AKRON

Prison for gun thief

AKRON: A homeless man who took an M16 rifle from the open trunk of an Akron police cruiser has been sentenced to two years in prison.

James Couto Jr., 30, was sentenced Friday in Summit County Common Pleas Court by Judge Alison McCarty. He pleaded guilty last month to grand theft and receiving stolen property.

Cuoto was arrested in June after police said the high-powered and loaded rifle was taken from the trunk of a police cruiser parked on University Avenue next to the Akron Police Department.

The discovery led to a massive downtown search by law enforcement. The rifle was found a short time later by officers searching on Maiden Lane near the CitiCenter parking deck. The weapon was never fired, police said. Couto’s fingerprints were found on a bag containing the weapon.

Police said it appears a defective latch allowed the cruiser trunk to pop open after an officer parked near the department.

Cuoto was also sentenced for stealing a car from a West Market Street auto dealer that same week.

City jobs meeting

AKRON: Residents interested in getting work under the city’s massive construction project can attend a meeting Monday to find out how.

The meeting will be from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Akron Urban League, 440 Vernon Odom Blvd. Several local trade unions will be on hand to provide information and answer questions about union apprenticeship programs and membership. The trades will include laborers, pipe fitters, operators, electricians and truck drivers.

Applications will be completed and collected on site, and potential candidates must meet minimum requirements before training.

The meeting is the latest of several steps the city has taken to try to prepare local residents for the work that will accompany the overhaul of the sewer system.

Those planning to attend are asked to call and register at 330-434-3101.

COPLEY TOWNSHIP

Law firm hired

COPLEY TWP.: An Akron law firm will be the township’s legal counsel in contract negotiations with unions representing personnel in the fire, police and service departments.

Township trustees on Wednesday approved $15,000 for Clemans, Nelson and Associates to cover legal costs in negotiations.

The current three-year union contracts expire Dec. 31. Under the expiring contracts, employees received a 2 percent raise in the last year.

In the fire department, trustees accepted the resignation of Lt. Chuck Hrubik, a full-time firefighter and 33-year department veteran, who is retiring, effective Nov. 28.

Trustees also accepted the resignation of veteran police officer Darrell Garner. His resignation is effective Nov. 24. Police Chief Michael Mier said Garner, who has been with the department for 20 years, is resigning for family reasons. Trustees approved his request to stay on as a part-time officer after a 60-day leave.

In other business, trustees set a 5:30 p.m. Dec. 17 public hearing on a text amendment to the township zoning code. The amendment would add government buildings as a conditional use in residential lower, medium, high density and open space districts.

TALLMADGE

Benefit for family

TALLMADGE: A fundraiser to benefit the family of former Akron police officer Robert Swain, who died in October, will be held Sunday during the Browns game.

The event, organized by friends of the Swain family, starts at 12:30 p.m. at the Tallmadge Firehouse Grille and Pub, 10 Tallmadge Circle. The event will have a silent auction for gift baskets, a 50/50 drawing and football squares. A $25 admission includes a buffet, beer and wine.

Swain, 65, retired in 2010 after 33 years on the department. All proceeds benefit Swain’s widow and three children. For tickets or more information, call 330-633-7111.

STOW

Film at library

STOW: The documentary Heist: Who Stole the American Dream will be shown at 7 p.m. Monday at Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library, 3512 Darrow Road.

The 2012 film looks at the influence of large corporations in the United States.

After the film, there will be a discussion of starting a ballot initiative in Stow and elsewhere calling on Congress to amend the Constitution to overturn the Citizens United case that permitted corporations to give unlimited campaign contributions.

For more information, contact Anthony Hancovsky of Move to Amend Stow at 216-703-0425 or ainthavinit33@gmail.com.

STATE NEWS

Killer denied parole

The Ohio parole board has again denied parole to a man sentenced to life in prison for the 1989 shooting death of a woman inside a Norton home.

Richard F. Ashley, 45, formerly of Cleveland, will not be eligible again until 2018.

The decision by the board was the second time Ashley has been denied parole since he was sentenced for the shooting death of Lisa Kamenar, 18, of Bedford Heights.

Ashley said the shooting of Kamenar at a relative’s home on Summit Street in October 1989 was an accident. Prosecutors argued that he shot her when she rejected him in favor of another boyfriend.

Ashley was sentenced to life in prison, but was first eligible for parole in 2005.

MEDINA

Abrams, Pauline, 85, of Wadsworth. Died Thursday. Hilliard-Rospert.

Alderfer, Eileen M., 99, of Wadsworth. Died Thursday. Hilliard-Rospert.

Hillje, Burniece Marie, 89, of Wadsworth. Died Friday. Hilliard-Rospert.

Shondrick, Andrew J., 81, of Chippewa Lake. Died Thursday. Waite & Son, Medina.

STARK

Blackford, Vicki Ann, 58, of Massillon. Died Thursday. Paquelet.

Crowe, Matthew P., 46, of Minerva. Died Thursday. Cassaday-Turkle-Christian.

Eckroate, William H., 84, of Massillon. Died Wednesday. Heitger.

Mugrage, Linda D., 61, of Massillon. Died Wednesday. Paquelet.

Peloso, Robert E., 80, of Alliance. Died Wednesday. Sharer-Stirling-Skivolocke.

Students at Archbishop Hoban High School celebrated Mass this week for the first time in the school’s new Holy Cross Chapel.

The octagon-shaped chapel is the centerpiece of the newly constructed $2.5 million Maynard Family Center for Spiritual Formation. The focus of the complex, which also includes offices and an area for campus ministry activities, is to develop in students a desire to serve others and to affect the world in a positive way.

The spiritual formation center is part of a threefold project being funded by the $6 million “Empowering Minds, Engaging Hearts, Exceeding Expectations. This is Hoban.” capital campaign. The other two components are a $2.5 million health and fitness center and a million-dollar endowment fund for scholarships and financial aid.

A ceremonial opening of the spiritual formation center took place Monday with a special Mass, celebrated by Catholic Diocese of Cleveland Bishop Richard G. Lennon, and a reception.

Hoban, located at 1 Holy Cross Blvd. in East Akron, is a Catholic high school sponsored by the Brothers of Holy Cross, based in Notre Dame, Ind. It has an enrollment of 850 students from six area counties and more than 10,000 alumni.

For more information, go to www.hoban.org or call 330-773-6658.

It was a different kind of team-building project. The staff at the All-American Soap Box Derby showed up Friday morning in blue jeans and T-shirts. The goal: To build a race car in four hours. The winner car or cars would be based on the most creative and the fastest.

At least that’s the project idea the derby wants to roll out to high schools before spring.

“We want to launch the idea to schools in February, but we wanted to test it first,” said Joseph Mazur, president and chief executive officer of the Soap Box Derby. “We’re trying to create a high school competition that kids would be interested in, more than just building a kit car. We have the stock, superstock and master kit cars we sell, but I think they would learn a lot more, have a lot more fun and they’d be engaged in design building.”

Linda Hubbell, the education specialist for the derby, said she will be meeting with teachers in January to pitch the idea. She said she hopes the project will be underway in time for the derby’s Education Week in May. The high school students will be able to test drive their cars May 15.

Mazur said they came up with a list of items the students can use. The chassis and steering wheel will be provided, so they will only have to build from the floorboard up. The list included drywall and screws, pipe insulation, tubes of liquid nails glue, cans of spray foam, spray paint and spray glue, underlayment, a sheet of foam, a piece of plastic chicken fence and plenty of colorful duct tape.

The items are subject to change depending on what the teams use or don’t use, and some things may be added if there are more useful items missing. The idea is to settle on a set of standard materials.

