Iva Walker

The tenth annual James A. Garfield Hall of Fame induction was—as usual—a great success as it took place on April 30 in the Professional Development Center in the Garfield Elementary School. Chief organizer Sheri Johnson and Master of Ceremonies Joe Malmisur, committee members Annette and Stan Carlisle, John Bennett, Jim...

Well...isn’t April –now that we’ve finally got some weather that resemble Spring—just the greenest month! We’ve got Earth Day.  We’ve got Arbor Day.   We’ve got Happy Birthday for the National Park System (which will actually be running all year to mark the centennial of the founding of the NPS...

Garrettsville - The final Garfield graduate to be honored at the James A. Garfield Hall of Fame gathering on Saturday, April 30 is Robert E.  Armstrong, member of the Class of ’65 and recipient of the nation’s third-highest military award, the Silver Star, presented for Conspicuous Gallantry in Action,...

Always be careful of what you wish for; you may get it.  A warning nicely illustrated by a recent item on various news media. It seems that some British outfit called the National Environmental Research Council, preparing to launch a brand-new $287 million—aw, let’s call it $300 even, like all...

Garrettsville - The James A. Garfield Local School District will once again be honoring its own.  Graduates who have excelled in athletics, the arts, sciences, public service, national service will find a place on the Hall of Fame.  The Villager has been spotlighting the honorees prior to the induction...

Garrettsville - Thursday, April 7, the fourth, fifth and sixth graders of James A. Garfield Elementary School were treated to a musical program presented by the Crooked River Stompers (This iteration was comprised of John Reynolds and Kevin Johnson) who brought selections of Bluegrass, Swing and Old Time music...

Garrettsville - The April 11, 2016 found the Garrettsville-Hiram Rotary meeting at noon in Cal’s II in Garrettsville’s Sky Plaza and conducting the following business : The bowling event held at Sky Lanes on Saturday, April 9 was a great success with some thirty participants-- InterAct students from James A....

Garrettsville - The James A. Garfield Local School District will once again be honoring its own.  Graduates who have excelled in athletics, the arts, sciences, public service, national service will find a place on the Hall of Fame.  Each class year is different,  highlighting the various facets of accomplishment...

So...I’m listening to a radio program called “Marketplace” and discovered an interesting idea from some economic guru—Michael Bloomburg or Warren Buffett or some such multimillionaire.  Whoever this dude was, he said that he frequently followed the MUI—the Men’s Underwear Index(not to be confused with the Modern University of Information...

Garrettsville - Noses to the grindstone, eyes on the snowy skies, the Garrettsville-Hiram Rotary Club got down to business at their meeting on April 4, 2016 at Cal’s II, Sky Plaza, Garrettsville.  Here was their agenda: This year’s Fit & Fun program will be likely having involvement of the Garrettsville...

Garrettsville - For a book and plot line that had about as much substance and gravity as a bubble bath or a flapper    girl’s champagne, it was a delightful evening of entertainment showcasing talent in every direction.  The choreography was outstanding and outstandingly performed—who knew they could tap...

O.K., I can definitely understand the viewpoint of the older brother in the Prodigal Son scenario and I have to wonder if there might be a story to be told about how family life went on after the younger brother returned, all contrite and  grateful for a crust of...

Garrettsville - Don Havener and his hiking of the Appalachian Trail were the focus of the program at the Garrettsville-Hiram Rotary Club on Monday, March 28, 2016.  The retired teacher, coach, hardware merchant, tire guy set out on the hike as a journey of faith and of giving back...

Garrettsville - Road Apple WHAT? The road apple part is no mystery to anyone who has lived in or near Amish country...or anyplace where  one shares the highway with equine modes of transportation (Also an album by the group known as The Tragically Hip but we’re not going there).  Roubaix—you...

Garrettsville - The James A. Garfield High School Quiz Bowl team finished their competition season strong, sort of like the basketball teams and the wrestling team,... “Close, but no cigar.”  Like any good team, regular practice across a variety of topics, is necessary for improvement and success.  Contests with...

I started with a dog, you know. Her name was Samantha, which rapidly became “Sammie”; her mother was a purebred apricot poodle   and her father was a traveling salesman of some sort...whatever he was selling, she bought it.  Anyway, Sammie was a nice dog, a good dog...and not much...

Garrettsville-Hiram Rotarians bid a fond farewell to February, 2016 on Leap Day, February29, the likes of which will not be seen again for four years (In a less-contentious election year, let us hope). President Tom Collins urged members to make their opinions known on a pending agreement between the Sierra...

Speaking of winter storms....  This whole naming thing apparently started with the Weather Channel and a Latin class somewhere.  This was apparently so that the on-screen prognosticators could get us all to focus on a particular weather event at a particular time and to nudge us toward acknowledging the...

What Dave Barry always calls “an alert reader” stopped me the other day in the PCDL and asked if I wasn’t going to write  some more stuff drawing on the abovementioned publication and it seemed like a good idea, so here we are.  The Old Farmer speaks : (Freely...

Garrettsville-Hiram Rotarians opened their meeting on January 18, 2016 with Happy Dollars celebrating outstanding scholastic achievement, a 15-year anniversary, good business news, safe family, gifts and general, all-around good life—a nice start for any day. Speaker for the day was Ralph Price, pastor of the Streetsboro Church of Christ, who...

Well, here we go again.  ”Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme.” As you, no doubt recognized, the above aphorism attributed to Jean-Baptist Alphonse Karr, means “the more things change, the more they remain the same.”  (You might also be aware that albums by the groups Cinderella, Machine Head and...

Working at Garrettsville’s Precinct A  for thirteen hours on Election Day—with a fairly steady stream of citizens exercising their rights, good for them—was enough to occupy my time; I had no occasion to commit mayhem on the Portage County Board of Elections computer system, though I’m sure there are...

The  October 19, 2015 meeting of the James A. Garfield Historical Society, held at  the Mott Building on Main Street, Garrettsville, covered a wide range of topics including : The warm reception of the organization’s display at the recent Chamber of Commerce Business Showcase and the coming presentation to be...

Well, that was interesting...and informative...and fun too. The Ohio Turnpike had an Open House on Saturday, October 24, celebrating its 60th Anniversary; it officially opened on October 1, 1955, all 241 miles of it.  The construction took 38 months, in sections, employed some 10,000 workers—and 2300 bulldozers—at a cost of...

The October 19, 2015 meeting of the Garrettsville-Hiram Rotary Club was a series of short takes.  Here’s what got tooken : For Friday, Bob Evans restaurants will be joining the Polio Plus campaign of worldwide Rotary International by contributing 15% of receipts collected from contributing diners to the fight to...

Women of the Twentieth Century Club of Garrettsville met on October 15 at the home of Joyce Fashing on Eagle Creek Drive. The roll call response, as befits the season of Halloween, was to tell of a favorite costume or item of apparel.  Resulting tales ranged from dressy occasions to...