Judge Patrick Carroll Seeks Higher Seat Citing His Extensive Background As Carroll’S Program and Innovations • School/Court Program

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Volume 2, Issue 2, January 24, 2006 Judge Patrick Carroll Seeks Higher Seat Citing his extensive background as Carroll’s Program and Innovations • School/Court Program. a judge, prosecutor and trial lawyer, • Mental Health Court. The purpose • Community Work Service Program. Lakewood Municipal Judge Patrick of this program is to ensure that This program is primarily for first Carroll announced today he is a candi- severely mentally ill persons charged time, nonviolent offenders, provides date for judge on the 8th District Ohio with misdemeanor offenses will be additional hours of services to the Court of Appeals. identified, screened and linked to Lakewood Community, reduces the Carroll, 54, has served as judge mental health services. cost of jail operation. of the Lakewood Municipal Court for • Alcohol Awareness Program. This 16 years. Previously, he worked as a program is conducted by the Mothers Labor Union Endorsements Cuyahoga County Assistant County Against Drunk Driving (M.A.D.D.) Cleveland Building and Construc- Prosecutor and as a trial lawyer in pri- • Expedited Civil Cases Procedure. Civil tion Trades Council, Laborers, Local 310, vate practice. cases have been expedited by conduct- Electrical Workers, Local 38, Plumbers “I believe I have the temperament ing pretrial conferences by telephone Union, Local 55, Pipefitters, Local 120, and experience necessary to serve with and accepting all pleadings. Cement Mason’s Union, Theatrical Stage distinction on the appeals court,” said • Housing Court Task Force. Employees and Moving Picture Machine Carroll. “As a municipal judge, I’ve Municipal Court Judge Patrick Carroll. • Night Court Sessions. Primarily used Operators, Local 27, Bakery, Confection- developed a keen understanding of for landlord/tenant cases. It was also ery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers the application of law and the need to of the County Prosecutor’s office from expanded to include civil cases. International Union, Local 19, Boiler- balance fairness and firmness on the 1979 to 1984, representing the county’s • Mediation Task Force. makers Union, Local 744. bench. I will bring to the appeals court elected officials in civil litigation. He was the qualities that the public expects in in private practice from 1984 to 1990. a judge.” Carroll is seeking the seat now Carroll received his Bachelor of held by Judge Diane Karpinski who will Arts degree, majoring in economics, Sam Phillips Finds His Fortune be retiring at the end of her term. from Cleveland State University in Carroll was first appointed judge 1974 and his law degree from CSU’s By Kenneth Warren Hollywood to the Wood, trying to save in 1990 and was subsequently elected Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in the city money, and to make some for three times after having received the 1977. He was an adjunct faculty mem- Sam Phillips, King of the Handsnap- my family,” says Phillips. highest ratings and preferred status ber at Cleveland-Marshall from 1979 pers, has found his fortune, so to speak, By orchestrating a bidding war from both the Cleveland and Cuyahoga to 1990, and currently teaches with the on a Lakewood curbside. A stash of between these two international collec- County Bar Associations. Ohio Judicial College. Depression era Fortune magazines laid tors, Phillips managed to sell 13 issues Carroll served as law clerk to 8th Carroll and his wife, Bonny Moran out on a tree lawn caught his eye. As of Fortune for $30 each. District Court of Appeals Judge John V. Carroll, live in Lakewood with their a Lakewood E-bay auction master, he “I made some serious money off Corrigan from 1977 to 1979. two children, Michael and Kevin. promptly sold them online to French those boys,” says Phillips with a smile. The judge worked as an assistant For more information visit www. and Canadian collectors. “I’m saving history and the environ- county prosecutor in the civil division carrollforjudge.net “I’ve been bottom feeding from ment at the same time.” Kiwanis Club Hands Out Over $1,000,000 in Scholarships In This Issue

City Hall/Government .... 3-4

Lakewood Public Library .... 5

The Buck Stops Here ...... 6

Lakewood Pets ...... 6

Lakewood Business ...... 7

Lakewood Music ...... 8

Lakewood Sports ...... 9

Lakewood Lore ...... 10-11

Chef Geoff ...... 12

On-the-Threshold ...... 13

Letters to the Editor ...... 14 Photo by Richard Moles Minding the Issues ...... 16

The Lakewood Kiwanis Club has awarded over $1,000,000 in college scholarships since they began their Scholarship Lakewood People ...... 17 Program. Money is raised for this program in a number of fun ways. One way is having to pay a ﬁne of $5 if they appear in a newspaper. Pictured above are some of the students currently enjoying this program who came back to say thank you. Gallery Watch ...... 18 Seated left to right: Lucia Pizzo, Kenyon College; Diana Blank, Dartmouth University; Tom Blank, Lehigh University; Classiﬁeds ...... 18-19 Kimberly Samberg, Toledo University; Molly Paras, Ohio State University. Standing left to right: Patrick Hyland, Boston College; Margaret Brinich, Cleveland State University; Anne Duna, Norte Dame University; Philip Marquis, Bucknell Lakewood Healthcare ...... 20 University; Nick Aylward, Marietta College; Kelly Fink, Seton Hall.

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Lakewood News

Come Home to Lakewood The Lakewood Historical Society has already begun planning for its biennial “Come Home To Lakewood” House Tour, held this year on September 10th. In a city ﬁlled with interesting architecture, the tour offers a rare peek inside some of the buildings you’ve always wondered about. The House Selection Committee wants your input, and is looking for suggestions of interesting houses (we’d love to showcase a cool two- family) throughout Lakewood. Let us know which house particularly intrigues you and maybe, come September, you’ll get to tour that mystery house!

House Tour 2006 Nominations Form Woman’s Club Hosts Luncheon Card Party “Come Home to Lakewood” House Tour will be held on September 10, 2006. In order to On Wednesday, February 8, 2006, South Lakewood’s Woman’s Club will host offer an outstanding selection of interesting homes, the Society would like to involve the a Luncheon/Card Party. community in nominations of homes throughout Lakewood to be included on the tour. South Lakewood’s Woman’s Club, which has been in existence since 1924, has If you know of a unique residence (even your own home!), or one that you’ve donated each year to various Lakewood Charities. always wanted to visit, that could be included in our tour of homes, please submit What better way to chase winter doldrums away than by joining with them at the following information via email to [email protected] or mail the completed form by February 15th to: the Beck Center, 17801 Detroit Avenue, Lakewood, Ohio beginning at noon. There will be a $12 donation. For further information please call 216-521-6288. Lakewood Historical Society House Tour Nomination 14710 Lake Avenue, Lakewood, OH 44107 International Referral Network Weekly Meeting The Lakewood PM Chapter of International Referral Network meets every Your Name ______Wednesday at Maria’s Restaurant, 11822 Detroit Avenue, Lakewood, OH. Meetings Your Phone Number ______begin promptly at 11:45 a.m. IRN organizes business, sales and service profession- Address Of The Home Nominated ______als for the primary purpose of helping each other succeed by networking through Owner(s) Name & Phone Number (if known) ______the exchange of qualiﬁed business referrals. Why did you nominate this home & what are its unique features? ______For additional information about the Lakewood PM Chapter, contact Bob ______Skerda at 216/521-1929. For general information on International Referral Network ______call 1-800-936-5323 or visit the IRN website at www.irnlink.com. Hot Off The Deck Join the discussion online – visit the OBSERVATION DECK Your Independent Source for Lakewood News & Opinion Topics Replies Author Views Last Post LAKEWOOD DISCUSSION The LAKEWOOD OBSERVER is published biweekly by Lakewood Observer, Vision of Lakewood - 7 Jim O’Bryan 248 Mon Jan 23, 2006 11:00 am Inc., 14900 Detroit Avenue, Suite 309, Growing Lakewood Lakewood, OH 44107. Is the Cleveland Clinic Killing 25 Bill Call 640 Mon Jan 23, 2006 10:57 am 216.228.7223 Lakewood Hospital? Lakewood Marina in Valley 4 Grace O’Malley 282 Mon Jan 23, 2006 12:16 am Copyright 2006 Lakewood Observer, Inc. Headed for Development All rights reserved. Any reproduction is Book Club 17 Erin White 477 Sun Jan 22, 2006 9:49 pm forbidden without written permission. Slashed tires 3 Danielle Masters 92 Sun Jan 22, 2006 4:22 pm PUBLISHER Updated Wish List for the 22 Mark Crnolatas 901 Sun Jan 22, 2006 8:19 am Jim O’Bryan Lakewood Brand EDITOR Citizens Forum on the 1 Ryan Patrick Demro 40 Sat Jan 21, 2006 1:40 pm Heidi Hilty Proposed Tax Increase ADVERTISING Free Times - 4 Jim O’Bryan 125 Wed Jan 18, 2006 4:07 pm Call 216.228.7223 Highlights Civic Journaliam - Michael Gill ADVISORY BOARD ILLUSTRATION GLOBAL DISCUSSION Kenneth Warren Gary Dumm First homes, now Churches 11 Joseph Milan 101 Mon Jan 23, 2006 11:48 am Stephen Calhoun CONTRIBUTING Steve Davis WRITERS Iraq believes in ballot boxes. 1 Donald Farris 47 Sun Jan 22, 2006 8:25 am D.L. Meckes Stan Austin America believe in bullets EDITORIAL BOARD Mary Bodnar Gordon Brumm Iran 3 Mark Crnolatas 85 Fri Jan 20, 2006 9:58 am Heidi Hilty Wendy Brickman Shelly Gould Burgess Whitney Callahan Vincent O’Keefe Mike Deneen Kim Paras Jim Dustin Emilia Rhodes Jeff Endress Become an Observer! Kenneth Warren Lynn Farris WEBMASTERS John Guscott The Lakewood Observer is looking for people, ages 15–100, to get involved in the paper and the city. We are Jennifer Hooper D.L. Meckes looking for volunteer writers, photographers, designers and illustrators to help with the production of the Bob Ignizio Rami Daud paper. It does not matter if you are a professional or amateur, our editorial staff will be glad to help. Christine A. Kaziner Dan Ott Ruthie Koenigsmark If you are interested, e-mail to: [email protected] PRODUCTION Anne Palomaki Brian Simko Tom Powell-Bullock News releases—If you have information on an event, organization, program or news on anything that has to Paula Reed PHOTOGRAPHY Emilia Rhodes do with Lakewood, send it to: [email protected] Bill Davis Rita Ryland Calendar of Events—To appear on our calendar of events, e-mail: [email protected] Rhonda Loje Dan Slife Richard Moles Kathleen South Newsies/Delivery People—The Lakewood Observer is looking for people that would like to help deliver Ivor Karabatkovic the newspaper. If interested, e-mail: [email protected] The views and opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reﬂect the We need you to get involved! If you have or know of a story, we want it! views and opinions of the publisher and staff.

