C ounty budget slides deeper into red
Story #5144 System AKRE
by MTURNER
A 1 4X Pg. Date 7/09/09 Story:
Time 23:21:17 Date 7/08/09
Topic: INL TAKES Keyword INL M TAKE
Page 1 CyanMagentaYellowBlack
Search Edition
K M YY CC
AKRON BEACON JOURNALL © Copyright 2009 Beacon Journal Publishing Co.
THURSDAY, July 9, 2009
News Online
A B C
PAT McMANAMON
www.ohio.com
Sept. 11 tragedy motivates business executive to re-evaluate life. For-lease sign, faith point way to unplanned purchase of youth sports complex
Economy could keep LeBron with Cavs
County budget slides deeper into red
SPORTS, C1
Shortfall climbs to $13.5 million. County considers program cuts, reducing pay of union workers
ITALIAN FESTIVAL COMING TO AKRON
By Rick Armon
Beacon Journal staff writer
MOVIE REVIEWS: ‘Bruno’ and ‘I Love You, Beth Cooper.’
Local growers prepare for weekend harvest By Lisa Abraham
Beacon Journal food writer
Get out the butter and salt. Local sweet corn is ready. Oh, sure, there has been corn from Florida and other Southern states in the grocery stores for weeks now, but what can beat the fresh-from-the-stalk taste of locally grown corn? Lisa Graf of Graf Growers in Akron said the family will harvest its first corn early Friday morning. It will be available for sale at 9 a.m. when Graf’s farm market, 1015 White Pond Drive, opens for the day. ‘‘We are excited for another season and our signature bi-color sweet corn looks great,’’ Graf said. Paula Szalay of Szalay’s Farm in Peninsula said her family expects to be in the field on Saturday morning to harvest its first locally grown corn. It will be available for sale by noon Saturday at 4563 Riverview Road. ‘‘We’re getting excited. We’ll be picking this weekend. The weather has been very cooperative,’’ Szalay said. The Szalays have been selling corn that they grow in southern Ohio for about the past 10 days. Graf said for the first week, it’s possible that corn might not be available for harvest every day so she urged customers to check on its availability next week by calling 330-836-2727 or by visiting Graf’s Web site at http://www.grafgrowers.com. ‘‘After that, the supply looks plentiful and consistent,’’ she said. Locally grown corn will be selling between $5 and $6 per dozen. Lisa A. Abraham can be reached at 330-9963737 or [email protected].
Summit County’s projected budget shortfall has ballooned to $13.5 million this year as tax revenues and other income continue to slide. ‘‘It’s not a good economic picture,’’ County Council President Nick Kostandaras said Wednesday at a special hearing to update officials on county finances. The county had announced in April that the budget gap had climbed to $12.8 million. Now it’s even higher. Officials said they are looking at all kinds of cutbacks for this year and next year, including trimming programs and asking union workers to take pay cuts. They could not be more specific, saying they are just starting to examine the deeper cuts. The county has attempted to offset the revenue decrease this year by not giving raises to nonunion employees, increasing fees such as dog licenses and costs for sheriff’s services, and offering voluntary buyouts to workers. Despite those moves, the county expects operating revenues to drop $8.1 million this year from projections. Meanwhile, expenses are up $1.4 million. The projected general fund budget is $115.6 million. The biggest reason for the fall in revenue is property transfer taxes – money the coun-
PAUL TOPLE/Akron Beacon Journal
Earl Stalter purchased Pinnacle Sports in Granger Township in 2002 after leaving the business world. Stalter says he wanted to create an environment where coaches would have a positive influence on kids.
