Hebron Crossroads 9-21-03
By Jeff Gill

Hurricane Isabel has nothing on the Hebron Crossroads for a swirling torrent of activity!
Let’s start with right now, go to some tips o’ the cap, and then look ahead (but not too far). Block some time out, and sit down with your calendar at hand. Ready? Let’s go:
The Lakewood High School Marching Band, the Marching Lancers, in cooperation with the Johnstown High School Marching Band, the Marching Big Red, presents the very first band festival of its kind in Licking County ... featuring Ohio University's Marching 110! (That's OU, not OSU!) Eight high school bands will be participating, including the sponsoring Lakewood and Johnstown High School Bands.
Here's the scoop, says Sherry Steinman for the Lakewood Band Boosters: Saturday, September 20, 2003, 1-4 p.m., Chambers Stadium at Johnstown High School, 401 South Oregon St. Cost is $5 per person.

[Note for Amy: If you have questions and/or want more info, contact Scott Coffey, Director of the Lakewood HS Band (740-929-1812), or, Band Director, Marc Zirille, at Johnstown High School, (740-967-2721). I’d follow up, but I have two weddings this weekend!]

As most of you have seen, the Sept. 11 memorial community service project was a great success, “painting the town”. . .at least around Canal Park. The “Charlie Wolf” gazebo that was part of Hebron’s sesquicentennial in 1985, the picnic shelter that was a bicentennial tribute in 1976 by Hebron and Buckeye Lake, playground equipment, three pedestrian bridges, and some other equipment between Rt. 79 and Cumberland Street.
Our Hebron Street Department, along with facilitating the whole project, finished up the next day with the rest of the picnic tables, another gazebo behind the ballfields, and the special paint on the concrete pad.
Mrs. Maslowski and Mrs. Manter brought their second graders after learning about service in class the previous few days, and they with a few brave parents helped eighteen kids paint two of the bridges, plus a bit of themselves, if you know what I mean.
Charla Devine and Marsha Justice, along with some preschool help, weeded the rose bed next to the Ohio outline flowers in red, white, and blue, with some paint on the trim from Amber Damron and Jennifer McNichols, while Lisa McNichols, Beth Walters, and Kim Halter finished some spots the kids may have missed.
Councilmembers Annelle Porter, Mike Halter, and Scott Walters all got some paint on ‘em, plus thanks to Bowman Chevrolet and Union Township trustee Jack Justice for getting our “Respond To The Call” banner up on Main Street.
Clay’s Café, McDonald’s, and our council folk helped with the food supply, with some invaluable co-ordinating help from Linda Nicodemus and Tonya Stapleton in the village office under Mike McFarland’s direction.
And the firefighters of our Hebron Division of Fire and EMS were just great! We had a brief ceremony at the station house at 9:15 that morning, and thanks to Brian Harkness, a new pastor in the area, for his involvement. Police, fire, and village officials were all represented at the flagpole, and then almost every fireman on and off duty that day came by Canal Park to help in some way. Thanks of course to Chief Randy Weekley, and yeoman work was done by Capt. Rich Vance, and Mike Yost is the “prince of paint,” whose equipment made more possible than we thought could be done that day. Three cheers for sure to Dulux Paint Center for their support!
But next year, Sept. 11 is on a Saturday, and we’ll find a nice, big, NON-painting project. . .
We had something over 60 individuals involved at one time or another through the day, and thanks to all of them named and un-named, and don’t let me end the thanks without noting that my wife Joyce Meredith and I got to do some painting together, which was more fun than you’d think! Marriages can survive painting, no matter what some may say.

Our fire department is still working hard, with “Fire Prevention Week” coming Oct. 5 through 11. Those banners at village hall, the station, and at Main and High saying “Get Out – Stay Out!” are not about visitors to Hebron (who said that?), but are the lesson we want children and adults to learn about a structure fire.
Doesn’t matter what the circumstances are: if you’re in a building on fire, “Get out! Stay out!” Too many people who die in fires have actually left the building, and go back in to get a pet or photo album or checkbook, not thinking right about the many ways a fire in a home or office can kill.
So the Hebron Fire Department will be out and about through a busy week, starting with the Buckeye Lake Fire Prevention Parade down Walnut Road on Oct. 5 starting at 2 pm.
Monday, Oct. 6 is an equipment demo at the Hebron Kroger from 6 to 8 pm.
Tuesday the 7th is aimed largely at older adults. At the fire station, 111 Basin St., the department will hold training sessions at 10 am and 2 pm on preventing falls and fire extinguisher use. Call the station number, 928-4721, for more information.
Thursday will be “Safety Day” at Hebron Elementary, and the firefighters will be interacting with the kids on both the 9th and 10th as they press home the message “Get Out! Stay Out!”

The kids at Hebron Elementary have benefited from the “Ohio Reads” program and our own local “Hebron Reads” initiative. Reading tutors are needed again for the coming year; we had about 24 total trained last year with 15 participating through the year. At least that many, if not more, are needed, and the training is coming soon. Call the school office at 928-2661, and Donita or Dr. Geist will get the message to Mrs. Christian, Mrs. Frush, or Mrs. Henry, and one of those teachers will be in touch with you. I’ve gotten to work with six different young readers over the last four years, and can tell you that the rewards last a lifetime for both participants. If you have a half hour a week between 9 am and 3:30 pm weekdays, you can be a tutor.
If you want to help out at the school district level, the Lakewood Board of Education is still taking applications for the Citizens Advisory Committee through Sept. 30. Hebron, I’m told, is well represented, but we need folks to participate from all geographic areas of the district. The Administrative offices on E. Main near the Rt. 79 bypass have forms, plus they went home with all district schoolchildren last week, and any building secretary or Tracy at the board office will be glad to receive your application.
The plan right now is for the board to appoint 15 members, and put in their hopper questions like fees, pay to participate, and a growth plan for the district. Come join the discussion!

Have you registered to vote in the November election? After petitions circulated for our council members, mayoral candidates, and Lakewood school board, it became clear that a fair number of people who think they’re registered are NOT. If you haven’t voted for a number of years, you aren’t registered anymore. If you’ve moved since you voted last, you aren’t legally registered anymore. If you’ve never actually filled out a registration form (“but I just got my driver’s license, right?”), you aren’t actually registered. If the election is Nov. 4, then you need to be registered no later than Oct. 4.
But it is very easy to register for voting, and you can drop by the municipal complex or library to get a simple form to do just that. It’s just that you’d better do it in the next couple weeks!

Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church, where they also have a stack of voter registration forms on hand. If you have tales of citizenship and community in action to share from around the Hebron Crossroads, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.