided by Johns Hopkins.
Chute said the 10-year pilot program includes pre- and post-testing. The program also will become available to other Summit schools through the county's Educational Service Center.
STARK COUNTY
Enrollment rises
JACKSON TWP.: Enrollment grew by more than 1,100 students to 4,180 this summer — an increase of 37 percent — at Stark State College, a record summer session for the two-year technical college.
Cheri Rice, vice president for enrollment management and student services, said Stark State is seeing an increase of students from other colleges and universities taking courses with transferable credits.
Stark State courses cost $127 per credit hour, less than a third of the typical price at four-year universities.
Stark State offers some of those courses at its satellite centers in Alliance, Barberton, Carrollton, Canton, Navarre and Uniontown/Hartville.
A new satellite center will open at GlenOak High School this fall.
STATE NEWS
Deer hunts planned
COLUMBUS: The Ohio Department of Natural Resources will hold special archery hunts for white-tailed deer at 23 state nature preserves across Ohio.
The preserves include Eagle Creek and Mantua Bog, both in northern Portage County, and Johnson Woods north of Orrville in Wayne County.
The hungry deer are having a negative effect on plant communities, said officials of the Division of Natural Areas and Preserves.
Hunters for the division's second archery hunt will be selected via a lottery.
The five two-week archery hunt sessions will begin Sept. 26 and run through Nov. 29. Each permit will be good for two hunters for two weeks.
Applicants must send in a 3-inch-by-5-inch card with their name, address, daytime telephone number, the name of the desired preserve and a $5 processing fee for each entry. Checks or money orders only.
Multiple applications may be submitted with additional payment.
Mail entries to: ODNR Division of Natural Areas and Preserves, 2045 Morse Road, Building F-1, Columbus, OH 43229. All entries must be received by Aug. 15.
Successful applicants will be notified by mail and must attend one of two orientation meetings on Sept. 19-20 at various locations across the state.
A complete list of rules is available at http://www.ohiodnr.com/dnap.
Fire deaths decline
COLUMBUS: The state fire marshal's office says fire deaths in the first six months of the year fell from a year ago, when Ohio had an unusually high number.
Interim Fire Marshal Donald Cooper said Wednesday that 60 people have died in fires since January, compared to 99 people during the first six months of last year.
A total of 186 people died in fires in Ohio last year, including two firefighters killed in Colerain Township in suburban Cincinnati.
That figure was the highest this decade and the most since 1992 when 188 people died in fires in Ohio.
Cooper says one factor behind last year's increase was a number of arson fires that each killed several people, including a January 2008 fire that killed six in Youngstown.
SUMMIT COUNTY
New meeting time
AKRON: A meeting of the Summit County Abandoned and Vacant Property Task Force scheduled for 9 a.m. today has been rescheduled for 9 a.m. July 9.
The meeting will be held at the Summit County Council
AKRON
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Akron, Oh
Posted 06:50 AM, 07/02/2009
Deer hunts planned...
Paying sharp shooters to kill deer was the dumbest idea that ODNR ever come up with. Having a drawing for hunters to come is much smarter and makes good Common Sense.
Tallmadge, OH
Posted 07:28 AM, 07/02/2009
Stephens failed to obey APD officers commands to drop his weapon and died for it. The police were justified in shooting him dead. The officers got to go home to their families at shift end. Why the ABJ continues to not support the APD by their comments here is beyond me? Why Mayor Donny Boy has failed to support the APD officers on this one is beyond me? Support the APD - they protect and serve us honorably!!!
Akron, OH
Posted 07:57 AM, 07/02/2009
I agree OldManGrump. Enough is enough. Stephens' son got down on the ground and is still alive. It was a terrible thing, but the police acted correctly.
Akron, OH
Posted 08:03 AM, 07/02/2009
My uncle is one of the Akron Officers that was killed in the line of duty. He was attempting to catch a robber in the act, and was shot. I do not have and pitty or sympathy for this Mr. Stephens, however I am sure he was dead WAY before the 22nd shot.
Akron, OH
Posted 02:30 PM, 07/02/2009
I liked the cartoon the BJ had a bit back. It had someone asking Cindy Sheehan, "How did your son feel about the war?" With her responding, "What does that have to do with anything?"
akron, oh
Posted 09:03 PM, 07/02/2009
There is absolutely no reason for the Leaking Urinal to print this story. This story is only to help fan the embers of discourse against the Akron Police. The Mayor needs to man up and finally say that after asking for an independent investigation and receiving it's findings that he stands by those findings. And Mr. Police Auditor, (former seat belt violator enforcer) also needs to stand up for the Police. Enough is enough.
