In each of the past two years, the Lakota school district has cut in excess of $10 million from its operating budget. Reductions to the services provided by the school district, make it a top story in 2011 and 2012. Photo taken by Adam Kiefaber for a previous busing story.
Lakota cuts busing as part of $10.2 million reduction plan
Faced with a budget shortfall, the Lakota Board of Education was forced to trim $10.2 million from its operating budget for the 2011-2012 school year. The most discussed cut was the district’s decision to move to state minimum transportation.
The decision left about 40 percent of Lakota’s students without busing and will save the school district approximately $2.8 million this school year.
Lakota to try to improve infrastructure around schools
For the third time in the past 18 month, Lakota officials and supporters had a proposed school levy fail at the polls. Due to the failure, the school district is looking to slash $9 million from its operating budget for the 2012-2013 school year.
If the levy had passed, it was not certain if school officials were considering bringing back busing. Now, with the failure, Lakota is moving forward with infrastructure projects to improve access to its schools.
“Any little chance we get to look at opportunities to make it better, we will do that because right now we know that busing will not come back any time soon due to the failure of the last levy,” said Chris Passarge, Lakota executive director of business operations.
Lakota has already had funding approved for sidewalks around Freedom Elementary and Lakota Ridge Junior schools, according to Passarge. The project is expected to go to bid in the summer of 2012 and could be finished in December of 2012.
Overall, Passarge has identified a total of nine schools including Freedom and Ridge that need more sidewalks and/or bike paths that promote walking and biking to school in a safe manner.
“It is a long-term plan to improve areas in and around schools,” Passarge said. “It is not going to fix a lot of the issues we have right now, but we are starting to chip away at it piece by piece. And, if things ever change we will have better walking areas to and from schools.”
The school district plans to chip away at its long-term plan by applying for a matching grant each year through the Ohio Department of Transportation for $500,000.
“Freedom and Ridge were the first two selected because if you look at that area, there is a lot of infrastructure in place around the neighborhoods but it stops when you get close to school grounds,” Passarge said.
Other schools identified by Passarge in need of improvements include Woodland, Adena, Heritage, Cherokee and Hopewell elementary schools, as well as Liberty and Hopewell junior schools.
Parents find alternative way to get children to school
Parents who were not comfortable with their children walking to school either had to drop the kids off themselves, join car pools or pay for a private busing service.
Just prior to the school year, Lakota graduate and former NFL player Troy Evans created a private busing service called LBS Busing after his brother and sister-in-law told him that they didn’t know how they were going to get their three children to three different Lakota schools.
On the first day of school, Aug. 25, LBS Busing failed to pick up some students and experienced lengthy delays.
After the rough start, Evans suspended service for the next three school days. Evans also suspended service indefinitely to Endeavor, Freedom, VanGorden, Hopewell and Woodland elementary schools, as well as all of the junior schools.
“We are in the process of bringing back Freedom Elementary and a couple of the junior schools,” Evans said. “We are just bringing them back slowly, making sure we are doing it right.
“We are not going to stop until every school is back up and running efficiently.”
One of the parents, Eric Kroger, whose children were not picked up from school that first day decided to keep the service and has been pleased with it since.
“We do still use the LBS busing, and it’s been perfect,” Kroger said. “Other than $110 a month, I notice no difference than when the school was providing transportation.”
Kroger also said that he would rather pay for busing then see more programs cut in the classroom.
“I realize that busing will not return if the community doesn’t pass a levy,” Kroger said. “However, assuming we do pass a levy, the priority should be to first restore the quality and breadth of the education.
“I would much rather keep paying for busing if the schools can use that money instead to pay and retain the best teachers, and restore the full curriculum and extra-curricular activities. The extra money per month for busing is nothing compared to the cost our kids will pay for an attenuated education.”
Evans said that his service is still allowing students to enroll for its service. He said that many parents are unaware that the service is currently available in their area and sign-up is still available. Enrollment must be done over the phone, by calling 513-847-1192.
West Chester’s John Boehner becomes Speaker of the House
It didn’t take long for West Chester resident John Boehner to make news in 2011.
Just five days into the year, Boehner was officially elected the 61st Speaker of the House.
