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.

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

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

Owen and Harper Hodgett made use of the ice rink at Beckett Park in West Chester Thursday.

The man-made water feature has been allowed to freeze naturally for ice skating. This is the first time temperatures have permitted skating and it is uncertain how long the rink will remain open.

The water feature was part of $2.09 million upgrade of the park, which was finished in late June. The upgrade included a new shelter, a “natural” playground, a small pond that can used as an ice skating rink in the winter and a 1.25-mile trail that loops around two newly enlarged lakes.

The first development phase of Beckett Park, which was acquired by the Township through a land transfer with the National Park Service in 2000, was completed in 2005.

Approximately $2.8 million of TIF funding was used to complete that phase, which involved the building of the West Chester Baseball Complex.

The second phase, which was completed in 2008, included the re-locating of Muhlhauser Barn and the Christian Moerlein Gazebo. Both structures were donated to the Township. The rental payments for the barn, which is available to rent seasonally, exceeds the cost of its maintenance and upkeep, according to Barbara Wilson, public information officer for West Chester Township.

Beckett Park is 150 acres and straddles Beckett Road near the Union Centre Boulevard intersection.

Park hours are from dawn to dusk.

Posted in: News |

Tags: Tags: Beckett Park, Beckett Park project, Beckett Park West Chester, Muhlhauser Barn, Muhlhauser Barn West Chester, West Chester Baseball Complex, West Chester top 12 stories of 2012, West Chester top stories of 2012

WestChesterBuzz.com counted down the area’s top 12 stories of 2012 in December.

What do you think?

Here is the rundown determined by the Buzz:

1. Lakota cuts $10.5 million from budget
2. ‘Game changer’ development coming to Liberty Twp.
3. 30,000 jam West Chester to hear Romney
4. Lakota community comes together after fatal wreck
5. Reds/MLB honor Lakota West freshman
6. Voice of America Park athletic complex breaks ground
7. Lakota principal turnover
8. Volunteers build a house for local child with cancer
9. Former Lakota wrestler competes in 2012 Olympics
10. Beckett Park opens its west side after $2 million upgrade
11. Unique businesses open in West Chester
12. Lakota East beats West and earns 1st postseason win

There were many other stories that just missed the cut. See below for a few stories that were honorable mentions.

• Video shows police striking patron with batons at West Chester bar
• Lakota West choir honored to be part of World Choir Games
• Former Lakota teacher gets 15 years for child porn
• Bengals help Lakota school with aging playground
• Cherokee Elementary School student hit by car on way home from school

Remember 2011? Below are the top 11 stories in West Chester of 2011 – determined by WestChesterBuzz.com.

1. Lakota cuts busing as part of $10.2 million reduction plan
2. West Chester’s John Boehner becomes Speaker of the House
3. I-75 standoff puts region at a standstill
4. Lakota levy fails for the third time in 18 months
5. Tornado rocks Liberty Township subdivision
6. Lakota East baseball team wins school’s first state title
7. Attempted abduction in Meijer parking puts community on alert
8. Homearama brings crowds, jobs and money to West Chester
9. Herman Cain visits West Chester and then suspends campaign
10. ‘Extreme Makeover’ family moves out
11. Union Centre Music and Food Festival puts down fall roots

Posted in: News, Schools |

Tags: Tags: West Chester top 11 stories of 2011, West Chester top 12 stories of 2012, West Chester top stories of 2011, West Chester top stories of 2012

Lakota schools’ budget ax falls

POSTED MARCH 12, 2012
By Michael D. Clark

Michael D. Clark reports

When Lakota students started this school year, they saw fewer teachers, staff specialists and have fewer course options, thanks to about $10.5 million in sweeping budget cuts approved March 12 by the district’s school board.

The Lakota board voted to accept in 2012 some of the deepest budget reductions in the 18,000-student district’s 55-year history. The district is running out of money after voters have rejected three tax hikes in two years.

