Leaf Thursday, June 6, 2024 Vol. 30 No. 23 • Chardon, Ohio www.geaugamapleleaf.com $1.25
Judge Orders Berkshire to Vacate Fair Building
Farm Bureau Highlights Future of Geauga Agriculture page 8
District Plans to Appeal Decision By Ann Wishart ann@karlovecmedia.com The former Berkshire Schools Board of Education office on the Geauga County Fairgrounds — used most recently as a bus garage, diesel repair workshop for students and a living skills classroom — must be vacated, said Chardon Municipal Court Judge Terri Stupica May 30. No date was set in the threepage judgment Stupica handed down a week after attorneys for the Geauga County Agricultural Society and the school district made their arguments in her courtroom May 23. See Berkshire • Page 5
Meijer Eyes Chardon for Supercenter, Gas Station By Allison Wilson editor@karlovecmedia.com
A future Meijer may join the shops lining Water Street, with representatives from both the shopping supercenter and architecture firm Woolpert Inc., of Dover, appearing before Chardon Planning Commission May 28 to discuss their ideas. The talks were strictly informal, with no action or request for action taken. Meijer is considering a piece of land on the southwest corner of the intersection between Loreto Way, Meadowlands Drive and Water Street for their project, said Community Development Administrator Steve Yaney. “Meijer is proposing an approximately 160,000-square-foot store See Meijer • Page 5
AMY PATTERSON/KMG
Former Chester Township police officer and West Geauga Schools SRO Nick Iacampo, seated second from left, reacts to a video recording of his interview with Lake County Sheriff’s Det. Dominic Hren and Lt. Larry Harpster in the early morning hours of Aug. 7, 2023, during a hearing May 28 in the Geauga County Court of Common Pleas.
Nick Iacampo Takes the Stand Prosecutor, Defense Argue over ‘Compelled’ Confession
By Amy Patterson amy@karlovecmedia.com Former Chester Township police officer Nick Iacampo testified May 28 he felt “compelled” to give a statement incriminating himself on a sexual battery charge last August. Iacampo, also a former school resource officer at West Geauga High School, has been accused of having sexual contact with a
16-year-old WGHS student on Aug. 6 in the parking lot of the Church of the Blessed Hope on Wilson Mills Road in Chester Township. Iacampo took the stand last Tuesday in front of retired Portage County Common Pleas Court Judge John A. Enlow during the second portion of a hearing over two motions to dismiss the case against him. The first is based on a 1967 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court
in Garrity v. New Jersey, which determined employees of the state cannot be compelled to incriminate themselves under threat of termination. The other motion asks the court to consider Iacampo, who had temporarily taken on the school resource officer role at West Geauga High School, was not employed in that role during the incident last August. See Iacampo • Page 7
Foster Program Changing Lives One Child at a Time By Cassandra Shofar cassandra@karlovecmedia.com
When Corey first entered foster care at age 10, he was scared, angry and unsure of what to expect. At age 15, he got placed with his first foster family. “It had its up and downs,” the now 21-year-old recalled. “But, overall, it was nice because I had good people to help me along with that. My anger issues were a big problem for me … got me kicked out of a few places, but I got it under control eventually.” Corey was one of many chil-
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Pictured are Corey and his independent living worker, Brooke Bourdeau, who is still a support to him.
dren placed in the Geauga County Job and Family Services foster program, which just celebrated Na-
tional Foster Care Month in May. “In the month of May, GCJFS had 23 children in GCJFS custody,” said Recruitment Specialist Allie Hulsmann. “This is a lower number than we have seen in the past. This could be attributed to preventative efforts by our agency and also an increase in kinship families obtaining custody of children instead of GCJFS holding custody.” While the transition to foster care had its rocky moments for Corey, he was grateful he was given the opportunity to experience some “normalcy,” as well as work See Foster • Page 6
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