East Akron Neighborhood Development Corporation soon will go home.

The agency was started as an offshoot of East Akron Community House, but moved out of the EACH building two years ago when the parent agency began a downward financial spiral that resulted in the building being up for foreclosure.

EANDC bought the EACH building, located at 550 S. Arlington St., in June and signed the final paperwork and got the keys this week. EANDC wasted no time and immediately began working on making repairs to the inside and outside of the building in hopes of moving in toward the end of this month.

“We can’t wait to get back in,” said Grady Appleton, EANDC’s president and CEO. “We can’t wait to restart services.”

EANDC purchased the EACH building for $675,000 in June, ending a lengthy period in which the future of the building — and whether it would continue to be used to provide social and educational services to East Akron residents — were in question. The sale stopped a pending foreclosure on the building.

About 25 volunteers worked in the heat of the afternoon Thursday to improve the outside of the building, planting bushes and flowers, trimming existing bushes and trees, laying mulch and sod, and painting doors and railings. The volunteers’ time and all of the materials were donated.

The bulk of the volunteers were from OEC, a Richfield technology company that had a day of service Thursday, donating manpower to multiple projects in the area.

Terry Kropp, one of the volunteers who lives in Akron, is familiar with the history of EACH and was pleased that his company was helping out.

“Anything to help Akron look better,” he said. “When there’s an opportunity to help my hometown, that’s where I want to be.”

Home Depot donated materials and Hydro-Lawn Landscaping & Design provided landscaping labor.

Susan Schweitzer, EANDC’s spokeswoman, said residents have been noticing the work being done, including a woman in a minivan who yelled to her one day, asking who was moving in and whether they were going to resume services. When Schweitzer told her they were, the woman said, “This is God’s hand,” before she drove away.

“People are anxious,” Schweitzer said. “They want this to be the heart of the neighborhood.”

Others will get the chance to see the outside upgrades when the annual East Akron Labor Day Parade marches right past the EACH building. The parade starts at 9:30 a.m. Monday.

EANDC has been operating out of two locations, one on Arlington and another on Rosemary Boulevard, and will consolidate all of its services to the EACH building, which includes energy services, emergency home repairs, home ownership help and property management.

While the EACH building was in limbo for the past two years, Schweitzer said not much upkeep was done and repairs are needed to the roof, heating, ventilation and air conditioning system and elevator, which isn’t currently working. Other planned updates include painting, adding new carpeting, cleaning, and polishing the floor. The improvements are expected to cost about $170,000 and EANDC is seeking grant funding to help cover the cost.

The city of Akron provided EANDC a $350,000 loan to help with purchasing the building. The loan is for 20 years at a 4.74 percent interest rate, Schweitzer said.

Planning Director Marco Sommerville said he is pleased that EANDC will be moving into the building soon and returning services to the neighborhood. He said that was what the city wanted to see happen.

“It’s a great day for East Akron,” he said.

The agencies that plan to offer services in the building include Project LEARN, Akron Summit Community Action, Akron General Medical Center and Good Samaritan Hunger Center.

The EACH board is still a 501(c)3 organization and DaMareo Cooper, the board’s vice president, has said the board hopes to fill any gaps that remain in services to the neighborhood.

Schweitzer said EANDC wants to distinguish itself from the difficulties that EACH had for so long and will no longer be referring to the building as EACH, instead calling it the EANDC building or by its address. She said the agency wants people to know, “We’re going to stay here. We’re fiscally sound.”

Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705 or swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @swarsmithabj and on Facebook: www.facebook.com/swarsmith.

Thousands of pages of documents that may shed light on a grade-fixing scandal at the Ohio Department of Education were released to news media late Thursday.

The documents are a response to multiple public records from Ohio news media.

Pages include the calendars and correspondence of Gov. John Kasich, State Superintendent Richard Ross, Kasich’s former chief of staff and now presidential campaign manager Beth Hansen, and her husband, David Hansen, the former head of school choice programs in the department.

David Hansen admitted to manipulating data that made charter schools look better than they would be if scored according to the formula written into law.

An initial inspection of the more than 15,000 pages revealed no involvement of anyone other than Hansen in the grade-fixing, but were revelatory on some other matters.

The documents will be reviewed over the next several days. Here are some of the items gleaned on deadline:

• Ross does not appear to have questioned Hansen about the removal of low grades at charter schools. Ross also was silent as Hansen was questioned about his behavior at a state school board meeting prior to his resignation.

• After discovering that Hansen had spoken with Sen. Peggy Lehner on the phone about the incident, legal counsel for the Ohio Department of Education voiced concern. Jessica Voltolini, ODE assistant legal counsel, texted Hansen to say: “I’m not happy that you talked to Lehner without me.”

• Hansen had at least four meetings in the past year with Tom Needles, lobbyist for Akron-based White Hat Management and several other education-related groups, mostly aligned with school choice.

• Buckeye Community Hope, an organization that sponsors charter schools, appears to have known four months ahead of the release date that it would receive an exemplary rating. In 2013, Hansen had called Buckeye Hope “one of the best” sponsors in the state.

• Oct. 2, 2014: Kasich, Ross and Beth Hansen were included in a message setting up a phone conference with Joel Klein, CEO of Amplify, the educational products division of News Corp. News Corp owns Fox News, for which Kasich worked at one time.

• October 2014: A meeting of the governor’s office and ODE about Youngstown was set up. In June 2015, the legislature, in a surprise move, attached to a community connections bill a provision for the takeover of Youngstown City Schools. The calendar memo suggests that the governor’s office and Ross were discussing Youngstown as a part of the connections bill in October last year. On the list of invitees were Beth Hansen, the governor, governor’s policy director Wayne Struble, Ross and several others. Later, Ross appears to have traveled to Youngstown to meet with Youngstown State University President Jim Tressel and business leaders who later would testify on behalf of the takeover.

