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Westlake Community Service Officer Anna Cavender stands next to a road sign named in her honor at Westlake’s Safety Town. Photo by Denny Wendell

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Officer Anna has taught safety to thousands of kids

For the last 15 years, the kindergartners of Westlake have been lucky enough to learn from, and come to love, Community Service Officer Anna Cavender of the Westlake Police Department. Through her work as the administrator and head instructor of Westlake Safety Town and as a Westlake Schools bus driver, she touched many lives.

“I’ll miss the kids most, they’re so cute and they love to learn; they’re like sponges,” said Cavender, reflecting on the nearly 5,000 youngsters she has taught in Safety Town. Many of her past students have returned as student volunteers with the program, giving back to teach the next generation.

The program teaches many aspects of safety to children getting ready to enter school. The classes include street safety, what to do in case of a fire, gun safety, and how to respond in people emergencies. The kindergartners are taught their name, address and phone number, plus how to dial 911.

Bay Village resident Cynthia White points out a design element she likes to Anne Hartman of the architecture firm Moody Nolan during a library input session on June 7. Photo by Tara Wendell

Bay Village residents took advantage of two opportunities to voice their opinions on the design of the new library building during public input sessions this month. The sessions, held at the Dwyer Senior Center on June 7 and the current library building on June 14, featured a “world cafe” approach with stations set up for various aspects of the building’s design.

Each station featured a dozen or more photos of other library buildings – some within the Cuyahoga County Public Library system and others from around the country. Attendees were able to view the examples and point out to CCPL staff and Moody Nolan architects which elements they liked and disliked. Comments were recorded on large notepads and will be considered by the building’s designers.

WHS sophomore Alyssa Gruttadauria performed with Melissa Etheridge and the Contemporary Youth Orchestra during the "Pulse" concert on June 7.

Seven Westlake High School students recently performed as part of the Melissa Etheridge & Contemporary Youth Orchestra “Pulse” concert held June 7 at Severance Hall.

The Contemporary Youth Orchestra (CYO) is comprised of 115 elite high school musicians who perform at Severance Hall. Once a year, they invite a well-known artist and audition a youth chorus to perform with them. The event was part of CYO’s 18-year-old “Rock the Orchestra” series, which has featured Ben Folds, Graham Nash and Jon Anderson of Yes.

BAYart's Market & Movie nights are becoming popular events; big groups assembled for the movie nights last summer. 

For anyone seeking a unique summer experience in their own backyard, turn to BAYarts. The first of three Market & Movie nights starts on Thursday, June 29. Following the Farm & Art Market, which goes from 5-8 p.m., the movie "The Incredibles" will start as it gets dark. It is offered to the community for free. 

The 2004 Pixar Animation Studios film follows a superhero family that has retreated and hid their powers. They are pulled back into the superhero lifestyle as Mr. Incredible takes up the fight against his biggest enemy, Syndrome. Familar voices in the mix include Samuel L. Jackson, Craig T. Nelson and Holly Hunter.

It's a good time to brush up on the film, as the sequel, "The Incredibles 2," is slated to come out next summer.

Men's bocce players enjoy friendly competition at the Westlake Center for Community Services.

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Wanted: Bocce players, especially for Men's Group on Thursday mornings. No experience required! Offers great health benefits.

Bocce is an outdoor game that can be played by folks from any age or skill level. It can be played by two people or by two teams of two to four people. The rules are relatively simple. One player (or team) begins by rolling a smaller ball, known as the “palina,” onto the court. Turns are then taken as each player (or team) attempts to bowl his or her balls closest to the palina.

What was the most daring thing you did in high school? Back in the '50s there weren’t too many daring things for girls to do at Bay High School. Looking back, we really were puritans. The worst thing I remember is some of the classmates smoked, and look where that got them. 

In 1954, the summer before my senior year at Bay High, Marilyn Sheppard was murdered in the early morning hours of July 4 and Bay Village was never the same again. We headed off to our senior year at Bay High and all we heard was Sheppard, Sheppard, Sheppard. We had a winning football team but the big news was the coroner's inquest at Normandy School. There was news about the coroner and the morgue. People and places we had never thought about before. It perked everyone’s curiosity.

Native plants are defined as those that occur naturally in a region in which they evolved. I have to be honest and admit that I did not know much about this topic – but as I did my research I now realize how important it is that people understand the issue I’m going to write about and how easy it is to help!

Over the past century, urbanization has occurred in the United States: 54 percent of the land in the lower 48 states is made up of cities and suburbs, and 41 percent is made up of agriculture. We, as humans, have taken over 95 percent of nature. Lawns and exotic ornamental plants have taken over ecologically productive land. Lawns cover over 40 million acres in the United States, and over 3,400 species of alien plants have invaded 100 million acres, and that is expected to double in five years.

Westlake Porter Public Library is now offering readers and writers exciting new electronic reading and publishing options through BiblioBoard Library and SELF-e.

Wednesdays, June 21 and 28 (10:15 & 11 a.m.) Let’s Sing and Dance! – Sing and move to the music with Miss Nancy! For children ages 2-6 with a caregiver. Please arrive early to receive a ticket.