The board votes brings an end to a rare string of public discussions on hundreds of details in the five budget-cutting plans – pre-school, kindergarten and elementary, junior and senior high, athletics and district-wide operations – brought to the board in the last two months by Lakota Superintendent Karen Mantia.

“It saddens all of us that we have to face these issues,” Mantia told an audience of more than 200 residents and school employees in Lakota East High School’s auditorium, “but we are not the federal government, and we can not spend more money than we bring in.” she said.

• Lakota students share opinions on how to run district
• With millions in cuts, parents worry about Lakota’s future
• Live blog: Lakota voting on budget cuts
• Lakota lost principals at a high rate in 2012
• Lakota community dealing with questions after elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn.
• Lakota Local Schools maintains rating; Little Miami slips
• Community has open conversation about Lakota’s present and future
• New to Lakota: School district adjusting to changes

The cuts in Ohio’s seventh-largest school system were projected to include 141 teaching, classroom specialist, school nurse and school staff positions, and nine school and central office administrators. Also downsized was the amount of time students will have for arts, music and physical education activities; class periods for high school students; and the number of graduation credits required, from 21 to 20.

Lakota officials simultaneously introduced a new core curricular program designed to help meet tougher pending state standards. Officials have contented that the reduced times in arts, music and gym classes will allow for more instruction in core subjects.

Longtime Lakota parent Lisa Babcock criticized the board for shrinking the learning options for her children. She has already taken some of her kids out of Lakota for private schools and may soon remove all her children due to this latest round of budget cuts.

“I know things are going to get worse,” said Babcock.

The board voted on each reduction proposal separately, and the closet margin was a 3-2 vote, with members Julie Shaffer and Joan Powell opposing the out-sourcing of Lakota’s pre-school program to Butler County’s Head Start program.

Details on the budget reduction plans can be found at www.lakotaonline.com/budget.

Lakota officials said the $10.5 million in reductions for 2012-13 will balloon to nearly $11 million due to increased payments for unemployment compensation and severance pay.

At the time of the cuts, Lakota’s annual operating budget was $154 million. Furthermore, after the cuts were announced, the district faced a projected budget shortfall of $14.1 million in 2015.

Lakota Local Schools still faces financial hole

UPDATE: Lakota Schools have slowed but not stopped its financial bleeding, officials said during a school board meeting on Oct. 22.

The school system – impacted by three tax levy defeats in the last two years all resulting in historically deep personnel and program cuts – still faces insolvency in 2014, officials said.

“There’s not much change bottom-line. We are predicting our spending deficit will return,” said Lakota Treasurer Jenni Logan during the district’s five-year, financial forecast, which is mandated bi-annually by state law.

“We are still going to balance our budget this year and need to keep our eye on next year and make decisions,” but Logan, added that “predictability beyond fiscal year 2013 is challenging (and) the long-term financial direction of the district must be addressed.”

She said Lakota faces a $1.8 million projected budget deficit by 2014.

Despite the news last week that Lakota continued its streak of earning the state’s highest academic rating of “Excellent with Distinction” for the 2011-2012 school year, officials at the Butler County district are worried.

Lakota is Southwest Ohio’s second largest school system.

Bus transportation has been eliminated for thousands, classes are larger, and dozens of teacher, building staff positions and central office jobs have been eliminated as budgets have been cut $35 million in the last three school years.

The district’s $146 million operating budget for this school year is less than it spent in 2009. Lakota receives 40 percent of its annual operating budget from state funding and 60 percent from local tax revenue.

Earlier this year, school families in Lakota thought they might see the district try for another school tax hike before the end of 2012. But with the state’s biennium budget proposals coming in early 2013 – and deadline for state funding approval set by that state budget facing a deadline of June 30, 2013 – that unknown budget factor helped prompt district officials’ earlier decision to avoid the ballot this year.

The school board took no budgetary actions after the presentation.

“There are more things we don’t know now than we do know. Additional information is needed before we assume revenue beyond January 2013,” said Logan.