October 2014: Beth Hansen and Ross were involved in a phone conference with former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Beacon Journal education writer Doug Livingston contributed to this report. He can be emailed at dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com.

DEERFIELD TWP.: The State Highway Patrol is investigating an early morning accident on state Route 14 involving a truck that went off the road, striking a metal wire fence and then a tree.

The patrol reported the driver had to be extricated from the vehicle by mechanical means and sustained serious injuries from the crash. He was taken to Summa Akron City Hospital. The driver’s identity is not being released at this time.

Authorities said alcohol and speed do not appear to be factors in the crash.

State Route 14 south of the Deerfield circle remained closed into the morning.

CHICAGO: A DuPage County judge has dismissed a lawsuit against an Illinois sperm bank accused of mistakenly providing sperm from a black donor to a white Lake Township woman.

The Chicago Tribune reports Judge Ronald Sutter tossed the lawsuit Thursday. But ruled Jennifer Cramblett could refile her lawsuit against Midwest Sperm Bank under a negligence claim.

Cramblett became pregnant in December 2011 through artificial insemination using sperm donated by a black man instead of the white donor whom she and her partner selected.

The bank later issued an apology and a partial refund.

Cramblett, who is white, said she loves her 3-year-old daughter. But she claimed “limited cultural competency” around African-Americans.

The sperm bank’s attorney, Bob Summers, argued Cramblett’s claim of “wrongful birth” could not be legally sustained in a case where a healthy child was born.

COLUMBUS: Ohio motorists can expect to have plenty of company on the roads this Labor Day weekend.

The AAA Auto Club says 1.5 million Ohioans are expected to be among the 35.3 million people in the U.S. taking trips of at least 50 miles away from home this weekend. That’s the highest number of projected travelers during the holiday weekend since 2008.

Cheap gas helps. Gas prices have stabilized since a mid-August spike to around $3 a gallon because of refinery problems in Indiana. Last year, the average price for a gallon of regular gas in Ohio was $3.49 during Labor Day weekend, according to AAA. As of Thursday, it was $2.26.

The AAA says most people will drive to their destinations but overall spending on travel will be up.

AKRON: Shortly before 5 a.m. Friday someone broke out a side window of the Marathon Gas Station located at 1705 Diagonal Road and stole an undisclosed amount of money.

The suspect entered the store and removed money from the cash register then fled.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Akron police department at 330-375-2490.

COLUMBUS: Ohio National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Jason Edwards of Franklin County was indicted for theft in office and tampering with records earlier this week.

The Ohio Army National Guard alleges Edwards was submitting false claims for reimbursement for travel expenses while participating in Ohio National Guard military funeral missions. Investigators found evidence to show Edwards submitted more than 100 reimbursement claims that totalled more than $10,000 in mileage and travel expenses when he was not actively engaged in military funeral honors duty.

The investigation reviewed records from Sept. 28, 2013 through July 28, 2014.

Edwards served in active duty with the military from 1995 to 2006 and joined the Ohio National Guard in 20110.

The investigation was conducted jointly by the Office of the Ohio Inspector General and the Ohio State Highway Patrol after a complaint was received from the Ohio Adjutant General’s Department.

The University of Akron is launching its largest-ever advertising campaign Sunday as part of the school’s ongoing effort to rebrand itself as Ohio’s polytechnic university.

The three-month media blitz focusing on Northeast Ohio is designed to attract the attention of families and high school students as they return to class and start thinking about attending college.

But UA also hopes it helps wash away some of the negative publicity and lingering doubts about the school since it announced $40 million in painful financial cuts this summer.

The campaign called “Are You Out There?” will cost $850,000 to $900,000, including production, the school said. The media buys alone are about $500,000.

UA is spending its entire annual advertising budget on the effort.

The school has used the Super Bowl to launch advertising campaigns in the past. But it hasn’t spent this amount of money before on a single effort, UA officials said.

“First and foremost, it’s for prospective students and that’s why we can justify spending the amount of money, or any money, that we’re spending on it,” said Lawrence Burns, UA vice president of advancement.

The campaign kicks off with a two-minute commercial on the CBS Sunday Morning program between 9 and 10:30 a.m., WKYC Channel 3 morning news between 9 and 10 a.m. and WOIO Channel 19 evening news from 6:30 to 7 p.m. Sunday.

The two-minute commercials also will be broadcast Monday.

The length is unusual for television, but the school believes it will be an effective way initially to capture the attention of viewers.

The ad

UA has created the website www.AreYouOutThere.com where people can watch the ad anytime.

It features images of students in slow motion as they dance, play sports, work in science labs and run across campus with dramatic music in the background. There’s even Zippy, the kangaroo mascot.

A woman’s voice narrates.

“We’re here to experience,” she says at one point. “We’re the driven. The ready. Ready. Ready. To build our dreams from the ground up. To hit the ground running. So here’s to us.”

She ends with the phrase: “Are you out there?”

The ad was produced by the Cleveland advertising agency called flourish. The firm couldn’t be reached for comment.

Burns called the ad “a call to action.”

The timing

It was launched Labor Day weekend because it’s traditionally the time that high school seniors who haven’t picked a school yet start getting serious about where they are going and when juniors start getting interested in college.

It’s also when college recruiters hit the road to talk with students.