Wednesdays, June 21 and 28 (4-5:30 p.m.) and Thursdays, June 22 and 29 (6:30-8 p.m.) Bow Wow Books – Stop by the Youth Services Department and sign your child up for a 10-minute reading time with a reading therapy dog! Bring your own book or choose one of ours. Registration begins each Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. and each Thursday at 6 p.m.

Wednesday, June 21 (6:30-8:45 p.m.) Cuyahoga West Genealogical Society – "History of the Danube-Schwabians, Where They Came from and Why," presented by Astrid Julian, teacher of the German Language School at Lenau Park.

Wednesday, June 21 (7-7:45 p.m.) Fun Science Evening Exploration: Starry Sky – Join Mrs. K as we explore the night sky and make a craft! Ages 4-7. Please register.

Wednesday, June 21 (7-8 p.m.) Hamilton, Hip Hop, and the American Dream – Dr. Julie Burrell, assistant professor of English at Cleveland State University, will explore the hip hop roots of the Broadway musical "Hamilton" and consider what hip hop has to do with the American Dream. Please register.

Thursday, June 22 (11 a.m.-noon) Healthy Eyes – Darcy Downie from Prevent Blindness Ohio will talk about eye health and safety and what preventive measures can be taken as we age to safeguard our sight. Please register.

Many of you may be utilizing the Bay Village pool to cool off and enjoy some summer fun. On Monday and Tuesdays join us there for our poolside storytime. Librarians from the Bay Village branch children's department will host a storytime during the 2 p.m. rest break. We hope to see you there!

Don't forget to stop by the branch library to stock up on reading materials for summer and mark your minutes read to earn prizes in our summer reading program, "Build a Better World."

CHILDREN

Caregivers and their children are invited to enjoy rhymes, songs, fingerplays, books and stories together. No registration is required.

Join us at the Bay Village pool for poolside storytimes. The poolside storytimes will be held Mondays and Tuesdays at 2 p.m. We hope to see you there this summer!

Adolescence – the reason I don’t need to be young again.

I’ve gladly grown out of many obsessions and predicaments: Having to read books that “inspire me”; home perms; Jimmy W., only the third most popular boy at Spackenkill High School; wanting to be the president; finding the perfect husband; being the perfect wife.

But I, along with many adults, never did outgrow the one bully that taunted our adolescence: acne.

It was only a year ago that the Cleveland Cavaliers shocked the sports world by coming back from a 3-1 deficit to wrestle away the NBA Championship from the Golden State Warriors. Slightly more than four months later, the Cleveland Indians took the Chicago Cubs to extra innings in the seventh game of the World Series before falling to the boys from the Windy City.

This past NBA season, the Cavaliers looked like anything but NBA champs, stumbling their way to a 51-31 record, despite playing in the competitively challenged NBA Eastern Conference. And they looked downright awful at times in the process. Many commentators, and fans alike, spoke of the Cavs “flipping the switch” once the playoffs began – that the regular season was merely a warm-up for the playoffs.

The fireworks show we enjoy at Bay Days every year is only partially paid for by the city; it is up to a dedicated group of volunteers to raise the matching funds, or there will be no fireworks on the Fourth of July, and Bay Days would be a dud.

We owe a special thanks this year to Sunnyside Auto Group and RPM International.

Last year's first-place winner for Large Rear Yard was Diane Morris on Schwartz Road. Photo by Jim Bedell

Attention Westlake gardeners, there is still time to enter the 2017 Westlake in Bloom competition! The deadline for entering is Friday, June 30, at 5 p.m. Entry forms are available at Cahoon Nursery, Dean’s Greenhouse, Gale’s Westlake Garden Center, Westlake Porter Public Library, and at Westlake City Hall, Recreation Center and Community Services Department. You can also download an entry form at www.cityofwestlake.org/Westlake-in-Bloom. 

Properties will be judged in July and awards presented at a ceremony on Wednesday, Aug. 9, at 6:30 p.m. at La Centre Banquet and Conference Center.

Pick up an entry form today and make sure to get it to City Hall by June 30.

Bay Days is an amazing four-day festival that has entertained, fed and inspired Bay Village for years. It is a great tradition. However, the downside of any festival is the waste produced, and the Bay Village Green Team is working to help reduce waste during Bay Days.

The Green Team has partnered with Bay Village Kiwanis for the last several years to increase recycling and composting at the event, thus reducing the amount of waste sent to the landfill. Last year the city's service department provided a 20-cubic-yard dumpster for recycling and 30 cubic yards for trash. This is a marked improvement from five years ago, when the capacity ratio was 8 cubic yards for recycling and 60 cubic yards for trash. Kiwanis also filled a 95-gallon composting tote last year with potato scraps from their popular curly fries booth.

Westlake Kiwanian Lynda Appel and her daughter, Michelle, adapt toys for children with special needs.

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The Westlake Kiwanis held a RePlay for Kids project on Tuesday, June 13, at Westlake Porter Public Library. Ten members and five guests volunteered their time to work on the toys.