Locally, more news surrounding Boehner took place as protesters picketed throughout 2011 outside his West Chester office.
However, on Jan. 5, many local residents witnessed something that they may never see again.
“Well I am 63 and this has never happened before and I doubt it will ever happen again in my lifetime,” said Bill Langdon, owner of Grand Ole Pub in West Chester. “So, to me, it is much bigger than the Super Bowl. That happens every year. Having the Speaker of the House be your congressman? Never happened to me. This is a monumental event.”
While many of the people felt a personal connection to Boehner just because they shared the same hometown, others have actually known the man before he was a congressman.
“I am trying to let this soak in,” Gary Cates, who has known Boehner for 28 years, said while watching the swearing-in of Boehner at the Grand Ole Pub. “To see this happen to someone you know is unbelievable. Outside of knowing the President of the United States personally, this is pretty big stuff.”
Cates actually knew him from the beginning when Boehner served as the president of the Lakota Hills homeowners association and as a Union Township trustee. At the time of Boehner’s swear in, Cates was an Ohio Senator. Now, Cates is the Senior Vice Chancellor for Innovation and Enterprise Development at the Ohio Board of Regents.
“He has really started at the grassroots level. It is a real great accomplishment on his part to persevere to get to where he is today,” Cates said. “I am sure I speak for a lot of people, we are all really proud of him for what he has done for our area.”
Former Cincinnati Enquirer caricature artist Jerry Dowling, who was involved in the Lakota Hills homeowners association back in the late 70s, was also at the bar to witness Boehner’s special moment.
“It is unbelievable that this could happen. No one expected John to rise up the way he has. This is just flabbergasting. We are so thrilled,” Dowling said.
It was something out of a Hollywood script – bank robber driving a stolen van takes police on a chase, concluding with a standoff that shuts down the city’s biggest highway.
The story began in West Chester when Jackie Jackson Jr., 31, of Cumminsville, entered the PNC Bank, 7301 Tylers Corner Drive, March 29 pulled out his gun – pointing it at bank employees and demanding cash.
After being given approximately $4,280 in cash, Jackson exited the bank by telling the employees to “have a nice day.”
“I pulled my alarm as soon as I saw him coming because I realized that he had a mask on and a backpack and I could see the gun before he walked into the door,” a PNC Bank employee told a 911 dispatcher.
During that call, the bank employees were able to identify to the dispatcher the license plate and give a description of the robber’s van.
One of the supervisors with the West Chester Police Department, Sgt. Jeff Niehaus, saw the vehicle and followed the suspect onto Union Centre Boulevard to Mulhauser Road before eventually pulling the van over on Centre Pointe Drive.
Once Neihaus started his approach to the vehicle, the driver fled the scene and traveled on southbound I-75.
While fleeing police at around 85 mph on I-75, the suspected bank robber crashed and came to a stop at Lock Street and Cooper Avenue, right off the I-75 exit in Lockland.
“While at that location, the suspect threatened the officers on the scene with a handgun several times,” West Chester Police Chief Erik Neihaus said during a press conference on the afternoon of the robbery. “Three of our officers discharged their firearms in response to that threat.”
In radio broadcasts that the West Chester Police Department released the day after the robbery, officers were heard saying, the “suspect is advised he wants to have a shootout,” “he waved the gun out the window” and “is pointing the gun through the windshield at people.”
What was believed to be a handgun turned out to be an Airsoft Pistol or toy gun. The three officers, who were all West Chester Police, discharged seven rounds of shots at the suspect and his vehicle.
“He made it very clear that he wanted to cause gunfire on our part,” Chief Neihaus said.
“There is no doubt that this is situation that turned out for the best. I think we were dealing with someone who was doing bad things and based on the preliminary investigation our response was handled appropriately. I am just happy our officers are safe, the public is safe and that he is in custody.”
While in custody, on the evening of the robbery, Jackson waived his Miranda rights during an interview with West Chester Detective James Thomas.
“I did ask him specifically when he was in the bank, when he was pointing the weapon at the bank employees what his intentions were in pointing the gun at them, he said, he was not trying to hurt anybody, but he just wanted to get his point across, he wanted the money,” Thomas said.