ENJOY
Mmmmm! Sweet corn ready in Ohio
75¢
Home Delivery 800-777-2442
Sporting a new mission sen and Co. in 1979 and was eventually a partner in Andersen Consulting, which later became Accenture. As part of his job, he traveled all over the world. At the time, he was living in Minneapolis and coming home mostly on weekends to see his wife and three children in Bath. But his trip Sept. 11, 2001, was life-changing. ‘‘I’m probably the only person I know of who was in the air who landed at their destination. They did not take us into the terminal. We stayed on the tarmac with no explanation. We finally moved and were told there was a national
By Betty Lin-Fisher
Beacon Journal business writer
If you had asked Earl Stalter 10 years ago whether he would someday own a youth sports training facility, he would have said no. But life doesn’t always go the way people think it will. Stalter has never publicly discussed the story, though friends and acquaintances know it started the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, when he got on a plane from his home to go back to business in Minneapolis. He had done it countless other times. Stalter had joined Arthur Ander-
emergency. We were told to get our bags and leave the terminal. Just leave,’’ recalls Stalter. It wasn’t until Stalter got to his hotel that he watched the second World Trade Center tower in New York City collapse. Stalter spent the next week frustrated that he was in Minneapolis and his family was in Akron. ‘‘That became the final straw, that it was time to be home. There was no plan,’’ said Stalter, who called his boss in Chicago a few days later and flew there to turn in his
Please see Budget, A5
Akron woman dead in vehicle at parking lot
Please see Stalter, A9
Pinnacle Sports facility merges with The Edge in Twinsburg both facilities. The administrative offices will be at Pinnacle Medina. Garbinsky said training at Pinnacle, which is based on a program called Coaching 4 Life, provides athletes with competitive skills, but also places an emphasis on ‘‘nurturing young people and developing the character traits they need for success in sports now and for life in general as they mature.’’ Pinnacle owner Earl Stalter said at first he wasn’t interested in merging with another facility because he was busy enough with the growing business of Pinnacle. But
By Betty Lin-Fisher
Beacon Journal business writer
Two area sports training facilities have merged with the potential to double their business, executives say. Pinnacle Sports on state Route 18 in Granger Township near Medina and The Edge Sports Performance Academy on Ravenna Road in Twinsburg have merged under the Pinnacle name. Both facilities will remain open and expand their offerings. T he two entities joined last month because they both had similar beliefs and missions, said Rich Garbinsky, general manager over
Please see Merger, A9
Police say homeless couple and son, 5, had been living in car. Overdose suspected By Jim Carney
Beacon Journal staff writer
BRIMFIELD TWP.: An Akron woman found dead in a vehicle in a store parking lot had access to more than 200 painkilling pills. She swallowed enough of them to take her life, her husband said Wednesday. Authorities believe Margaret Bell, 39, of Akron, had been dead for several hours before her husband, Deryl , called for help. Bell, 42, said his wife overdosed on ‘‘dangerous medications’’ they had by prescription for pain. Brimfield Township P olice C hief D avid Bell Blough said the woman, her husband and their 5-year-old son had been living in their car about four days. Bell said he called 911 Tuesday morning seeking medical help for his wife. When police and paramedics arrived at the Walmart parking lot at 250 Tallmadge Road shortly after 8 a.m., the woman already was dead, Blough said. He said the son became distraught as he watched safety workers attempt to revive his mother.
PHIL MASTURZO/Akron Beacon Journal
Denyisha Reynolds, 6, practices before a game on the turf at the Pinnacle Sports summer day camp.
U.S., S. Korea hit by cyber attacks Hackers jam Web sites of government agencies; report implicates North Korea the United States said the attacks were unsophisticated and relatively small scale. Their origins had not yet been determined. They said 50,000 to 65,000 computers had been commandeered by hackers and ordered to flood specific Web sites with access requests, causing them to slow or stall. Such robotic networks, or botnets, can involve more than a million computers.
By Choe Sang-Hun and John Markoff New York Times
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA: A wave of cyber attacks aimed at 27 American and South Korean government agencies and commercial Web sites temporarily jammed more than a third of them over the past five days, and several sites remained stalled or slowed Wednesday.