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Lakewood City Hall Council Kicks Off With Happy Birthday

Council President Robert Seelie called dures to obtain demolition and removal the meeting to order at 7:34. Presum- Stan Austin of structure permits. This change was a ably to remind Seelie and the public of Lakewood Observer City Council Reporter direct result from community concern his advancing years, the always sup- over the possible demolitions at an portive council staff had hung a Happy while Mayor George said that Gedeon cal because there are few fire hydrants architecturally significant house this 50th Birthday sign in front of the coun- was the role model for the city’s effort on the north side of Clifton and all past summer. cil president’s seat. Seelie celebrated to be customer friendly as she “guided hydrants are currently at low pressure. These three changes were approved that event last Saturday. residents through the sometimes Council voted on the third and unanimously. Council member Michael Dever remote and cumbersome process of final reading of the water rate increase. Council member Dever, chair of (at large) joined with Mayor Thomas city programs.” Gedeon’s husband and It passed by a vote of 6 to 1 with council the newly formed citizens Infrastruc- George to recognize the Arrow of Light son stood by her side along with city member Ryan Demro (ward 2) voting ture Committee, introduced Lakewood program of a Lakewood Cub Scout officials for the honorary photograph. against. attorney Lou McMann for the presen- Pack. Scout Leader Don Carlson led In old business, Seelie, chair of the Council then turned its atten- tation of a report. a group of over a dozen cub scouts as committee of the whole, gave a report tion to zoning. Pursuant to a report McMann described the members’ they learned about local government. on water rate adjustments. An admin- from the Planning Commission which qualifications as diverse and offering Carlson described how the scouts vis- istration proposal to raise rates for reviewed the zoning ordinances, three the particular skills needed to evaluate ited all the city departments to learn water main replacement would raise major changes were up for consider- the city’s infrastructure. He pointed about their functions and the troop the cost to the average homeowner ation. out that he is an attorney who spe- “felt we were in partnership with the over three years and eliminate the ser- The first was to expand bed and cializes in environmental law, which City of Lakewood.” vice charge. An average user would pay breakfast establishments from only is particularly important in regards An employee retirement presents $607 in 2006, $624 in 2007 and $659 in commercially zoned districts to include to sewers. McMann introduced City the opportunity to highlight excellent 2008. The committee’s report empha- multi family zoned areas. Proposed Engineer Dennis Albrecht who had just service to the Lakewood public. Such sized the need to provide the additional businesses would have to comply with given a briefing on the proposed street was the case as council and the mayor money so that water main replacement 18 requirements in order to receive a repair and rebuilding program. took time to recognize Lori Gedeon as could coincide with street rebuilding. permit. The original idea of allowing Albrecht gave a summary of the she retired after twenty years with the Over $4 million is required for a water bed and breakfasts in Lakewood was new pavement evaluation program, Department of Community Devel- main replacement along Clifton Blvd. first proposed over ten years ago by for- which has resulted in an objective and opment. Department Director Gerry next year extending from Cove to West mer council member Pamela Smith. comprehensive evaluation of street Murphy praised Gedeon’s abilities Clifton. This line is especially criti- A second change would allow conditions. A ranking of streets for office services businesses to operate in repair or rebuilding according to engi- industrial districts. Previously, office neering criteria can then be made. He services had to be in conjunction with presented council with a list of streets an industrial activity. This would allow projects for this construction season the land along Berea Road to be open based on the new rating system. to a wider range of development. A third change addressed proce- See Council, page 16

City Wide Ward Roll Call The Lakewood Observer is setting aside space for any and all members of council to let the rest of the city know more about their Ward and what is going on there. They can use the space for anything from commending a resident, student, teacher or business, to talking about legislation or news.

Ward 1 - Kevin Butler It’s not too late... Thanks to the Observer for the opportu- ratio and exceptional education and nity to provide updates on our City. training among the staff. A “graduate” of St. Peter’s myself, I’m proud of its Council and Ward 1 happenings. accomplishments. Flu Shots I see exciting things going on in our City Council is currently work- westernmost quarter of Lakewood. ing with the administration to pass are still available at the As the YMCA and Harding School the 2006 annual budget, a challenging continue toward completion, many process as revenues remain stagnant large- and small-scale development while services are expected to remain projects are being discussed - from strong. In January council authorized Lakewood more parking to a new banking center the administration to spend many to new residential construction at the millions of dollars for smarter street Urgent Care Center western edge of town. reconstruction in 2006, permitting the Father-and-son team Ron and replacement of aging sewer and water 850 Columbia Road John Lucien are scheduled to open the lines prior to road resurfacing. In Ward Westlake, Ohio 44145 new Lakewood office of Prudential 1, many streets are candidates for repair Lucien Realty at the corner of Mathews and I’ll continue to advocate on your Monday – Friday: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Detroit very soon. I understand behalf to see the projects through. they’ve completely remodeled the inte- Currently, our most pressing Weekends: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. rior and installed woodwork to historic debate is whether to place an income specifications. I look forward to their tax increase on the ballot for May Cost: $20 arrival from Rocky River. 2006. Ultimately that decision will be Covered by most major insurers. St. Peter’s Child Care Center at made at our regular meeting on Feb. 18001 Detroit Ave. became the first 6 at 7:30 p.m. Everyone is welcome to early childhood development cen- attend and I certainly seek your opin- No appointment necessary. ter in Lakewood to receive a two-star ions on the matter. Regarding this or For information, call 440-899-0900. rating by the Ohio Department of Job any other issue, you may always reach and Family Services. The high marks me at [email protected] or at (216) account for a low faculty-to-student 221-7953.

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Lakewood Observer Ohio Supreme Court to Clarify Eminent Domain Use

By Lynn Farris was flawed. The court stated that the area was deteriorating because of such During the early hours of Wednesday factors as noise and light pollution, morning January 11, 2006, over 30 citi- traffic, dead end streets, forty year old zens boarded a bus in Lakewood to travel homes and individual ownership of to Columbus for a historic hearing. At homes. Based on these conditions, the approximately the same time, citizens court allowed the city to proceed with were also boarding buses in Cincinnati to eminent domain. travel to the state capital. The reason they The legal firm for the Norwood all traveled was to hear the Ohio Supreme homeowners is the Institute for Justice, Court’s first case on eminent domain. which is the same group that repre- This is the first case since the US sented the Lakewood homeowners and Supreme Court’s ruling in the Kelo the New London homeowners from the case, which opened the door widely on US Supreme Court Kelo case. Attor- Lakewoodites lend support to the Anti Eminent Domain Rally outside the State Capitol. eminent domain for private use. The ney Dana Berliner argued the case in US Supreme Court, in their ruling, front of the Ohio Supreme Court for In the Norwood case, Elleman argues on your computer. The web site is: invited states to make their own inter- the Norwood residents. She argued the that Jeffrey Anderson went ahead and http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/video- pretations of their State Constitutions term ‘deteriorating’ was vague and so bought the other homes based on the stream/archives/2006/. in regards to eminent domain. broad that it could apply to virtually lower courts decisions and Anderson The results of this decision will Ohio’s case is of Norwood vs. any neighborhood in Ohio. She also would be out $18 million if the courts be enormous in Ohio. As Attorney Horney et al. and is similar in many argued that the difference between the decided that eminent domain was not Berliner concluded, there are few neigh- respects to the issue that Lakewood US Constitution and the Ohio State appropriate in this case. borhoods in Ohio where there are not faced several years ago with the West Constitution is that the Ohio Consti- The court will return a ruling in older homes, driveways that you must End development. In this case, Jeffrey tution states: “Private property shall approximately two to three months. back out of or cul-de-sacs. Basically, Anderson, one of the same develop- ever be held inviolate, but subservi- The complete hearing can be seen the court will be deciding whether eco- ers as the West End, wanted to enlarge ent to the public welfare.” She argued through streaming video archives nomic development is more important his Rookwood shopping center in that the framers meant to balance the which can be accessed via Real Player than property rights. Norwood with office space, condo- rights of property owners against the miniums and apartments. When some rights of the public. To allow eminent of the residents in the area refused to domain for private development com- sell, he approached the city and paid pletely tips the scale. Attorney Tim Review of the Proposed City for a blight study, which found the area Burke argued the case for the City of deteriorated. The city felt that this new Norwood and was joined by Mr. Elle- Income Tax Increase Meeting development would bring added rev- man, the attorney for Jeffrey Anderson. enues to the city of Norwood, so they They argued that ‘deteriorating’ is a By Lynn Farris establish economic development fund; declared eminent domain on the homes viable standard for eminent domain. 3) Parking issues remain untouched, 4) that would not sell. The residents in Mr. Elleman also disputed the princi- Councilman Ryan Demro hosted a Implementation of Citistat and 5) City Norwood appealed that decision and pal of stare decisis, which states that review of the proposed city income tax public relations campaign. the lower courts found that the study judges should abide by decided cases. increase on Saturday, January 14, 2006 Discussion was very lively and to share information with the public touched upon much more than the and to solicit citizen input. impending tax issue. Councilman The proposed ordinance 4-05 is an Demro suggested that the three mil- emergency ordinance to amend Chap- lion dollar shortfall could be made Skindell Offers Sponsor Testimony ter 128 of the Codified ordinances of up by having garbage picked up at the City of Lakewood to increase the the street. He also indicated that it to Eliminate New Tax on Food rate of municipal income tax from could be made up by eliminating the 1.5% to 2.0% per annum, effective water department as Rocky River and Representative Michael J. Skindell But the new CAT tax violates the January 1, 2006, for the purpose of Fairview have done. Another option today offered sponsor testimony in the spirit of the Ohio constitution – if not providing funds for general munici- mentioned was to market our superior House Ways and Means Committee on the letter – by imposing what amounts pal services and capital improvements, services to other communities. Others his bill to eliminate Ohio’s new tax on to an excise tax during each phase of and to increase the resident municipal suggested privatizing trash collection food. the food production chain on its way income tax credit for taxes paid on the to save money. Rep. Skindell’s legislation, House to consumer. Moreover, retailers are same taxable income to other munici- Many citizens expressed concern Bill 399, would exempt the sale of food prohibited by law from disclosing the palities. that the entire increase would be con- from Ohio’s new commercial activity amount of CAT tax they are passing on Councilman Demro explained sumed by raises for the current staff, tax. His proposal is cosponsored by to consumers. that the macroeconomic effect of an despite the well intentioned wording of 49 other House members, meaning it H.B. 399 would exempt food income tax discourages market activ- the proposal. Councilman Demro con- has the support of a majority of the 99- intended for sale off premises from the ity and buyers and sellers share the curred that concern was justified. He member House. CAT tax, saving consumers an esti- burden of taxes. The microeconomic indicated that the average Lakewood “The amount of support this bill mated $61 million during the 2006-07 side we all know well as it affects the income tax receipts rose only 1%, but has received is very encouraging,” said fiscal year and $172 million annually personal budget, and reduces purchas- a 3% - 5% increase for the employees Rep. Skindell, D-Lakewood. “It makes starting in mid-2009. ing power. was being proposed. sense that a majority of House mem- “My view is simple: By taxing food, Councilman Demro laid out talk- In addition, benefits for city bers would sponsor this bill – since a state government is shifting more of ing points in favor of the increase in employees were discussed. Many in the majority of Ohioans, time and again, the burden onto working families and taxes that the George Administration room indicated that the cost of health have said it’s just plain wrong to tax senior citizens trying to get by on fixed has proposed: 1) tax equity, 2) capital care had skyrocketed and they were food.” incomes,” Skindell said. “It isn’t right.” improvements 3) avoid layoffs and 4) incurring greater burdens both with Skindell’s bipartisan proposal is a Skindell said he is cautiously opti- only 30% of the population will pay. the percentage they had to pay and response to the new commercial activ- mistic about his bill. However, Demro indicated that the co-pays that were imposed. It was ity tax, signed into law last summer “I’m pleased to take this important he is against the proposed tax because suggested that this area be reviewed by Governor Bob Taft as part of the step in advancing House Bill 399 and of the total tax burden the citizens of carefully to determine if we could do two-year state budget. Since 1936, the am hopeful for further hearings in the Lakewood already carry coupled with better. Councilman Demro suggested Ohio Constitution has prohibited the near future,” Skindell said. “I’d hate to the fact that we have no strategic plan. that as a first step, he would propose taxation of food for consumption off think a plan supported by a majority of Demro also offered that the Lakewood part time council people might vote to premises – a ban reaffirmed by a vote House members would end up bottled Chamber of Commerce is against the give up their health care benefits. of Ohio citizens in 1976 and again in up in committee just because the lead plan for the following reasons: 1) No 1994. sponsor is a Democrat.” plan to replace/repair streets 2) Need to See Income Tax Review, page 16