“We wanted to control some of the things in the contest design, because back in the day when the kids were building their All-American Soap Box Derby cars, economics got involved,” Mazur said. “Whoever had an engineer or whoever could afford better materials had the better car. We want everyone to start with the same materials.”

The creative juices were flowing. Mazur’s team designed a hot dog in a bun, which he called the “Hotdogmobile.”

Teammates Rachel Whinnery and Cindi Zagar spent most of their energy trying to shape the hot dog using chicken fence wiring and duct tape. It became more believable once Mazur used the brown spray paint for the hot dog and added the green paint relish, yellow paint mustard and red paint ketchup.

“I think it’s pretty creative,” said Zagar, the derby’s accountant.

“It’s a fun challenge,” said Whinnery, the derby’s communications manager. “It’s more of a creative session, coming up with a design for the shell.”

Three-member teams were drawn Tuesday, and the teams came up with their ideas for the next few days.

“We came up with the space shuttle pretty quickly,” said Bobby Dinkins, marketing director. “We just looked on the Internet to see what they looked like. We literally are seeing what sticks,” he said as he used duct tape to depict windows on the shuttle. “I don’t think anybody cares about speed right now, just the best looking.”

The cars will be raced down the hill, but not in the snow.

Dinkins’ teammates were also putting on the finishing touches, with Lynne Collier taping up the fin or tail of the shuttle and getting ready to place a NASA sticker on it.

“I’ve worked for the derby for 10 years, and this if the first car I’ve ever built,” said Collier, the race program coordinator. “This is fun to do when you’re supposed to be working.”

Jim Crawford, who ships out all the car kits, attached the rocket boosters and flames, made out of colorful pieces of cardboard protruding from a foam board.

One of the derby board members showed up to watch, saying he didn’t know what to expect.

“I think high schools are looking for projects like this to do with just a handful of kids,” said Bill Lowery, who has been on the board for the past four years. “It’s a good idea. It would be really interesting to see what kids come up with.”

The third car was a bright red NASCAR car, brandishing No. 1 and sponsor logos on its sides.

“It’s 48 inches exactly,” yelled out Adam Bozic, the director of operations, while waiving a measuring tape. “Unless it’s supposed to be 48 inches from the ground floor and not the floorboard. Hey, rules can be modified, right? Let’s check everyone else’s measurements.”

The space shuttle came up with the same measurement.

Mazur dubbed himself the chief of any rule changes and chief judge.

“I’ll be fair, don’t worry — Not!” he said. “This was a good work day and a lot of fun.”

Marilyn Miller can be reached at 330-996-3098 or mmiller@thebeaconjournal.com.

People Helping People is a list of charitable causes in our area that need donations or volunteers. The Beacon Journal has not investigated these causes, so donors should verify their worthiness and the tax-deductibility of contributions.

A link to a form for submitting requests to People Helping People can be found at www.ohio.com/charity, along with tips on researching charities and a list of causes already published.

Questions about submitting information? Call Mary Beth Breckenridge, 330-996-3756.

Young Black Professionals Coalition is sponsoring its seventh annual Strikes 4 Hunger charity bowling outing Wednesday at Riviera Lanes, 20 S. Miller Road, Fairlawn. The event raises money and collects food for shelters and food pantries in the Akron area.

Youth Bowl for children ages 5 to 18 will be 5 to 8 p.m. Admission is $10, or $7 plus five or more canned goods.

Adult Bowl will be 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Admission is $20, or $15 plus 10 or more canned goods.

Admission to either event includes shoe rental and unlimited bowling.

For information, call 614-668-2225 or 330-701-8327, or visit www.ybpc.info.

Summit County Children Services, 264 S. Arlington St., Akron, OH 44306-1399, is seeking volunteers to help with its Holiday Toy Room. Volunteers will assist parents, receive and sort donations, restock shelves and make sure displays are full and presentable.

Volunteers must be able to stand for long periods, be able to lift and carry 10 to 20 pounds of filled bags and boxes, and go up and down stairs.

For information, visit http://uwsummit.org or call the United Way Volunteer Center, 330-643-5512.

Project GRAD Akron, 400 W. Market St., Suite 1, Akron, OH 44303-2060, is seeking volunteers for its Snacks and Educational Fun with Santa event for elementary school students, 9 a.m. to noon Dec. 6.

Volunteers will help children with simple crafts or games, read stories or help with photos with Santa.

Minimum age is 15. A short orientation will be given before the event.

For information, visit http://uwsummit.org or call the United Way Volunteer Center, 330-643-5512.

He said he would be honored to help the young couple buy their rings for their May wedding day in South Carolina.

At a discounted price, no less.

“We were over the moon that he was willing to help us,” Britni Atchley said.

Their plans were falling into place by February, so Atchley and her fiancé sent the money they had saved to former co-worker Stephen Biggers of Akron, whom she had come to know and trust, at Sterling Jewelers Inc.

Their money went out — in a PayPal transfer of $976.57 — under an agreement Atchley had made with her friend to buy the rings with his employee discount.

“He said he would be honored to help. We were just so excited to finally catch a break, because the cost of the wedding became kind of overwhelming,” Atchley said.

On their wedding day, May 17 in Charleston, they were overwhelmed again.

The rings — hers set in white gold, his a tungsten-carbide band — never arrived. Atchley said Biggers never delivered the rings to her mother, who was stood up after arranging to meet him at his workplace eight days before the wedding.

The couple sued for damages in Summit County Common Pleas Court, and a default judgment order was issued Wednesday against Biggers for failing to answer the Oct. 10 complaint or to appear in court as required by law.

Biggers, who did not respond to the newspaper’s requests for comment, never delivered the rings and later informed the couple, according to the suit, that he had spent their money.

Atchley, 29, and her husband, Joshua Atchley, 34, have filed claims of breach of contract, fraud, wrongful conversion of their money and emotional distress.

They are demanding a jury trial and seeking at least $15,000 in compensatory and punitive damages, plus attorney fees and other costs.

Their ceremony proceeded with alternate rings.

Britni Atchley’s grandfather, Dale Shackelford of Coventry Township, had his wedding band resized for the bride to wear as her own.

Joshua Atchley wore a silver band that the couple bought at a Charleston tourist market for $6.

Adam VanHo, the couple’s lawyer, said Biggers was let go by Sterling about a week after the wedding.

Signet Jewelers executive David A. Bouffard said in an email that Sterling, a subsidiary, is not a named party in the complaint and would have no comment “on a legal matter in which it is not involved.”

Judge Amy Corrigall Jones set a damages hearing for Dec. 10 at 8:45 a.m.

Ed Meyer can be reached at 330-996-3784 or at emeyer@thebeaconjournal.com.

Angelo Antognoli’s heart for people is shown in his concern for the hundreds of people who come to the Gennesaret Family Nutritional Center twice a week for hot meals.

“To be honest, it benefits me more than the people I’m serving. I don’t know what I would do with myself, if I didn’t have this,” said Antognoli, 83. “The people who come in here are wonderful — you can’t judge people. You have to remember that any of us could be in their shoes. All I know is that everyone here has been good to me and they loved my wife.”

Antognoli and his late wife, Sally, began volunteering at the soup kitchen more than 20 years ago. When she died in January, he decided to continue the mission they started together at Gennesaret: showing the love of Christ by serving people in need.

Gennesaret, an all-volunteer charity that is managed by a board of directors, provides long-term housing for homeless two-parent families in Summit County and free hot meals and groceries every Tuesday and Saturday to needy families and individuals at its nutritional center, at 419 W. Exchange St., Akron.

The center, formerly an automotive shop, was renovated four years ago through a $350,000 donation in labor and materials from Testa Cos. and several of its subcontractors. Antognoli, whose late son, Anthony, worked for Testa, was instrumental in connecting Testa and the nonprofit Gennesaret.

