The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page 5

Tomorrow: Computer confidence An Elmwood Place elementary school's after-school club gives girls confidence In the fields of high technology, math and science. Hews tips: Editor: Nancy Berlier 768-8395, Fax 768-8340 Thk Cincinnati Enquikkk Covering Hamilton County wkst of 1-75 Novkmhick 22, 1994 C3 SUBURBSWEST YOUR TOWN Elemeetary merger suggested sinks. Districtwide kindergarten Recycling bins accessible again CHEVIOT Residents may again bring materials to the recycling bins at the city garage. The $210,000 Marlin Avenuecity garage road reconstruction project is finished, so the bins are again accessible. The project called for the reconstruction of Marlin Avenue between Robb and St.

Martins avenues. Curbs and driveway would open BY SUE KIESEWETTER could serve more qualifying children. The 31 -member Consolidation Committee has been studying the issue since February. Parents, administrators and teachers served on the committee. The board took no action on the matter but decided to schedule public meetings to get input.

"I am very pleased with the opportunity for hands-on math and science this change would give us," said board member Dave Gustafson. "It sounds like we're going in the right chey. "By moving the kindergarten children out of the elementary schools, there would be additional classrooms available for special education, labs, intervention areas or other programs at the elementary schools." Richey said the panel decided to close Cameron Park and reopen the freshman school because modifications to meet the Americans with Disabilities Act have been made at the freshman school but not Cameron Park; there are more classrooms at Kemper Heights; and all classrooms at Kemper Heights have Consolidation Committee recommended Cameron Park and Kemper Heights elementary schools be merged into one school, using the ninth-grade building for grades two through six and Kemper Heights for kindergarten and first grade. Under the proposal, Cameron Park would be closed, but the ninth-grade building on Waycross Road would be reopened. "By doing this, we would be strengthening the education program at the same time we would get the benefits of closing a building," said Superintendent Thomas Ri- "By reopening the ninth-grade building we have math and science labs available for elementary school use that we don't have now," Richey said.

"There's also the auditorium complex and gymnasium that the elementary schools don't have." The ninth-grade building was closed in 1993 after freshmen were moved to Winton Woods High. Some advantages to a single kindergarten site, as outlined in a 21-page report, include more balanced class sizes and extended day kindergarten programs that Enquirer Contributor FOREST PARK Two Win-ton Woods elementary schools should be consolidated and a dis aprons were aaaea, ana to ll inches ot asphalt were laid. A new sewer line and catch basin on trictwide kindergarten center established, a committee recommended to the school board the service road leading to the city garage 1 i 1 1 .1 i i i i Monday. After studying five plans, the Communities nave ueen msiauea, ana ine roaa nas Deen rebuilt, said Steve Neal, safety service director. Water project bid likely Hamilton County commissioners are expected to approve a resolution today accepting a bid for the first phase of a project to bring water into the Crosby Township area near the old Fernald urani ream rewards M.

or recyclm; um processing plant. Smith and Brown Contractors Inc. of Crosby Township bid $1,397,767 to build the first segment of a system designed to bring water to residents whose wells were contaminated by radioactive runoff from Fernald. "This is a first step toward getting water to that side of the county," said Commissioner Guy Guckenberger. Roger Cutter, a spokesman for Smith and Brown, wasn't aware on Monday that commissioners had cited his company as having the lowest and best bid for the project.

"We don't have any meetings scheduled with the county until the 30th," Cutter said. "We really have to wait until the county has signed off on the contract." No start date has been proposed for the project. New traffic signal activated FOREST PARK City officials, rep-, resentatives of the Northwest WoodsNorthwest Meadows development and residents of the Reliance Drive subdi-c vision mei to activate a new traffic signal at the intersection of Hamilton Avenue and Crest Road on Monday morning, i In addition to the traffic signal, Hamil-i ton Avenue was widened to three lanes at the intersection to allow for a protected BY ANNA GUIDO FAIRBANKS Enquirer Contributor Near the end of the first year of a 15-year plan to reduce the flow of waste generated locally, 37 of Hamilton County's 48 cities, townships and villages have participated in a recycling incentive program. The program rewards local governments with cash, said Barry Burton, director of the county's Department of Environmental Services, umbrella agency for the Hamilton County Solid Waste Management District, which pays the incentives. "The biggest thing with this incentive program is to work with communities on how to spend the dollars wisely," Burton said.

"The idea is for the dollars to be used to further recycling and education efforts." About $800,000 was allotted for incentives in 1994, which will rise to about $900,000 next year, Burton said. In Mount Healthy, $6,392 in Drop-off sites On Oct. 17, the Hamilton County Solid Waste Management District opened four free yard waste dropoff sites. The sites are: 1254W. Sharon Road, Greenhills; Wilmer Avenue, East End (across from Lunken Airport); 5700 Center Hill, Win-ton Place (near the ELDA Landfill); and 5190 Crook-shank Road, Covedale.

