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Volume 55, No. 1
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CHESTERLAND NEWS Wednesday, May 24, 2023
Your Community Newspaper Since 1967
Alliance Man Charged for Attempting to Burn Down Chesterland Church Staff Report The Alliance man who federal authorities allege attempted to burn down the Community Church of Chesterland, in Chester Township, for hosting a drag queen event has been indicted on federal felony charges. According to an April 24 press release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Ohio, a federal indictment was returned charging Aimenn D. Penny, 20, with a violation of the Church Arson Prevention Act for using Molotov cocktails against the CCC, in an attempt to burn the church to the ground. He also was indicted on one count of using fire to commit a federal felony, one count of malicious use of explosive materials and one count of possessing a destructive device. According to court documents, Penny attempted to burn the church to the ground on March 25 after learning the church was hold-
ing multiple drag show events the following weekend. Burn marks were left on the doors to the church preschool and shards of glass remained at the site from a broken bottle Penny allegedly used in the attack. CCC Pastor Jess Peacock said in an interview April 1 that while the church suffered no major damage due to rainy weather preventing the fire from spreading, the goal of the attack was to make people afraid in what should be a safe space. “If someone just threw a Molotov cocktail at your house and it didn’t do a lot of damage, but, you know, there were some burn marks, that would make you feel unsafe in your own home. That would make you feel violated,” he said. “Whether the church burned down or not really isn’t the issue. It’s the intent behind the attack.” Law enforcement used Penny’s phone to trace him to the CCC where, based on an investigation See Penny • Page 2
Town Crier page 4
Obituaries page 5
Police Blotter page 7
Classifieds page 8
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Court documents allege Aimenn Penny used Molotov cocktails during a March 25 attack on the Community Church of Chesterland in what the US Department of Justice said was an attempt to burn the church to the ground. Penny is pictured at a March 11 protest of a drag event held in Wadsworth, Ohio.
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Softball Defeats Perry and Cardinal to Finish Strong By Alan Kornspan sports@karlovecmedia.com The West Geauga Wolverines finished their 2023 softball season strong, winning their final six regular season games, including games in the last week against Kirtland (26-6), Berkshire (7-5), Perry (3-2) and Cardinal (10-0). The Wolverines also went 1-1 in OHSAA playoff games, defeating Geneva (4-0) and losing to Aurora (11-0) on May 12. After the Aurora game, the Wolverines rebounded quickly to defeat a very difficult opponent, the Perry Pirates. Earlier in the season, on March 30, the Pirates defeated the Wolverines, 5-4. In that contest, the y took a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the seventh, but the Pirates scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh to defeat the Wolverines. Although the rematch against
Perry on May 13 was similar, the contest ended differently. Like the first Perry game, the Wolverines led going into the seventh. And also like the first game, Perry made the final inning interesting, with two back-to-back doubles to get within one run at 3-2. But with nobody out and a runner on second, the Wolverines remained confident and resilient, and their defense rose to the occasion. The next Perry batter hit a hard line drive to third baseman Cara Day’s left. Moving quickly to her left, Day snagged the line drive to get the first out. The final two outs of the game
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West Geauga’s Shaylynn Rogaski at the plate during the Wolverines 3-2 win against Perry. The Wolverines won their last six regular season games before losing the second tournament game to end the season.
were made by senior second baseman Julia Clark, who fielded two hard-hit grounders, then threw both runners out at first. “Every time we play Perry, it seems to be a great game,” West Geauga Head Coach Marc Percassi
said. “We knew it would be a tight game. The first time we played them, we had the lead. They rallied, scored and overcame it and beat us. “(In this game), they had two nice hits early in that (last) inning. See Softball • Page 2
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