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Lakewood Library

The Lakewood Initiative for Financial refundable tax credit that reduces or, other essential items. entire Lakewood community! Last Education (LIFE), a coalition of local in some cases, eliminates the tax bill To qualify for EITC money, a filer year, the LIFE Coalition filed 56 total volunteers and organizations, is pre- for qualifying low-income families must meet one of the following require- returns, sending a total of $48,647 paring to launch their third season of or individuals. The amount of EITC ments: of EITC dollars back into Lakewood. free tax preparation to help low and money returned to the average tax- • You have more than one qualify- The true economic impact of the pro- middle-income families receive the payer in 2005 was $1,700, but the figure ing child and you earn less than $35,263 gram, however, might even be higher. largest tax return possible. At this Vol- can be as high as $4,000, depending on or $37,263 (married filing jointly) Numerous studies show that for every unteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) individual circumstances! The free tax • You have one qualifying child EITC dollar received by low and mod- site certified volunteers will prepare preparation is designed to help taxpay- and you earned less than $31,030 or erate income families, there is a total 2005 tax returns for families and ers get their money back fast. Returns $33,030 (married filing jointly) return back into their local economy of individuals from the Lakewood com- are filed electronically and refunds can • You do not have a qualifying child one-and-a-half to two times the origi- munity, at no charge. be sent in as few as 10 business days. and you earned $11,750 or $13,750 nal dollar amount. The clinics are especially intended That way, families can quickly get (married filing jointly) (LIFE is a multi-agency, Lakewood- to help families eligible for the earned much-needed dollars for mortgage, The LIFE tax clinics not only help based coalition that includes the City of income tax credit (EITC). EITC is a rent, food, clothing, reducing debt or individuals and families, they help the Lakewood, Lakewood Public Library, Internal Revenue Service, Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, Lakewood �� Christian Service Center, Lakewood �� !��"��#�$$��%��""&%''��&��('��' Hospital, Lakewood City Schools, and Cleveland Saves.) �� To schedule an appointment all � �� you need to do is select one of the )��"�� following dates and a start time of &��(��* � �� either 6:30 p.m. or 7:30 p.m., and call �� Lakewood Public Library at 216-226- �� 8275, extension 127 to register for one +��#� �� of the following Monday nights: &��(��*# �� #�� January 23 / January 30 / February �� ! �" � ! �" � ! �" ��" �� 6 / February 13 / February 20 / Febru- ,��"��-��. ��" �� " �� -��#�� ary 27 / March 6 / March 13 / March 20 / March 27 / April 3 / April 10 +�*&�"�� Note: Availability is limited and ��(��*# $�� "�� on a first-come, first-serve basis, so call �� $��* "��(�#"�� * to book your appointment soon! �%&&'()�#* All tax clinic appointments are *�+%�&%�&',)�-��')��./�)0%��123��1�4�� held at the Lakewood Public Library Madison Branch Meeting Room at 13229 Madison Avenue. The Lakewood Department of Human Services will �� )�� provide childcare services at the library, �� !��"��#�$$��%��""&%''��&��('��' so that parents won’t need to arrange for a babysitter and can meet with a �� certified volunteer without distrac- � �� tion. Childcare must be pre-arranged when the appointment is made with )��"�� 1�� &��(��* 5�� $��!�� the Library staff. �� 6�(/'%��7(-8� $�� :� ��"�2 ��$�� )�8-9�+� �� ?� :().%9&�(;� "��> � � �"? Calling all volunteers! We need your 8<%�:(9+.= �� "� �� help! If you are interested in helping +��#� �� LIFE and your community by acting as a &��(��*# �� #�� greeter or helping with childcare, please �� ! �" � ! �" � ! �" ��" �� contact John Guscott at 216-226-8275 ,��"��-��. ��" �� " �� -��#�� ext 113 or Dottie Buckon at 216-529- 6685. +�*&�"�� (��*# $�� "� More information about the pro- �� $��* gram can be found online at http://www. "��(�#"�� 6:(9.� �%&&'()�@* �9(0%&&'),= lkwdpl.org/life. *�+%�&%�&',)�-��')��./�)0%��123��1�4��

Websites You Control �� eCommerce Solutions �� Marketing / Advertising �� 216.521.3400 �� a proud lakewood brand 4dsgn.com ��

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The Buck Stop Here 2005 Films in Review Akin. Head-On. Set in working-class By Robert Buckeye Hamburg, two Turks fight against a world which stops them. He drives his plea that we reverse what has happened out the insecurity of the middle car head-on into a brick wall. She slits in the media since McCarthy. An elegy class, based, in part, on the fear tha her wrists. They meet in a mental insti- that it is no longer possible. Murrow’s they will lose what they have and on tution, and she asks him to marry her. speech at the end acknowledges that we the guilt that what they have they What at first is a convenient domestic have lost, and money buys everything. don’t deserve. Someone is always arrangement that permits each of them The premise of Murrow’s journalism watching, aware that their comfort- to live their own lives soon becomes that if people know the facts of the able lives have been built on the backs a l’amour fou (the only love we want matter, they will understand the truth of others. 1984 is always the book the success at all, but suc- the one we cannot have). Of course, it seems prelapsarian in a time in which middle class knows to be its future. cess is an even deeper crashes and burns. (Is such love the only reality is what you believe it to be. Karmi. One Night. Teheran at hole. Cobain speaks love possible in a world which normal- Cronenberg. A History of Violence. night seems little different from life in haltingly, almost inar- izes love?) The punk band Rammstein Cronenberg is, as always, cerebral, dis- Westchester County or Long Island. ticulately, but he says is mood music for their lives. We take tanced, and there is an almost connect A young woman who lives with her all we need to know. Van Sant’s camera the measure of love, Baudelaire notes, the dots aura to this narrative of an mother comes home from work and is holds on a scene long enough that we only when we see her for the last time. idyllic, middle American town. It is at told by her mother she has to spend the can move around in it until it becomes Antonioni. The Passenger. Re- unexpected, shocking moments that night away from home. Her mother’s part of us. The music is haunting. Not released on its 30th anniversary, those who think they are normal find lover will be spending the night, and only an elegy for its subject, but for all Antonioni’s account of the white they are something more. When Tom she does not want her daughter around of us whose dreams have turned cold male’s passage to identity and respon- Stall, the comic superhero of the film, to spoil the evening. Those she meets once they’ve been realized in a capital- sibility seems, like Clooney’s film abruptly becomes a killer to kill the kill- throughout the odyssey of her night say ist world that appropriates everything about Edward R. Murrow, both dated ers in his diner or when he takes his wife that love makes the world go around, for its purposes. and current. Jack Nicholson assumes sexually on the stairs after she says she even if the treadmill it puts you on is Wong Kar Wei. 2046. Haunting. another man’s identity because he is wants nothing to do with the killer he is, not the one you sought. Set, for the most part, in the rented tired of his own. Maria Schneider tells we no longer know who we are, and how Skjoldbjaerg. An Enemy of the rooms of a run-down hotel, a woman- him he must meet the responsibil- we can live with the knowledge. People. Updates the Ibsen play to con- izer, who writes soft-core stories for ity of the dead man’s life because that Dante. Homecoming. (Dante’s temporary Norway. The defiant cry of newspapers, discovers love only after is who he is now. The film begins in Inferno.) The dead soldiers from the Stockmann at the end of the Ibsen play it is gone. Less a story that progresses Africa, and the man whose identity Iraq war come back to tell America that “the strongest man in the world from A to B than memories that fade in Nicholson assumes provides weap- we were wrong. (Malcolm X described is the one who stands most alone” has and out (“memory isn’t just a favorite ons to revolutionary groups in Africa. the Kennedy assassination as chickens now come down to his telling his wife snapshot,” Manohla Dargis writes, “a The relationship of the white, Western coming home to roost.) At the end, that he cannot live alone. In a century, blast from the past. It is where every- male to the Third World has always brother meets brother, and the ques- we have discovered our impotence, if one lives.” Time is marked by the been problematic if not guilty since tion is – as it always is – which side are not irrelevance, as individuals. women in his life, not the calendar, Conrad (although Roger Casement you on? “How fitting,” Dennis Lim Van Sant. Last Days. To put into even though Wong is careful to give us thought Conrad did not speak for the writes, “that the most pungent artistic music what is in one’s head, and then the time sequence for events. 2046 (the colonized). The slow zoom at the end response to a regime famed for its crass see what the market does to it. The number of the room in the Oriental of the film is the koan of the master. fear-mongering would be a cheap hor- double-bind of American life. The Hotel where he meets his women) is, Master, what is the meaning of life? ror movie.” At the Turin film festival, Kurt Cobain prototype can only be in a science fiction subtext of the film, There, he answers. You see it. it received a five-minute standing ova- what others wanthim to be – he can no the place we choose to stay. No one ever Clooney. Good Night, and Good tion. Available only on Showtime. longer withdraw from the life that has returns from 2046. Not since Godard Luck. Clooney’s account of Edward R. Haneke. Cache. Surveillance tapes of been made for him, except withdraw has music been used so effectively or Murrow’s battle against Senator Joe a middle class couple’s apartment and from life. There’s no success like fail- narrative disrupted to more productive McCarthy is both elegy and plea. A life are put in their mail. Haneke draws ure, Dylan reminds us, and failure is no ends. Lakewood Pets A Day in the Life of My Dog By Whitney Callahan “potty outside” and “no humping,” Clients all agree that a tired dog but for the most part ITD is the ani- is a good dog, and when Mommy and My dog, Dublin, is one very spoiled mals’ place to hangout and have fun. Daddy work all day, they don’t have pooch. He gets the finer things in life: We have our three German girls: Katie to feel guilty about not taking their premium food, beds in every room of Eloise the German Shepherd, Bella the dogs for a walk. Puppies also come for the house (including the not-big-enough Doberman Pincher and Emmy the Ger- socialization and potty training, and queen-size in our bedroom) and trips to man Shorthaired Pointer. They are best dogs such as Lucy Mae, Magnus and the Lakewood dog park, which I worked friends and run around all day together. Christina have become more confident to have built for him. As if all that were Otis the Puggle and Milo, a Miniature and playful. Roxie used to have sepa- not enough, he also gets to come to work Pincher mix, wrestle and nap together. ration anxiety, but now, after coming with his Mommy every day to see his Clancy and Bob play tug-of-war with the to ITD once a week, she has learned friends. I am one of the owners of Inn Kong, while Stanley prefers to play with that Mommy really will pick her up at the Doghouse (ITD), a dog and cat day- a rope toy. Angel does laps in between the end of the day. In the meantime care, boarding and grooming facility on naps, and Sam, a Miniature Poodle with she has a blast. Dublin and I love to Dublin the near Westside. Dublin, the Bullmas- Napoleonic complex, wants Dublin’s hear our clients tell us that their dogs tiff with whom I share my home, is the job as sheriff. Cooper plays fetch all day are excited to come to see us and that At the end of the day, Dublin is self-appointed sheriff. long (or at least until my arm is too tired many don’t want to go home at the tired from his long day at work but According to Dublin and his to function), and Brando and Tess play end of the day. The dogs’ parents want always has energy to see his friends friends, nothing could be better than with Dudley, a small mixed-breed who to know with whom their dogs play down the street, visit Pet-tique or go coming to daycare. Where else can thinks he is four times his size. Lucky and if they needed any “time-outs.” for an adventure in the car. He has a pets romp and play all day with toys loves to play, too, but becomes grumpy (Of course, we occasionally do have to job and an active social calendar, and alongside their best friends? Certainly around five o’clock and needs be put deliver the news that their dogs were he has his mommy and daddy wrapped we have rules and boundaries such as down for his nap. sweet but a little “humpalicious.”) around his big paws!

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Growing Lakewood Lakewood’s New Businesses These two new businesses have a lot in common. Both are on the western side of Lakewood, both are owned by Lakewood residents launching new careers, and both have enhanced Detroit Avenue with the remodel of their storefronts.

Lacy Paraphernalia Candy Boutique By Wendy Brickman By Wendy Brickman

Long time Lakewood resident and lover of Victorian style Dare Novak opened an Even if you aren’t in need of a unique gift at the moment, take a minute to stop in appealing new shop on December 2 in a former bank building at 160008 Detroit Candy Boutique at 17100 Detroit Ave to see what they do. This new concept (“a Ave. Dare and her husband live in Lakewood and raised their children here. Lacy delicious alternative to flowers”) may be just the thing for a gift giving event in Paraphernalia features nostalgic décor and gifts. Dare has turned her interest in your future. Not for nothing is Candy Bouquet the number one gift franchise in Victorian, garden and cottage style into a lovely place to pick up one of a kind the world. pieces. Mother/daughter team Pat and Jessica Fronek are the proud and talented own- The shop is filled with quilts, reproduction chandeliers and other Victorian ers of the new Lakewood Candy Boutique. They offer a wide array of unique gift décor, purses, and jewelry. Unique gift ideas include items such as a bright blue items, gourmet gift baskets, fudge (careful with Almond Joy, it’s addictive) and of dresser set or a bustier wall hanging made from wire and beads. Especially inter- course the beautiful and unique Candy Bouquets. Delivery in Lakewood is free esting and appealing is the “antique to chic” line, furniture items created locally and they can ship items anywhere in the world. They specialize in custom orders, and by hand from architectural findings. A gramophone is always playing, and where your imagination is the limit. If your imagination is limited, trust Jessica’s. candles are burning (and for sale), making this a cozy place to browse. Lacy Para- On a moment’s notice she created a fantastic dog treat bouquet with a dog-themed phernalia strives to “bless your home with happiness,” it says so on their business container and ribbons, bones and toys for this customer’s favorite four legged cards. neighbor. Corporate bouquets are also created using company logo items mixed Lacy Paraphernalia’s grand opening is Saturday, February 11. Stop by, they’ll with gourmet candies. have refreshments and a raffle for a $50 merchandise certificate. Hours are Tues- Candy Bouquet will celebrate its grand opening on Saturday, February 4, offer- day through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. ing free candy samples, balloons, specials on fudge, bulk candy and a drawing for a free Valentine’s Day bouquet. Call 216-CANDY10 to order or for more information. Hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday thru Saturday, Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Celebrating Five Years of Memories By Emilia Rhodes Along with their stock of stickers, paper and tools needed for creative preserva- tion of photos, Preserving Tomorrow’s Memories offers a variety of classes in their Lakewood’s very own scrapbooking store turns five years old this January, marking Studio. Classes consist of beginner’s instruction, specialty pages, card making and a great retail accomplishment for independently owned businesses. Lakewood is gift albums. There are also all day and late night “crops” offered where customers full of independent retailers that line Detroit and Madison Avenue, but Preserving can work on their own material while visiting with friends and shopping in the Tomorrow’s Memories was the first scrapbooking store in Cuyahoga County when store. it opened in 2001. The scrapbooking industry was the fastest growing craft in the Preserving Tomorrow’s Memories, known affectionately as PTM to their regu- country, which is shown by Preserving Tomorrow’s Memories’ expansive power. lars, regards their personal engagement with their customers as the most important When the store first opened, it occupied only one store front on Madison aspect of their business and success. The staff tries to learn everyone’s name in Avenue. However, after two years of business, the store expanded to three times order to greet them personally as they walk in the door. They also help their cus- its original size. Now, there is an entire storefront dedicated to the vast variety of tomer’s plan out pages and albums if the patrons bring in their photos, as well paper used in scrapbooking and card making. The original storefront was con- as give tutorials for the many tools used in scrapbooking. PTM’s personality and verted to the Studio, which is open during all store hours for customers to work on materials carried them through the past five years and will help preserve all of their pages. The store’s expansive offerings contributed to their national ranking in tomorrow’s memories in the future. the top 250 independent scrapbook stores for the past four years.

