Barack Obama’s speech at Wednesday’s town hall meeting in Berea was eloquent and bold, if slow to start. While a packed gymnasium of supporters sweated the heat and the anticipation, the senator arrived half an hour late. The crowd remained patient with surprise appearances by Governor Ted Strickland and Senator Sherrod Brown, both of whom exuberantly entered the stage and exalted their praises for the Democratic nominee. Obama then greeted the room, the crowd on its feet, and remarked, “I can tell this is a feisty crowd.” And with that understatement, a man at the back of the gym (later identified by the Cleveland Plain Dealer as John Quinn, a free-lance photographer from Parma) shouted over Obama, who had begun by speaking about energy, and demanded that he recite the Pledge of Allegiance. More gracefully than most could proceed after being so impertinently interrupted, the senator apologized for his hastiness and invited the man to join him in leading the Pledge...

A wall-breaking ceremony was held on August 5 in Lakewood Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) to mark the final stage of a three-year renovation project for the hospital’s critical care areas. When the ICU renovation is completed in November 2008, patients, staff and physicians will share a new, state-of-the-art healing environment...

Many of us in Lakewood have probably heard of or even benefited directly from H2O, Help To Others, in some capacity; if not, the name is fairly self-explanatory. However, the width and depth of the impact of the efforts put forth by this youth based community service group, are not as well known as they deserve. This summer, H2O decided to add yet another layer to their message of service to others. By placing their focus on recycling, H2O campers experienced first hand the interconnectedness between stewardship of the earth and the growth of healthy, volunteer based, community-building efforts championed by H2O...

Almost gone. Are market forces doing what the City tried to do twenty years ago? Our local newspaper scene is changing dramatically. Along with the demise of the Free Times many Plain Dealer readers will notice that their favorite newsstand box is gone. 

About one week ago, the Plain Dealer newsstand boxes weren’t being refilled with the morning paper. Then printed notices stating “Out of Service” appeared in the boxes. And as of this Thursday morning, the boxes themselves were gone in most Lakewood locations...

When it comes to the arts in Lakewood, there really is strength in numbers.

 

At least that is the general idea that the members of Lakewood Is Art (LIA) believe. They feel that collaboration is the way to get things done.

 

“We're a small group of art-minded enthusiasts who get together to promote art events,” said Ruth Koenigsmark, one of the founding members and current head of LIA, an organization that is known to work together with other like minded groups to push for more art in the community...

On August 4, 2008, the Lakewood City School District Board of Education unanimously passed the following resolution reaffirming its commitment to “Brake 4 Kids” and Child Safety and Speed Awareness:

On Friday, August 22nd the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce is hosting the 52nd Annual New Teacher Luncheon at Garfield Middle School. The lunch is sponored by The Ohio Educational Credit Union, and welcomes all the new teachers at both our public and parochial schools to Lakewood...

Buy a raffle ticket for a chance to win Cleveland Browns loge tickets for 12 plus two parking passes for the November 23, 2008, match between Browns and the Houston Texans. Tickets are $20 each and only 500 will be sold. The winning ticket will be drawn at NCHM’s Celebration of Caring fundraising benefit on August 28th at the Lakewood Hospital atrium. (Winner need not be present.)

Pillars of Lakewood, the young professional arm of the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce, recently announced they will be hosting a 5K race and a Wing Crawl on Saturday, August 23, 2008. The two events were established with economic development and community building in mind. Funds garnered from the Green Lakewood 5K will go to support Help to Others (H2O), a service learning program for middle and high school students, to provide the bins and containers needed to implement a recycling program at Lakewood high school. Future events will extend this project to reach the elementary and middle schools...

The festival began 21 years ago when a parishioner of Sts. Cyril & Methodius Church, the late Mary Jacko stated to then Mayor Tony Sinagra that the Eastern end of Lakewood, where Sts. Cyril & Methodius Church is located, seems to a forgotten part of town by the rest of the city. She suggested an ethnic festival at Madison Park and immediately received the blessing of the mayor...

The Lakewood Public Library has just launched a new webpage to aid and inspire current and prospective book club organizers, as well as avid readers who would like to join with others to talk about notable and recommended titles. Just log on to the website http://www.lkwdpl.org/bookclubs and take a look around...

First Federal of Lakewood and the Lakewood Public Library Foundation are pleased to announce “An Evening with Garrison Keillor,” on Wednesday, October 1 at the Lakewood Civic Auditorium, 14100 Franklin Blvd.

 

Keillor, author of the Lake Wobegon books and creator of the Prairie Home Companion radio program on American Public Radio, will share his thoughts on Lake Wobegon and his latest novel, Liberty, to be published in September...

Going out at night can be a problem. If there is any doubt, Lakewood resident Joe Simon, the self-published author of “Observations from the Door”, would like to assuage it. ..