Officials and computer experts in
Dear Abby B10 Malcolm X Abram E3 Art Notes B2 Business B8
Classified D1 Comics B10, 11 Community B1 Crossword B11
Deaths B5-7 Editorial A10 Enjoy E1 Lottery B2
Pat McManamon C1 Movies E5, 8 Nation Briefs A2 Fresh Air E18
The Treasury Department, Secret Service, Federal Trade Commission and Transportation Department Web sites were all affected at some point over the weekend and into this week, the Associated Press reported Tuesday, citing U.S. officials. A White House spokesman, Nick S hapiro , said in a statement
Please see Cyber, A5
Mostly sunny and pleasant
Region Briefs B2 Sports C1 Sudoku B10 TV Listings B10
INSIDE Cuyahoga Falls business promotes renewable energy. B8
0%
Please see Death, A5
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on 2009 LANCER~GALANT~ECLIPSE! To Choose! Choose!! 2 2009 009 G GALANT ALANT EES S 5 To 2009 20 00 0 09 E ECLIPSE CLIPSE C CO COUPE OUPE G GS S 200 2009 09 9L LANCER ANCER EES S 5-Spd Manual, 16” 2 for
60 mos.
SUMMIT, STARK, MEDINA, PORTAGE COUNTIES LARGEST DEALER!
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YOU PAY MSRP ............................... $21,948 MARHOFER DISCOUNT.... $1500 REBATE .............................. $3500
While Supplies Last!
$
16,948
4-Spd Automatic, Pwr Wind/Locks/Mirror, Air, CD, Keyless Entry
#M29134
YOU PAY
MSRP ............................... $21,994 MARHOFER DISCOUNT.... $1000 REBATE .............................. $1500
$
19,494 g09_2643804
take this black
Search Edition
by MTURNER
A 1 4X Pg. Date 7/09/09 Story:
Time 23:21:17 Date 7/08/09
Topic: INL TAKES Keyword INL M TAKE
Page 1 CyanMagentaYellowBlack
Search Edition
K M YY CC
AKRON BEACON JOURNALL © Copyright 2009 Beacon Journal Publishing Co.
THURSDAY, July 9, 2009
News Online
A B C
PAT McMANAMON
www.ohio.com
Sept. 11 tragedy motivates business executive to re-evaluate life. For-lease sign, faith point way to unplanned purchase of youth sports complex
Economy could keep LeBron with Cavs
County budget slides deeper into red
SPORTS, C1
Shortfall climbs to $13.5 million. County considers program cuts, reducing pay of union workers
ITALIAN FESTIVAL COMING TO AKRON
By Rick Armon
Beacon Journal staff writer
MOVIE REVIEWS: ‘Bruno’ and ‘I Love You, Beth Cooper.’
Local growers prepare for weekend harvest By Lisa Abraham
Beacon Journal food writer
Get out the butter and salt. Local sweet corn is ready. Oh, sure, there has been corn from Florida and other Southern states in the grocery stores for weeks now, but what can beat the fresh-from-the-stalk taste of locally grown corn? Lisa Graf of Graf Growers in Akron said the family will harvest its first corn early Friday morning. It will be available for sale at 9 a.m. when Graf’s farm market, 1015 White Pond Drive, opens for the day. ‘‘We are excited for another season and our signature bi-color sweet corn looks great,’’ Graf said. Paula Szalay of Szalay’s Farm in Peninsula said her family expects to be in the field on Saturday morning to harvest its first locally grown corn. It will be available for sale by noon Saturday at 4563 Riverview Road. ‘‘We’re getting excited. We’ll be picking this weekend. The weather has been very cooperative,’’ Szalay said. The Szalays have been selling corn that they grow in southern Ohio for about the past 10 days. Graf said for the first week, it’s possible that corn might not be available for harvest every day so she urged customers to check on its availability next week by calling 330-836-2727 or by visiting Graf’s Web site at http://www.grafgrowers.com. ‘‘After that, the supply looks plentiful and consistent,’’ she said. Locally grown corn will be selling between $5 and $6 per dozen. Lisa A. Abraham can be reached at 330-9963737 or [email protected].