“[The commercial is] really for them to say, ‘I really need to go visit. I need at least to look at their website. It appears that something very different, something very good is happening at the University of Akron. I need to see if it’s good for me,’ ” Burns said.

While the ad is targeted at high school students and their families, UA hopes the positive message is seen by alumni, employers and opinion leaders in the region and it erases any doubt about the administration’s vision for the school.

The campaign will continue with shorter commercials and radio and print advertising through November, and then return around Christmas with the two-minute version being shown in movie theaters before films.

Burns said he hopes to use the “Are You Out There?” campaign for the next few years.

LeBron to be featured

Akron native and Cavaliers player LeBron James will be part of the campaign, with his commercial set to be filmed this month. The NBA star has agreed to participate in a commercial a year for the next five years for the school.

He’s not being paid for the work.

Forbes estimated this year that James will earn $44 million in endorsement deals from Nike, Kia Motors, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola and other companies — meaning his participation is a steal for UA.

Former Microsoft executive and UA alumnus Mario Garzia, who is now heading the school’s center for data science and information technology, also will be featured.

UA is starting the campaign in Northeast Ohio because that’s where 75 percent of its students come from, Burns said.

Effectiveness?

If the campaign is successful, he said he would ask for more money to film additional commercials and expand the reach to Columbus, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.

The extra cash would come from a $10 million pool that the school set aside this year for initiatives, he said.

UA spending has been under scrutiny since the financial cuts were announced this summer. Those cuts included doing away with more than 200 positions and eliminating the baseball program.

The school needs to build up enrollment to improve its finances because tuition makes up the majority of UA’s operating revenue.

UA reported last week that overall enrollment on the first day of school fell 3 percent to 25,004, but that the freshman class grew 5.3 percent from last year to 4,350 students. Official enrollment figures will be released in mid-September.

“Enrollment is the financial lifeline of the institution,” Burns said. “We don’t have a [university-affiliated] hospital to support us. Philanthropy is very important but it can’t sustain us. So enrollment is it. ...

“We have to get the message out that distinguishes us about why students should consider the University of Akron. To do nothing is a recipe for failure.”

Reaction?

The Beacon Journal showed the commercial to several students to hear their opinions. They agreed that it’s an effective and persuasive message that could influence high school students to check out the school.

The ad also had the feel and look of a much larger institution, one said.

“I thought it was cool,” said Sarah Bruce, 20, a junior studying exercise physiology. “It makes you proud to go to the University of Akron and it showed that we’re more than Ohio’s polytechnic university. It had a little bit of everything in there.”

Others, though, weren’t pleased that UA continues to push the polytechnic brand — which has been met with resistance from many students, alumni and faculty — and they were skeptical that the ad can wipe out the ill will created in the community by the recent cuts.

Rick Armon can be reached at 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter at @armonrickABJ.

Summit County Council has made good on its financial commitment to the Akron Community Service Center and Urban League.

The council passed legislation Monday renewing its pledge to help the agency by guaranteeing to the bank that if the Urban League fails to make its payments the county will help cover the costs.

The city of Akron has made the same pledge in a 50/50 split with the county. The city and county would use non-tax revenues to repay the loan.

“This dates back to 2007 when the county provided a 50 percent guarantee as a line of credit at Fifth Third Bank to build the new facility on Vernon Odom Boulevard,” said county finance director Brian Nelsen. “The original guarantee was $3.6 million in bonds issued by the Development Finance Authority of Summit County, (formerly the Summit County Port Authority). The Urban League along the way paid down a significant portion and retired those bonds ahead of schedule, but they were still getting hit with the letter of credit fees and a high interest rate, which was prior to the interest rates plummeting.”

The Urban League’s executive director, Fred Wright, said the refinancing deal would save the agency about $52,000 a year in fees and interest or $1 million over 20 years.

“Our goal is to retire the debt in the next four or five years,” Wright said.

The $2 million, five-year-term loan on the debt will mature Aug. 1, 2019. The maximum annual debt service charges would amount to $1,728,000 in the year 2019, of which the county would be responsible for $864,000. The Urban League is using its mortgage as collateral to pay back the city and county if they cannot pay on its loan.

“We are just reaffirming our pledge of 50 percent on the $2 million loan and the $100,000 line of credit and we are issuing an additional pledge on 50 percent of the $200,000 term loan to the agency,” said Nelsen. “In 2014 Fifth Third agreed to refinance with this term loan as long as the city and county still agreed to back half of it. The city has pledged 50 percent repayment and the county has pledged a 50 percent repayment.”

The city, which has been in recess for the month of August, still has to pass legislation to support its portion of the financial pledge.

Wright said the agency has an annual budget of about $2.2 million and much of its funding comes toward the end of the year, which makes the first half of the year challenging. He said the line of credit would help address the problem. It would allow the agency to pay its bills on time.

“It’s no secret I inherited a tough financial situation at the Urban League, but the finances are getting healthier year after year,” said Wright. “The budget has been balanced for the last three years. For the first time in the four years I’ve been there I feel like the Urban League is starting at the starting line and not behind it.”

The full council supported the legislation.

“I like the fact that the Urban League has paid down a significant portion of the loan,” said Jerry Feeman, who heads the financial committee of county council. “They are ahead of the game and it looks like they will continue to move in the right direction.”

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

Akron’s cowboy candidate filed petitions to run as an independent for Akron mayor Friday, but whether he gets the chance remains to be seen.

Sage Lewis, a local business owner who sports a cowboy hat wherever he goes, filed petitions with more than 1,000 signatures — twice the number of valid signatures required.

Lewis had previously filed to run as a Democrat, though, and withdrew his candidacy. The Summit County Board of Elections will have to decide if he can now get on the ballot as an independent.