“I had known [CEO] Paul [Testa] for years. I met him years ago when working construction. He was just starting out as a builder,” Antognoli said. “Because I knew he was a man who likes to give back, I told Tony to ask him if he would help. The building was a mess. It was a major undertaking.”

When asked, Testa agreed to help because he was inspired by Gennesaret’s mission and the fact the nonprofit is funded entirely through grants and individual donations. At the root of his altruism is his Christian faith. His real estate, construction and development company added a philanthropic arm in 1996 called “Operation Dreams Come True” to help families and organizations in need.

“God has been good to us, and we want to make a difference. When you’re blessed, you want to be a blessing to others,” Paul Testa said. “I’m a sinner, and I want to do what I can to make up for it. And, fortunately, we work with some subcontractors who like to give back to the community, too. Getting this place renovated was a team effort.”

The renovation, practically a complete interior rebuild, was finished just before Gennesaret’s annual “Home Run for the Homeless” in 2010. The annual race, which attracts thousands of runners and walkers on Thanksgiving morning, is the sole fundraiser to benefit Gennesaret’s mission throughout the year.

This year’s 1-mile fun run and 4-mile race begin at 8:30 and 9 a.m., respectively, at the nutritional center, 419 W. Exchange St. (The race also ends there.) Parking is available in the deck at 300 Locust St., and a shuttle service to and from the race will operate from 7:30 to 11:30 a.m.

Participation in this year’s event is expected to match last year’s total of 4,000.

“We’re just people trying to help people. We appreciate everything that anyone can do to help us meet the needs of the homeless in our community. It’s people like Angelo and the Testas that make what we do possible,” said Bob Dirgo, president of Gennesaret’s board. “I can’t say enough about the humility of the people who volunteer. They don’t look for credit; they do it because they care about people and they do it quietly. It’s so inspiring.”

Dirgo and his wife, Mary, founded Gennesaret in 1986. The couple, along with more than 300 volunteers that include daughters Swati, 13, and Kajal, 11, work year-round to provide a safe place that is responsive to the needs of the area’s homeless.

“It’s all about treating people the way you want to be treated,” said Antognoli, who also volunteers at the Thanksgiving Day race. “People deserve to be treated with respect no matter where they are in life. That’s what happens here; we all respect each other and care for each other.”

For more information about Gennesaret or to volunteer or register for the race, go to www.gennesaret.net or call 330-351-4608.

Colette Jenkins can be reached at 330-996-3731 or cjenkins@thebeaconjournal.com. She can be followed at www.twitter.com/ColetteMJenkins.

A thick blue line sliced through the lobby at Rhodes Arena.

Hour after hour, officer after officer slowly walked through Friday afternoon to pay their respects to the family of Akron Patrolman Justin Winebrenner.

The University of Akron arena often was not large enough to contain the long line of police officers who visited from all around. The men and women in blue were joined in line by civilians — some of whom knew Winebrenner, others who have since learned of him since he was shot to death while trying to stop a gunman early Sunday morning in an Akron pub.

While country music played softly, and an album of pictures of Winebrenner’s life flashed on the overhead scoreboard, the officer’s family — including his father, Rob; sister, Kelly; and his fiancee Tiffany Miller — stood near the open casket to accept condolences from the hundreds who waited in the line that often stretched outside the lobby.

Many mourners could be seen wiping tears from their eyes as they passed the casket holding the body of the 32-year-old officer. The sight of a once-virile and gregarious man lying in state so prematurely was often difficult for those who approached the casket on the arena floor.

“I think today is going to be the daunting day where you actually look at our brother officer. It was for me,” said the Rev. Bob Denton, Akron police chaplain. “You know it and you know it and you walk up there and see him and it’s really real.”

U.S. Marshal Peter C. Elliott, who created Fugitive Safe Surrender programs after the 2000 death of Cleveland Patrolman Wayne Leon, called Friday another “sad day for all of us in law enforcement.”

“It’s unfortunate that we see it time and time again where policemen are killed by violent criminals,” he said. “We’re one brotherhood. I don’t care if you’re on the federal level, the local level or the state level. No matter what department you are with, we are one team across the board.

“When one of us bleed, we all bleed.”

Indeed, the officer’s wake, which ran for six hours Friday afternoon, attracted police from all around Ohio and some neighboring states. It also brought officers from Akron’s suburbs, whose members will patrol the city Saturday morning to allow Akron officers to attend Winebrenner’s funeral.

Decorated Copley Police Officer Ben Campbell was one of the suburban officers to attend the wake. It was just over three years ago that Campbell stopped a gunman who had killed seven people in a Sunday morning rampage.

Campbell won perhaps the most prestigious of all law enforcement honors: the Congressional Medal of Bravery.

“It’s for real out here,” he said. “And it’s a shame that we’re not only losing a police officer, but one of the best police officers out there.”

Funeral Saturday

Saturday’s funeral, scheduled for 10 a.m. at Rhodes Arena, is open to the public. It is expected to draw hundreds of police officers, many of whom will escort Winebrenner’s casket during a public motorcade down East Market Street to South High and past the Akron Police Department.

Members of Platoon 4, composed of patrol officers from the evening shift who worked alongside Winebrenner for seven years, are expected to be in formation outside the department and its police memorial.

Winebrenner’s name is expected to be chiseled in stone along the names of other Akron officers killed in the line of duty.

The funeral motorcade will then drive toward South Main Street and continue to East Waterloo Road and Holy Cross Cemetery, where the officer will be laid to rest next to the grave of his mother, Lori, who died in 2009 from cancer at the age of 50.

The Akron Fire Department will have a presence at the funeral, the department said Friday.

Ten fire vehicles, operated by on- and off-duty firefighters, will be parked at intersections along the procession route, with the firefighters saluting as the motorcade passes.

Two ladder trucks will be parked at the entrance to the cemetery with the ladders extended and displaying the American flag. The procession will drive underneath.

“Just small things we can do to show respect,” said Fire Chief Rob Ross, who will ride in the procession and will sit during the service with other city leaders. “It was not just police who suffered. Many of us knew this officer, too.”

The department also has offered its honor guard.

“We are hoping the family can see we are part of this, too,” Ross said.

Akron police patrol Lt. Brian Simcox said the city’s officers continue to mourn the loss of Winebrenner, a popular patrolman who was a father to a 4-year-old girl.

“It is an absolutely horrible day for the Akron Police Department,” he said. “Yet, it is very heartwarming to see the outpouring of support from other police agencies, the brotherhood that exists, as well as the fire department, EMS and citizens.

“I think it’s a huge help to us, to get us through the grief and sorrow of losing one of our own, a brother we loved.”

Phil Trexler can be reached at 330-996-3717 or ptrexler@thebeaconjournal.com. He can be followed on Twitter at www.twitter.com/PhilTrexler.

AKRON

Beacon Journal hours

AKRON: The newspaper’s customer service call center will be open on Thanksgiving Day from 7 to 10 a.m. Regular hours of 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. will resume Friday. The paper’s customer service counter is closed on Thanksgiving.

KENT STATE UNIVERSITY

Aviation award

KENT: A Kent State University associate dean has received the University Aviation Association’s William A. Wheatley Award.

I. Richmond Nettey of Stow is the first African-American and first person at Kent State to receive the honor, which was handed out last month at the 2014 University Aviation Association Fall Education Conference in Daytona Beach, Fla.

The William A. Wheatley Award is presented annually to a professional educator who is active in the University Aviation Association, has a minimum of 10 years of experience in the aviation education profession and has made outstanding contributions to aerospace education.

“Receiving this award is humbling in a way that also provides a sense of affirmation,” Nettey said in a prepared statement. “I knew I was eligible before, but when they read my credentials and mentioned my name, it was surreal.”

