Stacy Turner
Hiram Village News
Hiram - At the next council meeting on April 12th, council will discuss proposed funding for sidewalk repairs and improvements. Council is currently considering amending an ordinance to the sidewalk code. In the proposed amendment, the village would pay a portion of the cost, while residents would be required...
Mantua Township News
Mantua Twp - As new septic requirements are put in place by Portage County Health Department, Zoning Inspector John Dickey speculates that the Township will receive more call from residents and/or their contractors about securing permits. He anticipates that as residents look to sell homes, or on Pioneer Trail...
DI Competition Makes Hiram the Destination
Mantua - Recently, Ohio’s Region 15 Destination Imagination tournament day took place on the Hiram College campus. The competition matched Crestwood’s eight teams against 57 teams from 10 other school districts across Summit, Portage, Geauga and Lake Counties in six different challenges. It was a big day for the...
Hiram Township News
Hiram Twp. - At a recent Trustees meeting, Fiscal Officer Diane Rodhe announced that she had closed the books for 2015 and filed electronically with the Auditor of State’s office. She provided a fund balance report to the Trustees to aid in budget planning discussions.
Next, Tim Kasper and Tom...
Hiram Township Receives Four Grants For New Park
Hiram - Beginning in March, village water rates will reflect a rate increase of 8%, or an estimated $.93 per each unit used per month. Sewer rates remain unchanged; Village Council enacted the water rate increase in their February meeting. Village Administrator James McGee reported receipt of water and...
Model Employee Retires in Hiram Township
Hiram Twp. - At the end of February, the Hiram Township Road Services Department bid farewell to Don Bello, upon his retirement after 14 years of service. According to Road Supervisor Tom Matota, Bello joined the Township’s Road Services team after having retired from a similar role with the...
Mantua Township News
Mantua Twp. - At a recent Trustee meeting, Bill Steiner, Portage County Recycling Director announced that single-stream recycling will come to Portage County in mid February. From February 15th through February 19th, drivers delivered 95 gallon, wheeled recycling carts. These new carts will replace small bins, and can be...
Crestwood Primary School Became Candy Factory
Mantua - Crestwood Primary School was transformed into Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory last week, as students celebrated the completion of their annual One Book, One School program. The transformation, based on the 1964 book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, was the culmination of several weeks of...
Crestwood Students Show They Care
Mantua - Three big-hearted fourth-graders at Crestwood Intermediate School have once again gone beyond, personifying their school’s motto, ‘Crestwood Cares.’ For the second year in a row, Lilly, Aspen, and Emmy have decided to take up the cause and become Change Bandits to raise much needed funds for children...
Mantua Village Council News
Mantua - Mayor Linda Clark reported that she received letters of interest for the Village’s Planning Committee and Landmark Board. She recommended that Council appoint Robert Gaglione to Planning and Terry Vechery to the Landmark Commission. Both candidates were approved by Council and sworn in by Mayor Clark that...
Crestwood School Board Decides Calendar at Next Meeting
Mantua - The next meeting of the Crestwood School Board will be held on Tuesday, January 12th in the High School library. This meeting will begin at 6:30 pm. The dates of the 2016-2017 school calendar will be decided at this meeting, and the community is encouraged to attend....
Local Officials Sworn in By Political Dignitaries
Hiram - A few days before Christmas, several local officials were sworn in during a ceremony in Koritansky Hall at Hiram College. Cristine Boyd, Chief of Staff of the College welcomed officials to the campus, thanking those present for their service to the local community. Reverend Dr. Irvin Green,...
High Street Bridge Re-Opens in Mantua
Mantua - Last Friday, December 19th, Mantua Village received a very special gift when the High Street bridge was re-opened to traffic, just in time for the holidays. Randy Barker, from MS Consultants; Anthony Zumbo and Mickey Marozzi from the Portage County Engineers Office; and Mantua Mayor Linda Clark...
Mantua Shalersville Fire Department Shares Fire Safety Tips at CPS
Mantua - Recently, over 400 Crestwood Primary School students from Mrs. Marlow’s Pre-K classes through Mrs. Jones and Ms. Ludlow’s second graders learned basic fire safety tips during Fire Safety Month. In this annual program, students heard timeless fire safety basics, like when you see or smell smoke, you...
Cavaliers Mascot Visits Crestwood Intermediate School
Mantua - Sir CC, the mascot from the Cleveland, can be seen at every Cavaliers home game cheering on our team and energizing the fans. At Crestwood Intermediate School, Mrs. Patton’s students quickly recognized Sir CC in a Brain Rush brain break video they completed in class. Just for...
