Western Reserve in line for state money

After zeroing in on 1969 the last couple of weeks, decided to move forward 30 years to 1999. In fact, lets start the column by dialing in on today's date, July 31, 1999 for the first few segments:Western Reserve gets state money, maybeThe Western Reserve school district learned it will get $15.9 million of the $1 billion the state has in its coffers for building and/or fixing school in Ohio. The money has been allotted for building a new elementary school which will house kindergarten through sixth grade and also make renovation and additions at the middle-high school which houses grades 7 through 12.Now the question remains, will residents approve a 3.2 mill levy and a .5 mill levy that treasurer Diane Wolfe claims will be needed to match the state money.Voters must have said, "let's go for it."Middle of heat waveThe Midwest, including the states that border the Great Lakes, were in the middle of a heat wave the last day in July. The temperature on the Citizens Bank Building read 107 degrees.Norwalk police officer Mike Sanders made door-to-door checks on some elderly folks in high-rise apartments.Football in the airLet's play some football.The Reflector published the career coaching records (win-loss) of the area coaches that were about to welcome players for the upcoming season.From best to worst, this is what those numbers looked like:*Chris Hawkins, Willard, 41-10; John Livengood, St. Paul 64-24; Steve Ringholz, Monroeville, 154-63; Dick Roll, Plymouth, 81-90; Glen Morse, New London, 9-11; **Mike Stoll, Western Reserve, 18-42; Ron DeLuca, Norwalk, 12-38; Mike Vosburgh, Edison, 3-7; Sean Adams, South Central, 0-0.*Chris Hawkins was 41-10 at Wynford.**Mike Stoll was 14-36 at Keystone.Bartolo Colon going wellBartolo Colon went 4-0 in July to lead the Tribe pitching staff. And this kind of month happened after he started the season with a ballooned 6.39 ERA, a number that had him on the trading block. Super offense behind him and that 4-0 July helped him reduce his ERA to 4.36 and improve his win-loss record to 10-3.Scoreboard dedicationThom Weisenberger, representing Tenneco Automotive from Milan, was the man in charge at the scoreboard dedication at the softball field at St. Alphonsus in Peru. The Norwalk Merchants use the field as their home grounds. Also in the dedication picture is Merchants coaches Mel Brown, Joe Popovic and Ed Ciersewski.Speaking of Tenneco Field, Lasch Furniture won five straight games to win the St. Alphonsus Festival Tournament.The Lasch boys, headed by the likes of Charlie, Jeff, Don and Brad Clark along with Matt Tyler, Doug Tommas, Bryan Schwan, Clint Poths and Jason Caldwell, started the tournament with a forfeit win and then lost 12-9 to Top Soil. This forced them to win five straight which they did starting by turning the tables on the Ball Busters, 21-1. They eventually had to beat Top Soil twice to take it all and they did just that.The remarkable Dan SpanglerThis writer did a feature story on a remarkable golfer by the name of Dan SpanglerSpangler was injured in an industrial accident while working for Leon Riley, Inc. The job was at the Cincinnati Airport in 1992. He was working in a trench and was pinched by a large plate. The injury forced amputation of his leg just hours after the accident occurred.Spangler was a solid golfer as a youngster and played on the Fairless High School golf team.But, you had to know this guy and how determined he was to "play on" despite the injury.He was out of hospital in a week, went to therapy sessions for six months, was fitted with a prosthesis that extended five-inches above his knee, and in due time, was matching the scores he carded 22-year prior at Fairless High School.Then he took his "new-found" game to a new level. He started playing tournament golf for those who were handicapped. To make a long-story short, he won back-to-back-to-back state championships at Fox Den in Akron, this year shooting 81-75–156.Then he moved on to the nationals in the "Above-The-Knee" Division and finished third. His 75-80-77–232 had him ninth overall.He took his game to Eagle Creek just once as I remember, playing in a sub-flight. Not sure how he did but does that really matter?North Shore team 27th In tournamentThe North Shore Volleyball 14 Club Team tested the water at the national tournament in New Orleans and went 5-5 for the