WestChesterBuzz.com

There is plenty to do in West Chester and Liberty townships this weekend.

For things to do in Greater Cincinnati, visit Cincinnati.com’s new Things to Do page.

When you are not out and about, visit the new video page on WestChesterBuzz.com To view West Chester and Liberty Township related videos, visit westchesterbuzz.com/videos.

Saturday

Cool Jazz ‘n’ Hotcakes breakfast – Jazz will be on the menu for the Lakota East High School’s Cool Jazz ‘n’ Hotcakes breakfast. From 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, the school’s Eastside Café will be open to the community for a morning of jazz performances by Lakota junior and senior high school musicians. Listen to five different ensembles while munching on pancakes and sausage cooked by parents and served by teens. Admission is $6 for all the food you can eat.

Karen Moeller Scholarship Fun Run – Two summers ago, the Lakota community lost a loved one when longtime teacher Karen Moeller passed away. Members of the community honored the elementary school teacher by creating the Karen Moeller Scholarship Fun Run/Walk, which will take place for the second consecutive year in May at Voice of America Park. This year’s event will take place Saturday and will begin at 9 a.m. around the lake at VOA Park.

Plant sale and open house at Hughes School – Antique agricultural tractors will be on display at this year’s spring open house at the former Hughes School – a one-room school adjacent to Liberty Elementary School. Sponsored by the Liberty Township Historical Society the open house runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, at the school, 6010 Princeton Road. In conjunction with the open house, the Liberty Township Garden Club will host its annual plant sale in the school’s parking lot.

Fancy Nancy Tea Party – In the community room of the West Chester Library there will be two tea parties this Saturday. The hour-long event, which is called Fancy Nancy Tea Party, will begin at 10:30 a.m. and again at 1:30 p.m. The event is geared to “Fancy Nancys” ages 4-6 and their chaperones. The event includes a storytime, followed by light refreshments. Children are encouraged to dress up. Cameras are welcome. Call the library, 513-777-3131 about registration.

Sunday

Great Amazing Race – Modeled after a popular TV reality show, the contest at Voice of America Park pairs family members on a mile-long course that leads them to a string of challenge stations. Typical challenges range from a piggyback obstacle course to a “mummy wrap,” in which adults robe their youthful partner in toilet paper. The event organizer, Greg Benton, describes it as a family version of the TV show, “The Amazing Race.” The race will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. and costs $40 for a team of two. Visit greatamazingrace.com for more details or to register.

Acoustic Jam session – The community is invited to listen or join in a public acoustic jam session at Keehner Park this Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. According to westchesteroh.org, similar events will be held on the first Sunday of the month at Keehner Park now through September.

Posted in: Events, News, School events |

Tags: Tags: Adena Elementary, Adena Elementary School, basketball, brain cancer, death, funeral, Karen Moeller, Karen Moeller Scholarship Fun Run/Walk, Karen Moeller Scholarship Fund, Lakota East, Lakota East bands, Lakota East High School, Lakota East High School’s Cool Jazz ‘n’ Hotcakes breakfast, Lakota Local Schools, Voice of America Park

Two summers ago, the Lakota community lost a loved one when longtime teacher Karen Moeller passed away.

Members of the community honored the elementary school teacher by creating the Karen Moeller Scholarship Fun Run/Walk, which will take place for the second consecutive year in May at Voice of America Park.

This year’s event will take place Saturday and will begin at 9 a.m. around the lake at VOA Park. The event will benefit the Karen Moeller Scholarship Fund, which awards two scholarships each year to high school students based on academics and contributions to Lakota and to his or her community.

The distance of the run/walk is 1 ¼ miles. Prizes and awards will also be given out.

The cost per participant on the day of the event is $20. Those walk-ups are encouraged to arrive at least 30 minutes before the event begins.

Moeller taught first and second grades at Adena Elementary for 17 years before being transferred to Shawnee Elementary. In November of 2007, Moeller was diagnosed with brain cancer and fought the disease for more than 3 ½ years.

For more information about the event, visit lakotawesthigh.com.

Posted in: Events, News, School events |

Tags: Tags: Adena Elementary, Adena Elementary School, basketball, brain cancer, death, funeral, Karen Moeller, Karen Moeller Scholarship Fun Run/Walk, Karen Moeller Scholarship Fund, Lakota Local Schools, Voice of America Park

The Lakota Board of Education once again approved an inter-district open enrollment policy, which allows students the opportunity to apply to attend Lakota schools despite not living in the school district.

