WestChesterBuzz.com

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.

Lakota Local Schools closed – A winter storm last Tuesday night forced Lakota Local Schools to close for the first time in the 2012-2013 school year. West Chester’s Nature Basket program was also canceled due to the weather.

What is your gold worth? – As gold prices soar, so do the number of gold buyers and sellers. That means more work for county auditors, who are tasked with validating the accuracy of scales used to weigh gold at businesses that buy it. In Southwest Ohio, auditors from Butler, Warren, Clermont and Hamilton counties in 2012 registered 186 scales from precious metals buyers, up from just 30 in 2009.

Lakota East OL Jarrett LaRubbio receives multiple offers – Miami (Ohio), West Virginia, Cincinnati and Georgia Tech all offered Lakota East junior offensive lineman Jarrett LaRubbio last week, Lakota East coach Rick Haynes told Cincinnati Enquirer high school sports recruiting writer Mike Dyer. The 6-foot-5, 265-pound lineman has received offers Arizona State, Western Michigan, Duke, Kentucky Nebraska, N.C. State, Akron, Pittsburgh, Bowling Green, Toledo, Kent State and Ohio.

13 seek Liberty Township trustee seat – A total of 13 individuals have applied to join the Liberty Township Board of Trustees, Sue Kiesewetter reported late last week for The Cincinnati Enquirer. Whoever is selected would fill Patrick Hiltman’s term, which ends Dec. 31. To keep the seat, the trustee would have to run in the November election. Among the candidates are a former Trenton mayor, the developer of the Carriage Hill development, three members of the township’s Vision Committee and volunteers on three other township groups.

Butler Tech names new superintendent – Bill Miller on last Thursday was named superintendent of Butler Tech, Sue Kiesewetter reported for The Cincinnati Enquirer. For the past two months, Miller has served as interim superintendent following the December resignation of Brett Smith. He was one of three finalists for the job. Miller was given a two-year contract, which runs through July 31, 2015. His salary was set at $126,250 annually.

Census: Cincinnati commuter rate among highest in nation – Hamilton County has among the highest number of commuters coming from another county in the nation, the U.S. Census Bureau reported recently, according to Mark Wert of The Cincinnati Enquirer. Among workers in Hamilton County, 188,113 live outside the county, according to 2006-2010 Census estimates. For example, 45,965 workers commute in from Butler County. Meanwhile, 66,994 residents of Hamilton County leave the county for work, or only 18.6 percent of the county’s total. The biggest group, 20,856, goes to Butler County.

Florida State offers RB Mikel Horton – Florida State offered Lakota West junior running back Mikel Horton on Monday, according to Lakota West head football coach Larry Cox. The previous week, four Division I programs offered Horton. Louisville, Cincinnati, Purdue and Miami (Ohio) offered on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, respectively. In addition, Horton has received interest from Penn State, Michigan State and Arkansas, as well as offers from Indiana, Minnesota, Kent State, Toledo, Bowling Green, Western Michigan and Kentucky.

Lillian’s Leprechauns, others benefit from Shamrock Shuffle – More than 5,000 runners and walkers took part in the 2013 Shamrock Shuffle in West Chester Township Saturday. Each one of them came out for a reason, as many did so for one of the 50 charities that were participating in the annual event. The charity that brought in the most runners/walkers was a new group, Lillian’s Leprechauns, which was created after Adam Woodward and Niki Larson, both of Maineville, lost their baby, Lillian, one day after she was born.

Posted in: Events, Fall sports, News, Recreational events, Sports |

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More than 5,000 runners and walkers took part in the 2013 Shamrock Shuffle in West Chester Township Saturday. Each one of them came out for a reason, as many did so for one of the 50 charities that were participating in the annual event.

Melissa Benedict, president of the Community Foundation of West Chester, predicted the event will raise around $100,000, with $40,000 going back to the participating charities and the remaining amount going toward other charitable grants that are provided through the foundation.

The charity that brought in the most runners/walkers was a new group, Lillian’s Leprechauns, which was created after Adam Woodward and Niki Larson, both of Maineville, lost their baby, Lillian, one day after she was born.

When the couple arrived at Bethesda North Hospital on Sept. 26, 2012, they weren’t expecting any complications with the birth. The following afternoon, while in labor, Larson had to be given an emergency C-section after her placenta had become detached, cutting off her unborn child’s oxygen supply.

Lillian was born Sept. 27 at 4:12 p.m. and had to be revived by hospital staff.

The doctor eventually took Lillian off life support, but surprisingly, she began to breathe on her own.

“She shocked the doctors,” said Woodward, who also has a 11-year-old son named Garrett. “They told us that she is making a liar out of us … it gave us hope.”

The family, however, would find out the next morning that her brain wasn’t fully functionally and that she wasn’t going to live much longer. Lillian passed away at 8:25 p.m. Sept. 28.

“What you see in the movies about a person being taken off life support is not anything compared to what you live,” Woodward said. “She was breathing on her for more than 17 hours.

“We are still in shock … Still to this day, you can’t believe it.”

Lillian’s death became an even harder reality when her funeral needed to planned. In additional to the extreme grief, there were financial obligations. She was buried at Rose Hill Cemetery in Deerfield Township on Oct. 6.

While there, Woodward noticed grave sites for 57 babies. He even noticed one grave stone that had three names.

“What we hope to accomplish (with Lillian’s Leprechauns) is to bring awareness that there are families out there that lose newborns and infants and we would like to offer financial assistance for funeral expenses,” Woodward said.

“It was a shock that it happened to us and we just want to be able to pay it forward.”

Lillian’s Leprechauns is in its organizational stages. To contact them, go through the Community Foundation at 513-874-5450.

Posted in: Events, News, Recreational events |

Tags: Tags: 10K West Chester, 5K West Chester, Community Foundation WCL, Community Foundation West Chester/Liberty, fundraiser West Chester, Leprechaun Lap, Lillian’s Leprechauns, Shamrock Gives Back, Shamrock Shuffle, Shamrock Shuffle West Chester, St. Patrick's Day, WCL Community Foundation