Leaf Thursday, February 6, 2025 Vol. 31 No. 6 • Chardon, Ohio www.geaugamapleleaf.com $1.25
Grand Jury Indicts Man Involved in High-Speed Chase
State of Middlefield Village Highlights Many Gains page 6
Nurse Accused of Stealing From Elderly Resident
Staff Report A Geauga County grand jury handed down a seven-count indictment to Matthew Rossetti, of Ashtabula, regarding a high speed police chase Jan. 11 in Middlefield that ended in a car crash in Montville Township. Rossetti, 44, has been charged with two counts of failure to comply with an order of a police officer, a third-degree feloRossetti ny; obstructing official business, a second-degree misdemeanor; driving with a suspended license, a misdemeanor; operating a motor vehicle without a valid license, a minor misdemeanor; speeding, a minor misdemeanor; and illegal use or possession of drug paraphernalia, a fourth-degree misdemeanor, according to the indictment, filed in See Rossetti • Page 3
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County JFS Youth Center Plans Developing
By Allison Wilson wilson@karlovecmedia.com Plans for a new youth center are making headway, Geauga Job and Family Services Executive Director Craig Swenson said Jan. 31. “Geauga County has had some form of a youth center for, gotta be close to 50 years at least,” said Swenson, who described the project as a dream. “But, really, it’s only been over the last 20-25 years that it’s changed and it changed under (Geauga County Juvenile and Probate Court Judge Chip Henry) at the time. It used to be really just
a county home where kids got placed when they got in trouble, so on and so forth, but Judge Henry had this vision to change it and make it much more of a therapeutic placement with kids struggling with mental health issues, sometimes drug and alcohol issues, behavioral issues.” Swenson, who was previously a county prosecutor, said he has been able to see the benefits of the youth center. “Lots of counties don’t have a facility like it and when that happens, your children’s services organizations will end up having to
send kids out of county for their residential placement,” he said. “Which could be really another type of trauma that a kid will have to cope with when they’re struggling with other aspects of their life already.” The current youth center can accommodate six to eight children, he said, while the new one should be able to house up to 16. The new center will also allow for kids to have their own room, while in the current center, they often have to double up, he added. “Plus, it’ll have all the updated See Youth Center • Page 4
Library Genealogy Keeps Past Alive By Allison Wilson wilson@karlovecmedia.com
While the common association with a library is stacks of books, at the Chardon branch of the Geauga County Public Library, it is also where local history specialist Melissa Cole and her coworker keep the past alive via the genealogy department. A photo of her great-great-great grandmother drew Cole into genealogy, she said during a presentation on the genealogy process Jan. 22. “I had to know her story,” she said.
Getting Started
page 7
A conceptual rendering depicts what the proposed youth center might look like.
“To get started, the first thing to do is to record what you know,” Cole said. This includes names, birthdays, stories, children and where people may have lived, even if you don’t know the information’s accuracy, she said.
“At least jot it down because you can verify it through records that you do find,” she said. A pedigree chart is where you can start recording what you know, she said. “This is your direct line ancestors,” Cole explained. “And by that, I mean your parents, your grandparents, your great-grandparents, your great-great grandparents. So there’s no aunts, uncles or cousins on this.” You always use a female’s maiden name and when organizing the See Genealogy• Page 5
Grand Jury Indicts Chardon Man On Burglary, Firearms Charges page 8
Scholarship Nurtures Next Generation of Conservationists page 10
Sports pages 12-13
Obituaries pages 14-15
Sheriff’s Sales & Legal Notices start on page 17
Classifieds start on page 19
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