He taught his first course in aviation 31 years ago at the University of Louisiana, and has been at Kent State since 2001. In addition to being an associate dean, he is a volunteer professor of the Aerospace Senior Seminar course for graduating seniors in aeronautics and he served as the senior academic program director of the aeronautics program for seven years.

NORTHEAST OHIO

Online degrees

The Best Schools website (www.thebestschools.org) has recognized Kent State University and the University of Akron for offering two of the “25 Best Online Master in Educational Technology Degree Programs.”

Kent State was ranked 19th; UA was 23rd.

To see the entire list, go to: www.thebestschools.org/rankings/25-best-online-master-educational-technology-degree-programs.

Toy donations

AKRON: Summit County Children Services is again seeking toy and food gift card donations for children in its care for the holidays.

Last year, more than 1,000 children received gifts through the Holiday Toy Room. Donations of toys and gifts for all ages of children, especially infants and teens, and/or financial contributions to purchase toys are needed.

Donations can be made to Summit County Children Services, 264 S. Arlington St., Akron. The Toy Room opens in early December so it is requested that donations be delivered as early as possible. They are accepted through Dec. 21.

Gift cards in increments of $20 or $25 to local grocery stores also are being accepted. Donations should be made by Dec. 12. Last year, more than 70 families received gift cards for family holiday meals.

For more details, contact Sandy DeLuca at 330-379-1994 or sdeluca@summitkids.org.

STARK COUNTY

Hazmat headquarters

CANTON: Stark County commissioners agreed to spend $275,000 for a property that will serve as the permanent home for the county’s hazardous materials team.

The board signed a purchase agreement this week for 1.4 acres at 1300 Gross Ave. NE. The site, owned by Groffre Investments of Nimishillen Township, features a 10,000-square-foot warehouse built in 2002 for Habitat for Humanity of Greater Stark and Carroll Counties.

The Stark County Hazardous Materials Emergency Response Team had been leasing space in Canton for $20,000 a year, which was funded by a grant through 2013, county Administrator Brant Luther said.

Canton and Massillon fire stations have housed the team’s three trucks since the lease was canceled.

In addition to the warehouse, the building on Gross Avenue has an office, rest rooms and showers. The building also might be used by the county’s Facilities Department to store equipment.

No moving date has been scheduled. The real estate transaction is expected to close by Jan. 1.

Ohio lawmakers have resurrected, tweaked and are fast-tracking two education bills: one that would eliminate state minimum pay for teachers and another that would reduce student testing and encourage more funding for the wealthiest communities in Ohio.

The measures tackle a wide range of issues before the legislature is to adjourn in mid-December.

The testing bill, passed out of the House on Thursday with bipartisan support, first appeared in July when Rep. Andrew Brenner, R-Powell, sought to overhaul state funding.

The bill now focuses more on student testing, but a piece of Brenner’s original funding plan remains intact. The provision would require the state to produce a report — before budget season in the spring — on how much more it would cost if every school was guaranteed at least $1,000 in state aid per student.

Last school year, 28 districts received less than $1,000 in state aid per pupil, including Woodridge, Copley-Fairlawn, Revere, Jackson and Twinsburg.

Brenner, vice chair of the House Education Committee, represents western Delaware County, Ohio’s fastest growing county where property-rich, high-income communities like Olentangy — with the second-highest median income in the state — shoulder education costs mostly with local taxes.

Brenner said the state’s school-funding structure, which shifts more resources to impoverished communities, affords “phantom students” in Cleveland while his constituents pay $7,000 to $8,000 local tax bills.

“This is a huge problem,” Brenner said. “The amount of state aid is down to about $400 per student. And we’re trying to raise that to about $1,000 per student.”

The Beacon Journal calculates that, according to school financial reports from the Ohio Department of Education, the legislature would have had to allocate $34.6 million more last year in state subsidies to raise the 28 wealthiest communities’ per pupil funding up to $1,000.

Brenner’s bill, co-sponsored by Anne Gonzales, R-Westerville, also addresses concerns among educators, parents and administrators that new tests under Common Core will take too much time away from learning and that rural and cash-strapped school districts lack Internet bandwidth and computers to move the tests online.

The bill requires the Ohio Department of Education to report in June whether schools are ready to administer the online tests, which have already been postponed a year. The state must also assess how the online tests could impact student performance.

The bill, which received bipartisan support, limits student testing time for state-mandated tests under Common Core to four hours per subject starting next school year.

The bill does not affect reading tests for third-graders, some of whom take six tests each year before advancing to fourth grade under the state’s Third Grade Reading Guarantee.

According to preliminary results of a survey of all Akron teachers, roughly three-quarters of 700 respondents said tests are “invasive,” do not allow for adequate instructional time and do little to improve student growth and learning. The survey was conducted by the Akron Education Association, which — like the state’s largest teachers unions — fundamentally opposes the use of student test scores to grade teachers.

Move to merit pay?

Another House bill enjoyed bipartisan support for addressing zero-tolerance discipline issues and requiring additional transparency on how well schools serve disabled students.

But an added provision to eliminate state minimums for paying teachers split the vote along party lines as the bill moved out of the education committee last week.

The amendment was supported by Rep. Gerald Stebelton, R-Lancaster, the chair of the House Education Committee.

Current law, last updated in 2001, requires schools to pay first-year teachers who hold a bachelor’s degree at least $20,000.

Proponents argue that the law is outdated and would provide local school boards more flexibility to set their own pay schedules.

Adjusting for inflation, the bill is outdated; $20,000 in 2001 is worth $26,881 today.

Twelve school districts — nearly all in Appalachian Ohio — offered less than that last year for entry-level teachers, according to labor contracts compiled by the Ohio Education Association.

A review of teacher salary data for 2013 indicates that the poorest school districts pay teachers the least.

Roughly 90 percent of the 100 school districts that offered a starting salary below $30,000 were located in small, rural towns where student poverty is high, local wages are low and test scores lag.

Nearly 40 people from across Ohio, mostly retired or practicing teachers, testified against the bill either in person or in writing. They argued that abolishing state minimums for teacher pay would discourage better teaching candidates and adversely impact the poorest children.

“I worked in a wealthy school district that could afford to pay me that much,” wrote Martha Keeler, a 21-year teacher who lives in Barberton. “The idea that a low wealth district shouldn’t have to adhere to a salary schedule says more about the poor structure of school funding in Ohio than it says about local control.”

The Senate removed a similar provision from the last state budget, and opponents cite the 60 percent of Ohio voters who opposed Senate Bill 5 in 2011.

Like Stebelton’s legislation, another bill to repeal Common Core has yet to make it to the Senate.

Doug Livingston can be reached at 330-996-3792 or dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com.

Chapel Hill Mall and Akron residents of all ages welcomed back an old, beloved and very talkative friend Saturday.

After a decade away, Archie the talking snowman returned to his original home in a crowded corridor of the mall near the food court.

Archie’s official return began at noon. Shortly before his blue eyes lit up and his magical voice began asking a new generation of kids what they wanted for Christmas, there was a long line snaking around the 20-foot snowman.

Many of the parents waiting with their kids to talk with Archie, a Chapel Hill Mall holiday fixture from the late 1960s through 2003, were glad to make the Archie visit a multi­generational experience.

Tricia Blaurock and Mike Shaffer of Akron were celebrating their first Christmas together along with their daughters, Savannah Blaurock and Madison Shaffer.

Both parents recalled going to see Archie as kids and wanted to share the holiday traditions of their youth and jump-start a new one with their new family.

“I used to come all the time when I was a little girl; it was just the magical feel of it,” Blaurock said.

“I remember thinking he was real,” Shaffer added.

