Janeen and her husband Kevin Sweeney saw the event on Facebook and decided to take on the new year with a new challenge. First timers to cold water events, they were ready to get in the water but were not looking forward to getting out of it.

“It’s something totally out of our comfort zone,” Kevin Sweeney said. “We thought, new year, new beginnings, and that’s kind of all tied together and that’s why were here. Something new to do that we’ve never done before.”

“I’m very nervous,” Janeen Sweeney said. “But we have our strategy for when we get out, get into the car, turn on the heated seats and get home as fast as we can.”

Sean Powers was waiting in line wearing a Winnie the Poo onesie with a Rick and Morty robe underneath. He says he was wearing the outfit because he purchased the onesie for Halloween and wanted a reason to wear it again, although he will be taking the outfit off first, he said he’s glad to have brought something warm for the aftermath of the plunge.

“I’m new to the town and this is the first time I’ve been able to do it and it’s for a good cause,” Powers said. “I wanted to start the new year off with a challenge and I don’t think there’s much better way than jumping in freezing cold water.”

“I’ve jumped in cold water before but never a lake in January,” Powers added. “So, it’s going to be new for me. I got this outfit for Halloween, today seems like a perfect day for it.”

Lee Negrelli, board member for arts and cultural alliance, says she is happy with the turnout. She said it looked as if they would be able to pay for the safety services present and also pay for some of the costs of future events., in total the event ended up raising over $2,000.

“This is a way bigger turnout than what we expected,” Negrelli said. “We were hoping to even break even with paying the EMTs and all that, but we are turning a profit. It’s amazing.

“We are using the event as a fundraiser for the other events that we do. We have a Winterfest and also a summer concert series live at the lighthouse, but the money will be used to go for the bands and activities and all the other things that make our events super awesome. We have to pay for a photo booth, alcohol, permits, but it will be used. Most of it going to local businesses.” Negrelli added.

Those taking part in the plunge were lined up at Lake Erie’s shore in five groups. At staggered times calls from a loudspeaker let people know when to start running into the cold water. Some immediately ran back to shore seeking the comfort of blankets and hot coco, while others swam out to where two members of Fairport Harbors Fire Department were standing chest high in water.

Powers, who removed his Winnie the Poo outfit revealing swimming trunks. Says that he was happy he took part in the experience and that he made it almost as far as the lifeguards, but not quite.

“I feel more refreshed and ready to take on the year and I want to do it again next year,” Powers said. “But man, as soon as that water hits you are like ‘why am I doing this?’ You can’t wait to get back out.

“I went under —  you have to do that if you’re going in the water, you know? But I went to just about as far as the lifeguards are at. I was a few feet away and there was a wave coming and I said, ‘that’s good enough!’ ”

For those that did not want to get in the water, but still want a taste of winter, Fairport Harbor Arts and Culture Alliance will be hosting Winterfest at Veterans Memorial Park on Jan. 27. According to its website three live bands will be playing along with winter crafts, a warming area, food trucks, along with beer and cocktails. More information about future events can be found at www.fhaca.org

Bender Tree Christmas Tree Farm

3381 Sheffield Road, Jefferson

440-944-5240

bendertree.com

facebook.com/bendertreefarm

Email: rbender@bendertree.com

Open on Thursdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., starting Nov. 24.

Diversified Tree Farm

8546 Nichols Road, Windham

330-527-7409

facebook.com/DiversifiedTreeFarm/

Open on Fridays through Sundays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., starting Nov. 24.

Emerald Ridge Christmas Trees & Wreaths

7000 Warner Road (Route 307), Madison Township

440-428-6132

ohiochristmastree.org/emerald-ridge

Open on Nov. 24 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., then Saturdays and Sundays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. until Dec. 11.