Summit County’s projected budget shortfall has ballooned to $13.5 million this year as tax revenues and other income continue to slide. ‘‘It’s not a good economic picture,’’ County Council President Nick Kostandaras said Wednesday at a special hearing to update officials on county finances. The county had announced in April that the budget gap had climbed to $12.8 million. Now it’s even higher. Officials said they are looking at all kinds of cutbacks for this year and next year, including trimming programs and asking union workers to take pay cuts. They could not be more specific, saying they are just starting to examine the deeper cuts. The county has attempted to offset the revenue decrease this year by not giving raises to nonunion employees, increasing fees such as dog licenses and costs for sheriff’s services, and offering voluntary buyouts to workers. Despite those moves, the county expects operating revenues to drop $8.1 million this year from projections. Meanwhile, expenses are up $1.4 million. The projected general fund budget is $115.6 million. The biggest reason for the fall in revenue is property transfer taxes – money the coun-
PAUL TOPLE/Akron Beacon Journal
Earl Stalter purchased Pinnacle Sports in Granger Township in 2002 after leaving the business world. Stalter says he wanted to create an environment where coaches would have a positive influence on kids.
ENJOY
Mmmmm! Sweet corn ready in Ohio
75¢
Home Delivery 800-777-2442
Sporting a new mission sen and Co. in 1979 and was eventually a partner in Andersen Consulting, which later became Accenture. As part of his job, he traveled all over the world. At the time, he was living in Minneapolis and coming home mostly on weekends to see his wife and three children in Bath. But his trip Sept. 11, 2001, was life-changing. ‘‘I’m probably the only person I know of who was in the air who landed at their destination. They did not take us into the terminal. We stayed on the tarmac with no explanation. We finally moved and were told there was a national
By Betty Lin-Fisher
Beacon Journal business writer
If you had asked Earl Stalter 10 years ago whether he would someday own a youth sports training facility, he would have said no. But life doesn’t always go the way people think it will. Stalter has never publicly discussed the story, though friends and acquaintances know it started the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, when he got on a plane from his home to go back to business in Minneapolis. He had done it countless other times. Stalter had joined Arthur Ander-
emergency. We were told to get our bags and leave the terminal. Just leave,’’ recalls Stalter. It wasn’t until Stalter got to his hotel that he watched the second World Trade Center tower in New York City collapse. Stalter spent the next week frustrated that he was in Minneapolis and his family was in Akron. ‘‘That became the final straw, that it was time to be home. There was no plan,’’ said Stalter, who called his boss in Chicago a few days later and flew there to turn in his
Please see Budget, A5
Akron woman dead in vehicle at parking lot
Please see Stalter, A9
Pinnacle Sports facility merges with The Edge in Twinsburg both facilities. The administrative offices will be at Pinnacle Medina. Garbinsky said training at Pinnacle, which is based on a program called Coaching 4 Life, provides athletes with competitive skills, but also places an emphasis on ‘‘nurturing young people and developing the character traits they need for success in sports now and for life in general as they mature.’’ Pinnacle owner Earl Stalter said at first he wasn’t interested in merging with another facility because he was busy enough with the growing business of Pinnacle. But
By Betty Lin-Fisher
Beacon Journal business writer
Two area sports training facilities have merged with the potential to double their business, executives say. Pinnacle Sports on state Route 18 in Granger Township near Medina and The Edge Sports Performance Academy on Ravenna Road in Twinsburg have merged under the Pinnacle name. Both facilities will remain open and expand their offerings. T he two entities joined last month because they both had similar beliefs and missions, said Rich Garbinsky, general manager over
Please see Merger, A9
Police say homeless couple and son, 5, had been living in car. Overdose suspected By Jim Carney
Beacon Journal staff writer
BRIMFIELD TWP.: An Akron woman found dead in a vehicle in a store parking lot had access to more than 200 painkilling pills. She swallowed enough of them to take her life, her husband said Wednesday. Authorities believe Margaret Bell, 39, of Akron, had been dead for several hours before her husband, Deryl , called for help. Bell, 42, said his wife overdosed on ‘‘dangerous medications’’ they had by prescription for pain. Brimfield Township P olice C hief D avid Bell Blough said the woman, her husband and their 5-year-old son had been living in their car about four days. Bell said he called 911 Tuesday morning seeking medical help for his wife. When police and paramedics arrived at the Walmart parking lot at 250 Tallmadge Road shortly after 8 a.m., the woman already was dead, Blough said. He said the son became distraught as he watched safety workers attempt to revive his mother.