A new, shorter version of Archie was introduced at Lock 3 in 2012. Shaffer and Blaurock took their girls to see Archie at the new spot, but something was off.

“I took her last year to Lock 3, but it just wasn’t the same. There’s a special feel when he’s here at Chapel Hill,” Blaurock said.

“He’s cool,” Savannah added.

“I think he’s more interactive than Santa Claus. You sit on his lap, you take a picture and you’re gone. [Archie] is more personable,” Mike Shaffer said.

For two hours, Archie was the most talkative snowman in town, asking each kid or group of kids what they wanted for Christmas and promising to talk to Santa Claus on their behalf as they stared up at his smiling face.

“Well, that’s kind of pricey, I’ll ask Santa to check with your parents first,” Archie said to a little girl who asked for a new cellphone and a Nintendo 3DS.

“Are you going to leave something out for Santa?” Archie asked a mesmerized little boy.

“Whoa, Santa’s going to get a lot of milk and cookies,” Archie said after the boy gave it some thought and settled on the traditional edible gift for Santa’s visit.

“Thank goodness he’s not lactose intolerant,” Archie added, drawing chuckles from nearby adults. Juanita Crockett of Akron brought her son Nate Crockett to see Archie, but unlike many others, she was not trying to reignite an old family tradition but just happened to see Archie being constructed the previous weekend.

“It kind of reminds me of talking to the Wizard of Oz,” Crockett said.

Meanwhile, Nate was reminded of another talking snowman, saying he saw Archie recently on television.

“I think that’s Frosty,” his mother said.

“He’s really big. And how does he see you?” the slightly skeptical 11-year-old asked.

The return of Archie was largely spearheaded by Akronite Tommy Uplinger and his friend David Burkett, who back in 2011 began a social media campaign to return Archie to his rightful home. The Facebook page received thousands of hits and is rife with memories of folks who grew up spending a portion of the holidays with Archie.

Sadly, Burkett, died in March and didn’t live to see Archie’s triumphant return to Chapel Hill.

“I know he would be happy to have seen this,” Uplinger said of his friend, while standing nearby and enjoying the sight of a new generation of kids meeting Archie for the first time and hopefully feeling the same thing he felt.

“Just being little and seeing something so big,” Uplinger said of his Archie holiday memories.

“It was a time when Akron had a lot of Christmas spirit. We don’t get that like we used to and every year you’d see Archie, it took you back to that special place. It’s a tradition and it’s good to share that with other Akronites and people from around the community, and it brings us together and that’s what Akron needs,” he said.

Uplinger said it took quite a bit of “marketing” work to translate the online excitement for Archie’s return to the real world, including garnering sponsors to keep costs down and ignoring the negativity from the “riffraff.”

Once the community got involved, the process really took off, Uplinger said.

“That’s what really made it happen was the people,” Uplinger said.

“I was delegated by the people. We couldn’t even back out of it if we wanted to because once we got it started it was like ‘Oh, man!’ ”

People who would like to see the giant, smiling, top-hatted snowman have between now and Christmas Eve. Archie’s hours are noon to 6 p.m. Sunday and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, except Thanksgiving Day.

Malcolm X Abram can be reached at mabram@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3758.

People Helping People is a list of charitable causes in our area that need donations or volunteers. The Beacon Journal has not investigated these causes, so donors should verify their worthiness and the tax-deductibility of contributions.

A link to a form for submitting requests to People Helping People can be found at www.ohio.com/charity, along with tips on researching charities and a list of causes already published.

Questions about submitting information? Call Mary Beth Breckenridge, 330-996-3756.

Bob’s Hamburg, 1351 East Ave., Akron, is collecting new boots, books and frozen turkeys through Dec. 12 for families in need during the holidays. All donations will go to the Center of Hope in Ravenna.

For information, call 330-861-9138.

Cuyahoga Falls Good Neighbors provides food, clothing, shoes, small household items and linens to families in need. It is seeking the following for its Christmas drive:

• Monetary contributions and donations of nonperishable food, paper products, soap products and unwrapped gifts for recipients from babies to senior citizens. Donations may be dropped off from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dec. 2, 4, 9 or 11 at Good Neighbors, 1742 Second St., or from 8 a.m. to noon Dec. 12 at Faber Foundation, 1872 Front St. Cash donations can be mailed to CFGN, P.O. Box 233, Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44222.

• Volunteers to help during the Christmas drive, Dec. 14-18 at Faber Foundation. Volunteers are needed to sort and bag food from 12:30 to 4 p.m. Dec. 14, bag food and set up gifts from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dec. 15, help clients from 8:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Dec. 16 or 17, and help clients and clean up from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dec. 18.

• Loans of carts or wagons to haul groceries during the Christmas drive.

Volunteers of all ages are welcome. Children in elementary school who are accompanied by parents can help sort food Dec. 14.

For information, call Kim Gaug between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tuesdays at 330-928-8057, or email cfgoodneighbors@sbcglobal.net.

CLEVELAND: A pregnant woman and her unborn child were killed along with three other people in a shooting at a Cleveland home that also injured the pregnant woman’s 9-year-old daughter but left the woman’s toddler son unharmed, police said.

Sherita Johnson was 28 weeks pregnant when she was shot outside her East 92nd Street home around 7:30 p.m. Friday, police said. A 17-year-old girl and two men, ages 19 and 60, were also killed, but the Cuyahoga County medical examiner didn’t immediately release their identities and authorities didn’t provide information about the victims’ relationships.

“Only an animal would do something like this to another human being,” Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams said Saturday.

Police had not determined a motive or identified a suspect, and Williams asked anyone with information about the shooting to contact authorities.

“There’s somebody out there who knows a lot more than we know and we need that information,” Williams said. “We don’t want to speculate on why this happened.”

The preliminary investigation showed that Johnson, 41, arrived home with her children and allowed her daughter to go inside for clothes, according to police.

While inside the house, the girl found one or some of the people who had been shot. A male armed with a handgun then ran toward the girl and fired, grazing her chest, police said.

Investigators said the gunman, described as wearing a mask, ran by the 9-year-old into the driveway and shot Johnson in her vehicle. Johnson’s 2-year-old son, who wasn’t harmed, was in the back seat.

Johnson and her daughter were taken to a hospital, where Johnson was pronounced dead on arrival. Her unborn child also died.

The 9-year-old was treated at a hospital and released to family, along with her brother, police said.

CLEVELAND: Police say a 12-year-old boy brandishing what turned out to be a fake gun at a Cleveland recreation center was shot and wounded by a responding officer.

Cleveland’s Emergency Medical Service tells WOIO-TV that the boy is at a hospital with serious injuries. His mother says he’s in surgery for a stomach wound.

The shooting happened at about 3:30 p.m. at Cudell Rec Center after officers responded to reports of a male with a gun.

Deputy Chief Ed Tomba tells the TV station the boy had the weapon in his waistband, pulled it out and one officer fired two shots. He says the boy didn’t make any verbal threats or point the gun.

WOIO reports the gun was a replica of semi-automatic pistol, and the orange safety indicator in the muzzle was missing.

Community Cares in Lake Township will host three events to raise drug awareness. They are:

• Gone But Not Forgotten — At 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Lake High School Performing Arts Hall, three high school seniors share personal stories of loss followed by “the science of addiction” by Quest Recovery and Preventative Services.

• Hidden in Plain Sight — At 6 p.m. Jan. 12 in the Lake High School Cafeteria, an interactive display will help parents identify potential drug use in their children’s lives.

• Town Hall Meeting — At 6:30 p.m. Feb. 23 at the Lake High School Performing Arts Hall, a panel discussion and Q & A with Roger Kunes of Mercy Medical Center, Stark County Sheriff George T. Maier and Common Pleas Judge Frank G. Forchione.

