Local residents took turns standing and voicing their support for the proposed Bay Skate & Bike Park in a standing-room-only council meeting on Jan. 25. Lawrence Kuh, spokesperson for the Bay Skate & Bike Park Foundation, told council members, "This is our sixth year. It's time to build or time to walk away. I hope this decision will be made in the first quarter." Council President Brian Cruse responded that, as he sees it, the project has three options: One, build the park next to the police station; two, build the park at Bradley Park; or three, consider other alternatives.

Even though the assembled crowd and many council members preferred the police station location because of its central location in the city, it would require an additional $12,800 to conform to EPA regulations. Because the police station location is adjacent to a landfill, the site would require testing, according to the EPA requirements. 

Bay Village and Westlake share an important resource. Everything a Westlake resident puts into the storm sewer system ends up somewhere in the over 120 miles of streams and creeks that meander through the city. Likewise, anything that goes into a Westlake stream ends up in a Bay Village water way and eventually into Lake Erie.  

But, you may ask, what am I putting in the storm sewer that causes pollution?

One of the biggest and perhaps most-overlooked practices is that of yard care. Chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides that are applied to a lawn and landscape can end up in Lake Erie. Many people don’t realize that chemical fertilizers (whether or not they contain pesticides/herbicides) are formulated to be water soluble. According to the EPA, up to 80% of this soluble fertilizer runs off into nearby water ways causing pollution. Organic fertilizers, on the other hand, are water insoluble and don’t run off like their chemical counterparts.

Members of Boy Scout Troop 77 from St. Ladislas Church led the Pledge of Allegiance at the Westlake City Council meeting on January 21. The troop attended the council meeting to see how the legislative branch of government works on the local level.

The Bay Village Board of Education welcomed two new members Monday, January 11. Sworn in were Michael Caputo and Dr. Gayatry Jacob-Mosier. Also sworn in for her third four-year term was incumbent member Amy Huntley.

Bill Selong was elected to serve as 2010 president and Amy Huntley will serve as vice president.

The Westlake Lady Demons soccer team was named 1st Team Adidas Academic All-American for the 2009 season. This marks the seventh time in the last eight years the team has won this award. 

Westlake is ranked #1 in Ohio for the second consecutive year and fourth nationally, with an overall team GPA of 4.28. The team is coached by Scott Jones.

In addition, five senior players were named All-Ohio Scholastic scholars – Megan Dunlap, Julia Fulton, Julie Laraway, Ally Louis and A.J. Suever. 

Recent sightings of white deer around Westlake had people asking if a rare albino deer was living in the area. In spite of its appearance, the deer is a white-tailed deer and not an albino according to Amy LeMonds, Wildlife Rehabilitation Specialist at Lake Erie Nature & Science Center in Bay Village. “The term for the coloring is ‘piebald’ and they are actually more common than you might think," said LeMonds.

Piebald coloring is an inherited genetic trait and can range from very small patches of white hair to almost entirely white coats. Unlike true albinos, piebald deer have brown eyes and black hooves. Piebald deer are rare (around 1% of the population), but widely documented. “Albinos are much rarer, genetically speaking,” LeMonds said. “Our Wildlife Education & Rehabilitation Program receives reports on piebald deer every year, including a number of piebald sightings in the Rocky River Reservation.” 

The American Library Association announced the top books for children, including the Newbery and Caldecott Awards, at its Midwinter Meeting in Boston on January 18. "When You Reach Me" by Rebecca Stead is the winner of the 2010 John Newbery Award. In this book, as her mother prepares to be a contestant on the 1970s TV game show "The $20,000 Pyramid," a twelve-year-old New York City girl tries to make sense of a series of mysterious notes received from an anonymous source that seems to defy the laws of time and space. 

Representatives of Bay Village organizations met Jan. 13 to conduct the first Community Council meeting of the new year, and to select the Bay Village Citizen of the Year and Project of the Year.

Council members present unanimously agreed that the 2010 Citizen of the Year is Rhonda Schneider. A Bay Village Kiwanis member and former club officer, Schneider has served as president of the Bay Village Education Foundation and Bay Band Boosters.

Nominees for Citizen of the Year must be Bay Village residents who have provided outstanding volunteer community service without monetary reward.

The Project of the Year is the Bike to School Challenge. In May 2009, Bay High and Bay Middle School students and 90 school staff members logged 37,042 miles in riding bicycles to school instead of riding in automobiles and school buses.

The weekend of Jan. 15th was another busy one for art around the Westside with the opening of the faculty show at BAYarts and the quarterly open house at The Studios at 78th Street in the Gordon Square Arts District.

