Park Success vs. Political Ploy
Your Geauga Park District is better than ever. Unfortunately, a few residents with their obscure editorials, bizarre stories and misinformed views continue to misrepresent Geauga Park District.
They are attempting to undermine the Board of Park Commissioners, Judge Grendell and a park staff that is skilled in serving the residents of our county. The success and relevant accomplishments of Geauga Park District far outweigh this political ploy.
In recent years, we have built upon our legacy of success to preserve, conserve and protect lands for future generations. The addition of Veterans Legacy Woods, in 2018, and Staples Meadows, in 2016, represents 384 acres of quality natural areas.
In 2018, we were fortunate to lease 317 acres from Russell Township Park District. In 2018, we also renewed a 25-year lease with the City of Akron for 506 acres at Headwaters Park and Eldon Russell Park. These actions ensure over 1,200 acres of quality natural areas remain protected for you and your family to enjoy.
Our residents and their families love Geauga Park District. In 2018, a count of cars entering our parks over a six-month period during spring, summer and fall was 371,456. In 2019, the count was 385,236. These counts represent a multitude of residents who enjoy our parks in a variety of ways.
In 2020, we now have 25 open parks, each open to you and your family. We will begin construction of your newest park — Weltons Gorge — this year, a property purchased in 2009.
To add to the weight of our success, our naturalists have served over 50,000 people each year over the last three years with dynamic nature-themed programs. Our naturalists reach every public and private school in Geauga County. In many cases, they are teaching to school curriculum in the sciences. Positive momentum in this department exposes more people to nature in a variety of creative ways.
Our lodges and shelters served county residents with 2,382 reservations in 2018. This number grew to 2,731 reservations in 2019. The use of our facilities for your family events speaks to our popularity.
In November 2019, our voters showed their support for our park levy. Voters passed the ballot issue by a 66 percent “yes” vote. Thank you to the majority of voters who believe in our work.
And finally, just this month, Geauga Park District received a second-place award through our peer organization, the Ohio Parks & Recreation Association. The award was for our newest park, Holbrook Hollows.
With a membership of 2,081 park professionals and organizations, OPRA is the preeminent park and recreation organization in the state of Ohio. We are proud to be recognized as one of the best in our field.
Despite the critics, your Geauga Park District is one of the most successful parks in Ohio. We are widely respected. Under your current Board of Park of Park Commissioners, appointed by Judge Grendell, we are poised for success.
John Oros, Executive Director
Geauga Park District
Unbelievable . . . Not Really
I just attended the first official joint school board meeting between the Newbury Schools and West Geauga Schools. This last minute meeting was held to show the West Geauga school board members around the school and facilities. It was as if vultures were circling fresh roadkill.
I can’t really blame them for doing this. The Newbury school board gave away the buildings and properties that the citizens of Newbury paid for at no cost. Eventually, it will be sold off in pieces and the remainder of it auctioned off to the highest bidder. I guess that’s what building a community is all about.
The hardest part about sitting in this meeting was the hypocrisy of the Newbury school board members. One board member was “moved to [crocodile] tears” over the closing of the school. Considering her entire MO from the start was to close the school and then ask for pity on behalf of the citizens of Newbury, was nauseating.
Now, we will have “Town Hall Meetings” to toss out ideas about what we, the citizens of Newbury, think should happen to the school and its properties. I emphasize “think” here since we have absolutely no say in the final disposition of the school or its properties. We will no longer own them.
I thought it interesting to hear a West G board member say, “we like the auditorium, but don’t know if our parents are willing to drive all the way out here.” Funny, they have no issue with our kids on a one-hour bus ride to Lindsey Elementary or our parents driving “all the way out there” for events, but only Newbury students and parents should be inconvenienced I suppose.
In the end, the buildings will be gone, the community will remain divided and Newbury will simply become a town that people pass through on their way to somewhere else.
Phil Paradise Jr.
