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LORAIN COUNTY
AMHERST NEWS-TIMES • OBERLIN NEWS-TRIBUNE • WELLINGTON ENTERPRISE Thursday, Nov. 3, 2022
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Volume 9, Issue 44
Surge in early voting, absentee requests JASON HAWK EDITOR
SHEFFIELD TWP. — Robert Shirey has been caught in long voting lines before, and has no patience for it. That’s why he voted early in person Monday at the Lorain County Board of Elections office. “I don’t wait until Election Day
anymore,” said Shirey, of North Ridgeville. “… But you’ve got to vote — I just feel it’s my civic duty. And if you don’t vote, you get what you get. I’d rather have some say in it.” As of Monday 38,322 Lorain County residents had either turned out to vote or requested to cast their ballots by mail. That’s far ahead of the 33,792 people who had taken the same
WIZARDS AT WORK
steps at this point during the last midterm election in 2018, said Paul Adams, director of the county elections board. “I anticipate that increase is going to grow,” he said. On Friday, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose said 1,076,049 people statewide had already voted or asked for an absentee ballot. That’s a 1.8 percent increase over the same point in
the 2018 gubernatorial election. The biggest increase is among in-person early voters. As of Friday, 135,889 had cast their ballots, compared to 93,763 in 2018, according to LaRose. This week, Adams predicts about 1,000 people each day will turn out to vote early at 1985 North Ridge Rd. East in Sheffield Township. Hours are 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, 1-5 p.m. Sunday and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 7. Polls across Lorain County will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 8. To find your voting location, visit www.voteloraincountyohio.gov. Adams said larger early voting VOTING PAGE A2
The boy who became pastor Nevels looks back on his 45 years at Christ Temple JASON HAWK EDITOR
Angelo Angel | Amherst News-Times
The Harlem Wizards made some magic happen last Thursday night during a visit to Marion L. Steele High School in Amherst, where the zany hoops crew battled teachers, principals and PTO members for court dominance. The wisecracking Wizards’ visit helped raise money for playground equipment at Powers Elementary, Nord Middle School and Amherst Junior High. Just one night before, the Harlem team’s Leon “Space Jam” Sewell accidentally shattered a backboard at Vermilion High School.Principal Jennifer Bengele estimated the cost at $3,000 and said an insurance claim was immediately filed. ABOVE: The Wizards’ Mr. Bounce goes for a dunk.
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OBERLIN — Laurence Nevels Sr. calls the 7.5 acres at Lincoln and Hamilton streets “God’s corner in the kingdom.” For the past 45 years, he’s been planting spiritual seeds there at Christ Temple Apostolic Church. The church is preparing to celebrate Nevels’ anniversary as pastor — the longest-serving Oberlin minister, by the congregation’s count — with special services at 4 p.m. on Sundays, Nov. 6, 13 and 20. “You’ve got to blossom where you plant it. That’s been the case with us,” Nevels said. “I may get a chance to see it and I may not. Whoever’s been a beneficiary of it, praise be to God.” Christ Temple was founded in 1913, its first permanent meeting spot at a home at the corner of South Park and Sumner streets. When Nevels was a boy, the church was located on South Pleasant Street. His father, John Nevels, was pastor there from 1957 to 1962. Ministry was a family calling — his maternal grandfather had previously been pastor at Rust United Methodist Church just a couple blocks away. The Nevelses lived in Akron, where John worked at Firestone. Each Sunday, he would load his seven sons into the family Ford and make the long commute to Oberlin. At age 11, Laurence was impressed with Oberlin’s quaintness, and has warm memories of a friend there giving him a rabbit. The Christ Temple congregation loved the elder Pastor Nevels, and Laurence said he recalls how much his father loved the city right back. Ultimately, it was the long drive that caused John to leave the pulpit. The Rev. G. Grady Benton was named to fill the void. In 1967, the congregation bought “God’s corner in the kingdom” and built a parsonage — but two heart attacks and a decade later, with a new church building under construction on
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the property, Benton left to lead a church in California. On his way out, he recommended Laurence be hired as the new pastor. The church agreed, fondly remembering the Rev. John Nevels. “When I came back, it was almost like fulfilling his heart, his dream, his visions,” Laurence said. The younger Nevels had graduated from high school at age 16 and then from Aenon Bible College in Indianapolis. He and his wife Dolorus moved into the parsonage in January, just a couple of weeks before
the Blizzard of 1978. Seeing his childhood church through the eyes of leadership was a strange shift in perspective, said Nevels. The intervening decades have brought weddings and funerals, celebrations and hardships, he said. And they inevitably brought change. Searching for a boost in income, Nevels added “prison chaplain” to his resume in 1993, serving the NEVELS PAGE A3
INSIDE THIS WEEK
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Bruce Bishop | Oberlin News-Tribune
Christ Temple Apostolic Church is holding a series of anniversary events in November for Sfg. Bishop Laurence Nevels, who has been pastor for 45 years. He's the longest-serving Oberlin current pastor, according to the congregation. His father was pastor before him.
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OBITUARIES A2 • CLASSIFIEDS A4 • BULLETIN BOARD A6 • PUZZLES B2 • KID SCOOP B6