LAKE TWP.: Alaina Warner remembers her brother complimenting her beauty, playfully asking about her date only days before the prom.

Then her eyes drift as she recalls the heavy metal music and her mother’s shrill cry coming from her brother’s upstairs room only hours later.

“He was keeled over on the bed and he was bright purple,” she said, remembering the terrible noises coming from her brother’s mouth as her parents performed CPR.

Amanda Westbury smiles, too, at first, thinking of her older brother’s annoying laugh.

Leaving for school last November, she retells his last words: “No. You can’t leave. You have to give me a hug.”

The next time she saw him, hours later, he was in a coma at the hospital.

“He just had tubes in his throat and needles in his arms,” she said. “He was brain dead, but they couldn’t say he was brain dead because there were still drugs in his system.”

The tears come quickly.

Taylor Bornstein spoke with the police when they came to her parents’ home in September. Her mother couldn’t handle the bad news.

But when her father came home, Taylor broke down. She could see only her brother’s face in his.

They looked so much alike. And she couldn’t bring herself to tell her father that the police had just found Tyler in a field in Coventry Township.

In less than a year’s time in a wholesome, tight-knit community, heroin has taken the only brothers these three young girls had.

Seniors at Lake High School, they will tell their harrowing stories to the public and their peers on Tuesday in the performing arts center at the high school. They hope to shock anyone who might think that heroin is just a problem in the city or that the drug can be controlled.

“For me, at least, I want to make some people feel uncomfortable because of how personal we’re getting,” Warner said. “It’s not something you should feel comfortable talking about.”

Breaking silence

Their stories, they hope, will inspire addicts and families to come clean about drug use and to seek help and support from the community.

“I think a lot of people are judgmental about it, especially in Lake,” Westbury said. “So I think [my parents] tried to keep it a secret as much as they could. But then again, we live in Lake and things spread.”

Their presentation will include letters from their parents to their deceased brothers.

They hope something good will come from such great loss.

“We didn’t understand that you can’t stop it. It takes over your body. It takes over everything,” Westbury said. “We need to get people to realize that addiction is not something you can just stop.”

Debbie Marshall, a guidance counselor at Lake High School, started talking weekly with Westbury after her brother Tyler, 20, died in November 2013, then with the other girls after Zach Warner, 24, and Tyler Bornstein, 23, followed in May and September.

“In my position as a school counselor, I’ve seen students dealing with [the loss of family to addiction] and working with students going in and out of rehab, watching them struggle,” Marshall said of 11 years in counseling. “I think it’s become much more serious because now, when you have those conversations, when you’re talking about heroin, it’s life and death. When I first started, we did not see what we are seeing now.”

Since August, Marshall and a former school board member have assembled the Community Cares committee, a group set on fighting drug use by convening Lake community educators, trustees, law enforcement officials, youth organizations, hospitals, churches, addiction counselors and health service providers.

Going mobile

Tracking fatal heroin overdoses statistically can be problematic. The user could live in one place, buy from another, shoot up at a third and die in a different town or city.

Take the girls’ brothers, who are among five people with family ties in Lake who have fatally overdosed on heroin in the past year.

Though he had only recently moved in with a girlfriend in Green, authorities considered Tyler Bornstein a Summit County resident who died in Coventry Township, where his body was left in a vacant lot.

Tyler Westbury and Zachary Warner both overdosed in their parents’ homes. Each spent days unconscious in hospitals in Summit County, where they died.

“The people here, locally, see that someone died in Akron,” Uniontown Police Chief Harold Britt said. “People don’t want to admit that we have a drug problem.

“We do.”

The problem today, Britt said, is that suburban users are mobile.

In Lake Township, fatal drug overdoses are down, but that doesn’t mean fewer locals are dying.

“We may be seeing a downturn in it because they’re staying mobile with their heroin. If they’re buying in Akron, they’re shooting up before they get here to Uniontown. And I know in Green there’s been several at the McDonald’s either on Arlington or Massillon where they’ve had overdoses in the parking lot because people buy their heroin in Akron. They’re shooting it on their way home. They throw it out the window. And they go and try to get something to eat.

“By that time, they’ve OD’d.”

In Summit County, where all three Lake men died, fatal heroin overdoses have tripled from 18 in 2011 to 54 last year, according to the county coroner. In that time, overall fatal drug overdoses grew at a much slower pace, from 81 to 99.

No. 1 in overdoses

Heroin, for the first time last year, accounted for the lion’s share of all drug overdoses.

Overall overdose deaths appear to be increasing this year, and the portion attributed to heroin, down slightly, is at 30 percent.

Several factors have made heroin more deadly than ever.

Authorities say the drug is stronger than ever.

“Heroin is deadly itself,” Britt said. “But now they’re mixing it with fentanyl and other pain medicine to make it more deadly. And maybe some of these kids don’t know that there is fentanyl in this. Maybe they believe that they’re getting straight heroin.”

Even the straight heroin, authorities say, is more potent than that sold in the 1970s and 1980s.

Unfortunately, Britt said, users are drawn to deadlier heroin, which they consider “good stuff.”

Toxicology reports found that the heroin Westbury, Bornstein and Warner took was laced with a pain killer.

Detective Mike Schmidt, along with his partner in the Akron Police Department, was assigned in April to investigate heroin and other drug overdoses in the city.

He said in more than half of all fatal overdoses, heroin is mixed with or is actually pure fentanyl, which is a synthetic opioid used for surgery and known for its fast action.

And as the city has cracked down on prescription drug abuse, Schmidt has seen young addicts, who may have started out with doctor-prescribed pain medication for sporting injuries, take greater risks to satisfy an insatiable urge.

“The big thing for us is we’re seeing all these young people using this drug,” Schmidt said. “That’s pretty alarming. If you look back, decades ago, heroin was seen as a pretty dirty, junkie drug. Now, it’s not just an inner-city problem. It’s in the suburbs. It’s everywhere.

‘Everything we could’

For years, the Bornsteins helped their son in any way they knew how.

Travis Bornstein, Tyler’s father, believes now that his son was teaching him “the two toughest lessons in life, which is patience and unconditional love.”

The family sent Tyler to rehab facilities in Ohio and Michigan.

Until June, he stayed at a sober living facility in Florida, where he befriended other addicts only to see them relapse and die.

Each time, his sister said, Tyler became more and more convinced that someday heroin would kill him, too.

Tyler came home in June and lived with his family before moving in with a girlfriend in Green. When he wasn’t around, the family knew something was wrong.

But concerns weren’t shared outside the household.

“I made the ultimate mistake in this journey of not speaking about it. And I didn’t tell any of my friends, anybody at work or any of my colleagues. I tried to just keep my head down and do my job and do what I’m supposed to do,” Tyler’s dad said.

Then the police found Tyler’s body in a field in Coventry Township. Two men, suspected of selling him the laced heroin and possibly moving his body, were arrested. The headlines shocked suburban Lake residents, where a wholesome, traditional small-town setting attracts tourists.

“Now I have no choice but to talk about it,” Travis Bornstein said, looking back at his silence.

“For me, to be totally candid, I think the issue is you’re just totally embarrassed. You feel like you’ve failed as a father. You’re embarrassed. You’re ashamed. And you’re trying to protect your other kids. I mean, I always felt like we played by the rules, did the right thing. You know what I mean? We’d go to church every Sunday. We’re trying to raise our family in a good quality home with morals and values and all of that stuff. It can’t happen to us.

“But it does.”

Now that Tyler is gone, the family is unpacking the emotional toll of addiction.

“We sat down as a family after this was over. And we were just talking. And you realize that everything was about Tyler. We would come together for Taylor’s birthday, and try to celebrate her birthday. But it always became about Tyler,” Travis Bornstein said. “You look back and it was so unfair to the other kids.”