Flower Family Christmas Tree Farm

1236 Hudson Road, Kent

330-678-8967 or 330-673-6616

flowertreefarm.com

facebook.com/FlowerTreeFarm/

Open on Nov. 24 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., then Wednesdays through Fridays from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Greig Christmas Tree Farm

35900 Eddy Road, Willoughby Hills

440-487-7158

Email: greigchristmastrees@gmail.com

facebook.com/Greig-Christmas-Tree-Farm-293889837308732/

Open Nov. 24 from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., then weekdays from 4 to 7 p.m. and weekends from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Howling Pines Tree Farm

10480 E. Washington St., Chagrin Falls

216-410-6341

howlingpinestreefarm.com

facebook.com/howlingpines/

Email: howlingpinestreefarm@gmail.com

Open Nov. 24 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., then weekdays from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. and weekends from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Kall Christmas Tree Farm

3605 Foskett Road, Medina

330-725-8870

kallxmastreefarm.com

Open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays starting Nov. 24 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and, for pre-cut trees only, Mondays through Thursdays from 2 to 5 p.m.

Kurtz Christmas Trees

22350 Quarry Road, Wellington

440-328-9140

kurtzchristmastrees.com

facebook.com/KurtzChristmasTrees/

Open daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. until Dec. 24.

Log Barn Farm

8711 Stanhope-Kelloggsville Road, Williamsfield

440-293-7330

logbarnfarm.com

Email: wdiane114@aol.com

Open on Nov. 24 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., then Wednesdays through Sundays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. until Dec. 18.

Manners Christmas Tree Farm

780 Dodgeville Road, New Lyme Township

440-294-2444

facebook.com/MannersChristmasTreeFarm/

Open on Nov. 24 from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m., then weekends from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and weekdays from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. until Dec. 9.

McKosky Tree Farm

14740 Leroy Center Road, Thompson Township

440-298-1412 or 440-251-2913

facebook.com/McKoskysTreeFarm/

Open from Nov. 24 until Dec. 18 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Medina Christmas Tree Farms

3301 (Main Farm) and 3235 (Butler Farm) Hamilton Road, Medina

330-723-2106

medinatrees.com

facebook.com/Medina-Christmas-Tree-Farm-142681699716/

The Butler Farm is open on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. starting Nov. 19. The Main Farm is open on Nov. 24 from 9:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and weekdays from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. until Dec. 21.

Mountain Creek Tree Farm

7185 Williams Road, Concord Township

440-354-8928

mountaincreektrees.com

facebook.com/MountainCreekFarm/

Open on Nov. 24 to Nov. 27, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., then Fridays 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in December.

North Corner Farm

13880 Butternut Road, Burton Township

440-785-3692

northcornerfarm.com

Email: john@northcornerfarm.com

Open from Nov. 24 to Dec. 22, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Available Mondays through Thursdays by appointment only.

Piney Paradise Tree Farm (Willard)

1664 Snyder Road, Willard

419-668-9334

pineyparadise.com

facebook.com/PineyParadise/

Email: pineyparadise@gmail.com

Open on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Nov. 26 to Dec. 11.

Piney Paradise Tree Farm (Norwalk)

677 South Norwalk Road West, Norwalk

419-668-9334

pineyparadise.com

facebook.com/PineyParadise/

Email: pineyparadise@gmail.com

Open on Nov. 24 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and until Dec. 18 on weekdays from 3 to 5 p.m., Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Rhodes Sisters Christmas Tree Farm

12020 Clay St., Huntsburg Township

440-636-3486 or 440-829-7079

facebook.com/Rhodes-Sisters-Christmas-Tree-Farm-166931600072603/

Open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., beginning Nov. 24.

River Run Tree Farm

5620 Streeter Road, Mantua

330-888-9005

riverruntreefarm.com

facebook.com/riverruntreefarm/

Email: riverruntreefarm@gmail.com

Open on Nov. 24, and then Saturdays and Sundays until Dec. 11, from 9 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.

Sarna’s Christmas Tree Farm

1137 E. Jefferson St., Jefferson

440-576-0169

facebook.com/Sarnas-Tree-Farm-109288655804224/

Email: sarnastreefarm@gmail.com

Opens on Nov. 24 on Fridays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sarnas will also accept appointments for weekday appointments.