Posted in: Board of Education, Levy news, News, Schools |

Tags: Tags: Excellent with Distinction, Lakota, Lakota athletic cuts, Lakota budget, Lakota cuts, Lakota East, Lakota elementary cuts, Lakota high school cuts, Lakota junior high cuts, Lakota Local Schools, Lakota operating budget, Lakota preschool, Lakota schools, Lakota West, West Chester top 12 stories of 2012, West Chester top stories of 2012

‘Game changer’ development coming to Liberty Twp.

WestChesterBuzz.com will count down the area’s top 12 stories of 2012 this month, concluding with West Chester’s most discussed topic of the year on Sunday, Dec. 30.

UPDATE: Development is expected to break ground in the spring of 2013 and be open during the spring of 2015

STORY POSTED SEPT. 7, 2012
By Sheila McLaughlin

The real estate brokers and businesses are calling Caroline McKinney at the township’s economic development offices, already scoping out the possibilities on the surrounding acres.

They’re eagerly awaiting Liberty Town Square, the $300 million retail, office, entertainment and residential project – the largest development to hit Butler County.

“People are hovering around to see when dirt starts flying,” McKinney said. “It’s a catalyst effect.”

The opening has been pushed back to spring 2015 from fall of 2014, she said.

But when it does open, this mega-mixed-used project could put this Greater Cincinnati suburban community of about 37,000 residents on the map as the next hot spot for commercial development along Interstate 75 because of its regional draw.

Joe Hinson, president of the West Chester-Liberty Chamber Alliance, calls the mega-mixed-use project “a game changer.”

Developer Steiner + Associates has promised the project will mirror its popular Easton Town Center in Columbus and The Greene in Beavercreek.

Locally, there’s nothing like Liberty Town Square, although Steiner’s involvement in the area is nothing new. The Columbus company developed Newport on the Levee, which sparked a rebirth in the Northern Kentucky river city about a decade ago.

“We’re going to see businesses now really start to look at Liberty as an opportunity. In the past, it’s been pretty much a bedroom community,” Hinson said. “When you’ve got the power of I-75 and you’ve got the access also going east to west and north-south, it just becomes a game changer.”

Both township and chamber officials are looking for businesses to relocate to or settle in Liberty Township because of the amenities Liberty Town Square will offer – a place to live, a place to have fun, a place to entertain clients.

Steiner, which shelved a more ambitious plan at $500 million in 2008 when the economy tanked, expects to break ground on Liberty Town Square sometime during the first quarter of 2013 on 64 acres at Liberty Way and I-75.

The first phase of the one-million-square-foot development will include two department stores, a cinema, specialty retail, 100,000 square feet of office space and 150 luxury apartments. Steiner has not yet announced the retailers that will fill the department store spots.

Steiner will be submitting its final development plan for the site in mid-October, while Butler County and township officials continue to refine agreements with developer because the two governments are supporting the project with a combined $35 million in infrastructure improvements. (more…)

Posted in: Business, Government, News |

Tags: Tags: Caroline McKinney, I-75, Interstate 75, Joe Hinson, Liberty Town Square, Liberty Township business news, Liberty Way, Liberty Way Interchange, Liberty Way project, Libertytown LLC, Steiner + Associates, West Chester top 12 stories of 2012, West Chester top stories of 2012

30,000 jam West Chester to hear Romney

WestChesterBuzz.com will count down the area’s top 12 stories of 2012 this month, concluding with West Chester’s most discussed topic of the year on Sunday, Dec. 30.

STORY POSTED NOV. 2, 2012
BY Cindi Andrews, Paul Kostyu and Adam Kiefaber

The presidential race returned to Ohio for the final push Friday (Nov. 2) as GOP challenger Mitt Romney held a massive rally in the Republican heartland north of Cincinnati and President Barack Obama cut a swath through central Ohio.

Romney spoke to a crowd of 30,000, according to West Chester Fire chief Tony Goller – making it the largest rally of the campaign, said Romney spokesman Chris Maloney.

“The question of the election comes down to this: Do you want more of the same or do you want real change?” Romney asked. “I promise change, and I actually have a record of achieving it.”

