Leaf Thursday, March 7, 2024 Vol. 30 No. 10 • Chardon, Ohio www.geaugamapleleaf.com $1.25
Chardon Celebrates Tappin’ Sunday
See pages A15-A21
Chardon Schools Scolded in Tense Budget Hearing
SUBMITTED
Skittles, a small mixed-breed dog, is recovering from about 70 wounds from a shotgun at a foster home.
page A4
Warden Seeks Owner of Dog Wounded by Shotgun
Geauga Mother Takes the Stand in Grendell Hearing page A8
Planning GreenLights AxeThrowing Facility
By Ann Wishart ann@karlovecmedia.com
Skittles, a small, mixed-breed male dog, may be unique among the canines under the care of the Geauga County Dog Warden. Besides floppy ears, a tan and white coat and a winning smile, Skittles is carrying around about 70 shotgun pellets all over his 25-pound body. County Dog Warden Matt Granito said in a phone interview Feb. 29 he recently collected the dog from a residence near Shed and Mumford roads in Middlefield Township and took him to the VCA veterinarian clinic in Burton Village to have his multiple wounds examined. An Amish woman told him she tried to catch the wounded dog about two weeks ago when she first saw it, but the dog wasn’t very trusting, Granito said. She was concerned Skittles, who was named by Granito’s staff, had been injured in a fight with another animal. See Dog • Page A3
BILL FUGATE/KMG
2024 Maple Syrup Hall of Fame inductee Paul A. Newman taps a maple tree during Tappin’ Sunday festivities on Chardon Square March 3. Newman, a Hambden Township resident, has been an active member in the community for several years. In the past, he served as a trustee for the Geauga County Maple Festival, from 1979 to 2018, and was the festival’s president in 1992, 1996 and 1997. He retired after volunteering for 40 years. Newman also is a published author. His latest book, “Murder at the Maple Festival,” was published in 2014 and is a historical rendition of the Maple Festival and Chardon, with a murder involved.
West Geauga Surrenders $2.35M to Budget Commission By Amy Patterson and Brian Doering editor@karlovecmedia.com The Geauga County Budget Commission ordered West Geauga Schools to suspend collection of a $2.35 million emergency levy Feb. 28. The commission, comprising Geauga County Auditor Chuck Walder, Prosecutor Jim Flaiz and Treasurer Chris Hitchcock, said the money would be returned to voters.
In a March 1 email, West Geauga Schools Superintendent Rich Markwardt said the cut will come from one of two emergency levies the district has on the books. The levy in question passed in 2019 as a renewal of an emergency levy originally passed in 2005. “The commission believed that West G's 2025 estimated positive fund balance of $29 million argues against the need for that 2019 levy renewal, believing instead that West G should engage in deficit
spending this year to avoid finishing the year in the black as is our historic practice,” he said. Markwardt said the emergency levy was renewed in 2019 because the district’s five-year forecast projected deficit spending at that time. However, two factors have significantly improved the district’s financial status — the 2020 absorption of Newbury Schools and this year’s property tax reappraisal, he said. See Surrenders • Page A5
page A10
GPH Answers ‘Over 8,000 Page’ Public Records Request page A12
Obituaries page A22
Sheriff’s Report page A23
Sports pages B1-B3
Sheriff’s Sales & Legal Notices page B9-B10
Classifieds page B11 Single Edition $1.25