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Rocking Lakewood An Interview with Max Monter of The Jacknife Powerbombs

By Bob Ignizio ize how much work can be involved. It’s not always an easy affair to keep a By day, Lakewood resident Max Monter machine like this running smoothly. is a mild mannered carpenter. By night, We throw as much at this monster as he becomes Lex Luxor and plays bass we can and we were really proud to get in punk rock band The Jacknife Power- something back that tells us that it’s bombs. The band (which also includes somewhat appreciated by others.” Giovanni Flamingo and Mephisto All that hard work almost went Mirage on guitar, Caesar Bolero on down the drain for Max about a year vocals, and Rio Sands on drums) has ago, though. That’s when he lost the been slogging it out in the rough and tips of two fingers on his fretting hand tumble Cleveland rock scene since the while working at his job as a carpenter. Spring of 2002, and Max has been there “I accidentally introduced two of my since the beginning. Max says, “When fingers to the business end of a table we started, we were all pretty much saw,” Max explains. “I cut off the distal beginners at our instruments and we ends of my left hand middle and ring earned ourselves a pretty bad rep with finger. The ring finger was lost (about some of the more serious acts in town. a 1/2 inch) and the middle finger was About two years ago we had 2/5 of sewn back on.” the band decide to leave and took the Max continues, “You know, it’s opportunity to shed some bad habits hard to confess to this but the first and really concentrate on better songs thought that I had when it happened and more promotions. I’d say that was ‘I’m not going to be able to play we’ve been serious about music for two anymore; I’m just going to kill myself.’ years, and before that we were friends I know that seems sort of overboard having some good times at the expense but it’s a hugely important part of my of other peoples’ ears.” life and I don’t know what I’d be doing The change in attitude eventu- without it.” Max’ band mates cheered ally paid off, with the band winning him up by promising to wait for his Max Montor lays down the bass line. “Best Punk Rock Band” in the Cleve- recovery rather than look for a new land Scene this past year. Max says, “It bass player. The band only had to can- it’s getting better. lished and I play some pretty intense was nice to get that recognition. I don’t cel one gig, and although the injury As if winning awards and seriously games of chess. I also like to drink way know if people that aren’t in bands real- still bothers Max on occasion, he says injuring himself weren’t enough for too much and see how close I can come one year, 2005 also saw the release of to getting arrested without actually the debut CD from Max’ band, the self- getting arrested. I’m just a pretty nor- released ‘Set to Go’. Max says, “We’ve mal kind of guy.” gotten a very good response from it. It’s So what’s next for this normal still selling steadily and we’ve recently guy and his band? Max says, “We’re started getting some overseas purchases hoping to get some interest in distribu- through our website. We decided to tion and marketing so that we can get spend the money and hire a studio that into stores in other cities. We’ve been we knew would do a good job, and I’m writing songs like mad and we’ve got pretty proud of how it turned out.” The enough material together for another disc has garnered almost unanimous CD. We’ve always got a few shows lined good reviews both from the press and up but we’ve been staying away from �� the band’s fans. playing �� When not playing music or work- Cleveland because we over played �� ing at his job, Max is an avid comic our hometown last year. We do have �� book collector (since the age of 14). a show on January 13th at the Pirate’s �� He’s also a sculptor and does some Cove with the American Werewolves. �� illustration on occasion, including I like playing on Friday the 13th, it’s �� designing tattoos. Max says, “I do a lot always good fun.” of side work to get the bills paid so I rarely have time for hobbies. But I do For more info on the Jacknife Powerbombs, �� like to read when I can, and I’m in the visit www.jacknifepowerbombs.com or middle of writing some stories to turn �� www.myspace.com/jacknifepowerbombs. �� into comics. I’ve had some poems pub- �� Custom and Corporate �� Silk Screened & Embroidered Apparel and Gifts �� AGS can help you create a design or print �� your existing design for: Schools, Clubs, �� Churches, Businesses, Bands, Events, Sports Teams, & Fund-raisers. �� T-shirts �� Sweatshirts �� Golf Shirts �� Team Uniforms �� Jackets DowntownLocated Lakewood in Bags (in the Cook Building) �� and more! 216.410.3232 a. graphic solution inc. �� Printwear Group 14900 Detroit Ave. Suite 310, Lakewood OH

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Lakewood Sports Give Me an ‘L’ Give Me an ‘A’ Give Them a Cheer

Cheerleading seems to be everywhere. By Mike Deneen The group won a “superior” rating at Originally started as an all-male activ- Sports Editor the Ohio State University Cheerlead- ity on the sidelines of Princeton football ing Camp, and the opportunity to be games in the 1880s, the sport has grown of coaching and preparing the squad Browning, a Lakewood resident and in Chicago’s State Street Thanksgiving into an American obsession. Nowadays belongs to LHS alum Jodi Whitlock. former cheerleader. Both coaches enjoy Day Parade. Coach Whitlock is looking cheerleaders are found coast-to-coast A former Ranger cheerleader, she took the job because of the kids in the pro- to build on this success in the coming on the sidelines of football and bas- over the role of head coach this year gram. “The girls are all really hard years by working with the grade school ketball games from grade school to the after coaching in the middle school workers,” says Whitlock. programs. In addition to increasing the professional level. In addition, cheer- program. She is assisted by Sarah Their hard work has paid off. number of girls in the program, she is leading competitions are televised hoping to encourage boys to partici- nationally on major sports networks. pate. When Coach Whitlock cheered Popular culture is awash in cheerlead- in the late 1990s, there were as many ing images, with virtually every teen as nine boys in the program. There are movie or TV show having an obligatory currently no boys on any of the squads. cheerleader character. From the “Brady “You have to get one guy to do it in Bunch” to “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” order get others” says Whitlock. it seems every teen character in Holly- A major hindrance to attracting wood has been obsessed at one time or boys into the program is the lack of another with either making the squad “stunting” done at LHS. In cheerlead- or dating the head cheerleader. ing, a “stunt” is any maneuver that Despite all the attention paid to involves tossing or holding another cheerleading, most people have very cheerleader into the air, and is gener- little idea how much work goes into ally done by boys. Commonly done it. On TV, it’s just a matter of look- at the college level, the practice is not ing pretty and jumping up and down. allowed by the Lake Erie League, the However, in real life, cheerleading is conference to which LHS currently very hard work. The squads practice belongs. It is still uncertain if stunting twice a week throughout most of year will be allowed by the new conference to prepare their routines. The activity that LHS will be joining in the 2007- requires a lot of physical coordination 2008 school year. and stamina, as well as the ability to For cheerleaders, the future can work well in a group. After all, if one be very bright. Many Division I col- member is out of step in a dance rout- leges offer scholarships for cheerleaders, ing, the entire unit looks bad. The and historically most LHS cheerleaders squad practices year-round, including have gone on to higher education. Many during summer vacation. cheerleaders across the country have At Lakewood High School, three achieved incredible things in their pro- squads of girls cheer: one squad each fessional careers. The list of successful for the Freshman, Junior Varsity and former cheerleaders includes President Varsity levels. In addition to Rangers’ George W. Bush and American Idol football and boys’ basketball games, judge Paula Abdul. You never know, Photo by Ivor Karabatkovic they also appear at the annual Fourth there may be a future leader or celebrity of July parade, and the school’s annual in Lakewood’s current squad. “They’re Homecoming Spirit Parade. The job Lakewood High’s Varsity Cheerleaders. very smart girls,” says Browning.

Lakewood High Basketball Has Much to Cheer About in 2006 By Mike Deneen

Hoops Update There are those who believe that Catholic schools have an inherent advantage in high school sports. According to the theory, private schools can attract kids from a wider geographic area, and therefore are inherently superior to their public school counterparts. Well, apparently the Lakewood High School basketball teams didn’t get the memo, as both the boys’ and girls’ squads have posted big victories over neighboring private-school rivals.

Girls’ Basketball Team Having Strong Season The Rangers are in the midst of a very solid season. At the time of this writing, the team is 10-4 with a 4-1 conference record in the very tough Lake Erie League. The season has also included non-conference wins over nearby private-school rivals Magniﬁcat and St. Joseph’s Academy. Head Coach Nicole Anderson has the kids playing hard. They are led in scoring and rebounding by Junior Kayla Kovach, who is scoring 16 points and grabbing 7.6 rebounds per game. Seniors Britney Jurchenko and Chelsey Eskra are also scoring over 10 points per game, and Kayleigh Boyle has scored an impressive 21 three-pointers in only 14 games. Senior Madelyne Horvath is setting the table for her teammates, averaging 3.5 assists per game. The team will be spending the latter half of January and early February on a key stretch that will determine the conference championship. The nearly NBA-sized odyssey will include trips to Mentor, Lorain County, Parma, Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights. The girls will ﬁnally play their next home game on February 11.

Boys’ Team Provides a Shocker The ﬁrst half of the boys’ basketball season has been disappointing in many respects. The team has struggled with only two wins as of this writing. However, on December 23, they provided one of the most memorable moments in recent LHS sports history. The team played perennial state power and cross-town rival St. Edward. Despite trailing by eight points to the heavily Photo by Ivor Karabatkovic favored Eagles at halftime, the team rallied to achieve a 63-61 victory on its home court. The victory sparked a boisterous post- game celebration on the court, a photo of which was featured in the last edition of the Observer. The photo, shot by Observer Lakewood High’s #34, Chelsey Eskra, photographer and LHS junior Ivor Karabatkovic, has become a popular item among Ranger fans. A large copy of it now hangs just one of the reasons the girls’ basket- in the Athletic Department’s L-Room, and both Mayor Tom George and Superintendent Dr. Estrop have requested copies. ball team is doing so well.