“I asked him if the bank employees thought that was a real gun and he stated ‘yes.’ I also asked if someone had pointed that gun at him if he would have thought it was a real gun, he said, ‘yes.’”
One of those employees who thought the suspect had a real gun was PNC bank employee Michael Bollin.
In his testimony, during the preliminary hearing, Bollin couldn’t identify Jackson Jr. as the robber and said the person who robbed the bank was “completely covered, from head to toe” in black. He also described the suspect as “very stern” and “very calm.” When asked if the robber made any threats, Bollin said that robber said, “hands up, that was about it.”
On Aug. 3, 65 days after the robbery, Jackson was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty earlier to charges of robbery, attempted receiving stolen property and failure to comply with a police signal.
WestChesterBuzz.com will count down the area’s top 11 stories of 2011 this month, concluding with West Chester’s most discussed topic of the year Dec. 30.
Lakota, which hasn’t passed a levy since 2005, had levies fail in May 2010, November 2010 and, now, in November 2011.
After the failure in 2010, the Lakota Board of Education approved a new teacher contract (three years and includes a freeze on step/longevity increases as well as health care concessions) and trimmed $10.2 million off its annual budget in 2011-2012.
In 2012, a decision on the $9 million in reductions has to be made by the spring.
The $9 million in cuts will allow Lakota to avoid its spending deficit in 2013, but does not take away the need for additional revenue, Lakota Treasurer Jenni Logan said.
Regarding those potential cuts, Logan and Lakota Superintendent Karen Mantia have recently told the community that the school district is currently in the analysis phase.
“We have to cut $9 million. That is not a great position to be in,” Mantia told the school board Nov. 28.
“These will be the conversations we have down the road … I don’t feel like speeding it up because someone wants an answer.”
In 2012, due to Ohio’s presidential primary, there will only be three election dates compared to the usual four. The school board was not interested in the March primary election date since the filing date (Dec. 7) was so close to November’s Election Day (Nov. 8).
The other election dates in Ohio in 2012 are scheduled for June and November.
It is not currently known if the school district will propose another tax levy in 2012. However, school officials have let it been known that Lakota is in dire need of additional revenue.
According to the Butler County Board of Elections, almost 54 percent of local residents voted down the levy, while just more than 46 percent voted in favor of the levy in 2011.
Overall, the response from voters was very similar to what it was in November of 2010 – when the levy was defeated by a 53 to 47 percent margin.
Sandy Wheatley, president of the private pro-levy group, told the Enquirer that this November’s failure had “a lot … to do with the economy.”
Rich Hoffman, president of the anti-school tax group NoLakota, told the Enquirer that sharp public clashes between some Lakota school board members also helped his group’s cause by raising questions about the district’s publicly elected leaders.
“As shown in the leadership conflicts on the school board, throwing money at poor management brings out the weaknesses reckless spending was obscuring. The much discussed rift between (board members) Joan Powell and Lynda O’Conner demonstrates that before we ever give this district more money we must have school board members who will manage the money properly,” said Hoffman.
“This levy failure is a mandate for our superintendent to now present to the teachers union the target of reducing their average wage impact on our community in such a fashion that fits with the district’s financial outlook for the next decade. That step must occur before another levy is ever attempted,” he said.
Wheatley also told the Enquirer the district’s new superintendent – Karen Mantia who began work in August – will help any future levy efforts.
She added that “Lakota is still in the recovery stage in regaining the community’s trust,” but declined to specify what caused that lack of lack of public trust in the school system.
Why did the school levy fail in 2011?
Did the school board rift, the economy or the large conservative political base influence the way the community voted?
Was the “lack of public trust” caused by the rift between school board members or was it due to the longtime complaint from community members that the board of education did a poor job of communicating (something Mantia is working to change)?
On the other hand, judging by the similar results from last November, maybe the community is just not ready to pass a school levy.
WestChesterBuzz.com will count down the area’s top 11 stories of 2011 this month, concluding with West Chester’s most discussed topic of the year Dec. 30.
