Community News – Page 4 – The Oberlin Review

Construction Starts on New Mercy Hospital Wing

November 2, 2018

Community stakeholders, including Oberlin College President Carmen Twillie Ambar and Mercy Health representatives, broke ground on the construction of a proposed medical office building at a ceremony on Friday, Oct. 12. The new space will house the existing Mercy Health Oberlin Primary Care and Mercy Health Walk-in Care offices, which currently offer College students access to health care outside of Student Health Services’ open hours. Mercy will also use the building to invest in new services such ...

Leadercast Conference Highlights Female Entrepreneurs

Sydney Allen, Editor-in-Chief

November 2, 2018

The Oberlin Business Partnership, in collaboration with the Office of Innovation and Impact, sponsored the second annual Leadercast Women’s conference this week at the New Russia Township Lodge. The event was designed to promote female leadership in entrepreneurial fields and featured a number of speakers, panelists, video broadcasts, and group discussions. The event featured a live presidents panel with Oberlin College President Carmen Twillie Ambar and Lorain County Community College President Marcia J. Ballinger, sponsored by the Women’s Fund of the Community Foundation of Lorain County. The panel moderator, Tiffany Tarpley from Cleveland’s NBC Channel 3, highlighted the novelty that the two college presidents...

Local Candidates Meet with Oberlin Voters

October 12, 2018

Ten local candidates answered questions from community members at Community Candidate Night on Tuesday, Oct. 2. The event was organized by Oberlin’s League of Women Voters chapter, and encouraged residents to interact with candidates and learn about their platforms. Candidates for Ohio State Senate, Ohio House of Representatives, local judges, county commissioners office, and the county auditor’s office were in attendance. Republican State Senator Gayle L. Manning currently repres...

Students Rally Against Kavanaugh

October 12, 2018

Editor’s Note: This article contains mention of sexual assault. Oberlin students rallied in Cleveland in a series of protests against the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court last week. The demonstrations began Thursday, Oct. 4 with a sit-in at Senator Rob Portman’s Cleveland office, and ended with a march through downtown Cleveland Saturday, hours before Kavanaugh’s confirmation. “It would be a complete atrocity and a perversion of the ...

Local Scholarship Honors Founder Ruby N. Jones

Jenna Gyimesi, News editor

October 12, 2018

The Oberlin Community Youth Scholarship Fund recently changed its name to the Ruby N. Jones Community Scholarship Fund to honor its founder, who passed away in January of this year. The scholarship has been providing funds to make higher education more accessible for students from Oberlin for 20 years, raising over $200,000. According to the Chair of the scholarship board, the fund has awarded 43 scholarships and currently supports 16 students. Ruby Jones, better known as Ms. Ruby, worked in the Oberlin Public School system for 25 years as a teaching aide. Jones received the Distinguished Community Service Award at Oberlin College Commencement in 2003 and the Sojourner Truth Award from the National Associa...

Residents Make Bullying Allegations Against Local Teacher

Nathan Carpenter, Editor-in-Chief

October 5, 2018

A group of Oberlin parents is calling for an investigation into Oberlin City Schools teacher Sharyle Strayer, citing allegations of bullying dating back to 2002. In a Sept. 25 email addressed to OCS Superintendent David Hall and members of the Oberlin Board of Education, the group said Strayer has had many complaints filed against her over her 16-year career with OCS. Strayer, who taught sixth-grade math during the 2017–18 academic year, is currently working as an intervention support instructor at Oberlin High School. The position will be re-evaluated at the end of the 2018–19 academic year. A 49-page document was attached to the email, which was signed by Oberlin residents Jeanne Lee Singleton, R...

Students Protest Open Carry

October 5, 2018

Three Oberlin students attended a demonstration at Kent State University to protest an “open carry walk” across campus on Saturday, Sept. 29. The walk attracted a large counter-protest from leftist groups, whose members outnumbered those of the far-right. College senior Maxim Mathee-O’Brien was arrested along with three other counter-demonstrators; all four were charged with misdemeanors, and one was charged with a felony. More police were in attendance than demonstrators. The demo...

Residents to Vote on School Consolidation

September 28, 2018

Oberlin residents will vote this November on Issue 11, a controversial proposed levy that would consolidate Oberlin City Schools into a single building by winter 2025. If approved, residents with a home value of $100,000 will see their taxes increase by $133 per year over the bond issues’ 37-year term, according to the school district. The proposal was motivated by declining enrollment in OCS, as well as concern over the state of existing facilities. Currently, the district comprises four sch...

Janet Garrett Gears up For Another Congressional Campaign

Jenna Gyimesi, News Editor

September 21, 2018

Democratic Congressional candidate Janet Garrett visited Oberlin Sept. 14 to speak with members of the community and drum up support for the upcoming election. Oberlin students are encouraged to vote in this election in particular because of the potential for upset. Garrett is running against Jim Jordan, who has represented Ohio’s 4th Congressional District since 2007. Jordan is a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus — the farthest-right group in the Republican Party — and has recently announced his intention to run for Speaker of the House. This campaign represents Garrett’s third run at Jordan’s seat. College sophomore Ilana Foggle works on Garrett’s campaign and is confident that Garrett would b...

Agave Staff, Patrons Allege Racial Bias in OPD Incident

September 14, 2018

Sergeant Steven Chapman of the Oberlin Police Department entered Agave last Friday night and engaged in what sources say was discriminatory behavior toward Black customers. An anonymous male called the Oberlin Police Department on Friday to report a group of people in the alley between Agave and Lorenzo’s the night of the incident, claiming he suspected the group of dealing drugs. Chapman advised OPD to dispatch two police units, both of which arrived at the scene before 11 p.m with a K-9 unit. ...

Lorain, Ohio Misses Deadline on Medical Marijuana Program

Anisa Curry Vietze

September 14, 2018

Medical marijuana dispensaries are still inactive in Lorain County even though they were expected to be fully functional by the target date of Sept. 8. Ohio legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes in House Bill 523. The bill detailed that the program should be up and running two years after it was approved. More than two years after its passage, medical marijuana is still not available in Lorain County — or anywhere else in Ohio. State Representative Dan Ramos helped craft House Bill 523 and expressed concern about the delay. “I’m very worried from a public health perspective,” he said. “We didn’t write a law that said ‘develop a medical marijuana program,’ we wrote a law saying ‘develop a ...

Community Members Debate Next Steps for NEXUS

Roman Broszkowski, Staff Writer

September 7, 2018

After failing to stop construction of the NEXUS pipeline, protesters and environmental activists are regrouping and planning for what comes next. Some are looking specifically at how to protect Oberlin, some argue that the way forward lies in regional coalitions, and others believe that only radical restructuring, such as creating a landfill gas pipeline, can produce a desired outcome. Pipeline construction was completed over the summer. On July 25, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rejected a request for a rehearing of the construction approval. The request was filed by multiple groups, including the City of Oberlin and Communities for Safe and Sustainable Energy. Reverends Steve Hammond and John Elder founded CSSE in 2012...