Soubusta Farms

11380 Thwing Road, Chardon Township

440-256-1768

soubustafarms.com

facebook.com/Soubusta-Farms-274746375901532/

Email: soubustafarms@gmail.com

Open starting Nov. 24 from 9 a.m. to dark, then Saturdays and Sundays from 9 a.m. to dark.

Starr Farm

14030 Mayfield Road, Claridon Township

440-321-6785

starrfarm.net

Open Tuesdays through Fridays from 1 to 7 p.m. and weekends from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. starting Nov. 24.

Sugar Pines Farm

9500 Mulberry Road, Chester Township

440-729-1019

sugarpinesfarm.com

facebook.com/sugarpinesfarm

Email: trees@sugarpinesfarm.com

Open daily beginning Nov. 24 from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., then Saturdays and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Tuesdays through Fridays from noon to 5:30 p.m.

Swan Farm

11721 Tinkers Creek Road, Valley View

216-254-5501

facebook.com/SwanFarmOhio

Email: danwingenfeld@gmail.com

Open Nov. 24 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., then Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Norway Spruce will available after Dec. 9.

Timber Valley Christmas Tree Farm

4240 Bagdad Road, Medina

216-650-1566 or 330-722-3832

facebook.com/TimberValleyFarms/

Email: kengor00@yahoo.com

Open starting Nov. 24 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Open on most weekdays, call 216-650-1566 in advance.

Treaster’s Tree Farm

13184 Gore Orphanage Road, Wakeman

440-965-7411

Email: NG2339@gmail.com

Field will be open Nov. 24-27 from 10 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Greens store with items including trees, hand-crafted wreaths and swags will be open Wednesdays through Sundays from 10 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. until Dec. 18.

Wilcox Tree Farms

17620 Diagonal Road, LaGrange Township

440-355-4027

wilcoxtreefarm.com

facebook.com/WilcoxTreeFarm/

Open daily Nov. 24 until Christmas Eve from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.

Wintergreen Tree Farm

3898 Winchell Road, Mantua Township

330-221-3835

wintergreentreefarmohio.com

facebook.com/wintergreentreefarmmantuaohio/

Opens on Nov. 24 from 9 a.m. until dark, then weekends from 9 a.m. until dark and weekdays from 12 p.m. until dark.

In between are lockers that serve as a reminder of the building’s past as Shore High School. In addition to those relics, moving through the partially underground passages that connect to the kitchens of the center one can see paintings from schoolkids past.

And then the sounds of metal on metal and the smell of gas give life to a kitchen that once fed hundreds of kids.

Now, Saidah Farrell, owner of Marshmallow of the Month Club, and Jeff Morsfield, owner of Jeff’s Candy Shop, are using the kitchen to launch their own ventures.

The EUC Flea Art and Vintage Market event on Dec. 1 and local seasonal markets are on the horizon limiting the time both of them have to prepare for the busy season. But they both say they are grateful for the large space that the kitchen provides during the rush.

Farrell is also kitchen manager of Shore and is excited that the commercial kitchen —which opened in June — already has people in line to rent the space.

“We have large ovens, stoves and lots of storage space,” she said. “We have two businesses right now the first of which is the Marshmallow of the Month Club, which is mine.

“The second company is Jeff’s Candy Shop,” she continued. “He makes a toffee bar with chocolate and pecans which is absolutely delicious. He comes two days a week and we have a couple more people who are getting their paperwork together so they can come on board as well.”

Farrell started her Marshmallow of the Month Club as a way to give monthly surprise treats in a fun package.

She went on to say that she likes coming up with all kinds of different flavors every month and tries to bring a fun new theme to each box. Each box could have her fresh-baked graham crackers to make smores or even packets of her homemade powdered hot chocolate.

She said that she started with marshmallows, but thanks to the size of the kitchen, she has been able to expand into making the other candy and baked goods that come in each month’s box.

“I learned from (Food Network personality) Alton Brown,” Farrell said. “I studied his recipe, figured it out and started making marshmallows from there. I’m a huge marshmallow fan regardless, so it was kinda like ‘okay I made vanilla, now can I make it with wine? Can I make it with fresh fruit?’ So, I decided to not use any artificial flavor or color.

