Staff Reporter

How do you picture your retirement? Do you envision visiting old friends and traveling to new places? Do you plan to take up a new hobby or pursue an old interest? If you have high hopes for your retirement, you aren’t alone. The retirement script is being rewritten by...

The Settlers “Ye Old” State Renaissance Faire has shuffled off into history once again, leaving bags of gold for the Middlefield “Shop With a Cop” program and the “Middlefield Cares! Food Cupboard”.  Generous supporters included the Nauvoo Family Market, White House Chocolates, Alley’s Grille,  Mary Yoder’s Kitchen, Zeppe’s Pizzaria,...

The  Literary Musical Club held their meeting on Sept. 14th at The Community Center in Nelson.We were pleased to have such a nice turn out. It is always nice to see all the members  come for our day out. We celebrated everyone’s birthday all at one time. We had a...

The September meeting of Heart of Doll Country was on September 6th, 2011. and all but one member were present.  After the reading of the minutes, and the treasurer’s report, the group discussed first the upcoming trip to the Kent Museum of Fashion to see the exhibit, “On the...

Garrettsville – Village Council met on Wednesday, September 10, for their regularly  scheduled monthly meeting.   A Public Hearing on changes to Zoning Ordinances 2011-37, 2011-38, 2011-39, 2011-40, and 2011-41 was to have taken place, but due to a clerical issue, the hearing had to be postponed.  The public hearing...

Mantua - The officers and members of the Mantua-Shalersville Fire Department were joined by officers and members from the Auburn, Aurora, Garrettsville, Kent, Ravenna City, and the Windham Fire Departments during the Potato Festival Parade to pay respects on  the 10th anniversary of 9-11. A piece of structural steel from...

Mantua -  In today’s world, peace needs to become more than just a word.  On Sept. 21, 2011, Crestwood Local Schools took  part in an international art and literacy project, Pinwheels for Peace, by “planting” pinwheels with messages of peace at Crestwood Intermediate and Primary Schools. Pinwheels for Peace is...

Ravenna - McDonald’s at 418 West Main Street in Ravenna held their grand opening last Friday as they débuted their new state-of-the- art eco-friendly facility. Owners Chuck and Mary Galloway eagerly showed us the new facility and highlighted some of its amenities such as the new dual drive thru,...

Windham - Recently families and staff enjoyed Open House at Katherine Thomas Elementary in Windham.  Pictured are Amanda, Payton, Quinn and Pat Justham and building principal Mr. Kujala.  This year’s Open House theme was “Passport to KT” which encouraged families to visit several areas of our school and several...

Garrettsville - Regional author, Julia Fuhrman Davis, who recently published her easy-to-read, inspirational, self-help autobiography, WAKING UP and Changing My Life, will be in Garrettsville on Wednesday, September 28. Davis will be at The Village Book Store, 8140 Main Street from 2:00 – 4:00 pm to greet readers and sell...

Weeeeellll, a fine time was had by all! Or at least they all certainly appeared to be enjoying themselves at  the sixth annual Garfield Alumni Banquet held last Saturday at the Garfield Elementary School.  Several classes--’56, ’61, ’66, ’71, ’81 & ’86--were especially recognized for hitting milestone years (twenty-five and...

Newton Falls - Miss Ohio 2011, Ellen Bryan, stopped by the town’s small community center for a meet-and-greet on Saturday, September 17th to take a brief break from her month-long bike tour. While signing autographs and posing for photos, Ellen talked about her work with the Children’s Miracle Network...

Mesopotamia - The 10th Annual Mesopotamia Fall Heritage Day, to be held at the Mesopotamia Commons, on Saturday, October 1, 2011, from 10 am to 4 pm. There is no admission charge for this event. The Mesopotamia Fall Heritage Day brings together skilled artisans in traditional Amish and Yankee crafts from...