PHIL MASTURZO/Akron Beacon Journal
Denyisha Reynolds, 6, practices before a game on the turf at the Pinnacle Sports summer day camp.
U.S., S. Korea hit by cyber attacks Hackers jam Web sites of government agencies; report implicates North Korea the United States said the attacks were unsophisticated and relatively small scale. Their origins had not yet been determined. They said 50,000 to 65,000 computers had been commandeered by hackers and ordered to flood specific Web sites with access requests, causing them to slow or stall. Such robotic networks, or botnets, can involve more than a million computers.
By Choe Sang-Hun and John Markoff New York Times
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA: A wave of cyber attacks aimed at 27 American and South Korean government agencies and commercial Web sites temporarily jammed more than a third of them over the past five days, and several sites remained stalled or slowed Wednesday.
Officials and computer experts in
Dear Abby B10 Malcolm X Abram E3 Art Notes B2 Business B8
Classified D1 Comics B10, 11 Community B1 Crossword B11
Deaths B5-7 Editorial A10 Enjoy E1 Lottery B2
Pat McManamon C1 Movies E5, 8 Nation Briefs A2 Fresh Air E18
The Treasury Department, Secret Service, Federal Trade Commission and Transportation Department Web sites were all affected at some point over the weekend and into this week, the Associated Press reported Tuesday, citing U.S. officials. A White House spokesman, Nick S hapiro , said in a statement
Please see Cyber, A5
Mostly sunny and pleasant
Region Briefs B2 Sports C1 Sudoku B10 TV Listings B10
INSIDE Cuyahoga Falls business promotes renewable energy. B8
0%
Please see Death, A5
82°
Search the classifieds
60°
http://www.ohio.com
High Low
Forecast, Page B12
on 2009 LANCER~GALANT~ECLIPSE! To Choose! Choose!! 2 2009 009 G GALANT ALANT EES S 5 To 2009 20 00 0 09 E ECLIPSE CLIPSE C CO COUPE OUPE G GS S 200 2009 09 9L LANCER ANCER EES S 5-Spd Manual, 16” 2 for
60 mos.
SUMMIT, STARK, MEDINA, PORTAGE COUNTIES LARGEST DEALER!
888.695.9856 1260 Main St. Cuyahoga Falls 5-year 60,000 Mile Bumper-to-Bumper New Vehicle Limited Warranty 10-year 100,000 Mile Powertrain Limited Warranty 5-year Unlimited Miles Roadside Assistance Warranty
4-Spd Automatic, 16” Wheels, Pwr Wind/ Locks/Mirror, Cruise, Keyless Entry, CD
Wheels, Pwr Wind/ Mirror, 6 Airbags, Driver Knee Airbag, CD/MP3, 12-Volt Pwr Outlet
YOU PAY
#M29119 MSRP ............................... $17,085 MARHOFER DISCOUNT.... $1000 REBATE .............................. $1500
$
14,585
YOU PAY MSRP ............................... $21,948 MARHOFER DISCOUNT.... $1500 REBATE .............................. $3500
While Supplies Last!
$
16,948
4-Spd Automatic, Pwr Wind/Locks/Mirror, Air, CD, Keyless Entry
#M29134
YOU PAY
MSRP ............................... $21,994 MARHOFER DISCOUNT.... $1000 REBATE .............................. $1500
$
19,494 g09_2643804
take this black
Search Edition