Both candidates are trying to make up for campaign time lost to super-storm Sandy and deliver their final arguments to voters before Tuesday’s election.

Obama, in his first Ohio trip since Sandy struck the East Coast, said in Lima on Friday afternoon that the policies of previous Republican administrations didn’t work.

“Ohio, we’ve tried our ideas and they work,” he said. “We’ve tried the other folks’ ideas. They don’t work. The eight years before I took office, we tried their ideas. What did we get? We got falling incomes, record deficits … and an economic crisis that we’ve been cleaning up after ever since.”

With less than four days before Election Day the race is too close to predict in several key states, including Ohio. The latest poll out Friday afternoon, by CNN/ORC International, shows Obama leading 50 percent to 47 percent in Ohio, well within the 3.5 percentage point margin of error.

Obama will make what’s almost certainly his last Cincinnati stop of the campaign at the University of Cincinnati’s Fifth Third Arena on Sunday evening, while Romney will be in Cleveland. And the candidates will campaign right down to the wire in Ohio – both have announced events in Columbus on Monday.

Kid Rock opened the Romney event, which also included appearances by a lengthy list of top Republicans, including Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Sens. John McCain and Marco Rubio, and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

“This is like having the Republican National Convention come here,” said Ohio Rep. Margaret Conditt of nearby Liberty Township. “All of the speakers that we saw in Tampa are here, except for Clint Eastwood, of course.”

• Enquirer exclusive: How Obama won Ohio
• Ohio polls need short answer to long lines
• Election Day in West Chester: Voters pick Romney

Romney noted that unemployment is higher than when Obama took office, although the final pre-election report, released Friday, showed 171,000 new jobs added in October. The Labor Department also revised August and September jobs numbers upward. The unemployment rate rose to 7.9 percent in October, from 7.8 percent in September, as more workers re-entered the labor force.

“Candidate Obama promised to do so very much, but he has fallen so very short,” Romney said. “He was going to focus on jobs, then he focused on Obamacare, which killed jobs.”

Romney said that Obama asked voters to vote for revenge but “I ask the American people to vote for love of country.”

Obama actually said, “Voting is the best revenge.”

Romney also promised to bring bipartisanship to Washington.

“If I’m elected – no, when I’m elected – president, I’m doing to work with … men and women on both sides of the aisle who care about our country,” he said.

Obama visited Hilliard, Springfield and, lastly, Lima, which hasn’t hosted a sitting Democratic president since Harry Truman in 1948. In his first trip to Ohio since super-storm Sandy devastated the East Coast and prompted both campaigns to cancel rallies, he said the nation mourns those killed in the storm.

“No matter how bad things are, we’re in this together,” Obama said. “We rise and fall as one nation. That has guided this country for 200 years and the last four years.”

He told the crowd in Hilliard that Americans need a champion in Washington. He said the middle class, the poor and small business owners need a seat at the table.

“The folks at the very top of this country don’t need another seat at the table,” the president said.

“The people who need a champion are those whose letters I read every night. Cooks, waiters and cleaning staff at a hotel, they need a champion. The auto worker … now back in the plant, he needs a champion. Those kids dreaming of becoming scientists … or even president, they need a champion in Washington. We’ve come back too far to become faint-hearted.”

Posted in: Election, Government, News |

Tags: Tags: Ann Romney, Butler County Election 2012, campaign, election, election 2012, John Boehner, MidPointe Library, MidPointe Library System, MidPointe Library West Chester, Mitt Romney, Mitt Romney Ohio, Ohio election 2012, Paul Ryan, presidential election, republican, Square at Union Centre, tickets, union centre, West Chester, West Chester election, West Chester top 12 stories of 2012, West Chester top stories of 2012

Lakota community comes together after fatal wreck

WestChesterBuzz.com will count down the area’s top 12 stories of 2012 this month, concluding with West Chester most discussed topic of the year on Sunday, Dec. 30.

STORY POSTED FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2012

Just a week ago, Lakota West junior Ezekiel “Zeke” Stepaniak experienced a typical day.