Monday is the filing deadline for independent candidates in the Nov. 3 election.

Read more about Lewis and the other independent candidates Monday on Ohio.com and in Tuesday’s edition of the Beacon Journal.

Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705 or swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @swarsmithabj and on Facebook: www.facebook.com/swarsmith.

Summa Health System and a group of local doctors are more than $14 million apart in an escalating dispute over the sales price for Western Reserve Hospital’s building in Cuyahoga Falls.

The majority physician owners of the hospital business want to buy the property for $5.6 million based on their appraiser’s review, according to documents filed in Summit County Common Pleas Court this week.

Summa’s appraiser values the property at $19.9 million, records show.

The 57-bed hospital has been leasing the Summa-owned facility off State Road on a month-by-month basis since a contract between the two organizations expired at the end of June.

Summa officials say federal laws only allow the expired lease to be extended for six months, leaving the health system two options: Sell the building to Western Reserve at “fair market value” by the end of the year or evict the hospital.

The majority physician owners, Western Reserve Hospital Partners, filed a court action this week seeking to force Summa to sell the property for $5.6 million or an appraised amount that isn’t based on the building being owner-occupied.

The physician group also wants the court to stop Summa from evicting the hospital.

A Western Reserve Hospital spokesman said Friday he couldn’t comment because of active litigation.

Summa has been the hospital’s minority owner since 2009, when the health system sold a 60 percent interest in the former Cuyahoga Falls General Hospital to Western Reserve Hospital Partners, a group of about 200 area doctors.

But the relationship has soured in recent months, raising concerns among some area patients about the hospital’s future.

Mary Stadler, 83, of Cuyahoga Falls was upset to learn about the dispute shortly after leaving the hospital Friday for a physical therapy appointment.

Stadler lives several blocks from Western Reserve and relies on the hospital for medical care.

“They do a good job,” she said. “I do not want anything to happen to Western Reserve Hospital. I want it to stay there and be just the way it is.”

Summa and the majority physician owners are at odds over whether the purchase price for the hospital facility should be based on the building being owner-occupied under the terms of a purchase option in the expired lease agreement.

In court filings, Western Reserve Hospital Partners said its appraiser valued the property “without a long-term lease or stable occupancy.”

Hospital leaders have said they intend to build a new facility in northern Summit County, though those plans have yet to move forward.

Summa’s actions “have been in furtherance of a broader course of conduct designed to obstruct or eliminate [Western Reserve] Hospital as a competitor to Summa and its new health system partner [HealthSpan Partners] in the health care marketplace,” the physician group alleges in its court filing.

Summa officials said Friday the health system would face stiff penalties — including fines and potential loss of Medicare contracts — if it sells the facility for far less than experts say it’s currently worth. The federal government closely scrutinizes deals between nonprofit hospitals and doctors for anti-kickback violations.

The building is valued at $16.9 million by the Summit County Fiscal Office. County appraisers consider comparable sales within the region or, if necessary, nationwide to set property values.

Even if Western Reserve Hospital builds a new facility, it likely can’t relocate for at least three to five years, said Brian Derrick, Summa’s vice president and chief financial officer.

“It befuddles me why they would be buying a building if they aren’t going to occupy a building,” he said. “It just doesn’t make any sense.”

Western Reserve Hospital Partners’ court action this week were filed as a counterclaim to Summa’s pending case seeking access to the hospital’s business records and recognition of the health system’s rights at minority owner.

A website — www.protectwesternreserve.com — and an online petition drive backing the hospital also were launched this week.

Cheryl Powell can be reached at 330-996-3902 or cpowell@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow Powell on Twitter at twitter.com/CherylPowellABJ.

On Friday afternoon, Bill Thompson of Hudson was taking advantage of the $1.99-per-gallon price at the BP Station on Tuscarawas Street W. in Canton by filling up his Chevy Impala and a 5-gallon gas container.

“And I’m not even using my discounts,” he said. “I’m waiting for a lower price.”

Gasoline prices are at their lowest going into Labor Day weekend since 2004, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

According to the EIA, the U.S. average retail price for regular gasoline on Monday was $2.51 a gallon, the lowest price for the Monday before Labor Day since 2004 and 95 cents a gallon lower than the same time last year. Declines in crude oil prices are the main driver behind falling U.S. gasoline prices, the agency said.

In the Akron-Canton area, prices were varying midday Friday. A strip of gas stations in Canton and Massillon was selling gas for $1.95 and $1.99, while stations in the Akron area landed in the $2.18 to $2.40 range.

The Labor Day prices in the area are significantly lower than last year, when they were $3.48 a gallon, said Kevin Thomas, vice president of the Akron AAA.

“It’s great news for Ohio motorists to the tune of 1.5 million that are going to be traveling extensively over 50 miles away from home this weekend,” said Thomas. “It’s good for local economies, too. It frees up some of those dollars to do a little more at your destination or maybe upscale your hotel or have a meal you weren’t going to do when you were paying $20 more for a tank a year ago.”

Thompson, a frequent driver and self-professed cheapskate, said he watches crude oil prices daily and checks the prices of about seven different gas stations to find the lowest prices. The retired professional buyer of chemicals for a manufacturing plant in Massillon has been called back to work a few days a week, so he drives 86 miles a day to and from work.

He loves to drive to Canada to see his family. Every two weeks, he also drives to Toledo to help his elderly mother. He’s put 30,000 miles in the last year in leisure travel on his one-year-old Chevy Impala.

Thompson is heading to Toledo this weekend.