Information and applications will be made available no later than Wednesday. Applications are due, along with all required documents, by June 7. Applicants will be considered on a first-come, first-served basis.

As part of the enrollment process, families will need to complete and submit the following information:

• Open Enrollment Application
• District Registration Packet for the requested grade level
• Student’s original birth certificate
• Parent/guardian ID
• Proof of residency (current mortgage statement, current lease, or current real estate tax bill), and any custody documents
• For kindergarten students only: current record of immunizations.

For more information after Wednesday, visit Lakota enrollment center website on lakotaonline.com or call 513-682-4120.

The inter-district open enrollment was first made available last summer for the 2012-2013 school year. Previously, Lakota has not had the capacity to accept students who live outside the district because population growth had been so steep for so long.

More recently, the enrollment has been on the decline, as slightly more than 500 fewer students enrolled in the Lakota school district in 2011-2012 compared to the 2010-2011 school year. During that span, the district-wide enrollment went down 3 percent.

Posted in: Board of Education, News, Schools |

Tags: Tags: Lakota, Lakota Board of Education, Lakota East, Lakota five-year forecast, Lakota Local Schools, Lakota open enrollment, Lakota school board, Lakota West

To let West Chester and Liberty Township residents catch up with the news that they need to know, WestChesterBuzz.com will list and link to all of last week’s top local stories every Monday.

WestChesterBuzz.com also recently added a new video page last week. To view West Chester and Liberty Township related videos, visit westchesterbuzz.com/videos.

Cop rounds in Butler County now include schools – There are now frequent visitors at Lakota Schools who are armed but very welcome, Michael D. Clark reported last week for The Enquirer. Butler County Sheriff Deputy Mark Gilbert pulled his cruiser into the parking lot of Liberty Early Childhood School about 1 p.m. on a recent school day as part of his daily rounds in Butler County’s Liberty Township. It’s the latest strategy to strengthen school safety, say sheriff officials, who launched the new program last week for the county’s school districts and private schools.

PHOTO GALLERY: Mellencamp making a name for himself – In 2011, John Cougar Mellencamp called his brother in West Chester to let him know he had just seen his nephew on a billboard in Los Angeles. The billboard, which was also on display in New York City, Paris and China, was part of a Calvin Klein campaign that helped launch Ian Mellencamp’s modeling career that year.

Liberty trustee: It’s ‘immoral’ to accept federal funds – Liberty Township will apply for a federal grant to pay for construction and installation of a sidewalk, Sue Kiesewetter reported last week. But if the township is awarded the grant it is uncertain whether it would be accepted. Trustee David Kern voted this week against applying for a transportation alternative grant that would help pay for construction of sidewalks from the Liberty Junior School crosswalk at the Yankee Road/Dutchland Boulevard intersection to Cincinnati-Dayton Road, a distance of 3,250 feet.

VIDEOS: Zack Cozart visits West Chester – Immediately after Opening Day last season, rookie shortstop Zack Cozart admitted that he was exhausted. After the game, he went back to his apartment and crashed. This year, despite the longer day (game lasted 4 hours and 45 minutes), Cozart said he had more energy after Monday’s opener.

VIDEO: Coyotes welcome at VOA park – Six coyotes are roaming the fields of Voice of America Park. But these coyotes are there for the park’s protection. MetroParks officials are going as far to say, these coyotes are park “employees’’. These six employees are plastic and have to be moved by park staff. However, their job duties are to protecting the park’s $3 million project, which includes 22 new multipurpose natural grass athletic fields.

Posted in: Business, News |

Tags: Tags: Beacon Electric, Beacon Electric Cincinnati, Beacon Electric in Cincinnati, Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones, construction, coyotes, coyotes in Ohio parks, coyotes West Chester Ohio, David Kern, federal grant, grant, Guns in Lakota schools, guns in schools, Ian Mellencamp, Ian Mellencamp model, Joe Mellencamp, John Cougar Mellencamp, John Cougar Mellencamp's nephew, John Mellencamp, John Mellencamp's nephew, kathy dirr, lakota junior school, Lakota Local Schools, Lakota schools, liberty township, national debt, New View modeling, Richard Jones, Sheriff Richard Jones, sidewalk, Sports Gallery, Sports Gallery West Chester, tom farell, transportation alternative grant, trustee, VOA Park, VOA Park West Chester, Voice of America, Voice of America Park, Voice of America Park West Chester, Zack Cozart, Zack Cozart Cincinnati Reds, Zack Cozart signing

Michael D. Clark reports:

There are now frequent visitors at Lakota Schools who are armed but very welcome.