He met his closest friends in Jason French’s classroom before the school day began – laughing, joking and vociferously talking.

Later, in Michelle Day’s English class, he dozed off and was awakened by Day spraying him with a water bottle, the class erupting with laughter.

Then it was off to boost the spirits of his fellow co-workers at McDonalds – where he made days working at a fast food restaurant fun, rather than a chore.

The end of the day was spent hanging out with friends and family.

And on it went – sleep, wake up then repeat.

But, last Friday night, things changed.

Stepaniak’s life was unexpectedly taken after he wrecked his car where West Chester and Liberty Township meet at the intersection of Hamilton-Mason Road and Ohio 747. Four other Lakota teens, including Lakota West sophomore Ashley Stacy, were in the car. After suffering serious injuries, Stacy was taken to Miami Valley Hospital.

• Two families who refuse to let tragedy divide them

The news spread throughout Saturday once Zeke was pronounced dead by the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office.

Zeke’s friends, juniors Zac Payne, Steven Miner and Jonathan Jung, were among the first people building a memorial at the crash site, which is located along the fence of Heritage Elementary School.

“It didn’t feel real at all,” Payne said of setting up the memorial.

“We all gathered around and it was just silent for the longest time. You hugged everybody you saw. People you hadn’t talked to in years were coming up to you to make sure that we were all right.”

It was Zeke, who helped Payne feel welcome after his family moved from Indianapolis when he was in the fifth grade. Zeke, who lived five houses down, invited the “new kid” to trick-or-treat with him. They remained close friends since.

“I keep telling everyone that it could have been anyone,” Payne said. “If you want to end on bad terms with somebody, no matter how long it’s been or what the cause was, always know that it could be worse. We just realized how much we took for granted.” (more…)

Posted in: News, Schools |

Tags: Tags: Ashley Stacy, Drews Mitchell, Ezekieal Stephaniak, Ezekieal Zeke Stepaniak, Lakota West, Lakota West High School, Lakota West student death, Nathan Phu, West Chester McDonalds, West Chester top 12 stories of 2012, West Chester top stories of 2012, Zeke Stepaniak

Reds honor Lakota West freshman/MLB.com reporter

WestChesterBuzz.com will count down the area’s top 12 stories of 2012 this month, concluding with West Chester’s most discussed topic of the year on Sunday, Dec. 30.

More than 100 parents and classmates came out to Great American Ball Park Thursday, May 24, 2012 in support of Lakota West freshman Meggie Zahneis, who was named the honorary captain prior to the Reds game.

The 15-year-old West Chester resident’s story captured the heart of Major League Commissioner Bud Selig, who in return offered her the job of being an MLB.com youth reporter prior to the 2012 season.

Zahneis’ story, however, begins when doctors operated on her twice before her first birthday for a condition they couldn’t figure out.

“We went to a ton of doctors and neurologists. Everybody across the board tried to figure out what was wrong,” said Meggie’s mother Cindy Zahneis.

“It was a very, very tough time. There were a lot of tears shed and a lot of ‘why us’ and so on, but she always had a smile on her face. She was a good baby and a sharp little girl.

“She kept doing things to amaze us, so that made it easier.”

After nine months of not knowing her daughter’s condition, a specialist in New York finally said Meggie had HSAN II or Hereditary Sensory and Autonomic Neuropathy, type 2. HSAN II, which has only approximately 50 known cases in the world, is a condition that affects everyone differently.

For Meggie, she has inability to feel pain, temperature and touch to the same degree as everyone else. It has also affected her growth and has resulted into 14 surgeries in her life.

Meggie, who had to have cochlear implant surgery to help her hearing, also underwent a bilateral hip surgery as a seventh grader that limited her to a wheelchair for three months.

“Going to school like that, with everybody staring at you when all you want is to be like everyone else, was really tough on her,” Cindy said.

With the surgeries fresh in her mind and the constant feeling that she was different, Meggie wrote about her story and entered it in the 2011 Major League Baseball Breaking essay contest.