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Lakewood Lore Sharkey’sSharkey’s HillHill RevisitedRevisited Photo by Bill Davis

‘You Really Should Have Been Here Yesterday…’ By Jim O’Bryan down and break a leg or collar bone, there you could see the condition of your body and sled back, there was than get dragged off the cliff by the the hill—icy, powdery, rutted or just a dip that threw you to the right and Last week a Lakewood Observer reporter police. plain nasty. back to the center. You would hold asked why Lakewood didn’t have a good After sliding down the cliffs in As you slid down the side and your breath as you entered another sledding hill. summer, I found Sharkey’s was easier approached the fire, someone would depression before sending you up and “Sledding Hill!” I turned and on the pants, bones and hands. But to yell “off.” Then another coated person over a small jump that would turn into said, “Sledding Hill! We had one of the the wash-a-shores and “tourists,” Shar- was off down the hill. a full JUMP as the snow and sledding best.” key’s was unbelievable. Along the left would be those who continued. “That little hill at Kauffman?” the Imagine the look tourists give the had made it, trudging up the hill. What The landing was actually smoother reporter queried. surfers at Waimea Bay in Hawaii dur- always made this interesting was the than the ski-style jump over the barri- I looked and stared deep into her ing Big Surf. Sure we all want to ride possibility that at any minute a sled cade, and it is easy to understand why. eyes and said, “No, Sharkey’s Hill.” one, but at what cost? and rider could separate. Worse yet, By this point you are traveling three The room fell silent. A couple of Every day another group of kids the rider could lose control, smashing times faster, and the sled would stay the long time residents turned pale would show up, walk to the edge and just into anyone or anything. airborne for 10-30 feet! And then the with a look similar to that of a child turn white. You would see them mum- Hazards included other sleds, sled might possibly settle down. For who just saw a ghost. ble. Catch that nervous laugh. Then half rocks and trees. Or the rider might the forces were so incredible on the sled “That name sounds a little scary,” the time the group would leave. I mean, simply go over the cliff! and rider that this point was where they she said. who wants to die sledding? At one point the city put a barri- usually separated, or simply fell apart, “That’s nothing compared to the And death was everywhere on cade up to stop sledders. Seeing this as wishing they had never started. Real Thing,” I remarked. “The Hill.” a kind of ski jump, inventive kids would Once you made it into the bottom Sharkey’s Hill, for those who do There was always the talk … “You make the barricade into a small hill. depression and the ride was over, you not know, ran down the side of the really should have been here yesterday.” But the pros, real pros, mind you, had to apply full brakes, drag your body, cliff on Riverside Drive. That’s right, “I heard a kid died yesterday.” “They would start at the top, push off and and stop the sled before it ran into the straight down the cliff on a slight angle took a guy out of here on a stretcher, even take a running start. Then they icy river. Each time a rider made it to with only a small curve at the end. But wasn’t moving much.” would throw their sleds down with a the bottom without carrying into the again it was down the cliff from River- This talk always uncorked around thud and jump on. river, even the most experienced ones side Drive right down to the river, and the fire located at the top of the “short” In a matter of seconds you had to would let loose a huge sigh of relief. You hopefully not in it! hill. I say short because it only really make a life-and-death choice. Jump the would catch your breath, look around, As a person that grew up near chopped 30 feet off the top, but what a barricade and with luck miss the large smell the air, wildly thankful you were “The Hill,” I soon became a little jaded 30 feet that was. posts. Or turn hard right and go up the still alive. Getting up, you would brush about riding it down, after breaking What added to the total mystique cliff around the post and down the cliff off the snow, grab your sled (or what my cherry at a very young age. of the place was the fact that the hill again. was left of it) and head up the hill ready Growing up on Riverside meant was a real sled-breaker. As riders broke To jump the barricade and head to dive out of the way if someone lost that you could climb the cliff like the their sleds they would throw them up up the hill added speed to the ride. To control. Just to tame “The Hill” one monkeys of Malta. into the trees where they would hang move up the cliff and back down was more time. We often joked, “You know what looking like skeletons of the dead. At tougher, however, always leading to Sharkey’s was legendary, our they a call a kid stuck on the cliff?” dusk these sled skeletons would come incredible speeds. Waimea Bay. Sharkey’s was where men “Tourist” we would all chime in. to life in a macabre dance of death There was always talk of speeds in went to feel alive. Each year the city would pull off moving back and forth through the excess of 50 mph. Nobody, at least to I looked over to the reporter and kids from Rocky River, Bay, Cleveland, trees as the fire flickered. my knowledge, ever put a radar detec- smiled, saying, “Yeah we had a hill. but almost never one from Lakewood. Before any ride you would first tor to the sleds on Sharkey’s Hill. You really should have been here yes- A Lakewood kid would rather fall climb down to a lower level. From Just as you would get control of terday.”

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Lakewood Lore

Where Boys Became Men No manufacturer in their right minds dent; everything seemed way too quiet could have gotten away with it. I rein- as time was starting to slow down, the forced the carriage with slats of metal wind was picking up and the storm was Sharkey’s Hill and heavy duty bolts. I painted teeth now in full blanketing gray rage. on the steering bar and something I took a running start, flopping By Jim Dustin weapons of choice. These came in vari- about Flash or rats or death. This was down hard into the fresh snow and ous lengths from tiny 36-inch kid sleds a mean piece of speed. steering severely to the right to clear the Nobody knew where a name like that to six-footers (probably still do). Made The final run for the killer sled barricades by banking up on the side of came from. It could have been any mostly of wood for the carriage, these happened late in that season, probably the cliff to go around them. You have name, but that one both described and had two main steel rails about 3/8-inch pushing toward March. The hill had about 7 seconds to get it right. Coming created the mystique. In the early ’60s wide as skis and some even had a third transformed into a real scary caricature back off the steep bank of the cliff, I’m we were between 10 and 13 years old rail running down the belly— but for of itself. Everything was exaggerated accelerating and pointed toward the during the most formative years with some reason were more rare. These —so where there was ice, it was thick forest at an angle. There are still a few the mysteries of the hill. Hiking over rails were connected to a steering and treacherous; where there were kids climbing back up and taunting me there with metal disks, standard metal device, which was really just a flat piece mini hills, they were like three-foot to screw up and not correct my angle rail sleds and the occasional toboggan. of wood that cantilevered the rails from rolling waves on Lake Erie; and where while flying over the edge into sure The theory was that the hill was one side or the other, forcing both rails there were dirt patches, it was like hit- death. I straighten out and catch most left over from some major sewage con- to move either right or left. ting dry asphalt roof tiles in the middle of the center ruts down the middle of struction that emptied into the river. Whatever configuration this tech- of Winterhurst ice rink. the hill. At first I thought the new snow One of those mammoth concrete cave nology took, it was essential to steer The gloom of snow was in the air, was a good thing. I was hitting the mini type sewers like the one Harrison Ford on a hill like Sharkey’s because of the not a bright cheery cascade, but a dark bumps at full throttle when I started jumped out of in The Fugitive (only obstacles. These would be in no par- late afternoon mean dump. Visibility going air born about halfway down. I this one is at ground level). We were ticular order: other sledders, trees, dry plays tricks when what was mostly a was exceeding the speed by which most scared to go more than about 5 or 10 patches of dirt, rocks, ice patches, bro- white landscape of trees, hill and snow of these bumps had been formed, flying feet into the thing, but that’s another right over about every other one, I had story. Heavy equipment had to get to get onto something flat before my down into the valley on the side of the speeding enterprise of meat, wood and river that only had shale cliffs. So they steel collapsed from intense strain. carved this hill on a 40° angle (some- This was the Sharkey’s gambit at thing like the little hand at 5 o’clock play. Steer to the left for the thin strip on an old watch) all the way down to of flat hill that everyone uses to climb a narrow meadow near the edge of back to the top. Not a good option when Rocky River. After construction it was populated with kids. Not a good option left behind to become a daring taunt if the steering mechanism was not in for kids to break their limbs or even perfect condition, which I was about die wrapped around a tree. It became to become intimately familiar with. It known as Sharkey’s Hill. was a finesse move. Too hard and you I started my experiences on the went flying off the edge of the hill into hill with my older brother and his trees. Too soft and you never got out of friends. They had a toboggan; an eight- the bumpy trough in the middle. The foot long unit of wood slats, glued width on the side was now only three together like a gymnasium floor, with a feet of flat hill, packed down with lit- little curled up front edge. It had some tle footprints of the day’s sledders and rope running down the edges to hang looking abnormally dangerous. onto and supposedly “steer” with, but I made it over there barreling nobody could figure out if that actu- down at full speed, as trees were flying ally worked, or how it possibly could. by me in a blur of certain death only It didn’t matter a lot, because Sharkey’s feet away. But something was wrong. was a virtual bobsled-run by the time A bolt on the steering arm was miss- humidity and snow had frozen the hill Photo by Bill Davis ing; one of my customized alterations into a one-way ticket to the river (which had snapped or unscrewed, leaving me was also thankfully frozen most of the Brian Simko and Dan Ott stand about 50’ past the barricade/jump. The second jump at terminal velocity without control. I time). The problem with toboggans on is near the bottom of the path. The photographer is standing next to the barricade, started the emergency foot dragging Sharkey’s was they were made of wood. and the top of the hill is 50’ behind him. procedure to slow down this impend- Flexible yes; however, each season, ing train wreck. great slalom ruts would evolve natu- ken discarded sleds, mini hills, burning transformed into a gray cavernous The rock wouldn’t have normally rally, creating a roller coaster effect of fires (usually at the bottom of the hill, maw of a surreally demented Hiero- been a problem, tucked up tight next to miniature hills. The torture this would replete with discarded wine bottles nymus Bosch painting. Everybody was the base of a large oak tree, and cov- wield on a sled made for primarily flat and chili cans nearby) and of course, exhausted from working the hill all day, ered with fresh snow. Hitting it with surfaces was not pretty. It did indeed the ultimate gamble, the river itself. making runs and then walking back up my left runner at this speed caused the eventually snap, although on that par- No one ever told the truth whether the the length of at least a football field to inevitable physics of the moment to flip ticular run, everyone made it out alive. river was frozen or recently thawed, the top. The less insane had gone home, the sled and me first on to my back and So given that metal disks were you had to make that determination in but this new storm was pushing even then into independent tumbles, as the only for the severely insane (Chevy real time, at say 30+ miles per hour. As us to the final runs of the day. battered sled went over the side and I Chase in Christmas Vacation comes to Clint Eastwood once said, “do you feel I decided on one more from the slid to a stop with a face full of dirt and mind), regular metal rail sleds were the lucky today punk?” We mostly did. top. THE top. Enough snow had fallen snow. I found a pretty good sled, banged in the last half hour to lay down an inch It was still really quiet. I heard up down near the bottom of the hill. and coat the top 50 feet of hill, bury- some faint yelling from up the hill and It had some broken slats, but the metal ing the footprints of the day’s sledders I could hear my own frozen breath. I was still good if it received some TLC. before the barricade drop-off to the rest checked for body part damage and When telling my friends, I undoubt- of the run. There were only two ways to looked for my left boot, which was edly embellished its demise with use the sleds. Sitting up and steering 20 feet up the hill. Sharkey’s had won finding old skull bones and bloody with your feet while hanging on to the another round and retaken a former clothing nearby, evidence of a particu- sides— or laying down flat and steering sled trophy back into its sinister realm. larly gruesome end to a former sledder with your arms. I preferred the lower I was alive, starting to get hun- becoming one with a maple tree (poor center of gravity of lying down, even gry and pretty sure I could get home bastard). I took this home and started though the trade-off involved taking in time to catch “The Outer Limits,” making alterations in my dad’s work- the violent impacts of bumps directly where they control the vertical, they Photo by Google Earth shop. I rigged the steering device to into the stomach. control the horizontal and I dared not push the limits of the rails’ flexibility. It was like the scene of a car acci- try to adjust the set.