Butler County Sheriff Deputy Mark Gilbert pulled his cruiser into the parking lot of Liberty Early Childhood School about 1 p.m. on a recent school day as part of his daily rounds in Butler County’s Liberty Township.

His next visit will be at a different time during the school day.

It’s the latest strategy to strengthen school safety, say sheriff officials, who launched the new program last week for the county’s school districts and private schools.

Schools nationwide have re-evaluated security in the wake of the December shooting deaths of 26 students and adults at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.

In March, South Dakota became the first state to pass a law with provisions that specifically authorize teachers to possess a firearm in a K-12 school.

No sheriff department, however, in Greater Cincinnati or Northern Kentucky has been as publicly aggressive as Butler County’s in launching new school security plans.

“It’s letting the public know we have a good police presence in our schools now and we are doing what we can to keep our schools safe,” says Gilbert.

The new twist to school safety was prompted in part by the lack of action for another idea from Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones. He wanted to place armed substitute teachers in schools. That idea, unveiled in January, requires approval from local school boards but so far none have taken it to a vote.

“Not yet,” Jones says.

Gilbert is glad to add school stops among his daily rounds, which if time allows also includes classroom visits and maybe a quick sit-down lunch with students.

His first classroom visit had him fielding questions from youngsters he doesn’t normally get from patrolling the local community.

“Can you arrest squirrels?” asks one student, upset that a class project to feed birds was hijacked by hungry rodents.

Liberty School PTA President Daniel Colpi, who has a child at the school, says he appreciates seeing a police cruiser parked in the school lot and the impression it may have on anyone thinking about committing violence on school grounds.

“I hate to think about what could happen, so if it deters people from going to school to do such things then it’s valuable,” Colpi says.

Liberty School parent Susanne Page prefers this type of school policing to arming substitute teachers.

“I like weapons in the hands of lawmen that are trained and I like the idea that these are police officers from our community,” she says.

Posted in: Crime, News, Schools |

Tags: Tags: Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones, Guns in Lakota schools, guns in schools, Lakota Local Schools, Lakota schools, Richard Jones, Sheriff Richard Jones

To let West Chester and Liberty Township residents catch up with the news that they need to know, WestChesterBuzz.com will list and link to all of last week’s top local stories every Monday.

WestChesterBuzz.com also recently added a new video page last week. To view West Chester and Liberty Township related videos, visit westchesterbuzz.com/videos.

Yosselin Villatoro is a ‘survivor’ – Sue Kiesewetter again shared the story in The Cincinnati Enquirer of Yosselin Villatoro, who recently celebrated her eighth birthday. Villatoro was diagnosed just before Christmas in 2011 with osteosarcoma, an aggressive bone cancer that started in the femur of her left leg and spread to her lungs. Recently, she told her grandmother that she was a “cancer survivor.”

Butler County resists switching to full-time judges - Sheila McLaughlin reports for The Cincinnati Enquirer: Thomas Moyer, the late Ohio Supreme Court chief justice, tried for more than a decade to eliminate the use of part-time judges across the state. They more recently came under attack by Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser. He called one local judge “the fox in the hen house” and was instrumental in getting the judge kicked off of 10 drunken driving cases.

Punxsutawney Phil is off the hook – Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser has since changed his mind and dismissed the charge of “misrepresentation of early spring” against the groundhog. Gmoser said Phil is a scapegoat for the misinterpretation of his handler. Phil’s handler has “stepped up to the burrow to take full responsibility for misrepresenting said Defendant’s prediction of an early spring,” he said in the official looking dismissal document.

‘Lakota Style’ March Madness – Around 1,300 Lakota elementary students on 146 different teams helped raise more than $13,000 for local non-profits by participating in this month’s March Madness “Lakota Style” basketball tournament. Last year, the event raised $3,000.

AK Steel forecasts first quarter loss – AK Steel Holding Corp. said Friday it expects to post a net loss of between 9 cents and 13 cents per share in the first quarter. The West Chester Township-based parent of AK Steel said it is dealing with lower levels of steel shipments and below average spot market demand compared to the fourth quarter.

Lakota West grad Brigit Reder makes professional roster – Lakota West graduate and former Ball State soccer player Brigit Reder has recently made the preseason 25-person roster for the Western New York Flash of the National Women’s Soccer League. On the roster, Reder joins Abby Wambach and Caril Lloyd, both members of the U.S. Women’s National Team.