Meggie’s essay left an impression on Sharon Robinson, daughter of hall-of-fame baseball player Jackie Robinson, who visited Lakota Ridge Junior School in May of 2011 to recognize Meggie as the contest’s grand-prize winner.

The shy eighth grader, who never wanted more than to just blend in with her classmates, shared her essay with the entire Lakota Ridge student body.

The grand prize meant that she would be honored at a Cincinnati Reds game and would receive a all-expense paid trip to 2011 MLB All Star game in Phoenix.

From there, Zahneis story didn’t go away and eventually got in the hands of Selig who called Meggie three times before offering her the reporter gig.

“When I first entered that contest, I thought that it was no more than good writing practice,” said Meggie, who is about finish year freshman year at Lakota West.

“Getting this writing experience is so valuable, it is just priceless. I am just trying to soak it all in as much as I can.”

Since her column started running on MLB.com in late February, Zahneis has written about the game’s top athletes, interviewed Nick Lachey and “made a lot of the girls at her school jealous” by meeting Josh Hutcherson of “The Hunger Games.”

In addition, she has become good friends with the commissioner’s granddaughter Natalie Prieb and with Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips.

“Just hearing her story really motivated me,” Phillips said. “It shows you that you can never take things for granted.

“She is such a bright person, I am just glad I met her. It really changed my life.”

Posted in: News, Schools, Student achievements |

Tags: Tags: Breaking Barriers, Cincinnati Reds, Hereditary Sensory and Autonomic Neuropathy, HSAN II, Jackie Robinson, Lakota West, Lakota West Freshman Campus, Meggie Zahneis, MLB Breaking Barrier's contest. Major League Baseball Breaking Barrier's contest, Promises to Keep, Ridge Jr. School, Ridge Junior School, Sharon Robinson, West Chester top 12 stories of 2012, West Chester top stories of 2012

Voice of America Park athletic complex to be the ‘envy of other communities’

WestChesterBuzz.com will count down the area’s top 12 stories of 2012 this month, concluding with West Chester’s most discussed topic of the year on Sunday, Dec. 30.

The Butler County Visitors Bureau and MetroParks of Butler County held an official ground breaking ceremony Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2012 for their $3 million project that will add 22 multipurpose natural grass athletic fields on 100 acres of Voice of America Park in West Chester Township.

The fields, which border Butler-Warren and Tylersville roads, are expected to be available for use by September of 2014.

Based on an economic impact study conducted by AECOM Technical Services in Chicago, the 22 multipurpose fields are projected to bring in $20 million in indirect and direct spending, 200,000 new hotel room requests and 21,000 participants annually by year five after the complex opens (2019).

“With all the amenities that surround the park, the new fields will be something that will be sought after and ultimately will be the envy of other communities that not only surround us, but are also in our region,” said Mark Hecquet, executive director at the visitors bureau.

Overall, this project is just phase 1 of a much larger enhancement plan for the biggest Butler County MetroPark. In comparison, fellow MetroParks Forest Run (almost 340 acres) and Rentschler Forest (almost 400 acres) are close in size to the 435-acre VOA Park. Meanwhile, in Hamilton County, Whitewater Forest with 4,345 acres and Winton Woods with 2,555 acres are significantly larger.

Other improvements that are to be incrementally added over time include the addition of softball and baseball diamonds, as well as an amphitheater and expansion to its dog park.

Park officials are also already considering changing the growing grass fields to artificial turf, which will lower maintenance cost, decrease rainouts and allow for longer sports seasons.

Currently, MetroParks is looking for other organizations or businesses to collaborate to help provide funding for the other phases.

The park has already become a destination for larger scale sporting events. Just this past August, the VOA Park hosted the USA Triathlon Youth Junior National Championships and the WWA Wakeboard National Championships.

Posted in: Business, News, Sports |

Tags: Tags: athletic complex, MetroParks, MetroParks of Butler County, Voice of America, Voice of America Park, Voice of America Park athletic complex, West Chester top 12 stories of 2012, West Chester top stories of 2012