Barry Burton, director of the Hamilton County Department of Environmental Services, umbrella agency for the solid-waste management district, said the dropoff sites give county residents a free alternative to yard waste disposal services that cost money. Hours are: Now through Dec. 1 Monday through Friday, 3 to 6:30 p.m.; Saturday and i The Cincinnati EnquirerFred Straub it 1 Picture perfect turkeys: Clovernook Elementary School fourth-graders Jesse Rocke-man, left, and Stacy Anderson, get help from teacher Kim Havens as they use sponges to paint turkeys Monday. The Thanksgiving activity came from the Artmaker show on WCET (Channel 48), part of the station's instructional daytime programming. Before beginning the project, Havens showed a video of the program in class and discussed the painting technique.

The pictures are being displayed in the hallway of the Galbraith Road school. incentive funds will go back into local recycling efforts, said Bill Kocher, safety service director. More than half of the money is being used for free leaf pickup and Christmas tree pickup and recycling this year. Kocher said the remaining $3,000 will be coupled with an Ohio Department of Natural Resources grant of $9,000 to buy benches, picnic Sunday, a.m. to p.m.

Dec. 2-31 Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Jan. 1-22 Wednesday, 3 to 6:30 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m.

to 6:30 p.m. In May 1995, the solid-, waste management district plans to open a waste collection site for paints, pesticides, batteries, motor oil, antifreeze and other hazardous household items. left-turn lane for northbound and southbound traffic. The changes are expected to improve safety and traffic flow on Hamilton Avenue between Interstate 275 and Kemper Road. Seton fatherdaughter dance DELHI TOWNSHIP Seton High School's Alumnae Association is hosting the ninth annual Alumnae FatherDaughter Dance Friday at The Farm, 239 An-, derson Ferry Road, Delhi, i The evening begins at 7 p.m.

with a so- cial hour followed by a buffet dinner at 8 p.m. and dancing until midnight. The cost is $18 per person and in- eludes drinks, snacks, dinner and enter-' tainment. Proceeds will benefit the Seton Scholarship Fund. "Record Performance," a disc jockey team of Seton alumna Margie Waltner Hammitt (class of 1966) and her brother Tom Waltner, will provide the music.

Laura Whalen Zwick (class of 1978) is chairwoman of the event and her father, Larry Whalen, former Cincinnati police chief, will serve as master of ceremonies. For more information, call the high school, 471-2600. Register for pickup of leaves SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP This is the last week for residents to call the Bond issue gets another shot Finneytown schools to try February vote BY KATHLEEN HILLENMEYER The Cincinnati Enquirer tables and trash receptacles for Mount Healthy Park behind City Hall. Kocher said the park items are made from recycled materials and should be in place this spring. Communities have to certify how much they've recycled before they can receive the funds and have to specify in an application what plans they have for the money, which is issued quarterly, said Meredith Yankow, community specialist with the solid waste management district.

Symmes Township has earned $3,725 in incentive funds. Teri Mettens, township administrative assistant, said the money was used to hold waste pickups and to buy recycling bins for Symmes Park on Lebanon Road. "We think it's great," Mettens said. "We even put a note in our last newsletter encouraging residents to recycle." In addition to its recycling incentive program, the solid-waste management district has a grant program designed to run other programs to reduce the amount of waste generation. FINNEYTOWN Considering 147 votes a narrow loss for a $9.95 million bond issue, the Finneytown school board voted Monday to return a failed bond issue to the ballot Feb.

7. Voters, who Nov. 8 rejected a 4.88-mill bond issue to modernize schools, will be asked to approve a 5.17-mill rate in February. The grant program also began this year. Through it, seed money is offered to local governments and non-profit groups to set up waste-reduction programs.

Burton said $150,000 will be awarded, pending the approval of Hamilton County commissioners. Thirty-two requests totaling $450,000 are pending. Education and business programs are other means through which the solid-waste management district is working to reduce the amount of waste generated locally. Education specialist Tina Sel-den conducts workshops for teachers and the community, and field trips for students are held. The business program is just starting.

Burton said it's designed to help businesses understand the benefits of recycling and to recommend ways to "Reduce, reuse and recycle" the motto of the recyling effort. lon, the lone dissenter Monday, said Finneytown residents may be more receptive to a reduced bond issue. "It really became a pocket-book issue for many of them," Berlon said. They may only be willing to support $5 million or $6 million or $7 million. "Until we fully understand what it is they'll support, I'm not sure it's the time to do it." Despite Berlon's concern that two months is insufficient to reorganize a bond issue campaign, McManus said the quick turnaround may work to the schools' advantage.

Under the 27-year bond issue voters rejected, the owner of an $80,000 home would have paid $119.54 annually. At 5.17 mills, the yearly cost to that homeowner would climb $7. ary and May," said school board Vice President John McManus, one of three members who supported a Feb. 7 vote. Board member Maryann Roulier was absent from Monday's meeting.