I taught a painting class at BAYarts years ago and have watched the momentum that the venue has been gaining of late, and the current faculty show exemplifies this new energy. Included in the show were some nocturnal landscapes by Jeff Yost that dance the line between realism and abstraction.

Dolley Madison, wife of James Madison, fourth President of the United States, paid a visit to Bay Village Middle School on January 12th. The buoyant and gregarious first lady relayed her experiences in the White House during a program sponsored by the League of Women Voters.

Resplendent in 19th century apparel, local actress Carol Starre-Kmiecik regaled the audience with tales of lavish formal dinner parties and her ability to make everyone feel at home in the White House.

Was one of your New Year’s Resolutions to begin exploring and recording your family history? Or, are you having difficulty finding that elusive ancestor? Now is the time to really tackle that project, as members of the Cuyahoga West Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society are doubly ready to assist you.  

There will be two opportunities for you to receive assistance with your research in February. First is an informal “help session” offered on Wednesday, February 3, from 1:00-2:30 p.m. The second is an online demonstration of genealogical websites, presented by Jim Denham and John Noble, on Wednesday evening, February 17, from 7:00-8:45 p.m. Come early for social time and refreshments from 6:30-7:00 p.m. Both sessions will be held at Westlake Porter Public Library, 27333 Center Ridge Rd. There is no charge for either meeting and you do not have to be a member to attend.

The new year brings several new programs to pique your interest at the Westlake Recreation Center. We have new programs for people of all ages. January is almost over, which means several of our programs have already begun, but this also means we have many more that are starting just around the corner. Make sure to check out the program book for more upcoming programs, but for now here are some programs that you might be interested in:

On January 31, we will host our first ever members-only Grand Day at the Rec at 1:00 p.m. Bring your grandchild or grandparent to the recreation center for an afternoon of fun in the pool, make a craft, play in the gym and enjoy a snack. Don’t miss out on this grand time. 

Following is Westlake Porter Public Library’s February, 2010 Calendar of Events.

Monday, February 1 (3:30-4 p.m.), Friday, February 19 (10:30-11 a.m.), Wednesday, February 24 (10:30-11 a.m.), Wednesday, March 3 (10:30-11 a.m.), Wednesday, March 10 (7-7:30 p.m.), Friday, March 19 (10:30 - 11 a.m.) and Thursday, March 25 (3:30-4- p.m.) Let’s Sing and Dance! – Join us for a fun session of singing  and dancing. For children ages 2-6 with a caregiver. No registration required.

Wednesday, February 3 (3:30-4:30 p.m.) Valentine Stamps and Stationery – Kids ages 8 to 12: Make some cool cards, bookmarks or stationery to give your loved ones. Registration required, starting January 27.

The Friends of Westlake Porter Public Library will be holding their 2010 Annual Book Sale on February 4 – 7. A Preview Night will be held on February 3rd from 4–8:30 p.m. for Members of Friends. Thousands of books will be available at the sale including fiction, non-fiction, books for children, special-priced books, and audio-visual materials.

Things are heating up at the Bay Village Library even though there is still snow on the ground. The Adult, Teen and Children's Departments have programs and specials for all ages and interests. 

The Teen department is offering a free SAT Practice Test for grades 9 - 12 on Sat., Jan. 30 from 9:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. This exam is administered by The Princeton Review and will sharpen skills for the real thing! Please bring a calculator and two number 2 pencils to the test. 

St. Paul Lutheran School, located in Westlake, is scheduled to hold an open house on Sunday, January 31st, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

St. Paul is a fully-accredited preschool to grade 8 Lutheran day school with both a before- and an after-school care program. St. Paul is proud to offer a Christ-filled education that is also academically rigorous. The school offers unique accelerated options for highly qualified students in all major subject areas. In addition, St. Paul also provides educational assistance programs for students in need of special help. The top-notch academic programs help students to actualize their full potential. This is evidenced by the success of our alumni at both public and private high schools.

Dear Editor,

Please allow us to extend a huge THANK YOU to the entire community from Lake Erie Nature & Science Center! We are thrilled to report that our non-profit organization reached our year-end “Go Wild” campaign target of $25,000 in new and increased donations! That means The Kenneth A. Scott Charitable Trust will now match all of those wonderful contributions! This generous and crucial support for our non-profit mission will help us to continue to inspire appreciation for wildlife, nature and science for tens of thousands of children and adults each year through hands-on education and wildlife rehabilitation.

In his last article, Alex Dade implied that the initial iteration of the Bay municipal budget, showing a large deficit, would prove to be a formidable hurdle for city officials to deal with. Reality? Virtually all municipalities begin the annual budget process with an initial iteration showing a deficit. The law requires the final version to be balanced, with no deficit. As is the case year after year, Bay's final budget will be balanced.