“I just made a plum Prosecco marshmallow,” she added. “I’m cooking down the plums inside of it. That one is super fun and I’m also doing a strawberry one this morning.”

Farrell said that she gets around 300 subscribers to her monthly box by the end of the holiday season, and she hopes to expand into physical stores soon.

Jeff Morsfield of Jeff’s Candy Shop mostly sells his product online, but now he has also started going to different flea markets and farmers markets where he also sells candied nuts and specialty giant lollipops.

Morsfield started the candy shop after being inspired by his mother who made toffee once a year. Her toffee became so well known that Morsfield felt like he had to take up the tradition as well to fill the demand.

“My mom would always make English toffee growing up around the holidays,” Morsfield said. “Everyone really liked it, but she would only make it for two weeks at a time and that would be it for the year. I enjoy making toffee and that kind of stuff.”

His toffee-forward candy bar has layered chocolate and pecans. He said that it puts the caramel first when most put the chocolate upfront.

“I call it the Jeff Bar,” Morsfield said. “But it’s a toffee bar. It was my mom’s recipe growing up but it’s in the form of a candy bar so it’s a little more marketable.

“It’s a real good recipe because I think it really showcases what toffee really is because when you get some other commercial candy bars that have toffee in it a lot of times its really just a chocolate bar with toffee in it,” he added. “This is really toffee forward.”

In addition to the Jeff Bar, Morsfield says that he tries to replicate childhood favorite candy bars in his own style. He said being a small candy maker gives him the freedom to produce candy that wouldn’t survive in big stores.

“I make these giant lollipops and sell them at the farmers markets,” Morsfield said. “There isn’t anything quite like seeing a kid’s reaction when they see a lollipop the size of their own head.”

“They can’t sell them at a lot of regular stores; they break on the shelf. So, it’s nice to do something different.” Morsfield continued.

The first officer on scene found a 62-year-old female deceased in the roadway. She was later identified as the property manager, Laura Colon.

The second officer on the scene found a male victim nearby who was shot in the stomach. The officer pulled him to safety, performed CPR and then carried him approximately 60 yards to safety. Terrance Mathis Sr., 63, was transported to Cleveland Clinic Mentor Hospital where he later died from his injuries.

The third and fourth officers arrived on scene and found a third deceased victim, 81-year-old Thomas Galizia.

A fourth victim, a 63-year-old man, was found in his home shot in the shoulder and right thigh. He was escorted out by officers and transported to University Hospitals Lake West Medical Center in Willoughby, where he remains in stable condition.

According to a news release, while attending to the victims, the four officers were fired upon by the suspect from his mobile home unit. The officers took cover and did not return fire. The officers then formed a combat rescue team and were able to remove the first victim from the scene.

Shortly thereafter, additional units, including the Mentor SWAT team, Lake County SWAT and West End SWAT team arrived and established a perimeter. Neighboring residents were evacuated.

Mentor Police Chief Ken Gunsch identified Jason Norris, 47 as the suspect in the shooting. He is suspected of firing at officers when they arrived on scene in two separate bursts of gunfire, according to Gunsch at a Nov. 17 news conference.

Norris who was in the U.S. Army until 2002, reportedly had a .45 semi-automatic handgun, a .38 revolver, an AR-15 rifle, and a bolt action rifle with hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Apart from an OVI charge in Mentor in the late 1990s, Norris has no other criminal record, Gunsch said at the press conference.

“The first shot drew the other people outside and they became victims of the suspect.” Gunsch said. “It’s a quiet mobile home park and we usually don’t have any issues over there.”

Norris had retreated to his unit prior to the arrival of Mentor Police.

According to the city, the Mentor Police Hostage Negotiation Team attempted to make contact with him throughout the evening without success. At approximately 8:15 p.m., a tactical drone was deployed into Norris’ unit where he was observed with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Lake County SWAT entered the unit shortly thereafter confirming Norris’ death.