Major repairs to Finneytown schools were last undertaken during the 1970s. If a bond issue passes on its second try, it would pay for replacing a 70-year-old section of Whi-taker Elementary School and districtwide improvements to acoustics, lighting, exterior doors, windows, alarms, playgrounds and traffic flow. McManus said delays in construction caused by the Nov. 8 bond issue defeat already have cost the district $423,000. If a bond issue isn't passed until May, he said, the expense would increase $60,000.

But board member Kevin Ber- township ottices and have their addresses listed for pickup of leaves. The township will be picking up leaves thai haua Kaon nlapAH in nlactir hade and u.ui nciirv. uvwn j.uv..-- until Mnv 1ft Township officials are asking residents The millage increase resulted from interest rate hikes a factor that pushed the board to go back to the electorate quickly rather than waiting until the May election. "I'm concerned about the potential that interest rates may continue to climb between Febru to have at least 15 to 20 bags filled before calling to register for pickup. Delhi man, 76, hit by truck 1 DELHI TOWNSHIP A 76-year-old Delhi Township man was in fair condition Monday at University Hospital after he was struck by a tractor-trailer while he was crossine Delhi Road.

Board member honored Pnlirp said lamps Murrav of South Delridge Drive was struck by a soft-drink i truck driven by Jeffrey T. Caron, 29, of Princeton Square Circle, Union Township, at 10:18 a.m. Mondav. ft of parents who helped me start the athletic banquet" 10 years ago, Margello said. "He never said no to anything that you needed." Superintendent Russell Sammons called Boyles' death "a great loss" to the district.

"He always wanted Hikebike trail makes wish list at Winton Woods BY LEW MOORES The Cincinnati Enquirer SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP Hamilton County Park District officials have applied for a $200,000 matching grant from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) to build a looped hikebike trail at Winton Woods. The proposed 1V4- to 2-mile trail would loop around Winton Lake, crossing it twice over bridges. The trail would be paved, 10 to 12 feet wide. "(That's) so mothers with preschoolers, senior citizens and people with disabilities could use it," said Jack Sutton, planning director for the park district. The hikebike trail at Winton Woods now is a linear trail that generally runs along the north shoreline of Winton Lake.

"Loops are popular," said Sutton, pointing out the popularity of looped trails at Sharon Woods in Sharonville and Miami Whitewater Forest in Crosby Township. The park district is one of 24 Hamilton County communities and agencies that applied for grants from ODNR under a new matching grant program called NatureWorks, made possible by the Ohio parks and natural resources bond issue approved in November, 1993. The county is in line to receive $3.2 million in NatureWorks funds over the next four years. Competition for the $800,000 that will be available in each of those years will be intense those 24 communities and agencies are asking for $4.3 million in the first year alone to finance 36 projects around the county. The looped hikebike trail is one of several on the park district's wish list for Winton Woods.

Still in the planning stages, the park district is looking at relocating the park's playground area moving it to higher ground and building a floating boat house to better accommodate a lake that floods with spring rains. Boyles 'wanted what was best' for students BY KATHLEEN HILLENMEYER The Cincinnati Enquirer COLERAIN TOWNSHIP The Northwest Local school board observed a moment of silence Monday in honor of former member Robert E. Boyles, who died Nov. 15 after a heart attack. Boyles, 58, elected to the board in 1984, was its senior member.

The board will miss Boyles' perspective, President Helga Schwab said. "He provided us with longevity," she said. "Bob was always there if you needed a question answered. He was a good sounding board." A resident of Pleasant Run Farms in the district's northern half, Boyles "worked hard to make sure that the rest of us didn't forget there was a north," Schwab said. Frank Margello, principal of Northwest High School, recalled Boyles' enthusiasm as an athletic booster.

The father of three Northwest graduates, Boyles "was very active with a group The truck was going north from Mount Alverno Drive and turning west onto Delhi Road, near a fast-food restaurant as Murray walked south across the thoroughfare, police said. He was not in a crosswalk. Police said Murray suffered a i head injury. No charges were filed. DAYBOOK 1 Government schools Coteraln Township: Trustees: 7 p.m., 4300 Springdale Road.

Woodlawn: Village Council: p.m., 10141 Woodlawn Blvd. i Community events Queensgate: Dinamation's Carnivore Caper con-! tinues through Jan. 2 at the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History, 1301 Western Ave. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Besides the dinosaur robotic exhibits, demonstrations and activity areas are set up. Museum admission Is $4.95 adults, $2.95 children.

Boyles what was best for the children who attended our schools," Sammons said. The board has 30 days to determine who will complete Boyles' term, which expires Dec. 31, 1995. "We have gotten quite a few comments from concerned citizens already who would like to put in their name as possible replacements for Bob," she said. "(But) our first goal right now is to select a superintendent." Sammons is retiring in January.

The board reviewed applicants for the superintendent's position Monday. "We have it narrowed down to two candidates," Schwab said Monday..