He’s happy the temporary uptick in prices recently with problems at a refinery in Indiana are over.

Seeing prices dip below $2 is exciting, he said.

John Horvath of North Canton was also filling up at the BP station in Canton.

“It’s a good thing for us,” he said of the falling gas prices. “I thought it’d go up because of the Labor Day weekend.”

Horvath said he wasn’t planning any travel this weekend but was going to have a yard sale.

It’s possible gas prices could continue to drop. According to the EIA, “as fall approaches and U.S. driving levels are lower, reduced gasoline demand, shifts to less costly winter specifications for gasoline, and reduced crude oil purchases by refineries undergoing seasonal maintenance have the potential to put downward pressure on crude oil and gasoline prices.”

The AAA’s Thomas said while lower gas prices are welcomed by consumers, it’s not necessarily always a good thing for the economy.

“It’s good for consumers, but there’s always some downside on the economic spectrum,” he said.

Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3724 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her @blinfisherABJ on Twitter or www.facebook.com/BettyLinFisherABJ and see all her stories at www.ohio.com/betty

“Don’t Be Blind-Sided by Heroin,” a seminar, demonstration and distribution of Narcan kits, is planned for Sept. 17.

Registration is at 6:30 p.m., followed by the event from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Christ Community Chapel in Hudson, 750 W. Streetsboro Road.

More than 100 people have died from heroin or fentanyl overdoses in Summit County since the beginning of the year.

Concerned parents or other family members who want to learn the signs of opiate use should attend. Attendees will be shown how to administer the naloxone, or Narcan, which will be available free to Summit County residents. Information about area treatment centers will also be discussed.

To register or ask questions, call 330-650-9533 or 330-620-5668.

Be a mentor

Akron-Catholic Charities Community Services of Summit County is partnering with Barberton City Schools and St. Augustine School for a new youth mentoring program.

Students will go through the program during the 2015-16 school year and spend up to three hours per week with mentors. Business partners will host visits and provide educational materials.

Young people need the support of caring adults, so please consider becoming involved.

For more information, contact Maribeth Hutchens-Saxer at 330-203-5429 or mhutchenssaxer@ccdocle.org.

Hattie Larlham artists

Hattie’s Creative Arts is part of today’s Summit Artwalk from 5 to 9 p.m. Hattie’s Creative Arts worked with the Akron Area Arts Alliance to develop the new 596-square-foot space on the third floor of the Summit Artspace building.

Original works of art, ceramics and photography by people with disabilities will be on display at the Artwalk. Items from Hattie’s Wearable Art line — art by people with developmental disabilities printed on scarves and neckties — will be available for purchase.

Summit Artspace is at 140 E. Market St. in Akron. For more information, call Phylliss Steiner at 330-274-2272, ext. 3013.

Special-needs walk

Zane’s Foundation’s Special Needs Awareness Walk and Fun Day is set for Sept. 12.

Cuyahoga Falls City Schools is co-sponsor for the event, the Fun Day portion of which takes place at Bolich Middle School. The 1-mile walk takes participants throughout the city.

This walk helps Zane’s Foundation provide services for children and adults with special needs in Northeast Ohio. Registration for the walk is $15, which includes a goodie bag with gift certificates and other items. Registration on the day of the event is $20.

To register, visit www.zanesfoundation.org and click on “6th Annual Special Needs Awareness Walk & Fun Day.”

Registration starts at 8 a.m. with the walk beginning at 9 a.m. For more information, visit www.zanesfoundation.org, call the foundation office at 330-677-9263 or email info@zanesfoundation.org.

Kim Hone-McMahan can be reached at 330-996-3742 or kmcmahan@thebeaconjournal.com. Find her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/kim.honemcmahan1.

State emails released this week show Ohio’s top school-choice official did not act alone in doctoring charter-school grades.

In 97,969 pages of text messages, emails and calendars handed over by the Ohio Department of Education, the department’s director of school choice David Hansen can be found communicating with his employees a desire to manipulate data to benefit charter-school operators and sponsors.

Rather than complying with the law on school choice accountability, he stated bluntly in communications that the rating system they were developing was to reflect the end result they wanted.

Hansen, who had a long history of school choice advocacy, was hired by state Superintendent Richard Ross in 2013 to run the Office of Quality School Choice.

While there was no evidence in the documents that Ross was involved in the manipulation, there is plenty of evidence that Hansen involved others, contrary to assertions by Ross and Gov. John Kasich as recently as Thursday that he acted alone.

Asked about the emails among Hansen’s staff, Kasich spokesman Joe Andrews said Friday: “It’s an unrealistic oversimplification to suggest that anyone was implying that a single person was pulling all the different levers on a program like this in a department as big as this. Is there an indication that this activity was part of some larger effort, directed from the top of the department, to go in a different direction than the law, obviously the public record confirms that that wasn’t the case.”

The emails show Hansen, whose wife Beth is running Kasich’s presidential campaign, routinely worked with other staff who were aware, and even questioned, Hansen’s intention to tweak the grading system for sponsors, which are independent organizations that authorize startup of charter schools and oversee their existence.

In one email, Hansen suggested arbitrarily issuing “exemplary” ratings for sponsors. Some sponsors were “chomping at the bit” to share the glowing reviews.

Sponsors also played an active role in developing the system that would grade them and were given detailed guidance on how to ace the evaluations.

“We told them what it would take to be rated exemplary,” Hansen explained in an email. “They were told to evaluate themselves on those expectations and let us know if they had any concerns with reaching exemplary status.”