Below is the full article written by Jennifer Baker for the Cincinnati Enquirer May 26
The Hawkinses’ Glen Hollow Drive home looked almost like a doll house May 26, as if you could reach in and rearrange the furniture.
But it’s not make-believe for Hannah Hawkins, 17, and her family. The Lakota East senior was asleep in bed when 105 mph winds from a tornado ripped the roof and walls away from the second floor of their home.
“I’m petrified of storms now, more than I ever was,” Hannah said. “I’m just shocked, scared, nervous and grateful that it didn’t happen to anybody else.”
Her family was unharmed when the tornado touched down about 12:30 a.m.
Early evening on May 26 the National Weather Service confirmed the destruction was a product of an EF1 twister, the second-weakest on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. The tornado was only on the ground for about 100 yards, the NWS estimates, but it, along with powerful straight-line winds, did plenty of damage.
Liberty Township residents said the storm caught them by surprise because warning sirens did not go off.
According to Butler County Emergency Management, the sirens didn’t sound because the weather service hadn’t issued any tornado warnings or watches at that time.
“Sirens went off at 8:30 p.m. when the first wave of storms came through because we were under tornado warnings. But the midnight storm was just a severe thunderstorm warning. There was no tornado warning at all with that one, so that’s why they didn’t get set off,” said Jeff Galloway, director of Butler County Emergency Management.
Galloway said the emergency response team was monitoring the storm and thought it was breaking up.
“It kind of proves you can’t trust Mother Nature,” he said.
Liberty Township Fire Chief Paul Stumpf said at least 16 homes in the township suffered damage from the storm.
Hardest hit was the Hidden Hollow subdivision off Princeton Road, where Cynthia and Bradley Hawkins and their three children, 22, 17 and 15, live.
The family was displaced from their home of 10 years.
Eleven property damage reports were taken in their subdivision, including their neighbor, whose home suffered roof damage.
Across the street, a car was flipped over on its top on a front lawn and winds shoved a second vehicle several feet over on the driveway. Tree limbs were down all across the neighborhood as residents began emerging from homes with chain saws to begin cleanup.
Another five homes had minor damage along Yankee Road near Devon Drive.
“That’s just what we are aware of,” Stumpf said. “There may be additional ones as people discover damage.”
Brad Hawkins said he was in his first-floor family room watching “Late Show with David Letterman” when the storm swept through about 12:30 a.m. His youngest son, Garrett, 15, was in the basement and his daughter, 17, and wife were asleep upstairs.
“I heard my daughter, Hannah, scream, and she went to get my wife who was in our bedroom,” Hawkins, 55, said Thursday.
He met his daughter halfway downstairs.
“When I looked up the steps, the roof was completely gone,” he said. “As you can imagine, I was kind of freaking out a little bit. I said, ‘C’mon, let’s get out of here.’ They were all really confused.”
His older son, 22, is a firefighter/paramedic with Deerfield and Liberty townships, but was off duty and staying at a friend’s house.
They are not sure the house can be salvaged.
“Everything is leaking into the basement because I have no second floor,” Brad Hawkins said. “I actually have to say that God’s been good to me and my family. We’re safe and blessed.”
Across the street, Kelvin Scott said he woke up to find his 2005 Mitsubishi Lancer flipped over on his front lawn. His 2000 Jaguar also was shoved a few feet over in the driveway.
He marveled at the power of Mother Nature.
“God preserved everybody in this neighborhood. This is all just material stuff,” Scott, 43, said. “Cars, homes can all be replaced. But human life cannot. So God gets all the praise. He was looking out for everybody in this neighborhood last night.”
Enquirer staff writers Carrie Whitaker, John Kiesewetter and Brenna R. Kelly contributed.
On the other hand, judging by the similar results from last November, maybe the community is just not ready to pass a school levy.
Lakota East baseball team wins school’s first state title
WestChesterBuzz.com will count down the area’s top 11 stories of 2011 this month, concluding with West Chester’s most discussed topic of the year Dec. 30.
For the first time in school history, Lakota East High School captured a state championship in a varsity sport.
Accomplishing that feat was the Lakota East baseball team, which played the title game at the same time fellow classmates were attending graduation ceremonies at Miami University’s Millet Hall.