Newbury Township
Mullins for Recorder
I would like to express my support for the election of Celesta Mullins for Geauga County Recorder. Experience does make the difference. Sharon Gingerich will be retiring at the end of 2020 and Celesta Mullins should replace her.
I have known Celesta for 21 years, since she has been working in the recorder’s office.
She is honest, hard-working and knows every aspect of the office. She has worked for four elected officials since her employment in this office.
Celesta is a member of the Republican Central Committee, co-president of the Republican Women’s Club and is a volunteer and member of many organizations.
As the chief deputy recorder, she goes above and beyond to be helpful to the staff and residents of Geauga County.
My office interacts with the Recorders office on a regular basis and she has proven herself to be professional and easy to work with. She is a paralegal and has a background in real estate and as a title examiner before her employment in the recorder’s office.
Along with her day to day responsibilities in the recorder’s office, Celesta helps with issuing Veterans ID Cards, The Good Deeds Program and The Century Farm Program, which has been a great success implemented by Sharon Gingerich.
Please join me in supporting Celesta Mullins for Geauga County Recorder on March 17, 2020. She will be a working recorder and Geauga County residents deserve the best person for the job. Experience makes the difference!
Please vote in the March 17 primary. This is an important race for our local elected officials.
Denise M. Kaminski
Geauga County Clerk of Courts
Nonpartisan Organization
Recently, a member of our organization wrote a letter to the editor conveying their concerns about Timothy Grendell’s supervision of the Geauga County Park District. (Mr. Grendell is a candidate for Geauga County Court of Common Pleas).
After conferring with Mrs. Balazs, I am confident she intended this letter to be an expression of her personal point of view. However, given that she is an officer of our League, a reasonable person could certainly construe her statements to be expressions of League opinion.
We are reconstituting our organization and that process will include a thorough assessment of existing policies. While I cannot change the past, I can personally pledge that our nonpartisan policy will be clarified and strengthened, so that this does not happen again.
I sincerely regret this incident and assure the citizens of Geauga County that our organization will do better.
I hope Mr. Grendell will give careful consideration to participating in our candidates forums. The citizens of Geauga County have an important choice to make on March 17 and they should hear from both candidates.
Shelly Lewis, Co-President
League of Women Voters of Geauga County
Voting for Rambo
Matt Rambo is running against Judge Grendell for Probate/Juvenile Court Judge. We have met with Matt and reviewed his credentials and experience. We are voting for Matt Rambo for Judge and hope you will, too.
Pat and John Leech
Newbury Township
Dear Judge Grendell
In response to your full-page ad in last week’s edition of the Chagrin Valley Times, you claim, based on Matt Rambo’s voting record that he is “not a real Republican and it is dishonest for him to claim to be one.”
You’re attempting to delegitimize Matt Rambo’s campaign because he switched parties. Really? Does your line of reasoning also apply to President Trump. He was a Democrat for years, yet switched parties to run as a Republican.
Being a Republican yourself, I’m assuming you voted for Trump. So, does it really matter to you if a candidate switches party affiliation or are you just being petty?
- In budget year 2018, the last available budget, it shows you spent over $1,000,000 more than when you took office in 2011.
- The mailers, “Geauga Court News,” cost more than $15,000 to produce. Five mailings have now been produced and mailed to every address in Geauga County. The total cost of these mailing will exceed $75,000. All paid for with public money.
- I read in the Geauga County Maple Leaf that in June of 2019, you very publicly (black robes and all) verbally berated a Chardon police officer. https://geaugamapleleaf.com/news/police-called-after-court-auditor-spat/
- In February 2015, you cited Nancy McArthur with contempt for a private email communication. https://www.popehat.com/2015/02/25/worthy-of-contempt-ohio-judge-tim-grendell-abuses-his-office-to-suppress-criticism/
Your campaign signs declare “Experience Matters.” Experience may matter, but good judgment and integrity matter much more.
Betsy Kubbins
Bainbridge Township
A New Beginning
I am writing this letter to the editor in regards to the closing of the Newbury Schools.