Gunsch said that Mentor Police talked with Norris earlier in the day, when he called to complain that a neighbor’s camera was pointed at him. That neighbor would turn out to be the suspect’s third victim, Galizia.

“We did respond earlier in the day at about 9 in the morning,” Gunsch said. “He had complained about a neighbor’s camera being pointed at his unit, and he was upset about that. Officers responded and talked with him, and he understood that they could have a camera like that and that was it.”

Gunsch said that Mentor police are still figuring out the motive but when asked about if a pending eviction could be a reason, he responded that he was not sure.

“There was an eviction process going on, but I can’t tell you for sure if that was the reason for the shooting,” Gunsch said. “It (the eviction) was initiated somewhat between last week and this week.”

The shooting displaced over 30 residents who were sent to the Mentor Senior Center which served as a temporary shelter. The American Red Cross was on site to aid families. Those who were displaced were able to go back to their homes at 5 a.m. Nov. 17.

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is currently investigating the scene.

Mentor Victim’s Advocate and Lake County Crisis Teams are available for those that need it.

Bodycam footage is expected to be released following the investigation, according to a press release.

News-Herald reporter William Tilton contributed.

Based at Cuyahoga County Airport, 26300 Curtiss Wright Parkway in Richmond Heights, the new 51,453-square-foot expansion is built next to its old base of operations.

The expanded Global Headquarters and Operations Control Center has 137 seats within the 243,000-square-foot campus, which houses over 670 employees, not including the 1,100 non-union crew pilots who are based in hubs across the globe.

The expansion comes as Flexjet invests in their Vertical Lift branch based in Connecticut and serves as their new “last mile” service that uses a fleet of Sikorsky S-76 helicopters to provide flights in conjunction with their jet service for those enrolled in Flexjet’s different programs.

Depending on the area, the helicopter service can land at private residences providing a door-to-door service for those enrolled in Flexjet’s fractional jet ownership and membership subscriptions.

“It’s got a lot to do with the town ordinances,” Vice President of Lift Operations Ray Altieri said of landing at a private residence. “It has to do with how the state feels.

“A lot of places don’t really care,” he added. “It’s not like the (United Kingdom) where you can just go anywhere, and they don’t really care. Here it’s a little bit different. You have to check with your counties and things like that but most of these people own 500 to 700 acres, something like that, so you come in with a helicopter and they don’t even know you’re there.”

The new global headquarters was started right before the pandemic in late 2019-2020 with steel and other building materials pre-purchased minimizing the supply shortages that many companies faced.

One new feature of the Global Headquarters and Operations Control Center is the custom-made seamless LED screen.

The operations center serves as the central nerve center for their 30 locations throughout the country and Europe. Director of Operations Control Evan Degnovivo and Senior Schedule and Charter Manager Jason Christensen hope the new space will help Flexjet grow even more.

“There are 137 seats in this room,” Christensen said. “There are 89 of them down in the tiered levels and there are 48 seats up on this main level. And that’s significant because our old operation center in the other building had 52 seats.

“So, it really does speak to building for growth. We’ve got a number of aircraft coming out in the next few years,” he added. “And we mentioned the feature technology we wanted to future proof it but we also wanted to be able to grow into it.”

Michael Silvestro, co-CEO of Flexjet Inc., says the plan for Flexjet is to continue to invest money in the campus and upgrade their other buildings in the northwest area of the airport.

“So, the other building was essentially a 25-year-old version of what you see today,” Silvestro said. “There’s an operations center that looks like a theater — so you don’t really need two operations centers. So, we are now kind of finalizing what design would be to most utilize that space to complement the existing building.

“So that’s going on now and that’s going to be the sort of phase two of reskinning and repurposing the building.”

Angela Douglas, and her husband Laron just moved last week and are still settling in, but they are both excited about the location, at 26155 Euclid Ave, which has apartment complexes and a basketball court nearby where many youths gather in the summer.

Many of the kids are already in their program which makes it slightly easier for them to gain traction in the community.

“We wanted to fly high and also being in our last building we weren’t able to do much for the community,” Angela said. “But here that’s our parking lot, so we can do our community pop-ups and put out our flyers.