Join the Discussion at: www.lakewoodobserver.com Page 12 The Lakewood Observer January 24, 2006

Chef Geoff’s Souper Bowl

From the beginning, I’ll plead “guilty” By Chef Geoff Endress whether homemade or store bought, it’s in employing an overused pun in the a simple matter to add some chopped title of this column. I’m hopeful that side, which only tend to magnify the with added ingredients. vegetables and create vegetable soup, or the Observer readers will forgive my comfort of our own cozy hearths. We can, of course, make our own mushrooms and heavy cream for cream indulgence, but when one considers I’ll confess to a weekly mood swing that stocks. It is actually a simple process, of mushroom. such things as my rabid fanaticism for is probably fairly common. I generally adding browned beef bones, a chicken or In the cold of a Cleveland winter, the Cleveland Browns, Red Right 88, slowly slip into a slight depression on turkey carcass, meat scraps, and vegeta- I tend to favor a creamy, thick chow- the Drive, the Fumble and the distinct Sunday nights, fueled principally by bles to a large heavy pot, covering with der. Thick, not because you added fl our probability that the only Super Bowl the fact that the weekend is over, and in water, and simmering for a few days. to create a wallpaper paste, but thick I’ll ever be involved with will be spelled short order I will be plunged into Mon- Indeed, those large heavy cast iron stock with spoonfuls of meat, vegetables “souper,” perhaps they’ll understand. day morning, my least favorite time. A pots were designed so that items could be and creamy broth. The recipe is quite So, with the caveat as to the title out of dreary winter Sunday can only serve to added on a daily basis, and the pot could simple, and provides a basic Chowder the way, on to the main course. heighten the slip towards feeling a little continue to bubble away all week, with recipe that can be used as foundation Winter on the North Coast can down. I have found that, sometimes, the stock ready for use on the weekend. for anything from Clam Chowder to be a daunting experience. The Hol- cooking a pot of hot, steaming soup, It’s a very effi cient and economical way Corn Chowder. You may choose to idaze are over, and the bright lights, accompanied with a loaf of freshly to make use of item that would otherwise add some fi nely diced red sweet red garland and warm feelings we enjoyed baked bread does wonders for your go into the disposal or garbage. There are peppers, or perhaps some sliced leeks, in December give way to the cold dark mood. No matter how dark and dreary also a good number of commercially or leftover julienned ham. As with so days of January. Certainly there are a it looks outside, somehow the warmth produced stocks (or broth) which would many of my recipes, think of these a great many enjoyable winter activities from my kitchen and a large tureen of allow you to avoid the work of creating guidelines, and please feel free to add, to experience: skiing and snowboard- soup spreads into the psyche. your own. But, once you have your stock, delete and substitute. ing, skating and sledding, and maybe So, after all the football is over even some deep snow winter camping (at least for us in Cleveland), and the North Coast Clam Chowder (serves 6) (more on that subject later). But, even Holiday decorations are down, I turn with wintertime’s recreational distrac- my culinary attentions to creating a 4 strips roughly chopped bacon (not 1⁄4 cup green pepper, diced (if desired) tions, the reality of cold, dark and wet cauldron of delicious warmth on Sun- maple fl avored!) 1 bay leaf is enough to bring even the most opti- day nights, and baking a crusty loaf of 1⁄2 cup fi nely diced onion 1⁄4 teaspoon Old Bay seafood seasoning 1⁄2 cup fi nely diced celery 1⁄2 teaspoon thyme mistic of us to the very brink of cabin some substantial bread. Coupled with 1⁄2 cup fi nely diced carrot 1 cup heavy cream fever. As the weather forces us to remain a salad, it’s really all you need for din- 2 6-oz. cans of chopped clams, undrained 1⁄2 cup milk indoors, boredom and malaise set in ner. Of course, soups can be simple, 4 cups chicken broth Salt and pepper to taste that even a 24-hour marathon of “Proj- straight-forward affairs like Chicken 2 cups potatoes, unpeeled, in 1-inch cubes ect Runway” can’t lift. It is at times like Noodle, or they can be somewhat more In your soup pot, brown the bacon. Using the bacon fat, sauté the onion until this that the smells from our kitchens complex, like Chinese Hot and Sour. translucent. Add the carrot and celery, and sauté until celery is translucent. Add the bring us comfort and release. And even But whether simple or complicated, chicken broth, clams and juice, potato, and green pepper, if desired. Bring to a sim- more so if the winds are howling out- virtually every soup is merely a stock, mer, add the Bay leaf, Old Bay, and thyme, and cook covered, until the potato is soft, 45 minutes or so. Add heavy cream and milk, stirring to heat through. Do not boil. Salt Kitchen Gadget Contest and pepper to taste, serve with a loaf of crusty Honey Wheat or Dill Rye bread and fresh sweet butter.

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Lakewood On-The-Threshold A Lakewood “Where Everybody Knows Your Name?”

By Tom Powell-Bullock villages and factories, tradition and “In direct proportion to the World; the apocalyptic Dr. Strangelove; bureaucracy, intimacy and anonymity. expansion of economy rises and more recently Terminator and The our need for community.” These days, community planners are Gemeinschaft refers to traditional Matrix. In all of these, the machines social relationships common to villages turn on their human creators, trap- fond of throwing around catch phrases In direct proportion to the expan- governed by custom: a sense of kinship, ping, killing, or controlling us. from “new urbanism,” the supposed sion of economy rises our need for sentiment, and self-identification with Our science fiction nightmares cutting-edge school of thought which community. As the engines of the mar- the community. Members of a gemein- reflect our real-life sense that we are says city growth is best sparked by ket turn over faster, as the pistons of schaft community see themselves as a not in control: humanity is no longer developing a community’s human ele- corporations fire more powerfully, so means to serve the goals of the commu- the measure of all things, but a gear in ments. Urban planners are advised too does our need for human contact, nity, and membership is self-fulfilling. a machine. today to invest in parks, walkable for real community, surge forward Examples include families, villages, shopping districts, and the arts, not in importance. However much mar- and perhaps religious communities. “In the vastness of world-sized just in the factories, bridges, and con- ket researchers may flatten us out into Gesellschaft refers to rationally commerce, the most precious crete that dominated their attention in consumers, reduce us to customers, commodity cities may offer is structured associations impersonally the 1950s. or quantify us as purchasers, we are community life.” contracted to achieve an end, usually According to Richard Florida, a lead- organic creatures who need to know lacking common mores. Self-inter- ing proponent of new urbanism, cities we matter–and who need to feel it In the vastness of world-sized com- est, rather than self-identification, can prosper by attracting a new “cre- expressed from another human being. merce, the most precious commodity binds individuals to gesellschaft ative class” of knowledge workers who Tellingly, it is only after urban cities may offer is community life. Per- associations, and function, rather work in good-paying growth industries anonymity bolted through society like haps the prophets of new urbanism than tradition, directs their behav- which the Chinese cannot yet replicate. a runaway cart that science fiction hor- sense that people seek intimacy as an ior. Examples include corporations The best way to do so, says Florida, is to ror stories appeared in our literature. antidote to marketplace anonymity. and bureaucracies. (Sources: Webster’s fill your town with the amenities and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein came at If so, Lakewood would do well to Third New International Dictionary, quality-of-life-enhancing features which the beginning of England’s industri- continue building on its already-strong knowledge workers prize. Unabridged, Merriam-Webster, 2002; alization and anticipated many others: community life and already-engaged If Florida is correct that increasing http://encyclopedia.laborlawtalk.com/ Jules Verne’s troubled Captain Nemo; citizenry. Could we become a town quality of life increases prosperity, is it Ferdinand_Toennies.) Aldous Huxley’s repressive Brave New “where everybody knows your name”? simply because knowledge workers are With industrialization, gesell- in demand enough to be choosy and schaft advanced and gemeinschaft are affluent enough to indulge their retreated. But could it be that the desires, or is something deeper at play? trend today towards more “livable” It is interesting to examine these communities, pushed by “new urban” 21st Century trends through the lenses planners, is a swing of the pendulum of two 19th Century concepts. During back to gemeinschaft? Could renewed that time, the first throes of European attention to quality of life be a reaction industrialization disrupted long-static to too much gesellschaft ? village life, sent rural laborers streaming Consider: the trends which ripped into factories, distorted neighborhoods 19th Century Europeans out of inti- into slums, and introduced the squalor mate communities and cast them and alienation so familiar today. Peo- into anonymous factory ghettos have ple who had once lived in close-knit only accelerated in the 21st Century. villages, who followed tradition and Today, markets aren’t national, they’re marked their hours by the church bell, global. Companies aren’t multi-state, now were transformed into anonymous but multi-national. Commerce grows cogs in a machine, governed by com- every-bigger, churns ever-faster, and pany rules and summoned in shifts by extends the work day ever-longer. the factory whistle. (Indeed, outsourcing to India has cre- A German sociologist, Ferdi- ated a business day on which the sun nand Töennies, proposed in 1887 never sets.) two terms to describe these changes: With the pace of change accelerat- gemeinschaft and gesellschaft, loosely ing ever-faster, the individual shrinks translated “community” and “society.” ever-smaller and something in the Töennies described by these terms the human psyche yells, “Enough!” It seeks two orders of social organization at to throw on the brakes and bring life either end of the Industrial Revolution: back to a human scale.

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Letters To The Editor Hey Gordon - About That Issue

Mr. Gordon Brumm, in a Lakewood Observer article titled, “Intelligent Design: Darwin also proposed the notion of “common descent” which is that over the Skeptical Thoughts about the Skepticism (1)” mentions that he, “...welcome(s) course of many generations new species had, and would emerge. A modern defini- good answers, if any are forthcoming.” We shall see. tion of evolution is “The change in allele frequencies within breeding populations Brumm states that he is disappointed in the scientific responses to Intelligent across generations leading to reproductive isolation.” The Darwinian mechanism Design Creationism that he has seen. He doesn’t mention what sources he consulted, of evolution is genetic change (mutation) coupled with differential reproductive but I hope he never read “Why Intelligent Design Fails: The Scientific Critique of success (natural selection). the New Creationism” published by the Rutgers University Press (2004), because I So we have encountered a big problem. Brumm doesn’t know what evolution is wrote parts of the book, and I think we avoided the failings Brumm listed. I par- in the first place. Nor does Brumm seem to know that Darwin’s 150 year old theory ticularly want to avoid being accused of “argument by authority.” However, when of natural selection has undergone 150 years of improvement. very basic “beginner” errors are made, we scientists are either accused of “talking Just one example is the discovery of how DNA works to structure cells some down” if we explain in simple language, or we are charged with “arrogantly argu- fifty years ago. Since then, we have learned a lot about how evolutionary theory ing from authority” if we don’t. Unfortunately, since Mr. Brumm makes very basic needed to be improved. For example, we learned that some genes could have an errors of fact and reasoning I will have to take that risk. increased frequency just because they were physically next to an important gene The first problem is that Brumm fails to offer a competent definition of “evolu- that had a positive mutation. Remember kids wanting to stand in line next to the tion.” Evolution is not the “parade of the species through time” claimed by Brumm. most popular kid in school? The same principle applies in genetics. These genes True, the fossils on display and piled in museum warehouses plus those still buried are not selected because they are useful or “better,” they are just in the right place in rock are facts that demand explanation. These discoveries beginning in the 1700s at the right time. Some genetic mutations are lethal, and surprisingly this causes were even commented on by Thomas Jefferson. More importantly, species diversity no problem to evolutionary theory at all because hardly any organism with a lethal that today seems boundless, coupled with our discovery that shared genetic mate- mutation ever is able to reproduce. But, a “good gene” that is next to a deadly gene rial is bounded by geography and time are facts that demand explanation. These will be eliminated just because it was in the wrong place at the wrong time. We facts are not “evolution,” they are the facts which evolution explains. The late Ste- learned in the 1980s that a giant asteroid struck the Earth 65 million years ago trig- ven Jay Gould once published an essay titled, “Evolution is a fact and a theory” gering the end of the big dinosaurs. This was not the sort of “natural selection” ever which reading beyond the title clarifies this issue. Evolution is an explanation of anticipated by Darwin. Each of these new discoveries were promoted by the anti- what is manifest and observable. science crowd as the “end of Darwinism.” Darwin died over one hundred years ago, Charles Darwin proposed one hundred and fifty years ago that natural selec- but biology is still doing just fine. tion was the major force that shaped the development of new species. As observed There are many further errors to cover, unfortunately, correcting errors take by Gert Korthof, “Natural selection as an explanation is too powerful for its own far more effort than making errors. good.” This idea is the most argued about and rigorously tested hypotheses in the —Gary S. Hurd, Ph.D. history of man. Darwin made some very simple observations such as children don’t look exactly like their parents while family “traits” are quite common. He noted that individuals within large populations could vary greatly from one another and yet still be in the same species. Finally, he pointed out that some physical variations are better suited to some environments than others, and that healthier parents had �� healthier (and more) offspring. This is all there is to Darwin’s “natural selection.” As presented by Darwin in 1849, and as attested by thousands of experimental research results, natural selec- �� tion is as soundly supported as gravity. �� Proposed Income Tax Raise �� Having spent a work-life in the pri- and paper. �� vate sector and an enlightening couple Secondly, I looked in the govern- �� of months one time in the government pages of the phone book and �� ment sector, I would like to make these compared the listings for the city of �� observations regarding the Lakewood Lakewood and Cuyahoga County. I �� city budget and talk of a proposed could see eight categories that seem like �� income tax raise. duplication: Board of Health; Waste �� Since 2003, my income has not and Water; Animal Shelter; Commu- gone up. Also, for the past ten years, nity Development; Senior Services; �� but definitely since the stock market Division of Parking Services; Recycling took a nosedive in 1996, business has Program and had to work smarter. Bluntly put, work- Early Childhood, Early Start. Gee, ing more with less people. In addition, why does the city of Lakewood have the technically giving people the tools to same department or why are Lakewood do a job smarter. taxpayers not receiving a rebate from I would challenge Mayor George the county for duplication??? and Lakewood City Council that per- Lastly: if not already, add to job sonnel in the city budget be looked at descriptions the last bullet point on a long and hard and whole departments standard, private industry classifica- be realigned to work more with less. tion: “And all other tasks as assigned.” Example of technical improvements: Give the building department the tech- —Dee Rogozinski nology to advance beyond a clipboard