The club’s 12 seniors didn’t mind missing their graduation.
“We were all excited. We didn’t really care (about missing our graduation). We would rather win the state championship than attend some boring two-hour long graduation,” senior pitcher Evan Hills said.
Instead, Hills bored Perrysburg batters in a 119-pitch complete game performance in the state championship June 4. Lakota East won the game and its first-ever state title by the score of 6-2.
“Hands down, it was the best day of my life,” senior shortstop J.D. Whetsel said of the day his team won the state championship. “Coach talked to us while we were up there and said, ‘there are not a whole lot of people who can end their baseball career with a win.’ We were able to be that handful of 12 guys who get to play their last baseball game and win it.
“To be able to hang a banner for a state championship in a team sport and to win for coach Ham (Ray Hamilton), who has been coaching for 23 years, and finally take him there and win it for (principal) Dr. Kiline, (athletic director) Mr. (Richard) Bryant, all of them – they all really deserve it. It is really cool to be the guys to bring it to them.”
Besides winning the state title, the East baseball team’s accomplishments this season include the program’s best-ever overall record (24-7), its third Greater Miami Conference title, along with sectional, district and regional titles.
East’s 2011 state championship is only the second Lakota team to win an OHSAA Division 1 State Baseball title (Lakota West 2007). East joins five other GMC schools, Hamilton (1983,1997), Fairfield (1985,1991) and Lakota West (2007) who have state baseball titles.
Head Coach Ray Hamilton earned his 374th career victory with East’s title victory.
On the following Monday, June 6, Lakota East parents, fans and state champion ballplayers filled the Hawks Nest at Lakota East High School to celebrate the school’s first state championship and to give the team’s seniors a brief graduation ceremony.
Attempted abduction in Meijer parking puts community on alert
WestChesterBuzz.com will count down the area’s top 11 stories of 2011 this month, concluding with West Chester’s most discussed topic of the year Dec. 30.
No other crime story woke up the community like the attempted abduction case that involved a 21-year-old women and an attacker in the parking lot of a West Chester Meijer.
On a rainy night in late February, the victim was placing items in her car when someone came up from behind and pushed her. She immediately started screaming.
“He said, ‘shut up, shut up, shut up,’” the victim said on the witness stand during a preliminary hearing March 8 against defendant Cham Roeun Rath. “But I couldn’t shut up.”
As the attacker told her to “shut up,” the attacker put its hand over the victim’s mouth. The victim then bit her attacker’s hand. She then fell backwards and the attacker fled. The victim was left with a bump on her head from the fall, a scratch on her lip and a bruise on her arm from being held by her attacker.
She didn’t get a good look at her attacker’s face and admitted that she couldn’t pick the person out of a lineup. She was, however, able to describe her attacker’s clothing.
She was never asked in the courtroom or during the investigation to ID her attacker.
Rath, 31, who was the suspect in the case, was not indicted by a Butler County Grand Jury and was eventually discharged from custody of the Butler County Sheriff’s Office.
During the investigation of the case, Rath told West Chester Detective Doug Farris that he never left his house the entire day of the incident. Farris also said that Rath “agreed to give a DNA swab,” but refused after being explained that his DNA could have been found on the victim’s face. Rath explained to Farris, “there was no reason to do that since he never left the house.”
Rath’s mother also claimed that she never left the house on Feb. 24. However, according to Farris, Rath’s younger brother told the detective that his mother did leave the house that day, but didn’t know the time she was out.
Farris also said that he was able to identify Rath on video surveillance at the Meijer store. According to Farris, he saw Rath enter the store at the same moment the victim was seen leaving.
At the conclusion of the preliminary hearing, public defender Lynn Cunningham asked for Rath’s bond to be reduced from $50,000 and asked for the charge of abduction to be reduced, but was denied by judge Dan Haughey.
“That would not be fair to the women of West Chester,” Haughey said.
“These are allegations that cause a considerable amount of concern.”
Overall, the case concerned many to rethink about shopping at night.
West Chester Officer Jeff Newman agrees that the community learned a lot from this story.