Doug Livingston can be reached at 330-996-3792 or dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com.

He was just a skinny little kid with teeth way too big for his boyish face.

But his reflection in the mirror only made Justin Winebrenner smile more.

Years later, that scrawny kid with a toothy grin would grow into a man, hailed by thousands as a blue-eyed hero, who laid down his life so that others might live.

Akron police officer Justin Winebrenner, badge No. 360, ended his duty Saturday afternoon.

The 32-year-old patrolman was laid to rest Saturday afternoon in Holy Cross Cemetery following a funeral at Rhodes Arena in Akron that drew about 2,000, including a mass of police officers from all across Ohio.

A motorcade of police cruisers and mourners escorting the officer’s hearse stretched for more than a mile, taking nearly 30 minutes to fully pass through downtown. Along the way, men, women and children dotted the motorcade route sidewalks through Akron’s bleak and overcast streets.

Eulogies were delivered by the officer’s chief, his mayor, his godfather, a judge, a fellow officer, a congressman, the local leader of the NAACP and three ministers.

Outside the funeral, his 4-year-old daughter, Charlee, saluted the flag-draped casket being placed in a hearse while she held the teddy bear she had been clutching since her father was shot confronting a gunman outside an East Market Street pub.

A color guard fired shotguns in salute, taps was played and bagpipes and drums pounded the air.

Saturday’s services ended a weeklong tribute to Winebrenner and his family.

“The turnout today is a tribute to Justin as well to all the men and women in blue,” said Chuck Parsons, the officer’s godfather and uncle.

“We recognize that the room is filled with broken hearts. But let us dry our tears and suspend our sorrow long enough to rejoice in the many joys that our blue-eyed hero brought us.”

Parsons recounted Winebrenner’s awkward appearance as a child and his humorously, self-deprecating response.

“Justin didn’t care, he just kept on smiling,” he said. “So it was no surprise to us that his toothy grin, coupled with his well-honed sense of humor, became two of his greatest assets.”

In his early teens, Parsons recalled, Winebrenner was an Explorer with a desire so strong for law enforcement that he once guarded Christmas decorations surrounding Lake Anna in Barberton.

It was evident early on that Winebrenner intended to follow in the footsteps of a legacy of family heroes, which include his father, Robert, a retired Barberton police officer, and his grandfather, Robert C. Winebrenner, a U.S. Army soldier who received the Bronze Star for his valor during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II.

Winebrenner studied criminal justice on the University of Akron campus where his funeral was held. He joined the Akron Police Department seven years ago, working with Platoon 4 on the busiest, most crime-ridden evening shift. His latest assignment had him working the city’s North Hill neighborhood with his partner, Justin Morris.

He was an avid outdoorsman and physical fitness buff, and an equally avid Browns fan, who could often been seen wearing a No. 33 jersey with Crime Dawg inscribed on the back, while tailgating with his father, his sister, Kelly, and his friends.

Parsons’ eulogy included a series of notes he wrote in Winebrenner’s voice that bid farewell to the officer’s father, his child, the young girl’s mother, Alyse Shanafelt, and his fiancée, Tiffany Miller.

To his daughter, Charlee, the note read: “I’m sorry I had to leave you. I love you. You’re my little Cherry Blossom princess and I am proud of all that you are becoming. My life shall miss sitting on the edge of your bed, wiping away the tears of your first broken heart, watching you graduate from high school and walking you down the aisle on your wedding day.

“[But] I will not be far from you. I am now your guardian angel and I will listen to you anytime you look up in the air.”

Despite his love for his family, Parsons said he doesn’t believe Winebrenner would have had second thoughts about confronting alleged gunman Kenan Dason Ivery inside Papa Don’s Pub early Sunday morning. Police say Ivery, 35, was ejected from the bar for misconduct and returned a short time later with a gun.

Winebrenner, a bouncer and another man confronted Ivery. Winebrenner, who was out of uniform and unarmed, was shot twice. Four others were injured. Winebrenner died in the early morning of Nov. 16.

“I am absolutely convinced that had Justin been given hours to ponder what he was about to be called upon to do, he would have reacted exactly the same way,” Parsons said. “It is very clear to us that Justin’s last act was pleasing to God and he will be rewarded for that sacrifice.”

Police Chief James Nice said Winebrenner’s badge number will never again be worn by an Akron police officer.

“Justin had sworn to protect and serve. He went toward that threat,” Nice said. “By forcing this man out of the door and out of the pub, he lost his life. These were heroic actions by Justin Winebrenner. Justin protected and served just as he had sworn to do.”

Mayor Don Plusquellic equally praised the officer’s actions, and said Winebrenner’s integrity is one that should serve as an example to everyone in law enforcement as well as an example to people in the Akron community.

Rep. Tim Ryan presented Winebrenner’s family with a condolence letter written and signed by President Barack Obama. Local NAACP President Ophelia Averitt, looking out at an audience filled with law officers, offered her praise of police across the country, calling them the “greatest fraternity in the world.”

Former Barberton Municipal Judge Greg Macko, a longtime family friend, called Winebrenner’s death a “senseless act,” reminiscent of the 1972 death of the judge’s cousin, Akron police officer Stephen Ondas, 28, who also was killed in the line of duty.

He reminded mourners of the police memorial outside the Akron Police Department engraved with the names of every officer killed in the line of duty. A burning flame and a sign reading “Never Forget” adorn the site.

“We all know that that means never forget Justin,” he said. “I think it also means we should never forget the love and support for Justin’s family and friends they are going to need to get through this. It isn’t going to be easy.”

Officer Paul Hlynsky, the president of FOP union, said Winebrenner’s death has rocked the force. He said Winebrenner was a professional, a gentleman and a trustworthy colleague.

“There is no excuse for this terrible tragedy,” he told the crowd. “And we’re going to hurt for a long time because we did lose one of our own. It is personal. It’s very personal.”

After leaving Rhodes Arena, the funeral procession traveled downtown, making a point to pass the Harold K. Stubbs Justice Center and Fraternal Order of Police memorial where a quiet crowd waited in the light rain and cold with only sounds from the bells coming from St. Bernard Catholic Church.

The hearse, preceded by cruisers from the Barberton and Akron police departments, paused at the justice center as the Akron police officers, including Winebrenner’s platoon, saluted their fallen fellow officer.

“My heart goes out to his family,” onlooker Carol Reese of Tallmadge said.

Reese’s brother was Floyd Weatherholt, another Akron police officer killed in the line of duty on March 25, 1960, during a robbery on Exchange Street.

Reese said she was only 3 when her brother was killed, slightly a year younger than Winebrenner’s daughter. But, she said, she can remember her mother talking about Weatherholt and the support they received from the community.

The community also came out in support of Winebrenner’s family by watching the procession from South High Street sidewalks.

“We met for the first time back in August and then ran into each other again a few weeks ago,” Betty Douglas of Cuyahoga Falls said. “He was so friendly and personable and even remembered having met me before when we bumped into each other again. I’m happy to be here supporting him. He deserved that.”

Phil Trexler can be reached at 330-996-3717 or ptrexler@thebeaconjournal.com. He can be followed on Twitter at www.twitter.com/PhilTrexler

NEW FRANKLIN: Safety will not suffer because voters turned down a police levy on the ballot at the general election Nov. 4, Mayor Al Bollas said.

But planned road improvements for next year will be affected.

“It is my task to keep everybody safe,” Bollas said. “At the most, we may have to stop offering to do police checks for people who are away,” he said.

A 2.5-mill replacement levy to bring a 1981 levy up to current valuations was defeated by 362 votes. It would have increased homeowners’ taxes about $60 a year.