week, finishing 27th. Local players on that squad included Annie Bockrath, Jordan Centers, Angie Camp and Angie Barman from St. Paul and Ashlee Miller from Monroeville. Don Wood from Huron coached the squad.At the same time, Norwalk coach Grace Hutchinson had her team in South Carolina for an elite summer camp, one for all-Ohio, 1st Team, all-District 1st Team, and if any other spots are open, other all-distrct players. Lindsay Hug, Jess Smith, Laura Leach, Rachel Helton, Katie Cillo, Stephanie Schneider, Mandy Skoglund, Nicole Chagaros and Megan Leach made the trip south with Coach Hutch.Eureka to closeEureka Coach, the local firm that outfits custom-made vehicles, closed its doors this morning and did so just that sudden. Eighty hourly and salaried workers heard about it in a parking lot before the work-day started. The firm got bought out by Superior Holdings, Inc. of Lima and the business will move to that city and its 168,000 square foot facility."A good move for Eureka but a sad day for our employees here," sales support manager Ken Earnest told the Reflector after the meeting.Moore to BlufftonBrad Moore led Norwalk to its best record in 20 years, going 5-5. His reward is a shot at the starting quarterback position at Bluffton College.Moore was a standout athlete at Norwalk, winning three letters each in football and basketball and two in baseball.Warner's highlightedDavid and Joan Warner were the subjects of a popular column written by Jean Walek.The senior citizen column goes on to read that Joan has now retired and Dave is soon-to-do-so. In the meantime, they have been putting in a new concrete sidewalk, a new driveway apron to the garage and a new roof on the garage, exhausting work on what has been a hot summer."We work well together," Dave stated.The couple met while Dave was on furlough from the Marine Corps. They were married on July 4, 1959.Melodie in MelodyOn July 11, 1999, Monroeville's own Melodie Adelman sang the National Anthem at Jacob's Field. The place was sold out for her performance.Silcox namedThe man who once "wanted to be" is "going to be,"County Commission president Larry Silcox applied for the position of human services director after the job was vacated by Wayne Sholes in March of 1995.When the present director was recently fired, Silcox got his wish.County Prosecutor Russ Leffler believes no fault can be found in the appointment to another county position although Silcox now admits he does not want the job permanently."I'm a county commissioner now and have no desire to run that agency permanently," Silcox stated.A sesquicentennial celebrationYes, that's what you call a celebration. Willard is celebrating it as we write. The festivities, including a 100-unit parade, are under the supervision of Mike Shinninger.The parade will include the presence of Miss Ohio, Tiffany Baumann. She will ride in a horse-drawn carriage just before the stage coach used in the 1939-John Wayne western classic movie, Stagecoach.The celebration will end with a $10,000 fireworks display.Meanwhile, Norwalk folks were celebrating with a 125-unit parade. John Flickinger from the Lion's Club announced the parade winners, the Holb-Cannon-Grandy family for commercial floats with Little Sheep Ministries placing second.And yes, the Zenobia Tiffin Hornets won again as those tiny cycles were pressed to the limit by some heavweight riders as they did their figure-eights. The Northside 4-H Club float finished second to the guys in the strange looking hats.Tribe All-StarsCleveland had the best record in baseball when the All-Star game was played at Fenway Park. It also had drawn the most fans. That said, it also had the most starters as Jim Thome, Roberto Alomar, Kenny Lofton and Manny Ramirez got the voters nod. They also had four second-place finishers headed by David Justice.Can you name the rest of the tribe starters in 1999?Here they are: Visquel at short, Sexson at first, Fryman at third and Diaz behind the plate.Sisters accepted into dental schoolKara and Lindsay Scherer, the daughters of Dr. John and Mary (Dobbs) Scherer, former graduates of Norwalk and St. Paul high schools who have a practice in Cedarville, Mich., have been accepted in dental schools — Kara in the Doctor of Dental Surgery at University of Detroit Mercy Dental School and Lindsay at the Doctor of Dental Surgery School at Marquette School of Dentistry in Milwaukee, Wisc.