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Minding the Issues - Gordon Brumm Learning from Iraq: the Logic of Condemnation and Regret You don’t need to be an inveterate Bush- bad that no one has a viable proposal. morality and common sense and defied this form: basher to recognize that the Iraq War is Stay in indefinitely? Leave on a gradu- the United Nations (as well as ignoring a) Informants (Chalabi, “Curve- far from a complete success. To be sure, ated schedule? Leave immediately? All UN inspectors then in Iraq). Now we ball” et al.) reported that Saddam had it may yet come to a successful conclu- these alternatives have grave draw- are paying in blood and treasure for WMDs and that the Iraqis would all sion – successful from the American backs. Whatever Bush does, no one can Bush’s arrogant unilateral approach, welcome the U.S. point of view – some years down the offer a better alternative. and that approach must be tossed out. b) Therefore Saddam did have road. But more likely the outcome will So critics of the war find them- Instead of trying to be king of the jun- WMDs and the Iraqis would indeed be successful instead for some group selves in a dilemma –if they look to the gle, we must aim to make the world less welcome U.S. forces. at odds with our interests, for example past they are irrelevant; if they look to of a jungle. We must try to strengthen c) Therefore we should knock Shi’ites and their Iranian allies, or Al the future they are baffled. And thereby international law and international over Saddam’s army and government, Qaida. From its misconceived begin- Bush worms out of full responsibility cooperation, not only in matters of war and once we do that we can transform ning to the present, the war has been for his failures. and peace but in other areas as well. Iraq into a model nation and gain the riddled with mistakes and erroneous How, then, can we hold Bush 2) Understand other peoples’ ways applause of the world. assumptions. accountable for his mal- and misfea- of thinking. The conduct of the war The trouble is that the first step (a) One would expect, therefore, that sance and do so in a profitable way? I was based on two related assumptions: was a weak foundation for the second. critics of the War would have swept the suggest a commonsensical third line of The people of Iraq would welcome us Therefore statement (b) was uncer- Bushies from the field. This hasn’t yet attack that combines past and future – with open arms; and the people of Iraq, tain, with a low degree of probability. happened. The critics so far have been looking to the past in order to improve like all people, aspire to democracy. Therefore the final conclusion could like a pack of small dogs nipping at decision making in the future. The error of the first is apparent. Many not be know with certainty. But those Bush’s heels. Let’s look to the past and ask Iraqis find a foreign occupation humil- who oversaw this process of inference This, it seems to me, is because the how we got where we are: What were iating or threatening, just as many (or apparently did not wish to deal in critics have yet to find a fruitful point the governing policies, principles and all) Americans would. uncertainty or probability; they needed of attack. The main criticisms have assumptions? Let’s go deeper than the The second assumption may be to stamp each statement with a simple been along two lines: 1) The decision tangle of specific questions about intel- true in an abstract sense, but we should “yes’ or “no.” So what started out as a to go to war was unjustified; 2) The ligence and the like. What was it about have realized that abstract or formal “maybe” (the reports from informants) Bush administration is currently doing the Bush outlook that – we can now see democracy – i.e. simply voting for a came through as a definite “yes,” and a bad job, in particular doing a bad job – got us into the mess? representative or law – means differ- what should have been a hesitant, ten- of extricating us from the war. Critics Having determined where the ent things to different people. Sunnis tative conclusion was presented as a have either looked back to the begin- country went wrong, we must say and Sh’ites, for example, may have “slam-dunk” certainty. If Bush had ning of the war, or they look forward to “Never again!” and make the necessary opposing motives when they go into known the weak foundation his con- the present and future. basic changes. (Supposedly we learned the voting booth, and if they don’t get victions rested on, he might not have Either way, they are at a basic dis- this lesson after Vietnam. Apparently what they want through voting they been so confident that his belligerence advantage. They find no firm ground. we need to be re-educated every 30 may resort to stronger measures. Bush would pay off. Or perhaps he didn’t On the one hand if they attack years or so, until we finally settle on the should have realized this, but obvi- want to know. Perhaps he wanted the Bush for starting the war, they are right approach.) ously didn’t, before he blithely ordered slam-dunk certainty and didn’t care accused of playing a “blame game” What are some of the lessons to be an invasion and assumed that everyone whether it was legitimate or not. that is devoted to useless recrimination learned? Just as a start, I suggest these would live happily ever after. In any case, those who want the about events of the past that cannot three: 3) Look to the foundations of your truth will always do well to ask “How be changed, even if we can come to a 1) Multilateralism: We need it. beliefs. This is a logical point with dra- do you know?” And we need a govern- clear conclusion from sorting through Let’s remember that most of the world matic real-life significance. Each of our ment that seeks the truth rather than the jumble of issues and charges hav- – I’m thinking of Europe in particu- beliefs has some other belief that serves holding tight to ideologically-driven ing to do with misleading intelligence lar – hasn’t always been hostile to the as a reason for it, and that belief has a conclusions. etc. This line of attack, it is charged, is U.S. After 9/11, most of the world was reason, and so on. It’s like a chain in These are the kinds of general totally unproductive. enthusiastically on our side. French which each link is a belief, one leading views we need to work out to make But on the other hand, if critics newspapers, for example, headlined to the other, so that each belief – each sure – in 2006 and finally in 2008 – that attack the current management of the “We are all Americans.” The world link in the chain – is founded on the Bushism doesn’t continue to taint our war, they have no firm ground to stand turned against us only after the inva- beliefs that came before. In the case of politics. on either, because the mess in Iraq is so sion of Iraq, after we scorned common Iraq, the chain seemed to have roughly

Spilled Ink

Council (continued from page 3) Income Tax Review (continued from page 4)

An ambitious program for this opportunity to question Albrecht. While it would take time to do a in Lakewood. That seemed like some- year is proposed and funded. To con- Sedlack walks regularly and one of strategic plan like the schools did to thing we wanted to encourage and not tinue the rebuilding at the needed rate her routes is the newly rebuilt section determine what was important to the discourage and Councilman Demro in future years will require additional of Edgewater Drive. A walking friend citizens, it was suggested that know- agreed that taxes do affect behavior funding sources, according to Finance pointed out to her the apparent poros- ing what to keep and what to cut could and we should be careful regarding Director Vic Nogalo. ity of the new pavement. Albrecht only be done effectively with citizen what behaviors we encourage. Dever emphasized that council responded that their observation was involvement. It was recommended, and Finally, some attendees expressed was approving the design work three correct and that this was a new kind of Councilman Demro agreed to propose, dismay that only Councilman Demro months earlier than usual to take pavement meant to improve drainage. moving public comments at Council attended the forum. They felt that advantage of seasonal discounts in the Finally, Bruce Baker of the Meetings to the beginning where they other council people would want to contracting industry. An early start will Lakewood Soccer Association updated were two years ago instead of at the end get citizens input into an increase in allow projects to be completed before council on its assessment of the soc- for more citizen input. the percentage of income tax in many the onset of snow, which occurred in cer fields. Mayor George indicated that Questions arose over the impact years. the Wascana and Chesterland projects Public Works Director Beno will work financially and qualitatively of region- Overall, the meeting was a huge in 2005. Albrecht emphasized that the closely with the group to keep the fields alism and city manager form of success with citizens feeling that they final product of those street projects in good playing condition. government. It was agreed that the city truly had input. There was a general was acceptable but running into freez- should look more into these areas and consensus that it would be beneficial for ing weather can jeopardize the quality Reported by Stan Austin, Lakewood good information was needed that was some of these options to be considered, of work. Observer City Council reporter lacking to make informed decisions. before further burdening the people Resident Shelly Sedlack took the Another question was why we were that live and work in Lakewood. penalizing people that work and live

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Lakewood People - Anne’s Pals

By Anne Palomaki

LUMC Hosts Leadership Academy

The North Coast District of the United Methodist Church will hold a leadership academy at Lakewood United Methodist Church, 15700 Detroit Avenue, on Saturday, February 4 from 8:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. The keynote address will be given by Bishop John Hopkins. There will be 32 workshops offered to the 400 persons expected that day. One of the workshops, “Creative Worship, Use your Senses” will be presented by Lakewood resident, Marj Ruhl. After leading a discussion on using creative ideas to enhance the worship experience, the group will make a piece of liturgical art to be used in the closing worship service. All are welcome to attend this conference! Lunch will be served. Call the Lakewood United Methodist Church ofﬁce at 226-8644 for further information or go online at www.ncdistrictumc.org to download a brochure.

Marj Ruhl with the banner she created for the Yoder Chapel at Lakewood United Methodist Church.

Lakewood Garden Club Rocs Softly

The Lakewood Garden Club met at the Women’s Pavilion in Lakewood Park on January 10th. One of the members, Heather Baldesare demonstrated a new concept in ﬂoral arranging with Soft Roc. The purpose of the Lakewood Garden Club is to promote knowledge in gar- dening, preserve nature, and promote community beautiﬁcation. The members maintain the garden at the Pocket Park on Warren Road. The club has supported the greenhouse at Lakewood High School with donations of over $9,000 and continues to collaborate with Mark Rathge on other projects. The organization supports edu- cational programs at the Cleveland Botanical Garden. A committee of Lakewood Garden Club members made up of Sylvia Spotts, Mary Jo Potts, and Judy Riley are working with other community members and Dr. David Estrop, Superintendent of Lakewood City Schools, on the landscaping design at the Lakewood Board of Education.

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Lakewood Gallery Watch Gallery Watch By Ruth A. Koenigsmark & Christine A. Kazimer