In a follow up email, Hansen suggested giving each sponsor an arbitrary 92 percent score, landing them in the highest possible ranking. A staff member, who noted “looks of shock from others in the room,” asked if Hansen was joking. There was no evidence of an email reply.

There also is no evidence that she or any other employee working with Hansen emailed Ross about Hansen’s cavalier attitude toward charter-schools accountability. And Ross is nowhere to be found in the exchanges. His spokesperson said he doesn’t email much and had no role in working with Hansen on the altered grading system.

Rogue actor?

The emails detail regular conversations with at least a half dozen department staff who researched the reasons online and dropout charter schools perform so poorly and hurt sponsor evaluations.

So, Hansen threw out the bad grades of those schools despite Ohio law directing him to include them.

“This isn’t about law going into effect ... It is about how we want it to work,” Hansen said in a 2014 communication.

Hansen asked staff to study online charter schools, which are operated by some of the biggest Republican campaign donors in the state. As he developed the sponsor evaluation system, Hansen omitted these online schools, which have inexplicably bad academic outcomes for first-year students.

After that manipulation was confirmed at a state school board meeting in July, Hansen resigned and ODE rescinded the five evaluations it had given out.

Free market mishap

Hansen, though responsible for school-choice oversight, has a long history of advocating for less government and a free market. That showed in his communications.

“[State intervention] violates many principles of charter autonomy and accountability. Not to mention our desire for a clear chain of accountability and development that runs between school and [sponsor] rather than between school and state,” Hansen said in an email.

However, Ohio’s experiment with free-wheeling charter schools hasn’t been a good one. The Buckeye state ranked among the top five in the nation for failed charter schools in the past two years, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, a school choice advocacy group. Twenty-seven closed last year. Over the sector’s 17-year history in Ohio, 200 ill-fated charter schools have received more than $1 billion in public money before closing.

Sponsors are supposed to ensure only the best proposals are granted a license to open.

However, the framework to make that happen doesn’t appear to be in place, according to a report released Thursday by Auditor of State Dave Yost’s office in its first-ever evaluation of sponsors.

“Ohio law and Ohio Department of Education (ODE) rules lack guidance for community schools seeking sponsorship and for sponsors evaluating community school applications. Additionally, the statutes and rules contain no objective minimum standards which applying schools must meet to demonstrate academic and financial sustainability,” the audit stated.

In the past two years, charter schools have accounted for 70 percent of misspent tax dollars in Ohio. More than $25 million remains unpaid and owed to the state.

Still, documents show Hansen preferred a hands-off approach.

When charter schools complained to Hansen about overbearing sponsors or state regulations, Hansen defended the charter school. “I’ve been at ODE for just 3 months,” he wrote to a charter school in 2013, “but have a personal goal of protecting, if not growing, the autonomy to which charters are entitled and need in order to succeed.”

Kim Norris, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Education, said Ross was not available Friday to comment on the emails or the philosophy of the man he hired to oversee charter schools.

Norris said Hansen acted without direction from superiors, including her boss. “Anyone who runs a large organization will tell you that sometimes this will happen,” Norris said.

“[Ross] has said very publicly he is disappointed that there was a breakdown in the system,” she added, reiterating what Ross has said in prepared statements. “It’s unfortunate because the ultimate goal here is to have accountability of all schools.”

Meanwhile, other information found in the records show that the state has hired charter-school advocate and researcher Jody Ernst to develop a grading system for some charter schools.

Doug Livingston can be reached at 330-996-3792 or dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @DougLivingstonABJ.

AkRON

Beacon Journal hours

AKRON: The Beacon Journal customer service call center will be open on Labor Day; Monday’s hours are 7 a.m. to 10 a.m., with re-delivery available until 9:30 a.m.

The call center can be reached at 330-996-3600 or toll free at 1-800-777-2442.

The public service counter inside the Beacon Journal will be closed on Labor Day; it will reopen with regular business hours of 9 to 1 p.m. Tuesday. .

Ohio EPA lends funds to city

AKRON: The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is providing a $25.2 million low-interest loan to the city of Akron.

The money from the state’s Water Pollution Control Loan Fund will be used to pay for professional services related to the planning, designing and management activities to curtail Akron’s combined sewer overflows.

The improvements from the $1.4 billion project will result in reduced overflows to the Cuyahoga and Little Cuyahoga rivers and the Ohio & Erie Canal.

The city will save about $900,000 in interest payments with the state-backed loan.

Break-in at gas station

AKRON: Shortly before 5 a.m. Friday someone broke out a side window of the Marathon Gas Station at 1705 Diagonal Road and stole an undisclosed amount of money.

The thief entered the store and removed money from the cash register, then fled.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Akron Police Department at 330-375-2490.

KENT STATE

Research grant announced

KENT: Kent State University is receiving a $357,000 three-year research grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for Project AWARE.

The grant, announced Wednesday by U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Niles, will help train a team of university and community professionals to provide the Mental Health First Aid program to more than 700 Kent State University students, faculty and staff over the next three years.

Individuals receiving the Mental Health First Aid program will learn how to identify and assist students who are struggling with mental health or substance use disorders or experiencing a mental health crisis.

“Project AWARE Kent is a collaborative effort between Kent State University, the Mental Health and Recovery Board of Portage County and behavioral health agencies within the Kent community,” said Deric Kenne, Kent State associate director of the Division of Drug Research, in a news release.

“It will add to an ongoing effort to improve university and community response to mental health and substance abuse issues through education and awareness.”

MEDINA COUNTY

Old appliances accepted

Medina County residents can recycle appliances at two sites Tuesday through Saturday.