“The kids around here are at risk, a lot of the kids we are already servicing.”

Laron started the program in 2009, while he was serving his 23-year sentence in prison..

“I went to jail for a gang-related murder,” he said. “And my first decade I was still off the hook, still doing gang stuff in prison. But over the next couple years, when I was in isolation, I got a revelation. I wanted God to help me to change my life around while I was in the hole.”

Now he serves his community, with Angela, whom he met in high school. The former Cleveland Metropolitan School District teacher is serving as program administrator and website developer.

They run a few programs, including having “Violence Interrupters” go directly into areas where youth might be gathered and make sure a friendly face, and someone that kids feel comfortable to approach are on site before anything else happens.

“We are dealing with it on the retaliatory end, so no innocent kids and other people are shot and killed,” Laron said.

“The police, they have their detectives to take away the bad guy, but we are trying to resolve it before it gets to somebody getting killed.” Angela added.

They also offer a 10-week program where youths ages 10 to 25 can be enrolled. Many classes are taught that go over anger management, de-escalation tactics, cognitive thinking and even going as far as helping get their driver’s license.

“These youth they are in the gangs out here right now,” Angela said. “And they are committing these harsh crimes and things like that, but they need to know these things, if they don’t know then they will go out and commit crimes in these gangs.

“But if you educate them then they know, ‘oh this is the RICO Act, man I’m not going to do this.’ They start thinking different when they are educated.”

“We have what we call Phase Two,” Laron said. “And what do in Phase Two is we help them get all of their documents. They come in and they don’t have their birth certificate, Social Security card and help them get their temps or driver’s license. And also, we have resources for the mother. Say she doesn’t have her lights on or something, we have resources to give her as well.”

Laron finds that his programs help isolate the individual which helps them to be more open to accepting help, or to seeing a different point of view. That can be hard when many of their peers are faced with gang violence or violence within the household from a young age and see little other prospects.

“A lot of them they are cold killers when they are all together,” Laron said. “But when you get them and isolate them and make them individuals then that’s how we are able to teach them here.

“They want to learn; they are just like little kids,” he added. “We go into these neighborhoods and also in this program we eat together. All these guys in our program are in different gangs and different sides of town even in Euclid. So, after every session we break bread together.

“There’s a concept in the penitentiary that you don’t just sit down and eat with anybody,” he said. “So that’s what we do we sit down and eat together.”

Now the Douglases hope that their new offices will bring in new people as well. Information about when their food drives and food wrap services are available can be found at their website, www.renouncedenouncegangprogram.org, or by calling 440-723-8190

The demonstration by inspectors from the Ohio State Highway Patrol comes in the wake of DeWine announcing the formation of an Ohio School Bus Safety Working Group.

That followed an incident that occurred in Aug. 22 in Clark County where 11-year-old Aiden Clark was killed after being ejected from the school bus, according to a statement from the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

The 13-member group includes David Russell, a bus driver for the South Euclid Lyndhurst School District.

The group will examine existing recommendations for school bus safety and also provide public meetings where experts will be brought in for discussion.

The group will, according to DeWine, meet at least five times and come up with a report to be presented by December.

“The school buses are inspected twice a year, the bus driver also everyday has to include a protocol,” DeWine said. “Buses are the safest form of transportation for our kids, we had a horrible, horrible, tragedy in Clark County this week.

“What I’m announcing today is the formation of a working task force to look at, from a holistic point of view, is there anything else that we can do to make the rides of our kids and our school kids safer every single day,” DeWine added. “We go into this with no preconceptions. We are going to look at every aspect of this, from constitution of the buses to the maintenance to the inspections.”

One issue is how funding will be supplied to schools following the recommendations the task force might find.

“We first have to follow the science, follow the data,” DeWine said. “Then when we get that back, then we will have to move and do the things that the recommendation says that we should be doing. So, we will cross that bridge when we get to it but we are ready to cross that bridge.”

While the Ohio School Bus Working Group can offer recommendations, the group would have no way of mandating those recommendations to the school districts across Ohio, the governor said.