Recently, it has come to my attention that our school board president, Maggie Zock, has had her house egged for the fourth time. These actions are not acceptable. I will be the first person to state publicly that I do not agree with Mrs. Zock’s ideas about our school district or all of her actions as board president, but egging her house is no way to show displeasure of her actions.
It is also wrong for our community members to go on social media and make unfounded accusations against students, alumni and staff members.
Let the system work and let our community heal. Parents, use this opportunity to explain to your children that sometimes things don’t go your way. Sometimes in life you are on the losing side of an argument. Instead of acting out and doing something detrimental to not only yourself and your family, use your actions and speech to be a positive force in the system.
Adults, act like adults and wait until the process has run its course. Stop listening to rumors and “he said, she said” talk. Stop posting on social media and attacking our young adults. It is not fair or proper.
I said in my last meeting as a Newbury board member that the fight is over and it is time to move forward and go down a new road. I also asked all of our board members to please put the students and staff first, and their own agendas second. I understand from their perspective it is a hard chore to do when your house is being egged and your family is being attacked.
I realize we live in a time when everyone wants to react first and think later, but that is not conducive for a constructive dialogue in moving our community forward. I implore everyone before you pick up an egg or get on your keyboard to please think. Please think about our students, staff, board members and community members. They are all someone’s daughter, son, father or mother. They have feelings and are entitled to their opinions and speech.
Marty Sanders
Newbury Township
Hildenbrand is People’s Sheriff
I have known Scott Hildenbrand since the 1980s in various capacities. First working for his grandfather; when I was a member of the Chardon Volunteer Fire Department; as a police officer for the Burton Police Department; as Director of Emergency Services for Geauga County; and finally as a friend.
Scott is a man of amazing character because of family, friends and the people he surrounds himself with. I think those are the people that made him what he is today, our sheriff.
When I was a police officer, sergeant and lieutenant for the Burton Police Department, as a part-time police officer in charge of the part-timers, our paths would cross many times. I knew him as a dispatcher, officer and sergeant under Chief William Niehus, a highly respected man in Geauga County. When Chief Deputy Dan McClelland, a Democrat was appointed sheriff after the death of George “Red” Simmons, a void needed to be filled. Sheriff McClelland selected the best man for the job: Republican Scott Hildenbrand as chief deputy.
As both chief deputy and now sheriff, Scott Hildenbrand has served on many county boards and committees, and brought to this county, while working with others after 9/11, many federal assets.
Concerned that we purchase equipment that was not repetitious of other communities and items that could be used for both terrorist and day-to-day events, equipment was purchased that would serve “all” Geauga County residents. For instance, generators at those fire departments who did not have them in order to have warming and/or shelters during emergency events; an enhanced countywide schedule to recoup costs to agencies that responded to hazardous materials incidents; upgrades to the countywide 800 MHZ radio communications system and enhanced 9-1-1; portable generators and signs that can be utilized anywhere in the county; drones for missing people; and Mobile Data Terminals (MDT’s) for efficient police, fire, local community and other agencies in the commission of their jobs.
Scott Hildenbrand goes to work every day of his life thinking about the “citizens” of this county and how to protect them. And I think his record shows that he has succeeded.
Dale B. Wedge
Chardon
Spotts is Way Off
I don’t like to get into a letter writing campaign in the local newspaper, but Judy Zamlen-Spotts figures are so far off I feel I have to respond.
After the thousands of pages of records requests she has received, I would have thought she would have been much more accurate.
- The jail was opened in 2005 and cost less than $15 million, not $30 million as she stated.
- The jail alone has brought back to the county over $15 million since it opened and the county commissioners paid off the jail early in only nine years.
- The jail is inspected at least three times per year by state and federal jail inspectors, and they have never found a problem with the temperature in the jail. The average temperature in the jail is 72 degrees, which is recorded and monitored every hour. It is usually warmer than my office.
