Leaf Thursday, January 23, 2025 Vol. 31 No. 4 • Chardon, Ohio www.geaugamapleleaf.com $1.25
Aquilla: Tying Up Loose Ends
Village Audits from ‘21, ‘22 Completed By Ann Wishart ann@karlovecmedia.com The dissolution of Aquilla Village, a process initiated in June 2024, became a reality shortly after residents voted in favor of it in November. Navigating all the paperwork, however, has been anything but a quick process. Over the past three months, the transition advisory board and officials have been trudging through the administrative jungle to complete the process the State of Ohio legislated in the last year. See Aquilla • Page 3
Flooding Closes Geauga Theater Temporarily Productions Paused for Building Repairs By Allison Wilson wilson@karlovecmedia.com Flooding on multiple floors of the Geauga Theater last week caused significant damage to the historic building, which had to close its doors temporarily for repairs, Chardon officials announced in a press release Jan. 16. “On Friday, Jan. 10, 2025, a
second-floor heat exchange unit line froze and split, which caused flooding of the first, second and basement floors of the Geauga Theater,” the release said. Damage was also done to the boiler system. Paul Davis Restoration, a company that provides emergency restoration services, was on scene See Theater • Page 5
Transitional Living Center Receiving Some TLC page 6 ALLISON WILSON/KMG
A heat exchange unit line froze and split inside the historic Geauga Theater, causing flood damage on several floors.
A Sweet Geauga Culture
Blair Recalls Burton Chamber’s History with Maple Syrup By Ann Wishart ann@karlovecmedia.com
By Emma MacNiven macniven@karlovecmedia.com
See Russell • Page 4
page 5
Kenston Schools Implements Anonymous Reporting System page 7
Russell Trustees Reach Stalemate On Rambo Replacement The fate of Russell Township’s empty trustee seat now rests in the hands of Geauga County Juvenile and Probate Court Judge Tim Grendell. “We could not come to an agreement for a candidate for a trustee,” Russell Township Trustee Kristina Port said following an executive session during a special meeting Jan. 21. Former Trustee Matt Rambo, who was elected as Geauga County Common Pleas judge last November, vacated the position when he took office Jan. 1. Per the Ohio Revised Code, Port and Trustee Jim Mueller have
Commissioners Strike Down 3rd Grendell Request
ANN WISHART/KMG
Tom Blair Sr., on the board of directors of the Burton Chamber of Commerce, holds the 2024 Geauga County grand champion bottle of maple syrup produced at the chamber’s log cabin on Burton Square, pictured below.
Maple syrup is golden in Geauga County. No one knows that better than Tom Blair Sr., a Geauga County native, Burton businessman and village council member who has been part of the area’s maple syrup culture through thick and thin for nearly seven decades. “Maple syrup-making gets in your blood,” he said during a recent interview. Sitting by a fire in the Burton Chamber of Commerce log cabin on Burton Square, Tom, 81, shared his earliest memories of tapping sugar maple trees in the front yard of his family’s farm, boiling it down to what he now knows was substandard syrup. “We made some god-awful syrup — but it was sweet,” he laughed. While in high school — now the Burton Library — Tom said he would be called out of study hall to help empty buckets of sap from the trees on the square across the street. After high school, he drove trucks See Syrup • Page 4
Sports pages 12-14
Sheriff’s Sales & Legal Notices page 17
Classifieds page 20
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