Hiram Village News
Hiram - In his report, Mayor Lou Bertrand shared results from the November 3rd election. He reported that State Issue #1, the selection of an Ohio State Legislative District, passed with 86% of voters, but that State Issue #2 regarding amending the Ohio Constitution received 55% of Villagers ‘no’...
Crestwood Primary School Celebrates Socktober
Mantua - Prompted by an online call to action from Kid President, who has shared such timeless advice as “open your heart more than your mouth,” and “create something that will make the world awesome,” students at Crestwood Primary School decided to celebrate the month of October by collecting...
Local Artisans Help Mantua Thrive
Mantua - Carrie and Patrick Frost have been together since 2009. Carrie, an Aurora, Ohio native, met Patrick, who hails from the Chicago suburbs, at glass school. Since that time, they’ve collaborated on work while traveling the world, learning from masters in Italy, the Czech Republic and the US...
Road Issues Rock Hiram Township
Hiram Township - At the last meeting of the Hiram Township Trustees, Trustee Kathy Schulda reported that the Ohio State Patrol has been stopping trucks on Township roads near the storage well on Allyn Road. When stopped, drivers were issued a warning to produce an applicable permit within a...
Crestwood Soccer Teams Go4theGoal
Mantua - Did you know that cancer is the leading cause of death of children by disease? In spite of this startling statistic, you might be surprised to learn that less than four percent of federal funding is dedicated to pediatric cancer research. That’s why Crestwood’s boys and girls...
Indians Outfielder Michael Brantley Visits CMS
Mantua - The gymnasium at the Crestwood Middle School reverberated with excitement last week, as Cleveland Indians outfielder Michael Brantley entered. Timmy and Jacob, two of the over 400 students filling the bleachers, sat in a prime spot in the first row as they waited for Brantley’s arrival. In...
Arts & Culture Shine at Hiram College
Hiram - As fall semester began, Hiram College celebrated enhancements to the Warren Sherman Hayden Memorial Auditorium at Bates Hall. Renovations to the 80-year-old venue included new seating for 511, including wheelchair-accessible seating, a new thrust stage and extensive roof repairs and new gutters on Bates Hall. Ohio Senator...
Crestwood Students Learn the Importance of Keeping Promises
Mantua - A rainy Monday morning was transformed into into a day full of promise when Alex Sheen spoke to students and staff at the Crestwood High School and Crestwood Middle School. Sheen founded the social movement and nonprofit organization because I said I would.
Through because I said I...
Crestwood Celebrates a Culture of Caring
Mantua - On a perfect sunny day earlier this week, students at Crestwood Primary and Crestwood Intermediate Schools celebrated the 6th annual International Day of Peace by making and planting pinwheels for peace at their combined campus. Crestwood Primary Principal Cindy Ducca shared, “Pinwheels for Peace is an art...
Don’t Miss Mantua’s 42nd Annual Potato Festival!
Mantua - Starting this Friday, September 11th, the festival that almost didn’t happen this year definitely WILL be happening. Although as recently as April, the annual festival’s future was in peril when it was discovered that former committee members allegedly misappropriated funds. But due to a huge outpouring of...
Hiram Fire Department Received DHS Grant
Hiram - At the last meeting of the Hiram Village Council, Chief Bill Byers reported that the Hiram Fire Department has received a grant of $14,250 from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG) program. The money will be used to purchase firefighter protective...
Mantua Village Police News
Mantua - It’s been a busy summer at the Mantua Police Department. Interim Chief of Police Joe Urso stepped up to fill the void left as Chief Harry Buchert recovered from surgery. In addition to his new role as Interim Chief, Officer Urso continued to serve as Department’s Student...
Crestwood Students Become Archaeologists
Mantua - A fortunate group of Crestwood students got the rare opportunity to participate in the excavation of a Civil War Military Prison. Johnson’s Island, a 300-acre island on the coast of Lake Erie, is located three miles from the city of Sandusky, Ohio. It served as a POW...
Pink Heals National Tour Make Local Stops
Aurora - On July 8th, four brightly painted vehicles, including a vibrant pink fire truck, arrived at Wildwater Kingdom in Aurora. They parked outside the front entrance with the goal of bringing attention to the Pink Heals organization, a group that was started in 2007 to help people, especially...
Village Tavern Hosts Spudfest Fundraiser
Mantua - As you may know, due to overwhelming community support, the Mantua Potato Festival is back on, and will take place on September 11th, 12th and 13th. If you’d like to do your part to help insure the success of this year’s Potato Festival, you’ve got plenty of...