Portage County District Library will host levy campaign meetings in the upcoming weeks. The Windham Library (located within the Renaissance Family Center) will host a meeting on Tuesday, September 27, beginning at 6:00 pm. Windham area residents interested in learning more about the Library’s levy, or those interested in...

Christmas Raffle Tickets On Sale Now The JAG All Sports Boosters are hosting their 2nd annual Christmas Raffle. This year there will be 3 prize categories: 1st Apple iPad 2, 2nd Apple iPod touch, and 3rd $100 cash. The drawing will be held on Dec. 16, 2011 at 1/2time of boys varsity BB...

Garrettsville – This past April, Village council approved expenditures for repairs and improvements to the downtown boardwalk lighting.  The project, which has been broken down into three phases, will total approximately $24,000 when completed.  Village council agreed to the first two phases – about $18,000 in work. The third...

Ravenna - The 33rd Annual Balloon-A-Fair kicked off last week with the Children’s Parade on Thursday. The annual event ran through the weekend which included parades, food, live music, 10 Mile race, car and antique tractor show along with craft show and fire works.  The highlight of the weekend...

Ravenna – Robinson Memorial Hospital has officially renamed the Med Center One in Streetsboro to the Robinson Urgent Care Center at Streetsboro. The newly named Robinson Urgent Care Center is located at 9318 State Route 14, at the Robinson Health Center at Streetsboro. The Robinson Urgent Care Center will...

Ravenna - The Ravenna Balloon A-Fair Children’s Parade, sponsored by Ravenna McDonalds, will take to the streets on Thursday, September 15, 2011. Registration will be from 5:30 - 6 p.m. at the downtown Ravenna corner of S. Prospect & Spruce Street. Entry judging will be from ...

Nelson Twp. - Nelson Township Trustees met for their regularly-scheduled meeting last week with all board members present. The meeting opened with the Pledge of Allegiance and the reading of the minutes from the August 17th meeting. The minutes were approved as read as well as the bank...

Volunteers Needed! Start something! The 2011 Fall Volunteer Recruitment Campaign for Big Brothers & Sisters of Portage County is underway. There are currently over 80 children, ages 6-17, living in all areas of Portage County waiting for a volunteer. All we ask is that you commit to 12 hours per...

Middlefield – You have probably seen statistics thrown out and about in the media regarding the advantages of music programs in local schools.  Some statistics show that students who are in band tend to do better in their other classes and are more likely to stay in school.  There...

Troy Twp. - Come see history in the “re-making!” Sandy Zikursh (rhymes with “licorice”), well-known historical impersonator, will be performing at Brooks House Assisted Living Community remembering the pioneers who settled the Western Reserve. Donning period costume, Ms. Zikursh will recreate the life and times of a pioneer woman...

Windham Twp. - Windham Township Trustees met for their regularly-scheduled meeting at the town hall last Thursday. The minutes were approved as presented and the meeting moved on to zoning issues. Zoning inspector Rich Gano said he was having more request for zoning permits and things were...

Middlefield - Pirate Musician Joshua Nelson will be performing at the Ye Olde State Renaissance Faire at Settlers’ Village in Middlefield on September 10, 11, 17 and 18. Nelson was born and raised in the small town of Burton before moving to Los Angeles, but his alter-ego Rillian Rauchbach has...

Friends of CASA for KIDS of Geauga County will present its fifth annual Kids’ Safety Day at Century Village in Burton on Saturday, September 10th from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Held on the beautiful grounds of Century Village near Burton Square (Rtes. 87 and 168), this free event...

Hiram - The Hiram Women’s Chorus and the Hiram Men’s Chorus will begin rehearsals for this season on Tuesday, September 13, at 7:30 PM in Frohring Music Hall on the Hiram College Campus. These College-Community ensembles are open to all area singers (high school and older) without audition. The...

Portage County - As many of you have heard, the Portage County Board of Commissioners recently decided to begin the steps to put the county owned nursing home for bid to sell it. The beautiful facility, called the Woodlands at Robinson, is a 99 bed facility. The...