They adapted the toys so they can be used by children with disabilities. It involves taking apart the toys and installing switches which can be used to make the toys operate in various ways, such as blowing into a tube or touching with the side of a head. They managed to complete 30 toys, which is the most they have ever done. Natalie Wardega, director of operations for RePlay for Kids, and her assistant, Ethan Dale, coordinated the workshop.

Gerry Horning was re-elected president of the Bay Village Democratic Club for 2018 in an unanimous vote among about 20 club members at the June 12 meeting. Horning is a Bay Village city leader in the county Democratic organization and a personal injury lawyer.

Other officers re-elected were Mary Ann Cronin, vice president; Harriet Gannon, secretary; and Ann Sartin, treasurer.

Lake Erie Nature & Science Center is partnering with Cleveland Hearing & Speech Center to offer speech and language services in the Center's Log Cabin this fall.

Lake Erie Nature & Science Center is excited to announce its partnership with Cleveland Hearing & Speech Center (CHSC). This fall, a variety of speech and language services will be offered at Lake Erie Nature & Science Center to help young children develop the communication skills that are essential to academic success.

Serving over 6,000 children and adults each year, Cleveland Hearing & Speech Center is the nation's oldest hearing and speech center and the only nonprofit organization dedicated solely to serving those with special communication needs.

"We are thrilled to partner with Cleveland Hearing & Speech Center this year. Lake Erie Nature & Science Center is dedicated to connecting parents with the best community resources possible for their children to flourish," said Darci Sanders, Director of Education. "We're all about happy, healthy children and we strive to offer beneficial programs for the whole family."

The heroin epidemic in Northeast Ohio is devastating. Families are being ripped apart; grief and overdose deaths are front page news. But there is also hope, and transformational stories being written in the lives of young men and women. I feel compelled to share some of these stories.

Ten years ago, Linda (who has since died from a minor scrape of her toe, thus I use her name) came to us at CrossPointe Community Church in Westlake wanting out of a drug and prostitution lifestyle. After being encouraged to post Bible scriptures on index cards on her bathroom mirror, and after two-plus years of sobriety, Linda was transformed. She became our CrossPointe Community official greeter. Years passed. I visited her before she moved to Florida. I looked in the bathroom and there I saw not only the mirror, but also the wall surrounding it, covered in index cards.

The bench will offer a shady place to rest for walkers on Dover Center Road. Photo by Jim Potter

The Bay Village Kiwanis Club and the St. Raphael Builders Club have donated a metal bench for use by walkers on the east side of Dover Center Road. Situated on the front lawn of the St. Raphael School, under shade trees, it will be a welcome stop for walkers in the hot summer weather.

The Builders Club is made up of 60 eighth-grade students, who dedicate themselves to projects that benefit their school and the community. Mrs. Kimberly Hirsch is the club advisor and Jim Potter is the Kiwanis representative to the club.

Martha Krebs receives a proclamation for her community service. Photo by Tara Wendell

Bay Village Mayor Paul Koomar presented a proclamation on June 5 to Martha Krebs, in recognition of her 15 years on the Civil Service Commission. Krebs, who was joined by members of her family for the proclamation in City Council chambers, was appointed to the volunteer post in 2002 and reappointed for two additional terms.

“It’s been a really enjoyable way to be involved in the community,” said Krebs.

Thomas Wynne was appointed to complete Krebs’ term, which expires Jan. 24, 2020.

Huston Nagy and his mom, Becky, (right) accept a camp scholarship from Westshore Lions Club members Linda and Kevin Barrett. Photo by David Sacco

Thanks to a collaborative effort by the Westshore Lions Club, the Cleveland Host Lions Club and the Cleveland Scrappers beep baseball team, 11-year-old Huston Nagy of North Olmsted will be able to go to summer camp at Highbrook Lodge in Chardon.

Highbrook Lodge is no ordinary camp as Huston is visually impaired. The camp is operated by the Cleveland Sight Center. Totally blind since birth, Huston excels at numerous activities including music and various sport and athletic pursuits as a member of the Westlake Youth Challenge program. Huston's mother, Rebecca Nagy, is a volunteer for Youth Challenge and when the cost to attend Highbrook Lodge proved to be prohibitive for the family, Rebecca contacted the Westshore Lions.

The Bay Village Historical Society offers plaques to the owners of homes older than 100 years. Pictured here are Gary and Connie Clifford with their daughter Grace and granddaughter Rory. They live across the street from each other on Lake Road in century homes, and both recently purchased plaques from the society. Information on ordering the plaques can be found on the society’s website, www.bayhistorical.com.

Many years ago, I rescued a little white dog and he turned out to be the best friend I ever had. He lived for 17 years; his only bad habit was toilet paper. When I would come home from work, I would find that the toilet paper had moved all around my apartment, pulled by this half-pint little dog, and I would have to clean it up!

I have a little dog who loves paper by the roll!
And when he starts to play, they go down the toilet bowl.

His bark really is far worse than his bite,
but if you give him trouble, he's ready for a fight!