On August 10, families from Gethsemane Lutheran Church, Lakewood Lutheran School (LLS), and their community tutoring and Angel Tree ministries, joined together in the Metroparks for a full day of great food, activities, and friendship. Pastor Emeritus George Pohlod preached, while folks of all ages worshipped together, played together, and visited with friends, new and old...

“Finally! The end of camp!” Was heard several times on August 8th. All LSA travel soccer players were excited about the end of camp pool party later that day at Madison Pool. We had a great time! There was pop, pizza and (of course) swimming! The water was freezing, but we still had fun. Most of my friends came but some had other plans. We didn’t swim a lot because of the temperature .We talked about...

About seven hundred years ago, in the Middle Ages, there was once a powerful group called the Knights Templar. That organization was responsible to no one except the Pope. The Templars, in a great many ways, were very much a law unto themselves. At the same time, they were an order of warriors, and an order of religious men bound by a solemn rule--and to the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience...

Since the school year is about to begin, I thought I’d share tips on classroom success that I learned as a university professor.

Let’s begin with Gilbert’s Law of Classroom Inequality: whoever holds the gradebook is always right. It doesn’t matter whether or not that statement is true. It matters that your teachers control your grades, and you don’t.

To argue a point of grammar or punctuation, your only successful defense is The New Fowler’s Modern English Usage. Fowler is the absolute force of authority. He’s like The Shadow; he knows. No one with any sense argues with Fowler...

To Mr. Joseph Calabrese,

 

While I appreciate your openness in holding public hearings, I remain unimpressed with what I saw at the event held in Rocky River. Not because I’m opposed to rate increases, or because I insist on the continuation of any specific route or service; instead, my misgivings are due to the lack of trust in the leadership that was on display that Monday night...

Though computers undoubtedly help us in our green endeavors, from finding ways of reusing our old stuff to telecommuting to reading up on green issues online, they are also a big culprit in both our excesses in energy use and toxic landfill pollution. The manufacturing of computers involves a number of dangerous chemicals, including mercury, lead, cadmium, and chromium, which have been linked to brain, kidney, and liver damage and cancers...

The annual late summer buzz of the cicadas is a precursor to the coming fall. The days are beginning to shorten and soon the trees will begin to show some early autumn color. The late summer and fall seasons are perfect for transplanting trees and shrubs. The summer warmed soils give plenty of opportunity for root growth and the shorter cooler days reduce the amount of water loss from the plant...

Beck Center for the Arts Children's Choirs announce placement auditions for their Performing and Chamber Choirs. Singers, ages nine and up, with unchanged voices are welcome. Auditions are scheduled for August 16, 20, 23, 27, and 30 and in September by appointment. Choirs rehearse on Tuesday evenings beginning in September. For more information or to schedule a placement audition, call the Beck Center Music Department directly at 216-521-2540 ext. 37...

Two locally based bands, “Back for More", from Berea,” and “A Fabulous Waste of Time, from Lakewood, are featured in this month’s edition of ConneXions, a 30-minute monthly show produced by Cox Communications. The bands performed as a part of Band2Gether, a free outdoor summer youth concert series, showcasing young musicians in middle school and high school...

Neither rain nor wind nor more rain would keep the folks of Northland Ave. (south of Hilliard) down for their Annual Summer Block Party. This year, the Block kicked off events with the parade of decorated bikes following our street's Grand Marshal (and elder stateswoman) Jane, who has walked this earth for 93 years...

The Winchester Tavern & Music Hall located at 12112 Madison Avenue is welcoming FIVE time Grammy Award winning guitarist Steve Lukather and his band to the stage on Friday, August 22nd. Steve is best known as the guitarist and sometime lead vocalist/songwriter for the group TOTO, but there is so much more. The set and band are truly amazing. Steve will be performing some hits that he wrote for other artists and covered on tribute releases along with highlights form his entire solo career. Also included are tracks from his new Ever Changing Times release and some "deep track"
Toto gems...

An ongoing theme in the coverage and debate around this year's presidential race has been the question of Barack Obama's patriotism. Conservative pundits seem to believe that recognizing a fault with your country is equivalent to hating it. I, on the other hand, would prefer someone who sees the imperfections and makes an effort to improve upon them. As early 20th century journalist H.L. Mencken said, "The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naïve and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair..."

Music should be like any satisfying thunderstorm: a combination of thunder and lightning. The lightning sparks the interest and the thunder delivers the long awaited for and much relished BOOM!

Like cities across the country, Lakewood was not spared the impact of the Great Depression. Workers were laid off, wages and hours were cut, and homeowners faced the possibility of foreclosure. City government reported a 24% decline in tax collections in 1930. Real estate values plummeted, city workers accepted pay cuts, and churches took up collections to feed Lakewood’s increasingly numerous hungry...