“But I think there is going to be a great deal of weight and authority from this group,” DeWine added.

When asked about if the school district or the state should be the authority to carry out future changes DeWine said that decision will come after the recommendations.

“There are several things that can be done,” DeWine said. “One, you can leave it up schools, or two, the state can mandate it. If the state mandates it then you have to get into the question of paying for it.”

While school bus inspection was at the focus of DeWine’s visit to Mentor, the lack of drivers for those buses was also brought into question.

Bus driver groups nationwide have brought up pay disparity as being part of the reason why drivers are hard to find. DeWine said the drivers will also be part of the focus of the task force.

Dressed in an all-brown suit with brown slacks, a gold police badge swings from his neck as he studies a leather-bound book. A confident man who speaks quietly but decisively, Thompson became the first Black Richmond Heights Police chaplain a year ago, and now he’s University Circle’s first police chaplain as well.

How the pastor for Allen Chapel Missionary Baptist Church in Cleveland became the spiritual advisor to the police and public started with a chance meeting at a local Dave’s Supermarket where he ran into then Richmond Heights Chief Tom Wetzel who is now head of the University Circle Police Department.

They talked and in sharing information found they had a common interest in what a chaplain could do for police and residents.

“We first brought him in as a police chaplain in Richmond Heights,” Wetzel said. “He’s still active there, and when I went to University Circle (to be chief), they have never had a police chaplain program, and I was just so impressed with just the kind of man he is; he’s just such a kind man. I asked him if he wanted to be our first ever police chaplain.”

The roles that police chaplains serve can vary, but they often revolve around helping officers cope with the stress of the job.

“He’s more like an ambassador for the department,” Wetzel said. “He’s also like a counselor. If officers want to talk to him privately, they can do it and it stays with him.

“So, if there are any type of stress they are going through or, God forbid someone gets seriously hurt or worse, they can visit the family or visit the officer in the hospital.”

Thompson himself was grateful for the chance to help the community.

“I was happy to be able to come on and help in that way,” he said. “I had applied in the past but wasn’t able to, but I told myself ‘God does things in his own time’ and it seems like it’s my time now.”

Before his current church in Cleveland, Thompson was the pastor for the Friendship Baptist Church in Warren. The years before gaining his own fellowship were spent in college, not just for the paperwork as Thompson says, but because he felt that there were many loud voices already in the role and some of them didn’t have much to say.

“I wanted to make sure that I was sharing the word of God properly,” Thompson said. “So, I went back to school. I went to Ashland Theological Seminary to get my bachelor’s and my master’s, and then after that to Louisiana Baptist University for my Ph.D. in biblical studies.

“You know the officers, they encounter so many different struggles,” he said. “Internally and externally and sometimes it’s overwhelming and they need someone to talk to. That’s where I come in as a chaplain.”

Thompson says his role can be challenging if the community isn’t on the same page as the Police Department, as can be the case in officer-involved shootings.

“I’ll assess that situation from all parties, and I’ll figure out what the best-case scenario is,” he said. “If the officer is wrong, and we acknowledge that, we certainly can say that. But ultimately if he is wrong, I want to share that Christ is a forgiving God. We have to be accountable for our actions, we have to think better.

“And we have to focus, and more importantly we have to realize what we have done and if there are consequences then we have to accept them.”

Thompson said that often the clash between the needs of the community, God and being employed — even if unpaid — by the police can be hard to balance for him, but in those times, he found that family is often the solution.

“When it relates to the community and they are in an uproar, I will share with the community that being in an uproar doesn’t solve anything,” he said. “I know that you are hurting, I know there is pain and that you feel there that there is an injustice that has been done. But God knows these things too, and we ought to cast our cares on him and he will fix the situation on both sides.

“Some of the things that I have listened to and had to hear,” Thompson continued. “It’s just amazing, in this time the things that people are faced with. And they just need an outlet sometime. They just need someone to say ‘listen, I care. I love you. I understand it. But just please hold on.’”

Thompson hopes by bringing peace, love, and understanding to policing, he can play a part in healing the community and supporting police officers.