Posted in: Business, Crime, News, Schools |

Tags: Tags: Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Lakota, Lakota Local Schools, Lakota West, Lakota West High School, Lakota West High School web design, Lakota West web design, West Chester top 12 stories of 2012, West Chester top stories of 2012, Wyandot Early Childhood School, Wyandot Early Childhood School Lakota, Wyandot Early Childhood School Liberty Township, Yosselin Villatoro

Around 1,300 Lakota elementary students on 146 different teams helped raise more than $13,000 for local non-profits by participating in this month’s March Madness “Lakota Style” basketball tournament.

Last year, the event raised $3,000.

The charity basketball tournament tradition is organized by community volunteers, giving Lakota elementary students (boys and girls in grades 3-6) the opportunity to represent their school and help give back to their communities. The tournament, sponsored this year by One Stop Tool Rental, began on Monday, March 11 and concluded with the finals on Friday, March 22 and produced 13 championship teams.

Boys Red Division

• 3rd Grade – Freedom
• 4th Grade – Cherokee
• 5th Grade – VanGorden
• 6th Grade – Freedom

Boys Black Division

• 3rd Grade – VanGorden
• 4th Grade – VanGorden
• 5th Grade – Independence
• 6th Grade – Van Gorden

Girls Division

• 3rd Grade – Woodland
• 4th Grade – Endeavor
• 5th Grade Red – VanGorden
• 5th Grade Black – Endeavor
• 6th Grade – Woodland

“Every elementary school in the district was represented,” said the tournament’s chairman, Mike Goldman. “And we cannot thank enough the district, school principals, building staff, East and West coaches and players, the parents and the community as whole for their continued efforts to make this fun for the kids each and every year.”

Lakota East and Lakota West girls and boys high school basketball players volunteers as referees at this year’s games, many of which played in the tournament during their own elementary days. Lakota West graduate and Xavier University basketball player Amber Gray even returned to referee some of the games.

“I was so proud to see the school spirit and sportsmanship by schools like Freedom and VanGorden,” Goldman said. “Their 6th graders played against each other in the championship game and were smiling and having fun during the game and win or lose, after the game too.”

For more details, including scheduled TV air dates courtesy of West Chester TV, visit the Lakota March Madness webpage.

Posted in: Schools, Sports, Youth sports |

Tags: Tags: elementary, Lakota East, Lakota East Sports, Lakota Local Schools, Lakota March Madness, Lakota West, Lakota West sports

Sue Kiesewetter reports:

Tammy Randall burst into tears when her granddaughter said the four words she’s waited months to hear.

“I’m a cancer survivor,” Yosselin Villatoro told her grandmother one day after school this month.

“I stood there and cried,” said Randall, who has custody of Yosselin and her 6-year-old brother Freddy.

“With all she’s been through and struggled with – to finally have her say that, well, all I can say is I’ve been waiting a long time to hear those words.”

Fifteen months ago, just before Christmas 2011, Tammy and her husband, Keith, got the devastating news that their then-6-year-old granddaughter had osteosarcoma, an aggressive bone cancer that started in the femur of her left leg and spread to her lungs.

Since then, Yosselin has undergone four surgeries – including one to remove 8 inches of her femur, replacing it with an expandable metal rod – to remove the cancer. Another operation is scheduled June 14 to lengthen the rod since Yosselin has grown 2.5 inches in the last year.

In December, doctors gave the Randalls the news they had been praying for since the ordeal began: Yosselin was in remission and if her now quarterly tests remain the same – her next scan will be done in June – she will be declared cancer free in five years.

“I told Yosselin, but I don’t think she really believed it until she said those words after she did a school report on Sally Ride,” Randall said. “Even though Sally died of cancer (in July), Yosselin recognized she had survived cancer.”

(Ride, a physicist, in 1983 became the first American woman astronaut to orbit the earth.)

“It’s breathtaking just to watch her grow into a beautiful young lady,” Randall said with tears in her eyes.

“She had her first sleepover at a friend’s house, and I was a nervous wreck. It was the first time she’s been away since the diagnosis.… It went well.”

Yosselin is now going to school most days, and the family is settling into a routine that doesn’t involve constant doctors’ visits and runs to the hospital every time Yosselin gets a cold or fever.

She still tires easily and frequently takes a nap after school. Her immune system is getting stronger, but, when she does get sick, it takes longer to recover and the illness tends to be more severe than before the cancer diagnosis.