Dade also stated that the mayor has recommended the expenditure of $12.8 million on municipal building renovations. I reviewed the last several years of council meeting minutes and the city newsletter, and read nothing that would support Dade's contention. 

Our daughters are grown and married (both to Yankees, which would have made my Kentucky-born mother grab her confederate money and run for Atlanta bellowing, “Skawlette! The Yankees is comin'!”).

I’m kidding of course, although Mom wasn’t. They’re both nice young men and, more importantly to old dad, they both love my little girls and protect them. But I remember a time when I was the only man protecting them, when my girls were high school age, facing all the temptations that tender age brings (alcohol, drugs and the like) and the urge to follow the crowd and “do what everybody does.”

Dogs sold at auction live in deplorable conditions. Often these dogs live in cages for years where they are stacked on top of each other. The urine from the dogs on top fall below to the dogs beneath them.   

By the time these dogs reach auction they have been bred over and over again. These dogs churn out puppies to be sold at pet stores, on the Internet or at the dog auction in Farmerstown, Ohio. Why is the state of Ohio allowing these auctions to continue? Auctions have been banned in Pennsylvania since 1982. It is time for Ohio to ban these auctions as well.

To get more information on what needs to be done to ban these auctions, please visit: www.banohiodogauctions.com

When things have hit an all-time low – like when you were forced to fire one of your gardeners; when you found out your husband was cheating (on his diet); when the artist that was going to do your screening room in trompe l’oeil broke her hand; when your best friend bought an outfit just like yours except for the color and pattern; when your power went out for nearly ten full minutes right when you were watching "The Real Housewives of Orange County"; when you found out they discontinued your favorite nail polish color; when you suddenly ran out of Bounce just as the laundress arrived – there’s nothing like a steaming bowl of the most comforting and well-loved soup in the world. Okay, I’ve changed it just a little. But I think you’ll like it. 

It was an extraordinary trip down memory lane for me. James Seman's slide presentation and talk at the Bay Village Library on January 14 brought back so many pleasant summertime memories. Who could forget Laughing Sal, the Tilt-a-Whirl, and the Thriller?

Going to Euclid Beach with family and friends was a big event. Filled with anticipation, we would pile into dad's car and head for the park. Many fun activities awaited us. I remember scrambling for a car on the Dodgems and the triumph of coming in seconds ahead of my friends on the winning racer coaster. Rocking the car when it stopped at the top of the giant Ferris wheel was cool. And yes, Ferris wheels did look gigantic to me. Walking to the end of the pier, dodging fishing lines and hooks, to the take in the sunset over Lake Erie is my favorite memory.

Jennifer Brunner, Ohio's Secretary of State, is the featured speaker at the League of Women Voters' First Thursdays, the League's area-wide meeting series open to the public free of charge. Titled, "A View From the Top," Brunner's talk is set for February 4, 2010, 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., at Trinity Commons (the Art Gallery) at Trinity Cathedral, 2230 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland. There is free parking for attendees behind the Cathedral off Prospect Avenue.

Ohio's Chief Election officer, Secretary Brunner will discuss the collaborative effort across Ohio to reverse the trend in the state's administration of elections. She will share the highlights of three years in office and how the state worked to provide an efficient and successful 2008 Presidential Election, and continues to work on election reform with the state legislature.

IRAs. You have heard the acronym before, and you may even have an IRA, but what is it exactly? IRA is the acronym for Individual Retirement Account, and although you may have other retirement accounts, chances are that you will one day utilize an IRA. We will look at what each letter means and why an IRA can be essential to your investment planning.

When summer days were dry and sunny,
A farmer lad, for pocket money,
Came into town to cut the grass
For city folk of higher class
Who did not care to push their mowers
But spent spare time in boats as rowers.

Now when the boy became a man,
He built a daydream and a plan,
And since more fit for storytime
I’ll put it into words that rhyme.

Upon My Way To Scotland Yard

Upon my way to Scotland Yard,
I met a statue of the Bard
I doffed my hat in deep respect
And fondness for his intellect.

"Nobody Don't Like Yogi" plans to stay at the Actors' Summit Theater through January. It figures to be good enough for its site. So, why not Bay / Westlake soon? We're no less cerebral. The real-life Lawrence Peter Berra had something besides baseball stardom. And he still has. What? As Brit theatergoers would colorfully pronounce it, it's "clahss."

Ah, Yogi Berra was in the news the other day. At least in Maureen Dowd's column briefly.

It's wonderful to see the people of this country sit back and profess their displeasure over the job that President Obama has done in his one year in office. I don't believe he said he had a magic wand and was going to make everything better overnight. Most of what has occurred in the current economy has been building over several years and if you know anything about economics you would know that unemployment will continue to go up even after the economy has stabilized.