Greetings fellow art enthusiasts of Saturday, February 4, 2006. A portion Lakewood. We would like to open of the proceeds will benefit Adoption our first Gallery Watch column by Network Cleveland. extending our heartfelt thanks to our In what has become know as the predecessor, Chelsea L. Waschek, for “Corruption in China” series, the all her hard work and commitment in imagery in the collection represents keeping our readers informed about two distinct moments in history that the Lakewood art scene up to this produce a visual clash between tradi- point. We wish Chelsea the best of luck tional and modernity in China. Not in all her future endeavors. meant as a political statement, the title We offered to take over respon- of the series developed as a result of sibility for this column because we equipment malfunction in a Chinese are both committed to promoting the motel room that produced a visual arts in our community. Our hope is to feast of vertical and horizontal lines, entice you to join us in experiencing split images, and over saturated colors the pleasure of art for art’s sake and to in the original digital photographs. introduce you to another level of social The event will also feature an interaction in our lovely town. We’ve auction of lion masks designed and more info call 216-226-2971. with the non-profit company, located always found art to be a wonderful cat- decorated by foster and adopted chil- in Ohio City. Ruth and her husband, alyst to great conversation, wonderful dren and their families. In Chinese Art gallery news and event infor- Jerry, have two young sons, one a bud- new friendships and inner discovery... culture, the lion dance is performed mation should be forwarded to ding artist/skateboarder of nine and whether you like a piece of art or not, during Chinese New Year celebrations [email protected]. Every the other, a soon to be great filmogra- you always have something to say about to bring good luck and good fortune in effort will be made to include it in the pher. Ruth and Jerry are responsible for it. So join us and be a part of this excit- the coming year. It would be fortunate next issue. the Madison Village Car Kulture show, ing cultural scene! if all of Cuyahoga County’s 444 kids If you have a question about art an event that has run in Lakewood for waiting for adoption could find fami- that you would like researched, please the last three years. Some Fine Art Goodies To Sample lies in 2006. forward it to gallerywatchgals@yahoo. Christine Kazimer is a five-year Complimentary appetizers and com and we’ll do our best to answer it resident of Lakewood and presently Beck Center for the Arts tempting beverages will be served. and include it in our next column. works as an account executive for a 17801 Detroit Avenue Phone (216)-228-1802 or check out Ruth Koenigsmark is a 10-year communications company focused on Father/Daughter Art Show the website at www.localgirlgallery.com resident of Lakewood and presently Life Science publications. Christine Award-winning photographer Jim works for a non-profit organization received her B.A. in Art History from Howson and his two talented artist Pop Shop Gallery and Studio that supports adults and children with Baldwin-Wallace College. Much to her daughters, Judy Calkin and Patt McClain, 17020 Madison Avenue disabilities. One of her many roles is chagrin, none of her three dogs show have their photography and watercolor Free4All, Group Show managing an art gallery associated any artistic ability. paintings on exhibit in the Jean Bulicek The Pop Shop Gallery and Studio Galleria at the Beck Center for the Arts. will be hosting its Group Show entitled This exhibit is free and open the public. the “Free4All”. This show will house For gallery hours and more information 17+ area artists displaying new con- Classifieds regarding this art exhibit call 216-521- temporary works. The title Free4All is 2540, or just stop by. relevant to the artists showing view- ers what they do and how they do it Cleaning / Janitorial in a mass of other artists. A Free4All bela dubby Lakewood Public Library is seeking an energetic, organized individual to (free for all) is just an allowance for a 13321 Madison Avenue perform maintenance routines including dusting, floor care (buffing); collecting great group show to recognize artists’ Group Show litter/trash; cleaning restrooms; shoveling snow; basic electrical and plumbing; style with multiple pieces (5-10 each) Currently works by Artists Kate must be able to lift 75 lbs. Valid Ohio driver’s license required. Day, evening and vs. a show in which they may only be Schneider, Josh Foster, Bethany Brown- weekend work. 40 hours per week. Salary is $8.00 per hour. Please call Kim Paras allowed a few pieces (1-3). This show ing, Scott Hosner, Brian Jacobs, Kristie at (216) 226-8275 x 102 to arrange for an application. Lakewood Public Library is will runs until February 18. Kremer, Ryan Lambrix, Lisa Olbrysh, an EEOE. Dott Schneider and Joseph Close Gallery times are Monday and through January 31. Stop by for a cup Tuesday nights 9:30-11 p.m., Thursdays Library Customer Services Assistant Supervisor 4-11 p.m., and every other Saturday of coffee, a beer and some eye candy. Lakewood Public Library has an opening in our Customer Services Depart- and Sunday 1-6 p.m. The gallery is New Openings on the first Sat- ment for an individual committed to providing courteous, prompt, reliable public open other days depending on artists urday of every month. Next Opening library service while completing such routing circulation duties as charging and schedules, and by appointments. For is Saturday, February 4, from 6 p.m.- receiving materials, collecting fines, fees, issuing library cards, preparing mate- info call 216-227-8440. 1 a.m. The title of the show is “trash rials for circulation, retrieving materials, assisting with equipment, responding and treasure” and is a collection of to directional and procedural questions, answering telephone calls and making Wobblefoot Gallery and Frame new works by the artists of Artifactual appropriate transfers and referrals. Provides assistance to patrons at workstations Studio Creations, Christopher Sweiger and such as the circulation desk, the drive-up window, A-V area, magazine and infor- 1662 Mars Avenue Diogenes Basileos. mation areas. Explains library policy and uses sound judgment in solving customer Contest and Call for Wildlife Artists bela dubby is open Tuesday, service problems. Bachelor’s degree required. Hours: Days, Evenings, Weekends. Contest: Go to the Wobblefoot Wednesday, and Thursday, 10 a.m.- Salary: $11.00 per hour. Please call Kim Paras at (216) 226-8275 x 102 to arrange for website at www wobblefoot.com to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 10 an application. Lakewood Public Library is an EEOE. a.m.-midnight, and closed on Sunday enter to win an 11” X 14” print of Stone and Monday. Just to check call 216- Horsemen by S. Lane. The contest entry Library Children’s Paraprofessional Part-Time deadline is February 24, 2006. Every 221-4479. Lakewood Public Library has an opening in our Children’s & Youth Services six weeks Wobblefoot has another give- Department at the Main Library for an enthusiastic, organized, creative and moti- away posted on their site. Prizes could Local Girl Gallery vated individual committed to the delivery of innovative traditional public library be jewelry, watches or prints. Check 16106 Detroit Avenue services to children, youth and adults. Bachelor’s degree required. Storytelling, out the site for details. Photography exhibit to benefit Adop- crafts and computer skills a plus. Qualified and interested applicants may call. Call for Artists: Wobblefoot is tion Network Cleveland Hours: Days, evenings & weekends, 20-25 hours/week. Salary: $10.70 per hour. Call seeking outstanding wildlife artists to In honor of the Chinese New Year, Andrew Harant at (216) 226-8275 ext. 142 to arrange for an application. Lakewood show on their webpage. Artists should Local Girl Gallery will host an exhibit Public Library is an EEOE. of photographic imagery by local artist call for an appointment and bring their Laura Watilo Blake from 7-10 p.m. on portfolio at the time of interview. For

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Classiﬁeds

Lakewood Observer’s Classiﬁeds allows your home, garage sale, meeting, business or message to be seen in 17,000 papers, and on our website is now an ofﬁcial news source for Google.®

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Edgewater Cove Apartments

Handsome Tudor Eclectic Revivalist classic hardwood ﬂoored suites. Quick walk to trendy Lakewood/Cleveland amenities. Free heat/water. Formal Dining rooms. Lake Erie views/parking available. RTA at door. Pet Friendly. By Appt. 216-521-0522 or visit us at www.edgwatercoveapts.com

Secondary Market/Mortgage Banking Specialist

Excellent career opportunity for person with 3-5 years experience in the mortgage industry to play a key role in the growth of our secondary market program! This position manages the administrative functions including post-closing / delivery funding/auditing and communication with correspondents/lenders. Qualiﬁcations include: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience, and 3-5 years mortgage industry experience. Excellent communication and basic computer skills. Financial analysis skills; mortgage loan origination experience; real estate escrow experience preferred. First Federal of Lakewood (Ohio) is a $1 billion ﬁnancial institution that prides itself on being a community bank. We have 10 full service branches serving communities in western Cuyahoga, Lorain and Medina counties. First Federal employees strive to be the very best; we are friendly, helpful and courteous. We smile. We are knowledgeable, and we try not to say “no”. We offer a competitive compensation program including 401k with employer match and a Pension Plan. This position is eligible for an annual bonus.

Interested applicants should send resumes including salary requirements to: fﬂjobs@fﬂ.net FAX (216) 529-2789 Mail: First Federal Lakewood Operations Center / HR Department 14826 Detroit Avenue Lakewood, OH 44107 Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V

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Strolling with Rita Lakewood Hospital News: The Volunteer Team Photos by Rhonda Loje

“There’s something...” the Lakewood By Rita Ryland The impetus was a class titled Diversi- Hospital emergency room physician fied Medical Occupations that Ajsela said, “That smile...” She stared across attended at Lakewood High School. the ER at the man in a blue jacket Special Education secretary. Six years Jerry was born and raised in Lakewood. Lakewood Hospital was included in answering a call bell. “You can tell ago, it was time for her to “start a new Rosemary was a resident of Lakewood the curriculum. about a person, someone who cares chapter in her life.” Gerry has lived in for twenty years. They live in West- In the Blossom Shop, Ajsela and about others.” The physician stirred Lakewood for the past thirty-five years. lake. Darina take phone orders for flow- her coffee, the coffee made by volun- Gerry’s son, Christopher, has special Within minutes of completing ers, assist visitors to select flowers for teer Walter Turner. It was around six in needs. their interview, Rosemary wheeled a patients and deliver flowers to patient the evening. It was the third pot of cof- In addition to, “getting out of chair to the elevator. Jerry answered rooms. They also deliver balloons to fee Walt had made since five. the house” Gerry has made some new the phone. The Slatterys are not people patients on their birthday. Balloons are Every Friday evening, Walt Turner friends. She and another volunteer who come to wile away an afternoon. a gift to patients from the Volunteer stocks the triage area with ice packs, meet regularly outside the hospital for They come to work. And, they come Office. maintains a supply of warm blankets, lunch. with a smile. “...we’re actually doing something, places fresh linens on beds, trans- Friendships form at Lakewood That’s the most obvious trait helping,” said Darina. Ajsela agreed ports patients in wheelchairs, informs Hospital. And, in the case of Jerry among the volunteers—a smile. It’s and added, “It’s a great way to meet families sitting in the waiting area, and Rosemary Slattery, the friendship not that fake pasted on, teeth clenched new people. You feel better after you and serves food and drinks to patients turned to love and marriage. Jerry and smile. It’s an honest-to-goodness, glad do it.” and families. He also supplies the staff Rosemary Slattery met as volunteers. to see you, what can I do for you smile. Who is Ajsela Xhemalaj? A 2005 with gummy worms. Walt joined the Several years ago, Jerry found himself Walt has it, Gerry has it, and Jerry graduate of Lakewood High School, Lakewood Hospital volunteers in June, with an extra ticket for the Cleveland and Rosemary have it. So does Mary Ajsela won the President’s Award for 2004. Orchestra. Knowing that Rosemary Steinebrey, a woman who has volun- volunteering more than one hundred Who is Walt Turner? He is an liked the symphony, he asked her to teered since Thanksgiving Day, 1947. hours. She is a freshman at Cleveland engineer, a project manager working accompany him. Their love grew from Fifty-eight years ago, Mary volun- State University. full time in Sandusky, a former NASA there. teered at the behest of a friend’s mother Who is Darina Xhemalaj? She is a staff member. He’s a runner. He lives The Slatterys volunteer in Patient who told her daughter and Mary to “do junior at Lakewood High School. and owns a home in Lakewood. And he Transportation. Jerry works the something useful.” Mary has a gold Ajsela and Darina are Lakewood does have a smile. “This is a good way phones, taking orders for transport, badge with the number 16,000 on it. residents. to help people, right here, right now,” logging them in, and asking either vol- That’s the number of hours she has vol- There are currently three hundred Walt said, with dancing eyes and a big unteers or staff to answer the call. If the unteered at Lakewood Hospital. Mary and sixty active volunteers. Some vol- grin. patient is in a wheelchair, a volunteer Steinebrey continues to show up on unteers start as early as five-thirty in Since April, 2000, Geraldyne transports; if they have an intravenous Thanksgiving Day. She has volunteered the morning. Most are gone by nine in DeLyle has volunteered two days a line, oxygen, or are on a bed, a staff both Thanksgiving and Christmas for the evening. As Maureen Duffy, Man- week in the hospital’s Health Infor- person takes the assignment. the past four years. ager of Auxiliary Services said, the mation Systems. Gerry completes “I like transporting because I like Two days a week, along with other volunteers are “people with generous assignments as requested by the staff. to meet people, meet the patients, volunteers, Mary staffs the Welcom- spirits moving in and out of the hospi- She is responsible for the Emergency sometimes cheer people up,” Jerry ing/Information desk. Mary answers tal day in and day out.” Room charts. She alphabetizes and said. He started volunteering in 1989, the phones, transfers outside calls to Volunteers range in age from the dates them, places the charts in folders, Rosemary in 1995. Both wear gold pins patient rooms, directs visitors, and teens to the 90s. They must be 14 years and files lab work. with the number 2,000 on it. That’s assists in calling cabs. Volunteers staff of age. Applicants receive assistance The volunteers work at a desk the number of hours they have served the Welcoming desk twelve hours a with finding the best place for their tal- where Gerry usually finds candy in Lakewood Hospital. day, from eight in the morning to eight ents. the top drawer. It’s the staff’s way In addition to patient transport, in the evening. The people who coordinate the of saying “welcome” and “thanks.” Rosemary is a Eucharistic Minister. Who is Mary Steinebrey? Prior to volunteer efforts are Maureen Duffy, Gerry declares that sometimes she is Every other Friday, Rosemary prays her retirement, Mary was an accoun- Manager, Auxiliary Services and Lou overwhelmed by how much the staff with patients and their families, admin- tant/auditor with Continental Can. Eging, Volunteer Coordinator, Aux- appreciates what she does. isters a wafer (Communion), listens to Mary lives in Westlake. She lived in iliary Services. Interested readers are During the interview, Linda Ori- whatever they have to say, and “I hope Lakewood for 16 years. encouraged to phone the Auxiliary ent, chart analyst, said to Gerry, “We give a little help with their illness... give On the same evening Mary works Service office at (216) 529-7171. As don’t know what we’d do without you.” them strength.” at the Welcoming Desk, Ajsela and someone said to Mary Steinebrey some Gerry smiled. Before retiring, Jerry Slattery Darina Xhemalaj, sisters, ages 18 fifty-eight years ago, “do something Who is Geraldyne DeLyle? She is worked as a Vice-President of Sales. and 17, staff the Blossom Shop. They useful.” And, join a team with a win- a retired Lakewood School District Rosemary worked as a cashier at TOPS. started volunteering in June, 2004. ning smile.

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