Physical therapy that Yosselin is undergoing has strengthened her leg enough that she bears full weight on it. Yosselin uses her walker at Cherokee Elementary – where she is a second-grader – only as a safety precaution as her leg strengthens.

Classmate Savannah Evans is glad Yosselin is back in the classroom full time.

“My favorite part is spending time with her,” Savannah said. “She’s the kindest person in the whole world.”

Yosselin likes physical education and art classes and was excited to help her team win a race.

“In gym class I get to run and exercise my leg and that’s good,’’ Yosselin said. “We did a one-legged relay race – you gotta take big hops – and we had teams and my team won because of me. I’m the fastest hopper.”

For her eighth birthday, Yosselin invited her entire class, along with family and friends, to a birthday party that featured a live Candyland game set up in the family’s basement. It was quite different from her seventh birthday when there was no party as the family prepared for surgery to insert the rod into Yosselin’s leg.

For five weeks before the party Randall worked on re-creating the Candyland game board complete with Chocolate Mountain, Lollipop Woods, Snowflake Lake, Peanut Acres, King Candy and Peppermint Forest.

More than two dozen children turned out.

“I’m lucky, very, very, very lucky to have a birthday party with this many people,” Yosselin said.

Posted in: News, Schools |

Tags: Tags: Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Lakota, Lakota Local Schools, Lakota West, Lakota West High School, Lakota West High School web design, Lakota West web design, West Chester top 12 stories of 2012, West Chester top stories of 2012, Wyandot Early Childhood School, Wyandot Early Childhood School Lakota, Wyandot Early Childhood School Liberty Township, Yosselin Villatoro

The Community Foundation of West Chester/Liberty is accepting applications until next Monday, April 1 for the Karen Moeller Scholarship, which awards two scholarships each year to high school students based on academics and contributions to Lakota and to his or her community.

Moeller taught first and second grades at Adena Elementary for 17 years before being transferred to Shawnee Elementary. As a teacher, she won the David Thiel Award, which recognizes kind, caring, and giving community members in Lakota.

In November of 2007, Moeller was diagnosed with brain cancer and fought the disease for more than 3 ½ years.

She passed away in June of 2011.

After her death, her family and friends worked to establish a scholarship fund as a tribute to her work in Lakota and her love of furthering the education of local youth.

Applications can be found online at www.wclfoundation.com.

To learn more about The Community Foundation’s scholarship opportunities or how to create a legacy by establishing a new scholarship opportunity, please call Melissa Benedict at 513-874-5450.

Posted in: News, Schools |

Tags: Tags: Adena Elementary, Adena Elementary School, basketball, brain cancer, death, funeral, Karen Moeller, Karen Moeller Scholarship Fun Run/Walk, Karen Moeller Scholarship Fund, Lakota Local Schools

The Community Foundation of West Chester/Liberty is accepting nomination forms through Friday for its Lakota Educator of Excellence Award.

The Community Foundation of West Chester/Liberty will honor two Lakota Educator of Excellence Award winners at its annual dinner celebration April 25. The winners will receive an award along with a monetary grant to be used for a special project within their school.

“We are excited to have peers, parents and community members provide nominations for those educators who have gone above and beyond in working with the district’s young people,” said Melissa Benedict Community Foundation of West Chester/Liberty vice president of donor services.

One award will be presented to an educator representing pre-kindergarten through the sixth grade. The other award winner will represent the seventh grade through the 12th grade.

Nominations are not limited to classroom teachers. Award recipients may be any person (teacher, administrator, support staff, etc.) working with young people in the Lakota school district.

The award was established in 2007 to recognize educators in the Lakota School District, who demonstrate consistency and high commitment to students, motivates, shares ideas, inspires others, is supportive, creative and goes beyond the classroom to make a difference in the community. Previous winners include Shannon Henderson, Linda Abbott, Katie Woodruff, Audrey Stamp, Karen Kamm, Ann Aprahamian, Fred Thomas and Mendy Dimatteo.

Nomination forms are available on the Community Foundation’s website www.wclfoundation.com or at the school district’s central office.

Posted in: News, Schools |

Tags: Tags: Ann Aprahamian, Audrey Stamp, Community Foundation WCL, Community Foundation West Chester/Liberty, Fred Thomas, Karen Kamm, Katie Woodruff, Lakota Educator of Excellence Award, Lakota Local Schools, Linda Abbott, Mendy Dimatteo, Shannon Henderson, WCL Community Foundation