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Elmwood may go back on ballot |
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Written by MARIE THOMAS BAIRD Sentinel Education Editor
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Tuesday, 14 May 2013 10:00 |
JERRY CITY - The school board is hinting at going back to voters in November to try again to renew its two income taxes.
Superintendent Tony Borton asked school board members at their meeting Monday for their opinion to try again this year or wait until 2014.
An attempt earlier this month to pass the district's 0.5-percent and 0.75-percent income taxes for a continuing time was soundly defeated, with 58 percent of voters voting against each request.
Borton said he thought residents' biggest concern was the taxes were going to a continuing status rather than the five-year limit they've had since first being passed in the early 1990s.
Both income taxes were last approved in 2009 by 62 percent of the vote.
The 0.5- and 0.75-percent income tax levies are set to expire in 2015 and 2016, respectively, and combined generate $1,590,000 for the district, or about 14 percent of Elmwood's operating budget.
Borton said the biggest concern with waiting until 2014 is if the taxes don't pass that year, the district will get into "crunch time" to get them approved.
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Written by JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN Sentinel County Editor
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Tuesday, 14 May 2013 09:37 |
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| Elizabeth Smart |
Elizabeth Smart, who was abducted as a teen and held captive for nine months, will share her story of survival and recovery this fall at Bowling Green State University.
Smart, who has reached out to other abduction victims including the three women recently freed in Cleveland, has become an advocate for child recovery programs and legislative changes.
Smart, now 25, will visit BGSU on Nov. 5 as part of a program sponsored by the BGSU University Libraries and its advocates board.
In 2002, on the night before she was to graduate from junior high, Smart was kidnapped at knifepoint from her bed in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her disappearance captured the nation's attention, until she was found nine months later just 18 miles from her home.
Smart fits the library's goal of hosting "ordinary people with extraordinary stories," said Sara Bushong, dean of University Libraries.
"Elizabeth Smart's story really seemed to rise to the top for us," Bushong said.
"She presents such a message of hope," Bushong said of Smart. "It really resonates with the audience."
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Rossford voters to decide council pay |
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Written by PETER KUEBECK Sentinel Staff Writer
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Tuesday, 14 May 2013 09:58 |
ROSSFORD - City residents will be able to vote on the salary of city council and the mayor this November.
Council Monday decided unanimously to put two charter amendments on the ballot concerning raises for the positions.
Whether or not the raises would go through had been an ongoing saga since early this year, spurred by changes in the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System.
Under current OPERS rules, officeholders cannot receive benefits unless they make at least $600 per month.
By a close vote in January, Council originally approved an ordinance to raise council's pay to $600 a month, up from $250. Rossford Council, which has not had a raise in 20 years, has the lowest pay amongst area city councils, except Ottawa Hills.
Council decided later in January to rescind their vote and sent the measure back to the city's Finance Committee for reconsideration.
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Former wrestling coach on trial |
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Written by BILL RYAN Sentinel Staff Writer
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Tuesday, 14 May 2013 09:33 |
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| Joseph Bergman, left, in court with his attorneys. (Photo: J.D. Pooley/Sentinel-Tribune) |
Is the former wrestling coach guilty of sexual battery or is he the victim of what his attorney called "a little white lie?"
On Monday, jurors began hearing testimony to answer that question as the state's case against Joseph Bergman Jr. began in what has been scheduled for a four-day trial.
Bergman, age 29, of Genoa, and a former Genoa wrestling coach, is accused of having sexual relations with a 17-year-old female student in the back seat of his vehicle on March 30, 2012. The incident is said to have occurred in the parking lot in front of the movie theaters at Levis Commons in Perrysburg.
Heather Baker, an assistant Wood County prosecutor, outlined for the jurors what she said the testimony will reveal about the night in question.
She said that the student was a statistician for the wrestling team and that is how she met the defendant. They allegedly had corresponded previously, and on the night in question, she corresponded by text using one of her friend's cell phones.
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