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.

Lakota to lose both high school principals- With the West Clermont school board’s recent approval of Keith Kline (current principal at Lakota East) as its new assistant superintendent, the Lakota school district will be entering the 2012-2013 school year with different principals at both high schools. Meanwhile, Richard Hamilton, who has served as the principal at Lakota West for the past 13 years, is retiring at the end of the school year in July.

Former Lakota East wrestler to compete in 2012 Olympics – About 10 years ago, Pliev had offers to wrestle at universities throughout the United States. He was coming off back-to-back state and national wrestling titles at Lakota East and seemed destined to accomplish his dream of becoming an Olympian. His journey, however, took a few unique turns.

Mothers of twins grow special bond in West Chester– One of the largest mothers of multiples groups in the nation is right here in West Chester. The local twins club started in 1988 with six members. It has grown to more than 230 members today.

U.S. News ranks Lakota high schools among nation’s best – Lakota high schools made U.S. News & World Report’s list of top-ranked public high schools in the state and nation. Schools were awarded gold, silver or bronze medals based on a range of performance indicators, such as state proficiency standards and how well they prepare students for college. Both schools were among 93 Ohio public high schools to earn a silver medal.

West Chester firefighters have new pact – The West Chester Board of Trustees approved a three-year contract with the township’s fire lieutenants and firefighters last Tuesday. The contract affects 57 full-timers who are represented by the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 3518, and replaces a contract that expired at the end of last year.

AK Steel makes Fortune 500 list – AK Steel, which is headquartered in West Chester, was recently named to this year’s Fortune 500 list of America’s largest corporations. The company was ranked 381st on this year’s list and generated approximately $6.5 billion in revenue in 2011.

West Chester day care child abuser gets 80 years – Dan Horn reported that a Mason man will likely spend the rest of his life in prison for molesting boys at his mother’s in-home day care in West Chester and sharing photos of the abuse over the Internet. A federal judge sentenced Andrew Keith, 29, to 80 years in prison last Wednesday for producing and sharing child pornography.

Sectional tournament update: Lakota teams advance – The Lakota West baseball team, along with the Lakota East and Lakota West softball teams, won their postseason matchups in the sectional tournament last Wednesday. Both baseball teams also advanced to district semifinal games with wins last Thursday. All four teams will play in district semifinal games this week.

Boehner listens to small business owners in Hamilton- House Speaker John Boehner Friday accused President Obama of being “AWOL for about eight months” as he campaigns non-stop for re-election. Boehner’s remarks came during a visit to United Performance Metals here where he listened to the concerns of local small business owners.

Lakota East teacher investigated over prom funds – A Lakota East High School teacher is the focus of an investigation by police in connection with missing funds from the Butler County school’s prom fund. The teacher, who resigned earlier this week, was not named by Lakota school officials in their released statement last Friday.

Fallen West Chester Marine to receive Purple Heart – The body of Marine Sgt. John Patrick “J.P.” Huling will return to his Butler County hometown Sunday as the latest recipient of the prestigious Purple Heart Award, military officials said last Friday. The Moeller High School graduate and bomb disposal specialist, 25, was shot in the chest and killed Sunday by someone, possibly a Taliban member, wearing an Afghan National Army uniform – a person supposed to be an ally of U.S. forces.

Posted in: Board of Education, Crime, Election, Government, News, Schools, Sports, Spring sports, Student achievements, Winter Sports |

Tags: Tags: 2012 Summer Olympics, death, Dr. Keith Kline, J.P. Huling, J.P. Huling death, John Boehner, John Boehner Cincinnati, John Boehner photos, John Boehner West Chester, Keith Kline, Khetag Pliev, Khetag Pliev 2012 Summer Olympics, Khetag Pliev Olympics, Khetag Pliev Team Canada, Khetag Pliev wrestling, Lakota East, Lakota East principal Dr. Keith Kline, Lakota East principal Keith Kline, Lakota East Sports, Lakota West, Lakota West principal Richard Hamilton, Lakota West sports, military, Richard Hamilton, Twins Club West Chester, U.S. Marine Sgt. John Patrick “J.P.” Huling, United Performance Metals, West Chester Fire Department, West Chester Mothers of Twins & More Club

House Speaker John Boehner Friday accused President Obama of being “AWOL for about eight months” as he campaigns non-stop for re-election.

Boehner’s remarks came during a visit to United Performance Metals here where he listened to the concerns of local small business owners.

During the open forum, business owners asked questions about the upcoming presidential election, President Obama’s health care law, and the uncertainty of the economy, among other items.

Before opening the forum for questions, Boehner began by slamming President Barack Obama for being “campaigning 24/7.” The West Chester Republican added that Obama is trying “to make this election about everything other than his policies,” which the Speaker said “have failed.”

The Ohio Democratic Party countered that thanks to Obama, Ohio has added 140,000 jobs over the last two years and the state’s unemployment rate has fallen from 8.6 percent when he took office to 7.5 percent today.

“While President Obama has helped our economy start to turn the corner, Speaker Boehner, Robert Portman and Mitt Romney want to bring back the failed policies that sparked the economic crisis,” Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern said in a statement.

Boehner told the group of business owners that the country had racked up more than $5 trillion in national debt in the last three and a half years and has a $1.3 trillion deficit for this year.

“While the president and I tried mightily to reduce this giant debt, it is continuing to build,” Boehner said. “In the year and a half that I have been Speaker, my biggest disappointment is that I couldn’t come to an agreement with the President to reduce our debt and our deficit so we could get America on a firmer fiscal path.”

During the forum itself, the upcoming presidential election was brought up. In response, Boehner shared his confidence in Romney.

“For Mitt Romney to be basically tied with the President of the United States today, after getting his rear end kicked from one end of the country to the other by his political opponents in the primary, is really pretty remarkable,” Boehner said.

“This election is going to be about the economy. It is going to be about jobs. The president’s policies have failed and have actually made things worse. I believe Mitt Romney has a great success story and a great economic plan that will stand in sharp contrast to the President. Watch it all unfold. I think it will unfold pretty well.”

One of those policies discussed during the forum, was the President’s 2010 health care reform law.

“Under ‘Obamacare’ it would be more attractive to our company to violate federal law then pay a $340,000 a year fine to not provide healthcare to our employees than to face the rising costs and decreasing benefits that we see every single year,” said Laura Doerger-Roberts, president of Hamilton-based Vinylmax Windows, which employs around 170 workers.

“It eliminates choice for the employee and the employer about what type of health care is appropriate for an individual’s needs.”

Doerger-Roberts said her company currently pays $7,000 per employee to provide health insurance. Under the health care reform law, Doerger-Roberts claims that she could pay a $2,000 fine and remove that benefit.

Boehner agreed with the small business owner and wanted those healthcare decisions to be out of the government’s hands.

“In my opinion, it will the ruin the best health care delivery system the world has ever seen and it will bankrupt our country,” Boehner said.

“There are flaws in our current system, but we can fix those flaws without putting the government in charge of our healthcare.”

One of the last items brought up by the group of business owners was the uncertainty of the economy and its affect on their businesses.

“One of the things that is killing all of us is the uncertainty and our reluctance therefore to hire people because we don’t know what is around the corner,” said Trevor Stansbury, president and founder of Supply Dynamics in Loveland.

Posted in: Business, Election, Events, Government, News, Political events |

Tags: Tags: John Boehner, John Boehner Cincinnati, John Boehner photos, John Boehner West Chester, United Performance Metals