The collection, organized by the Medina County Solid Waste Management District, will accept refrigerators, freezers, washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, ranges, air conditioners, hot-water tanks, dehumidifiers and kitchen appliances.

Appliances can be dropped off from 6:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the county’s Central Processing Facility, 8700 Lake Road, Westfield Township.

Appliances can be dropped off from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday only at the county sanitary engineer’s plant, 2417 Plum Creek Parkway, Brunswick Hills Township.

There is no charge, and refrigerants will be removed at no cost to residents. For information, call 330-769-0289 or go to www.recyclemedinacounty.com.

STARK STATE

Scholarship established

JACKSON TWP.: The Gessner Family Foundation has established the Ruth Hess-Williams Health Sciences Scholarship at Stark State College to support health-care students.

To qualify, students must be admitted into one of Stark State’s health care programs, have a 3.0 grade-point average and live in Stark County.

For more information, go to: www.starkstate.edu/scholarships.

STATE NEWS

Guardsman indicted

COLUMBUS: Ohio National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Jason Edwards of Franklin County was indicted on charges of theft in office and tampering with records earlier this week.

The Ohio Army National Guard alleges Edwards was submitting false claims for reimbursement for travel expenses while participating in Ohio National Guard military funeral missions. Investigators found evidence to show Edwards submitted more than 100 reimbursement claims that totalled more than $10,000 in mileage and travel expenses when he was not actively engaged in military funeral honors duty.

The investigation reviewed records from Sept. 28, 2013, through July 28, 2014.

Edwards served in active duty with the military from 1995 to 2006 and joined the Ohio National Guard in 2010.

The investigation was conducted jointly by the Office of the Ohio Inspector General and the Ohio State Highway Patrol after a complaint was received from the Ohio Adjutant General’s Department.

SUMMIT COUNTY

HEAP fuel assistance

SUMMIT COUNTY: The County’s Department of Community and Economic Development will host a fuel fund assistance day for all income qualified FirstEnergy/Ohio Edison customers at 8 a.m. Thursday at the Ohio Means Jobs Summit County, formerly known as the Job Center (1040 E. Tallmadge Ave.).

Applicants will be given a number when they arrive. Only 200 numbers will be distributed that day. If you arrive after noon or after 200 numbers have been distributed or would like additional information, please call the fuel fund information line at 330-643-2068.

Eligibility is based on a household income at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level.

Persons applying for fuel fund assistance must provide: a photo identification (driver’s license or other form of photo ID); Social Security card; most recent delinquent electric bill or termination notice; proof of gross monthly income for all persons residing in the home for the past 30 days from the date of application; proof of a good faith payment within the past 90 days of the date in which the customer applies for assistance.

The person applying for assistance must be the person whose name appears on the utility bill.

If not, he/she must have a letter from the ratepayer dated within seven days from the date of application giving him/her permission to apply for assistance on his/her behalf.

Phyllis Clemons was hesitant when her pastor recommended that their Baptist congregation worship with an Apostolic congregation.

“I couldn’t imagine how it was going to work because we are two different denominations, which means we do things differently,” said Clemons, a member of Good Shepherd Baptist Church for 36 years. “Now, I realize that it’s not the denomination that’s important. What’s important is we’re all serving the same God. It’s been a wonderful thing.”

For more than a year, the Good Shepherd congregation has been worshipping with the congregation at Akron Apostolic Temple. The two have even invited a neighboring congregation, from St. Luke Baptist Church, to join them for prayer and Bible study on Wednesdays and for worship service on fifth Sundays.

While it is not uncommon for congregations to merge as membership dwindles — as a way to shore up their numbers and strength — it is unusual for two different denominations to come together as one congregation. When two different denominations are involved, it is typical to share a church building and have each congregation gather for worship at different times.

In fact, the coming together of Akron Apostolic and Good Shepherd – which is technically not a merger, but two separate congregations coming together for worship and fellowship –grew out of that type of arrangement.

“When our building fell into disrepair because of water constantly flooding the basement when it rained, we decided to move out,” said the Rev. Horace Drake, who organized the church 37 years ago. “When Bishop [Stanley] Robinson heard about it, he stopped by and offered to let us use his church building.”

Good Shepherd accepted the offer and began gathering for worship services at Akron Apostolic, located at 599 Noble Ave. The Apostolic congregation assembled for service at 11 a.m. and the Baptist church met at 2 p.m.

Last year, Robinson suggested that the congregations worship together.

“Sharing the building was going well, and we started building relationships. I just felt it was the will of God,” said Robinson, who has pastored the church for 48 years. “The glue that holds us together is love. We allow our love to usurp any doctrinal difference we may have.”

Among the differences are the way prayers are ended — in the Apostolic tradition, prayers are said in the name of Jesus, while the Baptist faith pray in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost — and how communion is administered. In the Baptist church communion is served on first Sundays, while communion is served twice a year in the Apostolic (or Pentecostal) church.

The two congregations make the adjustment by worshipping together on first Sundays and having a Good Shepherd communion service afterward. The pastors take turns preaching and offer prayers in the name of Jesus.

“We have more things in common than we do differences,“ Robinson said. “It’s a work in progress, but I am so excited that we have become an example of how the Christian community can come together , work together and become stronger in doing so.”

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

Eight veterans stood in a line Friday morning as rain drops rolled over a black marble stone at what will be Akron’s only Vietnam memorial.

The soldiers faced the stone — which read “IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO GAVE ALL” — and saluted 93 who did not get to come home from the war.

Every Akron veteran who died in the Vietnam War will have a place to be remembered in their city.

The memorial has been built by the generosity and persistence of Goodyear Heights volunteers, a local Vietnam veterans chapter, an Eagle Scout from Stow and one gruffy veteran.