The police department’s $1.7 million budget won’t be cut, said Bollas, and will continue to be subsidized by the city’s general fund, which has been supplementing department operations to the tune of about $750,000 annually for three years.

The money has to come from somewhere, said Bollas, and the only place to make cuts is in the road fund.

“I had hoped to widen Manchester Road. Now, all I am going to be able to do is the engineering,” he said. “We would have had at least some of it done next year. Now, we’re not going to be able to do it.”

Motorists can expect to encounter a few headaches on Manchester Road near Johns Road due to cutbacks. By early spring, Hi-Way Distributing Corporation of America is moving its operations from State Street in Barberton to 5142 Manchester Road, the site of the former Manchester Tool Co. Ten to 20 trucks ranging from delivery trucks to 53-foot tractor trailers will enter the property each day, said Brian Manda, facilities manager for the company.

Hi-Way Distributing supplies truck stops across the country with every type of product except food that travelers need, from souvenirs to camping gear. Each day, more than 100 employees will travel to the Manchester Road site that has only one point of access, said Manda.

“We’ve got only about 20 percent of our operations moved here yet and we are already experiencing problems. There’s only one way they can go to get to our location and that’s in and out,” said Manda.

He estimated the traffic will “triple, if not quadruple” once the company completes the move early next year.

The Manchester Road widening project isn’t the only one affected by the levy failure, said Bollas.

Resurfacing projects, including plans to update 4 miles of Center Road from Cleveland-Massillon to Main Street, are on hold. The city had hoped to do at least some of the project in 2015. Now, it is forced to apply for grant money that could take several years for approval to complete the project, said Bollas.

He said road repairs and chuckholes generally done with asphalt will be fixed with cheaper, tar-and-chip material.

There are no plans to cut staff in the police department, which has 14 full-time and 10 part-time officers, said police Chief Dan Davidson.

Nor will house checks be cut — at least not yet, he said.

Vacationing residents, and those who go south each winter, may still have police officers visit their homes each day to check doors, look in windows and generally make sure the property is secure while they are out of town, said Davidson.

“It’s a very popular service,” he said. Officers are required to do three house checks and three patrol checks per shift.

Voters who don’t want to see personal services dwindle will have another opportunity to vote on funding police operations in the future, Bollas said.

“They’ll see something — a reduced levy amount, or maybe we’ll drop the reciprocal income tax,” he said.

Kathy Antoniotti can be reached at 330-996-3565 or kantoniotti@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter at: @KathyAntoniotti and on facebook: www.facebook.com/KathyAntoniotti.

An online app called Beegit, which is designed to make it easier for writers to work together on a project, won the top prize in the second annual Pitch Night business competition Thursday in Hudson.

Beegit LLC, a startup headquartered in Cleveland, won $3,000 in the business idea competition akin to ABC TV’s Shark Tank.

The second-place prize of $1,500 went to Lufthouse, another app whose developers also are based in Cleveland. Users of the app more easily can learn information about a landmark, venue or event while visiting that specific place.

Third place and $500 went to Digital Animation for Kids LLC of Hudson, which provides online instruction of various computer skills and other subject matter to pre-K through high-school students.

Stephanie Suttton, a former IT professional who lives in Hudson, started Digital Animation for Kids several years ago, making it the oldest of the winning ventures.

A panel of people who have worked with area startups judged the competition.

This year, organizers asked audience members to vote — by a show of hands — on which was their favorite idea.

Audience members voted an app called Tag N’ Snag their favorite. That app, being developed by area woman Erika Mayiras, would allow the user to gather product information — in a discreet way — about a dress, shoe or other piece of apparel someone else is wearing.

The app does not involve using the smartphone to take a picture of the product, unlike other available technology. Instead, the smartphone gathers information with the help of “wearable technology” in the item.

A total of six Northeast Ohio innovators vied for the cash prizes, each pitching ideas in 20-minute presentations at the Hudson Library & Historical Society. Finalists had been chosen from 37 applicants.

The Pitch Night competition is an offshoot of the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship Research, named for the late Hudson entrepreneur. The center has received funding from the Burton D. Morgan Foundation, headquartered in Hudson.

Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com. You can become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/KatieByardABJ.

CUYAHOGA FALLS

Schmidt office hours

CUYAHOGA FALLS: Summit County councilman John Schmidt of District 2 will host public office hours from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Cuyahoga Falls Public Library, 2015 Third St. Schmidt will be available to answer questions and hear residents’ concerns.

District 2 includes most of Cuyahoga Falls, Munroe Falls and portions of Akron, including East Akron, Goodyear Heights and North Hill.

For more information, contact the Summit County Council Office at 330-643-2725.

Deck the Falls 5K

CUYAHOGA FALLS: The Cuyahoga Falls Police Department will host the Deck the Falls 5K to support Shop with a Cop at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Falls River Square, 2085 Front St.

Shop With a Cop is designed to enable disadvantaged children from Cuyahoga Falls to purchase gifts during the Christmas season.

Registration will be at 3 p.m. on race day or at active.com or www.deckthefalls5k.blogspot.com for $20.

For more information, contact deckthefalls@gmail.com.

HUDSON

Holiday celebration

HUDSON: The city will kick off its holiday celebration Friday with “Come Home to Hudson,” from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on First and Main Green.

The day’s festivities continue with the Celebration of Caroling and Lights at the Gazebo Green from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. with the Western Reserve Community Band.

For holiday event listings, go to www.Hudson.oh.us.

Christmas tree sale

HUDSON: Boy Scout Troop 333 will sell pre-cut Christmas trees Saturday and Sunday at the Boy Scout Log Cabin Green at the southwest corner of state Routes 303 and 91.

Hours for the sale are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday.

NAVARRE

Donations needed

NAVARRE: Residents and businesses may help those less fortunate in the community by bringing toilet paper to the Edwards Jones branch office from 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday from Nov. 24 to Dec. 22 at 4902 Erie Ave., Navarre.

For more information, call 330-879-0100.

NORTHEAST OHIO

Cabbage Roll event

SOLON: The Hungarian Cultural Center of Northeastern Ohio is sponsoring a Homemade Hungarian Cabbage Roll fundraiser on Dec. 2 at St. John’s Byzantine Church, 36125 Aurora Road, Solon.

The cooks of the Hungarian Cultural Center will prepare the cabbage rolls, and pre-orders only will be accepted.

The deadline for orders is Wednesday and cost is $18 per dozen. For information, call 216-475-2920 or 440-248-4530.

STARK COUNTY

AIDS quilt on display

JACKSON TWP.: Panels from the internationally celebrated AIDS Memorial Quilt will be on display at Stark State College from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday to Dec. 5 in room M100 of the Business and Entrepreneurial Studies building, 6200 Frank Ave. NW, Jackson Township.

For more information, visit www.aidsquilt.org or contact 330-494-6170, ext. 4667, or kchhav@starkstate.edu.

SUMMIT COUNTY

Nature center day off

AKRON: The visitors center at the Seiberling Nature Realm, 1828 Smith Road, will be closed Dec. 2 for floor maintenance. The building will reopen at 10 a.m. Dec. 3.

The work was scheduled several months ago and is not related to ceiling leaks that closed the building for several weeks earlier this year.

For more information, call 330-865-8065 or go to www.summitmetroparks.org.

WADSWORTH

Public meeting

WADSWORTH: The city of Wadsworth will host a public meeting at 4:30 p.m. Dec. 1 at City Hall, 120 Maple St. This purpose of the meeting is to explain the 2014 Community Housing Improvement Program (CHIP) grant and how it will be implemented in the city.

The CHIP guidelines, eligibility requirements and types of assistance that will be available to Wadsworth residents will be reviewed along with a brief presentation on the federal fair housing requirements of the program.