Yes, we do sell extra blankets; yes, they are orange; they cost about $12 each and the inmates take them home with them when they leave. Indigent inmates are given a blanket and any other supplies they need for free if they request one.
- As reported to Ohio State Employment Relation Board each year, the Geauga County Sheriff’s Office (in 2020) has 117 full-time and 32 part-time employees (many part-timers are not paid). This number has been about the same for the past four years. The GCSO does not employ the 170 employees Spotts stated.
- The FOJ fund is about $34,000 each year and is audited by the county auditor and state auditor every year. In the last two years, more than $20,000 was returned to the auditor as required by law at the end of the year.
For the record, the sheriff’s office sponsored a two-week homicide class here in the county, held at the Library Administration building. Because we sponsored the class, we got four seats for free for our deputies that would have cost $1,500 each plus travel.
The Mangia, Mangia charge was for lunch on two days during the training; the County Police Chiefs Association and the Geauga County Prosecutor’s Office also purchased lunches on different days for the class.
I hope this clears up the inaccuracies in the Orange Blanket story. If anyone has questions, feel free to call my office anytime.
Scott A. Hildenbrand
Geauga County Sheriff
Jail is Not Cold
I would like to clarify my role as jail chaplain at the Geauga County Safety Center. I am actually not employed by the safety center nor am I supported by any taxpayer dollars. I work independently for Good News Jail and Prison Ministry, and I raise financial support every year in order to serve full-time at the jail.
As chaplain, my functions are limited to religious aspects. I provide spiritual support and counsel to the inmates, detainees and staff. I provide religious materials to inmates that request them and I facilitate volunteers and clergy for religious programs in the jail.
In all capacities, I adhere to facility polices and training, because safety is the primary concern.
Distributing blankets is not a part of my job description and is outside of my jurisdiction. That being said, I’ve never felt that it was cold in the jail. In fact, I wear short sleeves nearly every day, even in the winter, and I spend quite a bit of time back in the pods (cell block areas) with inmates and detainees.
Chaplain Ethan Maynard
Jail Chaplain, Geauga County Safety Center
Political Chameleon
A candidate for any elected office must, first and foremost, be honest and forthright to earn my vote. Application of those criteria definitely eliminates Matthew Rambo from consideration on March 17.
Like some devious political chameleon, this immutable Democrat now claims to be a Republican less than one year after running for Geauga County office as a Democrat. Is he revealing himself as one of those serial candidates constantly running for something — anything — qualified or not, until they finally squeak in through the back door?
In 2010, Mr. Rambo voted as a Democrat registered in Franklin County and has since continued to be so registered. In another county, in another election year, he voted in 2017 as a Democrat registered in Lake County. The following year, 2018, he unabashedly ran as a Democrat against Republican David Ondrey for the Geauga County Court of Common Pleas. Fortunately, Judge Ondrey trounced him.
Of course, Rambo also voted in Geauga County in 2018, as a registered Democrat. In 2019, but a few months later, he schemes to relabel himself as a Republican.
It’s important for Republicans, for all voters, in Geauga County to know that Mr. Rambo supported Democrat candidates running against incumbent Congressman David Joyce (R) and then-state Rep. Sarah LaTourette (R).
While my Republican roots are well grounded, I’m pragmatic enough to acknowledge that not all Democrats are demonic or wrong all of the time. I do, however, reject liberal ideologues and others of that ilk, a category that comfortably fits recent Geauga County arrival Matthew Rambo.
There are few certainties in electoral politics. However, the paramount certainty for an informed, discerning voter is honesty. It’s readily apparent that Mr. Rambo is dishonest about himself, his history, his irrefutable self-identification as a Democrat.
Every voter in Geauga County, regardless of party affiliation must, if you have a shred of integrity, refuse to succumb to Mr. Rambo’s transparent carpet-bagger siren song. Fortunately, there is a uniquely well-qualified, experienced, honest, dedicated incumbent with a public service record second to none in Geauga County.
Kevin Keough
Burton Village