“I believe the Meijer incident made residents change their bad habits when it comes to shopping at night or shopping in daytime as well,” Newman said.
“And based upon how the female was able to defend herself provided encouragement to residents that you can put some simple things in place that will reduce your chances of becoming a victim.”
Newman recently provided a few tips on how to avoid being a victim:
Park in a well-lit portion of the lot.
Park close to the store.If possible, shop with anything person.
Look around at the lot while walking to your vehicle. Head back into the store if there is anything suspicious. Speak with a store employee or call 911.
Homearama brings crowds, jobs and money to West Chester
WestChesterBuzz.com will count down the area’s top 11 stories of 2011 this month, concluding with West Chester’s most discussed topic of the year Dec. 30.
After skipping 2010, the Home Builders Association of Greater Cincinnati held its 49th Homearama in the West Chester residential development of Foxborough June 11-26.
Executive Director of the HBA Dan Dressman said the event was skipping last year due to “the downturn in the economy.”
The successful return of the annual event brought in more than 20,000 people, as well as money and jobs to West Chester this summer.
It is unclear how much money was generated from the 2011 edition of Homearama, but it is certain that the event contributed to the local economy by creating jobs and attracting people from different communities.
According to Dressman, an average of three jobs are created for every home that is built. The 2011 show featured five homes priced from $672,000 to 1,077,000.
“Homearama brought five home builders to the community, who invested in constructing five new homes and each of those homes required construction trade, decorators and landscapers. Building the homes required jobs and material purchases here in the community,” West Chester Township Administrator Judith Boyko said.
In addition to building costs and job creation, there has been a spillover effect into local businesses from the large crowds that attended the home showcase.
“It is impossible to say where the visitors have come from to attend Homearama, but it is likely that many of them came from other places besides West Chester and while they were here, they probably stopped and had dinner or visited a store or bought gas,” said Barbara Wilson, public information & marketing officer for West Chester. “In someway, they have probably contributed to the economy of West Chester.”
Homearama also featured 44 exhibits in its HOMEZONE and several outside exhibits on a variety of home-related products and services.
Foxborough, which is the residential community the event is being held, is located off Hamilton-Mason Road and State Route 747 in West Chester Township. It is near the Liberty Township border.
Herman Cain visits West Chester and then suspends campaign
WestChesterBuzz.com will count down the area’s top 11 stories of 2011 this month, concluding with West Chester’s most discussed topic of the year Dec. 30.
Approximately 72 after Herman Cain spoke to a group of supporters at the Cincinnati Marriott North in West Chester Nov. 30, the Republican announced that he would suspend his campaign for the White House.
When asked if he could be a little more specific, Cain said. “Yes, reassessment means re-evaluation.”
During his 31-minute speech at the local Marriott, Cain addressed his recent allegations and said he has “been attacked.”
“As you know, I have already been attacked, not because I have bad ideas because the ideas are solid,” Cain said. “They are attacking my character, my reputation and my name in order to try and bring me down. But you see, I don’t believe that America is going to let that happen.
“I happen to believe that, we the people, are still in charge of this country. I happen to believe that we the people, you the people, know that you want something different in the White House because we don’t have leadership in the White House.”
Cain supporters cheered on Cain and agreed that the presidential candidate was being attacked.
“I think he is being attacked because he is the only candidate that has really proposed a way to change the existing establishment and I think he is perceived to be a real threat,” said Jim Stansbury of Louisville, Ky.
“I believe these are cooked up charges. If you look at the women who have come forward, they all have exactly the same baggage and they are not as believable as Herman Cain.”
Loveland resident Steve Jackson concurred and said, “the potential for it being false is extremely high.”
“Whoever gets the nomination is going to be – just bombarded all year. He was doing really well and that is when it started.
“Our fearless leader has a billion dollars to spend on whatever he wants – to smear whoever.”
On that Saturday, in Atlanta, Ga., Cain again addressed the sexual misconduct allegations against him – calling them “false and unproven.” He also said they were hurtful to his family.
“So as of today, with a lot of prayer and soul-searching, I am suspending my presidential campaign because of the continued distractions and the continued hurt caused on me and my family,” Cain said Dec. 3.