The work-in-progress memorial is located at Watson Park — a grassy, triangular lot in Goodyear Heights sandwiched between Malasia Road, Watson Street and Wingfoot Way.

In the middle of the park, Stow resident Joe Rebuck — then an Eagle Scout candidate — worked with his Cub Scout troop to install benches and a flagpole.

Beneath the flagpole, the Akron chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 900 placed the stone. And in the concrete that fastens the stone to its foundation, tucked away for the ages, chapter member Mike Hoofman placed a Purple Heart pin.

“Nobody will ever know it’s there. Well, maybe now they might,” said chapter president Lee Fisher. “It’s just our little way of saying rest in peace.”

“It’s the least we can do,” Fisher continued. “We made it back, so we try to do whatever we can. We’re still serving.”

Fisher said his veterans group became aware of the plan to transform Watson Park into “Vietnam Veterans Park” after the Beacon Journal reported a year ago that Residents Improving Goodyear Heights Together (RIGHT) had partnered with a would-be Eagle Scout to raise a POW flag on the site.

The neighborhood volunteer group is now securing funding to install the 93 bricks. Each will carry the name of a fallen Vietnam soldier from Akron. The bricks will be placed in the ground in a circular pattern radiating from the flag pole and stone monument, RIGHT president Sharon Connor said.

Plaques disappear

Nearly 30 years ago, Akron officials set aside money to plant trees and install commemorative plaques around the city to honor each of its 93 fallen Vietnam soldiers.

But the plan fell through, and city officials can’t recall what happened to the plaques. Nearly 20 plaques, with the names of soldiers from Goodyear Heights, found a home on the corners of Watson Park. And the grassy triangle became the closest thing to a Vietnam memorial in Akron.

But over the years, blades spinning beneath city-owned lawn mowers curled up the edges on the metal plaques. Today, only a dozen remain.

Despite the city’s languished effort to remember its own, the veterans cannot forget.

“The park was never forgotten. The city wanted nothing to do with it,” said Charles Maerean, a member of the Akron Vietnam veterans group.

Maerean, 62, once took care of Watson Park for the city. He said his pugnacious demeanor chasing firecrackers and unruly children off the property didn’t bode well with neighbors. When he showed up on a Saturday in 1987 to water plants with a beer in his hand, he said the city let him go.

Today, Maerean mulches the property and follows city lawn mowers with his own weed whacker. He takes umbrage with neighborhood dogs, and their owners, who soil the now sacred park.

It was Maerean who encouraged the local Vietnam veterans chapter to purchase the $2,500 stone monument — which Bob Daily of Daily Monument in Kent discounted to meet the group’s limited pocketbook.

Doug Livingston can be reached at 330-996-3792 or dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @DougLivingstonABJ.

PORTAGE

Pyles-Goler, TreVaughn A., 17, of Ravenna. Died Tuesday. Wood-Kortright-Borkoski.

STARK

Peterson, Dianna (Sotcan), 71, of Alliance. Died Thursday. Cassaday-Turkle-Christian.

Radicevska, Zorka (Jankulovska), 84, of Clinton. Died Wednesday. Heitger, Jackson Township.

Wiles, Robert L, Sr., 80, of Alliance. Died Thursday. Cassaday-Turkle-Christian.

A grand jury has indicted a Mahoning County surgeon on charges related to a May 9 boat crash on Berlin Reservoir that killed an Akron man and injured another area man.

The Youngstown Vindicator reported that Dr. Joseph F. Yurich, 36, faces charges of aggravated vehicular homicide, aggravated vehicular assault and operating a watercraft while impaired.

The crash killed Neal B. Cuppett, 58, of Akron and injured Bruce Lindamood, 42, of Green.

The indictment said Dr. Yurich had a blood-alcohol content of 0.08, the legal intoxication threshold, at the time of the 12:20 a.m. crash.

Read the full report at www.vindy.com.

Lee Ann Schaffer broke the glass ceiling.

Karen Fritschel cleaned up the shards.

Sara Drew buried them in a landfill.

While most communities in Summit County have never had a female mayor, Stow hasn’t put a man in the office this millennium.

The same can be said in Twinsburg, where Katherine Procop has been at the helm for 16 years.

But in Stow — home to 35,000 souls — voters shattered the status quo in that same time by replacing a woman with a woman with a woman.

“Stow’s situation is in some ways wonderfully unique,” Schaffer acknowledged. “In hindsight, I am very proud to have been the first female elected in Stow’s history but I did not really consider the historical context while I had the job.”

As successful as women have been in the executive branch, the legislative branch is still dominated by men. Currently, all seven city council members are male. Among four council races this year, there is one female candidate.

“My colleagues on council are all very capable and smart men and I very much appreciate the perspective they bring to our local government,” Drew said. “With that said, having a local government that at every level is more representative of the community at large would only be beneficial. This is not only at the elected level, but for employees and our volunteer boards and commissions. We have made great advances in that goal but as with every organization or business, it is an ongoing process.”

On the other hand, Schaffer wonders if voters instinctively were attempting a different kind of diversity.

“I believe it possible that having such a male-dominated city council may have even played a role in voters deciding to elect three strong women to be their mayor as a sort of balance,” she said.

While all three women downplayed their gender when it comes to handling official duties, they did acknowledge their unofficial job as role models.

“I hope that young women in Stow have been positively influenced by having women mayors,” Fritschel said.

And that includes mentoring the next generation of politicians.

“Having someone coach and guide you, as well as provide insight and advice, is critical,” Drew said.

Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/paulaschleis.