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AMHERST NEWS-TIMES • OBERLIN NEWS-TRIBUNE • WELLINGTON ENTERPRISE Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023
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Volume 10, Issue 3
Former Mayor Barb O’Keefe dies at 83 JASON HAWK EDITOR
WELLINGTON — Barb O’Keefe, who guided the village as mayor for 22 years until retiring in 2015, died Thursday, Jan. 12 at age 83. She served on the Wellington Zoning Board of Appeals for a decade before joining Village Council in 1990. Three years later, when Mayor Roland “Bud” Handley died in office, O’Keefe stepped in for the remainder of his term. In doing so, she became the first female mayor of Wellington. “As a woman in a position of
authority at that point, it was something that she would be mayor,” said Planning and Zoning Director Marla Lent, who has worked for the village 30 years. O’Keefe’s rise was inspiring, and encouraged other women to get involved in local government, Lent said. Councilman Guy Wells knew O’Keefe long before her political days. He said she was good friends with his babysitter when he was still in elementary school. “In high school, she and her brother kind of dominated the morning newspaper business in town, delivering The Plain Dealer,” he recalls.
Inflation cools, but prices are still chaotic
For more than a half-century, O’Keefe worked at Village Market. Later in her career, she was store manager. She was also active in St. Patrick Catholic Parish, where her father had been the organist, Wells said. When Handley died in 1993, O’Keefe paved the way for Wells’ entry to Wellington Council. He was appointed to fill a vacant seat caused by her elevation to mayor. “She probably managed or coordinated or sometimes initiated more substantial change in Wellington than any other mayor,” Wells said. Kristin Bauer | Wellington Enterprise He praised O’Keefe as someone Mayor Barb O'Keefe is pictured here in December O’KEEFE PAGE A3 2015 at her retirement celebratory dinner.
On exhibit at LCCC
JASON HAWK EDITOR
Guessing how grocery prices will plunge and skyrocket from week to week is impossible, said Fligner’s Supermarket co-owner Ben Fligner. “Eggs are off the chart right now, but chicken is cheap again,” he said. The cost of some staples — milk, pasta and beef, for example — seems to be stabilizing as 2023 gets underway. But Fligner said he thinks they’ll fluctuate a lot in the coming months. Food prices across the nation are holding relatively steady, helping to tamp down inflation, according to new numbers released last week by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Inflation peaked at 9.1 percent in the middle of 2022, a spike not seen for 40 years. The government’s yearend analysis shows it slowed in the final quarter to rest at 6.5 percent over the past 12 months. That’s a good sign, but doesn’t mean the nation’s economic outlook is rose-colored. December’s CPI numbers were the still the second-highest since 1981. Anthony Gallo, president of the Lorain County Chamber of Commerce, said that despite big price hikes he believes most businesses have a positive outlook to
The Lorain County Scholastic Art Exhibition is on display through Feb. 16 at the Stocker Arts Center on the campus of Lorain County Community College in Elyria. It features 650 works created by students at junior high and high schools in Lorain, Erie and Huron counties. Gallery hours are 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, 4-6:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, and 1-3 p.m. Sunday.
INFLATION PAGE A3 Classifieds, legals, display advertising, and subscriptions Deadline: 1 p.m. each Monday Phone: 440-329-7000 Hours: 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday
▲ “Factory in West Virginia” by Jack Fedan, Marion L. Steele High School, Amherst. ▼ “Vacas” by Claire Ohle, Firelands High School.
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News staff Jason Hawk news@LCnewspapers.com Phone: 440-329-7122 Submit news to news@lcnewspapers.com Deadline: 10 a.m. Tuesday Send obituaries to obits@chroniclet.com
▲ “Flying Fish” by Brilee De Lima, Wellington High School.
INSIDE THIS WEEK
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Amherst
Oberlin
Wellington
Historical society plans 50th anniversary • B1
NAACP celebrates Martin Luther King’s dream • A5
More ‘Fairs Forever’ details are released • B1
OBITUARIES A2 • CLASSIFIEDS A4 • BULLETIN BOARD A6 • PUZZLES B2 • KID SCOOP B6